Coalescence Book I - Chapter 37 - Fury
Chapter 37 - Fury
-W-
It tricked us. It locked us out. It wasn't going to get away.
The metal door held firm as I tore and yanked at it, but my claws slipped behind and I was able to pull. The metal bent and strained under the pressure, giving my human enough room to slip through. I would be right behind him. He could not take on the demoncat alone.. but we couldn't lose sight of him.
I lost sight of both of them, down the stairs and into the belly of the building. My vision blurred along the edges, the door was my only target, my only obstacle.
It needed to go.
I had seen the metal bar holding the door locked on our way up, it was as thick as parts of the door itself and slid into the stone wall. Bending the corner of the door proved easy by comparison to breaking the rest.. but if I could not break the bar I would tear the building itself down.
Frustration poured from me with froth and snarls, drool falling to the stones and across my paws. My muscles ached, tensing up as hard as the metal they struggled against. I threw my weight against the door over and over, feeling a little more of the stone around it crumble and give each time.
It would not keep me out.
Small bits of gray stone crushed free and pulled from the metal, dust fell around it and the wall gave as much as the metal bent. The door felt loose, so I tried once more to yank it open, tearing it from it's hinges and sending the entire mass clattering heavily across the roof. Nothing was in my way now as my paws hit the ground on all fours. The hunt brought me into a wild state, in mind and posture. My claws left grooves in the walls, in the stairs, my muscles in my chest and shoulder burned within as I tore what I knew had never fully healed. No blood spilled from me.. the damage was all inside, but I could feel it now with every step and lunge down the tunnel of steps. I could smell the cat creature.. but not my human. His scent wasn't on the stairs.. had he fallen down the center gap?
A strange scent stung my nostrils as I reached the lower floors. It was acrid and strong, it made my eyes burn and threatened to slow my pace so I could try to shield my aching snout from its claws. At the bottom of the stairs I saw my human's pack.. but he was not there.
No..
I snarled out, pushing open the door to the next room where we had entered the building. The scent hit me in a wave, burning my nose and eyes. Clear containers and liquids were strewn everywhere, knocked off the shelves and clawed open. The contents were poured across the floor, the scent was overwhelming. I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe.
Demoncat..
He did it to throw me from his scent.. I know he did. He was smart, he knew I was using my nose to find him. Where did he go? Where did my human go? My chest sank and worry flooded in alongside my fury. He'd taken him.. Hadn't he. Why else would Connor leave his pack? I pulled out of the horrid smelling room and trudged back around the stairs. There were no other signs. I nosed at and rolled the cloth pack on the ground over, exposing the straps. They were torn by claws. More evidence that the cat had taken him. Amidst my rage I felt.. lost. Confused.
Afraid.
For his safety, not my own. I would pull apart the city to find him, but already I had seen how overwhelming and massive this place was. When I had been out in the night air, the world around me was full of lights and titan sized towers that clawed the skies. How would we find him in all of that? The only way we'd found him this time was by his own hand, he had come to us. Let us see him.
There was movement in the other room, whispering voices.
"What happened?.. Did someone dump a barrel of ammonia in here? Ugh.. god. It's a mess in here. Careful, don't slip"
The humans. I could hear the male speaking to his mate. They slowly opened the side door and saw me standing over Connor's backpack, covering my nose with a paw and looking disheveled. The male looked confused as he came through and saw me, but the female was more observant.
"Where's Connor?.. what happened?" Her eyes were on his bag.
I lifted it with my free hand, dangling it off my claws and rotating it to show them the shredded strap. Joelle's hand clasped over her mouth quickly to quiet a gasp. James' face hardened like mine.. his gaze scanning around immediately for anything else he could glean information from.
"Where's Connor…" She asked again, her tone different.. I believe she knew the answer even as she asked a second time.
"Oh shit itsa bear! Nope, nope. I'm out. Nope."
A voice rang from behind me, a larger woman immediately turning and rushing back around the corner as she saw me.
"Ey, yo call the police! Call PETA! Call the animal control! Bear tore up the janitor room!" Her voice was faint around the corner as she continued shouting to someone else, her voice frantic and panicked.
"What? Bull. It's a city, there's not a fucking bear.. Calm down Christine! Hey, calm down!.." Another voice seemed to be trying to contest her.
We could hear the heavier woman protesting and arguing with the other stranger, the two friendly humans looking at me and starting to panic a bit themselves. Joelle rushed over to me, pushing at me to move as James ushered me towards the door. Towards the horrible room. Shielding my poor nose and wincing, I followed them through, marching as quickly as I could to the other door and out into the cool, fresh night air. It was almost instant relief the further we got away from the building. Away from that acid-like smell.
I dropped Connor's pack on the ground a few buildings down the alley, around a corner. Joelle squeezed at me, trying to smooth my fur down. It was raised up high My whole body was on edge and panting. Drool fell from my jaws onto the cold ground, steaming in the night air. We had failed.. And it was almost certain that my human had been captured as a result.
"Are you okay?.." Surprisingly it wasn't the female asking this time, the male was showing concern.
I realized I was clutching my shoulder where I had been wounded days before. It burned inside along my bones, the inner ligaments and muscles. Pain radiated hotter as I stopped to calm myself.. my fury had been keeping it at bay. I met the male's gaze and nodded slightly, letting go of my shoulder and exposing the bare patch of reddened, dark flesh. It wasn't bleeding, at least not outside, but inside I had torn the flesh again, that much I could feel.
"Did the cat take Connor?" His concern deepened, even as his tone remained calm.. I could sense he wasn't.
I have another solemn nod, looking away from them. I had failed again. The female tried to comfort me, reaching up to rub at my neck and jaws.. before gently pulling on my muzzle. She angled it towards her, looking me in the eyes.
"It's okay, we'll find him. We'll help you. They couldn't have gotten far. I dunno how strong that thing is but carrying Connor off probably's gonna slow him down right?" She offered softly, reaching for my ear to rub at it. It felt nice.. but it did nothing to alleviate my pains.
She was right though, the cat was smaller than I was, he wouldn't be able to carry a human as swiftly. Which direction did they go? My nose was still aching from the sting of those smells.. I hadn't caught their scents again. They did not come back out this way, the two must have left the building from another exit.
"But how are we going to find them? They could have gone anywhere.." James began to speak, but he was cut off by a strange ringing noise in his pocket.
He pulled out an odd object with a colorful, flat and glowing face, touching something on it and lifting it to his ear.
"Connor?.. Where are you? Connor?... Connor are you there?.." The human shouted into the object.
I was confused at first, but as I listened closely I heard it. Noises coming from the device, the sound of dragging and breathing. Then talking. It wasn't Connor's voice, it was the demoncat. He sounded far away, it sounded like he was muttering out loud. He'd strain a little and grunt every so often. What was this? How were we hearing him? I looked to James for answers, growling low under my breath. He raised a finger in front of his lips.
"Shh.. Quiet, I'm trying to hear. Connor isn't talking but I think I can hear him breathing.." He paused for a moment, straining to hear past the sound of the cat creature's muttering "Did you hear that?.. in the background. That screeching noise. It sounded like a train."
Joelle suddenly squeezed my arm tight, gasping out and pushing forward to look at the object, "The subway!.."
The device clicked suddenly and went silent, leaving the two humans looking sullen. James gripped it tight, letting out an aggravated groan.
"We have to hurry.. Connor was trying to help us find him. It sounded like they were moving.. The cat doesn't know what a train is, does he?.. He wouldn't be able to get them on a train, would he?" His eyes were on me, questioning and almost pleading.
I did not understand what a train was, or what he was asking, this was out of my limited realm of knowledge. All I knew was that we needed to get to him before the cat beast could harm him any further than he might have already. When I gave James no answer he let out another frustrated noise and looked to his mate.
"Which subway entrance is closest?.. If he reached one that fast it must have been close."
"Umm.. I think we passed one right on 34th.. that's a block away. But it's out in plain sight. How are we going to get him in there without being seen?.." Joelle gestured to me.
She didn't wait for her mate to offer a suggestion, smiling wide, "Oh, Wait right here, hang on" With no hesitation she ran off down the alley, back towards where we'd run away from. I flashed her mate a look and he was just as confused as I was.. until she returned carrying the large cloth Connor had covered me with.
"Safety blanket. Go on, out it back on.. we'll walk close to you and try to help keep you covered. You just need to keep your head down and covered and keep this.." She grabbed my tail, making me tense and snarl out instinctively, "..tucked in and hidden. Hush, I didn't hurt it, big baby."
"Joelle please don't taunt the werewolf.. You are way too comfortable with all of this. Okay, we need to move quick then, if we are gonna catch up with them."
My shoulders hunched up a few times, working the blanket up over my head and wrapping myself in it. I winced as the motion sent another shock of pain through me. Joelle grabbed the torn backpack and the two of them huddled close to me, pressing against both of my sides. James was shorter and smaller than I was.. but Joelle was tiny. The two of them made me look rather massive.
"Sweetie I'ma need you to hunch like a grandma, okay? You're too big looking. Channel your inner Babushka." The female's words made little sense to me, but I crouched and hunched lower as we walked.
"What big eyes you have granny. What big teeth you have. What big balls you have, oh grandmother" James muttered on the other side of me, his tone of voice sounding incredibly similar to when Connor spoke. The two were very alike.
Joelle reached around me and smacked her mate, "Hush, he only has to pass for granny for a little, till we get down into the subway.. hopefully there's not many people down there this late."
We moved as a pack, keeping close and marching down the back alleys until we reached a dead end, needing to go out onto the main road. I pulled the blanket wrap tighter and tried to keep my head down as the two led me. There were other humans out in the street, but not too many. Most were walking quietly and minding their own business. There were a few that were noisy, rowdy things, stumbling and laughing with each other.
Joelle gripped me tighter, rubbing my back, trying to comfort me as we walked. My fur bristled and stood on end as the rowdy trio of humans took notice of us and started to laugh and make jokes. My two humans both tensed up alongside me, I could smell them getting nervous as they tried to avoid eye contact. They were hoping the group would leave us be.
They didn't.
The humans continued to laugh amongst themselves as they moved closer, pointing towards us.. no, pointing towards me specifically. Joelle whispered to me to ignore them and keep moving, but the group was shifting to cut us off. A low growl began in my throat and chest, threatening to slip from my maw. These humans did not understand what I would do to them if they tried to stop me from getting to Connor.
"You got a linebacker under there? That Brandy.. B..Brady? You tryina sneak him to his ho...hotel? Come on, show em! That's Brady.. it's Brady right?" The human kept slurring his words as he got closer and closer, shouting to us.
"Dipshit, he's a quarterback, that ain't him anyway. No way." One of his packmates pushed at him, making him stumble.
The group chattered at each other, moving right up to us as James stepped forward to confront them and get between us.
"Guys, back off please, you're drunk.. go home. Come on, you're tripping over the sidewalk.. go sit down or something. Guys get your friend some coffee." He was trying to gesture them back across the street and away from us as Joelle tried to keep me moving and guide me around them.
"Nah that's Brady. That's Brady" The man insisted, grabbing towards me and curling his fingers into the cloth shroud over my head.
He made a grave mistake.
As the blanket pulled back, my head was already moving, snapping out and clamping his wrist and lower arm in my jaws. Teeth sunk into skin effortlessly, only stopping at bone. My jaws tore backwards sharply, viciously, all one quick, clean motion that turned messy in a single moment as my fangs pulled free from him. Flesh tore and pulled from his bone, muscle and tendons exposed to the air as his blood took a moment to catch up to the sudden trauma. A moment later it revealed itself too. It soaked the blanket, soaked the ground in messy splatters. The man's skin hung off his wrist in a tatter as he cried out. It had taken the pain longer than the shock of my bite to reach him.
My snarl filled the air at the same time as the scent of his blood did. All of the humans recoiled back in fear and shock at what I had done, even my human's. My pack. They feared me in that moment, even the female. Blood stained and dripped from my chin, my lips, my teeth. My tongue slid across them all, tasting the fresh, metallic heat of it as I lapped them clean. The human clung to his injured arm, cradling it, his partially stripped flesh dangling over his fingers.
"Fuck, fuck! What is that?.. What was that!.." One of the humans' friends was panicking.
"It's not Brady. It's not Brady.. it's not Brady.." The wounded male was repeating in a soft voice as his friends backed him away from me.
"Jesus Christ!.."
"Get away from it, run!"
Their shouting started to dull, at least to my ears. I stopped paying attention to their cries and screams, to the whimpering groans of pain. They were no longer a threat, no longer in my way.
"Call the cops, hurry!"
"Get an ambulance! Oh god you can see bone.."
Their voices grew quieter and quieter as I matched down the street, passing by building after building. I caught my reflection in the glass of a dark building, seeing the glint of lights off my gold eyes just as much as it glinted off my blood streaked chin and teeth. I was a frightening sight. Joelle and James weren't next to me anymore, they were torn between trying to help the injured human or catching up to the monster that had pulled his flesh free from his arm.
Joelle caught up to me first, rubbing at my back again.. though this time I felt her hesitation. I smelled her fear for the first time. She was in no danger, not by my jaws.. but I could not tell her this. James stepped up alongside me, he was uncharacteristically silent as he peered at my face beneath my hood, watching me from his peripheral as the stairs down into the street came into view.
There was a metal frame and rail around everything but the side facing us, nothing in my way now. A human walked up and out of the opening in the ground, hardly noticing me as I passed beside them. They were too busy touching the strange object in their hand. Staring at it's glowing surface. The stairs down into the earth were much larger and wider than those that had led to the roof. These were more comfortable, though heading down into the earth was less so.
"You can't cause a scene down here.. okay?.. We need to keep quiet and just find Connor" Joelle's voice was soft and cautious, like she didn't know how I would react.
I met her gaze as we descended, snorting out softly.. I had no intentions to cause any scenes, but if my actions were forced then I have no qualms about spilling blood again.
Hopefully this time it will be feline blood alone.