{"sf1_id":756409,"sf2_id":null,"title":"It's All The Rage","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2255,"posted_at":"2014-09-13T20:51:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Plot Development","Rage","Story Progression","Werewolf","anger","chase","hunter","loss"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/756409-it-s-all-the-rage","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/756409","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=756409\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#35 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"          Edward was beside her a second\nlater. The blast had torn a hole through her chest. Rolling her over, he saw\nblood and tissue. She had no pulse. In the next instant he tore out of his\nclothing and crashed through the narrow window, taking plaster and lathe with\nhim.Rey yelled after him, but he knew\nit was no good. With the rage upon him there was nothing that was going to\nstop it. He had been there many times. It had to work itself out. There was no\ntalking down a pissed-off werewolf.The werewolf hunter had a few\nseconds lead. It was all he needed. His vehicle was an unassuming station wagon\nfrom the seventies. He jumped in the driver's seat, threw the box on the\npassenger seat and turned the ignition. The car roared to life. He glanced in\nhis rear view mirror only once before dropping it in gear and stomping the\npedal.The wide rear tires bit into the\ndirt and gravel, sending up a cloud of dust and debris. By the time Edward made\nit out of the house, the debris was settling and the dust cloud was shifting in\nthe wind. He propelled himself through it, heedless of the nose-clogging\nparticles. He wasn't going to need his sense of smell for this.The car sped down the road with the\nspeed of a missile, hitting pot holes and rocks and lurching from side to side.\nIf it weren't for the weight in the back, the whole car might have flipped\nover. Once it hit the paved road, the driver straightened it up and punched the\naccelerator. About six seconds later he looked in the rearview mirror and\nshuddered. For all intents and purposes, it might very well have been the steed\nof one of the four horseman of the apocalypse set lose upon his trail.  Edward was in a blind rage. Having\nlost her once was bad enough. To find that she was still alive had raised his spirits\nenormously high. Now he had lost her for a second time. His claws were ripping\nup roadway as he kicked up his speed. Whoever this guy was, he wasn't going to\nkill another werewolf ever again.The station wagon was remarkably\nfast for an old, out-of-date car, and it picked up speed on the long, straight\nstretch of road. Edward kicked it up a notch, gaining slowly, but gaining none\nthe less.  Just ahead was a billboard,\nand behind one of the local patrol cars. When the station wagon went by doing a\nhundred miles an hour, the policeman hit the light and tore off after him. In the next\ninstant his light assembly and roof were crushed under the weight of a\nrampaging werewolf. Edward had just enough presence of mind to holler back, \"Sorry!\"All the cop's ears heard was a\nroar. Edward was catching up when the\nmost amazing thing happened. The station wagon pulled ahead, and fast. One\nmoment it was cruising along at top speed, and suddenly the limit on what the\ntop speed was vanished.A werewolf hunter used the tools he\nknew would work. He had no fear of policeman or law enforcement. They served a\npurpose, but he was no part of it. He smiled when he saw the werewolf take the\ncar out of commission, and wondered to himself that any werewolf existed\nanymore that could assume that size. But that had been the concern of the old pope.\nToo much power in a single set of hands was dangerous.When he saw the werewolf closing\nthe gap, he switched on the second engine, the one mounted in the back and\nconnected to the back wheels. It was an old four fifty four, and when it roared\nto life, the car had over nine hundred horsepower. The frame groaned when the\nsecondary engine kicked in. Smoke poured out the exhaust as the gasoline was\nsucked through it to make power.Something inside Edward snapped.\nThis guy was not getting away. He had thought Albert Fish had been bad,, but in\nretrospect he was simply a tortured soul who had been trapped in a limbo-type\nexistence. This guy, misguided though he was, was doing the things he did under\nhis own volition. He chose to be a hunter, and now he was the hunted. He hoped\ndeep in his darkening heart that this guy was sweating, because when he got to him,\nhe was going to wring every last drop of liquid from his body.Chunks of pavement went flying from\nunder his feet, and his claws were striking sparks from the stones. His eyes\nwere scarlet and he could now only see in shades red. The heat from the car's\nexhaust made it an easy target. Up ahead the road began to meander\nas it followed a river. The car had to slow down lest it leave the road and\ncareen into the waters below.  But it was\nstill going a good eighty miles an hour. Rubber tires might not have\nsufficient traction at that speed, but werewolf claws did. Nor did a werewolf\nhave to use the road.  As the ridge to\nthe right rose up, restricting the road to the narrow path between the rise and\nthe river, Edward jumped up and crashed through the brush. Up ahead there was a curve where\nthe road turned with the ridge and angle of the river. Edward kicked it up a\nnotch and when the rise turned, he jumped high. His momentum took him forward\nonto the roof of the car. His claws ripped into the roof, anchoring him and\nkeeping him from being thrown. A gun blast ripped through the\nmetal, just missing him.  Knowing that\nthe out-of-date firearm was a one-shot only, he leaned into the roof and\nstarted to peel it away. The car began to careen out of control as the driver\ntried desperately to shake him off. \nEdward stabilized his body with one paw while the other opened up the\ncar like a can in a crusher.The car continued at top speed,\nswerving across both lanes as the claws came ever closer.  Edward switched his stance and leaned in to\nlook in the driver's side door. The werewolf hunter looked for only second. He couldn't\nwatch his foe and the road at the same time. But he did see a huge paw stretch forth\nand snag his front tire.It blew out with a resounding bang.\nThe car lurched off the road and took a dive into the river below. Edward\nremained on his perch, never once wavering in his task. He saw the churning\nwater rushing up to them and he didn't care at all. He was seeing this through\nto the end, even if it killed him.The front end of the car smashed\ninto an oversized boulder, crumpling the bumper and radiator, spraying\noverheated water into the air. It stopped for just a second precariously\nperched on the stone, then it fell over on its side. Steam was pouring out as the\noverheated engines set the cold flowing water into steam vapor. The driver\ntried to get out, but his door was crushed. He looked up and saw the roof was\nnearly gone and climbed out, looking around wildly for the werewolf. The vehicle\nwas shifting in the rapid current, and if he didn't leave immediately, he was\nin danger of being swept downstream. A huge paw grabbed him and in the\nnext instant he was flying through the air. He heard a howl of pain. It must\nhave been the silver. In the next instant he heard the thud of flesh against\nrock as he landed on the shoreline below the road.He had suffered enough broken bones\nto know that a few more were added to the list. He blinked the blood out of his\neye. A mass of black and red fur was flying through the air towards him. A house\nmaw opened up and engulfed his head. Everything went dark.A short while later the werewolf\nheard the screech of tires on the road above. He didn't care. Let them come! He would tear anyone apart who got in his way. Carrying the werewolf hunter up the\nside, he hauled himself over the railing and dropped his load. The car that was\nthere wasn't police. It wasn't an ambulance or any other emergency worker. It\nwas a Range Rover. In his mind, it was vaguely familiar looking. Verona got out and morphed. He shook\nhis head. There was a smell... It was coming from her. He closed his eyes and\nshook his head. His eyes went red again. \"Stop!\" The voice was female. He\nstared thought the red haze. \"Who dares to order me?\"\"Dammit Edward, it's me, Verona.\nYou've got to get a grip on yourself. If you keep going crazy like this you're\ngoing to spoil it for everyone and break our cover!\"\"I don't take orders from a female.\nI don't take orders period. I, I...\" He stopped and shook his head again.\"Edward, if you lose control, you\nmight end up staying this way for too long. You need to snap out of this.\"He roared in anger. \"Don't tell me what\nto do. I, I; I can't remember...\"\"Remember what?\" she asked.\"SHUT UP! I can't remember why I'm\nangry.\"She hated to remind him. \"This man\nkilled Maggie.\"\"Maggie!\" He tuned in on the still\nbody laying on the road. \"He killed Maggie!\" He went to snap the body in two.\"Wait!\"\"QUIT TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!\" \"Fine. Then kill him if he isn't dead\nalready. But it won't bring back Maggie. And I think right now it would be a\nbetter thing to recover the box before it's lost in the river for good.\"\"Box! What box?\" His mind was all\nrage and anger. He didn't care about boxes, or cars or silver. He wanted to\nkill and hunt and run. He already had blood on his chin from his attack on the\nwerewolf hunter. He remembered the feeling of his sharp teeth penetrating the man's\nshoulder. He could still taste it. And he was hungry.\"Leonardo's box! With the ring in\nit! The thing Maggie figured out.\"Her words were confusing him. Ring?\nBox? Flesh; that's all he was thinking about. Food. Murder. Killing. Rage. These\nwere the things that were important. Maggie? What was a Maggie. He tried to\nclear his mind. Maggie. The girl. Yeah, that was it. But she was dead. He saw\nit with his human eyes. She was dead, with a hole blown clean through her. And this man did it. Why? A box. A\nring. He remembered these things but they didn't seem important. He tried to\nsort this out, but there was too much going on in his head. And that smell! He\nwas feeling his cock slide out of its sheaf. He tried to put it altogether and\ncouldn't. In a renewed rage he roared and took off down the road. He was gone\nwithin seconds.Verona went to run after him. Her\nfather halted her. \"Don't. You'll only make it worse.\"\"I'm willing to risk it. It's\npartially my fault any of this happened. If anyone can bring him around, it'll\nbe me.\" She turned and ran off after him.Rey looked down at the body on the pavement.  It wasn't as lifeless as it seemed. There was\nstill a rise and fall in his chest. Blood dripped from a mix of gashes from\nbroken glass, sharp metal and teeth.Marcus looked him over. \"I'd say if\nleft alone, he'll recover. But if we leave him here, there's going to be a lot\nof questions being asked. And even though we're a long ways from home, it might\neventually come back to us. Let's wrap him up and take him back to the farmhouse.\nIt we have to, we can finished the job that Edward started. But I'd like to ask\nthis fellow a few questions. I've gotten tired of being chased all my life for\nno good reason.\"Billy handled getting the body into\nthe back, and in the next moment they turned around and drove back up the road.\nAs luck would have it, they encountered no car on the road until they got to\nthe main one. Already there were sirens in the distance as dispatched police\nand emergency  made their way to assess\nthe damage. The Rover dodged chunks of asphalt that had been thrown up. They made\nit look like the area had suffered a meteorite storm. Between the pot holes and\nthe chunks it was almost too much for the car to handle. Eventually, Rey took\nit off the road where it was less rugged. The car lurched and bounced until\nhey made it back to the dirt road. He slid the back end as he whipped it down\nthe road. When they got to the farm he stopped in front of the barn. Marcus ran\nout, opened the door and they pulled it inside.No one moved for a bit, not until a\ngroan came from the back. Billy remembered who was back there. \"Shit! We need\nto get this guy stripped.\"\"We'll leave you to do it.\"It was a little while later that he\ncame up to the house bearing a naked, but slowly healing body. He dumped the\nguy on the kitchen floor and walked into the living room. Everyone was standing\naround the spot where Maggie had dropped. She wasn't there. In her place was a\nlayer of ash."}