Chapter Twenty-Five: Minivan Attack

(The Belly Of The Beast, Part 4)

***

For the second time that night, they walked back to the lodge—except, there was only five of them now, Allison and Ryan going to cure Nick and Sarah. And Sarah... Nick...

Every time Hayden thought about what happened to her brother, each minute the curse kept him trapped as a monster, it made Hayden's heart ache. His absence, and knowing what caused it, knowing how much it turned Nick into something he wasn't and wouldn't ever want to be, was like a physical pain inside her, a phantom limb. For while they weren't joined at the hip, being separated from her twin for so long struck something deep inside Hayden, a wound that would never fully heal unless Nick was back by her side and he was human again.

And that couldn't happen until the werewolf that bit him was dead.

That thought had Hayden reflexively tighten her grip on the handle of the knife, anger and determination spiking inside her. If she got the chance, Hayden wouldn't hesitate to jam the knife with Abi's bracelet wrapped it around down its throat, let the werewolf choke on the silver. But as much as she wanted to kill the werewolf, Hayden knew that once the bracelet was gone, she wouldn't stand a chance—her arm proved that. Allison, with her silver arrows, could get Nick back. And she and Ryan would make sure Laura would not kill her brother or Sarah in her quest to kill Chris Hackett.

The best option was for them all to fix the van and get out of here while they still could. To not come back until it was dawn and Nick and Sarah were human and free of the curse.

They'd just get killed if they stayed.

Nora looked at her from where she was holding her axe, Sarah's bracelet wrapped around it and shining against the blood staining its edge, and asked, "You look surprisingly calm, given... everything."

Hayden sighed, shoulders slumping. "If I'm being honest, a part of me is still freaking out. But most of me is angry. About Nick. That he's... trapped, until that werewolf who bit him is dead, that I won't get my brother back until it is. I want to kill it, but... we both know Allison stands a far better chance of killing it than I do."

"I don't know. Rage over your brother being unwillingly turned into a monster could be more deadly than silver. I know my rage over Sarah feels like that," Nora mused, and the two of them chuckled.

"Maybe that's what Allison will use to kill the werewolf instead," Hayden theorised, and they laughed again.

As it died down, Hayden turned serious as she added, "And besides, I think... it's better to be levelheaded and not keep freaking out."

"I agree," Nora murmured, holding the axe tighter and eyeing the woods warily. Hayden did the same, holding the knife so tight her knuckles paled. Her arm ached with pain, but Hayden took strength from it.

After all, it was yet even more incentive that, should she and that werewolf cross paths tonight, she would plunge this knife into its heart.

Finally, they returned back to the lodge. It looked the same as it did roughly an hour or so ago, the full moon silvering it and its surroundings, shadowed treetops scratching at the dark bowl of the sky, clouds drifting across the moon. Hayden gave it a hateful glare as they walked up the stairs of the lodge and entered, Kaitlyn and Nora leading the way as the door creaked open.

Inside, they walked across the landing and down to the dining hall, making for the door there. As they did, Dylan looked around and asked, "Uhhh... what the hell happened here?"

Oh. Right. She and Kaitlyn had their tussle with Bobby here before they got the fuck out of the lodge and Dylan didn't know that.

"Uhh... that's kinda our bad," Kaitlyn confessed, pointing to Hayden. "Had a bit of a tumble with one of the locals."

"Yeah, right before he threw a jar of blood at us," Hayden revealed. Thanks to the rain, the blood had mostly washed off of her and Kaitlyn, but the foul smell still lingered—Hayden wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't wash it out of her shirt no matter how many times she tried.

"The fuck? Kaitlyn, Hayden, this place is wrecked!" Dylan quipped.

Hayden and Kaitlyn laughed.

"You should see the other guy," Kaitlyn dryly commented.

"And he didn't give us much time to clean up," Hayden deadpanned.

"That's one way to put it," Nora remarked.

Looking at them, Abi asked, "What do you think happened to Jacob and Emma?"

"Probably nothing. Hopefully," Dylan answered.

"When has 'probably nothing' happened to any of us all night, Dylan?" Hayden remarked. He just shrugged.

"I mean, should we go find them? Warn them?" Abi pressed.

"If either of them found Max as a werewolf and got out of there alive, then they probably know there's monsters running around tonight," Nora pointed out, voice gentle but firm.

"But—"

"I think the safest thing—the most responsible thing—is to try and get help," Kaitlyn decided.

Nora nodded. "I agree. We don't split up anymore."

"Thirded," Hayden commented.

"Right. And then we can come back for them," Dylan said.

"Should we come back for Emma though?" Nora asked.

Hayden stared at her. "I can't tell if you're joking or not, Nor."

Nora just shrugged.

"And Nick and Sarah," Abi interjected.

"And Nick and Sarah," Kaitlyn agreed. 

Neither Hayden or Nora spoke—for them, it went without saying they'd be back for Nick and Sarah—before Nora wrinkled her nose and held her axe slightly away from her. "God, I don't want to say this, but my girlfriend's werewolf blood smells. Like, what the fuck..."

"Well, good thing is Allison, Ryan and Laura will kill Mr. Hackett and she'll be back to normal along with Nick. Including her blood," Hayden reminded her.

"Yeah," Nora murmured, but she had a pensive frown on her face as the conversation ended in silence as they made their way for the door.

And to try and get out of here.

***

Before they could even try to fix the van, the five of them soon learned it was otherwise occupied.

"Wait!" Kaitlyn warned and put a hand out as they all stopped—not that Hayden hadn't needed to hear the warning. She'd heard the van creaking.

Hayden's blood chilled. Something was in there.

"What?" Dylan asked, nervousness edging his tone as the van rocked again. Exchanging a look between them, Kaitlyn and Nora crept forward while Hayden lingered behind, knife raised and ready to stab if whatever was in there came roaring out.

"Is there... is there something in there?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know," Kaitlyn replied.

"Given the way that van's shaking, something is definitely in there, Kait," Hayden pointed out, shifting slightly in front of Abi to protect her. Hayden didn't know how she was still standing on her ankle, but aside from Dylan she was the most vulnerable of them all right now.

The van shook again and they all took a collective step back, Dylan questioning, "What is it? I..."

He trailed off as Nora clutched her axe tighter and whispered, "It better not be another fucking werewolf. That's all we need right now."

Hayden agreed with that, as she silently wondered, If it is... could it be Nick or Sarah in there?

Looking at the van, Kaitlyn called out, "Jacob? Emma?"

No response as the van continued to rock even more. Hayden's heart seized in her throat. If that was Jacob or Emma or both of them... then that meant they were fine in the van. Even if the implications of it shaking made Hayden want to hurl.

"Are they...?" Dylan said, the implication heavy and making Hayden want to vomit even more. Not that she was against it—just because she didn't like doing it didn't mean it should be something to be shameful of—but did they have to do it in the van? 

"I swear, if they've found each other and have just been screwing around in there for the past couple of hours while we've been trying to stay alive..." Nora growled, lifting the axe threateningly. Hayden lowered it a second later—the last thing they needed was for Jacob and Emma to think there was an axe-murderer in camp if they saw Nora's bloody axe.

As they looked at the van, Dylan moved toward it as he asked, "Should I open it up?"

Hayden stared at her best friend like he lost his mind. "Do you have a death wish, Dylan?"

Dylan just shrugged. Hayden wondered why they were friends again.

"Your funeral, buddy," Kaitlyn said, her only response to Dylan's insane idea.

Still, he followed through with it, moving to the door and opening it—

And fell to the ground as something large and furry shoved him back, growling.

"DYLAN!" Hayden yelled, running to his side and stabbing the werewolf in the arm. It yelped in pain from the knife as Hayden realised, in her run, the bracelet had fallen off.

"Shit," she hissed as she backed away, right as the werewolf got out of the van, snarling. Abi screamed and bolted, the werewolf giving chase before Kaitlyn shot it. Blood sprayed out as the werewolf fell before it twisted around, growling at them. As it did, Hayden saw Abi open the door to the storm shelter and get inside, the doors swinging close behind her while Nora ran in what Hayden assumed was toward the storm shelter.

But before Hayden could yell that they follow in Abi and Nora's footsteps, the werewolf had turned back to her, Kaitlyn and Dylan, leaping onto the van's roof, growling as it stood up, the torch on the shotgun lighting up blood-matted, light grey fur covering its lean body, a twitching tail, predatory yellow eyes with no trace of humanity, and a snarl on its lupine face.

"Bring it on, asshole!" Kaitlyn shouted, raising the shotgun at the werewolf as she stood in front of Hayden and Dylan. 

"Come on, motherfucker! You want some? Come get some!" Hayden screamed, brandishing the knife at the werewolf as she glared at it.

The werewolf snarled, hunching down as it prepared to lunge at them. But before it could, Kaitlyn fired the gun, the bullet shell striking the werewolf in the shoulder.

The werewolf roared in pain and toppled over the side of the van.

Exchanging looks, Hayden, Kaitlyn and Dylan crept closer to the van as the werewolf stalked out around it, a growl that sounded furious in its mouth. Again, Kaitlyn fired at it, sending it shuffling away and onto higher ground. Hayden stared at it, wondering if she should find the bracelet or charge and stab it again.

The decision was made when something landed in front of Kaitlyn—the empty bullet shell. And as it did, Hayden saw the bracelet.

Scooping it up, she put it back in the shell and shoved it into Kaitlyn's hands as they backed up and Dylan yelled, "Kaitlyn! The silver! Use the silver shell!"

The werewolf snarled, looking ready to attack them again.

"What if it's Nick? Or Sarah?" Kaitlyn asked. 

Hayden's blood froze.

Suddenly, she regretted not having the silver bracelet wrapped around her knife a lot less now.

"What if it isn't!" Dylan argued.

"We can't take that chance, Dylan!" Hayden shrieked. 

The werewolf stalked closer before roaring and charging at them. Hayden froze as she stared at it now stalking toward them, gripping the knife tighter and knowing she had to do something, it might not be silver but if it was Nick or Sarah then it meant she wasn't killing them, but what if it was and oh God, she was going to die, she was going to die!

A gunshot pierced her panicked, adrenaline-rushed thoughts as Hayden stared at the werewolf hunched over before it ran away, disappearing into the woods with a howl.

It ran away. That meant Kaitlyn hadn't used the silver.

Hayden's shoulders relaxed just a fraction as Kaitlyn handed her the silver shell, upending it so the bracelet could slide out.

"Thanks," Hayden mumbled as she slipped the bracelet into her pocket instead of keeping it around the knife. "For both the silver and..."

For not taking that shot. For not killing the werewolf, not when it could be Sarah.

Not when it could be Nick.

Kaitlyn only nodded before she, Hayden and Dylan walked toward the van, Kaitlyn making a beeline straight for the hood as she propped the gun against the vehicle and popped the hood, before looking around to see what was wrong with it and fiddling with it.

After fiddling with it, Kaitlyn slammed the hood down and announced, "Okay."

"Can you fix it?" Dylan asked.

"Are we getting out of here?" Hayden questioned a heartbeat later.

"No," Kaitlyn answered.

"Oh," Dylan and Hayden said in unison before Dylan looked at her and said, "Jinx."

"You do know I have a knife right now, right?" Hayden responded, shaking the knife as she looked at Dylan pointedly.

He got the hint about the joke as Kaitlyn explained, "Not without some parts. Specifically a rotor arm. There's a scrapyard up the road."

"So you can fix it?" Dylan asked.

"I think that's what's she saying, Dyl," Hayden told him flatly before she looked at Kaitlyn and asked, "You ca, right?"

"Well, no promises but there's hope—that's where we gonna find it," Kaitlyn answered.

Hayden and Dylan looked at each other, silently communicating for a nanosecond before looking back to Kaitlyn as Dylan said, "That sounds like a longshot."

"Yeah, how can we be sure the scrapyard will have a rotor arm?" Hayden questioned, resisting the urge to fold her arms with her injured left arm and her right hand holding a knife and not willing to stab herself.

"Got something better to do?" Kaitlyn shot back.

Again, Dylan and Hayden communicated with each other silently before Dylan answered unsurely, "Not die?"

"Survive the night with our lives intact or not get bitten and cursed as well?" Hayden responded.

"Yeah, I'd like that too, by getting the hell out of here," Kaitlyn said.

"Okay, well. just because you're using 'logic' to 'make sense' doesn't mean I'm totally into it," Dylan argued. "Hayden isn't either. Right, Hay?"

Hayden bit her lip, before sighing and turning to Kaitlyn. "How far is the scrapyard from here?"

"Hay—" Dylan tried to say, but Kaitlyn cut him off, "A couple miles away from here. Maybe a hour or so of walking."

"Okay," Hayden said.

"Hayden, you can't seriously be agreeing to this," Dylan said, looking at her.

"Do we have any better options?" Hayden argued, turning to him as she rested her hand on her hip, taking advantage of being nearly as tall as Nick—and therefore nearly as tall as Dylan—to look him square in the eye as she continued, "It's a longshot, sure but it's the only option we have unless we want to continue trying to survive the night and avoid dying or getting bitten. And I think we can both personally agree fixing the van and getting out of here sounds better than that."

Dylan winced at the reminder of his bite and his near fate of also turning into a werewolf if his hand hadn't been chopped off and of Hayden's scratches as she added, "Besides, if we get out of here, at least we get some proper medical help for my arm and your arm, and Abi's ankle."

That seemed to convince Dylan as Kaitlyn's eyes widened with realisation as she asked, "Wait, what about Abi?"

Dylan and Hayden looked at each other, engaging once more in silent communication, before Dylan looked at the storm shelter and said, "She'll be safer in the storm shelter. We don't all have to go."

"Agreed," Kaitlyn replied.

Hayden nodded. "Same with Nora—she'll be safe in there too."

Kaitlyn frowned. "Where is Nora?"

"I thought she..." Hayden said, before freezing as the memory of the fight with the werewolf came back better without the adrenaline clouding it—that, instead of running into the storm shelter, Nora had run in the opposite direction.

Into the woods.

"Oh fuck. Fuck," Hayden cursed  as Dylan swore, "Oh shit," and Kaitlyn looked horrified as the realisation slammed into them—that during the fight, Nora had run into the woods and hadn't come back. Either because she thought the werewolf was still here, or it had killed her, or...

Or she'd been bitten.

Swallowing back her fear for Nora, Hayden wrangled her calmness back into place and said, "We can't worry about that now. We need to focus on getting that rotor arm and get out of here."

"Hayden's right. Nora's tough. If anyone can survive the woods with werewolves about, it would be her," Kaitlyn agreed. "We have to focus on one problem at a time. Nora will come back, and she'd probably join Abi in the storm shelter. If she does, then they'll both be safe until we come back."

Hayden nodded as Dylan still looked unsure, but didn't argue.

With the plan now made, Kaitlyn and Hayden headed to the storm shelter, gun and knife in hand, as Kaitlyn told Abi, "Abi? We're going to the scrapyard to try and find anything that can help us get the hell out of here."

"Uhh... okay. Are you sure?" came Abi's muffled voice through the doors.

"It's fine. You stay here. You're safe in the storm shelter," Kaitlyn told her.

"Until we get back, do not come back out or open it," Hayden instructed her, before she amended, "Unless it's Nora."

"What do you mean? Isn't she with you?"

"No—we think she ran off into the woods during the fight," Kaitlyn explained.

"Oh God..." Abi breathed, sounding terrified for her friend.

"Abi? Hey, Abi, don't panic. I know that's a shitty thing to say, but please don't panic," Hayden told her. "She's probably fine—she's Nora. She's probably on her way back here. If she comes back, then let her in."

"What if she's bitten?"

Kaitlyn and Hayden exchanged looks before Kaitlyn said, "Ask her, before you open the doors. If she isn't, then let her in."

"After she's in, keep the doors closed until we're back," Hayden ordered. 

Abi was quiet, before she said, "You be careful."

"We will," Kaitlyn assured her.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours," Hayden told Abi as she and Kaitlyn walked away and rejoined with Dylan, before they turned and headed into the woods.

Right down the path leading to the scrapyard—and their chance at getting out of here for good.

***

Action I promised, and action you are delivered!

I really loved writing the werewolf!Emma fight scene!! It was so fun to write it (I love writing action scenes) And Hayden got her chance to use her knife!! Trust me, she's gonna use it plenty more in the future >:)

And yeah, Hayden's not just angry, but keeping a cool head and determined to keep doing so! Also, I loved writing hers and Nora's conversation—it was fun. And Nora making the mention of the werewolf's blood smell... that is gonna be important >:)

And Hayden's going to the scrapyard!! I can't wait to write her scenes in the scrapyard—it's gonna be so fun. And yes, Nora's in the woods!! But will she get out alive and still human?? >:)

Next chapter should be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!