Chapter Twenty-Six: Predator And Prey

(The Belly Of The Beast, Part 5)

***

Nora's heart hadn't stopped pounding the moment she charged into the woods and kept running.

In hindsight, she knew that was a stupid idea—God, if this was a horror movie she'd be laughing at herself for making such a stupid decision—but when that werewolf had charged... Nora hadn't been thinking. She'd just run into the woods to try and get away before she was ripped apart.

A distant howl sounded, making Nora's heartbeat stutter as she came to a stop, whirling around as she clutched her axe tightly, ignoring the rank smell wafting off from the blood staining it, straining her eyes to search the shadows for any sign of a werewolf leaping out to kill her.

It could try.

But nothing appeared out of the shadows as the night stilled around her, Nora's wild heartbeat the only frenetic thing in the woods.

Panting heavily, Nora lowered her arms, feeling everything inside her shake with fear and adrenaline as she stood there in the woods alone, with only an axe that had a silver bracelet to really give her a sliver of a chance.

And breaking the rule she'd been preaching ever since Jacob returned to their group before leaving again, before the nightmare started.

"Fuck," Nora breathed, sucking in air as she hunched over and pushed back her hair slipping over her shoulder. "Way to go, Nora. Run into the woods. Totally won't get you killed at all."

Letting out another pant, Nora straightened up as she looked around, one hand still around the axe. She needed to find her way back to the others—especially if the wildlife decided to say hi again.

Turning in what she hoped was the way she'd come back from, Nora marched back, flinching at every noise, every movement, every snapped twig and rustling bush. The full moon lit up her path somewhat so she wasn't stumbling blind, and yet Nora would feel a lot better when she was out of the woods and with the others. That, maybe, Kaitlyn fixed the van and they would all get out of here.

As she walked, the moonlight caught the silver bracelet wound around the axe's blade, glinting softly against the blood. Nora looked at it, her heart lurching.

Sarah... was she okay? Nora knew now she hadn't killed her—that nothing except silver could kill her—and she was probably the safest of them all now that she had turned along with Nick, but that didn't mean Nora didn't worry, didn't mean her heart was consumed by guilt for striking against her girlfriend even though she told Nora to do it, that doing it would save her life as was quickly proven when she'd transformed and almost clawed Nora's face off. That she was filled with rage and the desire to use her silver-wrapped axe to chop the head off the werewolf that bit her girlfriend and free her and Nick in the process and get Sarah back to her.

That some part of her hoped to see her in the woods, to know she wasn't hurt or dead until she was human again and Nora could have her back again.

As she walked, Sarah's last words before she turned ran through Nora's mind, making her heart stutter and her throat choke up and tears burn behind her eyes.

I love you. Whatever happens next, whatever I become, I need you to know... it can't take away how much I love you, Nora Finch.

"I love you too," Nora whispered now through her grief-choked throat, voice scraped raw with unshed tears. "I love you so much, Sarah Coleman. I think I loved you forever, before I even knew I loved you. And I love you even... even with what you become. And that I will bring you back. I'll save you, Sarah. I'll make sure you are saved."

Letting out a shaky breath, Nora pushed onward, wiping the tears away that blurred her vision.

When she did, there was an old woman's contorted face in front of her.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Nora screamed, swinging the axe on reflex—and hitting nothing  but the air.

The woman was gone.

"What the fuck?" Nora breathed, staring at where the woman had been just seconds before. What had that been? What had she seen?

She needed to get out of these woods. Right now.

Nora

Nora froze at hearing the voice.

My boy... they took everything from us... Silas... my boy...

Nora was rigid, eyes looking everywhere as she clutched the axe tightly, muttering, "You are getting out of the woods, Nora. You do not follow creepy voices. That is how you get killed. Just get the fuck out of these woods."

With that serving as grim motivation, Nora pushed forward, wrinkling her nose as the horrid stench from the blood hit her again. God, it was awful. Why did werewolves have such vile-smelling blood anyway?

And yet, something about it was familiar...

A growl cut off her thoughts.

Nora froze, holding the axe tight as the growling echoed in her ears. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest as she looked around wildly, fear and adrenaline spiking in intervals, trying to guess where the werewolf would come from, when she should swing her axe or if she should just bolt for it, whatever would get her out of this alive and, hopefully, without getting bitten and joining Nick and Sarah as a werewolf or Dylan in having a limp chopped off to prevent that—especially if she was bitten on her neck. Nora didn't think she'd survive an amputation if that happened.

She was getting side-tracked. She had to be focused, like she'd been when she was rock-climbing or focusing on an engineering project. She had to be focused.

That was the difference between staying alive and dying.

Another growl sounded, before dying away.

Then, something exploded from the bushes and tackled Nora to the ground.

The smell hit her first, so horrible that Nora nearly gagged on it if she wasn't focused on keeping those snapping teeth away from her as she stared into red eyes against a white, furry wolfish face. Strong, heavy hands had her shoulders pinned as Nora struggled, trying to avoid being bitten or killed as those teeth snapped alarmingly close to her face before, with an adrenaline-fuelled burst of strength, Nora jammed the handle of her axe in the werewolf's maw.

The werewolf gagged, red eyes—why did it have red eyes instead of yellow?—boring into her as it lurched up and lifted its clawed hands to pull the axe free—allowing Nora to clock it in the side of its face and pull her knees to her chest and kick forward into its torso.

The unexpected move and momentum made the werewolf topple, axe still in its mouth as Nora wrenched it free, taking a few teeth with it as the werewolf roared in pain and rage. Nora let herself recover and pluck the teeth out before she turned and ran into the woods—this time, definitely knowing a werewolf was after her.

The woods blurred around her as Nora ran, heart pounding in her chest as the werewolf roared and growled, hearing its footsteps right behind her, feel its hot breath on the back of her neck. That just pushed Nora to run faster despite her screaming muscles, casting one look back to see the white-furred werewolf relentlessly pursuing her, new teeth already replacing the ones she pulled out.

"Oh come on!" she yelled as she turned back and kept running, before she came to a ditch.

Nora didn't hesitate to slide down it with a cascade of rocks, landing on her feet and resume running, hearing the werewolf jump down and give chase to her again as Nora ducked and ran between the trees, lungs heaving and legs burning until she came to a tree.

Without hesitating—and checking again there was no teeth on it and wiping the werewolf slobber on it away with her shirt—Nora clamped the wooden handle in her mouth and shimmied up the tree, grabbing the lowest hanging branch and hauling herself up, muscles honed by years of climbing flexing as muscle memory took over, her hands and feet finding branches and handholds and footholds in the bark's surface.

When she was a few metres up and on a sturdy branch, Nora took the axe out as she leaned against the trunk, panting heavily. Sweat gleamed on her skin, sticking her tank top and strands of her hair to her skin as below her, the werewolf ran to her tree, sniffing around before roaring in rage, pacing around it as if it knew she was up there—and given how it looked at the tree, it might start climbing up to make sure.

Nora's mouth went dry. There was no way she could fight off the werewolf—not without getting killed in the process. There had to be a way out of this...

As if the universe was hating her, the wind picked up, wafting the blood's smell to her—and her scent to the werewolf as it snarled in what sounded like triumph before getting ready to climb.

Nora coughed on the smell, waving it away. God, werewolf's blood was almost as foul as—

Nora froze.

The smell. That's why it was so familiar. It was the exact same smell as the smell that was in that vial she and Abi had found. A vial full of werewolf's blood. And the blood thrown on Jacob, Kaitlyn and Hayden... that was werewolf's blood too. But why would the hunter try to smear werewolf's blood all over them?

Unless...

A crazy idea came to Nora's head. An idea that, if it didn't work, meant she was dead or getting bitten.

But if she didn't do it, then she was dead as soon as the werewolf climbed the tree to where she was hiding. Better go down fighting than be a sitting duck.

And anyway, she was a final girl. Time to prove that once for and all.

Gripping the axe with one hand, Nora took off the bracelet and shoved it in her shorts pocket before she put the axe back in her teeth.

Then, before she had any time to rethink, Nora leapt from the tree and landed on the werewolf's head.

The werewolf howled in shock and confusion as Nora pulled the axe free and, raising it high as the moonlight lit her dull steel blade silver, she lowered it down with all her strength into the werewolf's back.

Blood spurted out like a geyser, showering her arms, her face, her axe, and the werewolf's back in foul-smelling red. The werewolf howled in pain as it staggered around, trying to dislodge her, but Nora wasn't done. That wasn't enough—for her plan to work, she needed to strike the werewolf more. She needed to be covered.

She needed to be completely doused in red.

Wrenching the axe free and letting out another geyser of red, Nora swung the axe again, showering more blood over her and the werewolf, again and again in the werewolf's back until the front of her entire upper body and her thighs were soaked in red. But that wasn't enough, as she gave one more strike, severing the werewolf's spine.

The werewolf howled and fell, temporarily paralysed— but not for long, as the healing had already kicked in. Nora took advantage of that, hacking into the werewolf's chest and sides over and over, making new cuts when her old ones healed over, twisting and turning and hunching over, hair thrown over her shoulder. Blood hazed her vision red, erupting around her, so much blood she was surprised the woods didn't flood with it.

When Nora finally stopped, she was completely soaked in werewolf's blood, red covering her from every inch, red also soaking the white werewolf as it stood up, the paralysis healed as it roared in fury, all the wounds Nora had left closing up until only the blood gave a clue of the single-monster massacre she delivered.

Pressing herself against the trunk, Nora waited as the wolf snarled and lunged for her, wondering if she got it wrong, if she wasted so much time getting herself covered in blood and risk getting bitten and killed instead of running away only to die now—

Only for the werewolf to stop in front of her, confusion in its eyes as it sniffed, growling its confusion and frustration as Nora knew it could see her—it could see she was human, she was prey—but she didn't smell human.

She smelled more werewolf than human thanks to the blood she'd made sure would drench her from head to toe, the vile blood masking her scent, the cornerstone of her insane plan.

And from the look on the werewolf's face, it worked.

But Nora didn't move, didn't even breathe as the werewolf kept sniffing her before, with a frustrated howl, it turned and ran away. Leaving Nora alive and covered in blood.

At that, Nora slid down to the floor, not believing she was still alive. That it had actually worked. She'd gotten out in one piece and without a bite or even a scratch.

She was alive.

And now, she had to get out of here, before she pushed her luck—and the limits of the werewolf's blood hiding her scent—too far.

Getting to her feet and picking up the axe, Nora made to leave—when she saw something that made her freeze.

There, a few metres away, was a werewolf. It's pale grey fur gleamed silver in the midnight as its yellow eyes were locked on her, sniffing the air. One hand was lifted, letting Nora see something encircling the wrist—a burn in the shape of a chain-link bracelet. A silver chain-link bracelet.

"Sarah?" she breathed.

Sarah's ears twitched, looking at her, before she growled and ran away, a howl following her.

At the sight of her—that she'd narrowly avoided having to run her axe into her girlfriend again—Nora turned away, seeing it as a sign—she had to get out of here and back to the lodge. Back to the others.

With a bloody axe in hand, a bracelet in her pocket and blood still coating her like a second skin, Nora turned in what she assumed was the right way to camp and bolted.

And didn't stop.

***

The Hacketts: Have been searching for Silas to kill him for six years

Nora: Is accidentally found by Silas and then completely demolishes him with an ordinary steel axe and blood-trickery before getting the fuck out of there

But seriously, I LOVED writing this chapter!! I had a totally different plan for Nora, but I really, REALLY enjoyed changing it into this!! She's proving how final girl she is and eating. It. UP!

But yeah, Nora had a breakdown over Sarah/full of determination to have her be saved before she heard Eliza and then ran into Silas before fighting back, getting away and finally winning against him by realising what the smell reminded her of and making that connection that werewolf's blood can help in staying alive!! And then proving how utter badass she is and just going to town on Silas and get herself drenched—and when I say drenched, I mean DRENCHED—in werewolf blood and basically camouflaging herself scent-wise and confusing Silas enough that he leaves. Nora was badass and I loved writing it so much!!! (like, the image of Nora first leaping onto Silas and then just hacking Silas again and again just to cover up her scent and making sure the silver was gone so he'd be alive to make sure her plan worked is just such a cool, badass image in my head)

And yeah, she and Sarah crossed paths before Sarah left her alone since Silas' blood masked Nora's scent. Then she booked it out of there and back to the lodge, where, let's just say, Abi is gonna get a horrifying surprise XD

Also, if she had used the silver, she probably would have cured everyone—including Sarah—right there and then, but Nora doesn't know the Hackett's Quarry lore and still thinks Chris was responsible, so she didn't. Still—we gotta love our axe-wielding, bloodstained queen >:)

Next chapter should be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!