Chapter 4: Chapter 4- The Big Bad Wolf

A low growl escaped from the mouth of the mutated wolf. He’d been separated from the rest of his pack for days. He couldn’t even remember the last time that he’d eaten. It was slim pickings all the way out in the middle of nowhere. But it looked like his luck was finally turning around. The heavy rain from the night before had made it difficult, but he’d managed to follow a scent all the way to his next meal. Better yet, he was getting two meals for the price of one.

The wirewolf surveyed the dishes laid out in front of him. He wished that the male human was a bit bigger, but he seemed to have a good amount of muscle on his bones. The fierce look on his face and the bladed weapon that he held in his hand might be a problem though. It felt like the human could strike out at any moment. He never broke eye contact with the wolf.

Is this jabroni mean mugging me? Who does he think he is? Doesn’t he know that I’m the top dog around here? The wolf thought.

This wolf didn’t tolerate fools trying to disrespect him, especially not on his turf. He was about to open up a can of whoop-ass and show that punk who really ran these streets when the other human caught his eye. She had one of those metal devices that humans used to fire projectiles, but she wasn’t aiming it properly. Her legs were shaking. Her face was pale. 

He could practically taste the woman’s fear. And fear was his favorite condiment. The wolf decided that the male human could wait. When it came to food, he wasn’t the type to save the best for last. He licked his lips. It was time for some fine dining. 

Gia’s heart was pounding so hard that she thought it might pop out of her chest. “I don’t like the way that thing is looking at me.” 

“Just don’t make any sudden moves. We don’t want to set it off,” Lucas said softly. 

The wolf put one paw forward and Gia stumbled backward, landing on her butt. With an ear-splitting growl, the wolf pounced on the terrified Peace Officer. His high-voltage fangs were inches away from her throat when something slammed into the side of his head, knocking him off course. 

Blood gushed out of the wolf’s face like a geyser. His vision in his left eye was completely gone. There was a huge gash in his face where his left eye used to be. The dazed wolf put a white paw up to the red river flowing from his face.

What just happened?! Did something cut my eye? Why can’t I see? Am I blind?! The wolf thought.

He turned to the left just in time to see Lucas getting ready to swing his machete at his head again. The wolf charged forward and rammed into Lucas’ chest. Lucas doubled over in pain but managed to keep himself upright. He jumped back as the wolf swiped at him with electrified claws. One of the claws grazed the tip of his machete for a split second and sent a bolt of pain shooting up Lucas’s arm. He yelped and stopped the machete.

Metal is a conductor, dumbass. Rookie mistake, Lucas thought. Speaking of rookies…

“Hey, Roach! I could really use some help here!” He said he dodged another blow from the furious beast. 

Gia was still lying on the ground, petrified. She stared straight ahead, oblivious to the battle raging right next to her. The sight of the wolf almost chomping down on her neck had left her in a state of shock. 

Shit, this is bad, Lucas thought.

The wirewolf was badly injured from the gash in his eye, but he seemed to be growing stronger instead of weaker. He lashed out wildly, desperate to pay back the pain he was experiencing tenfold. It took everything Lucas had to avoid the barrage of claws and fangs. He started to reach for the revolver at his waist and stopped at the last second. The wolf was way too close to him. If the electrified claws hit his gun, he’d be fried to a crisp. He grabbed a stone from the ground and bashed it into the wirewolf’s good eye. The wolf growled and swung its huge paws blindly, hoping to land a random strike on Lucas. 

Luck wasn’t on the wolf’s side. Lucas bobbed and weaved between the blows like a professional dancer before doing a back handspring to put some distance between the two of them. He backed up and felt a tree behind him. Gia lay at his feet, still stunned. The wirewolf was blinking his remaining eye and appeared to be regaining his sight. Lucas swore under his breath. They were cornered.

Lucas clutched his bleeding chest and looked down at Gia. “Come on, Bellini! Stand and fight! Are you just gonna let things end like this?” 

Tears streamed down Gia’s face as the wirewolf began to regain sight in his remaining eye and advance towards them. “I-I can’t. This is my first time seeing a mutant up close.”

This just keeps getting better and better, Lucas thought, suppressing the urge to facepalm.

“You’ve got to be kidding m- You know, what? That doesn’t matter. If you don’t wanna end up puppy chow, then you need to get your ass up and do something! Now!” Lucas said. “Show me what you’re made of!”

Gia wiped the tears from her face and picked herself up. The wolf’s bloodstained mouth was contorted into such a horrible grimace that he was beginning to look more like a demon. He was beyond furious that he had to work so hard for this meal. Gia closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she opened them, her bright hazel eyes were brimming with resolve.

She grabbed her pistol and fired three bullets at the wirewolf. The beast let out a thunderous howl, releasing sparks of electricity from his mouth at the same time. Lucas’ hands shot up to cover his ears from the deafening cry and he saw Gia do the same. His brow furrowed as he saw Gia’s eyes widen in horror. He turned to see what she was looking at and his face soon mirrored hers. The wolf was using the bolts of electricity shooting out of his mouth to keep the bullets suspended in midair. It was like something out of a schlocky sci-fi novel.

Gia was dumbfounded. “The wolf has electromagnetism?!”

“I’ve heard rumors about wirewolves, but I never believed that they were real,” Lucas said. “This is insane!”

“Did you happen to hear any advice on how to deal with one of these things?” Gia asked hopefully.

“Yeah. Run like hell.”

“Very helpful. Thanks.”

Lucas winked. “Don’t mention it.”

A bead of sweat rolled down Gia’s face. “Wait, what’s it doing now?”

The wolf’s eyes were closed and he’d dug his claws into the ground. Veins popped out on his face as he entered a state of deep concentration. An ominous feeling hung in the air. The wolf slowly lifted one paw into the air. Suddenly Lucas realized what the beast was trying to do.

“Hit the deck!” He said, tackling Gia. 

Unfortunately, he reacted just a second too slowly. The wolf let out another booming howl and sent the bullets flying right back at the two travelers. One of them grazed Gia’s arm as she and Lucas hit the ground. She cried out in agony.

Lucas grabbed her by her good arm and pulled her back up. “Don’t be a baby. Let’s go!”

Gia winced. “Just give me a second, okay?”

“I know you’re hurting, but we don’t have time to sit around. It looks like that electromagnetic wave took a lot out of our furry friend over there. I say we get the hell out of here before he recovers.”

A glance at the wolf confirmed Lucas’ theory. The wolf was panting heavily. He tried to run toward them and ended up stumbling. The vitality and rage that he’d displayed earlier were dissipating rapidly. Lucas threw the rock he’d been holding as hard as he could and hit the wolf in his remaining eye one more time. The beast whimpered. Gia nodded at Lucas and the pair took off into a full sprint toward their bikes. Lucas managed to grab his machete from the ground as they ran.

The wirewolf still couldn’t see, but he refused to let his prey escape. He tried to howl again, but this time it came out more like a bark. Sparks flew as he pulled his paw toward himself. Gia and Lucas were wheeling their bikes back to the highway as fast as they could when an unknown force stopped them in their tracks. 

Lucas jerked his bicycle but it stayed rooted firmly in place. “What the- My bike won’t move forward.”

“Me too. It feels like something is pulling it away from me,” Gia said.

They looked at each other and then looked at the furious six-foot-tall mutant behind them. “The wolf!” they said in unison.

Not only was the wolf pulling their bikes toward him, but he was also pulling other metal objects from their campsite in his direction. Pans, tins, and even their guns flew through the air before attaching themselves to the wolf’s paw

“Let go of your bike! The wirewolf is generating a magnetic field and trying to drag us back,” Gia said as she dropped her bike. It was yanked into the air before it could hit the ground.

Lucas let go of his bicycle and tried to run after her, but something tugged him back so hard that he almost slipped and fell. The strap that he used to carry his machete was digging into his chest so hard that it was cutting off circulation.

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My machete is made of metal. Duh. 

He quickly pulled the blade out of its sheath and was about to drop it when he was struck by a bolt of inspiration. A devious smile spread across the outlaw’s face. Gia realized that Lucas wasn’t running with her and turned around.

“What are you doing? Let’s go!” She motioned for him to follow her.

 Lucas shook his head. “I’m just trying something out. If I do this right then that overgrown poodle is history.”

He dug in his feet and leaned back as far as he could to counteract the strong tug of the electromagnetic wave. His shoes slowly slid across the grass, inching him closer and closer into the murderous embrace of the wirewolf with each passing second. Lucas had his arms extended away from his body with both hands around the handle of the machete. 

“Seriously, if you’re going to do something then you’d better do it now,” Gia said.
“Relax, I’ve got this,” Lucas said. A sharp tug from the wolf had him stumbling. 

 Gia sighed. She ran over to Lucas and threw her hands around his waist. Her added weight helped to slow Lucas down, but the wolf’s invisible lasso was still reeling them in.

“Thanks for the assist,” Lucas said.

“We’re in this together. I just hope this works,” Gia said through gritted teeth.

Gia continued to play the world’s strangest game of tug-of-war while Lucas shifted the position of his arms. He twisted the angle of the blade and lined it up so that it was pointing directly at the wolf’s head. Finally, he let go. Free from the magnetic attraction, he and Gia collapsed in a heap.

 Lucas’ machete zoomed toward the wirewolf like a homing missile. The blade impaled the wolf in the side of his torso just as he turned to dodge it. Blood and viscera splurted out of his body like drool from a baby’s mouth. A soft cry escaped from his lips. He staggered a few steps before collapsing onto the ground with a tremendous thud. A red pool formed underneath his massive body. Lucas and Gia waited a few moments to see if the beast would make another move, but it remained still. 

“Is it dead?” Gia finally said.
Lucas stood up and helped her back to her feet. “Looks pretty dead to me,” he said. “But I’m not in the mood to stick around and find out for sure. Let’s grab our stuff and hit the road.”

They darted over to the pile of metal objects strewn across the ground and began to pack everything up again. The duo gathered all their gear together in the blink of an eye, not wanting to chance an encounter with another mutant creature.

“Don’t forget your machete,” Gia said. It was still embedded deep within the wolf’s torso. The handle was the only part of it that was still visible.

“Good looking out,” Lucas said. He ambled over to the felled beast as quietly as he could in case it was still alive. Being this close to a creature that was trying to kill him not so long ago was unsettling, but there was no way he was going to leave his favorite blade behind. He gingerly placed one hand on the wolf’s blood-stained fur for leverage and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t feel a pulse. Lucas tugged at the machete. The blade remained firmly in place.

“What’s the hold-up?” Gia called.

“It’s stuck in there pretty good. Just give me a sec,” Lucas said. 

He yanked on the handle again, but it still refused to slide out. Lucas used his hand to press down harder on the wolf’s body while pulling as hard as he could with the other. The blade was slowly exiting the wound when Lucas noticed something strange. It felt like the wolf’s body was heating up and he could hear a faint noise coming from its chest.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump

No fucking way. Did this thing just restart its heart?!

Lucas gave one frenzied final pull and yanked out the machete. The wolf’s eyelid shot open and a piercing blue eye stared at him. Lucas practically tripped over himself running away before the mutant had a chance to attack him again.

The wirewolf let out a deep growl that sounded like an engine. Electricity flowed through his claws again for a second as he swiped at the wound in his side. He let out a pained howl and his fur stood on end. When he released his paw, all that remained of the wound was a smoking scar. The beast rose to his feet unsteadily.

“Electromagnetism, defibrillation, cauterization. Is there anything this wolf can’t do?” Gia said, dazed. 

“Yeah, die apparently,” Lucas said. “I’m fresh out of ideas on how to beat it.”

Gia surveyed the area around them. Her eyes landed on a small pouch peeking out of one of her bags. Gia picked it up and confirmed that it was the pouch of sugar that they’d used earlier in their coffee. She put a hand on Lucas’ shoulder.

“Spade, do you trust me?”
“Has any good conversation ever started with those words?” Lucas groaned. “Sure, I guess so. Why?”

Gia opened the drawstring on the pouch and held it tightly in her fist. “It’s my turn to try something crazy. But we’re going to have to work together.”

“I’ll get the wolf’s attention while you go for one of the guns. When I give the signal, fire at the wolf,” she said.

“We already tried to shoot it and it didn’t work, remember?” Lucas said.
Gia took a step toward the mutant wolf. “It’s going to work this time. I promise.”

Before Lucas had a chance to ask for further clarification, Gia took off into a sprint. 

“Over here, you dumb mutt!” She called to the wolf. “I heard your father was a pussy and your mother was a bitch!”

The wolf didn’t understand what she was saying, but he didn’t like the way she was saying it. He tried to run after her, but he’d lost so much blood that the best he could manage was a brisk walk. While the wolf was distracted, Lucas retrieved his revolver from the pile of equipment.

“I’ve got the gun!” Lucas said.

Gia pushed herself and started running faster. The wolf did the same. A large oak tree was directly in Gia’s path. She waited until the last second before making an abrupt ninety-degree turn and continuing her mad dash. The wolf slammed into the tree headfirst. He growled in pain and shook his head.

When he looked up, he saw that his prey had put some serious distance between them and was going back in the direction of her companion. He snarled and continued his pursuit. Gia whirled around and launched the pouch of sugar directly at the wolf’s snout. The particles of sugar dispersed into the air, causing him to sneeze. 

Sweat glistened off Gia’s face as she slid toward Lucas. “Shoot him now!”

The wirewolf saw the male human lift his weapon and aim it at him. Something close to a smirk appeared on the wolf’s lips as he got ready to howl again. 

These stupid humans never learn. It’s time to put their candy asses down for the count! He thought. 

Lucas’ finger gripped the trigger like a long-lost relative. A bullet cut through the air. What happened next is anyone’s guess. It’s possible that the velocity of the bullet generated enough thermal energy to ignite the sugar particles in the air. Some might argue that the ignition was caused by the sparks from the wirewolf’s high-voltage howl. But one thing was for certain; the result was a dust explosion that burned the wolf, inside and out, killing him instantly. The blast knocked the humans off their feet and echoed throughout the forest like a song on repeat. 

A smoldering corpse lay at the point of ignition, scorch marks and embers around it. Smoke wafted into the air making Lucas’ eyes water. His mouth began to water too. It smelled like barbeque. Gia grabbed her pistol from the ground and shot at the burning flesh of the wirewolf until she ran out of bullets.

“Just making sure it’s really dead this time,” she said sheepishly. 

Lucas stared at the small woman who had orchestrated the fiery carnage before them. “Remind me not to get on your bad side. Again.”

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