The Wolves of Woodsboro - Chapter II
HUMAN
characters: Sam Carpenter, Billy Loomis, & Danny Brackett
Nesting birds jumped from the trees and scurrying nocturnal creatures scattered into the shadows’ depths at the sound of a predator rushing through the forest.
Sam’s eyes burned as she sprinted blind, racing with long strides and no concern for her surroundings. She would have thought she’d grown used to this feeling by now, but it seemed enhanced tonight.
It was everyone she had ever come into contact with, since she met Richie. Since the nightmare was set in motion. Since her life was bound by the truth. Since time was set to fire and purpose was defined as vengeance.
Voices screamed at her, all that she could hear around the blood roaring in her ears. Words she had never wanted to hear again. Mixed words and voices that were distinguishable but threatening at the same time.
‘ “Tara was attacked.” ’ Wes.
‘ “Sam… I was so scared.” ’ Tara.
‘ “Mmm. Antipsychotics aren’t working as well as they used to, are they?” ’ Billy.
Her tongue slid against her fangs with each reflex of her lungs.
‘ “I remember you too… and all the trouble you used to cause your family.” ’ Judy.
‘ “Sam… Get the fuck out!” ’ Tara.
‘ “You wanna know why, Sam? Maybe it’s because you’re a selfish bitch who can’t even make a decision to save the life of someone you love.” ’ Amber.
Her claws dug deeper into the earth with every stride.
‘ “You’re in Stu Macher’s house, where your dad and Stu killed everyone. Someone planned to get you there. You need to get the fuck out, Sam!” ’ Sidney.
‘ “Wasn’t that hard for me to find you in Modesto. It wasn’t that hard for me to fuck you either. But I guess being a sexually available woman is supposed to be empowering these days.” ’ Richie.
A deep snarl came from her throat as she cursed herself, shaking her head of the branches that slapped her muzzle as she blindly raced past them.
‘ “Sam. Are you fucking kidding me? You’re stalking me now?” ’ Tara.
‘ “You guys should stay away from her. She knows what she did!” ’ Stranger.
‘ “Unstable.” “Born-killer.” ’ Gale.
Cuts and stabs tormented her body and ripped the fur from her skin as she tore through shrubbery and disheveled paths.
‘ “Then don’t trust anyone. Not your friends. Not me. Not anyone.” ’ Danny.
‘ “Come on, Sam, you got to be excited to get our murder on again. Together. Billy and Sam. Team Loomis.” ’ Billy.
‘ “No, you’re gonna die, Samantha! Choking on your own blood, while I hack up your sister.” ’ Quinn.
Savage barking intertwined her snarls as she pushed harder, the smell of her own blood from her scarred flanks and blistered pads just fueling her more. The cool colors of the woods and night blended into red. All shades of red, the kinds that she had seen in liquid form come from another being’s body. Friends, family, enemies, allies. Mid-20s and already desensitized to the crimson flood that was a one-way ticket to life or death. It thrilled her. There was an inner lust that drove her mad when the hunt was on. And that was the biggest struggle she fought herself on.
Was she a human or a wolf?
‘ “This was your grandmother’s, Sam. Nancy Loomis. Really runs in your fucking family, doesn’t it?” ’ Ethan.
‘ “And you’re a killer. Just like your father.” ’ Wayne.
‘ “Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! She’s finally starting to get it!” ’ Ethan.
The wolf was outrunning by far. Her throat ripped deep within from another infuriated snarl that echoed off the trees.
‘ “That I knew you had to fucking die! You had to be punished!” ’ Wayne.
‘ “There she is. There’s the fucking killer.” ’ Quinn.
‘ “Sam. Let me go.” ’ Tara.
‘ “Yeah, let her go, Sam, come on!” ’ Ethan.
‘ “Now you know the truth, huh? Murder’s in your blood!” ’ Wayne.
‘ “Legacy doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.” ’ Kirby.
Samantha broke out of the overcast of trees and out into the open air. Her paws hit the hard, still-warm concrete of a road, and the sudden change of pace had her freezing in the moment. The voices stopped, and she was whipped back into reality.
A bright light blasted her profile from the left, followed by the bellowing of a car horn. Her ears erected as she looked over to find a white glow blind her and the heat wave of an engine brace her bristling coat.
The screeching of tires pierced her eardrums.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Everything she had just experienced as voices came back physically to play behind her eyes. Past, present, and future. Her life was a blur.
She anticipated pain, more pain than she had ever experienced, but instead, something strong and sharp grabbed her scruff and her body was yanked out of the light and into the shadows once more.
Jaws. That was what had her.
On the other side of the road, there was more forest, and in that one leap it took to get out of the danger of being crushed by a car, the she-wolf was released and thrown to the earth. The cuts she sustained from her mindless sprint through the first half of the woods pulled as the strength of her ‘savior’ sent her skidding through the collection of twigs, dirt, and dead leaves. But adrenaline was still rushing, leaving her shaking her head of the commotion and lifting it towards the figure that stood a good distance from her.
Golden eyes, identical to her own, was the only source of color around the gray-colored pelt the other possessed. Their lips were pulled back slightly into somewhat of a condescending smile, while the presentation of their erect ears and confident posture showed their entitled dominance.
Sam’s heart skipped a beat at the shock of who it was. The scent. The rugged tone through the canine vocals. The smug expression. The way those eyes led to darker ones portrayed in human form, the ones that always gleamed with bloodlust, ambition, and temptation.
“You should really watch where you’re going, baby girl.”
Was that supposed to be insulting? It sure sounded like it. The smile pulling at his muzzle made her push her shock of having him physically appear before her aside to pull her own lips back in a defensive growl. That little nickname, though typical of a parent to their daughter, was insulting and condescending to her and her reputation. Never said before by him, it definitely got under her skin.
However, her bristling fur didn’t faze him as he began to walk towards her. “Easy, now. I just saved your life,” he warned.
His daughter’s ears drew back with a soft growl, and she pushed herself to her paws with a grunt, “How are you even—”
“Real?” He finished her thought with a confident swish of his tail as he edged his snout towards her. “I’m not. To anyone but you and the dead , of course.”
She shook her pelt out, making sure to meet his eyes once she regained control of her train of thought. “Okay, well, what are you doing here?” As shocked as she was that he was able to physically appear to her and touch her like he was alive, she didn’t let it show. She played it cool.
Billy kept his stride sleek, beginning to circle her. “You’re impulsive, Sam,” he criticized, “You’re too emotional, and that’s what’s going to lead you to fail.” He studied her pelt, gently nipping at it to untangle dirt and debris from it. Of course, she flinched with sensitive winces, making him chuckle as she jerked her muzzle around when he rounded her hind end.
“Get to the point,” she snapped, irked by his judgmental antics.
He made it back to her front, dropping his tone to a much more serious tone. “You want to stop Ethan? You’ve gotta start making some decisions.” He faced her, golden eyes like plated pistols as his muzzle was only inches away from hers. “Talk to her. Tell her the truth.”
By ‘her’, he meant Tara and she knew it. History really did repeat itself. In the worst ways, of course. He was right. She was too distracted to deal with another killer, protect her family, and keep her secrets all at the same time. It was a recipe for self-sabotage. Self-destruction. “About what?” But she couldn’t jump to conclusions yet.
“That’s what you have to decide,” he answered, “About you. About me. About Ethan.” The ice in her gaze made him take a step back, showing her that he was not a threat. “I’m not your enemy here, Sam. I’m trying to help you.”
His actions spoke for his claim, which made her force her fur flat and lift her jaw in a subtle challenge. “Really?” If by helping, he meant barking orders in her head 24-damn-7, then that was a kind of help she had never heard of. “Because it feels like it’s just ‘ do this, do that. ’ Are you going to let me make my own decisions, or are you going to keep telling me how to make them?”
The gray wolf gave a low growl, “You wait for me to make them for you. Don’t you realize that?” She didn’t say anything, just shifted her weight after a moment of a failed attempt at coming up with a comeback. Now, he amped his harshness up. “This is your family we’re talking about. You hesitate too much, and without me, you’d already be far-up shit’s creek. You can’t wait for opportunities.” He then squared up to her, “Go out and take them.”
The late-night breeze ruffled their pelts and made the trees whisper in the tense silence of the pair of savage predators stalking the forest floor.
Samantha glanced at her paws, the torn skin from her figure stinging from the wind. She knew she couldn’t say much to defend herself at this point, because the truth was, she was still trying to get a handle on herself and this inner wolf she had been forced to coexist with. She heard Billy sigh, his growl gone and waiting for her to give him a response.
Once again… she was hesitating… wasting time and energy… just like he was on her back for.
“I…” Her voice had softened, low and quiet as she fought with what she should and shouldn’t say. “I just… I’m not sure how to handle all of this,” she eventually admitted, instantly cursing herself for expressing this kind of vulnerability in front of him. Yet, it was like her tongue had a mind of its own as she continued to spill, “The last time a killer was on the loose, Tara bit my head off. The time before that, she shut me out. How am I supposed to tell her that Ethan’s alive and looking for us, and that I’m part wild dog with barely any control over it?” She raised her eyes to her father. “And now I’m seeing you as more than a reflection and a voice in my head.”
He blinked at her. A neutral expression with a heavy sense of authority. A true alpha. “Prioritize.” It was simple really, but she made it so complicated. “Right now, all they need to know is that there’s another killer on the loose and hunting for you.” Oh, females were so emotional, having to make everything so much more than it needed to be. “The rest will come with time.”
As much as she hated to admit it, she was submissive to him. Very submissive. That frustrating truth had come on strong once she had gained the ability to transform, leading her to blame the wolf-pack hierarchy. She had sworn she didn’t want his help. Couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t live with it. But reality was, he had a very leveled head. Always sleek and composed: one of the heavy, notorious characteristics of a serial killer.
She was just the daughter of one. Many of the instincts ran in her blood, but that psychopathic ability did not. In most situations, anyway.
In order to do this right, she needed his help, and from the look in his eyes, she guessed he was waiting for her to ask him for it. “Will you help me?” She had to force it out, the words closing up her pharynx.
Her father gave a small smirk, the one he always gave when she made the right decision. He took a step back, the moonlight filtering through the trees to highlight his pelt like one would expect of a manifested deity. “Samantha, I can give you everything you’ll need to tear that motherfucker apart,” he answered, giving the same vibe as he had the last two times when a cold-blooded killer had stalked the streets in search of her and her sister. “I can train you into a mastermind of human and wolf. I can teach you how to control it. I can show you how to unlock your full potential and wield that power for the greater good.” His golden orbs darkened to an amber as he dipped his head temptingly. “But you have to trust me above all other things.” He had only looked at one other person this way before and that was Sidney, when he had tested her to tell him what he had to do to prove that he wasn’t a killer. But even as a canine, the same look, same mannerisms, and the same voice was there.
His pup stared at him, the temptation clearly setting in, begging for her to chase it down.
Her heart quickened, but why, she didn’t know. Maybe it was hope, maybe fear? Maybe it was anxiousness, or maybe it was the thrill of the hunt? Either way, she swallowed, wanting to take his word but also scared to.
This chase wouldn’t be easy, none of them ever were. Someone was going to get hurt, they always did. But as far as a lead went, he was her best shot.
Like usual, the house was dark with the exception of a lamp giving a soft glow from the living room as Sam slipped through the front door. Her head was pounding, and exhaustion pulled at every muscle in her body. She secured both locks on the door, before moving the small bench from the piano to its nocturnal place in a diagonal against the door and the neighboring wall, her paranoia still making her secure the doors every night without fail.
It was close to 2 AM, so it wasn’t as late as she typically stayed out, but it felt just as long. Her conversation with Billy played in her head the whole way home. Over and over and over again. Her head felt like it was about to explode, the throbbing was endless. Talking to him, anticipating talking to Tara, anticipating to then talk to the rest of the household, meeting him nightly to ‘train’, wondering where Ethan was and what he was planning…
It was so much to process, and it felt like a thousand worlds on her shoulders. She just wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything, even if it was only for a few short hours. But with how fast her mind was racing right now, she knew it wouldn’t be that easy.
She gave a tired sigh, wiping her face before running her fingers through her hair as she turned around to proceed into the living room. Some of the tension that swirled in her head luckily eased once she saw Danny get up from the sofa to meet her.
“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted with a small smile.
But instead of stopping before him, the she-wolf closed the remaining space between them by returning his greeting with an embrace. She wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head on his shoulder. And when she felt him stroke her hair, she tightened her hold in the security his warmth granted her.
It had been one hell-of-a-night.
Her sudden display of affection was a bit abnormal, but Danny didn’t question it as he held her close, her natural scent of coconut and soft musk overlaid by coniferous trees when he placed a gentle kiss on her head. “Your home earlier than usual,” his voice was barely above a whisper.
She just nodded, blinking at the shadows on the carpet. She stayed put for a moment longer before stepping back to meet him eye-to-eye. “Thank you for being patient with me. I know it’s not easy.” She knew she was damaging her relationship with him, slowly but surely. “And I’m sorry.” She would never be able to express that appreciation enough.
He had never tried to fix her, quit her, or slow her down. No matter how indifferent, or reckless, or careless she became, he never stopped loving her. And that was a hard pill for her to swallow, because who could ever love someone they would have to spend a lifetime studying, learning, and revisiting?
It was him. It just took hell and high water for her to find him.
And she was still going through hell and high water, but now she was taking him with her.
He blinked at her with the same look he’d given her countlessly, ever since he’d met her—the one that showed his attentiveness and concern, even though he didn’t know the depths of what she was saying. He had never pushed her to tell him her secrets or open-up more than she was ready to. But then, he went back to his conversation with Tara from earlier. Her words stung. A lot. However, he wasn’t a part of the tight-knit group they had tied-down in Woodsboro. He wasn’t Woodsboro . And his partner had told him that. Exactly. “It’s okay,” he replied.
“No, it’s not,” Samantha shook her head. She was too tired for her brain to actually come up with an explanation, so she just put together one that would satisfy tonight. “There are things that I just can’t talk about right now, but there are also things that I can and should’ve talked about a while ago.” She shifted her weight as she looked off, put in the same uncomfortable position she had grown accustomed to in her lifetime, “It’s not fair to you. It’s not fair to anyone, and I know that. I… I’m working on it.” She locked eyes with him again, because she was serious. She had made her decision, like Billy had told her to. “I’m trying, so… please, bear with me just a little longer.”
Her boyfriend listened to her, recognizing the weakening cords in her voice that hinted at it breaking. Her eyes were glassy, but he couldn’t tell if they were teary underneath the glaze of utter exhaustion. He nodded, moving his hand to brush her hair back, then ran his knuckles gently down the side of her face, “It’s alright, Sam.” It was then that he saw the tears start to glisten on her lower eyelid.
It didn’t feel alright. She had to give him the win though, because she couldn’t go back and forth on this matter anymore than she already had. “I’ll explain what I can in the morning.”
But she did have one more thing to take care of before she could settle for the night, or… try to settle at least…
A low growling sound interrupted the quiet, leading the male’s blue eyes to drop where the noise came from: Sam’s stomach. The solemn mysteries of the night were slightly lifted by a light chuckle as he lightened the mood. “Well, for tonight, it sounds like you should eat. I can make you something, if you like” He knew it was late, but he also knew she hadn’t eaten dinner and he didn’t recall seeing her eat anything before then. “I know it’s late, but…”
However, his girlfriend just shook her head, unable to help the small upturn of her lips at his lighthearted attempt, “No, I’m fine. Thank you.” He gave a quiet “okay” in response, and she felt his hand come up to rub her side, as if easing her empty stomach that would continue to be ignored. She instinctively glanced down, the cuts and scratches from the shrubbery she raced through stinging from her clothing being pressed down by his hand. Which then reminded her, “Um… is Tara still awake?”
This may have been a stupid question, considering that it was about to be 2:00 in the morning, however Tara was notorious for going to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 but not going to sleep until late, sometimes even 3 AM. She would either be on her phone or just lay there listening to music. Sometimes she would read, but they were more like attempts to read, because she didn’t have enough self-discipline to stay engaged for longer than a couple of pages.
Danny knew this though and glanced off in the direction of the room Tara, Chad, and Mindy shared as if he could see through the walls, “I don’t know. I talked to her right after you left, and then she went to bed.” He looked back at her. “She was really upset.”
That hurt. A lot. All she could think of was the last thing she said to her before she jumped the gate and ran off. She couldn’t blame her younger sister for feeling the way she did or going to beat answers out of someone else. She wanted to blame it on the whole inner-wolf thing, but the reality was that it was just her seething at what she couldn’t control.
She was helpless, and that’s what drove her crazy. It was a vulnerability. It was pathetic. It was incompetence.
But Tara didn’t deserve that. Not after everything she had been through, including the grieving of her own relationship from when Sam left on her 18th birthday. The empty, lonely void of those five years she had faced on her own, growing up quicker than she was supposed to. That wasn’t fair to her.
And neither was Sam’s treatment of her…
“I need to talk to her,” the she-wolf thought out-loud, explaining herself because she knew she hadn’t done that very well, so far. “I said something to her I shouldn’t have, when I left… And I feel really bad about it.” Her jaw tightened with the reflex of catching emotion before it flooded into her voice.
Danny was quick to reassure her, “You’re her sister. She loves you no matter what.” He followed her as she looked up at him with an I-hope-so look, which led him to dismiss her, nodding towards the front of the house. “You can go check on her, if you want to. If she’s not awake, you can talk to her in the morning.” He curved the hand on her flank around the small of her back to pull her in and press another loving kiss to her head, before pulling back. “Okay?”
Sam nodded, managing to try and give him a reassured smile, but it didn’t come out like she had hoped. “Okay…”
He then returned the nod and removed his hand from her. “The bed’s already undone. You come to bed, when you’re ready.” As secretive as she could be, those dark eyes never lied. He could read them better than anything, even in the lowlights of the living room. “I know you’re tired.”
His partner gave him another nod, before breaking away from their conversational position. She heard the pull-string of the lamp click to eliminate all light in the room as she made it towards the front of the house and to the hallway that was straight to the left of the front door, where the remaining members of the household were.
There were only three rooms, Chad’s game room, which they called the Blue Room directly to the left when entering the hallway, then about halfway down was a bathroom, and then straight across from the Blue Room was the bedroom that the youngest three shared, which—while technically should be called their room—was commonly referred to as the Green Room because of the pale, grayish-green walls.
She kept her footsteps as quiet as she could while making her way down the hall, but the house was aged so the wood floors creaked at the worst times. She met the door and silently opened it, the inevitable click of the latch piercing the soft swishing of the overhead fan as she peered in.
All three inhabitants were fast asleep, the subtle glow of the nightlight on the far wall giving a peaceful ambience that showed their silhouettes: Mindy in the bed directly facing the door, Chad on the air mattress in front of the closet that was against the wall that the door shared, and Tara in the bed farthest away. The one parallel to Mindy’s.
Sam blinked through the halflight at her, but it was obvious she was turned away, facing the wall like she was still mad, even though she was asleep. And that sight alone made the decision clear that she would have to talk to her in the morning.
That is, if she even wanted to hear it…
Her older sister sighed and backed out of the room, silently shutting the door to turn around and make-way back across the house to where her shared room with Danny was.
Halfway down the hallway, the grandfather clock rang out, striking the 2:00 AM hour. It simultaneously blended with a chime from her phone in her back pocket.
Who in the hell would text her at 2 in the morning?
She paused in the pitch-black corridor and reached behind her to pull out her phone. It lit up to reveal a name and a message. A name she knew all too well but hadn’t heard from directly in 18 months. From a ghost in a small town, to an undeleted contact, to a cover-up caller, to 1-out-of-3 dead murderers…
But that couldn’t be possible. Could it? Ethan was alive, but surely, he was too smart to pull the same trick twice? Wasn’t he?
But this wasn’t a call. This was a text. And the message sent was one that only an ex-lover would send.
But how? Richie was dead.
Now, wide awake, Samantha’s eyes reflected the notification, reading it over and over again, with her heart picking up its pace every time she did so, that familiar sense of haunt rising through her.
She could hear it come from his lips like he was purring it in her ear behind her, in the darkness of the hallway, at the solitary hour of 2:00 AM, and she knew right then and there… This was where it all began.
‘What’s up girl, how you been?’
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