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Part III
Chapter 1:
Confrontation
Marcus arrived at what was left of Margaretta’s cabin. The remains of the window were lying on the ground outside the cabin, and the door lay on the floor, in pieces. The cabin was empty, yet the fire was still going. The silver fire poker was still in the glowing embers. Margaretta wasn’t here. She must have left in a rush, after the attack. There was a rustling behind a chair. Marcus’ little friend emerged with his tail between his legs and a whimper. He set the leg bone down that he’d realized that he’d still been carrying since the cave.
“Ah! There you are, my little friend. At least you’re still alive.”
Marcus knelt down to pet his friend who was sniffing him. The pup’s ears went flat, and he backed away from Marcus, and the door. An audible grumble could be heard coming from the doorway. Marcus knew what was there. He wasn’t sure if it was Kritzia or one of her minions. He slowly stood up and turned to face the monster in the doorway, as he picked up the leg bone, again. It wasn’t her.
The beast slowly moved inward toward its prey. Marcus took a defensive stance holding the leg bone high and ready to strike. He had to awkwardly climb over the table in order to circle his opponent. The beast took the first swing. Marcus jumped back, off the table, just missing the facial greeting with an unusually large claw.
His opponent backhanded the table flipping it out of the way, and lunging for Marcus. At the same time, Marcus dove through the window, escaping yet another blow. He landed outside the cabin, rolling over the shattered glass and window pane; coming back up to a defensive stance as the beast followed him through the window, again lunging toward his prey.
As the beast flew through the air at him, Marcus dropped to his back kicking a leg up to hoist the beast over, at the same time plunging the leg bone into the beast’s chest cavity. The beast flew over Marcus and landed on its chest, further plunging the leg bone into its body and piercing the other side. The beast lay still on the ground.
Marcus stood up, brushing glass and wood fragments from himself, and found several pieces embedded in his skin. Cautiously pulling out the pieces, Marcus heard the worst sound he could have heard after a confrontation such as that.
The beast started to get up, and groan. Marcus froze in terror. “Please tell me he’s not getting up”, he thought.
Sure enough, it was kneeling in front of him, looking at the leg bone sticking out of its chest. The creature grabbed the bone and pulled it with a disgustingly squishing sound that often accompanied such a task. The animal howled in pain as it slid the remaining bone out of its chest and looked down at the hole. It closed. The damn hole closed itself.
Marcus knew what was about to happen, now. As he realized it, the beast had already stood up on its haunches and moved in for the kill. Marcus looked up as the beast backhanded him back into the cabin. He landed with a thud next to the stove and fireplace.
His opponent marched through the door to the cabin, intent on killing him. As it crossed the threshold, the young wolf pup ran jumped through the air toward the creature’s face; growling and snapping to the overgrown version of himself.
The beast caught the wolf pup in mid-air and snarled at it, ready to sink its teeth into this light snack, when Marcus reached behind him grabbing the silver fire poker and thrusting it into the werewolf’s heart. It went in easily, like a knife through butter. The beast fell silent, dropping the wolf pup. The new hole in the beast’s chest smoldered as it stumbled backward through the door of the cabin. This time, the beast would not be returning for another attack. Silver. Silver was the key.
Marcus got up and ran after the beast. He pulled the hot poker from the beast as it fell over. In mid-fall, the beast transformed into its human self. It was a young man; barely a teen that fell to the ground.
The young man looked up at his defeater one last time.
“Th- thank… y-you.”
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