Allen

"What time is it?" I yawned and woke up. I looked at my left arm, but my watch wasn't there. I tried to roll over to the left side of my bed, but Marissa was there, breathing softly. This day was already better than the last 23 birthdays I had.

I tried to move out the bed without waking her and discovered she had my watch on too. Blessings after blessings. Instead of getting completely up, I just sat up and continued to watch her sleep. Then my phone started to ring.

I had to look for it because at the moment, all I had on was underwear. Luckily, Marissa hadn't tossed my pants too far away from the bed and I was able to reach them without getting up. Sure enough, my phone was there.

The first thing I noticed was that it was on 14 percent. I've never let my phone drop below 80 in my life. I was OCD about it. It took me a minute to remember I was unconscious last night and did not actually come home by myself.

The caller was David. Should I pretend to be sick? No. Hell no. I'm not getting paid, I have my volunteer hours, I'm basically just a slave at this point. I let it stop ringing and then I sent an email. Danielle and I are not going to make it today. Our families have plans.

This could be a great excuse for Danielle, for me, not so much. Danielle is Honduran, and there are lots of holidays she could say to get out of work. Me? I was just a regular African American. I don't even know much about African culture. I couldn't even claim Kwaanza without being caught in a lie.

I knew Danielle wouldn't go without me. I should probably go to her house and see how she's coping with all the crap we dealt with yesterday. Just then, Marissa snapped awake, and she looked angry as hell.

"Leave us alone! I fucking hate you!" She screamed. She had hopped out of bed and was growing at the door.

"What's going on? What's happening?" She was starting to scare me. I could only think of one person that would make her like this.

I moved towards the door, about to open it and look out, and we both heard a loud crashing sound, and next thing I know, I was being lifted off my feet. Donovan had burst through the window. He grabbed me by my neck and flung me towards the wall.

Marissa

Why the fuck is he so jealous?! Why won't he leave us alone? After the Hunt, I lost track of Donovan and Jamie. There was nothing unusual about that, sometimes we lose our humanity and go completely wolf. When that happens, our pack kinda splits up.

We could find each other with our mental connection, but sometimes, we just want to be alone for a while, so we block our minds from each other.

I was sleeping peacefully after I came back to Allen's apartment. I snuggled in next to him. I almost wished I could read his mind. Then, I felt a surge of hot anger in my head. It was Donovan. The more I focused, I realized he was coming after us. And he was getting close, fast. I couldn't pinpoint his location, but I knew he was in the building.

His anger was enough to snap me out of my blissful sleep. "Leave us alone! I fucking hate you!" I screeched. I looked at the door. I felt like he would appear from there. I was going to be ready for him. I was going to rip his fucking head off. It can be reconnected. We all know that... From experience.

I heard a loud crashing sound, like a bunch of glass had been broken. I turned around and Donovan had broken in through Allen's window. I screamed. Donovan was too fast. He grabbed Allen by the back of his head, and through the wall, creating a very big hole in the wall.

I was in complete shock. Allen was just human, he couldn't survive something like that! I ran through the wall and saw Allen laying on the ground, unmoving. I was so scared, I wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

I'm not sure if it was possible, but it felt like I was literally seeing red. Donovan came out of the hole in the wall, still wearing the clothes they borrowed from Allen the other night. Allen's clothes.

I was about to decapitate his ass right here and now, but I heard a raspy voice behind me. "Marissa, wait." Allen, somehow, was still conscious. His nose was bleeding, and he started coughing. His chest heaved and blood spewed from his mouth. "I... Got this," he said, in-between breaths.

Flying through the wall must've given him serious brain damage. Unfortunately, this pissed Donovan off even more. "You think you can fight me? You weak piece of... You know what? Come at me! I dare you!"

To my absolute horror, Allen got up, limped a little, and started to run forward.

"NO!" I screamed. I tried to interrupt but Donovan grabbed me and tossed me backwards, slamming me through the wall, into Allen's living room. I got up quickly and ran outside.

Just in time to see Donovan's wolf form grab Allen by his throat, with his monstrous teeth.

Danielle

7 something.... 8 something.... 9 something. I finally decided to get up. My body was aching all over, not to mention that I had to go work at the park today. On second thought, I'm not going. I'll just call Allen and tell him I'm not going. I unplugged my phone, and it was fully charged. I tried calling Allen three times, but it went straight to voicemail.

I decided to go to his house. We could hang out, and maybe go watch a movie. I got in my car and started driving. For some reason, I had a strange feeling, and or wasn't just because of the summer heat. My head started to hurt and I could feel a burning in my chest.

My vision blurred. Random colors swam behind my eyes. I prayed and prayed, God, please don't let me crash this car. Fortunately, Allen's apartment wasn't that far from my house. I pulled into the gated community and stopped dead in my tracks. Allen's second-floor window was broken open. I didn't even try to properly park my car. I ran to the door. Not only was it unlocked, it was slightly open. A huge hole in the wall of his living room led to the outside. I went out of it and found Marissa staring in shock.

"What happened?" I asked her. "What's wrong?" Then I turned, and saw Allen, on the ground limp and lifeless, while the wolf form of Donovan, with glistening blood dripping from his snarling mouth, was standing over him.

Just like her, I was in complete shock. Allen had been my friend since seventh grade. Through middle school, high school, and college right now, we've always been there for each other. And now, there's nothing I could do to help him.

"Rissa..." Donovan, in his wolf form, walked over to his pants, crawled into them awkwardly, and transformed back into his human form. Even in his human form, blood was smeared across his face, on his chest.

"Rissa," he continued."I'm sorry, but you and I both know we're wasting time. We need to find the ones that put a hit out on us, and making friends with stupid humans is just going to slow us down, and make us weak.

"Say it..... Say it to my face." I took my eyes off Marissa, who had tears streaming down her face, and turned towards Allen.

I thought he was dead. Marissa thought he was dead. We all thought he was dead. But he was standing up, hunched over slightly, but still standing.

The wound on his neck was still bleeding, but there was a certain look in Allen's eyes like he'd been pumped with drugs and was ready for anything. His body shook as he breathed, and I could feel the seething anger and hatred emanating from him. But earlier... That must have been Donovan's animosity.

He charged at Donovan, running just as fast, (maybe faster?) As Donovan could. Donovan was so surprised he didn't even try to move.

"You should-" And that's all he got to say. Rather than actually hitting him, Allen just rammed into Donovan's right arm really hard. I heard a loud crack! and Donovan's arm looked completely limp.

Instead of showing pain, he just stared at us, dumbfounded."But it's daylight... And the moon cycle ended last night... He shouldn't have become... This doesn't make any sense."

Right after breaking Donovan's arm, Allen had jumped up and over the roof of his apartment. Where was he going? Maybe, he was enjoying this newfound strength. But the face he made when got from up the ground was anything but happy. We all heard, a growling sound, but couldn't pinpoint the location.

That's when I felt the presence of something very large standing behind me. I looked over but saw nothing. I was starting to think I couldn't because my human eyes were too slow. I had to listen to Marissa's next scream and follow a blur of grey to see that a humongous creature, with a Wolf's head and a man's body, had picked Donovan up off the ground.

Allen

"Just like Axel," I said to my myself. My brain was moving too fast to process everything. Donovan tried to rip my throat out: Check. His bite gave me werewolf powers: Check. I got taller and turned into some big, hairy, bipedal wolf creature. I was barely able to keep up after that.

All I knew was that I wanted to kill Donovan. I wanted to rip his heart out of his chest. I wanted to cave his skull in, tear him apart, and feed him to stray pit bulls. But I didn't have enough control to do all of this, so my mind settled on the last thing it saw: Axel ripping his arm through Donovan's stomach from the back, reaching up to choke him, and slamming him down.

I'd like to say I executed this attack perfectly. The only difference is that I was now twice the size of Donovan and Axel, so the hole was a lot bigger. I ripped my hand back out of his body, and blood started gushing out. I heard Danielle scream. Or maybe it was Marissa. Maybe it was both. I couldn't tell. I was too occupied to care.

After watching him bleed, I grabbed his head and put him in a headlock. I squeezed. Tighter. And tighter. And tighter. Then finally, I jerked his body upward, creating the biggest, most disgusting cracking sound ever heard. I didn't even know what I broke. His head? Neck? Spine? Either way, his body went lifeless instantly. I dropped him like a broken puppet and turned to face the girls.

Danielle looked like she was afraid I might attack them next. I wanted to speak, but my voice wouldn't work. Marissa's expression was way more mixed. She looked like she was scared, shocked, and angry all at the same time.

She dashed forward, but this time, I was actually able to see her clearly. In fact, she kind of send to be moving slower than usual. If I had realized she was angry at me, I would've been prepared for what she did next.

She jumped up and wrapped her legs around my neck. She was clearly trying to snap my neck, even in my barbarian hulk mode, I could understand that. But it didn't work. Then she stopped trying, jumped off and lashed out again.

This time, her eyes gleamed that creepy wolf style and her claws came out. I covered my left eye just in time, but her claws went right into my right eye, and into my skull. I roared, literally. The way my scream sounded was similar to Barron after his torment. I fell back, and the ground shook after my impact.

I felt like Goliath when I fell. The adrenaline, and whatever the fuck I had become was starting to wear off. With my good eye, I noticed my hand was going back to regular size, and that I was beginning to feel the consequences of all the stuff I had done.

Marissa was holding Donovan in her arms. They were close, for sure. They probably had chemistry way before Danielle and I ever showed up and saved them. Still, for some reason, I instantly got mad. Whose side was she on?! I could've sworn she cared about me, at least a little bit. Was last night just a one night stand? Why did she pretend to care so much about me, and run to him when he got hurt?

She didn't run to me. She let me lay on the ground with me throat ripped open, and didn't lift a finger to help. Screw them. This whole situation doesn't make sense. I need to get out of here. I don't need any of them. I got up, still clutching my right eye, and ran. Even though this beastly form was starting to disappear, I took off, jumped over the other apartment houses in the gated community, and left.