Young Writers Society

Fortis the half-grill had had an interesting week. She was just getting used to life as a sentient garden appliance (she had spent most of her days in a suburban backyard until she was sold to a mad scientist who wanted to create a half-grill-half-cyborg) when werewolves had attacked. Fortis was in poetry village at the time. She heard (with her super-sonic hearing) a commotion in the storybook side of YWS.
"I'd better get over there," she thought.
By the time she had reached the main streets of the Storybook section, she had noticed an abundance of werewolves. She distracted them with her Hamburger-blaster and searched for people in need.
She noticed @CowLogic and @BlackNether12 apparently battling via Italian dancing. She thought that was a little strange, but was more concerned about the were- @Auxiira creeping up on them. Fortis shot a couple medium-rare steaks in the other direction to lead Azzie away from the dancers.
"I never thought this meat blaster would come in handy... Oh how wrong I was," She thought grimly as she searched for her next target.

"I'm telling you bark, it's bark getting bark into me!" Carina stumbled as she had gone unnoticed squirming out of @Blackwood's cafe to fulfill her mission: place the this so-called werewolf antidote to the super duper secret spot of YWS.

But not everything went to plan.

"Are you laughing at me, @Iggy? THIS ISN'T FUNNY BARK," she yelled into her phone, jamming her finger down on the "end call" button. Gosh, the nerve of her friend, telling her she acted like an animal! Sheesh.

Carina knew that, just mere moments ago, Blackwood's cafe was attacked by vicious animals—or werewolves, as modern society would call them. And you can say that Carina is just that amazing and cool, 'cause she knew about these beastly creatures long ago and has been trying to come up with some kind of cure with a small elite group of people known as BARK—Beastly Awesome Rad Klub, of course.

And they finished it. Or, rather, thought they finished this antidote; they've never exactly tested it. @Rydia, who was also in the group, freed @Blues from a zoo knowing that he'd get bit by the creature, and they were going to test it to him, but alas, the creatures have attacked the cafe before the plan could be set in action!

That's still not it, though.

@ArcticMonkey, who was also in BARK, perfected the antidote then handed it off to Carina to deliver it to Rydia to test on Blues, but Arctic oh-so-conveniently put the antidote in a milk carton.

Yes. A milk carton. And the antidote looks like milk.

And Carina had cereal for breakfast today.

Ring, ring, ring.

Carina answered her phone.

"Rydia!" she said. "I kinda—"
"Actually, it's @AriaAdams."
"Oh," Carina responded. "Bark hi."

Aria paused for a moment. "Did you just bark at me?"
"No. Why?"
"I just...never mind. Do you have the antidote?"
"Yeah, I'm heading to the place right now. Who are you with?"

"Just @Snoink and Blues," Aria said. "Rydia went off the help the people who got attacked at the cafe. No sign of Blackwood, though."

"Bark one thing at a time, Aria. Let's just test it and see what happens to people who got bitten. But, uh, um..."

"What?"

Carina tried not to think about the half-empty milk carton in her bag. "Nothing. I'll tell you when I get there."

And with that, she put away her phone and darted into the super duper secret spot.

"Who needs a cafe when we have... a kitchen!" Snoink says with a flourish. @Blues and @AriaAdams look at her non-plussed.

"We just ate," Aria says.

"Ah, yes, but not this!" Snoink says, taking out nachos.

Blues leans over to grab some nachos, but Aria stops him. "We had those an hour ago."

"Well," Snoink says, "What about this?" She takes out chimichangas.

"A half hour ago."

"How about this?" It's flan.

Aria yawns. "Fifteen minutes ago."

Blues shifts. "Come on!" he says, clutching his stomach. "I'm so huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuungry."

Aria rolls her eyes. "That's because you're a boy!"

"But... what about this?" Snoink says, taking out a pan of chocolate truffles.

Aria's eyes grow wide with longing.

"That means she wants it," Blues says, laughing and taking a chocolate truffle. Aria glares at him and takes three.

Snoink sighs. "If only @GlitterGabbi were here. She loves Mexican food..."

DUCKK!

Without a word Duti, Dreamy and Deanie dropped to the ground. Duti peeked up to see who it was that had yelled and saw @Letiki , standing in his 6'7" glory and yielding a shiny and very dangerous knife in his hand.

Joining him was @HighTop . Duti got to her feet and asked, "Why did you ask us to duck Leitiki?"

He grinned and said, "Just because. You should have seen your faces!" And with that HighTop and Letiki started laughing their heads off.

"Not funny. There are werewolves running about. What's with that?" Dreamy asked, pulling Deanie to her feet.

"Word's on the street that the Lunar Code has been stolen, and hence the furry mess," HighTop answered.

"Then why aren't we all werewolves?" Deanie asked.
"Its the 'Curse'," Letiki answered.
"What curse?"
"No idea. Some curse that's believed to have caused this hairy mess. And HighTop and mysef are going to search for the lunar code. Until then ladies!" Letiki said with a nod and the twi if them turned to leave.

"Wait!" Duti called out. "We're coming with you. We wanna help."
HighTop chuckled. "Hate to burst your bubble ladies, but this is a job for men like us."

"Oh yeah?" In a swift motion @thewritersdream kicked the knife out of Letiki's hand , and Deanie caught it, positioning it against Letiki's chest.

Duti smirked at the two open mouthed guys.

"Now can we come with you?" Duti asked them. They didn't say anything.
"That's what I thought. Come on girls. Boys, lead the way."

And with that the five of them left the cafe and out of Storybook Street.

After witnessing the very Hollywood-esque sexual affirmative action that was just choreographed outside the window (see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ActionGirl), Cow Logic leaped into the first leg of the dance, and accidentally tripped on a table. His face smacked into the ground.

@BlackNether12 was surprised to have won the dance off in less than 2 seconds. Regaining his senses, he hefted a chair above his head, and broke it over Cow.

He slipped into a coma.

When he awoke, he was lying on a hospital bed in a brightly lit room. "Where am I?" he croaked, squinting.

@ShadowVyper appeared before him in scientist's garb.

"You are in my laboratory, Cow," she said.

"Why am I here?"

"I have created a masterpiece from you, a half-Cow, half octopus!" She laughed maniacally.

Cow looked down to find that his lower half was made of very familiar purple tentacles. "Oh, no, @Epicdonkalous AKA Marietta Lucille!" he cried, as Slim Shady's laughter increased in intensity.

Cow once again woke up in a cold sweat. He realized that he had only been unconscious for a few minutes.

That was odd, he remarked to himself.

Annie B chained her bicycle to the gothic iron gate and strolled into the library.

At the desk was a pale young woman with a lipsticked pout, reddish hair and contrasting pale skin. She almost looked like a vampire.
''Sally, good to see you! I just need some study material, I have an important project.'' Annie said excitedly.
Sally stared at Annie with her questioning eyes, and accentuating eyebrows that looked as if they were painted on.

''Did you want another look at the poems of Edgar Allan Poe?'' enquired Sally.
''Not this time,' Annie stared into space for a while, and returned the stare.
''I need anything you can find on the theories of transdimensional teleportation via the technicalities and loopholes of literary logic.''

Sally gave her a little look. ''That's ridiculous. This is the Poetry library, we don't have the theories of historically celebrated madmen. And the theoretical idea of magical teleportation through fiction is entirely illogical. It's crazy.'
Sally's expression shifted from ridicule to something strange. Honesty.
''However, if you really want to find something that might help, try the library in the Fanfiction District of Fiction City.''

Annie's eyes widened in puzzlement. ''Aren't I in the Fanfiction Library?''
Sally yelled exasperatedly, ''No! do you think I moved? You've gotten yourself lost. Again.''

Admittedly, Annie had a horrible sense of direction. Left to herself she'd easily get very lost, but she always seemed to be able to make her way back eventually.

''Again? Gah. I'll have to get myself a map one of these days...and try to make heads or tails of it. Goodness, it's dark! Awfully sorry to trouble you, Sally. But I haven't seen you in such a long time, and I like you so much! How do you do?''

Sally gazed at her, unable to believe how annoying she was.

''Peachy. Goodnight.''

Annie took the hint, and her bag, and mounted her bicycle.
Her subconscious decided to take the opportunity to pester her.
Hey, why do you bother with Miss Sunshine? She's a vampire, she has a Poetry library in the Storybook sector, and she literally makes the leaves fall off of trees when she walks by.''
Annie did not appreciate that Ms. Subconscious was trying to ruin her friendship (at least what she liked to call friendship) with Sally, but nothing bothered her more than the misuse of a word.
That's FIGURATIVELY. Or METAPHORICALLY. And Sally's temper is nowhere near as bad as your mind games.
Annie blinked a little longer than is safe when riding on the road.

''And anyway...she reminds me of a character I used to write about.''

The streets of the gloomy part of storybook looked somewhat surreal in the dark. The gothic lampposts glowed, highlighting the cloudy windows, (and the strange shadows behind them,) and the wet pavement of the freshly rained on street.
The place looked like a scary movie set, and it put Annie in a very good mood.
She had an affinity for the beautiful and strange.

But she pulled on the brakes with such force that she almost fell over when she saw it.

The next building, a cafe, was surrounded by the pieces of a shattered window, and it had claw marks all over the doorway. The door that belonged to the way lay battered and broken on the pavement. But worst of all was to see the worried face of an old friend through the empty window.

@Deanie 's.


''Deanie!? I'm coming!''

"Presents!" shouted @GeeLyria as she soared through the YWS sky on her sleigh. She giggled as frying pans started to fall on the floor, blocking the groups path.

"Wait up!" @AnnieBauthor called as she ran to catch up with the group who were walking ahead. As she ran she scooped up one of the many frying pans, brandishing it as a shield. "Deanie! Are you okay?"

"Never better," Deanie said as she winced. "I thought you were going to the library."

"I was, but there's always time to help a friend in need. Who are these lot?"

"Only the best buddies in the world, @dutifulwriter and @thewritersdream and the guys @Letiki and @Hightop "

"Hey," Annie said.

"Have you heard about the werewolves? They're all over the cities. And the lunar code has gone missing, and the -"

"Wait! You're rambling!" Dreamy interrupted as she picked up her own frying pan.

"Sorry," Deanie said. She started to fill in Annie with the whole story, with HighTop correcting her every now and again.

"Actually..." Annie began. "I may be able to help you with that..."

''Theoretically-'' Annie's dialogue was suddenly interrupted.

There was a wild scream of pain that echoed through the village.

Without a word, Annie ran to find it. Ignoring the group of friends that was probably trailing her, she followed where she perceived the activity to come from.
She was led by some more sounds- a little growl, and some claw scuffling.

This trail took her a few buildings down the street.
Then she thought she heard some faint groaning up on the roof of a flourist's shop. She scaled a tree next to the building, with the use of her frying pan as a limb extension, and carefully crossed the gap between the tree's reach and the roof.
I really should take up dance classes, I'm so unfit.

On the rooftop lay a wounded Jager, surrounded by blood and hair, and the pungent aroma of a lycanthrope.

''Goodness gracious me!'' Annie exclaimed as she rushed towards him, ignoring the strong smell. "What happened here?"she whispered.
Annie smoothed his hair away, to reveal the source of the blood flowing from tooth marks in the muscles between the neck and the shoulder.
A bit odd, considering a wolf would usually go straight for the neck, but a thankful mistake.
She took off her bandanna and tried to stop the blood flow with it.

Annie turned to the somebody outside the flourist's. 'I have a wounded bleeding guy up here, could you fetch some medical help?"
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!' Deanie yelled, panicking. Her arms flailed in the air. "We need a doctor! Somebody call @Seraph "
'You're the somebody!' called Annie. 'Use the flourist's phone!"

'Phone, phone, phone!" she chanted, still not helping. Merely out of frustration Dreamy snatched the phone off the hook and started dialing.

"They're on their way," Dreamy nodded towards us. Duti and Letiki carefully carried Jager's body off the roof and into the flourist shop. He repeatedly mumbled
broken stories of wolves, @Blackwood, and codes.

Inside the flourist's shop, a red-haired girl named @Payne was talking with the person at the counter. 'Excuse me, but do you sell flowers?''she asked.
The cashier answered his question in a tired and somewhat annoyed way, as if they were asked that all the time.
''No. We are not a florist's shop, we do not sell flowers, we do not sell flouride.
We are a flourist's, we sell FLOUR. Do you need any flour?''

''Oh. I thought that was a mistake on the sign..."

"You know, all these flowers in the windows are verrrrrry misleading," Deanie mumbled.

They carried Jager into the flourists and laid him on the counter.
"What's this?" Payne asked.
"Uh, well he's injured and we need to leave him here, an ambulance will be arriving shortly looking for a florists - I mean flourists," @Hightop explained rapidly. "Bye!"
"Wait!" Payne called after them, but it was too late, the group had left.
Excepting @Letiki who sat by Jager's side and waited.

Annie followed behind, fiddling through items in her patchwork bag.
''Oh hi Deanie!'' Annie paused almost dramatically, and proceeded to speak.
'By assembling simple facts with simple logic, I have reached a conclusion that is partially to our advantage. While the moon cycle will be stuck on full all month, the time cycle cannot be stuck on night.
Eventually it will be morning, and the effects of lycanthropy, more simply werewolfism, should wear off.'

Deanie looked glad, then puzzled. 'Why only partly to our advantage?'

'When in human form, it may be impossible to tell who is a werewolf, and who is not.'

Deanie thought for a moment, and produced a question.
''Do you think Jager could have been bitten by a werewolf?''

''It seems likely. If so, we don't know what could happen.
I propose we go to Sally's library and see what she's got.''

''Wasn't that a Poetry library? What use would that be for-'' Deanie broke off.

Annie had gone to retrieve her bicycle.

Payne stood there, blinking. She had only come here to buy some flowers for her office, but now there was a guy bleeding out on the counter, @AnnieBauthor was making strange announcements, the word "lycanthropy" was being thrown around, and there were no accursed flowers in this shop. To make matters worse, the idea of flour had led to the idea of baking, so now an ache of hunger was gnawing at her. She turned to @Deanie and @Letiki, bristling. "Okay, will someone kindly explain what is going on here?"

Deanie was evidently more occupied with wherever Annie had run off to, and Letiki was attending to the injured man.

Finally, Deanie turned to Payne. "It's...complicated. Too much to explain right now. Just stay here and keep an eye on @Jager, okay?"

"But...I don't even..."

"Stop panicking," Letiki snapped.

"I'm not panicking," Payne said defensively. "I'm just confused. And hungry."

The sound of sirens heralded the ambulance's approach. The flourist himself reemerged from one of the back rooms, saw Jager lying on the counter, and promptly flew into a rage. "Who are you people? What is the meaning of this? I demand you leave my shop at once, and take this man to the hospital for pity's sake!"

Jager hopped to his feet, cracking his neck back and forth. "That oughta do it!" Everyone in the room looked on with disbelief. "What?! You've never seen a mod regenerate before?!" He laughed. "It's the most painful thing in the world! But it's also a lifesaver."

He looked around. @Payne and @Deanie and @Letiki were standing around, and the sounds of an ambulance were growing closer. That meant that Nurse @Rydia was on her way, and she would not take too kindly to a @JabberHut biting a Jager. Especially not on a Thursday.

Suddenly, a howl broke through the noise of the ambulance and @LouisCypher burst through the window, fangs bared and claws ready to maim. "Get back!" ordered Jager as he grabbed a nearby bottle of champagne. He broke off the end of the bottle and stood off against @LouisCypher alone. They circled one another, and Jager waited, biding his time. Suddenly, @LouisCypher lunged forward, only to be struck down by the broken glass of the champagne bottle. With a squeal, he fell to the ground, unmoving.

"We're not safe here. This district could be infected indefinitely, and I have to catch @Blackwood before he makes off with the Lunar Code." He looked around, curiously. "Who's with me?!"

Payne stared in mild horror at the prone body of @LouisCypher , then looked up and nodded. "I'll go." She glanced around, then grabbed a nearby chair and snapped off one of its legs, holding it like a club. She sighed. "I guess it's better than no weapon at all..."

She looked over at @Deanie and @Letiki. "What about you guys?

The ambulance had stopped outside, and a commotion could be heard.

Blood.

The stench was strong, filling her nostrils to the point she skidded to a halt just to shake it off. She looked up again to the rooftop where she had her taste of moderator blood and sniffed again. Her ears perked at the sound of human speech, of cheering, of a human raid running in a single direction.

P O E T R Y.

"HA-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

"Ha-ooh--ooh..."

Her ears perked again. She fidgeted, trying to make out the failing words of her fallen comrade. Then she leapt onto the building's window and jumped/climbed her way to the top, growling and howling.

She ran to the werewolf's side and immediately stopped at the strong human scent wafting from his corpse. And her bitten prey was missing. She growled in her throat and turned toward the direction the small raid was headed in.

...@Jager.

She had to call in the troops.

"Ha-ooooooooooooooooh!"

@Sachiko! @Rosey%20Unicorn! @SparkOfDoubt!

"Ha-ooooooooooooooooooooh!"

@Hannah! @567ajt!

"HA-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

@ScarlettFire! @Auxiira! @Carina!

A deep breath.

"AR-AR-AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

@Blues. It's time to come out nooow!

And @nobody will stand in your way.

The roof of the ambulance buckled under the great black werewolf's weight. With the moon at full height, high over the town, the bristly hair on her back stood up straight and sharp.

"AROOOOOOOOOO," she said, before tearing through the ambulance like it was a tin can and slashing the restraints that held @LouisCypher to the stretcher. With one hulking shoulder she picked up the wolf to carry him, and with the other she knocked open the back of the ambulance, bowling over the two ambulance attendants who had been waiting just outside.

Now came the tricky part. She was surrounded by the stench of humans. Only a faint trickle of the odor of her kind came through the barrier that seemed to be closing in every second she waited.

Would she have to attack?

Jager stood in the corner of the Flourist's shop, arms stretched in a cross to protect @Letiki, @Deanie, and @Payne. His teeth were bared together, and he had a wild stinging sensation in his shoulder from @JabberHut's attack. "I have a plan," whispered Jager, "to get us out of this mess...but you have to escape out the back as soon as I say go."

His eyes narrowed and he reached for a bottle of vodka and a box of matches from the counter--two strange things to find handy in a flour shop. But he wasn't about to scrutinize his luck. "When I say go, you have to go...no matter what happens, you keep running. Get to the poetry district, and rendezvous with @AnnieBAuthor and @ScarlettFire." He shook his head. "Don't expect to see much of me after this."

Jager slammed the bottle of vodka against the counter, popping the air seal, and as the windows shattered with Hannah in front, he took a drink. "Ready..." He struck the match against his pants. "Set..." He puckered his lips and blew out the alcohol, shouting, "GO!"

With @Hannah engulfed in flames, he tackled her writhing body and tried to get her in a sleeper hold, anything to keep her from fighting back. She thrashed him against the wall, against the counter and the floor full of broken glass. The flames caught to his clothing, burning his skin where the glass hadn't cut him yet. He wrangled against @Hannah until his vision was blurry, but after long minutes, he realized that he couldn't feel his arms anymore. A faint buzzing rang through his head as the room spun, and his final thoughts were oddly clear.

I Hope @Snoink Finds @Blackwood.