The Last Hunt
In the rain washed streets of LA, Kammal Bradie leaned against a street lamp in a pool of light, puffing on a cigarette. The night sky was clear, only light pollution prevented him from seeing the stars. The twenty-year-old man was contemplating whether or not to go back into the casino and win back some of the thirty thousand dollars he’d lost earlier that evening or head home. The nausea that washed through him helped make up his mind.
Kammal flicked the ciggie onto the damp, dirty pavement and stubbed it out with the toe of his black boot. As he traipsed down a dark alley way to retrieve his motor bike he pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb, squeezing his eyes shut and fighting the urge to throw up. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t had that much to drink...
The walls either side of him seemed to be rising steadily higher, two reeking dumpsters swam in his vision. Kammal staggered left, arms raised to catch him if he fell. Footsteps quietly crunched up behind him in a way that screamed “I’m sneaking up on you as quietly as I can.”
Kammal didn’t turn to see his stalker until they were directly behind him. Then he spun around and punched them in the face. The guy cried out in pain and stumbled backwards as three more men advanced on Kammal. He heard, rather than felt, his nose being broken and blood spraying all over the place. That’s the fifth time! Kammal thought furiously. He was probably about to be gang bashed and left for dead in an alley and he was worrying about how crooked his nose was!
Faces swam around him, men were jeering. The world tipped on its side, then Kammal realised he was lying in bags and bags of rubbish. The pungent smell burnt his nose but he could not escape it due to the nausea flushing through him. The scene disappeared in a haze of red and Kammal’s clothes ripped to tatters as grey fur burst from his skin and his bones twisted and distorted.
His nose lengthened into a snout, black nostrils flaring to test the air for danger. The wolf in Kammal’s place smelt danger; the sweat of five men, the alcohol rank on their breath. With his twitching ears, the wolf heard their excited heart beats, then their cries of shock. He could taste their fear, and he liked it. The wolf’s lips curled back over his long, gleaming fangs in a leer as he got to his paws, liking the strength in his four legs, the feel of the powerful energy surging through every muscle.
The men who were about to mug Kammal were statues, fear etched onto their faces. A trickling noise, sounding a hundred times louder to the wolf’s ears, echoed down the alley, along with the wolf’s growl. A puddle of yellow liquid formed around one of the men’s feet, the source of it - his trouser leg. The wolf rejoiced, he’d actually made someone piss their pants.
The wolf took a step forwards, towards the closet man, the one who’d wet himself. He barked; once, twice. The man staggered back and tried to run but his legs failed him. He smacked the tarmac hard and the wolf pounced onto his back, pinning him down with his paws while he bit into his neck and twisted, ripping the man’s head clean off. There was no time to savour the blood trickling down his throat, the other men were escaping. The wolf tipped his head back and howled, declaring the hunt. Then he tore after the sprinting men, tripping one over with his powerful tail and sinking his teeth into the other’s shoulder.
Kammal would always remember the way the men screamed in pain as he tore them limb from limb. Their faces would always haunt him, especially the last man he... ate.
He was cowering in the corner, whimpering, praying, saying unheard goodbyes. The wolf approached him, breathing heavily, each exhale spraying a bit of blood from his mouth. In the dim light the wolf could see everything with perfect clarity; the man’s red hair, matted with sweat. The man’s closed eyes, his scrawny arms shielding his face, his quivering lips. This was it. The last hunt. The wolf howled again, declaring the hunt over before devouring his last victim.
will edit it when i find the time