Things that Go Bump in the Night

Chapter 51: Part 2: The Beast that Hunts.

A/N: Wildly unedited, Second to last chapter of Book 1. Yep, you heard me...happy reading NNT.

Chapter 51: Part 2: The Beast that Hunts.

It was amazing how a few short weeks of not actively running for my life, had lulled me into a sense of false security. 

John had brought back a freedom and routine to my life that had set alight a soft flame of ease within my heart, loosening the chains of panic that had plagued my body for months...years to be honest. It hadn't really occurred to me how relaxed I had become until one word on a screen brought all my fear and anxiety crashing back, cramping into muscles and sinking into bone with an icy chill. 

Werewolf.

The monster...he was coming for me...again. 

The thought of the gamble I had made with my own life so many nights ago, brought the smell of cold steel and river water to my nose. I believed that it was over then...was it never going to be over?

You are mine...you will always be mine.

It would never be over.... I would always be running from him. My fingers clawed into my hair, a desperate urge to scream building in my chest.

John's hands falling heavily onto my shoulders made me startle dramatically and flinch away from him involuntarily.

I started at him with wide eyes, he leveled me with a calm gaze that surprised me.

"Just like we practiced, Juniper." He instructed, before turning on his heel and leading the way out of the observation room. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart beat before following after him. 

Just like we practiced. 

That was right. John and I had practiced for this very situation every day I had been here.

Emergency Evacuation.

This place is not a fortress.

That was a statement that John had made multiple times since I had arrived in the safe house. While the parameter had been outfitted with state-of-the-art early detection systems, it was apparent that they were more of a warning feature than a defense. The bunker was carved into sandstone, covered by desert, powered by only natural sources, and never put on any map. Secrecy and acute parameter awareness were the bunker's real only real defenses. The bunker had few weapons, limited safety holds and almost no where a determined monster couldn't breach.

This place was built for stealth, not to withstand a siege.

Based on the linear accuracy of the werewolf's path toward the bunker, it was easy to assume that our secrecy was sorely broken.

My mind robotically went over John evacuation steps in my mind.

Step 1: Secure necessities.

I ran into my room, scooping up my pack that sat next to the door, ready to go at a moments notice.

Step 2: Swap Scents

I grabbed the set of John's clothes that he had made me keep in my bed with me while I slept, holding them at arm's length as I ran them back out to John in the hall. He had done the same and tossed me my set and grunted to change.

Step 3: Divide and Confuse.

With the majority of our scents swapped, the plan was to entice the beast to follow John initially. We would split up and cross the territory in looped patterns- meeting up at a specific rendezvous point. John had gone over the plateau edge with me on every map, describing every step. We would meet there, await clearance of the area, then regroup.