LOSING MATE

18- FAR FROM THE PACK

"I'm not clowning around here, this is serious. I have some important information on the monsters who murdered my parents. I know what some of them looked like."

"All right, let me get you the lieutenant in charge of the case," he offered.
The officer slid off his stool and hurried to one of the office doors that lined the left side of the precinct. In a moment, he was back with another man, a burly fellow with a bright, cheerful smile. The new man held out his hand to me.

"Good Afternoon, my name's Lieutenant Paolo de Fortiza. Officer in charges here, tell me some information that you have," he commented.
I shook his hand and glanced around.

"Yeah, but could we speak someplace else?" I requested.

"Certainly. Just follow me." He led me around the counter and through the jungle of desks to the rear of the building.
At the rear were two hallways, and he gently guided me ahead of him down the left-hand one. At the end of the hallway stood an exit door. On either side of the hallway were doors labeled with plates, and on those plates were names like interrogation and lab.

As we strolled down the hall lieutenant de leon pulled out a pad and paper.

"What's your name?" he asked me.

"Shakira Oyster," I replied.

He wrote down the info. "Address?"
"I'd rather say that in the room if you don't mind," I told him.

"That's fine. Where do you work?" he wondered.

I gave him the info, but felt there was something wrong with this. I expected him to stop us at one of the Interrogation rooms, but he guided us toward the Exit door. Something didn't feel right about this.

"Um, where are we going?" I asked him.
"To the rear of the building. There's a private spot back there where no one will bother us" he promised me.
I decided that was too private, and stopped and turned to him.

"How about we talk about this" My suggestion caught in my throat when I noticed his eyes. They were yellow.

"How about you keep going and not make a noise, or I'll rip your throat out," he ordered me. The lieutenant pushed
me ahead of him and I stumbled forward toward the Exit door. This man wasn't a man, he was a monster like the rest, and I had to escape him. I glanced around the hall, but there were only doorways into closed rooms. Not a good place to go with a dangerous werewolf at my back. We walked outside and into a narrow alley behind the precinct. It was quiet back there. The tall buildings blocked off much of the afternoon sunlight. Water sat in pools made from the potholes and cracks in the pavement. The rush from the street hardly reached my ears, but the smells of the trash reached my nose.

The werewolf grabbed my arm and turned me to face him.

"You're the girl that made it out of there, aren't you?" he growled.

Under such circumstances I did what anyone would do if they were faced with an angry male werewolf. I kicked him in the balls. His eyes bulged out and he clutched at the family jewels as he fell to his knees onto the ground. I rushed past him down the alley to the light at the end of the tunnel, or street, in this case. The werewolf grunted, and in a few moments his feet splashed through the puddles just behind me. I stumbled and huffed my way through the alley and out into the bright light of the street. This was getting to be a thing with me running from werewolves out into the street.

"Stop! Stop!" the policeman yelled at me. Oh, hell no.

I hurried to the front of the precinct and rushed into the street, and to hell with a jaywalking citation. Car horns honked and people shouted various curses, most involving my parents. I hurled myself into the back of the first taxi that came my way. The driver turned in his seat and his eyes widened.

"You again!" he cried out. I don't have any idea why he reacted like that.

"Step on it!" I yelled at him. I glanced toward the precinct and saw the lieutenant sniffing my way. Literally. His nose was in the air and I could see his nostrils flaring. He looked in my direction and snarled.
Traffic moved forward and so did we. The driver went with the flow and took me away from the wolf lieutenant and his murderous intentions. I slumped in the seat and wiped sweat from my brow. The driver glanced at me through his rear view mirror.

"Mind telling me what trouble you got into this time?" he wondered.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," I replied.

"I've heard a lot of strange things drift from that back seat, so try me," he insisted. I sighed and sat up

"A werewolf police lieutenant just tried to kill me because I'm the only witness and survivor to a werewolf cult massacre in home. The one I ran out of when I found you."

I waited for his reply. It was a long wait, but it came.

"That's a new one," he commented.
I snorted.

"You're telling me. Even I don't believe it" He said.

"And I'm the one living this nightmare," I
quipped.

"So you haven't told anybody about knowing about this cult except the lieutenant and me?" he wondered.

"Yep, and he wants to kill me," I reminded him. I leaned over the seat. His lips were pursed, and he stared straight ahead.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"It's kind of a crazy story, but I believe that you believe it's true," he replied.

I sighed and fell back into my seat.

"Well, it's true, every word of it, and I obviously can't go to the authorities."
"Do these cultist werewolf guys know who you are?" he inquired.

"I don't know. First, I saw how my parents were killed by those beasts. Now I was kidnapped by something, another pack of wolves. Until I got a chance to escape that house. It happened that I woke up and I was at the police station. So I reported. I didn't know that I could talk to a wolf; it's Lieutenant de Leon," I explained.

"By the way, I was the one who bumped into you earlier; you lost consciousness after falling to the lower part of the ground, so I took you to the police station. Because I saw your appearance on social media, I know that you are the wanted daughter of a murdered couple." He explained

"Thank you for taking me away." I said.
"Well, if they ever find you and you need a ride, just give me a call and I'll come," he promised. I smiled.

"Where would I be without you, Roger?" I mused. As I've seen his Id pinned in his waist.

"Probably still hailing a taxi at that precinct. It's the lunch hour and a bad time to be hitching a ride in one," he commented. He glanced at me through the mirror.

"By the way, how's that wound of yours?"
"It's fine. " I told him. His eyebrows raised.
"Completely gone?" he wondered.

"Well, not completely. I have a couple of scars from two teeth marks," I explained.
"Now that's just weird," he commented.
"Yeah, it goes with the rest of the weirdness," I agreed.

Roger drove me to my apartment and parked on the curb. I dug through my pockets, but he shook his head.

"It's okay, as long as you we're fine" he told me. I smiled.

"Thanks again. You're a life saver, and I mean that." He smiled.

"No problem. See you later."
I snorted.

"Hopefully not too soon," I returned. Roger winked at me.