Wolf in the Big City

Chapter 14 - Walk

That snapped Eddie out of whatever reverie he was in. He wrung his hands for a moment and I could tell he was trying to find the right words to say. After a moment, he seemed to get his thoughts together and spoke.

"I am a...totem kudu."

"A what now?"

He sighed and rubbed his face as John laughed.

"Totem animal. Imagine an animal that represents an entire species. Like...their mascot. I am a totem greater kudu. Therefore I represent all of that animal everywhere. At least, all of them that exist in America at any rate."

"Oh."

Like that made any sense. I filed that mental note under 'things I'd pester Eddie about later' and turned to John.

"And what about you? You're some...weird, winged bunny rabbit?"

"Wolpertinger, idiot. Get the name right. Jeez Louise."

"Wolper-what now?"

John threw his hands up and sputtered.

"E-excuse me?! What the fuck, Daniel? Do I gotta repeat myself?"

I raised my hands and shook my head in an attempt to cool him down.

"Okay okay! Sheesh, where's your sense of humour gone, John?"

He continued to grumble as a tray of drinks appeared on our table, carried by the big fellow from before. Strangely, he was still human, despite everyone else looking like they'd walked right out of Narnia. I exchanged a glance with Louis even as pints of beer were passed around the table. An awkward silence fell around the table again as we nursed our drinks; I knew that it was because of, well, the entire friggin' situation I was in.

What was I thinking? All of this was batshit crazy! It just felt like I was in an infinite loop of being constantly surprised by what I didn't know about our world. Not being able to settle into a new state of normal before being slapped upside the face by something new and crazy. It was ridiculous. After another moment passed by, I finished my beer and stood.

"I'm going outside. I need a smoke."

Without another word, I turned and made my way to the door. No one stopped me. The sound of my lighter and the sizzle of the tip of the cigarette were awfully loud in the relative silence of the street outside. This whole thing was crazy. The ridiculousness of the whole thing was setting in and I could feel my hands start to tremble.

The first drag of nicotine hit me like a long lost friend, calming my frayed nerves. But as I took another long pull on the stick, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Dylan, human as could be, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

"Hey bud, you okay?" He asked. I shook my head and ran my free hand through my hair. I was frustrated at how these people, my teammates, were so nonchalant about this whole situation. Once I opened my mouth, I felt the words just tumbling out.

"Dude, I don't know how you can be so calm about all of this! These three people are fucking dead, guts sucked out with a straw by some nightmare monster. You and everyone else here aren't even god damn human, there's a bar with a second floor that isn't visible from the outside?! I'm just- I can't take it! It's all starting to catch up to me and I'm freaking out, Dylan! I can't sta-"

And before I could rant any more, he clapped his hand over my mouth, shushed me and waited until I'd finished shouting at him to let me go. He had a smile on his face that I just couldn't understand, the whole time. When I shut up, he let me go and spoke.

"Dan, let's go for a walk around the block. I can't promise you that you'll totally get over it, but at the very least I can set you on that road. Okay?"