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I have written many adventure books with LGBTQ+ characters. Visit my website to browse my full bibliography. You can also sign up for my mailing list to ensure you don't miss any fun future updates.
Website URL - www.dk-daniels.com
Until Dawn - Chapter 3 by D.K. Daniels
In the past, when I realized I made a mistake, I just flubbed it off and carried on. Troubled with what I had inadvertently gotten myself into, I could have shit myself there on the spot. I suppose I resembled a tasty Bud Light, just bobbing around similar to a cold beer when an alcoholic is lost and wandering the desert alone. Just over the mirage, I'd be there as the tasty brewski.
The werewolf's eyelashes lifted, and I knew it was intrigued by my presence. It wanted me, and I knew it. Odds are the creature would be faster than me, but that wouldn't prevent me from trying to escape. Not idling around to see what would happen when a werewolf set forth it's fangs and powerful claws, I spun around and took off running. My heart swam in my chest. It was as if it could soar up to a blue sky on a sunny day. Rounding the locker pillar, I raced by some of the private changing facilities. There were powerful thumps and clobbers coming from behind as the creature started to gallop. I was scared shitless that I was going to die, but then suddenly, I secured sight on the Lifeguard office that overlooked the pool, and I ran toward that station. Skirting around the corner, the werewolf in pursuit knocked into wooden stalls behind. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw that he effectively dismantled the entire cubical. My legs were beginning to ache, but I didn't dare let myself lose any stamina, I powered through the hurt, joined hands with the office door, and I was inside.
The monstrous creature was hot on my tail, and with hysteria and a heightened sense of agility, I tried automatically thrusting the door into the frame, but the brute lunged at the opening, and I lost grip with the handle. I can't quite recall how it occurred, but for a short burst of time, I was flying, and it thrilled me with amazement. I was swept back, taken off my feet, then my legs slammed the front of a steel desk. I was flying in mid-air. When I hit the desk, my feet dragged up onto it, propelling loose excel sheets and a single computer monitor astray. I groaned out in agony as my body burned with misery. That was until I hit a solid object, my ass slid along the desk, and I fell backward out through the wall, only to realize that it was the window overlooking the poolside.
Toppling hard onto the tiles, I rolled with the exploding glass on the ground until I skidded to stop. My shoulder socket felt as if it had disconnected from the joint, but I didn't have time for an entire medical exam. Therefore, I hauled my skinny ass up off the floor and made a break for it. The viewing bay was just up ahead, yet it barely looked like the spectating zone was there as the window was coated in an expansive layer of red blood that ran higher than the glass. Skirting around the edge of the pool, I slid across the blood and left red footprints behind. Across the room, the doorway leading out toward the wading pool split open. I skimmed over my shoulder, observed the werewolf race behind the pirate teamed play course. He cut out over the pool, hopping each lane rope until he smoothly came out onto the tiles on my side of the pool. The action was meticulous, and it was done error-free without judging if he'd fall.
Hammering to a stop, I reversed up, looking for my alternative escape. My heart was drubbing in my chest, my eyes sprung wild in terror, then I locked eyes on the emergency door and ran for it. Where was I going to go? How would I be able to get rid of this monster on my tail? More importantly, how would I kill it?
Those were some of the thoughts that flashed through my mind on a whim, and if I did live to see the morning, then I'd only laugh it off. Thrusting against the exit handle, the gateway didn't seem to budge. The two-doors crammed together as they pushed forward, but they just wouldn't separate. The wolf sprang its own attack and bolted for me, arms stretched wide, claws extended.
Backing-up, I charged at the door, and at the exact second, he arrived; I fell out the opening, the wolf struck out in a blind fury, snagged me, then I floundered into one of the scaffolding support bars that held up the platform on the side of the building. It had been there since July, the rec center was being expanded, but I didn't care about what new facilities the recreational hall was getting.
Ducking under a support beam, I headed for the ladder in the construction center and started climbing. The night was cold, dark, and wet. The rungs slippery and unsafe for a teenager that wasn't confident with heights in the first place, but all the same, I ascended with fear leading the way. Peering down, I saw the wolf try and take the same route as I did, but he simply could not fit. Therefore, he latched onto the metal joists and scaled the side of the green netted partition. The whole structure wobbled from his abrupt jiving and jolting. On the first level, I dipped around to the next ladder; the creature tore through the meshwork and snarled at me. Keeping my back flat to the internal scaffold wall, I sucked in my chest and belly as I narrowly avoid his determined reach. Spinning around, I started to climb up to level two, and fiend broke through the remainder of tulle, bent a girder beam, and the tower rocked as he launched himself up to grab hold of me. Nearing the top, he took a firm grip on my ankle and dragged me down. The initial jerk didn't take me off the ladder, but my head walloped a rung and blinded me. I slumped, hugging the ladder. I was dazed, but the creature had lost his grip, he had pulled himself free from the assembly, and I clambered up the few remaining steps. Staggering along the boardwalk and holding my hand to my head, it throbbed. It had just dawned on me how hard my skull hit the ladder.
Stretching out, with a spin, I kicked off the ground and mounted the finale ladder. At the top, I was parallel with the flat roof of the swimming hall. I had nowhere else to go. This was it, I thought; I was going to die just like Johnathan said. I was going to die a virgin, possibly by being thrown from the roof after the beast drank my blood dry like a Gogurt Squeeze. I subconsciously sauntered back as I listened to the groaning of the frame. The werewolf would be over that ledge any second. Yet, what I hadn't bet on was that builders could be lifesavers. I almost tripped when I backed into a small pile of mid-section struts used for the scaffolding. My mind didn't jump to the conclusion of what I'd do with it, but I knew it would be better to have it rather than holding nothing when he came to kill me. Though at the last moment, while I was contemplating why I hadn't told Elliot how much I liked him. I stood there, reeking of sweat, my hair damp of the gentle haze coming from the sky, and anticipating what it would feel like to be ripped open. I took a step forward, I didn't have a plan, but I realized I had to do something. I didn't want to be one of those who didn't fight back, and at the last minute, they scream for mercy.
Standing my ground, I waited for the werewolf, and soon enough, his hairy arm wrapped around a collar beam, and the nails of his other hand bore into the wood of the platform. Up came his head, his eyes lit up when it saw me, and in fear, I gripped my weapon tighter and sent it hurtling into his jaw. Some loose spit ejected from his mouth, and it was evident he felt the wrath of the bar. It offered serenity in the thought that I could, in fact, hurt the animal. It felt pain in the same way that humans could feel it, but there was no denying it was tougher. Not waiting for an invitation, drawing back the pole, I launched it, and this time his arm wrapped around the support dislodged from the railing, and he slipped. The beast was left dangling, and he even tried to regain some ground by latching onto anything for help, but no matter how hard he tried, it never worked. His eyes locked on mine, he looked helpless, and I felt bad, but then the nails from the wooden board slipped out, and he fell. There was a second of silence, followed by an excruciating roar, and then everything became calm. Dropping the pipe, it gave off a loud clank. Plopping my hands on the rail, I glanced out over the railing and down to the ground. Although it was dark, I could make out the creature, and he was impaled on what looked like rebar. I couldn't believe how easy that had been.
A long, exaugurated sigh left my body when I realized I just killed somebody. My heart sank at the thought of having hurt it. Except, if I hadn't have done what I did, I wouldn't have lived beyond that scaffolding climb. I needed to take a few minutes, so I slumped down against the metal support and calmed my rattled nerves. I was extremely thirsty; I would have drunk from a puddle on the side of the road. For a few minutes, I listened to the sound of the poor creature below dying, and eventually, it did die. Remembering that Jonathan was still in the locker, I stood up and brushed off my clothes, and made my way down the framework. It didn't appear to me at the time just how high I had climbed. I guess all of that went out of the window when you're running for your life.
Bending under the support column, I came out beside a load of pointy rebar. And on it, there was an impaled boy, but it wasn't Bao. I was struck with guilt when I rounded the jagged cropping to get a better look at the kid who was skewered on the top of the pikes. More confusion manifested when I saw that it was Sebastian. My mind couldn't offer any viable excuse as to why he was hanging up there with spikes through his entire body. Why was he trying to kill me? He was my friend, and it didn't make sense. I knew him for over a year. The two of us joined around the same time when we were both about 12. More importantly, how did one become a werewolf? It's not like there was a callsign on some billboard announced for you to call 055 3302 2020 to avail of your free werewolf transformation. And why did he suddenly want to try and kill me after being friends for over a year? I didn't know, but my mind jumpstarted again at the thought of Johnathan being alone, and it would have been better to be with somebody than being alone. Something just unnerved me about the lonely night. The crickets of summer had disappeared, and the only thing that remained was the occasional hoot from owls and caw from birds.
Heading back inside, I jogged for the emergency exit. A few yards inside the door, I stopped abruptly, swung around, and shut the entrance. How could I forget? It's like the number one rule of horror movies; close and lock all your goddam doors. People in those movies must live without ever locking them before going to bed. It just the perfect recipe for murder. It's almost insinuating that any deranged serial killer should be on the lookout for doors that are not locked. So they can make themselves at home, come in a butcher some poor family. At that rate, what is the point of even having a door if you don't lock it when you are at your most vulnerable?
Tracing around the edge of the pool, I took a long way around rather than having to traipse through all the blood again. Eyeing up all the damage from my immediate injection from the lifeguard office, I studied the glass all about the floor and then checked my body. It was a miracle that I didn't sustain any cuts or broken bones from the intense chase I had at the time. I thought I was a goner; I even went as far as to lift my clothes up to see where Sebastian had clawed at me, and I was relieved to see nothing other than some torn clothing.
Reaching for the handle, the door rattled, and it folded back to its midpoint and clopped the other half of the door. I'd never seen a wooden door do such a thing, but I didn't dare complain-the odds were in my favor; a door opened without a fuss. Pressing on, I left the office, rounded the corner where I had been hiding in the locker to find that Johnathan's cabinet was torn open from the top down. As I approached, I kept my wits about me but was crushed when I saw the empty locker without Johnathan in it. It made me wonder what had happened in the short time I disappeared. I could have understood that Johnathan left when I distracted the werewolf, but seeing the place where he had been hiding now a wreck, my mind turned back to Bao. Checking to see if the door leading to the lobby was still intact, I was baffled when I found it miraculously how I had left it. The sight made me even more apprehensive that Bao was able to skirt around without me knowing, and more importantly, where exactly did he get into the locker rooms.
Looking around for a little, I tried picking up on the trail of Johnathan, the way you see in all those movies where people can track, but I couldn't do it. Yet, there weren't any signs of a struggle or more blood or a body. There was just some good old mystery and Johnathan's disappearance. Concluding I had seen everything, I decided to leave the changing area and follow the blood trail. In the hallway that led to the large indoor court and gym, the blood sloppily guided me to the stairwell. Looking up through the gap between the stairs, I took a gulp, then realized just how thirsty I still happened to be. Luckily at the base of the stairs, there was a water fountain.
Therefore, I bowed my neck, hit the switch, and drank. It was refreshing, and it refueled me. I didn't have all day to hang around, so, after some coaxing, I climbed the levels nervously. I clung to the wall all the way up so I could see to the top of the upcoming flight of stairs. Even my eyes darted to all the shadows, and I kept feeling paranoid. I never had a problem with looking over my shoulder, though I was afraid that the monster would sneak up on and disembowel me.
At the top of the stairs, I peeked out of cover to make sure everything was safe. When I saw nobody, I started exploring for my friends. At first, I wasn't aiming to go to any particular location, but I ended up by the gym and found an interesting dilemma as a good proportion of the gym equipment was wedged up against the glass windows. There looked like there was an attack; some of the glass was cracked, and it turned that milky white just to the point where it starts becoming flakey. The hallway was quiet, other than the building's occasional groaning; it made the whole ordeal uneasy. I was feeling perturbed about my dear friend, who was probably dead for all I knew, but what kept me going was the cardinal idea of finding Elliot. Not that he knew how I felt, or if he did, he hid the nature of his knowledge of my attraction from me to be kind.
The blood trail headed straight for the entrance, so I willingly followed it until I was met with the barricade. Cupping my hands to the door, I looked inside. The red smear ran to a bench press where the pool attendant's body slanted on the ground against the equipment's base. My eyes transfixed to the horror show unfolding in front of my very eyes, and I could see from that distance that his entire stomach had been ripped out. I turned away in horror, looking up and down the corridor. I had to watch my back. Though surely, he wouldn't have been strong enough to stack all that furniture.
Facing the barrier, I knocked on the window, just in case, in some twist of faith that there might be somebody inside who can help me, or in turn, help them. I scanned the room, following the double line of concrete pillars down the studio. It seemed like an eternity, but eventually, a head popped out from behind a post further into the gym, and I got excited. I tapped for the second time, and a person got out from cover. It was Elliot, he was okay and wow... But I was blown away when Jimmy crawled out into the open from the far pillar and stood alongside Elliot. The two of them were alive, but it made me realize that I was on the far side of a colossal barrier, and I wouldn't be safe just yet.
Thanks for reading, comments are welcome and I reply to all. I love hearing what folks have to say. Send emails to danny2017writing@outlook.com I hope this has been an interesting start to our run-up to Halloween, my favorite time of year. Since I don't get to do a yard haunt this year on the scale I usually get to do, I have channeled some of my spookiness into this story. I have written many adventure books with LGBTQ+ characters. Visit my website to browse my full bibliography. You can also sign up for my mailing list to ensure you don't miss any fun future updates.
Website URL - www.dk-daniels.com