It was only for a split second that Tom had taken his eyes off of Gary to look into the direction that strange howl had come from. He looked everywhere on the field for his best friend, even asking some of the nearby players but none of them had seen him disappear. Their focus had been on Blake and then on the wolf howl.
‘That definitely sounded like a wolf… Don’t tell me that was the other werewolf? Was that howl meant to be some sort of challenge? …please be safe, Gary!’
He wasn’t the only one who was confused about the sudden disappearance of a certain high schooler, though. Innu and Xin both had seen him get hit by the rugby ball, as well as the frantic Tom searching for him. They both decided to head down from the stands and ask him what had happened.
Surprisingly, two more people were heading towards Tom from another stand.
“Tom, you’re Gary’s friend, right? We saw him get hit by that scumbag, but now he’s gone. Is he ok?” Xin was the first to speak. Hearing that the girl’s question was along the lines of what Kai himself had wanted to ask Tom, he decided to just listen. Innu, noticing that Kai had come down, felt a little awkward since he didn’t know how to behave around him.
“You’re also looking for Gary? Hang on a moment, what do you care anyway? I haven’t heard you asking about him even once during his expulsion, but now you’re worried? You don’t even know him that well, and you’re just the new guy, and you two… holy sh*t, aren’t you Kai Hemper, that rich kid from the year above?!” Tom realised as he looked at those surrounding figures.
“The one and only.” Kai let out a laugh at Tom’s hilarious expression. “Would you kindly tell us where that green head is. We’ve become… ‘acquaintances’ and I have something for him.”
Tom had a bad feeling about that. He had no clue at this moment how Gary had come to know all of these different people, or why they had suddenly cared for him. For as long as Tom could remember it had just been the two of them against the world.
‘I can’t tell them about Gary, at least not today. No one can know about what he’s going through right now. Otherwise they might think he’s the one that killed all of those…’
“I don’t know where Gary is, it’s late he probably went home!” Tom shouted as he started to run away from the others before turning around for a moment. “Don’t go out after midnight tonight, especially you, Xin, just stay at home!”
The other four looked at each other, and they all had the same expression. It was clear that Tom did know something and was trying to hide it, even though they didn’t know why…
“Well, should we follow him?” Marie asked the obvious.
“Depends, does anyone have a better plan on how to find Greeny?” Kai asked, but none of them spoke up. Innu quickly moved over to Kai and Marie to join them, but noticed that someone else was following them.
“Hey, It’s pretty late and you know how this town is. I mean I’m happy to protect you and all but I’m sure your parents are worried about you.” Innu tried to gently tell Xin to go away without being too patronising, yet still appearing strong.
“Don’t worry, I can handle myself.” Xin replied, as she looked into the crowd of parents, and there was a man in a suit standing up. As long as he traveled with her things would be fine. Kai didn’t voice any objections, just shrugged and with that the four of them decided to follow Tom’s trail to see where he would go next, hoping that it would lead them to Gary.
———
At the moment, Gary himself was covered in sweat as he sprinted towards the direction Tom had told him. He wasn’t sweating because he was tired, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was running through streets, staying in crowded areas.
‘That howl, I’m sure that had to be from Billy! Has he somehow already transformed? If that’s the case… he must be after me. Anyone who comes close to me will be in danger, and it’s the same for those close to me.”
‘For now… with all these people around I don’t think he’ll attack me… I hope.’ Gary gulped as he recalled how Billy had attacked Innu during the day in school, so who knew what they were planning to do. An hour had passed, yet Gary had neither encountered Billy, nor felt his presence. However, he had finally made it to Yellow Stack.
‘Five hours, five more hours. He isn’t around, is he?’ Gary wondered as he started to sniff the air. He could only smell industry and faded scents. Turning the Marks on, he needed a moment to find them, as they were quite faint.
Tom had picked a perfect hiding place for him. This area didn’t seem to have many living places. Just factories with workers who would have already gone home. Unfortunately Gary was still in his rugby uniform which didn’t have a hood, so he opted to enter from the roof instead of the front entrance, in case anyone was there or the cameras.
Fortunately, Gary had had a lot of practice sneaking in recently and with his current stats it was quite easy for him to do. There were plenty of ledges and pipes, where he could pull himself up with his own body weight. Something that would have been impossible for the past him.
One of the windows had been left open in the large storage warehouse from the top, and going through them he found himself on some type of metal railing. He looked to see if there was anyone inside, and even sniffed the air, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
‘I guess the storage units themselves are quite secure so there’s no need for a nightguard.’
Gary looked at his phone, the regular one. Tom had sent him a text, telling him it was storage unit 23, and that the passcode was his best friend’s birthday. Going down, Gary eventually walked past all of them, until he could finally see a large yellow painted ‘23’ on the outside.
‘I can’t believe I’m going to spend the night, or maybe even the whole day in there.’ Gary thought to himself. He walked up to the container and on the side of it, there was a little digital keypad. Inputting the code, the door slowly started to lift open and white lights from the ceiling were turned on.
‘Whoa, what the hell is this place?! This looks more like an abandoned lab than a storage unit.’ Gary thought as he stepped inside. He could see strange machines he didn’t even know what they did, but they looked incredibly expensive.
There were also books upon books piled up in the room, from what he could see the majority seemed to be some scientific theories and discoveries. He carefully passed it, until he saw that the very back looked different. It was the only place that had been cleared out. There was a table, and on the table there was a set of chains and a bag.
Gary made sure to close the door behind him, and locked it.
‘Wait, what even happens if I transform? Will I be in control? If not, won’t my werewolf self know the code on how to get out? … maybe, I’ll become a primal beast, who can’t think straight? System, mind giving me a sneak peek or something?’
Gary looked inside the plastic bag and he couldn’t help but laugh, because at one point, he would have loved to receive such a thing, especially in February, but now it looked very unappealing. After all, it was practically poison to him right now.
Taking the bag off the floor, Gary then could see a chain on the table. A thick heavy chain, and the table could be raised and had holes in it. They also had cuffs that once shut could only be open by keys.
‘So I guess he wants me to strap myself in this thing, right? Should I do that now? … but I still have a few hours.’
Gary wasn’t sure how much leeway he had. As such he already started to familiarise himself with the process of chaining himself.
‘Where did Tom even buy all this stuff? Probably online. Oh god, I don’t even want to think how much all of it cost… Thank you, Tom. I promise, I’ll pay you back in the future. … just need to literally survive first, though… ’
Gary was finally set, the only thing left to do would be to clip the chains on his legs and arms. Tom messaged him saying to text him after everything was over and he was back to his regular self. If he didn’t hear from him, he would come pick him up in 24 hours and unlock it.
Gary’s two phones were placed on another table on the side. The high schooler waited, until the timer was down to its last hour. Now knowing that Billy hadn’t appeared he decided to click in both of the cuffs on his legs, and then finally clipped the ones on his hands. He waited, and waited, but time seemed to be moving incredibly slow. His only company was the system that was counting down to midnight.
‘Alright, it doesn’t look like Billy followed me, I just hope he can’t sense where I am or something when I change, and I hope this will be able to hold me back.’ Gary thought.
Finally, the time had come.
[A full moon has appeared]
[The power of the moon is at its strongest and empowers you]
[Transformation has begun]