Angelus - Chapter III

It was already eleven. Amy was surprised at how time flew, but she did not care. She and the other outcasts had been together since the afternoon. John and Alexandria barely let go of one another the whole time. Amy was happy for them. At least two people had found their perfect matches. Michael tapped her shoulder.

"Hey Angel, I think it’s time we bounced." – he said sucking on the last bit of his Diet Coke – "Todd’s closing down."

Todd was the proprietor of Digital Eden, a gaming zone. He had once been like them, an outcast, so he would let them sit around for hours, gaming and eating and what not. It was a decent hang-out, but unfortunately for Amy, it was far from home so she did not frequent it as much as she would have liked to.

"Yeah, you’re right. It’s about time we moved." – she finished off her fries and went over to the new couple.

Alexandria was lying on John as he reclined on an easy chair. James was too enthralled in God of War to pay no mind to anything going on around him.

"Drag," – Amy called – "It’s getting late. It’s time we headed home."

"Yeah I know." – John replied as he got up.

Alexandria got off and got onto another chair. – "Chaos, time to go. Kill Kratos and let’s book."

"How do you expect me to kill myself, Sage?" – his eyes never leaving the screen.

Alexandria walked over to the television and pulled out the plug.

"Hey!" – cried James.

"Instant suicide." – she said swinging the plug idly – "Now, we’re going!"

"I didn’t even save..." – James complained.

The group gathered their bags and headed out of the door, reluctantly. As they all walked together, each of their homes came into view and slowly each one departed to their respective homesteads.

Suddenly Amy was alone on her way home. She was not worried about anyone trying to jump her, she always walked around with a can of pepper spray and she was a fast runner. However, not even a fast runner can outrun a pickup truck.

As the truck came at her head-on, all she could do was jump out of the way. The truck screeched to a halt and before she could get her bearings, the driver got out, walked over to her and had grabbed her by the hair.

"What the fuck?!" – Amy could not say anything more as her assailant threw face first against the truck.

Luckily, there was no power behind the throw as she was able to stop herself. She turned around to face her assailant, ready to brutalize him by any means necessary. She was shocked at who she saw.

"Tyson?"

He staggered towards her, eyes bloodshot and he reeked of alcohol. He was barely able to stand, let alone walk. But walk he did, swaying from side to side.

"Amy," – his speech was slurred – "You hurt me. You hurt us!"

He was already within arms length of her and he slammed one hand on either side of her, trapping her between his arms. She flinched, but she did not cry out. As it was, he had not touched her, but if did, she was ready to kick his ass.

"Why would you do this to what we had?" he asked in between sobs.

"What we had was nothing more than a lie," – the smell of alcohol was overwhelming at this point.

"Don’t say that!!" – he yelled, punching the side of the truck – "Give me another chance!"

She looked at him with an ice cold glare – "Never."

He grabbed her by the hair again and as he pulled back his fist to hit her, he was blinded by a red mist. The stinging agony of pepper spray shot through his system like electricity as he rolled around on he ground, holding his eyes.

For good measure, she kicked him in the testicles before making her escape. As she ran, she heard his engine start. She knew he would catch up with her soon. She had to find somewhere to hide, just long enough for him to give up his pursuit and go home.

As she ran into an alley, she saw a window leading into a warehouse. She made her way towards it as she heard Tyson’s truck turn the corner. As she neared the window, she realized that she had never noticed this window here anytime before she had passed this way.

But she did not have time to think twice. She jumped into the window, but it was not a window at all, it was portal.

She found herself falling into a vortex. As she fell, she heard her friends’ voices calling to her as well as her mother’s. What was this place? Where was it leading her?

Suddenly in a flash of white light, her falling was over and she found herself in giant city complex. She got up slowly, still feeling a little groggy from the fall. She looked around the complex and called out to anyone within earshot. There was no response. She was alone in this giant complex and she was not sure where she was either.

She heard shuffling behind her and she turned around quickly.

"Who’s there?" – she called out, reaching into her bag, but soon realizing she had dropped her pepper spray.

From behind the front desk, a man emerged.

"Oh, excuse me. I’m lost and I don’t know where I am." – she said to him, holding her chest in relief – "Do you know where this place is?"

The man just stood there, looking at her with, what looked like, a hungry look.

"Hello, sir? Could you help me?" – she asked again.

As she looked closer, she noticed that his eyes were as black as night. He bared his teeth and she noticed that he did not have teeth, but rows of sharp fangs. He began growling as he crouched down on all fours.

"Sir?" – she looked behind her and noticed a revolving door. All she had to do was get to it.

He pounced at her, saliva dripping from his jaw. This was not a man, she realized, this was an animal. She ran for dear life as the man barely got hold of her backpack. As she tripped, the man pounced on her and pinned her down as would a leopard do its prey. She began to cry and plead with the man as he salivated all over her. He opened his jaw and she noticed that he dislocated it and as his fangs came down around her, a metal rod intervened.

She looked over to see another figure in a hooded cloak standing at the other end of the rod.

"Hey," – he spoke to the man-beast. – "Kitchen’s closed, asshole."

The man-beast ignored Amy and set his sights on this new potential meal. The hooded figure pulled out two daggers, each blade was about as long as his forearms.

"Don’t move." – he spoke to Amy as she lay on the floor.

The man-beast attacked the figure and as the figure slashed at him, the man-beast grabbed his arm and threw him against the wall. As if he was a cat, the hooded figure rebounded off the wall and attacked the man-beast head on, cutting his throat. The man-beast fell dead, holding his throat.

The hooded figure stood up, sheathed both daggers and walked over to Amy. She began to back away from him in fear. As he extended his hand, she was sure that he was going to kill her. She closed her eyes, awaiting her imminent death.

"What are you doing?" – he said.

She opened her eyes to find his hand extended, but not to kill her, but to help her up. She took hold of his hand and he helped her up.

"What was that?" – she asked looking at the lifeless body.

"Windigo."

"Wait, a windigo?"

"Yup."

The hooded figure pulled back his hood to reveal long, unkempt dreadlocks, pointed ears and gray cat-like eyes. On the back of his neck, there was the number nine tattooed in roman numerals.

"My god!" – she said stunned at her rescuer’s appearance.

"By your reaction to my appearance, you’re new around here." – he walked over to the dead body and pulled out two fangs. He looked at her – "Trophies. My name’s Nine."

"Uh, my name’s Amy," – she said uneasily – "But my friend’s call me Angel,"

"Ah the winged messengers of the Lord our God." – he winked.

"Something like that."

Nine’s ears twitched and his nostrils flared – "I suggest we leave, post-haste."

"Why?"

"Because I just spilled blood, and these windigo are just like sharks when a fisherman chums the water. Just even a drop of blood will have them go berserk."

"So you’re telling me more of them are coming?"

"Oh yeah," – he put his hand palm-down on the floor and closed his eyes – "And by the way they’re moving, they’ll be here really soon."

"Wait, you could tell all that just by touching the ground?"

"Vibrations in the ground." – he said cheekily – "I can sense them."

He took hold of her hand and led her to the roof of the complex. From the top, Amy could see the entire city. It was clearly abandoned. Not a car moved, nor a street light flickered. The entire city was a ghost town.

"What happened here?" – she asked Nine, who seemed to be testing the wind.

"Windigo. That’s what happened."

"But I thought windigo were just myth and legend..."

"Well I don’t know if you were there or not, but that myth just tried to have you for lunch."

He crouched in front of her with his back facing her.

"Now get on."

"What?"

"Get on my back and hold on tight."

"Why am I getting on your back?" - She asked as she got on uneasily.

He smirked as he stood up and began running at top speed. Amy realized that this person intended on jumping from this building to the other. She tried to squirm free from his grasp, but it was too late. He was in the air and for a split second, it almost felt like they were flying. He came down and landed on the next building with the gentleness of cat.

"What the fuck’s wrong with you?" – Amy said grabbing onto his cloak tightly.

"Well you won’t be safe with me around," – he said – "So I'm taking you somewhere safe."

"Well don’t you have like a car or something we could drive?"

"Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?" – he laughed.

He continued jumping from building to building with the speed and precision of a cat. He never missed a step and his speed was beyond anything that Amy could have ever imagined or encountered. As he ran, his eyes shot everywhere, taking in his surroundings. What was it that he was keeping an eye for? She watched him as he did this.

They came up to a house in a suburban looking area. Many of the houses looked ransacked and damaged.

"Here we are." – he said as he landed. He stopped so hard, that his shoes actually skidded against the tarmac.

"Where is here?" – Amy asked as she unsteadily clambered down from Nine's back.

"There’s a bunch of human kids who stay in that house." – he pointed to one of the houses. Music thundered from the garage. – "You can stay with them."

"What about you?" – she asked as he walked off.

"I don’t stay around here."

Before he could continue, a double-edged axe flew at him. He caught it in mid-air.

Amy looked in the direction that the axe came from, and saw Kannabis and the others standing, weapons drawn, stupefied.

"Get the point and get moving, freak!" – yelled Kannabis.

"I just came to drop one of your kind and I was about to head out." – Nine threw the axe back at Kannabis and it landed at his feet.

"What the fuck is going on out here?" – Kade came out confused.

He saw Nine. Nine pulled his hood back over his head and began running. After running a bit, he leapt into the air and disappeared into the distance.

"So that was him, huh?" – Spin said softly – "The feral Nine."

The others gasped.

"He’s amazing." – Kade added.

"Open your eyes, Kade." – Kannabis retorted angrily – "You can’t trust him."

They noticed Amy.

"Hi," – Noire said – "What’s your name?"

"Oh, uh, my name’s Amy, but my friend’s call me Angel."

"Well then, Angel," – said Rage – "I’m Rage."

"My name’s Noire."

"I’m Spin."

"Kade," – he said sheathing his sword – "And the retard with the axe is Kannabis."

"Hey!" – Kannabis said, offended.

"Well you are a retard. Going off and attacking the feral Nine like that. You know he could be a real ally..."

"Bullshit. He’s an animal. Rather have his carcass on my mantle."

"Are you hungry?" – Spin asked ignoring Kannabis’ statement.

"Kind of, yeah..." – Amy said rubbing her stomach.

"Well then I guess we’re having one more for dinner then." – Kade spoke up.

As they all walked back into the house, Kannabis pulled Kade back.

"Look, I know you and Spin got something going on, but that don’t mean that everything she says is a-ok." – he watched Amy as she spoke with the others – "What do we know about this girl?"

"She’s a newbie, Kan. Plain and simple. She’ll need our help if she’s gonna have to live here."

Kade looked down at Kannabis’s fist wrapped around his collar.

"I suggest you let go, Kan," – Kade slid his sword out of its sheath with his thumb – "before something bad happens to you."

Kannabis let go and walked in the house in a huff. As Kade walked in, he noticed Nine perched in a tree. His eyes reflected against the light.

"You got something to say to me, Cat-man?" – Kade slowly unsheathed his sword.

"Hostile, aren’t we?" – Nine said as he landed on the ground – "I have no interest in you, human. But I do have an interest in that girl."

"Angel?"

"Mm-hmm." – he grinned revealing two long white fangs – "She has an interesting smell."

"Well you’ll have to get passed me first." – Kade got into a defensive stance.

"Whoa, easy now. I have no quarrel with humans, just the windigo."

As he turned to leave, Kade called to him.

"What are you by the way?" – he asked.

"You know what, 'Kade', is it?" – Nine said barely turning his head – "I wish I knew myself."

He pulled the hood over his head – "Oh, and one more thing, watch your big friend with the axe."

"Who, Kannabis?" – Kade said, a little confused.

"Yeah, he doesn’t smell right."

"Yeah, well he’s not really fond of showers..." – Kade began to chuckle but noticed Nine’s face was stone – "What do you mean?"

"Not sure, but I’m saying keep a close watch on him." – he looked at Kade’s sword – "You might wanna start sleeping with that."

A distant blood-curdling howl sent a shiver up Kade’s spine.

"You better get back inside." – Nine noticed Kade’s shivering – "The windigo are out. I can smell ‘em."

"Shouldn’t you be worried, too?"

"I’ve never met a windigo yet that’s been a match for me." – he winked and smiled impishly at Kade – "Good night."

Before Kade could say another word, Nine was in the air, leaping from roof to roof and tree to tree.

Nine’s words rang in his head. What was he talking about? Kannabis could be an asshole at times, but to put the others in danger? That was a little far-fetched.

"So what were you and the cat-man talking about?" – Spin surprised him as he turned to go back into the house.

"Dammit, woman!" – Kade said holding his chest – "Don’t do that!"

"I’m sorry, baby." – she giggled – "So it seemed that you and Nine were getting along."

"Hmph! It’s nothing but idle chit-chat." – Kade spit to the side – "He’s convinced that Kannabis might betray us."

"What? That’s ridiculous. I mean he can be an asshole sometimes, but…"

"Yeah I know, that’s what I said..." – he put his arm around Spin – "Anyway forget it, let’s get back inside."

As they walked in, Spin turned to her boyfriend – "Was it just me, or did he have a tail?"

Kade thought back for a moment – "Holy shit, you’re right! Son of a..."

They ended the conversation there and went in to welcome their new guest.

In the house, everyone had sat Amy down and began bombarding her with questions of where she came from, how old was she and the like.

"So 'Angel', huh?" – Kannabis said sarcastically as he popped open a can of soda – "So what were you doing with the freak, Angel?"

"Who? Oh you mean Nine?" – Amy said rather nervously – "Well he saved me."

"Saved you?" – Kannabis scoffed – "That’s a crock of shit."

"It’s true!" – Amy said, realizing that her voice had risen – "One of those windigo things almost attacked me and he saved me from it."

"You crossed a windigo?" – Rage said, concerned.

"Crossed it? I could smell it!"

Spin walked in and noticed Kannabis drinking a soda – "Um, Kan, don’t you think that our guest would like one too?"

He looked at the can and then at Spin – "She’s got legs, right?"

Spin shook her head in disgust and went to the kitchen to get Amy a drink.

"So why did that Nine guy bring you here, to us?" – asked Noire.

"I don’t know. He just said that I’d be safer with other humans."

"So that means that he knew that we were the only survivors here..." – Rage said stroking his chin.

"I bet you he’s working with those cannibals..." – Kanniabis said downing the last drops of drink – "Any second now, we’ll be overrun with the bastards and he’ll be the ringleader."

"Fuck you and your damn paranoia, Kan." – said Kade walking in through the door – "He obviously knew that we were the only ones in the city. Lord knows how long he’s known. If he was working with the windigo, don’t you think he would’ve led them here long ago?"

"I say he’s bidding his time, you know. Looking for the right opportunity to strike."

"You know what, Kan," – Noire said, finally getting sick of Kannabis’s banter – "You should really cut down on the mary-jane because by the way you’re talking, you’ve gone and smoked yourself retarded."

The others laughed, including Amy. Kannabis, obviously offended, picked up his axe and went to his room and locked the door.

"You have to excuse him; he can be a little stupid sometimes." – Spin said tossing Amy a soda.

"Sometimes?" – Noire rolled her eyes.

"We were about to sit down to dinner?" – said Kade – "I’m sure you’re hungry."

Amy nodded her head and followed the others into the dining room. As they sat and talked, Amy was a bit curious as to what happened to the city.

"Well, no one really knows for sure." – said Kade – "All we know is that when the first windigo appeared, all hell broke loose."

"Yeah," – Noire continued – "I mean it only took one of those things to turn a whole platoon."

"Turn?" – asked Amy.

"Yeah, if a person gets bitten by one of those things, that person turns into a windigo. Think zombie horror movie-type shit."

"Their eyes get jet-black..." – said Rage, with the expression of remembering a time when he had seen someone turn into a windigo – "Their teeth fall out and long white fangs grow in their place. Their skin becomes chalk-white and their blood runs cold, so cold that you can see their veins turn blue."

"We’ve had our share of encounters," – said Spin – "And we’ve always been able to survive."

"So where is this, by the way?" – asked Amy.

"Nephilim City."

"Nephilim City?"

"By your reaction, you’re new around here." – said Kade.

"Yeah. I was being chased by…" – Amy stopped herself. The thought of Tyson sent a shiver up her spine – "Well anyway, I climbed through this window and started falling down a vortex and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" – Rage interrupted – "A vortex?"

"Yeah. Next thing you know, I’m here."

Rage and the others looked at one another.

"Angel, you’re an out-worlder?"

"A what?"

"This is the nega-verse. You must be from the Universe, yes?"

"Um, I’m from Earth, if that helps."

Rage shot out of his chair and ran into the den. He came back with a book with pictures of the Milky Way and the planets.

"Which one are you from?" – he asked her, his chest heaving with excitement.

She pointed to the third planet from the sun, Earth.

"Ha! I told you!" – he pointed triumphantly at the others – "I knew there were other 'verses out there! This proves the multi-verse theory I told you about, Kade!"

"Wicked awesome!" – everyone said in unison, with a tired "Yeah, yeah, whatever." from Kade to Rage.

So after bombarding her with questions about Earth and its inhabitants, Amy was finally able to continue asking her questions.

"So is it like the whole world’s overrun by windigo?"

"No, just Nephilim City. When the windigo began rising, the city was evacuated." – said Spin.

"When they were sure there were no more humans around, they closed off the city." – said Noire.

"Needless to say, there are hunters who come in, trying to make a little cash. Some woman comes around claiming or freaking out because she thinks that maybe her kid or family member is still in the city and still human, for the most part," – Rage pulled out a cigarette and lit it, took a drag and continued – "So these stupid bastards come around infiltrating the city seeing what kind of info they can scoop up as well as seeing if they can’t locate the aforementioned missing person."

Rage closed his eyes and it seemed as if he was contemplating something, but it was short-lived. He continued on.

"More often than not, the truth is always hard to swallow. These guys come in hoping to put a mother’s worries to rest and in the end they have to go back and tell that woman that her kid, husband, brother, sister or whomever has been transformed into an alabaster cannibal, killing machine." – he tossed the half-finished cigarette away, obviously sick of it – "I’m amazed that most of the hunters actually are able to get back."

"Why’s that?" – Amy said inquisitively – "I mean if you guys can survive, why can’t they? Especially considering that those guys are experienced and well-trained..."

"Because, they never listened." – Kade spoke up – "Guns and any other type of small-arms fire is useless against them. I’ve seen an entire twelve-man team get massacred by just one windigo."

"So how do you kill these things?"

"Decapitation, but even then you have to stop the heart. Sure, using Symtec or any handheld explosives would do the job post-haste, but then again it’s pointless running around blowing up parts of the city and all,’ – Kade shook his head – "It’s a lot easier with a sword, axe, or any cutting or stabbing weapon. May seem a bit Medieval, but if it works, I ain’t complaining…besides, I could use the exercise, when you think about it." – he smacked his stomach as if he was a smaller version of Santa.

"Hey now," – Spin slapped his arm playfully – "You’re fine the way you are, ok? Besides, you make a great pillow." – she put her head on Kade’s shoulder.

He smiled down at her.

"Well, maybe it ain’t that bad, you know." – He turned to the group as they sat around the table – "Guys, I’ve been thinking. We’ve been in this city too long."

"You don’t mean…" – said Noire, her eyes wide in shock.

"That’s right, I think I think we need to get moving."

The others looked at each other confused.

"Listen, I know it sounds like a half-assed idea, but think about, you know as well as I do that we won’t be able to stay much longer, especially with the windigo running around."

"So what do you suggest we do?" – asked Rage.

"I say we pack up whatever necessities we need and bounce out of this hell-hole. Of course the instruments are going to have to stay back; small price to pay."

"Yeah," – Rage suddenly spoke up as he looked out into the twilight – "To tell you truth, I’ve been thinking about the same thing. Kade makes a lot of sense, plus," – he looked over at Amy – "Angel needs to get back to her own world."

"Of course, that is, if she wants to..." – said Kade. He turned to her – "What do you say, Angel? You could stick with us. I, for one, got no issue with that."

"Neither do we." – Rage and Spin said at the same time.

“I don’t mind, either. It’s time we had another face around here." – said Noire putting an arm around Amy – "Actually, I’d like if you stuck around, because you do the one thing that I’ve been trying to do for the longest time."

"What’s that?"

"You piss the hell out of Kannabis." – Noire smiled at her – "As for sticking around here, I don’t like that idea. If we’ve all come to a common conclusion, I say we start getting ready to bounce any day from now. I wanna get outta here ASAP."

The sound of shuffling stopped their conversation momentarily. Kade and Rage became tense and rigid, fearing for the worse. Needless to say, it was a false alarm. Kannabis lumbered through the door, looking somewhat disgruntled. As he walked by, he muttered under his breath and gave Amy threatening looks, almost as if he was going to kill her. He trudged into the kitchen, got a soda, sat down at the table, as far away from Amy as possible, and lit a cigarette.

"So what you ijits been discussing for so long?" – he said cracking open the soda and taking a sip – "Someone being elected president or something?"

"Actually, you’re in time, Kan. We were just discussing leaving." – Kade said.

"Leaving?" – Kannabis almost choked on his drink.

"Yeah, you heard me, leaving. You know, to go, to depart? That kinda leaving."

"We all agreed on it, Kan." – Rage spoke up.

"Yeah we did." – Kade sat down across from Kannabis – "We’re leaving Nephilim City and going away from this city and away from the windigo," – he looked over at Amy and then back at Kannabis – "And maybe even help Angel find her way home, too. It’s gonna be one hell of a walk, so better go decide what you want to be taking with you."

"Who the fuck said we were leaving? It’s crazy! And you want to go walking with all those windigo running around the entire fucking city? It’s fuckin’ psycho trying to do that." – Kannabis stood up angrily – "You’ll most like end up like one of them." – he rubbed his arm, furious and confused – "Well you guys can go on ahead and get yourselves killed if you want ‘cause there is no way I am walking out of this city. I’ll hot-wire a car or something, but I ain’t walking."

"Well then Kan, if you feel so strongly about that, then I guess you better start getting used to the silence of it all, ‘cause we’re leaving."

Kannabis said nothing.

"Listen," – Kade continued his persuasion – "I’m not going to lie, it does sound crazy. Even though you and I don’t get along, it’s probably the best way."

"Plus, we can get Angel to her home world, if we happen to find a way." – Noire added.

"Why the fuck would I help someone I know shit about? On top of that, put my life on the line for a nobody..." – he looked over at Amy and then looked away. – "She’d be nothing but dead-weight, especially if we get caught fighting a windigo. I say we just…"

Before Kannabis could utter another syllabus, Kade punched him.

"That’s enough outta you, shithead! If you didn’t know, you help a person because it’s the right thing to do, not ‘cause you got something to gain." – he took a deep breath and began walking away.

"Where are you going, Kade?" – Spin asked.

"Outside, I need some air..."

As he opened the front door, he turned to Kannabis who still sat, nursing a bloody lip.

"I swear if you could be any more of an asshole, you’d be a windigo."

He walked outside and slammed the door. Kannabis stood up and walked to his room and slammed the door. Spin, Amy, and Noire just sat in the kitchen in silence.

"Is it always like this?" – Amy asked.

"Sometimes it’s worse."

"So Amy," – Spin asked – "What do you think about the feral Nine, you know, that cat-dude who saved you?"

"Oh him, well he seems okay."

"You don’t think he could be a threat, do you?"

"No, not at all. There was just something about him that was comforting. I don’t think we have to worry about him hurting any of us."

"Well you sound pretty sure about all this." – said Rage – "Well that’s good enough for me."

"Me too." – said Noire.

"Me too." – said Spin.

Outside, Kade stood trying to calm down and in awe at how stupid and selfish Kannabis could be. What was his problem? This was something that just bothered Kade.

"Trouble in paradise, huh?" – a voice rang in the night.

Kade looked around in confusion. He turned around to find a hooded Nine standing behind him. He fell back surprised.

"What the fuck’s the matter with you? Creeping up on people like that..."

"My apologies." – he extended a hand to help Kade up.

Kade hesitantly accepted the gesture and stood up, wiping his pants. he pulled out a cigarette and tried to light it, but his hands shook violently. Obviously, he was still angry about his row with Kannabis.

"So how is the girl?" – Nine asked picking up the lighter and lighting Kade’s cigarette for him.

"Who, Angel? She’s okay." – he looked at Nine skeptically as he took a drag – "Why the interest?"

"She intrigues me. From what I can tell, you and your friend with the axe had a go."

"Hmph, we’re planning on leaving the city as well as thinking about how to get Angel back to her own world."

"That would be best, for all of you actually."

"Why the interest in our well-being, cat-man?" – Kade asked suspiciously – "Do you have anything to gain from our leaving?"

"Yes, I do."

"Oh yeah? Mind telling me what that thing is?"

"Just knowing that no more humans have to be turned into windigo and I can go about my business exterminating every last one without having to worry about another popping up out of the blue."

"Is that the real reason?"

'I don’t lie."

A howl broke the silence of the night. Kade reached at his side and realized his sword was in the house.

"Don’t worry about it." – Nine chuckled – "They won’t travel this far. One thing about windigo is that they’re lazy and prefer that their prey be within range. This entire area is considered too far to hunt, so they stay in the city."

"Kannabis thinks that you may be more of a threat than an ally."

"Oh, does he?" – Nine laughed – "Well don’t worry yourselves over that. Like I said, I have no intentions of hurting you or any of your friends. It is the windigo I hunt."

"Well try telling that to him."

Silence.

"Nine?" – Kade turned around to find that Nine had vanished.

As he walked back inside, he looked around uneasily. With that speed and stealth, he really hoped that Nine was truly on their side because having him as an enemy would be a real problem.

So finally came the morning; this was it. This was going to be the time when the group had to leave this skeleton that was once called a city. They packed light and made sure that they had all their weapons ready just in case they encountered any windigo.

As they all got ready, Amy sat silently in her room. She thought about home and about her friends. Did they notice that she was missing? Did they miss her? Questions danced maliciously in her mind. Suddenly, her mind drifted to the image of the cat-man who called himself Nine. What was his story? She hadn’t had a chance to thank him since he rescued her from the windigo. She thought of him and how lonely he must be to wander about the city on his own doing nothing but fighting those monsters. She pitied him and suddenly a tear rolled down her face. To be alone, her greatest fear. She at least had friends and people beside her, but what about him. Did he have a family or even friends? Oh Nine, she thought, I am sorry.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Noire’s knocking on her door.

"Hey girly." – she said, quite excitedly – "We’re all packed and ready to head out."

Amy wiped the tear from her face quickly – "Oh yeah, okay, that’s good."

"What’s wrong, honey?" – Noire asked sensing the sorrow in her voice – "You alright?"

"Uh, yeah, kind of." Amy said as Noire sat down next to her – "Just thinking,"

"About Nine?"

Amy was stunned – "How…how did you know?"

"Sweetie, please." – Noire said with a naughty grin – "He might be a cat-man, but what a man!"

She made a fanning motion with her hand. Amy giggled.

"That man, right there-" – Noire continued – "Is all kinds of awesome. Kannabis is crazy if he thinks that Nine could be a threat."

"So you don’t think Nine’s a bad guy, then." – Amy said, actually surprised at Noire’s reaction to the mention of Nine.

"I’ll let you in on a little secret." – Noire said leaning in closer to Amy looking at the door only once to make sure that no one was listening. She pulled out a pocket watch and inside there was a picture of Noire with a young man. – "This is Jesse, he is…was my boyfriend."

"Was?"

"It was late one night." – Noire spoke reminiscing, her voice quivering – "The evacuation was almost done and Jesse and a group of others were getting people out of the city..." – her voice soon wavered to a morbid, sorrowful tone – "Suddenly came the attack. They came from all sides, howling, snarling. Jesse told me to get the rest of the people out of the city while he and the rest of the group held back the windigo. I told him not to go, but he promised he’d be back."

She paused for a moment, her eyes transfixed to the black and white photo of the man she loved.

"What happened?" – Amy asked, not really wanting to, but suddenly succumbing to her own curiosity.

Noire took a deep breath and continued – "I had come back into the city after all the people were gone. It had been three days since I had heard from Jesse. I had feeling he was dead but I didn’t want it to be true. As I searched, I heard a noise from behind me and it was Jesse. He looked tired and exhausted. I never thought anything could be wrong. I was just so happy to see him. When I got closer to him, I noticed that he wasn’t the same Jesse I had fallen in love with. His skin had become alabaster and his eyes were black as night. He suddenly crouched down on all fours and leapt at me. I was too shocked to move. Out of nowhere, he came."

"Who?"

"Nine. He tackled Jesse and they fought. They clawed and scratched at each other and Jesse got the upper-hand and bit down on Nine’s shoulder. Nine never even flinched. He pulled Jesse off his shoulder and tore out his throat."

Amy’s throat had gone dry. As she swallowed hard, it hurt her throat.

"He turned to me. I couldn’t move. He scared me with his blood-drenched exterior and those claws and teeth and those eyes…" – she shut her eyes and breathed in deep – "My god, those eyes."

"Did he take you here, to this place?"

"Yes. That’s when I met Kade and everyone else."

"And you haven’t told anyone about this?"

"No. I just told them that I had been attacked by a windigo and Nine saved me."

After a slight pause, Amy spoke up again – "Didn’t you hate him for killing Jesse?"

"Funny thing was, I couldn’t hate him. If he hadn’t saved me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation."

Amy smiled as she played with a one of her curly locks of hair. She seemed lost in her own mind and there was a sparkle in her eye that hadn’t been there before. Noire raised an eyebrow.

"You’re smitten with him, aren’t you?"

"I…um…uh…" – Amy’s cheeks went red.

"Well I don’t blame you," – Noire said heaving herself off the bed – "I wouldn’t mind finding out how much an animal he really is..."

'Noire!" – Amy said, finally getting the sexual innuendo in Noire’s statement.

"Oh come off it, girly." – Noire said as she tossed Amy her knapsack – "You know damn well you wouldn’t mind finding out either."

Amy opened her mouth to speak in protest, but stopped herself. Her cheeks went red again. Noire giggled in triumph.

"C’mon," – Noire put her arm around Amy’s shoulder and kissed her forehead – "Let’s get moving."

They left Amy’s room and headed to the living area where everyone was all set up. Kade walked out and handed Amy two hand sickles. The wooden handles were about as long as her forearms and at the end were twelve-inch long blades curved over.

"They’re light and really easy to use." – Kade spoke – "It’s just in case we meet up unexpectedly with any windigo."

"Yeah well just remember, Angel," – Kannabis spoke, his voice loathsome and sarcastic – "You better not slow us down. I don’t know about all the others here but I ain’t coming back for you if windigo start coming at us."

His statement was ignored, but Kade clenched his fists just so he didn’t have to go ahead and beat the stuffing out of him. Spin unclenched his hand and slid hers in his. His anger subsided considerably.

The group all exited the house but stood for a moment just to take one last glance at their former home. uneasiness lingered in the air around them. they really hadn’t thought this all through, but they were all determined not to stay in the city too long. This was their time and most likely the only chance they would have to actually leave the city.

"Ready?" – Kade asked his friends.

Everyone nodded.