Werewolf Apocalypse: Rise of the Lycans

The Cascade

A heavy impact rattled the concrete beneath our feet with a heavy BOOM. Ten floors below us, an emergency door gave way and slammed open against the wall.

A shadow, which was most likely the first of many, l

launched itself up the spiral staircase in terrifying and rhythmic leaps. It wasn't one of those tactical squads that had come after us. This one was one of the beasts for sure, and even though it was shorter than the silver-furred monster in the boardroom, it was wider and faster.

It caught our scent instantly and a guttural growl that vibrated up the shaft emanated from it. It was followed by the rapid, sickening tack-tack-tack of heavy talons on concrete steps.

"Move!" I yelled and shoved Clara up onto the landing of Floor 34, before slamming my shoulder into the heavy steel exit door.

The latch clicked, and we tumbled out into a dimly lit, narrow corridor. It wasn't an office space; it was an internal maintenance facility for the building's climate control systems. Massive steel pipes lined the ceiling, humming loudly, blowing hot, dry air through industrial vents.

"Barricade it," I gasped to no one, after all Clara was too weak and I was the only one who could do it.

Near the door sat a heavy iron tool chest on casters. I threw my body against it, shoving the three-hundred-pound box across the linoleum until it jammed flush against the steel door.

I had barely rested when the door slammed inwardly against the chest with a loud WHAM and bent the steel frame half an inch.

"Leo," Clara whispered.

I turned to Clara, she was leaning against a thick steam pipe with her head bowed and her breath coming out raggedly. The change was coming again for real, and it was faster this time! Why now?!

When she raised her head, the amber glint in her eyes was already back, and it seemed to be darker this time, like burning coal. The thin black veins had already crept hastily past her collarbone, and was climbing up the side of her neck, pulsing in time with her ragged breath.

"It's getting... worse," she rasped. Her voice sounded layered now, like two people speaking at once. But her normal voice was weaker, overlaid by a low, scraping growl. "I can hear them, Leo. In my head. They're... calling again."

"Don't listen to them," I said, stepping toward her and holding up my raw right palm. "Clara, look at me. Look at my eyes."

"Don't come closer!" she shrieked, backing away until her spine hit the hot pipe. "Your hand... it burns me! It feels like... like fire in my head!"

"It saved you in the stairwell," I urged, taking another cautious step forward. "It's the only thing stopping the evil."

"It hurts!" tears streamed down her flushed cheeks, evaporating against her scorching skin. "Every time you touch me with that mark, it feels like my brain is being torn in half! Part of me... part of me wants to rip your neck open, and the other part is screaming because I love you!"

The raw pain in her voice hit me harder than any physical blow. I was her anchor, but the very thing keeping her human was causing her physical torture.

The maintenance door groaned as a second, heavier strike slammed into the iron tool chest, reminding us that we were not alone. The bolts holding the frame to the cinderblock wall began to shear off with sharp, metallic snaps.

"There," Clara gasped, pointing with a trembling, taloned hand toward the far end of the pipe corridor.

A heavy cargo elevator sat recessed into the wall, its yellow indicator light glowing. It wasn't a standard passenger lift; it was a heavy-duty freight elevator used for industrial equipment, running down the central spine of the skyscraper.

We sprinted down the narrow catwalk, and we had barely gotten there when I slammed my fist onto the call button.

The heavy steel doors groaned and slid open with a loud mechanical whine. Inside was a bare, concrete-floored cage illuminated by a single flickering bulb.

"Get in!" I said, but I didn't wait, I pulled her inside and hit the button for the lowest basement level—B4.

The floor dropped out from under us as the heavy cables whirred above.

Before the doors could fully slide shut, the barricade at the end of the corridor disintegrated and the black-furred beast burst through the dust, its crimson eyes locking onto the closing gap of the elevator. It lunged across the catwalk and snapped its massive jaws snapping shut just inches from the steel doors as they slammed sealed.

The first CLANG came and the impact dented the interior door of the lift, but the cables held. The elevator began its long, shuddering descent down thirty-four floors into the belly of the city.

Clara placed her body at a corner of the elevator and slid her back down the metal wall, until her body collapsed on the floor, her body still shaking really hard.

"We're going down to the lowest sub-level," I said, crouching beside her, keeping my right hand carefully pulled back so I wouldn't trigger another agonizing reaction. "If Cassian was telling the truth, the sub-levels connect to the old subway maintenance tunnels. We can get out of the district under the streets."

Clara didn't answer, was staring at the black, hardened talons that had replaced her fingernails.

"Leo," she said softly, her human voice sounding small, fragile, and utterly exhausted. "If we get down there... and the moon reaches the top of the sky..."

"We're going to fix this," I said fiercely. "I don't care about the vampires, I don't care about the prophecy, and I don't care about my blood. I'm getting you out of this city."

She looked up at me with her gold-flecked brown eyes brimming with quiet terror.

"Promise me," she whispered, her voice trembling. "If I turn completely... if I look at you and don't know who you are anymore... promise me you won't let me kill you. Promise me you'll use that mark to end it."

I looked down at the pale, sun-like sigil branded into my blistered palm. The skin was still hot to the touch, humming with a quiet, dormant energy that I barely understood. I couldn't even make that promise.

Before I could answer, the elevator gave a violent shudder and ground to a sudden, screeching halt and the single overhead light flickered out, plunging us into total darkness.

High above us in the shaft, the heavy steel cables snapped one by one with deafening, metallic cracks.

And then came the cascade...