*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter two: things are better left unsaid

THEY WEREN'T TOO FAR FROM THE HOUSE NOW. There was a large oak tree ahead of them, marked with grooves and brightly colored paint that glowed in the dark, letting them know they were a mile away. Within about half an hour or less, the three siblings would be home and Caleb could get patched up.

They soon reach the tree and take a moment to catch their breaths, per Caleb's request. The brunet is leaning against the tree, his eyes closed as he breathes heavily. He felt hot, like extremely feverish. He opens his eyes and falls to his knees, reacting weirdly.

"Caleb?" Kaylee's voice is filled with concern as she looks at her oldest brother. "A-Are you okay?"

He doesn't respond. But he does look up at her, staring at her with a strange look in his eyes.

With the way the moonlight was shining through the tree branches, she can see it. His eyes were a sickening yellow, his skin was pale, dark spots surrounded his eyes, and there were dark veins that showed up along his skin.

She doesn't know how she nor Gabriel never noticed sooner. The infection had been spreading this entire time, and he was turning, but they had been too focused on trying to bring Caleb home to notice.

"Caleb?" Kaylee takes a few steps closer, reaching a hand out tentatively. Caleb reaches up and grabs her arm tightly. She reaches for his hand with her free hand, trying to pry his fingers off of her arm. "Caleb, let go... You're hurting me..."

He doesn't let go. His grip just tightens.

Gabriel is quick to grab the handgun again, hesitant to raise it and aim. He didn't want to shoot Caleb. He really didn't, but he needed to save Kaylee. He needed to save her right now.

Shoot him or Kaylee dies, he tells himself. It was cruel to be thinking like that, but you never knew. With what was going on, there was still a possibility that Kaylee could get hurt or worse...

He finally raises the gun, points it at Caleb, and pulls the trigger. A bang echoes through the woods as a shot was fired.

Caleb presses a hand against the bullet wound, keeled over as he cries out in pain that morphs into a series of growls and snarls, as if something was fighting its way out of him. His hand falls from where it was clutching the wound and he gets up slowly, though he's still staring at Kaylee.

"What the fuck?" Kaylee doesn't move, eyeing the elder boy with worry and confusion in her brown eyes.

"Kaylee," Gabriel says cautiously, a warning, "you need to move away before—"

By the time Gabriel started speaking, there's an explosion of blood. The crimson liquid splatters them both. They reel back in disgust, Kaylee wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

In front of them was no longer their older brother Caleb, but something much more horrifying.

And it wasn't human.

Dirty gray skin taut against its body, making it look like a rotting corpse. Long and thin limbs aided in its height. Pointed ears and an elongated muzzle, along with the other features, made it resemble some kind of humanoid wolf. Its eyes were red, blood red, and it stares at them, snarling.

Caleb had turned into a werewolf.

Kaylee stays still, eyes wide with fear. The creature snaps its head toward her, a low growling coming from its throat as it senses her fear.

It comes near her, eyeing her like she was its prey, before lunging. Kaylee screams as she's knocked to the ground and the thing pins her there, bearing down on her with its teeth. Its teeth sink into her arm, tearing through the flesh and ripping away at it as if it were food. Her horrified screams, cries for help, and terrified sobs fill the air.

Gabriel raises the gun again, his hands shaking as he aims it at werewolf Caleb. He didn't want to shoot his brother again, but if he was going to save Kaylee, for real this time, he had to.

He pulls the trigger and a few shots ring out, every bullet missing the creature, pelting the ground beside it and Kaylee.

The creature lets go of Kaylee's arm and leaps off of the girl, a growl leaving its throat as it looks over at Gabriel.

Gabriel drops the gun, taking a few steps back. His breathing quickens and his heart beats faster in his chest as the creature charges at him, making him hit the ground with a thud.

It sinks its teeth into his shoulder and he screams out in pain. It feels like white-hot knives have dug into his skin and burned his flesh. Blood leaks from the wound and soaks his shirt, running down his body.

A shot rings out, the sound earsplitting, and the creature howls in pain before running off into the woods. Gabriel and Kaylee look up to see Jedediah lowering his shotgun. Bobby stood to his right, a shotgun of his own slung over his back. Just behind them stood Constance, Travis, and Chris, the three of them with guns as well.

"Get Gabriel and Kaylee back to the house," Travis orders, looking at his parents and his youngest brother. When the three of them don't move, Travis shouts at them. "Right now!"

"Okay, okay!" Bobby says, startled, as he hurries to help their parents get the two kids up from the ground. "Jesus Christ... Those look really bad," he notes, noticing the infected wounds.

"That's, like, really obvious... Uncle Bobby," Gabriel replies, grimacing from the pain in his shoulder.

"Kaylee, what you and your brothers did could've costed you your lives," Chris says, frowning. "The only reason we're out here tonight was to find you because neither of you were home, and it's," he checks his watch, "nearing ten-thirty. And Hank called Travis and said there was a fire out at Harum Scarum."

"Sorry. I just wanted to help." Kaylee says, looking down at the ground. "Can we please just..." She winces as she presses a hand to the wound on her arm, "go home? And can you look for Caleb, please? Bring him back home unharmed."

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Chris reassures before turning to look at his brother and his parents. "Get her and Gabe back to the house. Please."

The three of them start to lead Gabriel and Kaylee back the way they came.

None of the five adults had even bothered to ask where Caleb was, but it seemed Travis and Chris already knew, as they were headed further into the woods.

"Do you really think he bit them?" Chris asked as soon as they were far enough away.

"I don't doubt it. The three of them did go to Harum Scarum to free Silas," Travis notes, remembering something from just a while ago when they were at the house. Chris had barged into his room after just waking up around ten o'clock, with a note in his hand from his kids, saying something about them going to free Silas the Dog Boy. That was all it said, but seeing that note was what prompted the two of them to inform their parents and their younger brother.

"I wished they hadn't," Chris replies. "Risking their lives like that... How else do you think this happened?"

"Silas must have bit Caleb and then turned sometime after. There's no other explanation for what that thing— for what Caleb did to Kaylee and Gabriel," the older answers, sighing. "Keep your eyes peeled and listen carefully."

Hackett Woods was something the two brothers were used to, whether they were here during the day or at night. But neither of them had ever thought they would have to track down a Caleb. More specifically, a werewolf.

While their whole family, minus Cassidy, knew about the wolf-like creatures, having had prepared for things like this for so long, they only knew about one werewolf in particular: Silas. But seeing as he was set free by all three of Chris' kids and they had no idea where he was, and since he bit Caleb and now Caleb was let loose in the woods, and Caleb bit Kaylee and Gabriel... well, they had a much bigger problem on their hands now.

Travis and Chris remain silent as they walk, dead leaves and twigs crunching under their boots. A few birds within the trees chirped overhead. Tree branches rustled in the wind.

The silhouette of something runs past them and into a bush, the branches rustle as it hides.

Both brothers turn toward the bush, guns pointed at it. The flashlight on Chris' shotgun is shining on it. They wait with bated breaths, listening. If this was werewolf Caleb that was there in the bush, they weren't going to shoot him with silver bullets. Regular bullets were in the guns and there a net trap set up nearby by Jedediah and Bobby awhile ago. If they could trap the him, and if Jedediah and Bobby came back soon, then they could get werewolf Caleb to the basement of the Hackett House, locking him down there with Kaylee and Gabriel for the night.

But the plan was easier said than done, as all plans were.

The werewolf jumping out of the bush catches them off guard. Chris is attacked immediately, the werewolf's teeth tear through the flesh of his upper arm. He was sure one of the sharp teeth just snagged a muscle. There's a searing pain, like hellfire, traveling up his arm. Blood is everywhere mixed with werewolf saliva and staining his shirt. It hurts.

Travis reacts quickly, raising the shotgun and taking aim. He pulls the trigger. A loud bang echoes. The werewolf is thrown off of Chris, paws skidding across the grass. There's the sound of something snapping and suddenly, the werewolf is lifted from the ground, all tangled up in a net.

"Shit," Chris has a hand clamped over the wound on his arm, hissing as it stung when he applied pressure. He glances up to see the werewolf form of his eldest son caught in a net trap. "At least... At least the plan worked?"

"That infection's spreading," Travis informs, brows furrowed with worry as he looks down at his brother's arm. Dark veins were starting to show up as the blood continued leaking. "We gotta get you home. Ma can patch you up and—"

"You caught him!" Bobby's excited shout makes the two older brothers look in the direction of the voice. Their younger brother was holding his shotgun over his shoulder, Jedediah followed just a few feet ahead of him.

"Paid the price," Chris says through gritted teeth, eyeing his arm. Bobby frowns upon seeing it, but doesn't say anything. "It was worth it, though."

"No, it wasn't," Travis mutters, shaking his head at his brother before glancing toward Jedediah. "When you get Caleb down, don't let him bite you."

"I ain't letting him. Not on my watch," is all the older man says as he gets to work with his youngest son to lower the trap, and to make sure the net itself didn't come loose or tear.

"Come on," Travis places an arm carefully around Chris, trying to help lead him back the way they came.

"Easy, T, easy, I could bleed out, you know," Chris comments, grimacing.

✧ ✧ ✧

Something felt off. Cassidy first notices this when he wakes up later that night. He reaches toward his phone resting on his nightstand and checks the time. It was on eleven-thirty. Other than the fact he only got two more hours of sleep, something was missing. It was oddly silent. He didn't hear anyone awake. Yet, it didn't sound like anyone could be asleep, either.

It was way too silent in the Hackett House.

He gets up from his bed and opens the door, staring out into the hall. The door to his cousins' shared bedroom was wide open. He looks down the other end of the hall. The other bedroom doors were wide open as well.

"Shit," he mutters, entering the hallway.

Something was wrong. He could tell they were all here at the house, but he had no dies where. If they weren't upstairs, then they were downstairs on the first floor. But he couldn't hear them.

He reaches the storage closet and reads the sign on the door. It was a piece of paper with sloppily written words on it nestled inside a metal frame bolted to the wooden door. It was the sign he had warned his cousins about earlier.

FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY.
OTHERWISE, KEEP OUT.

No one was up here to tell him he couldn't go in there. But, at the same time, he didn't want to go in there. But there was nothing else for him to do. He caves, giving in to the urge, his nosiness getting the best of him.

He pulls open the door, flicking on the light. Different boxes, bins, and other containers were either stuffed haphazardly on the steel shelves or some of their contents were left on the table in the middle of the room, a few silver bullets remained in a small box sitting in the corner, and all of the shotguns and one handgun were missing from the gun racks on the walls. "What the fuck...?"

"Cassidy?"

The boy startles, turning around to face the door. Travis was standing there, brows furrowed in confusion. He had a bit of blood was on his face and clothes. Other than that, nothing was strange about his father's appearance.

"What the hell happened to you?" Cassidy questions immediately, eyeing the blood. "Who's blood is that? Is it yours? Are you hurt? Is anyone else hurt? Where's—"

"It's not mine," Travis answers, interrupting the concerned boy. "Nobody's hurt or anything." Don't lie to him. "Your cousins are fine, just shaken up. They'll be all right in the morning." I hope.

"Are you sure?"

"Everyone's fine. Like I said, just shaken up," Travis reassures, a tight-lipped smile forming on his face. "Why are you in here?"

"I- I was... just... It's not..." the boy stumbles over his words, a terrified look crossing his face as he stands there awkwardly, gaze falling to the floor. "Am- Am I in trouble...?"

Travis frowns. "No, of course not. All that matters is that you never left the house. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt."

"Okay, well... What happened out there?"

"Where?"

"The woods."

"Nothing. Go back to bed, Cass."

"Dad—"

"Go back to bed, okay? We'll talk in the morning."

Cassidy rolls his eyes, a groaning leaving his lips. "Fine." He shoulders past Travis and heads back down the hall.

I'll find out eventually, the boy thinks as he opens the door to his room. It may take me years to find out if they all keep this shit up, but I'll find out.

author's note
writing conflict
is so fun 🤩

edit: i didn't include
chris in the rewrite
of the first chapter,
so there's some more
chris hackett content
in this one to make up
for it. all it is is just
some extra dialogue
and interactions with
him and the fam <3

07.14.22