*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter twenty-three: the predator and the prey

August 23, 2021
Hackett House
Upstate New York, New York

AT TWO-THIRTY-FIVE IN THE MORNING, CASSIDY IS STILL CHASING LAURA. The sounds of their boots hitting the floor with each step they take as they run echoes through the hallway. Laura shoulders a door open, running into the main area of the house.

She slows to a stop momentarily. She had limited options on where to run to from here and Cassidy was not going to stop chasing her until she takes her final breath.

She takes a right and heads up a staircase, pulling open the door to another room.

The bathroom.

Cassidy hadn't seen her run in there. By the time both of them had reached the foyer, Laura had already entered the bathroom, and he had been trying to figure out which room she had gone into. But he found it, or so he hopes.

"You can run, Laura, but you can't hide!" There was a growl that accompanied his words as he walks into the bathroom. You are the hunter. The little lamb is the prey. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill you!"

He knew how easy it was to hide in a bathroom, but also how easy it was for someone to find you if you didn't stay as still and as silent as possible. The bathroom was big, but there was only one place you could consider a hiding spot.

And he could hear her fast-beating heart.

He walks to the bathtub, raising his hand to move the curtain out of the way. He slides it over, revealing Laura. The blonde is staring up at him with wide eyes, possibly wondering how she get caught. And just as she was about make a break for the door, Cassidy grabs her and drags her out of the bathtub.

"I gotcha," he says, a his top lip twitching as he snarls as the girl struggles in his grip. "You're gonna fuckin' pay for what you did to Kaylee and Gammy!"

"Let me go!" Laura hisses, thrashing about to try and get away from him. But she wasn't going to get away anytime soon.

"Mm... How 'bout no?" he replies, a low chuckle leaving his lips.

"I have done nothing but try to save people."

"You've done nothin' but begin to massacre my entire family, pickin' us off one by one," Cassidy says through gritted teeth as he drags her over to the toilet. "Do you get satisfaction from this?"

"Cassidy, I didn't mean to kill your cousin or your grandma," Laura tries to justify her actions quickly upon realizing what he was going to do to her. "Kaylee was a werewolf when I shot her; I was looking to kill Chris, to save me and to save Max. As for Constance, that was an accident. My finger slipped..."

"Bullshit!" Cassidy snarls. His eyes were glowing yellow again. "And who gives a fuck 'bout your boyfriend? You both should have died in the cellar two months ago."

That shuts Laura up.

"Pappy!" Cassidy shouts, making sure he was loud enough to alert the elder man who was who knows where. "C'mere! I found her! I found the mur—"

Laura cuts him off, raising her shotgun and hitting him in the face with it, the barrel coming in contact with his jaw. Cassidy mutters a slew of curses as he rubs at his jaw, glaring at Laura as she gets up and bolts out of the room.

"You fuckin' bitch! Get back here!" he spits as he follows out of the room. Kill the little lamb.

Running up stairs. Traveling across the second-floor landings. Heading into unexplored rooms of the houses. They kept running back and forth between rooms and staircases. Laura wasn't stopping anytime soon and Cassidy was getting annoyed rather quickly.

Laura's disappeared by the time Cassidy runs into Jedediah in one of the adjoining rooms. They both stop and look at each other, a look shared between them both that says she can't have gone far.

Cassidy walks past him and leads him out of the room. He listens out for anything that could give him a clue as to where Laura was. Keen hearing was one of the many abilities of werewolves and the infected.

"This way," he says, entering a different hallway. The floorboards creak beneath their boots as they walk. Though it was silent up here, it was not silent for Cassidy. All he was hearing was his own heartbeat and the blood traveling through his veins. He could hear Jedediah's own heartbeat and labored breathing. Too many sounds at once. It was distracting.

He tries his best to ignore it, though, as he enters another room. He and Jedediah walk to the other side, reaching a closed door. And just as Jedediah was about to reach for the handle, the door opens.

Laura was standing on the other side. She startles upon seeing the two Hacketts in front of her. A smirk was on Cassidy's face, and Jedediah was wearing a mean scowl.

"Howdy, darlin'," Jedediah says as he steps into the room, Cassidy following him in. Neither of them were surprised to find her in this room, considering Cassidy had scoped her out.

Laura backs up, slowly, not sure whether to run. She quickly glances behind her at the boarded up windows before turning back to look at Jedediah. A scared look was in her eyes as she stares at him.

"We ain't playin' games no more, little girl," Jedediah threatens as he pulls the pistol from the holster on his belt.

"Try me, motherfucker—"

Laura is cut off when Jedediah aims the pistol at her and pulls the trigger. The gunshot fills the air and a pained gasp leaves her lips as she stumbles backward, falling onto the hardwood floor. One of her gloved hands clutches her wound.

"You know somethin'," Jedediah says as he takes a few steps toward the blonde, leaning over her as he puts his pistol back in the holster, "I ain't got enough silver to kill you. But I sure to hell can make you suffer." He reaches for the sheath attached to the back of his belt and pulls out his hunting knife.

Laura struggles to get up and Jedediah comes toward her, raising the knife over his head and bringing it down. She shoves his arm away before the knife can pierce her skin.

Cassidy reaches into his pocket and pulls out his earphones. He comes up behind Laura and wraps them around her neck, pulling on it tightly to try and strangle her. Laura tugs on the cords, attempting to loosen them.

When Jedediah tries to get up, Laura brings her leg up and slams the her boot against his midsection, sending him toppling to the floor. His grip on the knife loosens. She then brings her elbows back and jams Cassidy in the ribs, making the boy groan in pain.

Laura rips away the wires and tosses the earphones on the floor before standing up, staggering to her feet. As Jedediah tries getting up again, she backhands him across the face. He falls back down onto the floor with a thud. She collapses onto her knees, breathing heavily. It takes her a few seconds to find her bearings before she gets up and grabs ahold of Jedediah, shoving him away from her.

She gets to her feet, straightening her posture as she cracks her neck, the regeneration taking effect rather quickly. She glares down at the elder man, but before she could do anything, she shields her eyes with her arm.

Cassidy soon realizes why when he finds himself doing the same thing. He covers his face with his hands, peeking through his fingers to stare at the lamp resting on the cabinet. The light was shining a bit too brightly for the two of them, making their heads hurt.

While they were distracted, Jedediah staggers to his feet, breathing heavily. Laura seizes him by the throat and slams his back against the wall. He gasps for air as he reaches for her arm, trying to push her away and make her loosen her grip, but she wasn't letting go.

The fatigue and the raging headache Cassidy had been feeling previously had gone away, replaced by a surge of anger. His eyes were glowing a brighter yellow than before and the veins along his skin were pure black in color. He passes his tongue over his teeth, noticing their now sharpness. It wouldn't be long before he turns, and it would be the same for Laura.

The snapping of bones fills the air. Dread fills Cassidy and a sinking feeling forms in his stomach. He watches Laura let go of the now limp body of Jedediah, dropping the corpse onto the floor.

"No!" He soon finds himself crossing the room, grabbing Laura and wrapping his arm around his neck. He picks up Jedediah's knife and presses it against her throat. "You killed him! You killed Pappy..." He's breathing heavily from anger as the corners of his lips quirk up in a snarl. Capture your prey. Kill it with ease. "You're gonna wish you ain't never come here, you little bitch! You're gonna fuckin' regret it once I kill you." He presses the knife further against her throat, the sharp edge digging into her skin and making a bit of blood trickle down her neck.

Laura winces, trying to pull away. But Cassidy wasn't budging, he was tightening his hold on her the more she tried to get away.

"Let me go..." she says quietly, giving up. "Please."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Laura," he replies, pushing the flat side of the blade against her chin to tilt her head up to look at him. "You are makin' all the wrong choices. So, I need you to promise me that you'll make the right choices, then I'll let you go."

Laura shakes her head, wincing as the blade of the knife scrapes her chin. "I can't..."

"Tell me you will or I will gut you right here, right now."

"I can't."

"Tell me," he demands as he moves the knife away from her chin and moves it further down, pressing it against her stomach. She winces in pain, gritting her teeth. "Tell me now."

"But you know I won't," Laura responds, reaching for his wrist to push his arm away so that the knife wouldn't dig into her flesh. "So what's the point in telling you?"

"Oh, I know you won't..." Cassidy chuckles as he lets go of her and backs away. "But I'm watching you, Laura Kearney. Just know that next time, you won't be so lucky," he puts the knife in his pocket. But as he's doing that, Laura was staring at the door. Furrowing his brows, he stares at it in confusion until he hears footsteps, boots against wood.

As he's turning away from the door, he's shielding his face again from the light coming from the lamp, and Laura does the same. Fucking light sensitivity... he thinks as he squeezes his eyes shut and massages his temples before reopening his eyes.

Laura drops her arm to her side and blinks a few times before her vision returns to normal. She hurries over to the breaker on the wall to the right, slamming her arm down on the lever, flipping the switch. All power in the house goes out. The room they were in was submerged in complete darkness.

Laura grabs Cassidy's arm and tugs him toward the wall with her, both of them pressing their backs firmly against the wall and staying still.

The footsteps draw closer and Cassidy looks toward the door again, waiting. The footsteps stop and the door handle's lock clicks as a key is inserted into it and is turned. The handle rotates and the door creaks open. Cassidy immediately realizes it was Travis who had broken into the room.

"Hey!" the sheriff shouts, looking around the room. He couldn't see Cassidy or Laura in the dark. His pistol was in his hand, gripped firmly. Noticing something on the floor by the window, illuminated by the moonlight filtering the wooden panels resting against the glass, he turns his head to stare at it. The expression on his face morphs into sadness and grief upon seeing that it was his father's dead body on the floor.

Travis' pistol was aimed in front of him in the darkness, and as Laura went to move, she stops when the sheriff shouts a warning, aiming the gun at her.

"Wait!"

Laura does not wait. In half a second's time, she's running out of the room without uttering a single word to Travis.

Cassidy scoots along the wall, inching closer to the door. He stares at Travis while he's doing this, and Travis is staring back at him. Before he can make it out the door, Travis grabs his wrist, pulling him back.

"Cass..."

"Laura killed Pappy, and I'm 'bout to go gut this bitch for doin' so," Cassidy informs him before he pulls his arm out of his father's grasp. He walks out of the room immediately after, not giving Travis any time to respond.

We are tickin' time bombs at this point, he thinks as he enters a hallway. As he walks through it, he can hear that foreign voice again, the belonging to the werewolf. Find your prey and kill it. "Can't you see I tried already?" he says aloud in response to the voice of the werewolf wanting to break out so badly.

Entering and exiting several rooms and hallways later while following the path Laura had taken, he reaches a balcony outside. A staircase to his right led down to the main level. Laura was standing by the railing, looking over the edge at Ryan, who was on the ground below, groaning in pain.

Cassidy vaults the railing and drops down, landing on the ground. Laura had followed suit. He puts his hand up, palm side facing her, a silent gesture for her to stop and not move. But she ignores it, starting to walk over to Ryan. Cassidy takes the knife out of his pocket and throws it at her, getting it lodged in her right thigh. Laura crumples to the ground, a pained groan leaving her lips as she clutches her leg, reaching for the knife to pull it out.

The sudden movement causes Ryan to turn his head to look at them, furrowing his brows as he sees the state Laura was currently in. He turns back to Cassidy, slowly gesturing to the knife embedded in his side.

"Did Bobby stab you?" Cassidy asks, worry in his words.

A silent but pained nod from Ryan was all it took for Cassidy to kneel beside him, inspecting the wound. A puddle of blood was forming at Ryan's side, staining his shirt red.

Ryan grunts as he pushes himself up to sit, wincing as blood continues leaking from the wound. "How bad is it?" he asks as he pulls his shirt up so Cassidy can get a better look at the wound.

"Not severe, but not good either," Cassidy replies, grimacing as some of the blood that was drying up on Ryan's skin. "We shouldn'ta come here. It's Laura's fault we're in this mess. I shoulda killed that bitch when we first saw her tonight."

"It's not my fault that your family's fucking crazy!" Laura says in offense as she drops the knife on the ground.

"Shut up," Cassidy snaps as he glares at her. Laura remains silent and stays where she is, watching him with an annoyed look on her face.

"Cass, it's not your fault we're here. You agreed to come with me to stop Laura from..." Ryan winces in pain again, "from trying to kill Chris."

"Right. That's why we're here," Cassidy mutters, turning back to face his best friend. "I totally forgot."

"Hey..."

"Sorry, but time's runnin' out and I'm in a bad mood."

There's a long pause.

"Am I dying?" Ryan asks, frowning.

"Well, you've lost a lotta blood," Cassidy admits honestly, glancing toward the stab wound.

"But it'll... it'll heal, though, right?" Ryan's voice was hopeful.

Cassidy furrows his brows in thought as he stares at Ryan, contemplating his next words. "Maybe, yeah... I think it will... I don't- I don't know?"

"What?" Ryan questions, a look of confusion crossing his features. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Ryan," Cassidy says, sighing, "I'm gonna have to bite you."

"What?!" Ryan exclaims, staring at him in disbelief.

"I'm gonna have to bite you 'cos then you'll be infected, and then it'll—"

"And then it will heal," Ryan replies.

"Mhm," Cassidy hums in response. "But... that also means—"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Ryan says through gritted teeth. "Big bad wolf."

"Yeah. Look, we don't have much time," Cassidy explains. "I can feel it fightin' to get out, and Laura can feel it, too. It's fightin' to get out of both of us," he glances toward Laura before looking back at Ryan. "If you let me bite you... and you heal, then—"

"Then I'll have to kill Chris," Ryan says quietly.

"No, you won't have to kill Chris. I won't let you. And I won't let Laura kill him either," Cassidy replies, glancing behind him to glare at the blonde.

"It's not killing Chris," Laura defends, eyeing him from where she was. "It's killing a werewolf. It's saving Ryan's own life. And yours and mine, Cassidy. And Max's and your friends, too."

"You ain't gonna kill Chris, shut the fuck up," Cassidy snaps. "I ain't lettin' you kill him."

"Let you bite me..." Ryan says, interrupting the two of them before things escalated any further. He had to decide between the limited options he had. "And live to kill Chris Hackett... or bleed out and die."

"Or I don't bite you and you don't live to kill Chris, or you just bleed out and die," Cassidy says, pressing his lips to a thin line. "Sorry." He switches sitting positions, going from sitting on his knees to sitting cross-legged on the ground, a sigh leaving his lips. "So, you want me to bite you now? Or do you want me to let you bleed—"

"Do it," Ryan nodded.

"Okay," Cassidy says quietly.

Ryan rolls up the sleeve of his left arm and then raises it, offering it to him. "Nice and tender for ya," he jokes lightly.

Cassidy just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, unamused. He grabs Ryan's arm, but hesitates to bite it. There is blood. The voice had returned, and the sight of the blood coating Ryan's arm from the wound on his side was making Cassidy's pupils dilate. His headache was starting to return, too, and he was starting to feel nauseous. He shuts his eyes. Don't think I don't know what you want, 'cos I know exactly what you want and you ain't gettin' it anytime soon, he thinks, trying to make the voice of the wolf within shut up. Bitin' my best friend is savin' him, not killin' him. We- You ain't gonna eat him, that's disgustin'.

He finds his bearings as he reopens his eyes. He lowers his head to bite Ryan's arm. Ryan doesn't react too badly at first, just simply clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth in pain. But as Cassidy bites down harder, Ryan starts groaning in pain and kicking his legs, trying to pull away.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay!"

"I'm sorry," Cassidy apologizes, letting go and sitting back. Blood coated his teeth and mouth. He grimaces, "If I wasn't slowly turnin' into a monster, I would be throwin' up right now just for bitin' you and gettin' your blood in my mouth."

"Yeah... Maybe let's not talk about vomiting," Ryan says, screwing up his face in disgust.

"You should start to feel better," Laura cuts in. "Soon, I guess."

Before Ryan can respond, Travis' voice echoes from inside the house, and the three teens' attention snaps toward the door.

"Fuck!" Laura mutters under her breath. "We gotta go..."

"Yeah, no shit!" Cassidy replies, helping Ryan up from the ground. As the two of them stand, Laura hands Cassidy the knife and he snatches it from her before putting it in his pocket.

Cassidy drapes Ryan's arm around his shoulder and has his other arm behind him, helping to steady Ryan while he walks.

They walk to the stairs and start to climb them, Cassidy walking slowly to make sure Ryan didn't have any difficulty climbing them, and to not alert anyone inside the house of their current location.

The trio soon reaches the top of the stairs and continue walking a bit further until they reach the end of the walkway. In front of them was a wooden door. Cassidy reaches for it, grabbing the metal handle, and pulling the door open.

He helps Ryan into the room before heading in after him. Then Laura goes in next.

Cassidy pushes the door closed and turns the lock, jiggling the handle as a quick check to make sure it was locked properly.

"Well," Laura says as she slides a metal filing cabinet in front of the door to block it, "they ain't getting up here in a hurry."

"No shit, Sherlock," Cassidy mutters, though he nods in agreement.

"Man, this place is huge," Laura says in surprise, looking around the attic.

"Might need to... rest a bit," Ryan says, leaning against a wooden table with a wooden crate on top. He was exhausted after the walk and climb to get here, considering he had lost a lot of blood since whatever time Bobby stabbed him.

"You'll feel better soon," Cassidy reassures, and Laura nods in agreement.

"Cool," Ryan replies.

"I'm feeling pretty good, actually," Laura comments, looking around the attic. She has a grin on her face as she glances around.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asks her suspiciously, already creeped out by whatever she was doing. "Stop it."

"Do you smell that?"

"No?"

"Never mind," Laura replies. "Let's just find another way down. A way to Chris Hackett."

Funny thing is, Chris is up here with us, Cassidy thinks, stifling a grin that was trying to force it's way onto his face—not that he was happy but because he thought it was funny that they were even up here in the first place. He didn't tell them this though. He'd rather them find out on their own.

"Or a way out, maybe? I'm done being chased... and stabbed," Ryan replies to Laura.

"Sure," Laura says, nodding. "And another way out. Fine." She then heads off to go explore the attic.

A pile of clear plastic syringes with skinny metal needles were laying discarded on the floor and she picks one of them up, examining it.

"What's that?" Ryan asks curiously.

"A syringe, duh," Cassidy mutters.

"Proof that we're on the right track," Laura informs. "Stay close."

"I still ain't lettin' you kill my uncle," Cassidy says, watching her turn the syringe in her hands as she continues to inspect it.

"You're not the boss of me, Cassidy!" Laura retorts.

"Yeah," Ryan scoffs, rolling his eyes at both of them. He was not going to follow Laura, no matter how much she tried to convince either of them. "'All the better to see you with, my dear.'"

Laura shushes him before setting the syringe back on the floor and heads off in another direction.

The sound of metal chains rattling could be heard as Laura heads further into the attic. Cassidy doesn't follow her over there at first, and neither did Ryan. It was only when low growling could be heard that the two boys had started to react.

Laura stops walking, breath hitched in her throat as she stares at something that was several feet in front of her. The low growling continues, but it wasn't threatening. It was as if whatever it was that was making the noise was sleeping.

"What was that?" Ryan asks cautiously, pushing away from the table to stand beside Cassidy.

"It's Chris," Cassidy says as he moves from where he had been standing and walks over to where Laura stood, Ryan following slowly.

"What do you mean 'it's Chris'?" Ryan inquires, looking at the creature curled up on the floor. The thing that had been growling. A werewolf.

"It's Chris," Cassidy repeats, giving look as he jerks his head toward the werewolf.

The werewolf was chained to a steel support beam. Its ears twitches when it realizes the three teens were near and it opens its eyes, staring at them. Its ears were pitch black and it stares at them hungrily, its growling now a more threatening tone as it rises to its feet.

"Yeah, so, uh... I think, um..." Laura stumbles over her words, swallowing nervously. The werewolf in front of them attempts to lunge at them, but the chains locked around its wrists prevent it from doing so. "I think we found Chris Hackett."

The werewolf snarls at them loudly, snapping at the air as it pulls on the chains.

"Son of a bitch," Laura mutters.

The werewolf keeps pulling on the chains until its left wrist breaks free. Tugging even harder, it pulls its right wrist free from the other chain. The chains clatter to the floor.

The three teens take a step back, not removing their eyes from werewolf Chris. The old wooden floorboards creak beneath their feet.

The werewolf lowers to the floor on all fours, growling at the three teens as it walks away from the steel beam. It walks toward them slowly, keeping its eyes trained on them the entire time.

But as it gets closer, the floorboards start to creak and shift beneath them all. Cassidy stares down at the floor with wide eyes as it starts to crack, the noise becoming louder and the floor itself becoming weaker. They were all going to fall.

With one final, earsplitting crack, the floor collapses under their weight, pieces of the wooden splintering and flying in all directions, sending them falling into the house below.

author's note
the floor of the
attic collapsed.
you know what
that means! 🤭

NAH BC WHY
IS THE FLOOR
COLLAPSING
SO FUNNY

08.11.22