His pride is his greatest falling, but he's slowly learning there's honor in accepting one's place in the pack and among the People.
He doesn't do anything easy, and writing him was no exception. He was an absolute pain in the ass to get written, but I'm very happy with the end result.
I wake, and...why am I bare-assed and tied to a tree? And who the hell
uses motherfucking jumper cables to tie someone up?
Holy ballsweat I must have gotten drunk last night-cause I
don’t remember a thing. I look around, hoping for some hints to how I might
have gotten here. I see my Jeep sitting in the middle of the field, with Hilary
lounging on the hood, her smile somehow looking deadly serious in my direction.
I open my mouth to speak, and she raises her hand to stop me. For some unknown
reason, I comply.
“Look, Trey. It’s like this. If you want to live, you will
do everything I tell you without argument. Don’t think I won’t kick your black
ass nine ways from Sunday if you even so much as THINK about trying something.
Got it?”
I’m a lot of things, but smart isn’t on the list. Obedient
isn’t either. I tell her that, and my
terms aren’t real nice.
Like I said, I’m not known for my smarts, and I mouth off a
lot. Hilary never backs down and seemingly never tires. I spend the next
several days getting repeatedly beaten beyond recognition by my former
girlfriend. My 108 pound, blonde, white, hot as blazes former girlfriend. I
keep wondering why we broke up. I make a couple comments suggesting we hook up
again, because it was smokin’, and it was fun. I’m not all that smart, but I’m
sure as hell not stupid. I figure out
real fast from the way she laid into me that we are over and that if I want to
keep breathing I need to drop any thoughts like that out of my head.
Then, just as suddenly as she started, she bites me. She
motherfucking bites me. Then she cleans me up, gives me some food and water,
and chains me to the tree. No matter how much I cuss, she ignores me and goes
about her business with a purpose. She checks my arms and legs to make sure I’m
tightly strapped to the massive oak and winds thick towing chains around both
my body and the trunk of the tree. She lies in the grass and soaks up some rays
until the sun starts to go down. As the evening starts to break over the
clearing, she hops into the Jeep and backs up. I can just barely make out the
shape of my truck as night starts to fall.
Did she lace my food with Angel Dust? What the hell is
happening? I’m seeing and hearing all kinds of things. Things that just don’t
make sense. There’s a hauntingly
beautiful face in the full moon, hanging over me like a judge, waiting to see
if I’m worthy. I keep hearing this
garbled language- and I’m on the edge of understanding, and then nothing. In a
blender of memories, I flash back to a night about seven, maybe eight months
ago. I hear the phone call play back, Hilary’s voice flat and empty; but
totally honest.
“Whatever you hear
that I did tonight, it was probably worse. Don’t look for me. I’ll be back when
I’m ready. Maybe.”
Apparently she’s ready today, ‘cause she’s back. I remember
the flash of anger I felt that night I’d heard what she’d done, and a wave of
heat rips through me. My body is on
fire, every muscle stretching against itself. The next hour is what I imagine hell to be;
turning inside out; and raging against everything under the sun. My blood is on
fire, and then I finally turn.
No horror movie can come close to showing how terrifying
that beast is. I know what it is now; but then; I was freaking out, inside of
that thing. It’s fueled by fear and rage, and I was giving it a good meal.
I thrash and writhe against the beast, against the chains
and against the agony of how good the change feels. The rage and anguish propel
me into something close to insanity, and my new body pulls against the
restraints like they were string.
The chains started to creak, the tree started groaning and
faster than I could breathe, a wave of slashing fury pounces on me. The bundle
of bristled fur on my chest stares at me down a snout of pure gold, a deep and
rumbling growl shaking me to my core. It’s some kind of command, and it matches
the guttural voices repeating something over and over in my head, a refrain
that calls past my conscious self and reaches into the deepest primal part of
my soul.
I can’t quite make out the actual words, but I sure as hell
understand the message.
“You will obey.”
The not smart part of my brain argues, refusing to accept
this directive. The voices don’t stop. They’re relentless. The voices, the
growling savage animal on my chest, the heat, and the night- they eventually
wear me down. It’s hours later when I finally submit. I’m covered by something heavy, something alive, something primal – at
the barest edge of my consciousness I
understand it’s Hilary-when I finally accept.
A honey colored paw swipes at my
head and I am put out like a light.
I wake… and Why am I bare-assed and tied to a tree? And who
the hell uses motherfucking jumper cables to tie someone up?
Hilary sighs, shakes her head and begins the process of
teaching me to be one of The People.
This was interesting. I liked seeing the vice of pride being played out (I'm right in assuming his vice is pride, right)? I can't wait to see the next one!
ReplyDeleteHis vice is pride, yes. I somehow totally forgot to add vice and virtue to the stats for the entire pack... oops.
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