THE FIFTH WEREWOLF

Since there was nothing I could do but wait, I stretched out on the single bunk, and despite being tightly wound up, somehow managed to drop off to sleep.  It seemed like I was out for only a few seconds when there were crashing noises right outside my cell.  Jumping to my feet, I instinctively backed into the corner where the concrete walls were behind the steel bars. 

There was a blur of motion in the room.  The cardboard over the broken window was gone and I could see the street.  Officer Strom was screaming.  Pieces of broken furniture flew around the room.  He had managed to draw his sidearm and get off a few shots before he was covered with a mass of twisting white and black fur.  His shrieks grew in volume, and then were muffled, sounding like they were coming from under water.  Blood sprayed out of the fur pile, then pooled on the floor under the sounds of snuffling and grunting as the pack fed.  Rupert stood out, white coat glowing in the half dark now that most of the lights in the room had been knocked out.  His head dipped for one more bite.  He rose, holding Strom’s head in his jaws.

Rupert was a lot bigger than I remembered seeing him draped over Denise’s shoulders.  He must weigh three hundred pounds.  I watched him walk stiff-legged over to my cell.  His yellow snake eyes stared into my soul and I felt a blast of cold terror wash over me.  Blood dripped from the severed head he held in his muzzle.  I was completely paralyzed with fear, whimpering in the corner.  I couldn’t have run even if I were outside.  This is how it works, I thought.  Rupert’s mere presence immobilizes his prey and then they are his forever. 

He stopped outside the cell and spit Strom’s head in my direction, displaying his contempt for the dead cop. It bounced off the bars with a metallic thong.  Rupert let out a howl so loud it hurt my ears.  The others raised their voices to join the celebration of a successful kill.  When the chorus stopped, he hurled his full weight at the cell bars, bending them inwards.