Chapter Fifteen: Into the Dead Zone
648 Words
The forest swallowed us.
Thick trees pressed close on both sides of the narrow dirt road. Their branches reached out like claws, scraping against the sides of the truck. The sun had disappeared behind heavy clouds, leaving everything in a dull, gray light.
Max drove slower now. The truck bounced over roots and holes in the ground. No one spoke. The only sounds were the engine growling and the occasional creak of old branches.
“This place feels wrong,” Zara whispered. She sat between us, her hand resting lightly on my knee. “Too quiet.”
She was right. No birds. No animals moving in the bushes. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
My shoulder throbbed harder the deeper we went. The wolf inside me was restless, pacing back and forth. It didn’t like this place. It felt… watched.
“How much farther until we’re through the Dead Zone?” I asked.
Max kept his eyes on the road. “Another twenty miles, maybe. If the stories are true, the Order rarely follows anyone this deep.”
A loud crack suddenly echoed through the trees.
Max slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded to a stop.
“What was that?” Zara asked, eyes glowing gold.
Another crack. Then a low, deep growl that didn’t sound like any wolf I had ever heard.
Max turned off the engine. “We’re not alone.”
We climbed out slowly. The air felt thick and cold. My glowing veins started to show again, pulsing faintly under my skin.
Zara stayed close to my side. Max moved ahead, scanning the trees.
Then we saw it.
A deer lay on the path ahead, torn open. But not by normal claws. The wounds looked… wrong. Burned at the edges, like silver had been used.
“They’re here,” Max said quietly. “Not the Order. Something else.”
A shadow moved between the trees to our left. Then another to the right.
We backed up toward the truck.
“I thought this place was just a rumor,” I said, heart racing.
Zara’s voice was tight. “The Dead Zone isn’t empty. It’s a graveyard for our kind… and the things that hunt us.”
Suddenly, a creature leaped out from the bushes.
It looked like it had once been human — tall, hunched, with pale skin stretched too tight over bones. Its eyes were completely black. Long, jagged claws dripped with something dark.
It wasn’t a normal werewolf.
It was something broken. Twisted.
Max roared and charged it. He slammed into the creature, but it was fast. It slashed across his chest, drawing blood.
Zara shifted partially — claws out, teeth sharp — and attacked from the side.
I felt the wolf explode inside me. Pain and power mixed together. My claws grew longer. The glowing veins spread across my chest.
I joined the fight.
The creature screamed when my claws tore into it. It was strong, but we were three.
Together, we brought it down.
It lay still on the ground, black blood pooling beneath it.
We stood there panting, covered in dirt and blood.
Max pressed a hand to the cuts on his chest. “There will be more. These things travel in packs.”
Zara looked deeper into the dark forest. “We can’t stay on the road. It’s too open.”
I nodded. “Then we go on foot. Through the trees.”
We left the truck behind.
As we moved into the thick forest, I felt the wolf inside me change again. It wasn’t just surviving anymore.
It was protecting its pack.
But the deeper we went, the stronger the feeling grew that something much bigger was watching us.
Something ancient.
Something that had been waiting in the Dead Zone for a long time.
And it was hungry for the Anomaly.
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To be continued…
- Writer
