Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 11:30:14 +0000
From: D.K. Daniels <danny2017writing@outlook.com>
Subject: Until Dawn - Chapter 3

I have written many adventure books with LGBTQ+ characters. Visit my
website to browse my full bibliography. You can also sign up for my mailing
list to ensure you don't miss any fun future updates.

Website URL - www.dk-daniels.com

***

Until Dawn - Chapter 3
by D.K. Daniels


Bao didn't seem to be moving, but I sensed movement from the corner of my
peripheral vision. Thinking that it could be the person who hurt Bao, I
glanced at the windows again, witnessing a swift but faint figure run among
the trees at a breakneck speed. My eyes struggled to keep up with the
hapless shape-shifting. Confusion seeped into my brain as I attempted to
make sense of the fast-moving shape. Not even Usain Bolt would be able to
run that fast, and for some reason, I don't think anything would ever be
capable of either.  Even the Shinkansen, which Ms. Poulter spoke about in
Geography one afternoon, in school, after she visited Japan, would be left
in the wind. Not wanting to be caught by the attacker outside, I ducked in
behind the unholstered bench so that the person couldn't see me.  Looking
back out of cover, the appreciation disappeared, so, deciding to help Bao,
I crawled out of my safe spot and moved on hands and knees approaching the
new kid.  Subconsciously as to not hurt myself from the broken glass, I
pulled my sleeves forward and used the cuffs to sweep the discharge away,
and eventually, I reached him. I could hear the woman in the background on
the phone, asking for the police and an ambulance.

Coming to a complete stop, I hovered over Bao and stared down at his
peaceful face. He didn't seem hurt, not even a scratch. So, deciding to try
to wake him up, I reached out and began wiggling his lifeless body. I had
never had CPR classes or anything, so my first initial reaction was to try
to get him to rouse. My heart was beating mightily in my chest, and sweat
was profusely coming from every orifice. Another time I would have killed
to be leaning over another boy, their lips ripe for the taking, but I
didn't seem to care in this regard. There was just a general alarm for the
health of my new friend. When he didn't wake up, I resorted to checking if
he was still living and breathing. Holding my index finger under his nose,
I was relieved to find on exhale; Bao was still breathing. Even if the
brief reprise was weak, it made me realize that he could still be saved.

Reaching over, I swept the loose flakes of white glass pebbles from his
hair only to find my fingertips smeared in a warm but dark substance that
could only be blood. Alarm shot up in my eyes, and I started to back away,
looking for a grownup. The woman from behind the desk was slowly jogging
over to me after she had seen finished with the phone call. At least she
called for the emergency services, but I felt like I needed an adult to
take over from here on out. Wiping my fingers on my jeans, I sat back and
assessed the situation. Determining if I should get up and run for help or
let the other boys know what was going on, I clambered up and raced for the
locker rooms. Running to the double doors, I stumbled to a stop when I
realized I could tell the guy who was washing down the tiles around the
pool. Another adult would be better, so the woman wouldn't have to be on
her own.

Turning back toward the little seating area for viewing, I dashed to the
bar table with my backpack sitting on top of it. Looking through the floor
to the ceiling glass, a charge of fear sparked in my imagination. What
happened to the guy was my first thought? He was no longer hosing down the
tiles. Hell, if anything, he'd need to hose down all the tiles again, scrub
the window and drain the pool. It looked like a bloodbath and
slaughterhouse all in one in there. Something strange was happening, and
now general alarm raced through my bones. I hoped my friends were okay, but
more importantly, I turned on my heel.

In mid-step, I attempted to tell the receptionist her collogue was missing,
and well... the pool would be out of commission for a while. I hoped she
didn't just call some poor ambulance guy. Rounding the corner, the woman
was slumped on top of Bao, and in a weird coincidence, his hands were
wrapped around her head. Where are they kissing? It seemed like a dirty
thought at the time, but then I saw the two of them move, and the woman let
out a groan. I couldn't believe my eyes. What the fuck was going on? I
stepped toward the two of them and was startled when the receptionist got
flung from Bao. She crashed into the seats beside the couple with a sudden
groan of metal chair legs. A trail of blood dispelled itself in midair, but
other than that, the entire room returned to silence.

Peering at the woman, there was a large hole in the receptionist jaw just
like little strips of string cheese that quivered with each breath. Though
what more surprised me was when Bao started to twist on the ground, his arm
started to jerk toward me. I contemplated helping him, but some part of my
body told me to stay put. Instead, it wasn't his arm that was reaching for
me. Something miraculously profound had become of his arm. It no longer had
any white skin; instead, it was furry, and instead of speaking, Bao was
snarling like a rabid dog. I wished she called the entire police department
too, and that the chain of command didn't stop there, and instead, it went
straight to the FBI, CIA, then the bloody Army and Airforce and Navy. Let's
not forget Animal Control; now, my thought was to bring them all.

How was it that Bao was thrown through the window with such force, to be
knocked out, only to come back as some zombie-ish creature?

Running pell-mell back to the locker room, I ran at breakneck speed in fear
of being caught by Bao. I couldn't have been sure what exactly he was, but
I knew something wasn't right.  Figuring everyone should know, I barged
through the double doors and into a silent changing room. Peering around, I
concluded that it was safe, then absently, I thought of Bao outside in the
lobby, and I just knew I needed to put as many obstacles between him and
me.

Looking around for a device I could use to block the door, I grabbed hold
of a locker to see if I could shift it, but it was too heavy. Panicking
further, I remembered the belt I put on, so, undoing the flap, I yanked out
the leather belt and looped it through the handles, then drew to a tight
close. Peeking out through the small porthole window, I came to realize
that Bao was no longer lying on the ground, helpless and disoriented. He
disappeared, and with the knowledge of him on the loose, I backed away from
the door even more frightened by his absence.

Glancing left to right, I sprinted up and down the head aisle of all the
locker banks to see if I could catch sight of any of my friends. When
nothing became of the venture, I slowly crept down one of the aisles with
my side brushing against the blue doors. I didn't know where to look. My
eyes darted everywhere. To the ceiling, behind me and in front in case Bao
suddenly popped out. My mind was racing just in case I stupidly forgot
about some brainless back corridor that I hadn't locked up that he could
use to move around. Unzipping my jacket, under my sweatshirt, it was
starting to get a tad stifling. It never occurred to me just how scary the
changing facilities could be without your friends all laughing and jeering
in them.

I was so used to hearing people in the locker room that as I crept along,
it made me feel like one of those poor fools in a horror movie. You know
the type where you realize that you are the last hope of anybody ever
making it out alive, and if you want people to find out what happened, you
are that only assurance. Reaching the locker bank's end, the floor space
opened up, and I could see a few of the benches where our team often used
to get dried.  Many people didn't like the private changing rooms on the
other end of the locker room because nobody got to interact with each
other. We all wanted to talk to one another, plus, everybody didn't
care. Hanging out in the change room wasn't all that bad when we had
practice, as the pool was closed to other swimmers in the evenings. Though
finding the communal area where all my team congregated seemed bizarre when
empty. The boys didn't bypass me in the lobby. I would have noticed, and it
was even more peculiar to find all their belongings left strewn around the
place like they needed to leave in a hurry. One large orange and grey towel
draped over the back of an empty bench, and beside it a gym bag with a
large swoosh on the face of the kitbag. The Nike logo was predominantly
present, so I knew it was Elliot's. Approaching the bag, I looked down at
the open top, eyeing up his clothes inside and out of the duffle. Even his
$100 shoes sat by a pair of wet, clumped swimwear.

Where had he gone? On the other side of the aisle, a small drawstring bag
lay empty on the bench slats, and all the clothes from the pack were now
bunched on the floor with patches of dark grey, yet no towel. Walking
forward in confusion toward the last remaining evidence of my friends being
in this room, I came across a white towel spread out on the floor with a
pair of quicksilver boardshorts dropped in the center of the towel. There
was a Star Wars sports beaker on the seat that I knew was Johnathan's; he
always liked that stuff, and he was probably the geekiest of the entire
group. Apprehensively I peered around at the mayhem. My friends'
disappearance was a strange coincidence, but then again, what happened
outside in the reception was an unusual occurrence. It seemed to have blown
my mind a little, as I didn't have all the answers, and I didn't understand
what it all meant yet.

Therefore, I called out, "GUYS?"

There was no answer. Instead, a slight pop echoed through the building, the
one you sometimes can hear from air ducts is contracting with the heat
being plied through them.  And thinking it could be the boys, I edged out
of the changing area toward the bathroom.  The same restroom I hated having
to use, and that is why I always used the upstairs WC when I had the
chance. Exiting the bench area, I noticed an extensive trail of soggy red
liquid, and looking to the source of the track, I gazed over at the access
point to the pool zone. Could that have explained all the red I saw outside
when I was looking into the swimming arena from the lobby's viewing box?

Pretty sure that the track was blood, I cautiously accompanied the thin
daub around the corner to the exit for the leisure area. I followed the
trail as far as it allowed and found that it vanished beneath the door and
out into the hallway on the other side-the staff corridor.  Terror had
struck; I began to wonder whose blood this was, and I badly wanted to go
home, and for Elliot and the guys to be okay, and I wanted my mom all at
the same time that it was difficult to keep track of how many things I
desired.  My shoulders hunched, my breathing accelerated, as did my
heart. Yet, coming horizontally to the door, I froze and couldn't push
myself to walk. All the muscles in my body had jammed themselves. It would
be like trying to get a 200-year-old steam train to move again after being
left outside in the elements to rot. At the moment, I ached for the horror
to stop. It was like I got thrown onto a carousel and couldn't get
off. Just when I thought I was brave enough to lean out and take hold of
the handle, there a rumble against metal and then 'achoo.'

Startled by the curt stillness that followed the sneeze, I stepped out,
putting my back to the staff door, and my eyes grew wide then scanned the
cubby holes. The sound had to come from those locker bins right in front of
me. I shifted to the side, trying to stay out of direct view of the center
bins, and in doing so, I attentively snuck up to the large three-tier
towers.  Standing opposite of the storage bins, I could hear soft sobbing,
and my hopes shot up with the notion that it was one of the boys inside the
locker.

"Elliot, is that you?" I mumbled aloud.


The crying continued, but there was no sign of a response. Unsure if I
ought to disturb the guy inside the locker, I tried peering through the
narrow slits in the top of the compartment.  When I didn't see much, I
stretched out and gripped the handle. Gradually, I angled my leg at the
exit just in case I had to run for it. Though it didn't come to that
case. When I cracked the hatch, Johnathan was sitting, curled up inside the
chamber, just rocking himself back and forth contently. I was glad to have
found one of my teammates. I had so many questions. You know about where
everyone was gone? What was the meaning of all the blood on the floor? Why
are you hiding? Are you hurt? That one was the most important. I scanned
over him for any sign of injury, and to my surprise, he looked
okay. However, it was evident that Johnathan was cold from the amount of
shaking his small body was exhibiting.  A mix of fear and cold was running
within his bone, or either it was full-on terror. Either way, it made me
more nervous about the fact that something terrible had happened to the
pool boy out in the leisure area, and the receptionist now had a hole the
size of the softball in her face.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Pivoting my head around, I looked for anything out of place. Johnathan
didn't answer.  Instead, he just whimpered, and my heart broke. I never
knew any of the guys as long as Elliot. Still, seeing Johnathan terrified
didn't bode well. He seemed perfectly capable of turning in for the night
without the need for a nightlight. Now he'd never sleep without one.  It
made me believe that something horrible must have happened to put him into
such a senile state of shock.

"Johnathan, what the fuck happened?" I muttered.

Crestfallen, I sighed as I failed to reach Johnathan yet again.

"You're okay... Can I get you a jacket? I said, reaching out and rested my
hand on his cold shoulder.

It was the most life I had seen from Johnathan since I found him, but he
blatantly sang out with a mourn. "Please don't kill me; I'm still a
virgin."

He brought his hands from his knees up to his head and ran them through his
damp hair.

"I... I'm Not..." I cried out.

What an odd statement, I pondered. I subconsciously stepped back in fear so
I wouldn't upset Johnathan further by being so close, but our conversation
was put on hold when I detected a door open down in the private changing
area. The door groaned and then slammed shut, and here I was, thinking of a
place that had a door that could open. Then it clicked, the lifeguard
office overlooking the pool connected to the changing rooms as well as the
pool, and with that, I started darting my attention around the room. Where
was my escape route? For one, I wasn't exactly thrilled about following a
blood trail, so, with that, I looked at Johnathan, clasping his arms to his
chest and softly working through the agitation.  Shutting the door to his
locker, he didn't protest. He appeared to have welcomed my departure.

Except I didn't want to leave him. Therefore, I raced toward the commotion
of something beastlike coming. It thumped with each footstep, and it was
like a great big bear was grumbling to itself just around the corner.
Plucking open a locker four or five-door up from Johnathan, I squirmed into
the narrow space, trying to fit. I drew my knees up to my chest and reached
out for the door, and gently shut it. I thought I had locked Bao outside.
How the hell did he get on this side of the rec center?  I listened for
footsteps and exhales. It got closer. I held my breath, and it was so close
that if it were inside the locker with me, I would feel the breathing on my
neck. It was just there, outside my door, and suddenly I didn't want to
know anymore. My heart was hammering at the back of my ribcage. I
questioned if that was what a heart attack felt like? I cupped my palm over
my mouth to stop myself from squealing. Be as quiet as a mouse, I rebuked.
I even felt the need to pee, but I just couldn't personally bring myself to
soil my pants.

I shut my eyes; it was somewhat comforting to block out the world. My lower
teeth chattered off my top teeth, and I struggled to control my ragged
breaths. I listened for what seemed like countless hours as the large
animal pressed on, stopped, and backtracked.  Beneath the carping of the
creature, I could make out the vague presence of a sob, then it clicked. It
heard Johnathan. I knew whatever it was out there was going to kill him. I
just knew I wouldn't be able to listen to his cries and screams. No matter
how scared I was, I made it my point to help my friends when I joined this
team. I didn't want to sit ideally by and know that my friends would be
turned into kabobs. So, without thinking, I foolishly fumbled out of the
locker onto the tiled floor. Hurriedly I turned and secured eyes with a
relatively small bear. I was confused; it looks like a human. Was it a
young animal that had somehow gotten lost, or was by chance prowling for
food? Maybe it was fending for itself, but then the monster started to
rotate, and my blood drained cold. Its hairy hands and head told me
everything I needed to know. I knew from horror movies what I was looking
at, and I had done a ridiculous thing that could end up getting me killed.

It was fucking Werewolf.

***

Thanks for reading, comments are welcome and I reply to all. Send emails to
danny2017writing@outlook.com I hope this has been an interesting start to
our run-up to Halloween, my favorite time of year. Since I don't get to do
a yard haunt this year on the scale I usually get to do, I have channeled
some of my spookiness into this story.

I have written many adventure books with LGBTQ+ characters. Visit my
website to browse my full bibliography. You can also sign up for my mailing
list to ensure you don't miss any fun future updates.


Website URL - www.dk-daniels.com