Hey there, the name's Mack, Mack Malloy and I am a werewolf. The thing is, I never used to be a few years back. What I am about to tell you is the story of how things came to be this way for at least myself. Since 2012, I haven't really been adventurous to poke my nose or snout out into the world since there is so much chaos still going on.
The year was 2012 and everything was still a mess in the United States... well, what was left of it any way. Let's just say the country got a nickname which was the Semi-United States. Everything was in disarray, most of the states decided that there was little to no confidence in the Government at the Federal level because of what happened for so many years. Between the time of October 2008 when the stock market began it's crash and downward spiral not seen since the time of the "Great Depression" and April of 2012 when the still current 44th President of the United States Barack H. Obama had no choice but to declare martial law, things continued to spiral down the proverbial toilet. At first, when President Obama was sworn into office, it seemed that he had a good head on his shoulders and that he could actually be the one to turn things around to get the economy out of the toilet.
Right away the President did his best by spending money in all the right places and that did seem to help. President Obama even cut the deficit in half before 2011, but the thing that screwed the country over was Iran launching nuclear missiles targeting the east coast city of Boston Massachusetts. However, they missed due to a system error and the nuke exploded over the Atlantic Ocean. When we went to war over that... well, the Federal Reserve decided that enough was enough and they pulled every U.S. dollar back into itself near April 2012, which forced President Obama to declare martial law. Yes, I know that no one would ever go for it, and no one did. That's the thing about total martial law though, people rebel and then the military becomes the police. The other thing was that due to the tightening and worsening monetary funds with less and less jobs, people began breaking into other people's homes more frequently and mass hysteria set in due to the lack of personal security. He felt that it was necessary to keep things from escalating further and the U.S. Military held everyone to a strict curfew, while handing out ration packs to the head of every household, which was done to prevent mass looting. Of course, when it first started, everyone including myself rebelled against the change, but the military made quick work of the mobs that formed. From that point on, the government slowly turned from a Republic to a Monarchy and we had to live with it because power had been taken out of the American people's hands quite some time ago.
During the last part of 2008 leading up to the end date on the Mayan calendar of December 21st 2012, the entire collective energies of the human race was negative and what they said would happen happened. There was great cataclysmic destruction upon the Earth when the "Barrier" fell. I do believe if things were different and we had more positive energy collectively as a species, the "Barrier" still would have fell, but it would have meant the world we knew and the one we didn't would have just merged together, ushering in a new way of life.
Now... getting back to my personal story, the morning of December 21st 2012 was the moment that changed it all. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. Unexpectedly, I work up in my silken pajamas that was a light pastel blue that light reflected off of, making me feel as if I was wearing some futuristic garment. Upon my waking, I looked at the time and saw that it was twenty minutes prior to the sun rising. I shrugged my shoulders, walked over to the window seat and waited for the sun to rise. It wasn‘t all that often that I woke up this early, especially since the “Writ of Habeus Corpus“ had been suspended, which was typically referred to as Martial Law. While resting there patiently, I noticed that everyone in the neighborhood had all started waking up, as the lights popped on, one right after another. Curiously, I sat up straight from leaning and peered out of my window, precariously watching the others. Curious still, I looked to the alarm clock for the time and I made a mental note of it, but then I realized that there was still ten minutes before the sun would rise and usher in just another brand new day. This day was different, I had heard all about the Mayan‘s and this “so-called“ end-date, but much like everyone else, I paid little attention to it. I thought this too was just what I would call an “Armageddon Fad“, but I would soon discover that I was very mistaken. As the sun started to crest over the horizon lined with single family, two story homes, the sky lit up with wondrous hues of orange, pink, purple and red, displaying one of the most beautiful sunrises I had seen in my twenty-nine years of life on this planet. As I sat there, in wondrous awe of the colorful sunrise, I thought to myself Well, here‘s to another average day on planet Earth. I guess all this jazz over the end of the world… and then I stopped mid-sentence as I felt a tremble course through the entire house. Quickly, the house started shaking violently with things crashing down around me while the house began to crumble. As I looked through the window, I saw everything tremble with ferocity while the Earth quaked with a loud and thunderous roar. Within minutes of starting, the ferocity intensified more and I watched as several houses collapsed with their residents inside. Before I knew it, my own house collapsed completely from underneath me and then there was darkness.
The next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital that was filled almost to the hilt with people, that were all either hurt slightly or severely. As I moved groggily, trying to get out of the bed to get a better grasp on where I was exactly, I winced in pain that quickly traveled across my entire torso. Not really knowing what happened, why I was in so much pain, all I could do was moan. Hearing my moans of pain and agony, the nearby male orderly rushed to my side when he realized that I was finally alert. As he rushed to my side, he spread and flared his fingers outward, while trying to have me halt my movements. Immediately I noticed that something was definitely different about him. He was built like a brick wall that was the key foundation wall of the largest building imaginable. His hands were much thicker than normal, in fact he was even bigger muscle wise and more burly than any man I had ever met in my life. When he saw that I became still, no longer causing any more undue discomfort, he smiled wide and showed off his shiny white teeth. Immediately, I noticed that his K-9s were more prominent than normal as well. When he saw that I was both shocked by his teeth and that I was staring, he covered his nice smile by closing his lips.
“Your… your teeth! Why were they more prominent than normal?” I had asked him, stammering all over myself like an idiot.
He moved in closer to me and began to speak in his mid-tonal voice. “Well… since I am going to take a guess and say that you are like me, I will fill you in.”
“What do you mean… ‘like you‘ and you ‘will fill me in‘?” I asked while raising my voice.
“Shh… keep quiet… since the ‘Great Disaster‘ people have been uneasy. You are like me, I am guessing by your rapid healing, a werewolf.”
“A werewolf…” I whispered. “You have got to be kidding me!”
“I am not kidding you. When the ‘Great Barrier‘ that separated the thought-to-be-fictional world from our own fell, the entire human race changed at that instant. So far werewolves have been the only new species to emerge other than Centaurs and Minotaurs. We, like them, have been viewed as abominations and have been hunted down since. Thankfully for our kind, we can conceal our differences, unlike them.”
“So then, let me ask you a few questions. First, how long have I been unconscious? Second, if we are so much alike, then why do my physical traits look like I remember them being? Last, but certainly not least, if you could hide that you are a werewolf, how come your teeth changed?”
“Those are all good questions and I do have answers for them. First, you have been unconscious for just over a few months. Second, the reason you have not yet changed is actually a two fold reason. The first part is that you have to be conscious for the change to even occur, the second is because your body has been extremely busy repairing itself. When you were first found under what was your house, well… you were very close to death. The answer to the third question is that I got excited when you woke up. After the massive quake that was felt all over the entire globe, I was called in and assigned to watch over you as well as numerous others. Everyone has progressed some way or another, you just happened to get rapidly better. When I timed a fresh deep cut to heal, it took less than five seconds without leaving the slightest bit of a scar. It was then that I knew you were a werewolf like myself. I also got excited because you are the third I know of, besides me and my friend who was shot in the head, which he took for me to escape.”
“Wow, now that is a friend!”
“Yeah, he definitely was a great friend and partner. He always told me that I was one in a million and that he would gladly take a bullet for me, but I never thought that he would even have the chance to.”
“I am sorry to hear that bud.” I said, putting my hand on his thick and furry forearm, rubbing with my thumb gently and reassuringly. Then I continued “Well… now that I am awake… how long will it be before my first change?”
“I am not really sure, to be totally honest. For me and my partner, it was almost right after the quake ended. When the city was racked by the quake, we were living in a new house and we both had fallen asleep watching a movie in our completely finished basement that was made into a movie theater. At sunrise, the quake hit and the house collapsed just like everyone else‘s, and then we were trapped. Scared and not knowing if things would even be alright, we just sat there in each other‘s arms. Then, suddenly and out of nowhere, I started to feel tremendous pain all over my body, then intense heat, then everything started shifting and reforming to fit the new creature that I was becoming. When my torso bulked up, my partner‘s transformation started. When we were both standing there in our bi-pedal wolf stances, we realized that were both werewolves then. While I was okay with it, since I always liked werewolves over any other fictional or mythical creature. Dan, my lover, on the other hand took a little getting used to it, but he did rather quickly.”
“What did you do then?”
“Honestly, we used our wolven forms to dig out from under the rubble to a point, then for some reason, we changed back. Rescue teams near-by noticed us and helped us out of the mess, then sent us here. After we were released, we were taken to motels outside of the city that were completely left untouched. When Dan and I were issued a room together, I was called to the hospital, which was when I was tasked with you and the others.”
“Oh, okay that explains some things… um… you know I never did get your name there bud.”
“Oh jeez, here we are conversing and I never told you my name. That is so rude, but somehow typical of me. My name is Chad, Chad McAllister.”
“Nice to actually meet you Chad. So, not to be on a one track mind, but what do we do now? I feel like things are almost done healing, not to mention I can feel something else.”
“Does it feel like your body is tearing itself into shreds?”
“No, not yet… why?”
“Well… that is how it feels before you change into the animal side of your new werewolf identity. If you want, I think I can get you out of here and you can stay with me. I know that is what Dan would have wanted if he was still alive.”
“Wow, you are such a sweet guy Chad! If I may, how long ago was it that he sacrificed himself for you?”
Before Chad answered me, I saw a tear well up and run down his cheek, hanging just on the edge of his cheekbone. Since he was sitting, I tenderly wiped the tear from his face and he smiled that beautiful smile of his. Before I could take my hand from his cheek, he placed his hand over mine and held it there for a few seconds. At that moment, the two of us connected and I could tell that he was lonely without Dan and that he found the comforting touch to be satisfying.
“Yeah, it is okay Mack. I know Dan would want me to move on and to be happy. It was just a week after the ‘Great Quake‘. No one was around from what we could tell, even with our newly heightened senses, while we were taking an afternoon walk in the park that had a lot of nature trails. Wanting to get back to nature, we transformed, hid our clothes and enjoyed everything the way it was originally intended. Well, someone saw us roaming around and since the order was out to shoot abnormally large animals, especially ones that could be a werewolf, which placed us automatically in harms way. Needless to say, we tried to protect ourselves the only way we could, the man with the gun took aim and shot at me. It was like my life played in slow motion, with Dan jumping in the way of the bullet like he said he would, and took the bullet in the head killing him instantly. I wanted to stand there and mourn him, but then his sacrifice would have been in vain. So, I ran to pick up just my clothes, transformed back, got dressed and headed to the motel room where I wept intensely. From there, hours later, police reported to me that they found his dead and naked body in the woods. I was requested to ID the body by only the photo, which I did and wept more. I gave the story that we were taking an afternoon walk, I got tired where Dan wanted to continue and then I returned to the motel room. The police told me that they thought it was a hate crime and that they were going to do their best to find the scumbag. From that point on, I have been alone, although I have had you to take care of since then too.”
“Man, that is one heart-wrenching story! I would be more than happy to accept your offer Chad. Not only do I not have a place to go, I am a werewolf that will change into the beast at some point. More importantly though, you definitely seem like a guy I would like to get to know. Hell, you know me pretty well, since you have been watching over me for the past few months.”
“Yeah, that is true. Although, I couldn‘t wait for you to wake up so I could get to know the person inside that body. The body is nice, the mind is better, but the soul is the best in my book.”
Chad‘s words spoke more than volumes with me and I knew that Chad was definitely one in a million. So, now Chad and I would begin making a life together, but my journey would take me to a few new places. One was the temporary home, the other was being a true werewolf and living with everything that came with it.