“Caroline!”
“Thank you…, Neil.” Her voice is strained. “Now…leave me! Protect Topaz…”
“No! I can’t leave you here! That Doctor who was holding Topaz captive is on her way. She’ll… She’ll take you as her prize, instead!” Your head is swimming with questions. But right now, you want to help Caroline escape her fate. You reach out for the snare. “Let me free you from this…”
Caroline shakes her head, and squeezes her eyes shut, as if in pain. Her outline is changing again, becoming more lupine. “Can’t hold…the wolf bback. Shee might hhurt yuuu!” She collapses upon her side, and trembles violently on the ground.
Dammit! You can’t risk her bleeding to death. Gulping, you take a chance. With shaking hands, you finally manage to free her from the snare.
The cut paw heals rapidly before your eyes. Caroline – now a fully-fledged, russet-furred wolf once more – whines and falls silent and still.
Your heart misses a beat. Reaching out, you stroke the wolf’s head with trembling fingers. “Car…Caroline?” you stutter.
There is a growl, and a sudden flash of movement – and then your breath is taken away, as the werewolf slams you to the ground, and bites at your raised forearm. You cry out.
Yellow eyes regard you. You sense human sensibilities fighting with wild animal urges in those orbs, even as the smell of your fear makes Caroline twitch her dark, leathery nose madly.
Then she raises her head, and howls – as if in protest – to the moon. The werewolf slowly backs off.
“Hurry!” Both you and Caroline hear the voices in the distance. A torchlight is wavering in the woods, coming closer.
The Caroline-wolf stares at you meaningfully – then shoots off, charging towards the Doctor’s party, before veering off.
She’s diverting their attention away from you! Scrambling to your feet, you press your hand over your injured arm, and head for the nearest port of safety. Fortunately, you know of the most direct route…
*****
Squeezing carefully through the hole in Caroline’s back fence, you leave the woods and stumble towards the house. The swimming pool is silent, and now has a plastic cover over all of it – bar a small area at one end.
You reach the poolside chair and sit down – taking the opportunity to gather your strength and wits. Removing your hand from the bite wound, you see that it wasn’t very deep. In fact, it’s not as bad as you thought – it seems to be healing quite fast…
Oh, god.
Wiping the cold sweat from your brow, you look up as Topaz’s face emerges from the uncovered end of the pool.