Walking home at night didn’t bother Erica at all. Now that she was staying with Aileen, she didn’t have to go very far. Ever since the day after the meeting, when she’d watched Derek heal from massive wounds, she had an itch to surprise him at his cabin whenever she could. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked past her apartment and out toward the preserve. Being an apex predator at night certainly had its advantages. That was, until she heard the click of a gun and froze. She felt like she could take on anything, but she wasn’t certain she could dodge a bullet, yet. She began to turn around and froze halfway.
“I know you...” he said, his speech slurred and he reeked of alcohol. He had a bright orange hunting jacket and a hunting rifle in his hands, pointed directly at her. “Erryone says you died... but yer here clear as the shit in mah toilet.”
Erica swallowed thickly and tried to play it off like she wasn’t terrified of guns. “I ran away, dumbass. I didn’t die.” She was just wondering how fast she could shift and run when he lifted the gun from his shoulder and she heaved a sigh of relief. She didn’t have to explain anything, but she knew that the longer she stayed in the public eye, the more people would begin to recognize her. She’d have to build a narrative and visit her parents soon enough. As she was thinking this, the man brought the gun up further and hit her with the barrel of it. She went down with an oof, more ashamed that she’d let her guard down enough for him to do that. “What the hell, asshole!” She cried out, kicking her legs out from under him. The gun went off as he fell, shooting the ground beside her. Bits of shotgun shell hit her ear and the world filled itself with the high-pitched ringing of tinnitus. Dizzy and disoriented, she tried to blink away the confusion and pain and fight him off, but he’d already gotten the advantage. She felt her head yanked to the side as he wrapped a hand around her throat and whispered something into her good ear. She had no idea what it was, but he followed it with a disgusting wet stripe of his tongue and that was it. Erica opened her mouth to scream, but the hold on her throat constricted her vocal chords. Her claws came out, slashing whatever she could to get him off but she couldn’t get a good angle and the thick leather jacket he had on made it difficult to reach his flesh to do any damage. She was in the middle of the preserve... who the hell would find her out here
The cold metal of a smaller handgun pressed to her temple and she could only assume he’d pulled out it of the back of his pants because it smelled like ass. “It’s the goddamn zombie ‘pocalypse out there an I’ll be damned if yer gonna eat my brains, lil missy. I’m the only one doin this town a favor. I got bullets filled with rock salt, iron an’ silver, so whatever yous are is stayin’ ded.”
