Free Wolf Hunt by Jeff Strand Page A

focus on Ivan as if staring at him through
a giant magnifying glass, watching intently for the slightest hint
of movement that might indicate if he was going to dodge to the
right or to the left, so that George could turn in that direction
and bash him.
    Ivan transformed again, his entire body at
once. With one jump, he was on the hood of the van, and with a
second he was on the roof.
    George slammed on the
brakes, trying to dislodge him. The werewolf didn't go anywhere.
There was a loud metallic thump on the roof as Ivan punched or kicked it, followed
by two more. Apparently he couldn't punch through the top of a van
in one blow. That was a plus, at least.
    "He's on the roof!" Lou shouted.
    "I know he's on the goddamn roof!"
    George floored the accelerator yet again,
then slammed the brake a second later. He tried that several more
times, jerking the van forward a few feet at a time in a desperate
attempt to get the werewolf off.
    There were three more quick thumps on the
roof, but light ones, like a polite knock.
    Lou saw what was about to happen before
George did, but was still only able to get as far as "Oh sh--"
before a pair of oversized wolfman feet came down upon the
windshield and the entire thing exploded, spraying safety glass
everywhere. Michele screamed and threw her hands over her face.
Glass rained down on George's lap and he let go of the steering
wheel in panic. The van veered to the right.
    Ivan leapt onto the front hood. Lou scrambled
to use his gun, but Ivan lunged forward and plucked it out of his
hand. He gave them a fanged grin, and then jumped back onto the
roof.
    The van bounced up onto the curb and George
quickly grabbed the steering wheel again and straightened their
course.
    "He's got my gun!" Lou shouted.
    "Quit saying things that I already know!"
    George applied the brakes. "You two, go back
and get in the cage. He can't bend the bars or he'd have done it
before, so you'll be safe in there!"
    "We won't be safe! Now we're up against a
werewolf with a gun!"
    "You'll be safer than you are now!"
    "Everybody just calm down!" Michele brushed
some glass out of her hair. They sat in silence for a long, tense
moment. "Ivan?"
    No response.
    "Ivan? It's Michele. I understand that
you have a problem with these guys, and that's totally cool, and
you're completely justified in anything you want to do to them, but
I'm an innocent bystander in this whole thing, so if you could let
me go, that would be really nice!"
    They waited. Ivan said nothing, and there
were no sounds to indicate movement above.
    "Ivan? I know you can hear me. I think it's
terrible that they locked you in there. It was wrong of them.
There's no excuse. If you could just give me some sort of sign that
it's okay for me to get out of the van..."
    Now there was some movement,
the sounds of weight shifting above them. Finally, Ivan spoke: "I
just want to be liked , you know?"
    George groaned. The werewolf still had
the energy to be a smart-ass. This was not good. "Hey, Ivan," he
said, "it's crazy for you to stay up on the roof like that.
Somebody's going to see and call animal control. You win! You
proved that you're far superior, and I look like a total douche. We
aren't going to follow you anymore. Just run off and make your
escape."
    "But, George, you said that the only way this
was going to end was with me being delivered to Tampa."
    "I misspoke."
    "Well, you can't give up yet. I'm not ready
for this to be over. I was bored out of my mind for those two hours
in a cage, so you owe me at least two hours of entertainment. You
know what I should do? I should murder somebody."
    He leapt off the roof and onto the street,
human now. He turned to look at them, then put a finger to his lips
and said "Shhhh. Don't tell."
    Then he began to stroll down the sidewalk.
Didn't even jog. Didn't look back to see what they were doing.
    "I hate that son of a bitch," said George. "I
hate him more than I've ever hated another person. Look at that
goddamn