Promise Me Anthology by Tara Fox Hall Read Free Book Online Page B

dropping the knife, pushing away,
desperately fighting to live.
    With a lunge, Theo buried his teeth in the
kid’s throat, tearing and pulling. The kid gurgled, struggling
weakly, then collapsed. Theo went with him, falling onto the body
as he fed.
    * * * *
    Theo sat up. It was late afternoon. His mouth
tasted of blood. Worse, it covered him, and the ruined human body
lying right next to him.
    It hadn’t been a dream.
    Theo swallowed his bile, trying to think of
what to do.
    There was a phone just inside the cabin
across the lake. Police could be here within a few minutes, via
helicopter. But would they believe his story? Doubtful. He’d
be carted off to an insane asylum at best.
    His father had said a day would come when
Theo would have to rely on himself. Here it was. Theo had wished
for that day the moment he’d heard his father say the words only a
week ago. Now all he wanted was to have his father alive and right
here. His father would know how to handle this.
    The disgusting evidence was only a few feet
away, staring him in the face, the blood on his hands and in his
mouth undeniable. Somehow, he, Theo, had become a cougar and killed
that kid. It hadn’t been a hallucination; it had really happened.
But no one would believe that. If they did, they’d put him in a lab
and experiment on him.
    He had to find a way to cover it all up. But
before he left this wilderness, Theo swore to get that thing that
had attacked his family and made him a monster. And then, somehow,
he had to find a way to get to Casey. She would help him. Together,
they could solve this.
    * * * *
    Theo hid the kid’s body in the brush, then
used the boat to go back across the lake. He showered off the
blood, checking again for bite marks and for a new knife wound.
There was none.
    “You’re a were-cougar,” Theo said aloud to
his reflection. “Welcome to your new life.” He tried to force a
smile but couldn’t.
    Theo called the owner of the house next and
asked to reserve it for another week. “Just put the charges on the
same card, please.”
    “Sure,” the owner said eagerly. “You and your
family having a nice time?”
    “The best,” Theo managed. “Thanks. Bye.”
    He ate a large meal, then slept. In the
morning, Theo packed some supplies, then headed back out, reaching
the scene of his campfire from the night before. The bodies of his
parents lay as before. At the sight of them, his rigid façade
crumbled. He looked away, then swallowed hard a few times.
    You have to be strong. You can only count on
yourself now. Stop crying, and do what you came here to do.
    Theo sat down near the campfire, laying the
gun down, then the pack. “I’m sorry I can’t bury you,” he whispered
softly. “If I do, they’ll know I survived. I need them to think
that I died, too, at least until I can figure out how to fix
this—”
    “There’s no fixing it,” a happy voice said
from the tree line. “Trust me, kid.”
    Theo reached over and clicked the safety off
the gun discreetly. “Come in, if you want.”
    A dirty, naked man slowly ambled in, his
expression overjoyed. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said, sitting
down cross-legged across from Theo. “Tell me your name,
please.”
    Find out all you can. “Theo. Who are
you?”
    “Professor Ed Staples,” the man said, his
tone changing slightly, becoming refined. “At least I was
once.”
    “What happened to you?”
    “I was out west, doing research on the local
populations of elk and mountain lions, studying their reliance on
one another. I was attacked by a mountain lion, when I got between
her and her cubs. Later that night, when I’d almost made it out of
the wilderness, I changed form for the first time.” Ed looked up at
Theo. “It happened when I was angry, just like the Incredible Hulk.
I tore a man to pieces.”
    Ed laid another log on the fire. “I couldn’t
go back and risk my wife and kids. So I just disappeared. I buried
my clothes and wallet, left everything else