Dig Two Graves by Craig Schaefer

Author:Craig Schaefer [Schaefer, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Demimonde Books
Published: 2024-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Iwasn’t going to make it.

To be fair, “outrun a werewolf” was never a good idea, but I didn’t know how bad it was until Shelly dropped to all fours and barreled at me like a dog going after a juicy sausage. My lungs were on fire, every breath like inhaling lit gasoline, my arms and legs burning as my shoes pounded the pavement. I could hear her behind me, closing the gap with every galloping thud of her meaty paws.

Shelly had a body like a muscle car: hard, fast, and built to win on a straight road. I wondered how well she could handle curves. I veered left, angling for an alley between a pair of two-story apartment buildings. The ladder of a fire escape dangled just ahead, the lowest rung eight or nine feet above the asphalt. I’d only get one shot. I sprinted for it, jumped, caught the rung, and started hauling myself up hand over hand until I was high enough for my scrambling feet to find purchase.

I was halfway up the first set of metal stairs, the old fire escape rattling and jangling with every step, when Shelly followed me up. The scaffolding let out a screech of tortured metal, starting to lean under her sheer bulk, as she hooked her claws around the rungs and climbed. Her head tilted up toward me, eyes capturing the silver disk of the moon, her muzzle wide open and her tongue lolling.

I could feel the whole thing going; the fire escape had been built for humans, not four-hundred-pound wolf-monsters, and it began to slide as old support rods jolted free from the crumbling brick wall. I rounded the staircase, the rooftop just ahead of me. The scaffolding teetered, yawning now, only a thin and rusted pair of struts holding it to the side of the apartment building.

I put everything I had into one last push and jumped. I hit the lip of the rooftop just as the fire escape fell, crashing down in a thunder of twisted metal and billowing brick dust.

I rolled onto my back, gazing up at the starry sky, catching my breath while my heart danced a tango. I gave myself five seconds to rest, and that was being generous. Pushing myself up with a strained grunt, I looked over the ledge. Shelly was prone in the tangled wreckage, tangled up under a fallen set of stairs. Her muzzle twitched.

Did we…not need the silver? I wondered. Was Springfield cutting us a break?

Then she let out a furious growl, low and long, and rose from the wreckage. She shoved bits and pieces of broken metal off her pelt, wavering on her feet, and glared up at me. Let her, I figured; I was two stories up. As long as I could keep her here, holding her attention, it’d buy time for the others to get the job done. And at least for the moment, I was safe.

“Hey, girl. Hey, puppy.” I waved at her. “You wanna eat this nice juicy arm, don’t you? Sure you do.

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