Long before we could slip away, the screeching of innumerable tires on the road thundered into our ears. Before I could even say Jack, the vehicles skidded to a halt in Professor Duncan's compound. Car doors slammed furiously, echoing through the air.
Julius and I could hear the stamping of their boots on the decking as we slipped toward the rear exit. Left to me alone, I would have been caught — but Julius knew it all. He saw it all. Our escape was guided by his rare ability to see both the past and the future.
We soon found ourselves running toward the nearest valley. The pounding of my heart thudded so loud in my ears that I could hardly hear my own panting. When I finally stopped, bending over with my hands on my knees, Julius dragged me along.
"Hold on," I gasped, my breath heavy and uneven. "Hmmm…" I tried to catch my breath so I could speak further. "I—"
Before I could finish, a triple BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! shattered the air. The explosion shook the ground beneath us.
With wide, terrified eyes, we turned to see Professor Duncan's detached duplex engulfed in flames — burning like dry firewood in a raging furnace.
I overheard them shouting, their voices sharp and merciless. "We must find that kid! He has the virus! This earth must be uncomfortable for him!"
"But, Master, he's not here. I don't think he's alive wherever he is," another voice responded.
"I want two things — his corpse and the virus," their leader growled. "Nobody can stop our mission, not even that kid!"
"So, Master, what do we do now?" someone asked.
"We'll keep scavenging the earth until he's trapped and annihilated. Let's move out!"
Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared at the burning house. Pain swelled in my chest. Professor Duncan would be furious with me for bringing such destruction upon his home. What would become of him now? Did he have another place to stay?
The reality hit me — Professor Duncan was homeless now. And how would he feel knowing that the very shifters meant to protect lives had burned his house to ashes?
"You have to perk up, Darius," Julius said softly, standing opposite my grief-stricken face.
While I wept, Julius merely smiled faintly — almost cruelly — and snorted. "The task ahead is not for the faint-hearted."
I clenched my fists. "What do I tell Professor Duncan now? How do I explain that a bunch of damn shifters, who want me dead, tracked me to his house and burned it down?"
Julius didn't respond. His face went blank again, his eyes turning pale and fish-like — staring deep into the void.
"What are you seeing now?" I asked nervously.
"I'm no longer interested in this!" I burst out. "First thing at dawn, I'll go straight to the police station and hand over the virus!"
"Don't prove your enemies right, Darius," Julius said with calm authority, not even looking at me. "Don't show them you're a weakling." His eyes still gazed into space as he spoke.
"My father discovered the virus and handed it to me to get rid of it—"
Julius cut me off sharply, leaning forward so fast I flinched. His dead-fish eyes flashed, and he gnashed his teeth in anger. "Your father never gave you the virus to destroy it!" he barked. "He handed it to you so you could save humanity!"
His voice deepened, heavy with warning. "Lord Mayor and his shifters are out to wipe out every human — including you and me — and replace the earth with loyal, monstrous shifters he can control. He wants to be called God. The virus is the key to his plan. It would make him the only immortal wolf in existence. Don't you get it?"
I froze, silent and trembling as Julius grabbed my backpack and unzipped it.
"I just want you to imagine," he said, "the entire universe replaced by savage, obedient shifters after humanity goes extinct."
He pulled out the vial — four milligrams of glowing green liquid — and shook it slightly.
To distract myself from panic, I took out my sketchbook filled with drawings of werewolves. Flipping through the pages, I paused at my favorite — the all-brown furred werewolf howling at the moon. My best work. My favorite creation.
When I looked up again, Julius already held a syringe filled with one milligram of the virus.
"You just have to inject it, Darius," he said.
"No! No!" I yelled, stumbling backward, but before I could escape, he grabbed my arm and plunged the needle into my skin.
Pain shot through me instantly. My veins burned like fire. My vision blurred, my body trembled — and then…
I changed.
My bones cracked. My skin tore open. Brown fur sprouted across my flesh. My nails curved into claws. My jaw stretched painfully as fangs erupted from my gums. I was no longer human. I had become the all-brown werewolf — the very one from my drawings.
I leapt into the air, howled in agony, and the sound echoed across the universe.