ELEVEN

The boy could hear Glory scream from the door. Blackcrow told him to stand back. He drew his revolver and shot the lock of the door. With one hard kick the door flew open and they stormed into the house.

Another scream. The boy said, “That came from the kitchen.”

“All right, let’s go there!” Blackcrow said.

Entering the kitchen they were met by an unbelievable sight. There were two young women in the kitchen, both looking like Glory.

“What the hell?” the boy said.

“She’s not the real me, it’s a monster!” one of the Glories said, pointing at the other one.

“Nonsense, she’s the monster!” the other Glory said.

“This really gives me some flashbacks to a Star Trek episode,” Blackcrow said, not sure who to point his revolver at.

“So one of you is the skinwalker,” the boy understood. “We will just have to figure out who.”

One Glory grabbed the other Glory by the hair. “This creep tried to rape me!”

The other Glory punched her in the stomach, making her hands slip from the hair again.

A thundering sound almost deafened the boy. Blackcrow had fired a shot in the air. “Stop it, the both of you!”

Both Glories stared at Blackcrow, almost like they were frozen. A sudden gunshot can do that to you.

“I am going to ask you a question only the real Glory will know,” the boy said. “What is my favorite sort of meat?”

“That’s easy, steak!” one Glory said.

“You’re a vegetarian, you don’t eat meat,” the other Glory said.

“That’s right. Blackcrow, the Glory to the right is the real one,” the boy said.

Blackcrow aimed his revolver at the left Glory. “Finally I get my revenge.”

The Glory at the left jumped towards Blackcrow, changing while she did so, hair growing on her arms, her face changing. What was left was the savage form of the skinwalker. Blackcrow fired, the bullet hitting the creature in the chest. It dropped down on the floor, not moving anymore.

“Got you, motherfucker!” Blackcrow said and keeping the gun aimed at it’s unmoving form walked closer to it. As he was close enough to touch it, the boy yelled, “Watch it!”

The skinwalker’s claws slashed through the skin of Blackcrow’s leg. The conservation officer lost his balance and fell on one knee. He aimed his gun at the skinwalker who was rising again. Before he could fire a round the creature had grabbed his arm, twisting it until a sickening crack was heard. Blackcrow’s broken arm hung limp from his body.

The skinwalker howled as Glory stabbed it in the neck with a kitchen knife. It slapped Glory away from him, knocking her against the wall. It’s shadow darkened Glory, who crawled back from the monster until she had nowhere to go anymore, trapped against the wall.

“Screw it! I’m going to kill you and fuck your bloody corpse!” the skinwalker growled.

“Leave her alone!” the boy yelled at the creature. It didn’t pay any attention to him, apparently not seeing the teenager as much of a threat.

Blackcrow’s revolver thudded to the floor as the skinwalker started to close in on Glory. The boy grabbed it, aimed it a the skinwalker and fired all remaining three round in the creature’s back. Blood burst where the bullets hit the skinwalker’s hairy back. From the sound the creature made it was obvious the bullets hurt.

“You little shit,” the skinwalker said, turning around to face the boy now. “You really think simple bullets can kill me? You’ve annoyed my enough for me to kill you first now, though.”

The boy observed the monster coming for him. It looked fascinating. It looked like a mix between a wolf and a human, sporting deerlike antlers. For a moment he thought he was going to feel fear. Unfortunately he only felt some kind of morbid curiosity as to what was going to happen now.