Cynetic Wolf

I held my breath, eyes fixed on the door. It didn’t budge. It must have been the one across the hall.

“All clear!” someone yelled.

Ours was the last door left. This was it!

A siren blared. The officers froze.

“What was that?” a voice yelled.

“Heck if I know,” another replied, voice thick with an accent I didn’t recognize.

Down the hall, a yell. “Shit, boys, you hear that? Commander’s saying the kid escaped. They’re tracking him now.” A chuckle. “Idiot ain’t realized we can track his band. He’s headed south toward the reservoir.”

The VTOL took off, roaring away.

“What’re you ladies waiting for?” an angry voice bellowed. “You hear me?”

“Yes, sir!” There were sounds of scrambling chaos as they ran to the waiting vehicles, loud boots fading in the distance.

After what felt like ages, we both let out a breath. Had we made it?

Fitz was pale. “That was too close. You okay?”

Too shocked to speak, I nodded.

We sat in silence, waiting for them to come back. I couldn’t believe it. Were they really gone?

“This doesn’t change anything,” Professor Fitz said at last. “We need to leave, the sooner the better. So, you’re cynetic?” He laughed, shaking his head. “I should have known.”

“I didn’t even know myself. Found out a few days ago, and I’m still not sure,” I added. “I’m wolfish, how could I be cynetic?”

“For now, let’s focus on surviving.”

“Professor Fitz,” I blurted out, voicing the question I’d been ignoring, “am I a freak?”

“No, son, you’re not a freak. I have no idea what you are. You’re different, you’re special. But you’re not a freak.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re hope, hope that one day we can reunify the subspecies.”

Whatever that means... for some reason, it made me feel better.

“Since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together and almost died, you should call me Fitz. Everyone does. I’m not your professor anymore. We won’t be coming back.”

We won’t? What about Mom and Vynce?

“We were lucky once,” he said. “It won’t happen again. I’ll try to keep you safe, but you never know.”

We left as dusk settled, winter days becoming short.

He pushed a brisk pace, muscular legs whooshing in his black trainers, gray shoes gliding along the dirt path. Once we made it to the woods, I relaxed a bit. The woods were my element.

After an hour, I couldn’t see jack. How could he?

I asked.

“Spectraglasses.” He tapped the wiry metallic frames.

How’d I missed those earlier? I felt a twinge of jealousy. “Infrared?”

“Zoom, too. You can try these when we stop for the night.”

We’d been going for maybe ten silent minutes when I got a bad feeling. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“I know,” he replied in a hushed whisper. “Something or someone’s been following us.”

“There’s a turn next to that big tree, not the Solstice one.” I motioned with my head and outlined a plan. “On the count of three.”

At three, he sped off, and I fell back, pretending to pee. It took two minutes to make it to the tree but Fitz wasn’t in the branches. Where was he?

Turning the corner, I tensed, breathing shallow, ready for an attack. Any. Second. Now. Any second…

After five minutes, I turned. Where was Fitz? What happened?

Crash.

A bright light filled the wood.