THE CAR TRIP

EPISODE 5

They drove for what seemed like days to Karl but was merely hours, he drifted in and out of sleep sometimes imagining he was on a long ride to someplace where his father was waiting.

“Are we not there yet?” Karl asked after being on the road for five hours

“No we are not, I would have booked a flight but you know how urgent your return was, there was no time for that. You must be tired, longest road journey you have ever undergone?”

“Longest anything I have ever undergone really, the road never stops.” Karl replied stretching and yawning observing his surroundings. He could see Sandra and the other kids were still sleeping curled together.

“We will be there in about two hours and then you can take a real rest and a bath.”

“How was my father like? Before he went abroad and cut you all off”

Karl watched Katherine eyes flicker with sadness before it cleared so fast he thought he had imagined it.

“He did not exactly cut us off, he used to send us pictures of you from time to time.”

“He did?” Karl asked surprised.

“Of course he did, but asks us not to send a reply in case you pick it up or something. He told us how curious you were to know something about your origins no matter how little”

“But he never told me anything”

“And it was all for your own good that he didn’t, we promised never to contact him after his twin sister was killed.”

“My Dad was a twin?” Karl asked again sitting straighter in his chair.

“He never told you? There are so many things your father kept from you then if he did not give you that little detail.”

“Please tell me more, what exactly happened? Why?”

“Your father was born on a full moon, he came out of our mother a wolf and remained in that form for three days before finally becoming human. The moon remained in the sky for three full days too and that was when the prophesy was given by the village priestess.

According to her, somebody from your father’s loins was going to be the savior, the one who would free us from the wolf’s curse.”

“Why do you all consider it a curse, I think it is awesome you can turn into a wolf and have wolf senses or is that just in the movies?”

“No, it is not just in the movies, we do have wolf senses like you call it. Sharper Vision, Slow aging, sharper sense of smell and a very bad appetite for fresh bloodied human meat” Katherine told him with a straight face.

Karl looked at her horrified by her last words before she began laughing.

“I am joking about the human meat, you need to have seen your face. C’mon that’s not part of what we eat, we like to hunt but only on the full moon and sometimes we cannot differentiate animals and humans when our thirst for meat is high, that is where the curse part comes in. We break every bones in our body, all two hundred and six which is very excruciating.”

“Wow, you are not kidding about breaking bones, I don’t think I want to break my bones just yet. Wait so does that mean Sandra also….”

“Yes and it is painful to watch my daughter go through that. What is even more painful is the knowledge that my other children will go through the same fate till they die or just decide to end it.”

“Is that why everyone is anticipating the boy in the prophesy? Then why are there bad people after him too”

“While most of us want to be free of this curse, others consider it a blessing and want to destroy whosever has the power to stop it.”

“Most of us? Others? There are more wolves excluding our family?”

“Oh yes, so much more than you can imagine, some married into the bloodline and others just like us the Alpha bloodline, purest in the history of wolves”

“Why is ours considered pure?” Karl asked clearly very intrigued now.

“You used the word Ours, does that mean you believe now?”

“Don’t push your luck, I am just asking questions although my doubts are clearing but please don’t ask too much of me.”

“Ours is considered pure because our ancestors were the first ever wolf bloods, birthed from the witches rock”

“Witches rock?”

“The one used to curse us, it is so much and some of history has been lost with time but according to what I was told by my mother and what she was told by her mother before her, we were cursed to forever turn to wolves on the full moon because an ancestor of ours defiled a priestess only she was no ordinary woman”

“is it not sad to curse everyone?”

“There is nothing we can do about it because the woman is dead but her curse lives on in the rock and only the boy from the prophesy can sever our tie to it.”

“What happened to my father’s twin sister?”

“She was killed on the day of a full moon, when she was in wolf form, a hunter shot her with a silver bullet. She died on the spot”

“Where was my father when this happened?”

“Your father had not yet made his first kill so he was not completely wolf like the rest of us, he stayed back to watch the house while we roamed free in the woods. The hunter knew what we were and that is why he was there with a silver bullet.”

“So like in the movies, Silver can kill a wolf”

“Yes, Cliché isn’t it? To tie the fate of beings as powerful as wolves to Silver”

“Well, it is what has always been I guess”

“I guess, well your father on seeing her body ran away from home and never returned. I haven’t seen my brother since then and now you tell me he is dead even as he already escaped his fate.”

Karl had nothing to say to that, he could hardly imagine the pain Katherine was going through. She was just putting up a strong front for him and for her children when in reality she was scared of what might happen to them.

“It will be alright” Karl said to her moments later.

She nodded without responding

They continued the rest of the journey in silence with Karl pondering in everything he had been told, he could hardly believe he was really involved in everything that was going on. Two weeks ago he was an ordinary child who just wanted to know about his origins and now he was not only deeply involved but might be in a war with other wolves, it was all surreal.

“Do you want to grab something to eat? I could ask the man following behind us to get you something” Katherine asked him

“Yes if you don’t mind, I am starving”

“okay, let us stop for a while and wake the girls. We should all stretch our legs before we continue the journey”

“I Will leave you to wake up, the man and I will go get something for us to eat.”

“Here, take some money.”

Karl collected it and stepped out of the car signaling the cab man to do the same.

“Why are we stopping?” he asked as soon as he got out

“We have to get something to eat, you are familiar with the area so you would accompany me.”

“We shouldn’t be stopping like this, it is too dangerous”

“We can’t starve and I don’t think they are watching us at this point, you are supposed to be their watch tower remember?”

“Still I don’t think it is safe for us to be stopping like this”

“Just this once then and we should be fast about it”

…….

“they just stopped boss, should I grab the boy?”

“No of course not, just watch them and report to me. I need my ex wife to lead me to her village.”

“Just follow them and do not contact me again until I contact you”

“Okay boss”

……..

They all say outside munching on the fries they had gotten from a KFC near by. Karl did not consider it all bad but it was not close to what he normally had.

“I need you to help me with something” He told Katherine between mouthfuls

“What is it?” She asked.

“The journal. When I found it, it was filled with a language I do not understand but recognize as my father’s language. Only my father’s writings to me was in English, I would like for you to translate some for me to understand.”

“I could help you out with that or at least the ones I understand”

“I would really appreciate that”

So they all sat as Katherine read the words one by one trying to translate and failing at some words.

“I think I get the general idea of what the journal is about” Karl stopped her laughing.

“Oh you are laughing at my translations, you that cannot read a word of what is in this book”

“Well which is better, not being able to read a word or reading and get it all wrong”

“I am not exactly get it all wrong, these words are ancient and has been lost with time. I don’t what they all mean”

“Same thing” Karl countered and they all laughed, the first real laughter they had had since he came into their house.

……..

“What is the recent update?” The woman asked selling down on the reclining sofa

“According to my man tailing them, they are on the move, to the village and that is where we shall strike.”

“This village, you are sure they are all there?”

“I am very sure, my ex wife never introduced me to her family or let me go there with her till we split.”

“I can hardly wonder why, you are a snake and I am sure she sensed that”

“Anywhere the money is” the man chuckled nervously unnerved by the woman’s green eyes. She was looking at him like she could hear his thoughts.

“Let me ask you a question, Mr. Desmond, did you ever love you wife?”

“Yes I did”

“And all of your children?”

“Yes, I loved them all”

“Well what changed? What took away your love from them?”

“Secrets, she knew what she was and she never thought to let me know. When I did find out and confronted her about it, she ended our marriage and walked away with our children.”

“She couldn’t leave them with you now could she, they are wolves too. So you want revenge?”

“I do very much. On her and everything they stand for”

“You shall get it but only if you do not fail me”

“I don’t intend to do that, my lady” the man said bowing slightly.

The woman stood up and walked over to him.

“When this is all over, maybe just maybe you will get your desire” she whispered invitingly into his ears.

The man swallowed, heat engulfing his body.