---=Chapter 10: Wolf or Werewolf?---=

I jolted awake, the memory of being repeatedly shot searing my reality as I struggled to regain reason. As my surroundings came into focus, I realized I was back in the patrol car's passenger seat. Then I jolted again, remembering that I didn't have time to get my wits about me.

I was inches from the vortex barrier but paid it no mind as I pulled myself over the center console and out of the car in record time. Nia was screaming by the time I got out. She was already grappling with—what do you call a giant fleshy fuck-off tick with finger-legs and broken-thumb mandibles? Finger Tick? Tickle Fingers? Tickles.

I yanked open the door, and Nia turned her stricken face toward me to scream even harder. I pulled Tickles from her hands before either of us could think too much about what was happening. The giant bug wasn't as agile as the Slender-Hopper; it couldn't reach me with its legs or mandibles, or maybe it was just surprised to be grabbed from behind. Either way, I was eager to be rid of it and wanted to chuck it into the vortex. Unfortunately, I needed it – or at least, I needed its memory crystal.

Tickles wouldn't be as dangerous to me as Slender Hopper was. Even if it could reach me, the spikes lining its legs were only long enough to comb my fur.

Nia was already reaching for the door, but I hip-checked it to bump it closed and turned away. This might be brutal.

I spiked Tickles onto the blacktop, wincing at the crunch. I wish I could say I coolly crushed its head under my heel, but the reality was a wild stomping spree that left my legs covered in gore and fleshy chitin. I immediately regretted it as the pungent gore seeped into my fur, but I wasn't done.

I plunged my hands into the muck, trying to follow the odd attraction of the crystal. It was smaller than I expected, the smallest one I'd seen yet. Maybe it was because its head was too small to house or grow a bigger one? Giant as it was, Tickle's head was only about the size of an orange, and the crystal was only the size of a grape. The one from Slender Hopper had been two or three times bigger, the size of a ping-pong ball. Hands's had also been about that size, maybe a little smaller.

Hopefully, size doesn't matter. I thought as I grabbed the crystal. Tickles was dead, Nia was safe, and I was on the clock.

I was also a mess, so I wiped my hands on the seat as I reached back into the front of the patrol car to grab my blanket and backpack. I didn't bother putting either on; I just ran for the hospital, hoping I wouldn't immediately run into Hands's goons.

I didn't have time to make a mask, so I had to course-correct a little as I ran. Hopefully, the fog would be less of a problem indoors. I just needed to see well enough to take out Slender-Hopper. The plan was to use Tickle's memory crystal to calm Maebe and gain an ally. I doubted she'd press a gore-covered crystal to her head, so I did my best to wipe it clean against the car seat and stuffed it into a side pocket of my bag. As I ran, I considered what I needed to visualize.

The automatic doors slowed me, but I slipped between them before they opened very far. Maebe was staring at me in blank-faced shock. From the previous loop, I knew that Slender Hopper would attack soon, so I tossed my blanket aside and grabbed one of the chairs by the entrance.

I scanned the walls for the thing that had killed me twice. I'd seen it come from the hallway to the right last time, the same hallway where I'd been ambushed. Clearly, the right hall was cursed.

Slender Hopper's fleshy maggot-like body was decent camouflage on the white of the hospital walls, especially with the haze of green fog obscuring its aura. Thankfully, the fog wasn't as noticeable indoors, and even without my mask, I still picked Slender Hopper out when it moved. It was rotating its body and setting its feet but wasn't crouching to jump yet. As I approached, its head switched and began to track me instead of Maebe, who was frozen in fear.

I set the chair next to the long desk and hefted the backpack to prepare to swing. I stepped between Maebe and Slender Hopper to be sure I had its attention. Maebe stood motionless behind the desk as if hoping I couldn't see her if she didn't move. That worked for me; I'd worried she'd bolt while I was dealing with the bug anyway. With luck, she'd stay put long enough to notice I was protecting her. That would make it way easier to earn her trust.

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Slender-Hopper crouched, and I shifted my weight in anticipation of its leap.

Its legs twitched in the beginning of a leap, and I began my spin, raising my backpack and extending it to intercept—the wall.

I stumbled.

The grasshopper slammed into—and tore a chunk out of—one shoulder before leaping away. I opened my mouth in an utterly silent roar that nonetheless tore at my throat.

I swore internally, but I wasn't done.

I spotted it preparing to leap again; this time, I paid attention to my surroundings, and my swing connected, knocking it into the wall. I was on it in a moment and finished it off with the chair. Bug stomping is brutal on your feet.

I felt my shoulder; it was bleeding, and prodding the wound stung, but Slender Hopper had hit bone more than flesh, and it didn't feel very deep.

I took a slow deep breath readying myself to face Maebe. Hopefully, she'd recognize that I'd just protected her. Here we go, I thought as I turned around, trying to look as friendly as I could.

She didn't move; she just kept staring straight ahead.

Is she just that terrified that she still can't move? I wondered. I reached into the backpack's side pocket and took out the memory crystal. It was still empty, but imprinting a visualization wouldn't take long. As I held the crystal, though, I wasn't sure that was the best use of it. I walked around in front of the desk, but even when I was right in front of her, Maebe didn't respond.

Ok, what the fuck.

Her eyes didn't move except to blink occasionally. She swayed slightly but corrected her balance automatically. I poked her in the forehead, and she rocked backward a little, but that was it.

Sighing, I put the crystal back in the side pocket and walked back to the entrance to grab a chair that wasn't gore-spattered. Her balance seemed ok for now, but she'd still be less likely to fall over if she was sitting down.

I couldn't begin to guess why she was catatonic. If anything, this experience should have been less traumatizing than the last loop, so I was pretty sure it wasn't my fault. Still, I couldn't just leave her standing there. Rather than grabbing another of the wooden chairs, I grabbed a wheelchair that sat in the corner. I couldn't just leave her here alone; I had no reason to think there weren't more monsters around.

After I situated her, I also harvested the memory crystal from Slender Hopper. Have I mentioned the smell yet? Disturbingly, the gore of Tickles and Slender Hopper smelled just like corn chips, and I don't mean that in an appetizing way. Instead, it was like a putrid rot that made me doubt these creatures were on anything else's menu.

There was a single-occupant bathroom off to one side of the lobby, and I took the opportunity to wash off the awful. It took the better part of 20 minutes to rinse blood and gore out of my fur, and maybe that shouldn't be a top priority, but I wasn't sure what my next step was; plus, I needed the time to process everything.

It wasn't fair to say that Hands had threatened me, but only because he hadn't hesitated to kill me. Not that I could just ignore him. He'd already killed me and could certainly do worse. He also clearly knew more about what was happening than I did, which was annoying at best.

Then again, he was surprised at what I didn't know; he'd said, "So your memories really are gone," as though he'd confirmed a rumor. Both he and Nia had confidently called me Oberon, expecting a response as if I had answered to the name before. Hands had referred to himself and me as 'rememberers.' Remembering what? The time loops, maybe? Had I been through more loops than I could remember? How many more? Was that why Nia was so different when I met her in the hospital vs. when she reappeared in the car?

How long have these loops been going on?

Nia had asked me to save her sister 'next time.' She'd definitely expected me to remember that in the next loop. She was familiar with my appearance, as well as with Slender Hopper and her own increased strength when lifting the lobby chair. None of it was surprising to her except that I was injured. So, something happened to me to make me forget. Then something, presumably the same something, made Nia forget. She forgot about 'Oberon,' and her spawn was reset to the patrol car, just like mine.

I needed to find another, less murdery 'rememberer' to answer my questions. Nia might still be one, but she was too scared of me to tell. If she was, hopefully, she'd remember that I saved her and opened her window, not that I scratched ominously on the car or leered menacingly through that window.

After I got cleaned up, I took a moment to make a mask and adjust it in the mirror until I was satisfied. I was almost getting used to seeing a werewolf staring back at me.

That was a lie.

Since I didn't have to bandage anything, I had a full cape. Well, I did have a wound on my shoulder blade, but the bleeding had stopped on its own, and I didn't have a good way to bandage that spot anyway.

I glanced over at Maebe. I'd left her just outside the bathroom and kept the door open so I could keep an eye on her. She still stared without seeing, but somewhere in there, she might see me. I threw my cape back over my shoulder and stood in a superhero pose, hands on hips, chest out, jaw set.

What do you think? 'Man, or Superman?' I joked with myself. More like 'wolf or werewolf?' I answered myself, looking back at the mirror.

Was I a werewolf if I never reverted to a human? I was obviously a human-canine combination, but unfortunately, I didn't seem to have the transformation feature of most werewolves. Considering how painful those transformations usually looked, it was probably for the best.

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