Well, screw it. There was a bathroom just down from the cafeteria too. He could use that one to at least take a shower in, since he was here. He turned back around and took a step forward continuing down the street. As he did his foot caught on something and he stumbled forward.
Looking down at the black, smooth, stone pavement he saw what he had tripped on. A solid brown furry leg, laying on its own, separated from the rest of its body in a dark pool of viscous liquid which could only be blood. Jerking his head up and looking down the street he saw where that beautiful hue of light had been coming from.
The various stores and shops lining this street were all ablaze. The black obsidian hadn’t caught fire but the contents inside the building were disgorging brilliant yellow and orange flames. Thick black smoke poured out into the underground cavern. He looked up, following the trail of the smoke to look at the cavern ceiling. He saw that the ceiling was completely dark. Only bare, deep brown, and obsidian rock met his eyes. The ceiling crystals were gone, or for some reason not functioning and the whole cavern would be void of any light if it wasn’t for the fires that lit it now.
He ran toward the blaze. The thick smoke rolled out into the street, smothering him as he raised his arm to try to filter the smoke as he breathed. The smoke enveloped him and he was running blind. He tripped and fell hard to the ground. He pushed himself up trying not to breathe. The darkness surrounded him. He wanted to get up to keep running, he didn’t want to reach back, to feel what it was that had tripped him. But something made him shift his weight around and reach out behind him with his hands to feel for what it was that had made him fall. He knew what it was. He didn’t have to feel it to know. The smoke stung his eyes and he coughed violently which forced him to breathe in more smoke. He had to get out of here. He wanted to get up, to run down the street out of the deadly gasses around him. His body didn’t move though, and his arms wouldn’t stop moving. His fingers spread out and pressed into the vision obscuring smoke. Years later it seemed, his hands found what he had not wanted to find, what he desperately needed to ignore. His hands closed into fists and grasped thick wolf hair.
Suddenly he was able to move and he stood up like he had been sitting on a frying pan. He lifted his hands to his face and looked at the blood that now covered them. The blood was black against his hand, thick blackness that globbed together with the smoke as his eyes watered from the thick gas he was inhaling.
He stood up and ran. He ran towards the only place he could think of, the only place that he thought might still be safe. He ran towards the Tower. He ran through the smoke and the sounds of lives burning. The smell of things that were burning is what really horrified him. The sickening smell of hair and flesh mixed with wood. The noxious fumes and the sickening stench of burning flesh and wolf hair were all around him now. He would go insane with that smell, if the smoke inhalation didn’t kill him first. He had to get out of here, he had to run faster. And just as suddenly as the smoke had enveloped him, he was free of it.
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He stumbled to the ground on his knees, gasping at clean air and retching horribly as phlegm and mucus was loosened from his throat and lungs. He coughed hard and globs of black mucus were spit up onto the street. He rocked crazily back and forth as he filled his lungs with clean air, only to cause another huge coughing fit and more black slime to be spit out from his lungs and throat.
When the dizziness finally ceased and his eyes stopped watering, he looked around himself to see where he had ended up. He could see the Tower and the beautiful hue of orange and yellow color splashed out against the cavern horizon. What filled him with peace a few moments ago, now filled him with a chilling terror. What had happened here? He wasn’t sure. He was fairly sure that the Elders would be at the Tower. He had no idea if that was true but he had to try to get there.
Leaving the burning buildings behind he got up and induced another coughing fit. Spitting out more black snot onto the ground, he ran to another corned alleyway that would lead him to the Tower. He ran. Gauging by where the Tower stood and his ability to see it whoever had started those fires and killed that shape shifter back there hadn’t made it this far. Whether that was because they were being engaged by other shape shifters or because the intruders had gotten themselves lost, he didn’t know and didn’t care. The city defended itself, and its heart was safe, at least for now. He had to get there and see what it was he could do to help.
Running along the curved lane that would open itself to the Tower he had the time to wonder who in the hell had been able to do this? Who had been able to get inside the city in the first place and why? The street curved and brought the Tower into full view. And William stopped running.
Silhouetted against a small fire inside one of the buildings he saw a werewolf standing in the middle of the street. He had his back to William. His arms were raised above it’s head. In his hands he held another werewolf. The werewolf being held was light brown with streaks of blond fur throughout his body. He recognized him immediately.
“BILLY!!!”
The werewolf holding Billy above his head turned around to show William his profile. A cruel smile broke out across his lips. Before William could move, before he could change, before he could think, William watched the werewolf drop Billy hard. William couldn’t move as Billy fell no faster than a feather. A drop that should have lasted a half second took minutes.