Claws

Dana had almost finished packing up her things. She wanted to leave the city for a while; Change the scenery.

Her boyfriend Micheal had been trying to convince her to stay, as well as her close friend Kayla.

But she was already set on it; it wouldn’t be permanent, just for a couple of weeks.

“Babe, you know I could go with you, right? I’ll call in for some vacation days and we could leave.” Micheal had tried once again to work things out.

“No, it’s okay I want to be alone for a while.” Dana insisted.

Micheal let out a frustrating sigh and rubbed his temples. Dana can already tell he was feeling very annoyed with her stubbornness.

She’d been planning this trip for weeks now, and it was final that she’d be going. She wanted to make decisions for herself for once, without anyone’s opinion on how she should live her life.

She zipped up her suitcase and grabbed her backpack. “I’ll be back before you know it. I’ll call you every day.” Dana assured. “You better.” Micheal replied with a sigh.

She stood there for a few minutes, staring out the window, spaced out. After a while, she set her suitcase on the floor and started rolling it towards the door. “Bye Mike.” She said giving him a long hug.

“Stay safe please.”

“I always am.”

Dana had been on the road for an hour now.

So far it was relaxing and peaceful.

Once she was driving out of the city, she called Kayla to let her know that she had already left Micheal’s apartment.

They chatted for about twenty minutes and said goodbye before hanging up.

She played songs and sang some very loudly in the comfort of her car. She was having way more fun than she should’ve.

“Shit!” She hissed, looking at her gas tank levels. The pointer was nearly on empty.

How could she forget to fill up before leaving?

Careless mistakes like these could get her into a lot of trouble.

She started speeding up a bit, trying to look for the nearest gas station.

She let out a sigh of relief when she came upon a Seven Eleven.

Once her car was in place, she stepped out and locked the door and walked into the convenience store, to purchase a snack and use the restroom.

Little did she know, there was a man in her same location, looking for her.

Once she was done with her business, she was standing outside near her car waiting for her gas tank to finish up.

She let out a yelp when she felt strong arms wrap around her waist, and quickly turned around.

A man, who looked like he was in his late twenties was in front of her with a large grin.

His teeth were straight, but a bit yellow stained. He smelled like cheap cologne and dog piss. He looked rather handsome with the stubble on his face, it made him have a rough look.

“May I help you, sir?” Dana asked in confusion.

“Mate.” Was all he said and continued to stare in silence.

A couple of seconds had passed by, and Dana was confused and a bit afraid of this strange man’s actions.

“Do you need me to call someone?” She asked worriedly.

“What is your name?” He asked me. He seemed to be examining her appearance, looking her up and down and getting a good look at her face as if he were checking something.

“I’m sorry sir, but I cannot give you that information.” She replied attempting to walk by the unusual man.

She felt him grab her arm tightly and digging his nails into it.

“What the fuck man! Let me go” Dana shouted.

The man was getting furious at her actions. “I don’t appreciate you treating me like this mate." He spat.

“I’ll ask you again nicely.. what is your name?” He pressured the question once more. Dana could feel the tension, and she was beginning to feel fear.

“D-Dana.” She stuttered.

“That’s a lovely name Dana.” He beamed

“Listen, man, I have a boyfriend and I-”

“Boyfriend? Sorry hun but he’s not your boyfriend anymore.” He informed.

Anymore? What the hell?

Many questions raced through Dana’s mind at this moment. This man is definitely on drugs. She thought.

“Come.” He said yanking her by her arm.

“What?! No! Leave me alone!” She screamed.

“Stop it!” He yelled. “No! Let me go you bastard!” She screamed.

“Mate! Stop it N O W!” He demanded.

Dana quickly stopped screaming and stayed still, afraid of what he was capable of.

She was backed up towards her car, a puddle of gasoline had already started to begin to form beneath her sneakers.

He breathed close to her ear. Their encounter had gotten the attention of a few other drivers. It was obvious it hadn’t escape his attention as he looked between them, back at her, and at them again. He let out something that sounded like a growl.

“. .Here’s what I want you to do.” he whispered. Dana clutched the handle to the car door tightly, but didn’t dare open it. The man looked like her could rip her head off in one swipe.

“Give me the keys.” he said, before letting go of one of her arms and holding his palm out. The young woman swallowed, hesitantly reaching into her back pocket.

‘Shit shit shit shit’ she was sure he was just gonna grab her keys, get in her car, and commit some kind of grand theft auto or something. The gasoline puddle was getting too close to her car tires for comfort, and she was running out of options.

Deciding it was better to get her car stolen than to get caught in an explosion of flames, Dana hurriedly tossed him the keys. The man chuckled, obviously amused.

“You’re that excited, huh? Didn’t know you were that kind of girl.” Dana was bewildered, already feeling heat on her cheeks despite her situation.

The man fully let her go. He took a step back, and pushed Dana from behind, guiding her towards the passenger side.

“Get in. Wait for me, and don’t say a word.” Was all he told her. He crossed his arms when he heard the door close slowly, and lock in place. He had definitely attracted the attention of some families. Especially an older woman, who seemed to be in her late forties. He heard the click clacking of her heels as she approached him from behind.

“Hey! Hey I saw what you just did! I’m calling the police right now!” The old hag spat. The mans shoulder’s visibly raised, pooling tension into the air.

He turned around swiftly. She had been stunned for a quick moment, before digging in her purse to find her phone. He only growled, and started stalking towards her.

“Oh! S-stop! Stop right there! Help! HELP ME!” she wailed, turnimg around on her heels. She was unfortunate enough to have slipped on the gasoline beneath her feet.

‘God.. He’s been planning this..! The gas.. He was planning to use it as a weapon..’ she had been watching the whole time. She felt her heart leap in her throat when she saw him take out a nine millimeter pistol from his pants.

Someone else caught the attention. Presumably the older woman’s daughter.

“Grandma! Wait! Please don’t shoot wait!” It was too late. Two shots had been fired into her skull. Blood had splattered against the ground, and a fire bursted to life from her body.

Both Dana and the other young girl screamed. Everyone in the gas station had been alerted.

“Oh well. .” he sighed. He aimed his gun at thr younger girls head as well, and shot her. The fire had begun to spread around their corpse’s, slithering its way towards a gas tank.

He unlocked the car doors, and got in. Turning on the ignition, he turned to his left to see everyone running from the station.

He raised his gun again, and Dana thought he was going to shoot even more people. She covered her mouth, tears sprouting from her eyes in fear when he shot at a giant gas tank on a truck a few meters away. He had already begun to pull away from the truck stop.

Dana had already begun screaming as she heard the screams behind her getting louder, even as they were getting farther and farther away from the stop. The car was going at it’s hightest speed. She still thought they were going to die.

BOOM!

One of the gas tanks had already exploded. The screaming had gotten to it’s all time high, then ceased all together as they took a right into a more foresty part of the road.

Dana sobbed. Loudly. She still had both of her hands over her mouth, but her whimpers had filled in the deadful silence. The car smelled rank, like blood and gas. She noticed the man didn’t have a drop of either on him. It must’ve been the gun.

After a few minutes of weak sobbing, the man broke the silence.

“My name’s Ethan, mate.” he tried for a calming tone, though his voice still sounded callousing and rough.

Dana breathed out slowly then turned her head and blinked at her attacker. Ethan was very broad and tall, thick muscles stretched across his frame and lightly covered in dark hair, bright blue eyes were almost closed under a shock of dark hair covering only the top of the man’s head.

Dana was too shocked, exhausted and in pain to comment. A flash of annoyance came across his features. However, his face reverted back to a sleeply expression. He looked like he was going to fall asleep any second.

“I’m pretty surprised. You didn’t put up a fight at all, mate.” Ethan murmered, twisting the wheel to make another turn.

Quickly, Dana sucked in a breath.

“I.. My name’s Dana. Not.. Mate..” she whispered.

He nodded in acknowledgment.

“Oh, I know. Sorry, it’ll take sometime until I get used to calling you by your name. You are my mate, my sweet and the Luna of our pack.”

Luna? Pack? She was too tired to make any sense of the man’s crazy rambling. At the moment, she was debating whether or not she should take a dive for it and hop out of the car while it was still moving. The odds of survival were definitely in her favor.

“... Stop crying.”

“H-huh?” Tears rolled down Dana’s face and she hiccuped. This seemed to bother Ethan, who propped himself up on his elbow, he stared at Dana with narrowed eyes,

“They were weak and now they are dead. Stop crying.”

Dana’s eyes widened and she shoved a fist into her lips to try and quiet himself but her chest still jumped and shuddered with suppressed sobs. And the harder she tried, the louder she got and the angrier the man got.

“I said ‘stop crying’!” He snarled and he landed a heavy smack to Dana’s cheek.

She opened her mouth to let out a shriek, but nothing came out. She was shocked at his sudden actions.

The older man let out a sigh in frustration feeling regret after what he did.

“Mat- Dana. I’m sorry okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She sniffed and nodded her head, looking out the window. His apology seemed to put her at ease. The car ride was so hush, all the two heard was the constant buzz from the engine.

Ethan never took his eyes off the road. He was very concentrated.

After the horrible deeds he had just committed, he felt weary and was craving a nice large steak. All he wanted to do was go home, eat and cuddle up next to his mate.