Hunger and Rage
A Branching Narrative Horror for The First Indulgence: Day 8 and Dreadful Tales of October: Week One
Welcome to my story for The First Indulgence: Day 8! This is also a story for Mina Howell and Edward.Marlo.Ruiz’s Dreadful Tales of October: Week One.
This is a branching narrative with two paths and four possible endings. Make sure you read the epilogue as well.
And of course, please enjoy…
Go to a party, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
It was a underground party. The kind where vamps, wolves, and faeries could all drink, make out, and more if they wanted, without the shadow of the Corpos hanging over them.
It was 1995, and humans were far from the dominant species on Earth.
Society was set up a certain way where the hierarchy was clear. Daywalkers hunted wolves, and wolves ate whatever they could get their hands on, because they weren’t allowed to be members of society.
Meanwhile, the fae and their kinfolk just sort of did their own thing. They weren’t bound to the corporeal realm, so the Corpos tended to look the other way when they were involved. Wasn’t worth the paperwork.
Of all the strange and mystical creatures dancing beneath the rotating strobe lights and lasers, two are the subject of this story.
One is a human. A twenty-three year old woman named Kaley. Her last name doesn’t matter. She’s dressed like a Daywalker. She even has fake fangs glued to her teeth.
She wants to be like them, and she’s going to get her wish.
Across the sea of sweat, alcohol, and drugs, a young werewolf is leaning against the wall and nursing his first drink. He’s going to transform tonight. It’s a full moon, that’s how it works.
He knows he will most likely die as well. Werewolves stay in their animal form for a week after the full moon. Plenty of time for the Corpos and their Daywalkers to hunt them down.
His name is Daniel, and he’s come to terms with his fate. He’s here for a good time, not a long time.
And that bring us to you. Yeah, you. The one reading this. How’s it going? You get that job you wanted? They have vampires and shit in your world?
Eh, who am I kidding? I can’t hear what you’re saying. I’m just here to send you on your way. So, what’s it gonna be?
TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF THE SUN - Go to Chapter 2
TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF THE MOON - Go to Chapter 3
Chapter 2
Kaley took another sip of her drink and watched the Daywalker across the room she had spotted earlier.
She was fucking stunning. Dressed from head-to-toe in clothes that hugged every curve like it was a map of the interstate.
Cherry red lipstick, icy blue eyes, jet black hair that shimmered like starlight. Kaley had a thing for vampires, and this one was the most beautiful she’d ever seen.
“Hey, you come here often?” she asked, her words bouncing around the cup in her hands.
“No, that’s so cheesy. Hey, wanna dance?” That one felt better.
Still not great, though, if I’m being honest.
Oh, sorry, not supposed to interfere.
Anyway, Kaley worked up the courage to talk to the vampire seductress she’d been eye fucking all night.
They struck up a conversation. The Daywalker told Kaley her name, but the music was too loud to hear it. Veronica? Varla? Hard to say.
Names didn’t matter, though, because the chemistry between them went a hell of lot deeper than that.
One drink led to a dance, which led to a drink, and before you know it...
Kaley blacked out.
Yeah, I’m sure it was a good night, but what do you want from me? She didn’t remember any of it. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Scroll to Chapter 4.
Chapter 3
Daniel hated the taste of alcohol, but it was one of those thing he wanted to try before he died. Carpe diem, and all that.
He chugged the rest of his watered down drink. It barely burned, but it tasted like fire and cinnamon. The bartender recommended it.
The alarm went off on his watch. Daniel looked down and silenced it.
It was time to go already. He hadn’t even danced with anyone. Didn’t matter, tonight he’d be dancing with the devil anyway.
He made his way outside and into the woods surrounding the abandoned factory where the party was being held.
The sounds of the music followed him into the trees, but soon even that faded. It was just him, the cold night air, and the uncaring moon in the sky above.
“Any minute now,” Daniel whispered.
He had done everything. EVERYTHING he could to delay the transformation. Very few werewolves survived their first full moon. The Corpos had wolf genocide down to a goddamn science.
It was like they knew when werewolves transformed.
So, Daniel bought every sketchy pill and online course he could find on taming the beast that was growing inside him.
Most of it was bunk, but to be fair, some of it did work. For a while, at least. He had managed to delay for several full moons, but it got harder to resist the change each time.
There was a part of him. A sick, nauseous, broken part of him, that knew this time it would happen.
So, he made plans. He put things in order. He buried his life six feet underground where he would soon follow.
It was fucked up, but hey, that’s how the world worked in 1995.
Daniel pulled out his CD player that held a copy of Green Day’s latest album. He put on When I Come Around and slid the headphones over his head.
The angsty voice of Billie Joe Armstrong kept him company until the change started.
See, the thing about werewolves is they’re not quiet when it comes time to transform.
I mean, if your bones all shattered at once, and your organs rearranged themselves, would you stay nice and quiet?
Didn’t think so.
Daniel let out a sound that was somewhere between a scream and a howl. Whatever it was, it was loud.
A lot of people thought that the Corpo Daywalkers tracked sounds like that to hunt wolves, but that’s a bunch of conspiracy theory shit, so I couldn’t tell you for sure.
Damn, sorry, not supposed to interfere.
So yeah, Daniel had a shitty night.
Scroll to Chapter 5
Chapter 4
When Kaley woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t in her bed. She wasn’t in her room either.
She threw off the white sheets and saw she was wearing a jumpsuit. A nice burnt orange color.
“What the fuck?” she asked.
She ran over to the metal sink on the far side of the room. A mirror was mounted above it, slightly cracked.
Kaley didn’t stop to think why a prison cell would have glass in it. She was too busy staring at her own face.
Her skin was pale. Really pale.
She spotted two large puncture wounds on her neck as well. Bite marks? They sure looked like it.
Her head was pounding. She couldn’t remember anything about the night before. Except for those eyes. Christ, she’d never forget those icy blues.
The thick metal door to her room swung open. Two armed guards stepped inside.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Kaley asked.
The guards didn’t say anything. They grabbed her by the arms and dragged her kicking and screaming down a long hall before handcuffing her to a table in an interrogation room.
A moment later two Corpo Daywalkers walked in. They wore uniforms that proudly portrayed their chosen corporation’s branding.
The fact that they were were two different uniforms was serious. Corpos almost never worked together.
That didn’t matter much, though, because Kaley recognized one of them. Jet Black hair, crimson lipstick, and those damn icy blues.
“Holy shit, it’s you!” Kaley shouted. She tried to point at the vamp, but her hands were held back by the cuffs on her wrists.
The other Daywalker, who was handsome but not Kaley’s type, shot his fellow vamp a look.
“No…this is the one you told me about? She’s a little young for you, isn’t she?” he asked.
The woman shook her head. “Just my fucking luck.”
“What’s going on? Why am I handcuffed?” Kaley shouted.
The woman slammed her hands on the metal table. The sound echoed through the room.
It also made pain shoot across Kaley’s head like lightning. Her hangover was truly legendary. I’ve had a few of those myself, you know.
Sorry, did it again.
Anyway, the woman slammed her hands on the table and started yelling.
“You don’t get to ask questions!” she shouted, “You’re here because you’re one of us now, and we’ve got a job for you.”
The handsome vamp threw down a folder filled with photos onto the table. They spilled out. It was photos of a guy, not much older than Kaley. They were clearly taken without his knowledge.
“His name’s Daniel Nelson. He’s a Lycanthrope. Should have turned last night, according to our surveillance teams.”
“That means he’s dangerous,” the woman said. “Who knows how many people he’s killed. He’s your first target.”
Kaley eyes shot between the two Daywalkers. “This is a joke, right?”
The handsome vamp picked up the photos. “Nope. You’re a Daywalker like us now. You’ve got a duty to the Corpos.”
“I didn’t ask for this!” Kaley screamed.
The handsome vamp shot the woman another knowing look. “That’s between you and her.”
He walked out of the room. The woman refused to make eye contact with Kaley.
“Are you going to say something? What the fuck did you do to me?”
“I did what you wanted! What you were asking for!” The woman shouted.
“I was drunk!”
“You were cosplaying as a Daywalker. It’s pretty clear this was your end goal.”
The woman walked over to the door and knocked twice. Armed guards came in with a fresh new uniform.
It was Kaley’s size.
Scroll to Chapter 6
Chapter 5:
Daniel wasn’t in control anymore.
Maybe he never was.
Werewolves, Lycanthropes, full moons…
None of it made any sense. There had to be connections, but the Corpos didn’t care about connections. They only cared about profits.
And werewolves were a threat to the bottom line.
I wish I could tell you what was going through Daniel’s head, but I can’t. Maybe if they’d funded some research, or I don’t know, fucking tried to incorporate the wolves into society, we’d know more about them.
Sorry, I’m letting my opinions seep in again.
Okay, here’s what I know. Daniel transformed and then he went on a killing spree fueled by bloodlust.
Anybody that was in his way got turned into a puddle of blood, guts, and shredded clothes.
He ate some of them, but others he just tore up and moved on.
It was clear he was heading somewhere, but the bloodbath felt personal. Like he was taking revenge for his people.
Eventually, the raging beast that used to be Daniel reached an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. No, not the one from the party.
A different one. Those things housed all kinds of miscreants and forgotten people.
And yes, some had parties, too.
Daniel had found a local werewolf pack’s hideout. They weren’t his, but wolves looked after their own. After all, if they didn’t, who else would?
They chained him up somewhere, hoping to keep him from killing anyone else. They weren’t thinking straight, though. They didn’t consider the trail of blood and bodies he’d left.
Footsteps that led the Daywalkers right to the hideout.
Yeah…
It was a fucking bloodbath. Made Daniel’s spree look like goddamn Candy Land in comparison. Great board game, by the way.
Sorry.
Anyway, a squad of Daywalkers showed up, led by some newbie who stood out like a sore thumb. Didn’t matter though, the others were trained killers.
The part of Daniel that was still in there, chained up like the body he now inhabited, watched as they slaughtered his people.
The newbie walked up to him. She took off her helmet. He saw a fresh bite on her neck. She had kindness in her eyes, too.
Daniel ceased his thrashing long enough to listen to her.
“I’ve never understood why they do this,” she said.
She got closer. The rage in Daniel wanted to lash out. To see if maybe he could get a finger, or if he’s lucky, a whole hand.
He resisted.
“I’m going to let you go, okay?” she asked.
The rage was boiling over. Daniel wasn’t sure he could resist much longer. A small part of him didn’t want to hurt her, but the rest of him did.
To Resist the Rage, Scroll to Ending #1
To Give in to the urges, Scroll to Ending #2
Chapter 6:
They put a uniform on her, a gun in her hand, and a knife on her waist. Kaley could barely comprehend what was happening. All she could think about was how thirsty she was.
“You’ll get fed when the job’s done,” the handsome vamp said, right before he pushed her into the back of a van.
The hunger was unlike anything Kaley had ever felt. She was so desperate to feed that she would have killed her own mother if they asked.
She sat down in the back of the van, surrounded by other Daywalkers who all put on helmets and checked their weapons.
She thought about just jumping one of them, but they didn’t smell good to her. Maybe vamps couldn’t drink other vamps blood.
She wouldn’t know.
The drive felt like an eternity. The hunger just kept getting worse. Desperation replaced most of her other emotions.
Tires squealed and the doors of the van flew open. Kaley followed the other Daywalker out. They were outside an abandoned warehouse.
She knew exactly what this was. A wolf den.
The gunfire started almost immediately. Kaley followed them in, but she could barely figure out how to hold her gun, much less fire it.
She passed bodies that looked like any other person. After all, wolves looked just like anyone else when they weren’t in their full moon form.
She thought about drinking the blood that ran from their bullet wounds, but again, it didn’t smell right. In fact, the thought made her sick to her stomach.
Maybe they had to be alive. Maybe that was the trick.
That’s when she spotted it. A werewolf in its animal form, chained up against the wall of a back office.
It was thrashing and roaring, but those sounds were lost in the sea of screams and gunfire.
Kaley approached the wolf and he suddenly went quiet.
“I never understood why they do this,” she said.
The hunger demanded her to press the advantage. She didn’t have fangs yet. Her knife would do the trick, or failing that, her teeth could work.
The part of her that remembered being human felt differently though.
She took another step closer. “I’m going to free you, okay?”
The wolf chained to the wall just stared at her.
To give in to the Hunger, Scroll to Ending #3
To Save the Wolf, Scroll to Ending #4
Ending 1:
Daniel held the rage at bay. A young Daywalker like this was rare. He was convinced the human part of her was still in there somewhere.
She pulled the knife out from the holster on her waist. It was sharp as hell, but she quickly discovered that it wouldn’t cut through chains.
She tossed it onto the ground and aimed her gun at the chains instead.
A pang of fear ran through Daniel’s body. The rage almost won.
She fired once, twice, and on the third time, the chain broke. Daniel stepped away from the wall, finally free.
He looked down at the young Daywalker, and she looked up at him. He towered over her in his wolf form.
He wanted to thank her, but then he noticed something.
Her eyes were different.
The kindness was gone.
She leapt forward, screeching like a demon. Before Daniel could react, she dug her teeth into the fur on his thigh. He stumbled backward as she bit incessantly into the skin until it tore.
He felt her tongue lapping up the blood that poured out. The rage was begging him to hand over control, but even with her ravenous hunger, he didn’t want to kill her.
So, he pushed her off of him and he ran.
As far as I know, he made it out, but that’s not the thing that has me worried.
I’ve never heard about a case where a vamp bit a wolf.
You don’t think…?
Nah, probably not.
Click here or scroll to the Epilogue.
Ending 2:
Daniel didn’t want to hurt her, but that didn’t matter, because the rage did.
It shoved him back, deep into the recesses of his mind.
With a single, powerful roar, Daniel’s wolf body ripped the chains right out of the wall. The prospect of another kill was just too good to pass up.
The poor girl never stood a chance.
He ripped her apart, devoured her heart, and left the rest.
The others were too busy killing the innocent, defenless people in the building.
So Daniel got away.
You know, come to think of it, not many vamps get eaten by wolves.
Kinda makes you wonder…
Scroll to the Epilogue.
Ending 3:
Kaley wanted to help him, but there was just one problem…
He looked fucking delicious.
She could hear his heart thundering in his chest. She could practically see the blood coursing through his veins.
She had to have a taste. Just a little, and then she’d let him go.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
For what it’s worth, I think she meant it.
Damn, did it again.
Anyway, she leaps on him she bites down. He tries to throw her off, but the chains won’t let him. It takes her a second to get her teeth in, but once she does, the blood starts flowing.
She get’s a nice, good drink in before Daniel rips the chains out of the walls.
He throwed her off of him and fled.
She hit the wall hard and gets knocked out.
When she wakes up, she’s back in the cell again, but this time she’s strapped down to the bed.
She screams for help, but no one answers. She tries to escape, but they had her restrained from head-to-toe.
That’s when she heard a voice.
“Vamps aren’t supposed to feed on wolves,” a voice says. It sounds like the handsome vamp from earlier.
Before Kaley can ask what he means, all the bones in her body shatter at once and hair starts sprouting over her entire body.
Scroll to The Epilogue.
Ending 4:
Kaley approached the wolf and set her gun down. She pulled out her knife and tried using it on the chains.
It wasn’t making a dent, so she picked up the gun again.
She could feel the wolf staring her down. She fired once. Twice. Three times, and the chain broke.
He stepped away from the wall, towering over her. She saw a shred of humanity in its eyes. Like the person in there was still in control.
The hunger struck. Harder than it ever had.
Kaley’s eyes wandered down to the muscular fur-covered thigh of the beast in front of her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
She leapt forward and dug her teeth into the wolf’s leg. It howled in pain as she furious bit down again and again until she drew blood.
It was incredible. Like a drink of ice cold water after wandering through the desert. She couldn’t get enough of it. She just wanted more.
He threw her off and she slid across the ground. She watched him run out of the room. A moment later, several other Daywalkers came in and pointed their guns at her.
Kaley put her hands up. “Hey! It’s me, I’m one of you!”
“You fucking fed on the wolf, didn’t you?” One of them asked, his voice laced with disgust.
“Yeah, but I mean, that doesn’t matter!” Kaley replied.
The two soldiers exchanged a quick look and then opened fire. Bullets shredded through Kaley, but she didn’t feel anything as they hit. She fell backwards onto the ground as the soldiers towered over her.
“Give me her knife,” one said.
The soldier picked up Kaley’s knife and handed it to the other one. He held it above her chest.
“Heart’s on the other side, idiot.”
The soldier shifted the blade over and drove it down.
Kaley felt that one, but it wasn’t long before everything went black.
Scroll down to the Epilogue.
Epilogue
So yeah, what ending did you get?
Right, I can’t hear you. Sorry, I’m new to this whole writing thing.
Well anyway, none of them are very happy, as I’m sure you guessed.
And yes, I’m aware that the two perspectives don’t line up in terms of endings. They’re all different, despite taking place in the same timeline. There’s a reason for that:
It’s because I’m guessing.
I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what happened. I know Kaley either disappeared or was killed, and I know Daniel got away.
The rest is me just making shit up. I thought maybe if I told the story, someone would recognize one of them. You know? Leave a comment or something? Point me in the right direction?
What am I saying, this is such a stupid idea. Well, I’m grateful to Bradley anyway for posting this for me. He’s a good dude. You should subscribe, or whatever the hell it is on this platform.
I’m going to get back to my search. I need some fucking answers.
Oh, and it’s Varla, by the way. In case you were curious.
Thanks for Reading! Here’s Your Musical Pairing
A throwback to 1995, back when wolves and Daywalkers walked the Earth.
WOW I LOVE THIS!
I read all the different branches and it was SO good!
I love the grungy narrative and I'm so impressed that you got all of the elements of both prompts in! That's insanely impressive!
Interesting world with the different factions!
I got Ending #4 before I went back to read the others.
🙂