Since electronics contain silver, you could theoretically beat a werewolf to death with a Nokia.
Silence. I relax my frozen lungs and the air rushes out. I can hear myself panting to the beat of my racing heart. I’ve broken out in a cold sweat. I look over at Austin, almost too scared to do so. But he’s alive. I feel dizzy with relief. The werewolf however, is probably not alive.
“WOAH. Woah, just, what fuck just happened! Austin, are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine,” Austin glances down at himself. “None of this blood is mine.”
“Is it dead?”
“I think so.” Austin pokes the werewolf with this shoe.
“What just happened? I was just about to be bitten!” I pat myself down to confirm I am in fact, not chewed on.
Austin holds up his flip phone, “I stopped him with this.” He turns it over. “Ah shit, the battery fell out somewhere.”
I gawk. “You stopped a werewolf – with a cellular phone‽”
“Yeah, Nokia’s have silver in them. That’s why I got one.” Austin walks around in the grass, bent over. “Goddamit, where is it?”
“Austin. You saved my life,” I say softly.
Austin’s cheek turn a bit pink. “No big deal. You’re my partner, Wes. It’s kinda frowned upon to get your partner get killed. Lotta paperwork.”
I have to sit down in the grass. “It is a big deal!”
“Does that mean you’ll finally sleep with me now?” Austin grins.
My jaw drops. The fucking balls on this guy. But also, fuck, why do I kind of want to? Who doesn’t deserve sex after heroics like that. “Isn’t that also kind of frowned upon?” I stammer.
“Yeah but, unless you do it at headquarters -or in the car- no paperwork.” Austin winks.
I realize he’s done this before, and I am alarmed at the ember of jealousy that has been sparked like flint. “How does the Boss put up with you.”
“Cause I am good at my job. Also, I seriously can’t find this battery.”
I force myself to glance over at the reeking hulk of fur, already decomposing in the dawn light. “Um. It’s in his head.”
Austin looks where I’m pointing. “Oh. Ew.” He gingerly pulls it out with two fingers, arm extended as far as possible from his self. With a gross, wet pop it comes out. We both freeze, as if the werewolf might pop up at any moment. I scoot backwards.
“Yeah it’s dead.” Austin says. He takes out his handkerchief and wipes the battery off.
“There’s no way it’ll work.”
“We’ll see about that!” Austin wipes the phone down. I watch him pop the battery in the back. It makes a proper ‘click’ sound. Austin holds down the power button. From where I’m sitting, I can see the screen come on.
“No fucking way.”
“HA!” Austin punches his fist in the air. “Fuck, I love this thing. Nokia for life!” He walks over to me. “Come on, get in the car.”
“Wh-what? Were are we going? We have to report this.”
“We’re going to get you a cell phone. And I’ll report the werewolf death in the car. On my cell phone.” Austin sounds smug.
I stand up with a groan. The adrenaline has left. I feel exhausted and sweaty. I want a shower, preferably in bleach. The whole car is going to smell like werewolf now, which means I’ll probably have to burn this suit. Austin walks over to the drivers side door. He kneels and picks up something. When he passes it over the hood of the car, I realize it’s my gun.
“Oh that’s where the werewolf threw that,” I mutter sheepishly. I take it by the barrel and check it. Out of bullets. At some point, I’m going to have to come back and dig the silver one out of a tree somewhere. I put the weapon back in my holster.
We both get in the car; Austin turns it on. The werewolf is directly in view outside the wind shield. I glance at Austin. When he turns to look at me, the gold in Austin’s vernal colored eyes reflects the dawn light.
The rubber band holding his pony tail has slipped and his dark hair is no longer tight against his head, but hanging down loose on the sides. I feel like I’m seeing him for the first time again. He looks almost….stunning, which surely is just from me feeling raw and vulnerable and sleep-deprived and no other reason. The smell of the werewolf blood is permeating the car, which saves me from more unprofessional thoughts. My chest feels tight and I bite my lip. “That was close,” I whisper.
“It was never close.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. Cause I was always going to save the day. Why? Because I’m fucking awesome.” Austin takes my hand and squeezes it. When he does, the light tremor I didn’t even realize I had ceases.
“Yeah,” I admit with a chuckle. “You kind of fucking are.”
Austin slips his hand out of mine. I reluctantly let him go. The warmth lingers. He puts the car in the reverse and backs up. “Wait. Kind of?”
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Captions are fictional.
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