Page 10 of Jacob Michaels Is Not Jacob Michaels

“I believe you, Rob.”

“She’s crazy as hell, mean as shit, and she definitely hasn’t done much for me to want to like her a lot lately, but she wouldn’t lure me out into the backyard for any good reason, let alone so wolves—or werewolves—could attack me. If she wanted to hurt me, she’d do it herself.”

Lucas squeezed my hand. “I’m not lying to you. I believe you that it wasn’t Oma. I’m just trying to come up with—”

“What was that?” I whipped my head to the side.

“What?”

“Did you hear a scream?”

“Um, no.”

Lucas was looking at me like I was crazy again. I ignored his facial expressions and listened quietly, still holding his hand. No sounds, other than the water and the breeze and the crackling of the trees filled the air around us. Had there been a scream—or was I crazy? Unexplainably, I felt a tug in my gut again, something pulling at me, telling me to pay attention. A sudden urge to check on Oma came over me, overwhelming my senses.

“Oma.” I gasped.

Lucas looked shocked as I let go of his hand and whipped around, my feet moving of their own accord as I dashed towards the woods again. I was already past the tree line, running like crazy when Lucas finally managed to holler after me. Seconds later, I heard him running to catch up. My heart was pounding in my chest again, and I was gasping as I ran faster than I ever knew possible, trying to get back to Oma’s house as quickly as possible. By the time I reached the other side of the woods, I felt like I might pass out from the sudden exertion. My body still wasn’t back to one-hundred percent yet, so running through the cold woods through damp and muck wasn’t something it was prepared to do. Lucas had to be far behind me in the woods, unable to keep up with such a pace.

As soon as I broke through the tree line into the backyard, my eyes landed on Oma. She had fallen back onto the steps, facing the woods. One of the Kobolds—my guess was Lena—was by her side, trying to get her back up onto her feet. The fact that Oma looked like she had fallen wasn’t my main concern. The fact that a lady, completely nude, was stumbling through the backyards towards my grandmother was what had my focus. The strange woman’s back was to me, so I was treated to an eyeful of asscrack as I dashed across the backyard, trying to get myself between my grandmother and some weirdo.

Had I heard Oma scream for me from the other side of the woods?

“Hey!” I screamed as I got closer, though I had no idea where I found the breath to do so.

The woman kept stumbling towards Oma as she laid back against the steps, looking at the approaching woman in horror. The Kobold was pulling at Oma, looking both terrified and annoyed somehow. The strange, completely nude woman came into focus better as I approached and I could see that she only had hair on one half of her head. One side of her body looked nearly melted, covered in scar tissue. Grimacing, I ran even faster, wanting to make sure that the woman got nowhere near my grandmother. I watched as Lena pulled at Oma and Oma’s face changed from a look of astonishment to anger. Her hand slowly raised, pointing at the woman approaching her.

“Oma!” I screamed again. “No!”

Apparently, Oma hadn’t seen me burst out of the woods and come running across the backyard. My screams had obviously not reached her ears, either. When her eyes settled on me, her hand stopped in mid-air. I didn’t want Oma to suddenly send fire flying towards the woman when I was approaching from behind. Knowing my luck, she would miss, or the woman would duck, and we’d have Flame-Broiled Rob. A second later, I had reached the woman. I grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her from moving any closer to Oma. She stumbled awkwardly, her body turning to face me as I gasped for breath, my heart thundering within my chest.

How I kept myself from screaming, I wasn’t sure. Half of the woman’s face was melted away. One eye was missing, half of her long brown hair scorched away, her scalp, face, half of her torso and lower half all looked like melted plastic—with just a touch of blood and other fluids to make her look even more frightening. The woman’s mouth opened and one eye looked out at me in desperation.

“Help me.” She managed to croak.

Then she was collapsing into my arms. With no other option, I reached out with my arms, catching her around the middle as she fell into me, completely still. Slowly, I lowered the woman to the ground, wondering what in the Hell had happened to her and why she had wandered up into Oma’s yard of all places. Oma was finally standing from the steps as Lena stood meekly at her side. I looked over at them, and Lena shyly stepped behind Oma, partially hiding behind Oma’s legs. Oma looked down at me in shock. If it hadn’t been for the sound of Lucas approaching the tree line, I wouldn’t have known what to do.

“Lena,” I whisper-hissed, “hide.”

In less time than it takes to blink, she had jumped down and disappeared into the slight shadows cast alongside the stairs. Then there was nothing. Oma looked down at where Lena had been, and then her eyes shot back over to me. I shrugged and slowly pulled my arms from around the woman as I laid her onto the wet lawn and Lucas came barging out of the woods as fast as he could. Oma took a second to calm herself before she walked over to stand over the naked woman on the ground and me.

Then Lucas was next to us, his hands on his knees, doubled-over as he clutched his side and gasped for breath.

“How did you get here so fast?” He gasped for air.

I wasn’t exactly ignoring him, but I didn’t have an answer, either.

“What the fu—”

“Robbie?” Oma was aghast. “Who is that?”

“I have no idea,” I responded robotically as I looked at the naked woman I was kneeling beside.

“Why the hell is she buck-naked?” Oma asked. “What the hell happened to her? I came out here to look for y’all to tell you breakfast was ready and she comes stumblin’ up with her hoo-ha hanging out, looking like something that crawled out of a swamp!”

“Oma.” I shot a disapproving glance up at her.

“Well, her cooter is hangin’ out, Robbie,” Oma grumbled, but her heart wasn’t in it. “I know you don’t want to see that any more than I do, for God’s sake. What the hell is wrong with her?”