Fiction:"Call of the Wolves" by AmandaKnox

The bell rings at the New York City College and Kylie is leaving her class, she walks down the hallway with her notebook clutched to her chest as she's talking to Bess.

Bess: "..And then he just stopped calling, I don't know what happened"

Kylie: "Eduardo isn't one of the most reliable people I know, I'll talk to him though"

Bess: "Thank you Kylie, I'd best be getting to my next class"

Kylie: "Ok, I'm supposed to be meeting Eduardo now, he finishes his class in 5 minutes, see you around"

Kylie heads over to the next campus, enters the building and waits in the hallway.

Eduardo comes out of his class looking sleepy, rubbing the side of his head.

Eduardo: "Hi Kylie, I suppose we'd better get to work, huh?"

They walk together out of the building and walk towards the campus exit.

Kylie: "How was architecture class? If you were awake"

Eduardo: "I was awake, got a week to get this stupid design finished"

Kylie: "Bess was asking after you"

Eduardo: "Oh?"

Kylie: "She wants to know why you stopped calling"

Eduardo: "Err, it's just not working out"

Kylie: "Stop being so gutless Eduardo, tell her, I share a class with her and I'm not going to cover for you"

Eduardo: "Fine, fine..."

Kylie and Eduardo arrive at the firehouse where the others are settled in.

Kylie grabs a book from the shelf and sits down.

Kylie: "I only have a couple of hours then I've got another class"

Roland: "You normally only have a morning class on a Thursday"

Kylie: "There's a new mythology class beginning today, I enrolled last week"

Roland: "If I'd known I might have joined that one too"

Garrett: "Me, I have enough classes to be taking on any more, I barely have time for Ghostbusting"

Eduardo: "I hear ya, between our class, architecture, literature and Ghostbusting work I barely have time to myself"

Kylie: "Eduardo"

Eduardo: "Yeah?"

Kylie: "Call Bess"

Eduardo: "Fine"

Eduardo begrudgingly heads downstairs to use the office phone.

The alarm bell sounds.

Garrett: "Saved by the bell, Eddie!"

Eduardo smiles and gets in the Ecto 1, the rest approach the car and get in.

Kylie switches the communication radio on.

Kylie: "What we got Egon?"

Egon: "A small apartment down town, they were away last night and got home to an unfortunate surprise"

The Ghostbusters arrive at the door of a small apartment building with a middle aged couple standing in the door way.

Man: "You'd better see for yourself"

They lead the team inside the building and make their way to the ground floor apartment, the hallway walls are covered with scratch marks and the metal railings are bent out of shape.

Eduardo: 'Nice neighbourhood'

They enter the apartment which is completely trashed.

Garrett: "It looks like you've been robbed"

Woman: "That's what we thought at first, but the place is covered in claw marks and this weird gunk, it looks like it's been done by a wild animal"

Roland kneels down and scans the floor with his PKE meter.

Roland: "It looks like ectoplasmic residue and it is giving off readings"

Kylie scrapes a sample from a small table into a small container.

Kylie: "Did anyone see or hear anything? A neighbour perhaps?"

Woman: "Our son was home, but the weird thing is he slept through it all, he woke up to this"

Garrett: "Can we speak to him?"

Man: "Dave, come in here!"

A teenage boy enters the room, about 17 years old and looking worn out.

Kylie: "Didn't you hear anything last night?"

Dave: "No, not a thing"

Garrett points to a large set of claw marks ripped through the front of Dave's shirt.

Garrett: "It looks as though whatever it was got pretty close"

Dave: "I don't know what happened, I swear!"

Eduardo: "Yeah, sure"

Kylie: "We'll take this sample back to the lab for analysis, we'll be in touch"

The Ghostbusters return to the firehouse and Kylie hands the sample over the Roland.

Kylie: "Give this to Egon, I have to get back to college"

Kylie takes off her armour and puts it away in the lounge cupboard, putting on her trench coat, she leaves the firehouse.

Egon is studying the sample and checking the results against the database.

Egon: "These readings look familiar, level 6, contains canine DNA"

Garrett: "I think we all know where this is going"

Eduardo: "We do?"

Egon: "Lycanthrope"

Eduardo: "What-a-thrope?"

Egon: "Commonly known as werewolves, they're known to bite their victims, of which they will have no recollection of. The victims themselves will transform into Lycanthrope who hunt for their own victims and so forth"

Roland: "They boy at that apartment today, he had no recollection of what happened"

Egon: "From what you've told me I'd say it was most likely that he was already affected, last night he transformed, ransacked the apartment and went back to sleep with no knowledge of how it happened"

Roland: "From what I've heard about werewolves, it's probably unlikely that he's the only one"

Egon: "That's correct, you'll need to find out more about who he hangs out with, where he spends his time and try to find out if anyone else he knows is affected too"

Eduardo: "I'm sure he'll take that well"

Egon: "According to the star charts we can expect a full moon tonight too"

Eduardo: "Oh this is going to be fun"

Egon: "Lycanthropes are extremely vicious creatures, I must warn you that this one is going to be a very dangerous job"

Eduardo: "It just gets better"

Roland: "We'd best get some research done to find out how we can stop them"

Garrett: "Where's Kylie when you need her?"

In the college, Kylie is sitting in the lecture hall while other students are making their way in.

A tall, dark haired boy, about 18 years old sits next to her.

Neil: "I've been looking forward to this class all week, hi I'm Neil"

Kylie: "Hi Neil, I'm Kylie"

Neil: "Nice to meet you Kylie"

Neil gets out his sketch pad and begins to draw detailed pictures of mythical creatures, Kylie looks over at his work.

Kylie: "Very impressive"

Neil: "Thanks, this is what I love. This one is my favorite, the Manticore, it's this guy that got me interested in mythology, I used to see him in random black-outs I had when I was a kid, it made me want to research him and then other mythological creatures"

Kylie: "Did you ever find out why that was happening?"

Neil: "No, this one is still an unsolved mystery, there's nothing written about them appearing in dreams, but I sure hope to find out"

Kylie: "I had a run-in with the Grundel when I was a kid, took me 10 years before I got the chance to close that book"

Neil: "I think we have a lot in common"

Kylie smiles

Kylie: "Yeah, I think we do"

In the firehouse the Ghostbusters are all looking through books for information on Werewolves.

Roland: "This is no good, we really need Kylie's help"

Eduardo: "I bet it really takes her hours to find this stuff"

Garrett: "She does what's taking 3 of us to do and it doesn't take her half as long"

Janine walks into the lounge.

Janine: "Roland, Kylie is on the line, she wants an update on what she's missed"

Roland: "Thank goodness"

Roland picks up the lounge phone on the desk.

Roland: "Kylie. We're dealing with werewolves and we can't find any information. Yes. There's a full moon tonight. You're busy this evening too? Who's Neil?"

Eduardo's ears perk up and he glares out the corner of his eyes.

Roland: "Ok Ky, see you soon"

Garrett: "Well?"

Roland: "She's coming over to help, but she's going out with this Neil guy for a coffee later"

Eduardo picks up his coat.

Eduardo: "I'm not feeling too good, I'm taking the rest of the day off"

Roland: "What? Eduardo.."

Eduardo: "I feel sick, ok?!"

Egon: "Is everyone leaving today? Because this is important"

Eduardo: "I'll be back tomorrow!"

Eduardo slams the door on his way out.

Roland: "What's up with him?"

Garrett: "Rolster, if you haven't figured it out by now, I don't think you ever will"

Roland: "What are you talking about?"

Garrett: "What planet have you been on? Eddie totally has a thing for Kylie"

Roland: "What? Are you sure?"

Garrett: "Isn't it obvious?"

Roland just stares blankly.

Roland: "Well I hope he'll be ok"

Kylie arrives back at the firehouse and grabs a couple of books off the shelf.

Kylie: "What have you found so far?"

Garrett: "Absolutely zip, we've looked everywhere and all we can find out is what we already know from stories"

Kylie flicks through one of the books and slaps the open book onto the table.

Kylie: "Here, the Lycanthrope only pray on people in concentrated groups to stay low profile, they died down in the 1800's with very few left, after about 30 years they were never seen again"

Garrett: "How does she do that?"

Kylie: "So maybe the lead Lycanthrope was laying dormant until recently, the infection spreads fast, so we need to take them out while there are only still few"

Roland: "What about that Dave? Could he be the leader?"

Kylie: "Not likely, this was the first time this had ever happened to him, there was a full moon the night before, maybe that's when he got affected"

Roland: "So we need to talk to him, find out where he was that night"

Garrett: "Ok, so back to his place it is"

The Ghostbusters all get into the Ecto 1

Kylie: "Where's Eduardo?"

Roland: "He wasn't feeling well, so he went home"

Kylie: "Just great"

Garrett: "Don't worry about it, he's not exactly the most ambitious Ghostbuster anyway, we'll get on just fine"

Kylie smirks at Garrett.

The Ghostbusters are back at the front door of the apartment, the man answers.

Roland: "Hi, we just need to ask Dave a few questions"

Man: "Dave!"

He walks away from the door, Dave approaches the doorway and leans on the frame.

Roland: "There's a chance you may have been affected by an ectoplasmic force, could you tell us where you were Tuesday night?"

Dave: "I was out with some friends from college, we went to that new under 21's nightclub, Kraze"

Kylie: "Did anything unusual happen while you were out?"

Dave: "I don't know, I went out the back door with my buddies and I blacked out in the ally then the next thing I know I woke up in bed"

Garrett: "It adds up"

Dave: "It does?"

Roland: "Could you come back to the firehouse? We need to run some tests"

Dave: "So I get to ride in the Ecto 1?"

Roland: "Yes, you get to ride in the Ecto with us"

Dave: "Awesome"

The Ghostbusters arrive back at the firehouse with Dave.

Roland: "Egon, this is Dave"

Egon: "Hello Dave, have a seat, would you mind if we run some tests on you?"

Dave: "Will it hurt?"

Egon: "The tests won't hurt, but I may need to take just a small sample of blood"

Dave: "Errr, well get that bit over with then"

Egon smiles and takes Dave into the lab.

Garrett: "It looks like it's starting to get dark outside, so we need to be on our guard"

Kylie: "I've got to go, I'm meeting Neil at the caf' on the next block"

Roland: "Have fun"

Kylie: "Thanks, I'll stop by when I'm finished to make sure you're all still alive"

Kylie goes into the bathroom to get changed.

Garrett: "So it looks like it's just you and me now Rolster"

Roland: "Yeah, and I think it's going to be a busy night"

Garrett: "More fun for us"

Kylie emerges from the bathroom wearing a black dress and sandals and hurries for the front door.

Garrett: "She's keen"

Egon is studying Dave closely, using a PKE meter.

Egon: "You are affected by a Lycanthrope, when the moon emerges you will transform again, we should get you into isolation"

Dave: "Say what?"

Garrett enters the room eating a chocolate bar.

Garrett: "He's saying you're a Werewolf"

Dave: "Huh?"

Roland: "We have to keep you contained while you transform or who knows what could happen?"

Dave: "Are you serious?"

Egon: "Afraid so, we have a pod we can accommodate you in, the moon will be out in the next 20 minutes. It will feel like no time at all by the time you transform back, then we can open the pod and let you out"

Dave: "Well I suppose"

Roland opens the pod and places a chair inside for Dave to sit on.

Roland: "Here you go, we'll let you out just as soon as it's over"

Dave steps in

Dave: Erm, ok..."

Roland closes and seals the pod, just moments later as Garrett and Roland are leaving the room, Dave begins to scream and growl.

Egon: "I'll handle this here, did you find out where he was when he got bitten?"

Roland: "Yes, this club downtown"

Egon: "You and Garrett go and investigate, I need to study our friend here"

Garrett and Roland arrive at the club and approach a doorman.

Doorman: "Where do you think you're going?"

Roland: "We're investigating a case, we believe some disturbances may have occurred here on Tuesday night"

Doorman: "Well welcome to New York pal, move aside"

Roland: "I don't think you understand, there's a serious infection in circulation and we think your club might be the source"

Doorman: "Do you have a warrant?"

Garrett: "Listen buddy, your customers are in real danger here"

Garrett begins to shout to get the attention of everyone in the queue

Garrett: "There's a deadly infection circulating your night club!"

People in the queue begin to whisper among themselves and back away, leaving in a hurry.

Doorman: "Keep your voice down, you trying to get us a bad rep? Get inside, just keep your mouth shut"

Garrett smirks on his way in

Roland: "Very tactful Garrett"

Garrett: "Hey, it worked didn't it? Now lets go hunt us some werewolves!"

They make their way to the far end of the club, looking around on their way across.

Garrett: "What are we looking for exactly?"

Roland spots a sign which reads "Student area"

Roland: "Dave said he was out with friends from college"

Garrett: "So let's check it out"

They show their student ID cards to the member of staff manning the area and move into the student area.

Roland: "His name is Dave Green, ask around, find who knows him"

Garrett: "On it"

They individually move from group to group asking who knows Dave.

A teenage boy calls Garrett over

"Hey, great costume!"

Garrett: "Costume? Say, does the name Dave Green ring a bell to you?"

Stu: 'Yeah, he was here the other night, you one of his pals? I'm Stu"

Garrett: "Was he here with you?"

Garrett signals Roland to join him.

Stu: "Yeah, why?"

Garrett: "He thinks something happened to him while he was out that night"

Stu: "Ha! He's such a drama queen, he'll be fine I'm sure"

Roland: "He blacked out after going outside"

Stu: "So...?"

Garrett: "Ok you jerk, I've had enough, what did you do to him?"

Stu: 'You're barking up the wrong tree, pal'

Garrett grabs hold of Stu by the shirt.

Garrett: "Now talk!"

Stu: "It wasn't me, I swear!"

Garrett: "Then start spilling!"

Stu: "Ok, ok! He became one of them, I can't tell you what that means"

Garrett: "We don't need to know, just tell us who did it"

Stu: "We just bring our friends here on some nights, when he chooses people we have to send them out the back, he waits for them there!"

Garrett: "Start naming names, you're testing my patience"

Stu: "I can't, he'll come for me!"

Roland grabs him from the back of the collar

Roland: "Who was it?"

Stu: "He's called Neil! He's on our campus! Please just go!"

Roland: "You don't think..."

Garrett: "Kylie's date...?"

Roland: "Let's go!"

Garrett and Roland head back to the Ecto 1.

Garrett: 'We should work together like this more often, we kick butt!'

At the coffee shop Kylie sitting at a two-seater table with Neil.

Kylie: "...So I became a Ghostbuster, it holds all of the subjects I'm passionate about"

Neil: "That sounds like a great job to be in, I would kill to do something like that"

Kylie: "I've never seen you around campus before"

Neil: "This is my first course at the college, I was waiting for the perfect subject to come up"

Kylie: "I'm on three courses and still looking at more, I just can't get enough, I'll miss college once I run out of subjects"

Neil: "I think I'll be sticking around for a while too"

Kylie: "Excuse me, I just need to go to the bathroom"

Kylie gets up and goes through the doors while Neil watches her walk away, smirking wickedly.

Neil: "She's perfect"

Neil grabs hold of a pendant around his neck.

The Ecto 1 suddenly stops outside the coffee house with a screech, Garett and Roland quickly exit the car and rush through the front door.

They look around while the staff are looking angrily at them.

Garrett: "Any idea what this guy looks like?"

Roland: "No..."

Garrett: "We didn't think this through"

Roland: "I don't see Kylie"

Kylie emerges from the back doors and sees Garrett and Roland in the middle of the coffee shop, armed.

Kylie: "What are you doing?"

Garrett: "We're here to say hello to your date"

Kylie: "What?"

Neil: "Who are they?"

Garrett points his proton gun at Neil.

Garrett: "So, you're Neil"

Kylie: "What do you think you are doing?!"

Neil: "Let's go outside and talk, away from the lady"

Kylie: "You wanna explain what's going on here?"

Garrett: "Your friend here is a werewolf!"

Everybody in the coffee shop begins to laugh.

Kylie bends down and talks to Garrett quietly.

Kylie: "That's a full moon outside, did Dave transform?"

Garrett: "Uh-huh"

Kylie: "Look at Neil, has he transformed?

Garrett: "No..."

Kylie shouts: "Then he is not a werewolf!"

Roland: 'Sorry, our mistake'

Roland and Garrett turn around and sheepishly exit the building.

Neil smirks at Garrett and Roland as they leave.

Garrett: "Something's not right here"

Roland: "Maybe we got it wrong"

Garrett: "I'm not so sure Rolster, let's get back to Egon, maybe he can help"

Garrett and Roland return to the firehouse.

Roland: "It's very quiet in here"

Garrett: "Janine! Egon!"

Garrett and Roland look at each other when there's no response. They get in the elevator and make their way to the lounge.

Roland: "Hello.."

Garrett goes to Egon's lab.

Garrett: "Roland! Come quick! We've got a major problem..."

The isolation pod has a hole ripped through it and the lab is trashed.

Roland: "He must have Egon and Janine!"

Garrett: "We need help!"

Garrett rushes into the lounge, picks up the phone and dials.

Eduardo is slouched in his sofa bed eating chips, he answers the phone.

Eduardo: "Yeah?"

Garrett: "Eddie, it's me, we've got an emergency!"

Eduardo: "And like I say, I feel sick"

Garrett: "Cut the drama Eddie, I'm sorry that Kylie is dating that idiot, but the wolf escaped, he got Egon and Janine and we need your help!"

Eduardo: "Who says this has anything to do with Kylie?"

Garrett: "I think there's something off about this Neil guy and Kylie might be in danger"

The line goes dead to the sound of a phone being put back down on the hook.

Garrett: "Eddie!"

Garrett slams the phone down too after realising he's been hung up on.

Garrett: 'You idiot!'

Roland: "I'll have to get onto Egon's database and find out how to stop this, you go back to the coffee house and get Kylie!"

Garrett: "Right!"

Garrett rushes along the street to get to Kylie as fast as he can.

Roland is looking through the database, reading through the notes left on screen by Egon about the leader of the wolves, he stops on an illustration of a pendant around the neck of a man.

Garrett bursts through the doors of the coffee house in a hurry.

Garrett: "Kylie! He escaped and he got Egon and Janine!"

Kylie grabs her coat and follows Garrett.

Kylie: "I'm sorry Neil, duty calls, I'll see you at college!"

Neil glares as Kylie disappears down the street

Neil: "Not if I see you first..."

Kylie and Garrett hurry into the lounge.

Garrett: "What now?"

Kylie: "Did you find anything at the club?"

A loud growling sound comes from the kitchen, they turn around slowly.

A very large wolf is standing in the doorway, they all scream and rush into the next room, holding the door shut behind them.

Garrett grabs his proton gun and aims it at the door.

Garrett: "Get ready to open it and step back!"

Roland pulls the door open and Garrett blasts the wolf, Kylie runs past and goes to the cupboard to grab a ghost trap.

Kylie throws the trap underneath and pushed the trigger button, but the trap doesn't draw it in.

Kylie: "It's not working!"

Roland: "It's not the leader! It's one of the victims!"

Garrett: "So what do we do with this one?"

Roland hurries to the cupboards of Egon's lab and rummages through the supplies.

Kylie: "What are you doing?"

Roland: "I know Egon keeps it here somewhere!"

Roland grabs a needle and a small medical bottle, he pierces the film lid with the needle, drawing the fluid inside. He runs at the wolf and sticks the needle into it's side, injecting the fluid into him.

The wolf weakens and collapses, Garrett stops the proton stream.

Garrett: "What was that you used?"

Roland: "Tranquilizer"

Kylie: "Good thinking"

The door bursts open, they all turn around suddenly on the defence.

Neil walks in.

Neil: "Kylie, you ok?"

Kylie: "Yeah, I'm fine"

Neil: "I heard all the commotion from outside"

Kylie turns to Garrett and Roland with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.

Kylie: "I think that you two owe Neil an apology"

Garrett mumbles: "Er sorry"

Roland: "Yeah, me too"

Neil: "We all make mistakes"

Garrett glares at Neil.

Neil: "Well since all is ok, fancy going back out?"

Roland: "Actually we need Kylie's help here, we've still got a lot to do"

Kylie: "Yeah, sorry Neil"

Neil: "No problem, anything I can help you with?"

Garrett: "No, we're good"

Kylie glares at Garrett then turns back to Neil.

Kylie: "Thanks anyway"

Roland notices a pendant around Neil's neck, he concentrates, noticing it's the same one he saw on Egon's database.

Roland approaches Neil, holding out his hand for a hand shake.

Roland: "Was nice to meet you"

Neil puts his hand out too, but Roland moves his hand quickly upwards, grabbing hold of the pendant, he rips it from his neck.

Neil's appearance begins to change, he grows sharp fangs, his muscles expand and hair begins to grow all over his body.

Garrett: "I knew it!"

Garrett aims at Neil, but Neil swipes his claws at the proton gun, ripping into the metal and smoke seeps out of the top of the gun. Garrett tries the trigger, but it no longer works.

Garrett: "He broke it!"

Neil picks Roland up off the ground, holding his proton pack, he takes it from him and throws it out of the window.

Kylie runs to find her proton gun, but Neil notices her trying to get away. He throws Garrett and Roland into a room and jams the door shut with a chair up against the handle, he then dives across the room and picks Kylie up.

Neil: "I hope this doesn't change anything between us"

Kylie: "Put me down!"

Neil: "We can still be great together, you can be just like me"

Kylie: "I don't want to be like you, Neil!"

A proton stream hits Neil and Kylie falls to the floor, Kylie looks up, it's Eduardo.

Eduardo holds Neil in his proton stream.

Eduardo: "Nobody lays a claw on Kylie while I'm around!"

Kylie smiles: "Eduardo"

Kylie opens the door to let Garrett and Roland out, they go to the cupboard and grab two spare proton guns.

They blast Neil and Kylie picks up the ghost trap.

Eduardo: "Let me do the honours"

Eduardo takes the ghost trap from Kylie and throws it underneath the raging wolf, he presses the trigger and Neil begins to get slowly drawn in as he screeches.

Neil: 'Help me Kylie, we could do great things together!'

Eduado: 'I don't think so'

The trap increases power and pulls Neil in, the trap closes with a hiss'

The wolf asleep on the floor transforms back into Egon.

Roland: "I think we'd better get him to bed"

Garrett: "Janine will have changed back too, I hope she hasn't got herself lost"

Kylie: "Thank you Eduardo"

Eduardo smiles, then Garrett nudges him and whispers

Garrett: "You finally going to do it bro?"

Eduardo walks over to Kylie

Eduardo: "You look really nice, I like that dress"

Kylie: "Thanks"

Eduardo pauses, looking nervous then he snaps out of it.

Eduardo: "That Neil guy was a jerk"

Eduardo hurries away.

Garrett puts his palm on his face

Garrett: "Every time Eddie, every time"

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