Chapter 55 – The Awakening
Walter opened his eyes. He felt different—there was something inside him he couldn't explain. Dizzy, his vision blurry, he whispered, "My God… what happened to me? That thing bit me…"
A soft voice spoke. "Walter… Walter, how do you feel?"
Turning to his left, he saw Bruno sitting beside him. On his right were Titus and Cristal.
"WALTER!" he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. "Stay away from me! You're monsters!"
The fear was so overwhelming he couldn't think straight.
"Please don't eat me! Don't eat me! I don't want to die!"
Tears streamed down his face in uncontrollable waves.
"DON'T EAT ME!" he cried hysterically.
He jumped off the sofa and ran. He ran with everything he had. He sprinted toward the stairs while the others watched him with a strange mixture of joy and worry—moments before he slammed into a couple of hanging frames.
Inside his mind, Walter shouted to himself: Run, Walter, run! They can't catch you! Run, Walter!
He spotted the staircase. He bolted toward it, climbing the first five steps in a single bound—then suddenly froze on the landing.
A dead silence replaced the terror.
"Run… RUN? I'm running!"
He stared at his legs—first with fear, then with a slow, growing disbelief.
"Yes… YES, I'm running! This can't be… I'm running, guys! Guys, I'm RUNNING! HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
With a manic laugh tearing through his panic, he ran back down the stairs, skipping three steps at a time.
Bruno, Cristal, and Titus were waiting for him at the bottom.
He leaped, yelled, hugged them, kissed their faces.
"I CAN WALK! I CAN WALK! MY LEGS—LOOK AT MY LEGS! I'M NOT DISABLED ANYMORE!"
He fell to his knees on the marble floor, sobbing—but this time, they were tears of liberation.
"I'm not disabled anymore…"
The Celebration and the Dose of Reality
Cristal knelt beside him, wiping his tears with a handkerchief she pulled out of nowhere. Her voice was sharp and practical, cutting straight through the emotion.
"Yeah, we know, Walter. You've been running around the house like a damn roadrunner for five minutes straight. You just saved us a full year of physical therapy tuition. Now stand up—you look like a penitent, and you smell like sweat."
Bruno, leaning against the doorframe, gave him a smile, though his voice carried a psychological weight meant to anchor him to reality.
"Fear is a powerful engine, kid. But yes—your paralysis is gone. Whatever happened to you fixed your legs and gave you the 'upgrade' you needed. Just do me one favor: accept the gift and stop screaming. It's epic, sure, but you don't need to wake the neighbors or shed more bodily fluids."
Titus, with his usual seriousness, crossed his arms.
"Congratulations, Walter. You got back what you thought you lost. And by the way, if you had thought things through, you wouldn't have sprinted all over the mansion—you could've taken the service elevator. Now you're fast; use that speed with some intelligence. We need that adrenaline for more productive things."
Walter pushed himself to his feet, his legs shaking not from weakness but from the surge of overwhelming energy. He looked at the three of them, joy blending with a cold shiver of reality.
"What… what am I now? Why am I dizzy?"
Cristal gave him a slap on the shoulder. "Dizzy because your body just received a brutal operating system upgrade—with a lifetime warranty on walking! And what you are now… well, Walter, you're someone very special. A Werewolf."
"A werewolf?!" Walter blurted.
Cristal added, "The diet is the only thing you're not gonna like in this package."
Walter touched his face, then his legs, and a wild, genuine smile replaced his tears.
"I can walk. I don't care… if I'm a monster. I can walk!"
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Hook: But the next minute would bring a truth he was not ready to face…
Chapter 56 – The Celebration and the Dose of Reality — Part 2
Walter stood up, his legs trembling not from weakness, but from the torrent of energy flooding his body. He looked at the three of them, joy mixing with a surge of gratitude.
"Guys… I don't know what you did, but thank you! I thought I was going to die. Thank you for saving me. And I'm sorry if I said or thought anything bad about you. You're… really good friends."
Bruno gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Don't worry."
He stared deeply into Walter's eyes—Walter looked back with a shy expression.
"We'll take it as the compliment of a dying man."
Cristal suddenly blushed and looked away to the side.
Titus couldn't contain himself; he burst out laughing, tilting his head back with a booming laugh that echoed throughout the mansion.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you all acting like that?" Walter asked, feeling ridiculousness invade his epic moment.
Then a second realization—far more mundane—hit him.
"And another question! WHY am I naked!?"
Titus finally composed himself, pointing at Walter with a trembling finger from laughing so hard.
"That, my dear fast friend, is a standard side effect of the transformation."
Cristal finally spoke—without looking at him.
"Bruno… hand him Mr. Aris's robe. It's on that chair."
Bruno grinned widely and walked to a nearby armchair.
"Congratulations, Walter. You recovered what you thought was lost. And by the way, if you had thought for even a second, you wouldn't have run around the mansion completely naked—you would have grabbed the robe first."
Titus crossed his arms. "Now you're fast; use that speed with intelligence. We need that adrenaline for more productive things."
"Look at your musculature!" Bruno said, examining him with deliberate intensity.
Titus simply listened, looking at them out of the corner of his eye with a small, mischievous smile.
"Mmm. Very interesting," Titus murmured.
Walter grabbed the robe, but didn't put it on immediately. His sense of modesty was far weaker than his need to understand what was happening.
"I need a mirror," he declared, and for the first time in years, he walked—not dragging himself, not using a walker—he walked with firm steps toward the guest bathroom right beside them.
He closed the door and turned on the light.
The reflection hit him like a cold wave—and then immediately a hot one.
The man staring back was not the fragile, sickly Walter with the withered limbs he had known all his life. It was… someone else.
He removed the robe, and with firm, trembling hands, he ran his fingers across his torso. His muscles—once nothing but fantasy posters in gyms he could never enter—were now defined, hard.
The disbelief turned into a choked laugh.
Sharp lines, carved abs, a physique screaming strength and symmetry… he looked like a Greek god had stepped into his place.
Happiness blurred his vision. The aesthetics were brutal, but what mattered was the power he felt inside—the promise of a life without limits.
He lowered his head, resting his forehead against the cold mirror.
"Thank you, guys," he whispered, his voice breaking with immense and intimate gratitude.
He straightened up, looking at his new self. He was free, strong, beautiful… and a monster.
The euphoria gave way to the need to understand.
"I can walk. I don't care… if I'm a monster. I can walk! But… how did they turn me into a wolf?" he asked out loud, feeling that the question was the only anchor he had left before diving fully into this new reality.
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Hook: And that silence hid a danger that would soon come to light…