by Jade Alters
The air was crisp and easier to breathe than I knew it would be later in the day as soon as it became soupy with heat and dust...but it was cold. My face stung and my fingers ached by the time I heard the sounds of the stream.
The sun was inching its way up over the top of the mountain and there was just enough light to bounce off the top of the glass surface of the water.
“It's beautiful.”
Will laughed. “Yeah, in the moonlight. During the day, not so much. It feeds into the Kabul River which is really nice. There's this restaurant there...”
“I don't think we need to conjure up images of real food right about now,” Clay said. Will wrinkled his nose and nodded. My stomach growled just at the mention of it. “We'll stand guard,” Clay told me. “Titan has gear for you.”
“Gear?”
Titan was digging in the huge backpack. Eventually he produced a pair of camouflage pants and t-shirt. He handed them to me along with a pair of scissors, a piece of rope and what looked like a tiny bar of soap. I had never been so happy to see anything in my life. “Sorry, you'll have to cut about a foot off those pants and that t-shirt is going to fit you like a tent,” he said.
“Don't be sorry,” I said. “I'd wear a tent just to be out of these filthy clothes.”
He smiled. “I don't have a towel either.”
“I'll make do,” I said, “Thank you.”
“You should get to it,” Manny said. “We need to keep moving.”
I didn't look at him. Instead, I smiled at Titan as I took the things from his hands and thanked him again. I headed toward the creek and the men, dutiful soldiers that they were, turned their backs, but stood within hearing range in case I needed them.
I bent down and dipped my fingers in the creek, almost startling at just how cold the water was. I was surprised that it was still running and not frozen solid and for the first time I had second thoughts about getting into it.
But I had to.
The thought of walking all day once it warmed up in my dirt and blood-stained clothes was even less appealing. Taking a deep breath and drawing on all the resolve in my body, I began to strip off my clothes. The air was still cool and I had goosebumps before I even touched the water...and when I did lower myself into it, I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from screaming. My limbs went numb almost instantly and as I closed my eyes and forced my head down under the water, it went just as numb.
I used the tiny bar of soap on my hair and reluctantly dunked my head once more to rinse it out. I soaped my body just as quickly and rinsed it off, and then I took the clothes I'd been wearing and soaked and scrubbed them as well as I could.
Then at last I climbed out of the water into the frigid air. I was shaking all over and my teeth rattled together as I used the t-shirt I'd been wearing, turned inside out, to dry myself off as best as I could.
Even dry, I was shaking so hard that getting the huge pants and shirt on my body was an arduous process. Once in the clothes I saw what Titan was referring to...I practically felt like I was draped in a tent. I had to try three times to cut a piece of the rope because my hands weren't cooperating.
When I finally got it cut, I threaded it through the belt loops of the pants and cinched them up tightly. I didn't bother with cutting the length of the pants. I rolled them up instead and then slid my soiled and now damp socks back on my feet and into my boots.
“I'm decent,” I told my bodyguards as I slipped my arms back into the army jacket and then used my fingers to try and untangle my hair.
I knew I probably didn't look much better...and, I was still freezing, but there was no rival for the feeling of being clean. I bent down and ran my fingers through the underside of my hair and when I stood back up, Manny was taking off his coat. I was almost as shocked as my body had been in the cold water when he held it out to me.
“Oh no! I can't take your jacket. I'll be okay.”
“It's starting to warm up already. Once we start walking uphill, I'll be too hot in it anyways. Put it on until you warm up at least. You'll catch your death in cold and that will only slow us down.”
I almost laughed. Manny was doing something nice, but being an ass about it at the same time. I wondered if that was simply his personality. I took the jacket from his hands and as our fingers brushed against each other his eyes flashed. I gasped and my hold on the jacket slipped and it fell to the ground. “Jesus, do you want it or not?” he grumbled. I nervously picked it up and turned my back on all of them while I put it on.
What was that with the eyes?
I shrugged the coat on quickly and then with another shaky breath in I turned toward them and said,
“I'm ready.” Manny wasn't looking at me any longer but Clay seemed to be searching my face. I ignored him, falling into step in my spot while I racked my brain trying to figure out what caused their eyes to glow and change colors the way they did. I had never heard of humans with glowing eyes.
I had read a lot of stories about vampires and werewolves and other paranormal creatures however. I read those stories for fun when I was in high school and college, when I wanted to escape reality and just lose myself in fantasy.
In all of the stories it described the creature’s eyes as “glowing.” But these guys were men, not “creatures.” and vampires and werewolves didn't exist. So why then did their eyes glow, and their hair grow so quickly? I glanced to the left at the stubble on Will's face and to the right at the thick layer of dark blonde hair I could see on Clay's as the sun continued to rise.
If they were vampires, they couldn't be out in the sun...or at least that's what legend said. But wolves would explain so much. I thought about the howling I heard nightly on base, and then right outside the hut the night before almost as soon as Clay, Manny and Will had left. And then I told myself that I'd been out in the desert too long. Werewolves didn't exist and I would have to be crazy to believe that they did.
6
Clay
“Why do I get the feeling we're not just walking?” Courtney asked. We'd been hiking for hours. The sun was up and it was hot once again, especially as we climbed closer to the sun. Courtney was looking at me, but I could see Will's face over her shoulder and I was trying not to react to the look my friend bore.
“We're just going as high as possible.”
She wasn't buying it. “And then what? I look at the four of you and I see fighters, not hiders. So, we climb to the top of this mountain and then what?” Manny stopped suddenly and Courtney nearly walked into him.
“There's a tower up there. We'll be able to use our phones to communicate. It's shelter, and there will be food and facilities.” I was glaring at him, Will and Titan were looking at him like he was crazy. Manny didn't look like he cared.
Courtney frowned. “So why all the secrecy? You've known all along where you were taking me. You've all been there before. Why didn't you just tell me that?”
The four of us looked at each other and I said, “Because we can't really explain it all to you and the more information, we give you, the more you'll want.”
“And why can't you explain it all?”
“There are just some things...we just can't, that's all.”
“Why not?” Manny asked. “Seriously. Once we get her up there she's going to see everything anyways. I'm tired of worrying that one of us is going to slip up. She sees it. She knows something is up.”
“He's right,” she said. “I have a list of things I'd like explained and it only keeps getting longer.”
I sighed and said, “Honestly, we're so used to keeping everything a secret that it's hard for us to just be straight with anyone other than each other. It's hard to know who to trust.”
“Who exactly did you think I was going to tell way out here?”
“No one,” Titan said, “Out here. But our goal is to save your life and get you home. You could ruin our lives...such as they are. Or worse yet, you could ruin your own.”
“I don't want to ru
in anyone's life,” she told us, sounding sincere. “But I'm doing as much work as you are to get where we're going, and this is my life at stake here too. So, I think I deserve the truth. If I get out of here safely, whatever you don't want me to tell, I won't. I understand the classified thing. It's not new to me. My old man used to come home for months at a time sometimes and never say a word about what he did when he was away or even where he had been all this time...”
“Wait a second, your old man is military?” Manny said, a suspicious look crossing his face.
“Was military,” she said, “He's retired now.”
Manny and I looked at each other and I asked, “Retired from?”
“The Army. He retired as a Lieutenant General about a year ago.”
“Where was he stationed?”
“I don't really know.”
“How could you not know where your father was stationed?”
“I just told you, he didn't talk about it. He didn't want to drag my mother and me around with him so we lived in the San Fernando Valley in California, in the same house my entire life. He came home a couple times a year sometimes and other times he was gone for entire years at a time. When he was home he didn't talk about his job, at all. He did run the house like it was a military base and treated my mother and I like we were under his command...but I don't recall him ever mentioning where he was when he wasn't there.”
“What about correspondence, letters, postmarks?”
“He emailed my mother or they communicated by phone when he was able. I don't remember ever getting anything from him in the mail either. I'm sorry, but why all these questions about my father? Surely you don't think he has anything to do with this.”
“Maybe not directly,” I said. “But we have reason to believe, Courtney, that whoever killed those civilians and our teammate, left you alive for a reason. We have to consider that maybe that reason is who your father is.”
“So like...ransom?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “But maybe your father is...aware of things that go on up here, classified things.”
“Things like...?”
“Like us,” I said, crossing a bridge that would be immediately burnt behind me. But Manny was right, there was no way to take her to the tower without at least trying to explain it. I only wished I knew exactly why we were taking her there. “We are a classified operation, Courtney.”
She looked confused. “I don't understand.”
I sighed and waved my arm toward a pile of rocks not far away. “Can we sit down?” we all went over and sat down on the rocks. Will passed around the canteen and I was the first one to speak again, “It was three years ago, and the six of us were in Kabul, helping with the evacuation of refugees from the war. Our commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Grover Dayton was there with us. It was an under cover of night operation. It was supposed to be easy...in and out. We went into the house where the refugees were supposed to be...and we found them, all dead.” Courtney covered her mouth with her hand. “They'd been...slaughtered, savagely. For the next two weeks we tracked their killers in these mountains and we finally trapped them in a cave not too far from here. At least, we thought that we had them trapped. It turned out that we'd been led there on purpose. They were on a suicide mission and we didn't realize it until people started passing out from whatever was being piped into the cave. The exit was sealed and there was no way out.”
“But...?” she said when I hesitated.
“No buts,” he said. “There was no way out.”
She laughed, nervously and said, “But you're here, now.”
“Sort of,” I said.
“I don't understand.”
“We were all supposed to die that night,” Titan said in his deep, gravelly voice. Courtney's eyes widened at his words, but she waited.
“We were as good as dead when our Lt went for help. There was no way he'd be able to bring help back in time. Marshall's throat was slit. Will was stabbed in the chest and shot in the back. Titan was stabbed multiple times after he was shot three times. Clay was shot in the head...ask him to show you the scar, it's still there. I was shot in the neck. We should have all died, and we would have, if not for Lt.
Courtney looked like she was overwhelmed already and I knew that dragging the story out only made it sound more dramatic and less believable...but it wasn't an easy story to tell. I finally just said,
“Our Lt. Made a deal with the devil to save our lives. But we're different. We're not quite human and we never will be again.”
Courtney
With arms folded over my chest and eyes narrowed on Clay's face I said, “Okay, it's bad enough to be kept in the dark, but to make up such an outrageous lie to...what? See how stupid I am? How gullible? What is wrong with all of you?”
“It's not a lie,” Titan said, “Though we all wish it was most of the time.”
“So I'm just supposed to take your word for it? You're...not human? What does that even mean?”
Clay looked at the others again, one at a time. As he did, each of them nodded. It gave me the creeps the way they communicated that way...but it still didn't prove their outrageous claim that they weren't human. Curiously I watched as Clay bent down and began to remove his shoes. I thought that was odd, but when he started taking off his clothes as well, I gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Proving what we're telling you is true.”
“And you have to get naked for that?”
“I don't have any other clothes. If I do this with these on, I'll be naked for the duration. You can turn your back if you have an aversion to seeing a naked man,” he said, still removing his clothes. Part of me wanted to run away, and another part of me, the part that had been lusting after him since he first stepped into my tent, wanted to stand my ground and take in the show. I looked around at the other men. They were all still fully clothed, which was good...but that didn't mean they weren't headed toward something weird here. “If you turn your back,” he said, finishing taking off his undershirt. “You'll miss it.” I knew the lust in my eyes was probably apparent as I looked at his chest. He looked like he had been carved out of stone. Every ripple was perfect. My mouth was completely dry and my palms were sweaty. His hands were on his pants and in an effort to curb my own embarrassment I said,
“What if I blink?” Will cracked up, loudly and even Manny chuckled. Clay rolled his pretty eyes and said,
“Trust me, you wouldn't miss “IT.” It's the transformation you'll miss.” He pushed down his pants, leaving him only in a pair of black boxer briefs. The outline of “It” was impressive...and he wasn't even aroused...or was he? This was all so weird. “Ready?”
“That's as far as you're going?” I asked with a wicked little smile. I was half-kidding, at least I thought I was. I knew I should be more afraid. I was surrounded by men twice...maybe even three times my size and one of them was stripping down naked as he told me some strange and completely unbelievable tale. Instead I was joking and feeling the flutter of desire, deep down in the center of my core. Maybe all this heat had finally gotten to me, but Clay rose to the challenge...quite literally. He pushed down his briefs and stepped out of them. His cock was about half hard, but as soon as my eyes landed on it, it hardened significantly and even looked like it might be throbbing. I knew the other men's eyes were on me and I suddenly felt ashamed of myself.
“Okay, I'm impressed. Fun's over now...” I stopped in mid-sentence as he dropped down to his hands and knees.
What the hell was he doing?
As he knelt there in the sand, naked and gloriously so, his skin began to ripple. It was reminiscent of the way the sand there in the desert rippled in the wind. Suddenly I was completely immobilized with either fascination or fear...I wasn't sure which yet. His body began to stretch, and bend and contort in ways that bodies shouldn't. It was beautiful and horrible, all at the same time. His face looked like he was in pain and the sound of his stretching popping bones and joints belied that was
probably true.
My heart was slamming into my chest as I watched his head shape itself into something with a snout and hair begin to sprout from places on his body that had formerly been smooth with skin. His ears and teeth elongated, and in the end, when things seemed to be finished shifting and moving, the largest and most beautiful gray wolf that I had ever seen, stood before me. The wolf looked directly at my face and his green eyes locked into mine and they glowed with an amber hue. My mind was screaming things at me that I couldn't process...or didn't want to. Clay had just transformed into a wolf in front of me.
But my brain knew that to be impossible. The wolf took a step toward me. My instincts were to run, but I knew that huge wolf could stop me in one short leap. I kept my eyes on his as he got closer. At last he was so close that I could smell his fur and if I'd not been so afraid, I could have touched him.
My breaths were ragged and I could feel the sweat rolling off of me in every direction. Finally, I was able to force my head to turn to the right. Manny was watching me in anticipation of my reaction. I locked eyes with him and in a whisper I asked, “All of you?”
He nodded.
“I feel dizzy. I need to sit down.”
Titan and Will were suddenly at my side. They helped me to the rocks behind me and my legs were shaking so hard that had they not lowered me gently, I would have fallen and probably knocked myself out.
The entire time my eyes were on the wolf...or Clay...or whatever it was. I was beginning to regret demanding the truth.
What was I supposed to do with this truth?
Last night sleep had almost eluded me altogether thanks to the sounds of the howls. Yet tonight I'd be expected to sleep alongside the four of them...knowing what they were just underneath the surface. I put my head down in my hands and seconds later saw the leather canteen that Will was holding out to me. I closed my eyes and took a long drink and that was all the time it took for Clay to return to his human form...once again, gloriously naked. This time however my fear overrode my libido.
