Full Moon Rising - 02

by Heath Stallcup

  “Look, fellas, back in my day when the Monster Squad first started, it was just me, this one Marine and four other Army guys. They were all Rangers or Airborne or...” he shook his head as he remembered the early days. “They were good men. They fought like hell.” He got a far-away look in his eyes and he seemed to lose himself a moment.

  “We hunted this one particular beast forever.” He finally stated. “By the time we finally found her, I’d lost…too many good men. Vampires, ghouls, zombies…you name it, we faced it.”

  He took a deep breath and he faced them. He stared them one by one in the face. “A decision was made from people much higher than me and…things were done. These CIA science types came in and…”

  There was a long silence and the operators all looked to each other to fill in the blanks. There were no answers.

  “You’re all werewolves.” Jack said.

  You could have heard a pin drop. Mitchell stared at Jack. He had been trying to build up to how it happened and he just dumped the story out like that? He wasn’t prepared…

  Laura and Evan stiffened as they prepared for the worst, but the operators just sat there, some with their mouths agape, most likely from shock.

  Slowly most of them began to nod. But it was Apollo that said, “Wait, while that makes some sense, what with the increased speed and strength and all, but how come we don’t shift at the full moon?”

  Evan stepped up to answer his him. “We found a way to prevent it. In effect, you have all the positive aspects, but without the negative downsides. In essence, you were genetically modified to give you the positive attributes of the werewolves, but we found certain chemicals that, if taken daily, will prevent you from shifting.” He stepped toward the group and was using his hands to illustrate, “That’s also why as the full moon gets closer you find yourself with so much more energy and with the feeling of anticipation and anxiety. The boundless energy and appetite that you experience? It is all part of it.”

  “So, let me get this straight, we get all the up side, like the speed, the strength, the agility, hearing, all of that, but we don’t howl at the moon, hike on the furniture and hump each other’s legs once a month?” Spalding asked with a shit eating grin. “I don’t see the downside at all. What’s with the grim face, boss?”

  “There is a down side, Spanky. Nothing is ever free, son.” Matt sighed. He walked over to the front of the room and sat on the edge of the table. “The augmentation…it’s not reversible.”

  “Okay.” Spalding said. “But as long as we take this antidote that the doc said, we’re good, right?”

  “Yes and no.” Matt explained. “As long as you take it, you won’t shift. That’s true. You’ll stay human and you’ll be good. But you are a werewolf.” The sadness in his eyes was unmistakable.

  Mueller spoke up, his face red, his jaw tense. “Meaning if we ever had kids, they’d be a fucking monster, too!” spittle shot from his lips as he yelled.

  Matt hung his head. “Yes.” He lifted his eyes and looked first to Apollo and then to Sanchez. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize to me, Colonel. I never wanted kids.” Sanchez said. “I grew up dirt poor and I thought anybody who could bring a child into this fucked up world was crazy…and that was before I found out about these kinds of monsters. I only knew about the human monsters and that was enough to make me not want kids. Now? Never gonna happen.”

  “Don’t look at me, Colonel. I’m her bitch. She’s the boss.” Apollo said with a grin, earning a few chuckles.

  “Yeah, don’t look at them. Look at ME!” Mueller yelled. “I’m the one with the wife and kid at home.” The veins in his neck were bulged out and his fists were clenched by his sides, trembling.

  “Robert, stand down.” Jack said calmly.

  “Stand down?” he repeated through clenched teeth. “Stand down? You tell us that we’re all changed into fucking monsters and that we can’t go home because we can infect the ones we love with it and I’m supposed to fucking stand down?!”

  Jack stepped forward calmly, nodding his head. “Trust me, brother, I understand what you’re going through…”

  “Oh, you do, do you?”

  “Yeah. I do.” Jack replied. “Trust me. When I first found out, I wanted nothing more than to rip their heads off.” He nodded toward Mitchell and Laura who both maintained their places, but both were guarded, not knowing what Mueller’s next move might be.

  “Sounds like a helluva idea to me.” Robert’s eyes narrowed on Mitchell who didn’t flinch.

  Jack approached the man slowly the rest of the squad making a path for him, scooting their chairs out of the way. “Let me ask you something soldier. And I want you to clear your mind for a second and really think about this for me. Can you do that?”

  Mueller stared at Jack a moment. “What?”

  “If we came to you while you were overseas fighting the Taliban and we convinced you that there was a bigger threat here at home…something that could come after your family…” Jack waved his hand indicating he didn’t know their names.

  “Babs and Bobby.” Robert said through clenched teeth.

  “Okay. If we told you what was really out there and convinced you that the real risk wasn’t the Taliban or al-Qaeda, but vampires and werewolves and ghouls and…shit, you haven’t even had to face a demon yet! If we showed you what a demon could do to Babs and Bobby…would you tell us, ‘thanks, but no thanks’? Or would you have done what you did and man-up and join the squad?” Jack asked.

  “What the fuck do you think?” Robert answered defensively.

  “I think you’d be standing right where you are now.”

  “No shit, Chief.” Mueller said sarcastically through gritted teeth.

  “Okay. So we’ve established that you know where the real threat is.” Jack said, noting that the other squad members were watching him slowly move closer to Robert. “And when you realized that these things were faster and stronger and deadly as hell? If they,” Jack said, pointing to Mitchell and Laura, “came to you and said, ‘we can make you faster and stronger and four times deadlier than you already are’? Then what would you have said? Even if you knew the risks? If you knew it would help you to protect Babs and Bobby? What would you do then, Robert?”

  Jack watched Mueller shake and the man’s face puckered before he burst into tears. “God help me, I’d have done it!” He sobbed. Jack pulled the man to him and held him tight and let him sob. Robert grasped Jack and even though he was surrounded by his team mates, some of the toughest, meanest and most ruthless killers the planet had to offer, he wasn’t ashamed of his tears. He was driving the last nail into the coffin of his once-wrecked marriage, finalizing his divorce. He knew that no matter how much he loved Barbara, he could never go back and try to patch things up with her. He could still love Bobby with all of his heart, and he would never stop loving Barbara, but they could never be together again for risk that any future children would carry on what he now was. He could never risk accidentally infecting her with what he now carried inside his body. As the sobs wracked his huge body, he realized that he was effectively a biological warfare bomb to the ones he loved the most.

  Jack helped Robert to take his seat again and Robert continued to sob, his squad mates patting his back and offering condolences.

  “I truly am sorry, Mueller.” Mitchell offered. “To all of you, I apologize.”

  “As do I.” Laura offered.

  “I could say that I was operating under strict orders of our Congressional Oversight Committee, but the truth is, I’ve ignored orders before.” Matt chanced a glance toward Evan who simply ignored him. “I should have ignored these and at least informed the operators of what was happening to them.”

  “Like you understood it.” Evan quipped.

  “So, can you explain it a little better, doc?” Jack asked. “I understand we’re wolves, but…you said once that it was genetic engineering? Like we were born with it?” He asked hopefully.
<
br />   “Yes. The short end of it is, as far as your bodies are concerned, you were born with it. It’s much less traumatic than the transition that occurs with those who are bitten.” He replied.

  “Okay, but when you say, ‘as far as our bodies are concerned’…what’s the difference?” Jack asked.

  “The difference being…you weren’t actually born with it.” Evan quipped.

  Jack sighed. “Look, doc, I need to know.”

  “What difference does it make?” He asked.

  “It just does.” Jack replied, staring the vampire down. Apparently, being dead meant really not giving a flying fuck. “It’s important doc.”

  “I don’t guess I understand what it is you’re wanting to know?”

  “What is the difference between me and a natural born werewolf?” Jack asked.

  “Honestly? The only difference is that you didn’t come out of a werewolf’s womb…”

  “That’s it?” Jack asked. “That’s the only difference?”

  “Yes! Why?” Evan asked.

  Jack rubbed his chin in thought. “You and I need to talk. But now’s not the time.”

  “Very well. Perhaps later?” Evan asked. Jack simply nodded.

  Mitchell stood again and went to the front of the room, “I have to admit, you boys are taking this a lot better than I had hoped.”

  “So Colonel, did you undergo this ‘augmentation’, too?” Dom asked. “I mean, you used to be an operator like us, right? You were the Team Leader back in the day, but you’re still kicking.” He had a shit eating grin across his face.

  Matt’s face dropped. “Actually, no I didn’t.” His face was solemn. “I’m the reason our government even became aware of monsters in the first place.” Matt stood taller and squared his shoulders. “I was attacked and bitten by a werewolf while on vacation with my family about ten years ago. I survived and became a werewolf.” He noted their shock as soon as he stated it. “My family…didn’t.”

  There were mumbled apologies and condolences given that he barely heard as he tried to force his mind not to remember that night. Instead, his mind focused on the blonde haired girl who shifted in front of him, whose face he saw in his dreams so many nights…the face that his wolf cries out for when it takes him.

  “Okay, so you take this same antidote we do?” Spalding asked.

  “Negative.” Matt’s eyes were filled with sadness as he admitted this next part. “It’s too late for me, son. No, once you actually shift and become a werewolf, then it’s too late. You can take that stuff all you want and it won’t do any good.”

  “I don’t understand, sir.” Apollo started. “What do you do then? Did you find a cure?”

  Matt sighed heavily. “I go below to the silver cells every full moon and shift there. That’s why, if you think back, none of you ever had me as an Operations Officer for a full moon op.” He watched as the veteran operators all looked at each other and the light clicked on for them. There was a short murmur amongst the men before Matt continued. “Yes, the XO knew and she vowed silence. She and a handful of other officers filled in as Operations Officers for multiple ops when needed, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I couldn’t be there for you during those times. But I did what I had to do.”

  “Couldn’t you do the augmentation thing and just sort of…I dunno, do like a ‘master reset’ and then start taking the antidote?” Sanchez asked.

  Matt gave her a smile. “Trust me Maria. If there was anything I could do, I would have done it already. Or we would have tried it.”

  “There is a weapon I’m working on that will be able to destroy all natural born vampires and…” Evan began

  “Later, doc.” Matt cut him off with his hand. “This isn’t the place or time. Matt made a quick decision to let the squads deal with everything on their own from there and dismissed them. He ordered Laura to get the IT geeks in to fix the monitoring equipment and had Jack follow him to his office. Once behind closed doors he poured a Scotch for the both of them.

  He sat back in his chair and sipped the slow burning amber liquid. “A little early in the morning, don’t ya think, Skipper?”

  “I’m testing a theory.” He said with a smile.

  “And that is…what?”

  “Oh, that burns good.” He smiled warmly. “Do you have any idea how long it has been since a Scotch has burned like that?” Jack shook his head. “Too damned long.” He gave a loud ‘ahh’ and set the glass down on his desk. “I’m telling you, if Tasha weren’t married, I’d kiss that damned woman.”

  “I don’t think she’d mind, Skipper.” Jack mumbled.

  “Okay. On to business.” Matt said, staring at Jack. “You have a vampire you want me to have a sit-down with.”

  “Yes, sir. The sooner, the better.”

  “Remind me what this meeting is about, please.”

  “There are two groups of vamps, Colonel. In a nutshell, one group feeds on humans and they’re the bad guys. The other group feeds on critters like sheep and cows and they’re the good guys. The bad guys are setting up the good guys to look like they’re the bad guys and making it so that we go after them and we end up killing them by mistake. He wants to correct that.”

  Matt stared intently at Jack, nodding his head. Finally he sat back and sighed. “Phoenix, you are one of the brightest, most intelligent men I’ve ever known.” He picked up his Scotch again and took another pull, enjoying the flavor as it swirled in his mouth. “I just wanted to preface what I’m about to say with that, okay?”

  “Okay. But I have a feeling you’re about to toss out a great big ‘but’, aren’t you?”

  Matt smiled. “But, have you considered for a moment that this vampire friend of yours is playing you?”

  Jack nodded. He knew where Mitchell was going with this.

  “Jack, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m not. But let’s consider for just a moment, that what this vampire friend of yours is saying is true…”

  “Rufus.” Jack interrupted. “His name is Rufus. And he saved my life, Skipper.” Jack’s eyes were intense.

  “Very well.” Matt sighed. “Let’s consider that Rufus is telling the truth about the bad guy vampires setting up the good guy vampires…if there really is such a thing.” Matt offered. “Who’s to say the whole thing isn’t just a way to pull us into some kind of blood-sucker pissing match? Some kind of vampire turf-war?”

  “Skip, just meet with him. That’s all he’s asking. A sit-down meeting.” Jack pleaded. “I think saving my ass is worth that, isn’t it?”

  “Chief, I think the world of you, you know that…”

  “What about Natashia? If it hadn’t been for her, where would you be right now?” Jack interrupted. “She is one of Rufus’ people. You trust her don’t you?” That comment obviously hit Matt square in the chest and he hadn’t seen it coming.

  “That’s not the same. She’s not a vampire, Jack. She’s one of us.” He said.

  “One of us?” Jack asked, his brows raised. “Since when do we identify ourselves with any of the ‘monsters’?” He used air-finger quotes when he said it.

  “You know what I’m getting at. We’re not blood suckers, Chief…”

  “And he wouldn’t be if he didn’t have to be, Skipper.” Jack explained. “Look, Skip, human life to Rufus is sacred. He fights to defend it, just like we do. They are at war with those who don’t, just like we are. He could be an ally. A very powerful ally.”

  Matt sat back and gave Jack a thoughtful look. He spun back and forth in his chair as he thought about it.

  “It’s not a marriage, Skipper, just a meeting.” Jack joked. “If we can reach some kind of accord, then great. If not, then…at least you tried!” Matt began to nod his head, but then sat up.

  “How do we know it’s not some kind of set up? Get to the head of the Monster Squad and cut it off?” he asked.

  Jack gave him a sideways smirk. “Seriously? This is the United States government we’re talking about. I mea
n, I like you and all, but do you really think you’re irreplaceable?”

  Matt sat back with a hurt look on his face. Then he cracked a stupid grin. “I guess I’m not exactly the president, am I?”

  “Hell, we replace them every four years or so, don’t we?” Jack added.

  Matt reached for his Scotch again. “And that’s taking too long in most cases.”

  “Oh hell yeah. I’ll drink to that!” Jack grabbed his glass and tossed it back.

  15

  The dark vampire that they called Sicarii lurked in the wavering shadows of the cathedral as the last vestiges of daylight slipped behind the hills of the city. He still loved the colors of the sun as they played along the frescos of the wall and his heart longed to slip out and bathe in the warming rays. His broken mind knew better though and he waited for twilight to dwindle and the last crescent of the sun to slip behind the horizon before he slipped out to watch the colors splash and splay up into the heavens.

  He was standing in the open second story window observing the colors fade away as he always did when one of his enforcers entered the cathedral below him. “Master, we are receiving the first recordings of the hunters now.”

  The dark vampire gave a slight sigh, his twilight routine interrupted. “Which ones have we received?”

  “We have the Americans, the Brazilians, the English and the Africans, master. We are still waiting for the Russians.”

  “What of the French?” Sicarri asked, a wave of irritation coming from him.

  “Apologies, master. They could not be tested as they have not reformed their team yet. They had only one team and when we killed them, they had nothing to fall back on. They are still in training, master.” The heavily muscled enforcer bowed his head, his eyes lowered.

  The Sicarri nodded, a slight smile tried to form at his mouth, but he didn’t allow it. “Ah, yes. The French.” He whispered. “It seems that of late, they don’t have the fighting spirit they once had.” He turned his gaze back out the window to his city. He often wondered why he called it his city when he never ventured out into it, but he knew why…Rome was his. He didn’t need to set foot in it to claim it.