by Stephen Cole
‘Then you’ll be needing me.’ The door swung open and Marcie Folan walked in. Like Takapa, she smiled down at him gloatingly, her skin taut over her cheekbones.
Tom felt a jolt of pure fear. Maybe he should try to bring on the change, try to escape. But he knew he was faced now by real adepts. They could change quicker than he could, and against the two of them he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance.
‘Forgive my intrusion,’ Marcie went on. ‘Say, Tom, how about we take the reconstruction back a step further – where are your parents?’
Tom looked away. ‘Where you’ll never find them.’
‘Are you sure? You know how persistent I can be.’ She took hold of his bruised chin in her bony fingers and forced him to look at her. ‘And where is my dear daughter?’
He frowned, a spark of hope stirring somewhere inside. ‘I thought you’d got her.’
‘Did you indeed,’ Marcie remarked icily, her dark eyes boring into him like she was trying to read his thoughts. ‘Takapa, I do believe he’s telling the truth.’
‘We’ll find her.’ With his pink eyes, his short white hair and long narrow face, there was the look of a lab rat about Takapa. ‘In the meantime, after the fun tonight, we’ll ship him over to my Chicago headquarters, prepare him for experimentation.’
Tom yawned noisily. ‘Didn’t your stooges find out enough the last time you had me tied up?’
‘This,’ Takapa hissed, ‘will be the last time. I can assure you of that.’
‘I know what you want,’ Tom informed him, trying to sound confident, hoping to catch them off balance. ‘You’re after the same thing as Stacy – lupine DNA. Once you’ve got that isolated, you can really refine her serum—’
‘And make my army the strongest, the most vicious it can be. Bravo,’ said Takapa dryly. ‘But it’s more than that. With the ’wolf factor fully synthesised and in my control, I can create a lupine toxin that will overcome the defences of even the strongest resister.’ He tittered, adopted a scandalised expression. ‘Everyone we bite will turn, no exceptions.’
Marcie nodded. ‘Think how many humans Takapa’s army will be able to bite in a single night.’
Tom didn’t like to. ‘And then what? You make sure they all take your super-addictive serum and get full control of them?’
‘It’s all in the marketing,’ purred Takapa. ‘Those who embrace the ’wolf will be told it makes them faster, makes their senses keener. Those who attempt to reject the ’wolf, well – we’ll just sell it to them as a cure.’
Marcie smiled. ‘There will be other poor dupes like Stacy Stein, desperate to help these poor victims.’
‘So the state gets flooded with random ’wolves … and then the next state? And the next?’ Tom looked at Marcie for confirmation, and she nodded. ‘Doesn’t that go against all the old-fashioned stuff about quality and purity that ’wolves like you believe in?’
‘These street-trash ’wolves will be an inferior race. Servants to the true breed – and through the drug, dependent on us for everything.’ She smiled. ‘They will do anything for their pureblood masters.’
‘So that’s what makes it acceptable to polite werewolf society, huh? A whole new race of soldiers and servants.’ He repressed a shudder. ‘And you really think the rest of the world will just sit back and watch you create a Werewolf nation?’
‘We are not fools,’ said Takapa coldly. ‘We are realists. We shall start small. I am furnishing the next generations of ’wolves with the tools and knowledge they will need if they are to flourish. I am going to unite the ’wolves as never before.’ He punched his fist into his palm. ‘It shall truly be das Zeitalter des Werwolfs.’
‘Wolf time,’ Tom translated. ‘With the support of a dried-up pureblood bitch and the stolen biology of resisters like me and Rico.’
Marcie slapped him hard around the face.
Takapa leaned in close. His breath stank of raw meat. ‘Once I overcome the child’s resistance, there will be no human defence that can stand against me.’
‘Oh yeah? Not even Jicaque?’
Takapa reacted angrily. ‘That old crank is a spent force. He is nothing.’
‘So why do you flare up even at the sound of his name?’ asked Tom mildly before turning to Marcie. ‘And why did you frighten him out of New Orleans with death threats? Just for laughs?’
‘You are a rare creature, Wereling,’ Takapa said smoothly. ‘Your dual nature is near perfectly balanced; you draw on the best of your humanity and the best of the ’wolf. Once I have cracked the genetic code that allows you to do this, I shall use it to enhance the natures of the most loyal soldiers. They shall mate with pureblood females and sire a new breed, more powerful, deadly and more numerous than ever.’
Tom looked away. ‘Spare me the global domination bullshit. You’re crazy.’
‘No he’s not,’ said Marcie coldly. ‘And Kate will help us in that task. Yes, I feel she will be a most fertile ’wolf mother over the coming years. However loudly she howls about it.’
‘You’ll have to find her first,’ Tom taunted.
‘I will,’ Marcie calmly assured him. ‘Now, come, Takapa. My husband has been out searching for Kate, but he will be joining us shortly. We should prepare ourselves for tonight’s celebrations. It’s almost time.’
Tom noticed a clock on the wall. It was eleven o’clock.
In an hour, the slaughter would begin.
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Despite the fear, despite the tension, Kate found herself catnapping in her tiny prison. She felt totally exhausted, feverish almost. When Swagger opened up her locker and dragged her out on to the floor, she barely reacted.
‘Time to get you ready for your big night,’ Swagger said quietly. ‘Let’s go.’
Two familiar henchmen, Shaun and Eric, hauled her up without comment and half-carried, half-dragged her out of the locker room.
‘You know, your daddy’s come to watch the show, too,’ Swagger informed her. ‘Quite a reunion. Shame you’ll miss out on it.’
Kate felt doubly dismayed. To know her father was condoning this horror … Her mother had been psychotic most of her life; Kate expected nothing better of her – but her dad had always been cautious and careful. He hunted only sparingly, and had always tried to keep Marcie’s bloodlust under control.
Often he’d failed. Perhaps now he had given up entirely.
‘I thought about picking up where we left off,’ Swagger told her lightly as they moved through the dingy corridors, ‘but then I thought why should I give you pleasure when I could give you pain?’ He flashed that macabre smile at her. ‘Anyway, I know you got off on watching the fight before. So how’d you like a real ringside seat?’
Kate closed her eyes as fear crept back into her disinterested body. She didn’t bother to ask his meaning. She knew she’d find out soon enough.
Swagger kicked open the double doors that led to the rink itself; this must be the same route she’d seen Eric lead the fighters down when she was here before. A dark, brooding atmosphere hovered over the quiet arena, a cold air of anticipation.
Between two of the many supporting pillars that ringed the periphery of the arena, a great length of chicken wire had been strung like a hammock several metres above the arena.
‘What’s this?’ she asked.
‘Your hiding place, sweetheart,’ said Swagger. ‘See, that wire net there’s gonna hold the victory feast. Three hundred pounds of raw, tender meat fresh from the slaughter – spiked with serum, of course – and little old you packed in alongside.’ He giggled like a kid. ‘When Takapa calls the winners, my boys are gonna slash those supporting ropes and – WHOOSH! – down comes the food.’
Kate shuddered. ‘And me with it.’
‘You got the idea.’ Swagger nodded.
‘But Takapa needs me!’ she argued desperately.
‘You really shoulda been nice to me, sweetheart. I don’t know what your mommy and the boss had planned for your pretty little ass, but they ain’t
never gonna get it now. ’Cause when you come tumbling out of that net, you’re gonna be eaten up alive.’ He laughed in her face. ‘And what a beautiful sight it will be!’
‘They’ll know you did this,’ she whispered. ‘They’ll kill you.’
‘No they won’t. They’ll just think you were hiding out here, trying to find a way to rescue your little boyfriend Tom, when you got disturbed, ran for cover, got caught up in all this and – oh, dear …’
Kate tried to rise but her legs were too cramped. ‘Tom’s here?’
‘I heard he really misses you.’ Swagger wiped a make-believe tear from one of his piggy eyes. ‘He’s all cut up over it. Well – he’s gonna be. Cut up in little pieces by the time Takapa’s through.’
Swagger guffawed with laughter and looked at Shaun and Eric. They managed a couple of sycophantic sniggers, but turned at the sound of a whining electric engine getting closer. Some kind of forklift truck was coming slowly across the stained concrete, piled high with boxes.
‘Meat wagon,’ Swagger announced, with evident pleasure. ‘We’re ready to roll. Tie her up, gag her, then let’s get her up there.’
Kate recoiled from Eric and Shaun as they advanced on her, but she knew she had nowhere to run.
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Tom struggled against the ropes that bound him until his wrists were raw, and he was still no closer to escape. The situation seemed hopeless as the hands on the clock edged closer and closer towards midnight. He pictured Takapa and Marcie and Hal, her husband, talking and sipping cocktails upstairs together like VIPs, looking forward to their midnight arrival as guests of honour for the big fight.
A sound from outside startled him – a loud thump against the wall, then a dragging, sliding sort of noise.
The door handle turned. Someone was coming to get him. Tom braced himself.
Polar stood in the doorway, the hood of his black sweat top covering his face as ever, hands thrust in his pockets. Slowly he advanced.
Tom strained against his bonds but it was useless.
Then Polar crouched down in front of him. ‘I told you not to miss, what the hell happened back there?’ he said.
Only it wasn’t Polar’s voice.
The hood was shrugged off to reveal Jasmine crouched down in front of him. ‘Well, dumbass?’
Tom slumped back in his chair with relief. ‘A thug came in through the window.’
‘Typical,’ muttered Jasmine, roughly untying his knots.
He flinched as the ropes chafed against his raw skin. ‘So, you and Polar swapped outfits or something?’
‘Looks like Polar won’t be wearing anything ’cept a bodybag,’ she said brusquely. Now Tom looked more closely he could see dark stains stiffening the sweat top’s material. ‘We broke in through the locker room. Place was empty, he was just lying there, beaten up bad. Stacy said she don’t care much for his chances.’
‘Stacy’s here?’
‘Shit, we’re all here, Tommy-boy.’
‘Kate too?’
‘Ain’t seen her. But your Indian pal with the dumb name’s here.’
He blinked in disbelief. ‘Jicaque?’
‘Uh-huh. Regular cavalry.’ She regarded him sternly. ‘D’you think I’d walk out on you, just ’cause you’re a dumb jerk with no taste?’
He smiled to himself. ‘Not for a second.’
‘Good. Else you’d be a dumb jerk with no nuts, too.’
The ropes came free, and Tom gratefully massaged his tender wrists. ‘Jicaque’s here to stop the fight?’
Jasmine shrugged. ‘Sure hope he’s got somethin’ planned. Him and the others are waiting in the lobby, out of sight. I came here alone – those asshole generals didn’t take no notice of me dressed like this.’ They crossed to the door and she indicated the unconscious thug who’d been guarding his door. ‘Not till it was too late, anyway. Come on.’
As they sprinted down the corridor, Tom heard a plaintive beep-beep sound from Jasmine’s wristwatch.
‘Midnight,’ she breathed.
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Kate was almost glad of the thick tape over her mouth – the consequences should she hurl right now was about the only thing keeping her turning stomach in check.
She was half-buried beneath a pile of raw meat. It was hard to breathe, but maybe that was a blessing since the stench was so disgusting. The feel of the cold, dead flesh on her skin was almost unbearable. Her clothes were saturated with rancid blood, and the weight of it all was crushing her against the chicken wire hammock, the cold metal biting into her back.
And now the gladiators were entering this cut-price coliseum, herded in by a handful of Swagger’s goons armed with automatic weapons. The prisoners shambled in, two hundred or more, ranging from kids no older than Rico to bag lady types in their fifties.
Kate stared on in horror as the people split off into groups and took up position around the rink, some directly beneath her, facing each other in groups of twenty or so. They were silent, their sallow faces blank, their sunken eyes dark and burning. The armed guards ranged themselves around the rink. A spiteful charge was building in the air.
‘Listen up, everyone.’ Swagger’s voice reverberated around the arena. ‘Before we begin tonight’s spectacle … a few choice words from our glorious leader: Papa Takapa.’
There was no applause, no real reaction at all. A few of the fighters turned to gaze upon the man they were fighting for, the scrawny albino who stood in the front row of the bleachers beside Swagger. A few rows back, Kate saw her parents. She squirmed, tried to rock the hammock, to get herself noticed; she would do anything to delay the proceedings. But she could barely move beneath the mass of raw meat. No one was going to see a thing unless the people directly below looked up and saw her.
And if they did … what would happen then?
‘Greetings, my warriors,’ Takapa said vaingloriously. ‘You stand before me now because you have survived a number of trials by combat. Those who fight and triumph tonight shall rank as officers in my private army. You shall enjoy power and privilege. A place in the new order I am bringing to the lupine community.’ He paused, impressively. ‘In ancient Rome there were many kinds of gladiator. The Samnite, a helmeted warrior with sword and armour … The Thracian, with his curved dagger and shield of bronze … Retarius, the net fighter, a bloodied trident clamped in his hand …’
Kate surveyed the motley crowd shifting impatiently about below her, muttering and whispering. They seemed unimpressed with Takapa’s lecture. Perhaps he guessed this, because he cut it short:
‘But you! You are a fresh breed of gladiator, a new invention. You have no weapons save your cunning and your savagery. No armour save the toughened hide of the magnificent creatures you can become. Fight well for me in your factions, and you shall no longer be caged, treated no better than animals. I will bestow honour on you, give you purpose. You shall be allowed to serve me and all our kind.’
Again, he paused, and this time the people in the arena stayed silent.
‘I promise you blood!’ he shouted, exultant. ‘I promise you carnage. I promise you the future. Now – fight!’
No one moved. One or two of the guards raised their weapons threateningly.
Then Swagger rose to his feet. ‘You want your next fix? Get going! Now!’
Had the Emperor Nero ever had this kind of trouble? Kate thought darkly.
But Swagger’s practical threats clearly won out over Takapa’s rhetoric. A few half-hearted scuffles were breaking out amid the different factions. Soon the skirmishes were escalating to full-on fistfights – and suddenly, just like in some bad Western movie, everyone was getting caught up in the fighting. Throughout the arena men and women were shouting, threatening, throttling, tearing into each other; just like she’d witnessed before, but on a much grander scale.
Then suddenly the wire mesh hammock supporting her lurched. She felt herself drop a fraction. One of the ropes lashed around the concrete pillars, securing the vast net in place, was
giving way under the sheer weight of the doctored meat. It slipped again. The net tilted a little to the left, then a little more, threatening to ditch its haul.
If the hammock gave way completely she would plunge ten metres down into the heart of the bloody battle below.
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tom followed Jasmine down into the arena’s dirty lobby. Stacy and Rico came out from behind a crumbling concrete pillar as they arrived. ‘Are my parents safe?’ he asked Stacy.
She nodded. ‘And looking pretty perky considering the number of scary viruses they’re carrying.’ She fanned her face with her hand. ‘It was looking kind of hairy for a while, but the plan worked.’
‘When you didn’t come outta the hotel, we knew the ’wolves had snatched you, so we went back to Park East,’ Rico said, chewing noisily on some gum. ‘There were all these weird guys there in, like, radiation suits or something.’
‘Hazard squad,’ Stacy explained. ‘Your parents are isolated. No one can get to them.’
‘Shame we can’t say the same about us,’ said Jasmine, looking around nervously.
‘And while I was busy organising everything for them,’ Stacy went on, ‘some thugs ransacked my laboratory. Took all the serum samples I had.’
‘I heard Takapa discuss it with Swagger,’ Tom interrupted her. ‘He and Marcie will be in the arena now. The fighting must’ve started. I wish I knew where Kate was.’
Stacy looked surprised. ‘I thought she’d be locked up with you?’
‘Takapa and Marcie said they were still looking for her. So either she escaped from Swagger or else …’ Tom sighed. ‘Where’s Jicaque? How’d you hook up with him?’
Stacy frowned as she stared about into the shadows that pooled thickly in each corner of the hall. ‘He was waiting in my lab at the hospital – had to hide when the thugs came searching for the serum. He came and found me, said he was here to gather us together; that we would be allies for one final battle. But now I don’t know—’
‘I am here.’
Tom whirled around to find Jicaque standing right behind him, wearing a long dark overcoat over a shabby linen suit. His deep brown eyes seemed troubled. ‘Tell me, Tom, have those poor souls caged in the locker room been given their fix of Stacy’s serum?’
