by Cyn Bagley
My stomach started to growl. I tried not to think of bacon and eggs. The sound of it sizzling in the pan and the imagined smell of bacon cooking caused my stomach to growl more. One of the guards heard me and threw a compressed bar from a “meals-ready-to-eat” package through the bars.
He laughed when I snatched the bar from the air. I ripped it open and ate a little. Then I tucked it under my butt for later. I refused to look outside the bars. I heard the sounds of the wolf-man eating. They had must have thrown him a piece of raw meat. I could smell the unpleasant tang of meat that hadn’t been refrigerated, but hadn’t spoiled yet. I tried not to gag.
My mouth was dry and there was no water in the cage. I would have asked for a drink, but I wasn’t sure if they would give me a pail of water or just throw the water on me. Even though it wasn’t warm I could feel the dryness of the air. I was still in the desert.
“Why doesn’t she have water?” asked a voice that sounded like he wasn’t new to authority. There was some grumbling, and then the cage door was opened. I stayed at the back of the cage. They could still grab me and pull me out, but it would be more of a struggle. I wished that I had been interested in self-defense. I had been more interested in dresses and boys, hence a baby, I thought with a little sadness. If I'd had any defense training at all, I knew this was the opportunity to give this guy a kick in the balls and then run. Then I looked out. There were five more hulking guys guarding me. Damn. I revised my opinion. I could not have escaped and would have made the guards angry.
“Do you need to go to the bathroom?” he asked. I didn’t look at him as I shook my head, no.
“Well, then.” He left two bottles of water with me. At least they weren’t going to let me die of thirst. I had heard of people who had wandered into the desert for fun and didn’t bring water with them. Many times the searchers found their bodies in the early spring. I had a terrible idea. How many of these hikers had been abducted and killed? I frowned.
I was conscious of the guards when I leaned forward and stretched. I touched my toes slowly. I felt the crack from my hips to my toes and through my shoulders and fingers. My muscles hurt. I kept stretching. I sat on the ground and stretched my arms toward the ceiling and then stretched to my toes again. I stretched my neck from side to side and then shook my arms. I stood up and bounced up and down until my muscles loosened.
Then I paced back and forth, counting my steps. The cage was small enough that I felt slightly claustrophobic. But it was big enough that I could stretch my arms from side to side and measure the width. The length of the cage was long enough for me to lie down. A blanket, water bottles, and more “MRE” bars and I could live here for a few days.
I sat down cross-legged on the cement and listened to the guards. I could hear some cars passing by the warehouse. I realized that next to this place there must be a highway because the sounds of the cars were fast and it sounded like zoom, zoom, zoom. We were off the main highway. I didn’t know the freeways in this part of the country. I wasn’t sure if I was in California or Nevada. Dave and Jake hadn’t told me much.
I looked around. I was in a warehouse that smelled like oil. In the past it had been used to store gasoline and other petroleum products. So even a werewolf’s super smell wouldn’t find this place. It would overpower and conceal any human smells.
The doctor had taken my baby. I could only imagine what the doctor was doing. At the very least he seemed the type to drain the baby dry for his experiments. I wanted to hold my baby. I wanted to kiss the top of his head and smell that soft baby smell. When I was first pregnant, I hadn’t wanted to be a mother. I had wanted to party and play— drink and screw. Having a baby had forced me to grow into an adult. I loved my son. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily. I had to be careful. I needed to escape.
Too many of my friends on the reservation ha died during drinking incidents—car accidents and bar fights. After I became pregnant, my best friend was killed in a bar fight. She had been knifed in the neck and died within minutes. I still think of her.
One of the guards watched the door, while the other four played cards. I couldn’t count on Jake and Dave to rescue me. I knew they were tough sons of bitches. Still, they had looked dead when I had been hustled out of the hotel room. So I waited for the right time. I listened and looked for opportunities.
My mouth would get me into trouble here. I needed to seem meek and simple. I looked at the other cage. The wolf-man watched me with yellow gold eyes. The intensity scared me just a little. Would he help me when I made my move to escape?
The guard watching me banged on the bars. “Nice son of a bitch,” he laughed, referring to the gold-eye wolf-man. “Don’t get any ideas,” the guard had a big smile on his face. “This one likes the taste of human flesh.”
He must have seen me cringe a little because he walked back to his buddies and I heard him chuckle.
###
My legs grew numb as I sat cross-legged. The guards played poker and when I listened hard, I knew which guard was going to win each hand. It wasn’t just the words or even the body language. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. The banging on the door snapped me out of this semi-trance. The guards quickly scooped up the cards and hid them. Then two of the guards sauntered to the door, while the other two came toward my cage.
The guard in charge looked at his phone. “Let ‘em in,” he hollered. I hadn’t noticed any cameras around the warehouse or even at the door. They slid the door open and in walked Mr. Labcoat.
Mr. Labcoat’s eyes slid toward the card table. One lone card was lying on the table. There was a slight sneer and then his eyes went cold. Then he pointed at me. “We need her.”
Two men came into the cage and they had me shackled before I could fight back. I dug in my heels, but the two men picked me up by the elbows and carried me outside to a black van. It looked like the same one they used to cart me here before. They put me on the floorboards. I didn’t ask where my son was. I had the feeling they were taking me to him. Good boy. A baby couldn’t do much more than spit or scream.
They dragged me into a small lab. The baby was in a crib. A humming energy dome covered the crib. When one of the lab techs reached for the baby, the dome shocked her. She screamed and jumped back. “Just pick up the baby,” yelled Mr. Labcoat.
“Mr. Loomis,” the lab tech said. Her hair was braided and she was also dressed in a white lab coat. “I tried. Unless you want me to electrocute myself, I won’t reach into that crib again.”
I felt a malicious pleasure at watching the woman get shocked. Mr. Labcoat pushed me toward the crib, so I rattled my chains. I wanted to laugh at the disgust in his eyes. He motioned to one of the guards to get me out of the chains. The guard whispered to me, “You run, I’ll shoot the baby.”
I wasn’t sure if the bullet could go through the energy dome. I didn’t want to take the risk. I quit smiling. In the corner of the lab, a white-coated male lab technician was slumped. He looked like he had had a hell of a shock. The female tech knelt on the floor by the tech and checked his breathing and heart rate. “His heart is weak and shaky,” she said. “We need to get him to the hospital.” Mr. Labcoat ignored her.
He handed me a syringe. “Get blood from that little brat.” The venom in his voice chilled me. I walked toward the dome.
“Honey,” I said. “It’s mommy.” I saw the dome flicker. Mr. Labcoat rushed past me to grab my son, but the blue electricity flashed again. I gave him a look. “Nice try.”
He grabbed my ponytail and swung me to face him. “Get that baby or get the blood. If you don’t, I’ll kill you now. The baby can’t keep that up forever.”
“So how long has he had that dome up?” I asked calmly. Mr. Labcoat needed that blood more than I needed mine at the moment. I kept my voice calm.
“Two hours,” he said. Mentally I congratulated my son. But how did a baby have this much power? It was another thing I would have to ask Jake when I was free. I shook Mr. Labcoat of
f and walked toward the crib. I set the syringe down without looking at Mr. Labcoat. I knew he was glaring at my back. I ignored him.
“Sweetie,” I said. “It’s mommy.” The blue dome of electricity faded and I reached down and picked up the baby. “Put it back up baby,” I whispered into his ear.
Before Mr. Labcoat or the guard could grab us the dome became a globe and covered both of us. I knew the baby only had a few minutes of energy left to fuel our protection. So instead of waiting, I walked toward the door. The electricity snapped at Mr. Labcoat as he walked backwards. I needed to get us out of here before the dome fell.
The guard lunged toward us and he popped like a fly that had fallen into a battery powered fly trap. I winced as he fell to the ground. He jerked as if he were having an epileptic seizure. Mr. Labcoat cringed in the corner by the two lab techs. I knew he wasn’t trying to protect them because he tried to burrow under the unconsciouses tech.
I was out the door. “Hold on, baby,” I whispered. The baby was white and shaking now. “We need to get past the guards and into the van.”
The two other guards were waiting by the van and immediately pulled up their guns and started firing. The bullets hit the shield, zapped and then fell around us. The guards looked at the bullets and then ran for reinforcements. We got into the van and the shield dropped. I put the van in gear and started driving. I wasn’t sure where Felony Flats was but if I kept driving east I would probably find the place. Dave and Jake had told me that it was off one of the highways.
Since I didn’t know who was also involved with Mr. Labcoat because he had kidnapped me in the middle of the day, police and other officials could be involved. I drove as carefully as I could. I made sure that I didn’t run any stoplights. We were past Carson City, up the hill, and past Mound House when I saw Jake and Dave at a small gas station. I pulled up behind them.
“Thanks for the rescue,” I said, laughing. Jake squeezed me so hard I thought I was going to fall apart. Dave looked at my son. “We need to get him to Adam. He is the only one who can help him now.”
I was sober instantly. “Another twenty minutes. Do you think he can hold out that long?” asked Dave.
I looked at my son, then really looked at him. He had lost a pound or two from holding the shield. He was shaking and gasping. I pulled him close and rocked him. I looked up at Dave and felt tears run down my face.
Would he hold out that long? He would have to.
Chapter Nine
Dave made a phone call and holding the baby, I scrambled into the truck. Jake drove the black van in the opposite direction. I asked why.
Dave kept his eyes on the road. “They have a GPS service on every government vehicle.”
“What is going on?”
This group had acted like a private company. I was confused. “Remember what Adam said?” He glanced at the baby in my arms. “There is a group who does military research for the DOD.”
I nodded. I was with him so far. I glanced out the window. The gray-brown land with scattered gray-green bushes rushed by. Sometimes the hills around us changed from taupe to a brick red and back. The highway was now a two lane road. We rushed down a hill. It felt like we slid down it.
“I need to concentrate on my driving,” he said. I let him drive without peppering him with questions.
Plus it wasn’t the time for questions, because my son started gasping. Dave turned onto a dirt road and slowed way down. The road had been graded in the spring, so it was quite bumpy. Even graded and freshly graveled, Dave wouldn’t have been able to drive faster than 35 mph.
I held my son close and whispered in his ear, “Hold on. We are almost there. Hold on.”
His heart kept pumping. I hoped it was only exhaustion. Still I was very worried.
Dave drove into a small parking lot next to a manufactured building. On the door was a sign saying “Office.” Next to it was another manufactured building that had the sign “Grocery” over the door. Dave jumped out of the truck and opened the door. He hurried me into the office building.
“We’re here,” he yelled. A woman rushed toward us.
“Hand him to me.” I almost refused. But then I looked into her eyes. She had the same yellow eyes that Jake had when he was about to change. I handed her my son.
She cooed at him for a moment and then breathed into his mouth. Another gasp, and the baby’s face went red and he screamed. Damn, that kid had a set of lungs on him. I felt the relief rush from my stomach to my chest. The woman handed my baby back and then I asked, “Why couldn’t I do that?”
“My name is EJ,” she said and didn’t answer my question. “He is a lovely boy.”
A man walked out of the office and stood behind EJ.
“Nova,” Dave said. “This is Adam, the Alpha of the pack.”
“Nice to meet you. I think you have some questions for me.” Dave place his hand on my back and guided me into the room. I saw the padded chairs and sank gratefully into one of them. I held my baby close. Dave excused himself. I knew why. Jake was still out there in the black van, leading the government officials on a merry chase. Knowing the two cousins, they probably had a meeting place where Dave could pick up Jake in his wolf form.
EJ sat next to me. She smiled down at my son. “You don’t mind?” she asked. I didn’t. She touched his head and played with his hands. My little son blew bubbles at her. “Already good with the ladies.” She smiled at him.
“Adam.” Her voice went just a little demanding under the warmth. “I want one of these.”
Adam smiled at her, “Yes, ma’am.”
When Adam turned his gaze on me, he was all business. “I guess you want to know what this is about?”
Of course I did, although I could feel the power come off of him in waves. I wasn’t stupid enough to open my mouth and piss him off. So I just nodded.
“A few years ago, the military found out about us. They wanted a super soldier that followed orders and could do a lot of damage to the enemy. In the process they wouldn’t lose as many soldiers in battle. Imagine a super soldier with super smelling and hearing. It would be almost impossible for the enemy to kill or maim with roadside bombings or suicide bombers. They would also be faster and more deadly than the average soldier.”
I shuddered. “So,” he continued, “when they found us, they hired a man, Dr. Rafe Loomis, to experiment and make super-soldiers out of our blood.”
I jerked a little. “There was a Dr. Loomis at the warehouse laboratory,” I blurted out.
“Not surprised,” EJ said. My son’s hand was curled around her finger.
“Dr. Loomis doesn’t see us as anything more than animals, so he has done some fairly horrific crimes against us. He ground up some of his first werewolf subjects and injected their blood and flesh into test subjects. Unfortunately it wasn’t a success. The men who became super soldiers could do all of the things required, but were temperamentally unstable. Eventually the animal overcame the man and they lost their ability to reason. They died.”
EJ interrupted. “Or we killed them. There is no cure for it. I have seen one of their subjects who is now chained up. He has all the symptoms of rabies— .” She looked sad.
“So why do they want my son? He doesn’t have much blood.”
“It’s not just the baby.” Adam looked at my son. A smile played across his lips. “You come from a long line of power, too. Do you understand why your son was able to shield both you and himself?”
How did he know? EJ winked at me. “Your son told me.” I rolled my eyes, but these few days had been so out of my experience, I would have to believe her.
I squared my shoulders. “No, I have no idea,” I answered Adam.
“You come from a long line of shamans.”
And there it was, the secret I had wanted to conceal.
“Yes,” I said. “And it has only brought me grief.”
“You haven’t thought it through.” He waited for me.
If I came from a long line
of shamans and my son was a young werewolf— then my son had the potential to become a werewolf shaman.
How much power did he really have if he could use it before he could crawl? I gasped. How could I protect him?
Adam saw the realization in my eyes. I would never leave here.
###
I was stunned by the revelations. I held my son close to me and smelled the soft baby smells while I rocked him. Adam and EJ left me to think. I could leave this place and spend the rest of my life being chased by someone who had the full power of the government behind him. Eventually I would die and my baby would be in the hands of my enemies.
I could stay here and bring devastation to this community. I didn’t want to do that either. They had been kind and would put all of these people in harm’s way to help me. My mind went round and round, seeing the flaws in either plan. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep.
I began to dream. I was standing on the side of the road when a black van with government license plates raced by me. I could see Jake gripping the wheel. Two trucks were chasing him down a lonely road. I knew that the van would get stuck, but Jake knew every pothole and sand trap. A wolf was in the back of one of the trucks. His jaws dripped white foam. He looked rabid to me.
When the truck got near the van, the wolf made an impossible leap. His claws reached out and caught the van, ripping holes in the metal. I could feel my heart beating rapidly. “This is only a dream,” I said to myself.
The wolf was bigger than normal wolves. I had seen wolves in a zoo a long time ago. This one was twice the size and it turned and looked at me for a moment as if I were really standing there. I could see its fangs as it roared at me.
Jake hit the brakes and the wolf barely managed to hang on. Jake jumped out of the van. I could see he was trying to change into his werewolf form. Why was it taking so long? Before Jake could turn into a killing machine, the rabid wolf would have already ripped out his throat. I screamed.
