Commander

by Mel Todd

  [MCKENNA!]

  Wefor’s voice exploded in her head as she looked down to see a dart embedded in her leg.

  "What the fuck?" She turned, but her leg, suddenly numb and heavy, gave out underneath her.

  ~Wefor, do something!~

  [Counter agents deployed. Working.]

  She saw Perc and Toni staring at darts in their chest and thigh respectively. JD roared and tried to change even as he swiped at a dart sticking out of his butt cheek.

  Laying on the deck she tried to push herself up, even as she felt her body fighting the drugs, aided by Wefor’s guidance. She saw Charley bounding towards her, and behind him she saw people in black outfits, guns drawn and aimed.

  ~Charley, RUN! Grab the twins, run, hide, do not come out, if we don’t call you by dark get to Anne’s. Her number is in mine and JD’s phone. Now go!~

  The mental command so strong he almost tripped trying to reverse direction.

  She heard Toni back up her commands even as her voice began to slur.

  ~Jessi, Jamie, run, hide. Stay with Charley, go to safe pleeses.~

  "Get the animals, they wanted them all." A crisp military voice sounded even as she felt heavy treads on the deck. She tried to change, willing it, as her claws started to come out and the drug faded, pushed back by adrenaline and whatever Wefor got her body to do.

  "Fuck, she’s still moving. Triple dose them all, I want them all but dead. And someone shoot those damn animals.

  ~Run, they’re hunting you, run, follow the path. Don’t go to JD’s, hide where they can’t find you.~

  She felt Charley acknowledge even as she felt a yelp as one of the darts skimmed past him.

  "Too far, these don’t have any range worth shit, and if we fire at them, half the neighborhood will hear." Another voice, this one from her left came even as she felt another needle plunging into her.

  "They’re kids, and no one will believe them. These are who we came for. Grab them, get them in the van and get out of here before anyone sees us."

  "I’ll need help, these guys are huge. Drug them again, not sure the ketamine will hold up under their mass."

  Voice bouncing back and forth as McKenna felt herself being lifted and hoisted over a shoulder. Her vision had narrowed with gray on the outside, but she saw two men grabbing JD, one at each end and heaving.

  ~Toni, JD?~

  She pinged them, and got back only weak emotions, like they were covered with soaked blankets.

  ~Dammit, Wefor.~

  [Too much drug. Body can’t keep up.]

  McKenna felt the darkness rising, and nothing she did could push it back. It swallowed her whole.

  Blackness faded to gray, as she fought to open her eyes.

  "Dammit, what do we have to do to keep her under? Dose her again."

  Words, sharp prick in her thigh, then darkness pulled her under. She battled her way back up, only to feel her stomach sink like on a roller coaster. A soft moan escaped her as she tried to focus and keep her stomach contents in one place. Stale cold air blew into her face as she tried to lift her hand to cover her mouth, only for clanking of metal as her arm quit moving.

  "Mother of god, she should be dead, not fighting to become conscious. Triple the goddamn dose and hit everyone again. I don’t know why she’s resisting this stuff, but I’d rather have her dead than shifting while we’re on this damn puddle jumper."

  The word sank into her brain and she tried to pull them apart to understand the meaning.

  [Words are recorded, will provide later.]

  That familiar alien voice filtered through her head, and this time the prick took her into a darkness where nothing existed, even her links to her pack gone.

  Chapter 31 - Not in Kansas

  The news coming out of China, with their bribing of families with shifter children and the removal of the child limit, not to mention the very preferential treatment shifters are getting who are in China, Chinese natives only of course, has raised some interesting rumors. Now a lot of these rumors can be traced back to Reddit and other conspiracy websites, but they are gaining traction. The idea is that this was supposed to a super raise RNA virus, meant only for the Chinese to help with better athletes and soldiers, but something went wrong, and it got out infecting everyone. Now they are scrambling to capitalize on what was supposed to be their ace in the hole. While it sounds silly on the surface, the way the Chinese are reacting, and their secrecy, it is lending more credit than one might suppose to the theory. ~ TNN Talking Head

  [Commander]

  [Commander]

  [McKenna!]

  The words came through distant and muffled, but they pulled at her, and the darkness that swaddled her faded to gray. Pain seeped in first. Body wreathed in pain, to the point that breathing hurt.

  [Commander?]

  The word this time registered but even thinking a thought seemed too much, so she just let it come through, neither fighting nor reacting. Minutes, hours, seconds, an eternity went by as she shut out the pain and focused on other things.

  Sounds of breaths nearby raised her awareness but they sounded deep and steady without any movement. The shriek of birds, sounds she didn't recognize, and some she'd only heard in zoos, made her frown, which caused more pain to lance through her body.

  The idea of opening her eyes sounded horrible and every time she'd moved or struggled, she'd been drugged again, but this time it took so long to push herself outside of the dark spot in her mind, she just lay there.

  [Commander, the drugs are fading from your body. You need to wake up.]

  McKenna resisted the idea, more drugs would be bad, as it was she felt hunger clawing at her but compared to everything else, it didn't grab her whole attention. Her next breath turned into a cough, and she felt her body tense, making her realize she lay naked on dirt. The lumps of dirt, small rocks, twigs, and the feel of a bug walking over her leg brought her mind fully into the present.

  She cracked her eyes open the slightest bit, letting filtered light into them. When no one hit her or drugged her again, she let her eyes open fully. Light filtered through a roof full of holes and she saw the passing of a shadow of something over it.

  ~Kenna?~

  JD's mental voice sounded odd, sluggish.

  ~You okay?~

  ~No, but I'm not dead.~

  That made her chuckle, and she instantly regretted it, but with renewed willpower she sat up and looked around.

  As she'd figured, she didn't have a stitch of clothing on. Around her lay JD, Toni, Perc, and another woman she didn't recognize with brown hair and pale skin where she didn't have a very defined farmers tan around her arms and neck. All of them were just as naked as she. A slow look around, turning her head quickly sounded like a very bad idea, verified no kids and no clothes.

  McKenna closed her eyes and tried to reach for Charley, but his light wasn’t on.

  [He is too far away from you to be contacted.]

  Wefor’s voice had its normal detached interest, but something lingered under it. Relief?

  ~Do you know where we are?~

  [No. My programs were adversely affected by the drug. Awareness of your body terminated for an unknown amount of time.]

  McKenna sighed and levered herself to her feet. Part of her wanted to worry about being naked but she hurt too much to really care. Her thighs were covered with livid bruises and a large lump existed on her butt. Hard and it ached as she lifted her weight off it. But nothing seemed broken. JD had managed to sit up, so she went over to Toni. A sigh escaped as she felt her pulse at her neck. Tempted to try to wake her up, she didn’t wish the drug hangover on anyone. Besides from her fluttering eyes, she figured Toni would be rousing shortly.

  Glancing over she saw that Perc had lifted his hand to his head.

  "What the hell did I drink? I never black out and have dreams like that." His voice low and rough, almost liked he’d been screaming. The aching pain in her throat registered at the same time

  Maybe we
were screaming?

  With a shake of her head, she pushed it to the side, everything hurt so much it didn’t matter what hurt more. McKenna went over to the unknown woman, her heart beat strongly and eyes started to flutter so she stepped back and let her be. Now that she had at least some assurance people weren’t going to die, she focused on her environment. Part of her heard JD talking to Perc but it didn’t matter right now, figuring out what happened to them did.

  The humidity registered and her stomach sank a little more as she surveyed the hut they were in. A hole in one wall displayed thick foliage, vines, and the chittering of animals that her nose didn’t recognize. A dirt floor, and a rough wood and vine table on one end. Her attention snagged on the small laptop sitting there, a little blue light blinking at her.

  McKenna had made two steps forward before she halted and looked at the floor again. Tread marks covered it, around and under their bodies, and at the table a set of footprints, imprinted deeper than the others, as if someone had stood there a while. She looked around the table carefully but didn’t see any cords, which mean battery, but maybe a way to get out of here. Still she hesitated and turned to look at the others as she heard moans.

  "Jessi? Jamie?" The first words out of Toni’s mouth, in that same raw tone as Perc’s.

  "I don’t think they were taken. They ran when I ordered Charley. I think they were cussing about not being able to get them."

  [Affirmative, the children were not taken by the time you were picked up and placed in vehicles. After that information is sporadic.]

  She saw JD and Toni lose some of the tension, and Toni turned to the next part on the agenda.

  "Is there a reason we’re all naked?"

  "Because we don’t have any clothes on?" Perc’s voice had a certain amount of amusement. "I have to say, I’d already done this once and had no desire to do it again. At least this time I’m not chained to a wall." He had stood and carefully kept his eyes at head level, not letting his eyes drift down at all.

  JD followed his example, but jerked his head to the other woman, who moaned and sat up. She couldn’t weigh more than one thirty, maybe one forty. Her eyes closed tight as she rubbed her head, in a gesture McKenna understood.

  Maybe they over dosed her? I’m the only one with Wefor to actively fight a drug.

  Her ministrations ceased as her hand fell in her lap, froze, and then patted around frantically. Eyes snapped open and fastened on them.

  "Why am I naked? Why are you naked? Who are you?" Her voice hit a shriek as she started to scoot backwards only to cringe and grab her butt where a large nodule jutted out.

  She doesn’t sound like she’s been screaming. Is that good or bad? And that nodule.

  McKenna’s eyes narrowed even as she analyzed the woman’s rapid breathing and wild darting gaze, giving every evidence of panic. McKenna gave JD and Perc a sidelong glance. They were both trying hard to look nonthreatening, cover their genitals, and watch the stranger warily all at the same time. All in all, they looked like scary embarrassed men. It made for an odd picture.

  "I think that is our question. We all know each other and were taken at a BBQ at my house. So, mind telling me who you are?"

  At this point McKenna didn’t even bother trying to cover up, though she noticed Toni had slipped behind her, using her as a bit of a shield. Between being whipped, and shifting as much as she had in public, why bother. Everyone everywhere had already seen everything she had. Besides, her nerves were stretched so tight, she didn’t have any patience to waste with trying to cover her crotch and tits. The animal sounds, strange sounds that should only be coming from her TV didn’t help at all.

  The woman stared at her with bright blue eyes that called to mind sapphires. She looked at all of them back to McKenna and Perc. "Why do you two look familiar? Like I should recognize you?"

  Not about to give away any information, McKenna just looked at her, even as she heard Perc clearing his throat and sensed amusement from JD. But she didn’t take her attention away.

  The silence worked as well on this woman as it did with perps, people hated silence.

  "Um, well." She stood up, trying to hide herself, even though Kenna didn’t get the impression anyone looked anywhere other than her eyes. "My name’s Cass. Uh, well, Cassandra Borden. I’m a biologist. I work for a private lab doing medical research." She seemed to think McKenna was the safest, and she had locked her eyes on McKenna’s.

  "You working with the shifter virus?" McKenna’s voice was sharp.

  "No. I mean I am a shifter but I do plant based biology. Mostly working on new medical compounds to be found from plants. Ways to harvest new pharmaceuticals that won’t exist if we keep clear cutting." Her speech thinned out and became more assured as she hit her stride. "Who are you? Why are we here? And really? No clothes?"

  "What do you remember?" She didn’t trust her yet, but a few things were weighing in Cass’ favor.

  "Remember?" Cass frowned, then her eyes widened. "I’d just left the lab. It was late, I’d been working a lot lately. I walked to my car, and I heard something, a sharp sting in my thigh. A man ran up to me, slapped something over my mouth, held me until I started to pass out. He took me to a vehicle I think and then a shot. I, I don’t remember anything else." The acrid scent of fear wafted over to her as the woman began to hyperventilate.

  "Hey, it’s okay. We’re all in the same situation." JD’s voice held the same calming tone it did when he worked with scared kids.

  She glanced at him sideways and almost laughed. JD had crouched down, talking to her, letting her be taller than him.

  "You probably recognize McKenna. She’s my partner. Did you see the video of the cop turning into a cougar? That’s her. And behind me is Perc Alexander. He’s a NFL star. Trust me, we aren’t going to hurt you."

  ~Really? And if she’s with the people who put us here? ~

  She pinged JD with the sarcastic comment, and he sent back an annoyed burst of emotion. Coughing to cover up the laugh she had to admit between the three of them, well four if you counted Perc, one girl wasn’t going to be able to do much to them regardless of what she shifted into.

  "Perc, Toni, JD. You guys all have lumps on your ass that hurt like hell?" She kept watching Cass and the laptop even as she felt people move around her and the grunts of pain as they came in contact with the lumps.

  The affirmative remarks were just more evidence of what she suspected and it meant very bad things.

  "Well, Cass it looks like you’re in the same boat we’re in. Or maybe it is naked and in the jungle without a boat. But either way, I think that laptop over there hold the answers to most of our questions."

  "The what?" came from everyone and she felt it in her head and in the air as the attention of everyone in the room locked onto the laptop with its blinking blue light.

  Chapter 32 - Rules of the Game

  A Nebraska State senator has petitioned for tax benefits to shifters for moving to Nebraska as the first shifter 'Sanctuary' state. He says the wide-open landscape and availability of land makes it a perfect home for shifters that want to spend time in their animal forms. If this passes it would be the first state to not only try to lure shifters to live there, but the first of any type of ‘racial’ incentive offered by a state. While unusual in the United States, some African cities have already started doing this, trying to lure, what to many of the old religions are demi-gods, shifters to make their homes there. Is this the wave of the future or the start of an us vs them situation? ~ SacWasp OpEd

  "I take it that laptop isn’t yours?" Cass asked, her voice quavering a bit.

  "Not mine, and I’ll figure it isn’t yours either from your question." McKenna half smiled at the woman, she could smell fear and stress, and the redness of her skin proclaimed her embarrassment level.

  The woman shook her head, her arms wrapped around her knees hiding most of her from view.

  McKenna glanced at the others, Perc the only one who looked like he mig
ht move, but JD and Toni both were more than willing to let her take the lead.

  She opened the laptop by increments. The odds of it being trapped made no sense. If whomever wanted them dead, they’d be dead, but at this point she didn’t want to take anything for granted.

  It opened with no issue and she woke it up. The familiar Windows logo flashed, then the desktop. Two icons sat in the middle of the desktop, a video icon labeled ‘Play Me’, and another jpeg labeled ‘Target’.

  She clicked on it, and a video sprung up. A man, his face shadowed so she couldn’t see anything other than a vague outline. Not horribly fat and a short haircut, covered everything she could figure out about him.

  He started to speak. "Welcome everyone to my little experiment. Most of you have managed to annoy very powerful people, me included. Ms. Diaz, you were included because of your poor choice in friends. The rest of you, well, let's just say you created ripples in my plans. I don’t like ripples." However, I’ve been curious to know exactly how effective shifters might be in other areas of interest. I decided to make this interesting, for me at least. There is a drug lord here that I need disposed of. As long as he and his seconds are killed, I don’t care who else you kill. Kill all the other people in the compound or none of them, as long as those three are dead. I do have the man monitored so I will know if you succeed." His tone held arrogance, confidence, and every word had perfect pronunciation. Nothing that she could grab to even begin to figure out anything other than American.

  "I’m sure you are all protesting that you won’t kill someone but let me make it clear. You don’t have a choice."

  The video changed and images started appearing. Jessi and Jamie playing in the park. Charley at school. An older couple walking into a restaurant had Perc sucking in a sharp breath. Another of a woman walking with two little kids had Cass gasping out. More images of these various people, at different times hammered home the point.

  Rage clawed at the back of McKenna’s mind. He’d threatened Charley. Charley was hers. The sheer force of the feeling ricocheted through her and she closed her eyes fixated on the link that lead to Charley. The cold dark link.