by Mel Todd
You son of a bitch. I promised him I would always come back. That I would never leave him. I will not break my promise to him.
The thoughts so loud and clear for a moment she thought she’d sent them to Toni and JD, but they didn’t react, and she had to fight to pay attention the man talking.
"I’m sure all of you have understood what is at risk. But I can’t afford to have you taking a vacation while here. I've provided an extra incentive. While the virus that affects you is very strong, it doesn’t do that well with poisons. All of you have been infected with a slow acting poison that is spreading through your body. By our best guess you have seven days before all your organs collapse and you die, writhing in pain. I’ve seen it; it looks unpleasant. And while shifters seem to live longer, they still die in the end." The smirk in his voice came through even though she couldn’t see his face. "If you manage to kill him, I won’t kill your families. If he isn’t dead before you are, I’ll kill them. If he dies, I forget all about your families. Now I know what you must be thinking - How can I trust him? The answer is, you can’t. But can you afford to take the risk? I mean if you fail, I’ll just have a drone take him out but this will garner less attention."
He clapped his hands. "Now let’s get down to the hard details. Hanging on the wall is a GPS watch." McKenna glanced around looking for it. Hanging near the door about eye level a dull grey/brown watch hung on the wall, blending in until she actively looked for it.
"The time has already been set. Engraved on the back is a set of coordinates. That is where he lives. This is who you must kill."
More images on the screen, three men from various angles. Latin America features, mustaches, and hard eyes were the impressions she took away.
"There are more images on the laptop, I advise you to memorize him. I’d hate for your families to have accidents because you killed the wrong person."
He made a hmming sound. "I think that it is. Tick Tock boys and girls. It will be interesting to see how you accomplish this."
The video ended.
"I’m going to kill him. I am going to rip his heart out with my hands." Toni’s voice low, rough, and carried a level of menace that had McKenna taking a step back and turning to look at her. Rage coated her features, her hands in claws and a low rumbling snarl emanated from her chest.
"Don’t disagree but to do that we have to get back to the states and find him." McKenna said, even as she watched Toni warily.
"He wants us to kill people or he’s going to kill my sister and her kids?" Cass’ voice squeaked on the last part and McKenna didn’t know if rage or fear caused it.
"It’s the same son of a bitch. Those were my parents on those images; this time he’s threatening them, not me. And your kids. How fucking long has he been planning this?" Perc had the same level of rage and a level of calculation that surprised her.
"Wait? Same son of a bitch? You know him?" McKenna blurted out as Toni whirled on him.
"Remember the big suspension of athletes?" McKenna nodded, catching the others doing the same. "I basically forced all that and I was sent a threat. He used that same term. ‘Ripples’, it has to be the same guy. I blew it off and the threats. I wasn’t going to back down. But they all folded. It might explain why he grabbed all of us."
Everyone looked at each other, but they didn’t have much to say with that revelation. JD stayed quiet, and McKenna knew the only people he loved were in this room or on that screen. He didn’t talk about his family at all. She didn’t even know for sure if they were still alive.
"I’m guessing there isn’t much question about doing this?"
"Like we have a choice. No way in hell is that bastard going to kill my parents. I’m with Toni. Except I might be willing to see what human tastes like and eat him alive." Perc’s voice had a dangerous growl and McKenna relaxed a bit. They were fighters, the girl might be the only wild card.
"The first issue is the poison." JD said, his fingers moving an invisible fidget spinner.
McKenna pretended to be calm. Inside she fought not to scream and panic. It wouldn’t accomplish anything and right now she needed to figure out if what he said was true.
~Wefor, are we poisoned?~
[Yes. Once he stated that, diagnostics were run to identify. A toxin that isn’t in any of the information stored in the databases is working its way through your system. While repairs are being done, the damage is multiplying faster than the cells can be repaired. In a normal human they probably died in forty-eight hours or less. The cellular repair is what is keeping you alive.] This time the AI had limited the conversation to just her, and she didn’t know if that was good or bad.
"Fuck," she muttered and flushed as all eyes in the room snapped to her.
"What?" JD asked, standing. A flash of amusement as she noticed most of them had stopped trying to cover themselves. Too much other drama going on to worry about modesty.
"Wefor confirmed the poison. Probably that big lump on all our asses." Hands moved to check the lump she’d already prodded at. It hurt, but what it signified meant more than the pain.
"Wefor?" Asked Perc, looking around a confused expression that Cass duplicated.
~Do I tell them? ~
She sent this to both JD and Toni, wanting to see what they thought.
~Given the situation, I don’t think we have a choice. And if this is what I think it is, we’ll be in animal most of the time, so being able to talk will be a huge asset. ~
JD made sense, and she could pull out hints of amusement in his voice.
~Yes.~
Toni’s voice short hard, rage filtering down the link.
~Toni we will get them, we will get back to our kids. I’m just as mad, but rage won’t help me here. I have to focus on keeping us alive, to get back to Charley.~
Toni jerked her head in a shaky nod, turning and walking to stare out into the jungle.
"Why are you guys all kinda just looking at each other?" Cass asked, her voice shaking and she had scooted further back, but McKenna noted sharp eyes and anger lurking under it.
"Trying to decide something. So, the virus, it isn’t a virus, it’s an AI, well mine is an AI, yours are drones." Keeping her voice calm she explained everything about the virus, the solar damage, and the Commander version she had. By the time she finished, Perc had backed up into the corner, with Cass looking at all of them with wide eyes.
"You’re all insane. Dammit, I knew finding people who seemed normal was too good to be true." He sounded frustrated and scared but there was something else in his tone.
"I can prove it." McKenna offered, holding on to patience and control by her teeth.
And this is exactly why I don’t want to tell people.
Her mental voice had frustration and worry lacing it as she sent it to JD and Toni.
"How?" Perc demanded as he glared at the three of them, though Toni still had her back to them.
"Hold up some fingers," she said.
Perc arched an eyebrow but held up three fingers.
"Three," Toni said her voice quiet.
He blinked and changed the number of fingers.
"Two."
"Five."
"Six then you changed it to eight."
"How the fuck?" He glared, but JD and McKenna both kept quiet and from the angle Toni stood at she would have to turn her head to an extreme angle to see Perc.
"The telepathy part is true. We’ll have to be animals to get through the jungle. No shoes means I’m not walking around. And we are going to need food. I’ll tell you from experience raw is much easier to eat as an animal. It tastes different." Cass looked a bit green about that.
"Okay, I’m at least more willing to consider this than I was a few minutes either. You three can all talk mind to mind?"
JD nodded. "Yep. But it is like talking, she can’t read my mind." He stalled out and glanced at McKenna.
"It’s like there is a switchboard in my head. You know those old ones where they’d plug their he
adsets into? I click on it and I can talk to them."
"That’s it? No reading my head or digging around in my mind."
"Gah, no. Nothing like that. Please, you’d have to commit me if I got all that from JD."
"I am a being of pureness and light," JD protested. A snort came from everyone in the room except Cass, who at least gave him a disbelieving look.
"I see how it is." His grin lit up his face and she could have hugged him for breaking the tension.
"So how do we do this? And I’ll admit I’m hungry. How long were we out?" Perc still had caution in his voice and she liked him better for it. If the situation was reversed, she’d have thought he was insane.
[Twenty hours of unconsciousness was tracked. The actual amount is unknown.]
McKenna made a face. "Wefor says at least twenty hours. But probably more. And we’re going to have to get lucky with hunting. I know nothing about the jungle except what I’ve seen in movies."
"I know a little. But only because my father talked about Peru when I was a kid. But best bet would be to find a tapir or some domestic animals. And note my Peruvian is very basic, and I don’t know if we are going to be anywhere where people speak it." Toni spoke but didn’t turn and look at them, still staring out at the jungle. "I’d be very surprised if we found enough food to support multiple shifts. So, if we’re going to have a chance to protect our families, it is this and animals for a long while."
Her words hung like a pall over the room, and McKenna had to force herself to try to smile.
"Well, here is the unfun aspect. Blood is how we do it. The nanobots are in the blood and we need to exchange it to be able to talk." Her mouth quirked. "On the bright side being a shifter means no blood borne disease."
A half laugh escaped Cass, and she stood up, giving up the effort to try to hide parts of her body. "I give, let's do it. Because I tell you, I want back to kill this guy. But first we need to make sure he doesn’t kill my sister, my niece and nephew. Food might be easier for me, I don’t need as much protein but we’ll see. We need to get the blood going." She looked around the barren hut. "So, how do we cut ourselves? There’s no knife."
Chapter 33 - Putting on your Skin
With an entire sub-segment of the population now fit and healthy, how are retailers marketing to this group? High calorie meals and bars are becoming more predominate as are ads to replicate the benefits of shifting, though none so far are endorsed by the FDA. What is more interesting is the spike in outdoor sports, specifically those with a certain amount of risk: skydiving, rock climbing, zip lining. Is this the wave of the future or just a short term spike? ~ Op Ed in SacWasp
McKenna closed her eyes.
Of course, there is no knife. That would be too easy.
"Okay, time for the next part, I guess. And this will make killing people easier." Part of her worried about how blasé she was about killing three people, but she pushed it to the back of her mind to freak over later. First survive. "It turns out, we can shift into more than two forms, and I’ve been informed that I can do partial shifts, though I’ve only barely done it. But we also have what is called a warrior form, the basic werewolf idea."
Cass’s eyes widened and a half squeak slipped out, but Perc only narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded.
McKenna looked at him, arching an eyebrow. "You’ve seen this?’
"Done it." He said shortly and JD grinned.
"That explains it. I figured your cat had to be huge to have the claw and teeth marks where they were, but didn’t figure it mattered that much in the end. But that will probably make the forensic guys happy to explain the placing."
Perc shrugged, his face tight. "Didn’t think I needed to talk about it."
"Probably smart. It’s called the warrior form. But that isn’t the best form to travel in and it takes more energy. But for now, we need blood." Something she’d seen happen when waking up from some of the nightmares and Wefor had mentioned it. The partial shift. She looked at her arm and focused. It hurt, where shifting didn’t anymore, but after a minute her nails pulled into her fingers, and claws extended from the tips.
A heavy exhale slipped out that hurt and drained her. Food would be needed and soon.
"We all need to exchange blood, so we can talk to each other without me as a relay."
"You’re becoming bloodthirsty in your old age, Kenna." JD said as he held his hand out to her.
"Bite me, old man. You have two or three years on me. I can never remember." She slit open his palm, cringing inside at the slight hiss of pain that slipped out of him.
"Yeah, but I’m not a Commander." He cupped his palm to keep the blood in it.
The action repeated quickly with Toni, who turned to look at the two others, face expressionless, except for the gaping wounds behind her eyes.
"What the hell," Perc said. No one is ever going to believe this as it is, might as well go all the way." He held his hand out and McKenna cut it. That left Cass who sighed and walked over.
"I’m only doing this because I know it will heal when I shift and I’m looking forward to my fur coat. It will make me feel less vulnerable."
McKenna cut her, then herself on her other hand, and they spent the next few minutes dripping blood into wounds, making sure everyone had exchanged with everyone else.
"Done." She said and walked over to grab the GPS, fastening it on her arm.
"How long does this take?" Cass asked, her voice had the introspective tone scientist pick up quickly.
"A few minutes, not very long." She poked at her mental switchboard, and she saw the lights for Perc and Cass light up.
~Done, hi.~
She sent the mental thought to both of them and they both jerked their heads up and gasped.
"Holy shit, it’s real." Perc’s voice was low and husky. She glanced at him and had to smile at his wide eyes.
~Yep. Welcome to my weird.~
~This is so cool.~ Cass’ voice had a bubbly flavor to it and a sense of intelligence and curiosity
~I can’t believe this, but I guess that is par for the course. This entire thing is crazy.~ Perc had a solidity to his voice with a gentleness that she liked.
"We need to get going. We can now talk as we move, but we’re going to need food as first priority, but we can head the direction we need to go and figure something out as we go. Any objections?"
Perc started to laugh, it had both humor and bitterness in it, and she watched him, worried.
Is he losing it?
"Are you alright?"
"You’re the Commander aren’t you?"
The word made her freeze and she felt the sudden rapt attention from Toni and JD.
"How did you hear that term?"
"I’ve been having the craziest dreams. Spaceships, me in that wolfman form, someone telling me the Commander was coming." He half grinned then narrowed eyes at Toni and JD. "You two. I’ve seen you in your forms, next to me. We were like waiting on a battle field for the Commander.
McKenna saw Toni and JD glance at each other, and JD replied slowly. "Yeah, I’ve had one or two of those dreams. McKenna and Wefor mentioned them to us. They are like training simulations. They help get us ready for the Elentrin."
Perc looked at them, opened his mouth then closed it. "I feel there is a lot more behind all this but right now it isn’t important. But I will follow up on this later. I mean, aliens?" He turned and looked at McKenna; even now she noted his eyes stayed on her face. "Commander, it’s your show."
She knew she didn’t have any power over any of them but she had an assistant in her brain which might give them the extra advantage they needed. And he’d had dreams prepping him to see her as the commander. She looked at Cass.
"What about you?"
"Yeah. One or two, but never with anyone else in it. I was always in a lab, taking beings out of storage." Her face pale. "I thought it was just me watching too much sci-fi."
"Huh. Well, I guess first we do the mission we were given, then w
e figure out how to get home and rescue our families."
And figure out how to not die.
They looked at each other, exchanging glances. She waited, if they had another option, she’d take it, she just couldn’t think of anything. But shrugs were the only answer.
Dammit, I could hope for a miracle.
"Then animal it is." She took a deep breath.
"Wait a second," Perc said his eyes narrowed.
McKenna paused and looked at him but his attention remained riveted to on the laptop. She didn’t speak, just waited.
"I know we can’t carry the laptop around, and it won’t do us much good as the battery will die in a bit. But what about the hard drive? It’s a new laptop. It should have an SSD and be relatively small." At the blank looks he clarified. "A solid-state drive; they are usually about the size of a deck of cards. If somehow we get out of here, that is the proof of what happened. We should try to take it with us."
[He has a point. Interfacing with the drive should be possible later. Now isn’t the time as blood would start degrading the hardware.]
"Who the fuck was that?" Perc whirled looking around as Cass tapped her head with the heel of her hands her heart pounding so hard the pulse in her throat jumped.
"Ah, yeah. Remember the AI? That is Wefor. Wefor say hello.
[Hello.]
They jumped and McKenna nodded. "Yeah, her mental voice takes a bit to get used to. But she has knowledge that we may need. But back to the hard drive—I think you’re right. But staying in warrior form burns too much energy and we need to be able to hunt. So how do we carry it?"
Silence in the hut though the sounds of the surrounding jungle seemed louder and more intimidating than ever.
"Umm, I do macramé." Cass said in a hesitant voice. McKenna looked at her with a blank look, which from her flush must have been reflected on most of their faces.
"Well, jungles have lots of vines. If you cut me some, and make sure there are no ants on them, I can weave a small bag that we can carry it in."
McKenna blinked. Crafts were not anything she had much experience with. Cleaning guns, knowing laws, and lately cooking a shit ton of food, but not crafts.
