by Tia Wilson
“How many casualties?” Tulimak asked.
“Four so far. All human. The doctor was one of them” Slattery said.
“Unfortunate, although he is replaceable. And our shifter friend?” Tulimak asked.
“She was injured in the escape. It’s too early to say if it’s fatal,” Slattery said.
“Make sure Anne doesn't leave these grounds. Once we have her, harvest her bile until she's dead,” Tulimak said.
Slattery nodded as he watched Grace.
“There she goes,” Tulimak said with a sly grin turning up the corners of his mouth, “run as fast as your legs can carry you. Run all the way home .” Tulimak laughed a dry self satisfied snort as he watched her. He followed her with the binoculars as she crossed the dusty path that lead to the main road out of the compound. As she ran her feet tangled together and she fell sprawling into the dirt. “Clumsy bitch,” Tulimak said in a cool emotionless voice. Grace scrambled in the dirt getting back on her feet and looked back with wide eyes of fear. A guard came thought the door behind her and dropped to one knee for a steady aim. Grace turned and ran, weaving back and forth as she ran towards the gate.
The guard steadied his gun and was about to fire when a huge paw grabbed him from behind and pulled him back into the shadows. A spray of red blood arced out from the doorway and splattered the dust before it. Grace made it to the gate and hesitated with one hand on it as she looked back towards the abattoir.
“Nothing back there for you anymore,” Tulimak said. Grace turned towards the main house and for a brief second she looked directly at Tulimak. He could see every details in her face and he felt a cold chill run down his spine as she looked in his direction, he knew she couldn’t see him behind the one way glass and the chill intensified as she stood frozen to the spot looking towards him. Grace turned and pushed the gate open and ran along the road until she turned the bend and his view was blocked by the trees.
“Is everything in place?” Tulimak asked Slattery as he turned away from the window.
“The perimeter guards are back on alert now that she is free, our other guests wont be leaving anytime soon,” Slattery said taking his notepad out of his jacket pocket and reading from it, “transport is arranged to pick up Grace further down the road. Our man will get her to the nearest town so as not to raise suspicion. After that, all tails will pull back as per your instructions.”
“And what about our special project? Has the Doctor got him ready for his first outing?” Tulimak asked.
“The Doctor prepped him first thing this morning and she is ready to go. Will I bring her up?” Slattery asked.
“Has the Doctor versed you in how to deal with his special project?” Tulimak asked Slattery.
Slattery nodded his head.
“Good. You will oversee this project from here on out. You two will now be inseparable. I think you now how important this role is. Bring his little pet up here. It’s time for our ex doctor to prove how effective a tracker his special student is,” Tulimak said.
“Right away sir,” Slattery said leaving him alone in his office.
Tulimak returned to the window and looked out across his domain. He felt at peace here, a place where he could conduct his experiments without the prying eyes of the rest of the clan. He had always thought them short sighted in their refusal to try to understand and better the advantage they had been given by becoming shifters. Ancient stories that had become weighed down with superstitious drivel was not the answer to forging a new future for the clan. Tulimak knew that only way for betterment was to understand where their power came from and how to harness it to greater levels. He had spent the last decade exploring many blind alleys, experiments trying to fuse other animals traits into a bear shifter. After countless abominations were birthed at his medical facility he had to start from scratch. He had been focusing on the wrong thing all along, bettering the members of his clan through augmentation was an affront, he saw that now. Tulimak knew he was a perfect specimen of a shifter and no experiments could ever improve on that. The real problem he came to see was the existence of the black bear clan. Their co-existence had always been fraught, with major battles flaring up between them every few hundred years. In a moment of inspiration it hit Tulimak and he knew what he should devote his life on. His father had tried to form an uneasy alliance with the other clan on several occasions. Tulimak always thought he was soft for even considering such an option. We can never take our rightful place at the head of the table if the black bear clan exists. Tulimak knew that the only real future for his clan was the complete eradication of the black bears and he saw the first real opportunity to put his plan in place when the filthy mongrels delivered Grace at his feet. Together we will both bring about the end of the scourge of the black bear clan he thought as he watched the darkening sky.
21
Grace
“Here is far enough.” Grace said to the driver. The teen had picked her up two hours ago at the cross roads and it was her third ride hitched of the day. He was heading far up north on the promise of a job in a newly discovered oil rig. Grace had enjoyed her few hours with him, his easy going optimism and the attitude that everything was going to work out ok for him was refreshing after the days of hell she had been through.
The car slowed to a halt and the teen turned to her and said, “Nice knowing you Grace. I hope home is the way you left it.”
Grace gave him a nod and a smile and got out of his car. He honked the horn and waved back at her as he sped off. Across the road was the turn off to Twin Rock and Grace knew it was only around a ten minute walk before she got there. She crossed the road and started to head home.
The more she walked on, it felt like the last effects of the bile were leaving her body. The stiffness and feeling of painful ground glass between her joints started to fade and the fog that had clouded her mind for so long seemed to lift. A branch cracked somewhere in the woods that stood watch on both sides of the road. Mongrels, she thought as she sped up her pace. She glanced behind her as she walked, in every pooled shadow at the base of a tree a mongrel could be hiding and waiting for its chance to leap out and grab her. What if this is all a cruel game by Tulimak, she thought as she walked. He’s going to let me get within sight of home and then have his mutated soldiers grab me and bring me all the way back to the compound. Stop thinking like that, she chastised herself as she could feel a panic build in her chest. Grace knew that if she broke into a run any semblance of calm would be broken and panic would crash over her in a red wave.
The road curved in a gentle incline and Grace was barely holding it together by the time she reached the peak. Someone was standing up ahead in the road looking in her direction. They are here, she thought as her whole body froze. The figure up ahead lifted his arm and waved in her direction. It was Elder Silas. Grace’s panic dissolved and she broke into a run towards the elder.
He opened his arms and they hugged when she got to him. His embrace was warm and welcoming and Grace could feel relief surge through her body. She stiffened and then thought, where’s Tom? Grace immediately jumped to the worst conclusion as she broke Elder Silas’s embrace. As he started to ask her a question she interrupted him.
“Where’s Tom? Is he ok?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Tom is ok,” Elder Silas said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “He is still out of town on a mission for the clan. We expect him back by the morning.”
“I thought when I saw you that…” Grace said trailing off, “I was afraid that he was dead.”
“I was waiting for you,” Elder Silas said, “I’ve been coming out here every day waiting for your return.”
“How did you know?” Grace asked.
“I knew. It’s nothing to do with the prophecy. It was a feeling, you don’t realise it yet, but you are a very special person. Someone like you doesn’t come along more than once every thousand years. Sometimes even longer.”
“I don’t feel special. I failed total
ly. I saved my skin and Anne was left behind in that nightmare of a place,” Grace said shaking as images of the operation on Anne flashed into her mind. “I’m a cruel person leaving her behind. How can I be from your prophecy, I’m not the kind of person your clan should pin any kind of hope on.”
“You can tell me everything that happened when we get back into town. All I know is that Anne would have done anything to protect you. Once a shifter bonds with someone we are the most loyal and protective person you could ever know,” Elder Silas said, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking into Graces eyes. “When I look at you I see a strong woman before me, a woman who understandably is still trapped in the old way of thinking. The human perspective. That will all change Grace, you’ll see. Belief in yourself and your abilities will get you through your training. Trust me,” he said squeezing her shoulders.
Training? Grace thought. I nearly didn’t finish the half marathon I took part in a few years ago, I’m not sure if I’m cut out for any kind of serious training.
“What do you mean training?” Grace asked.
“That is all ahead for you. Right now we need to get back into town and sit down with Elder Franklin. You have to fill us in on what happened. Come lets get you back home,” Elder Silas said.
They walked in silence for a few minutes and then Grace turned to him and said, “The creatures who grabbed us, they were deformed. The ones we saw looked like some sort of human bear hybrid. What are they?”
Elder Silas shook his head slowly and his eyes shone with a wet sheen. “They are the discarded children of the white bear clan. I think they refer to them as mongrels. Those bastards in that clan will banish members who don’t have the ability to fully shift. They banish the sons and daughters of the clan and ban them from ever interacting with their family again.”
“Does your clan have mongrels?” Grace asked.
“No, it is an affliction that only seems to effect white bears. We know very little about what happens. What we do know is that at some sort of initiation that they hold, if the shifter manifests the traits of a mongrel it is quickly met with banishment from the tribe. We have reached out to some of the sorry souls when our paths have crossed, only to be met with anger and distrust. The poor mongrel souls have been so damaged that they believe all shifter kind is the same,” Elder Silas said.
“Why would they kidnap us and bring us straight to the very people who have forsaken them?” Grace asked.
Elder Silas’s brow furrowed for a moment and then he said, “I think they want to go back home. There have been rumours for a long time now that the leader of the white bear clan has disappeared and a new shifter is in control. It looks like the mongrels were aware of the power structures and saw this as a possible chance to return to the fold. Did you see how that went?”
Grace shook her head and said, “Once we were delivered to Tulimak I never say another mongrel again. Do you know Tulimak?”
Elder Silas nodded his head slowly and stared ahead as they walked past the faded sign with the towns name on it. “I know of him. He’s the son of Tannis the leader of the clan who has disappeared. Tulimak is a nasty piece of work. He’s always lived in his fathers shadow, close to power but never wielding any himself. That kind of proximity to the ruler can warp some shifters. I’ve heard tales over the decades about him. In the last great world war we heard rumours that he was experimenting on humans and shifters. It was never confirmed, either he got rid of anyone that knew about what he was up to or his father covered up for him. Since then he has kept a very low profile and we have maintained an uneasy peace with his clan. Times may be changing.”
As they walked towards the town Grace spotted Elder Franklin sitting outside his hardware store. He was watching them approach, his pipe hanging from the corner of his mouth and great blue grey clouds of smoke hanging above his head. His face betrayed no emotion as they approached. Another warm welcome from Franklin, Grace thought as they drew up beside him.
“Grace, glad to see your ok,” Elder Franklin said nodding in her direction.
Grace gave him a weak smile.
“Let’s get inside and get down to business,” Elder Franklin said getting up from the wooden bench.
Nice to see you too, Grace thought as she followed the two elders to the back room.
When everyone was seated Grace turned to Elder Franklin and asked, “When will Tom be back?”
Franklin took a puff from his pipe and smoke billowed out from his pursed lips like a dragon getting ready to ignite someone. He looks annoyed, Grace thought as she watched his face for any trace of further emotion. What is his problem with me, Grace wondered as she watched him suck on the wooden pipe again. She was about to ask him the same question again when he spoke.
“Tom is not your concern now. He will be back when he completes his mission.”
Grace felt her cheeks flush and before she realised she was up on her feet. “What is your problem with me?” she said her voice raising in anger. “You have talked down to me from the moment I got here. What have I ever done to you,” Grace said jabbing a finger in his direction.
Elder Silas put his hand on her arm and said in a soothing voice, “Sit Grace, you have been through a lot the last few days. Please sit back down.”
Grace looked at Elder Franklin as she sat back down. He took another puff of his pipe and turned to Elder Silas and said, “You really think this woman is the one from our prophecy. Look at her she can’t even hold it together without exploding in anger. She wouldn’t be the first love sick human to fall hard for a shifter.” Elder Franklin crossed his arms and looked directly at Grace.
Grace could feel a vein throb in her neck as she gritted her teeth. I would love nothing more than to slap that pipe out of his smug mouth she thought staring back at him. “I didn’t ask for any of this. You remember that you bitter old man.” She tensed to stand up not knowing what she was about to do. Elder Silas gently squeezed her arm and all the fight left Graces body. I am so exhausted she thought slumping back in her seat.
Elder Silas cleared his throat and said, “Grace can you tell us exactly what happened after you went for your walk with Anne.”
Grace looked back and forth between the two shifters, Elder Franklins face looked like it was etched out of stone with an expression that was impossible to read. Elder Silas looked at her with eyes surrounded by soft wrinkles and he gave her a small friendly nod to begin. Grace turned to Elder Silas and recounted everything about the last couple of days.
When she mentioned about the bile extraction Elder Silas glanced over to the other man who closed his eyes and sucked on his pipe noisily as Grace continued with her story. By the time Grace had told her whole story she felt spent and drained of all energy, the retelling of the horrors back in the compound left her shaken as she looked to Elder Silas for answers.
“We need to discuss in private this turn of events,” Elder Franklin said rising from his chair.
Are they just going to dismiss me without giving me any answers Grace thought staying put in her chair.
“What did the bile do to me? Anne told me I was seeing her past, is that even possible?” Grace asked.
Elder Silas stood up and said, “It is Grace. We need to discuss this alone, the use of bile is an unfortunate turn of events. Its use has long been taboo among shifters. The true effects are unknown. To answer your question, yes it is possible that you saw glimpses of Annes past. The bile has a way of acting between host and receiver that forms a kind of,” he paused turning to Elder Franklin.
“It forms a link between both. An unbreakable bond that our clan still does not understand,” Elder Franklin said in a gruff voice. He looked at Grace and stroked the craggy skin under his chin and said, “I know you have been through a lot. Go rest in your apartment and we will convene a meeting later.”
I suppose that’s as nice as he’s going to be to me, Grace thought as she got up. She felt exhausted and the idea of collapsing into her bed sounded
like the greatest idea in the world. I’m too tired to get answers from them now, too emotionally frayed she thought as she said goodbye to the Elders. The two men watched her in silence as she made her way down the aisles of tools and then left the hardware store.
Grace stood with her back against the closed apartment door and looked at the neatly fixed room. I never thought I’d make it back here, she thought as she felt a sharp sting in her throat. Across the hallway was the door to Annes apartment and the thought of knocking on the door and telling Annes husband what happened brought Grace to her knees as she began to weep. The tears spilled out of her as the horror of the last few days pummelled her into submission. She curled up into a ball on the floor holding her knees as she was crushed by her sorrow at losing a new friend, the confusion of this new world she had been plunged into and the feeling that her life was slipping through her fingers and no longer under her control.
When the worst of the crying had stopped she pulled herself into bed and lay there staring at the ceiling and wishing she was in Toms arms so that he could take her pain away. She drifted off into a broken sleep filled with creeping shadows, barking dogs and the screaming face of a half way formed shifter as it roared in a horrific snarl.
Everything faded to grey and then a landscape appeared before her that stretched into infinity. A patchwork of cracked mud broken up by clumps of yellowing grass. The sun hung low to the ground and she could hear a sizzle come from the burning orange globe. Grace spun around and in every direction the landscape was flat and featureless. She turned around again and in the distance the landscape shimmered and out of it she could make out the twisted bone white trunk of a tree. Grace walked in that direction watching her shadow stretch out before her and then begin to fade as she moved forward.
She glanced over her shoulder. Someone was watching her. She was sure of it. Could feel the pinprick of the hairs on her neck stand on edge. No one was there. She turned back and she had covered half the distance to the tree.
