Beth’s truck was parked in front of the facility on the other side of the road. The rain had stopped, her windshield fogged and dripping with water. She looked at the building with mixed feelings of fear and hatred. She’d worked here for so long, longer than she wanted to dwell on.
The place had been a mental and physical prison, and she had thought she would never escape from there. Dr Makovsky had had a hold on her: he’d convinced her that the things they were doing were for a greater good. She had never been a very strong-willed person, and her fragile will had crumbled under the doctor’s influence. He had a way with words, that man. Deep down her conscience knew nothing she was doing was any good, but she’d managed to convince herself that it was.
Until she had Changed Mike on that fateful night, four years ago. How the doctor had convinced her that the serum she made was to change a werewolf back to human, she didn’t know. But she’d found herself making the serum, although something in her subconscious told her everything about it was wrong.
Prior to that time she’d never done anything of the sort to human beings, only working on animals that Dr Makovsky had brought her. But on that night as she saw what the serum could do to humans, her heart had shriveled up. She had only recently come to terms with what she’d done, and she knew things between Mike and herself were still tense. Mike had also come to terms with what he was now, but he was still keeping her at arm’s length, not bringing himself to forgive her.
She had caught him several times since they met again stealing glances at her. His stares were usually full of disdain and contempt. She guessed he was only tolerating her because she had taken care of Lauren through the years. That was all they had in common: Lauren.
Her mind circled back to the present, and she caught Axel’s voice. “The place is choking with guards and Changelings.” He was saying “The guards would be pretty easy to deal with. But the werewolves… I mean, between us we have only one werewolf who can do this, no offence, Mike. And I’m sure Lia is a strong enough wolf but the ones in there will have her in thin shreds before we can do anything.”
“Wow.” Lia cut back as her face appeared from the backseat of the truck, her voice dripping with sarcasm “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“And you can’t go because the people there will recognize you in two shakes.” Mike added “You’re our only spy. We still need you.”
“And I am the worst possible choice.” Beth said “The doctor is still probably waiting for me to show up again so he can ‘enact his revenge’ or something. And Mike,” looked at him and shook her head “No.”
“And I am the worst possible choice.” Beth said “The doctor is still probably waiting for me to show up again so he can ‘enact his revenge’ or something. And Mike,” she looked at him and shook her head “No.”
“Yeah I know.” Mike muttered “Dr Makovsky is still searching for me. His rogue wolf.” He added bitterly.
“I’ll go.” Lia started, but the other adults had raised their voices in objection. “Listen to me!” She yelled and they lowered their voices, each one eyeing her with apprehension.
“See those guards out there?” She said, pointing at the two men in uniform patrolling outside the facility “They know the rest of you. Your pictures are probably hanging somewhere in their lobby with the word “WANTED” on them. And Axel here is still on their side, or so they think. I’m the only face they won’t recognize on time. I’ll try to charm them, maybe flash my fangs at them or something if they’re not budging, then you guys will sneak into the lab from another entrance and find Lauren. There is another entrance, is there not, Axel?” She asked.
“Yes of course On the east side.” He said, nodding.
“Great.” Lia said. “I’m also sure you have an idea where Lauren might be kept hostage?”
“Mm, yeah.” Axel replied, his brow furrowing in a frown.
Beth stared at Lia, her eyes full of disbelief. The Lia she knew as Lauren’s friend had always been a carefree, happy-go-lucky person who had little idea of the powers she possessed as a Lycanthrope. Infact, she and Lauren had been polar opposites, with Lauren’s quiet and steady nature contrasting with Lia’s blithe tendency to get into trouble unknowingly. But the Lia that sat in the backseat of her truck and commandeered adults was a completely different girl. Beth watched as she grew fevered, her brown eyes glowing in the darkness of the truck. Beth guessed that the possibility of a battle was getting the wolf in her excited.
“We should also try to get the antidote for the serum.” Beth added “Or at least the formula for making it. I’m sure Dr Makovsky has it somewhere in his office.”
“There’s an antidote?” Mike asked, surprised.
“Yes.” Beth responded, avoiding his eyes “I mean, he told me there’s no antidote but I know he’s lying. Or at least I’m sure he is. It would be worth it to try.”
“By this time Dr Makovsky would be with his werewolves. So yeah, it would be pretty safe to sneak into his office.” Axel added.
“That’s a solid enough plan, I think.” Lia said “Okay, I’m going in.”
“Be careful.” Axel whispered. Lia nodded at him and stepped down from the car. Her sneakers slipped a little on the asphalt road and she extended her arms for balance, cursing silently. She crossed the road to the parking lot of the laboratory and tried her best to walk casually, stopping in front of the guards and craning her head to look in their faces. Damn my 5’3 frame! She thought.
“Hello,” she greeted, wiggling her fingers and batting her eyelashes in what she hoped was an innocent gesture. The guards didn’t buy it though. They glared at her and narrowed their eyes in distrust.
“What do you want, girl?” One of them asked.
“So our science teacher gave us a project to visit a place of scientific interest and make reports on it and I thought: ‘Hey, there’s a science lab just inside of town! Why should I visit the California Science Centre or some other place, when there’s one here?” She rambled.
“This place is not for sightseeing, kid. Scram!” One of the guards, a bald muscular man growled.
“Listen to me…” Lia protested but the bald security man was already pushing her away with the butt of his gun, obviously trying not to manhandle her.
“What’s with teenagers showing up here anyway? First that Aidan boy who thinks he’s something, next this runty girl.” The second one muttered under his breath. Lia stopped suddenly and a growl escaped from her mouth as she heard Aidan’s name.
“Oh, so that asshole is around here? Great. Another throat to tear out tonight.” She snarled. Momentary pain shot through her lower lip as her fangs came out, and she tasted blood. Her inner wolf cried out, mad with hunger for Aidan’s blood. The guard who was pushing her stared in shock, his eyes widening.
“David,” he called to his fellow security guard “I think… I think this is one of-them.”
The other guard nodded in understanding and reached for an alarm button on the wall. Strength came into Lia and she swiftly pushed the black security man aside with a grunt and leaped at the other one, morphing mid-jump. A black werewolf with blue streaks in its fur landed on his chest and he screamed. Lim picked him with her paws and flung him. He hit the laboratory wall and slid to the floor unconscious.
The second one staggered to his feet and cocked his gun. “I’ve always wanted to kill one of you pesky-things.” He growled “Today is my lucky day.”
Lia charged at him and he fired the first shot. It missed her totally and hit the glass doors behind her, shattering it to shiny bits. An alarm had gone off inside the facility and everywhere pulsed with glowing red lights. The guard, seeing that Lia was unharmed, gnashed his teeth in anger and fired another shot. This one hit her on the shoulder and she yelped in pain, falling to a heap on the floor. She staggered into a corner and whimpered as the guard approached her, grinning like a maniac.
“There, there little wolf.” He said, his voice almost lost in the screams of the alarms “This won’t hurt much if you stay still.” He cocked the gun and aimed at her head, one eye closed for a more precise view.
He shot and the wolf instinctively ducked, but the shot had missed her again. She heard a dull thud and a grunt, and by the time she raised her head, the guard was on a crumpled heap on the floor. Axel was standing behind him with a baseball bat in his hands and a very frightened Mike and Beth behind him.
They rushed forward and Axel grabbed her shoulders. Beth watched with fear as blood gushed out of the wound on her shoulder and Mike pushed her away gently, moving forward to kneel before the she-wolf.
“We would have to get that bullet out of her shoulder.” He noted “It’s the only way she would heal on time.” He turned to her and tried to soften his expression “Hold still, girl. This would hurt.”
Li snorted as though to dismiss the pain, but Mike could smell the salty tang of her fear. “Here, bite on this.” He said and handed her a piece of wood. She took it between her teeth and Mike flexed his fingers, then dug into the wound.
A piercing howl escaped from the she-wolf’s mouth and she arched away from Axel’s hands, the pain ricocheting through her body. They tried to shush her, but she kept crying out in pain. They watched in awe as the wood shattered between her jaws. It was unbearable, and nothing in all her werewolf years had prepared her for the pain she felt. Soon Mike reached the bullet and pulled it out with a squelch, his hands red with blood. The wolf collapsed into Axel’s hands in exhaustion and panted slightly, her eyes drooping.
The alarms and the chaos had not gone unnoticed though. A few scientists in lab coats ran out and looked around in shock, wondering who had caused the commotion. They took in the shattered glass and the two unconscious security guards and one of them picked up a beeper from one of the guards’ bodies. The trio in the corner heard him murmur “Code red. There’s been an intruder” into the beeper and waited with bated breath for what would happen.
In the space of a few seconds, what was remaining of the laboratory doors burst open and Dr Makovsky came out with a dozen wolves at his heels. These wolves were like nothing Beth, Axel or Mike had ever seen. They all had sleek black fur branded with a sort of tattoo on their left shoulder that glowed red. There was a thin ring of chafed skin around their neck that was devoid of fur. Their eyes also glowed equally red, and they snapped and chattered around Dr Makovsky’s feet. They had this sort of rabid quality to them, and the trio that huddled in the corner knew that these weren’t werewolves to mess with.
“Come out!” Dr Makovsky called into the darkness. “I know it’s you, Beth and Mike, and any other person you might have with you. Come out and I’ll make your deaths an easy one.”
One of the werewolves raised his head and sniffed, catching their scents. He turned towards the corner where they stayed huddled and his red eyes glowed even more.
But before the werewolf could sniff them out, a low rumble distracted it. They all looked towards the direction of the sound, coming from opposite the road where Beth’s truck was parked. And through the darkness of the forest beyond came dozens of sleek shapes, four-footed and low to the ground, their fur scattering moonlight and displacing air. Their eyes were like fire of different colours, and from their throats came a combined low growl that sounded like the roiling crash of an avalanche.
Wolves.