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I climb the ladder as quickly as possible, hoping Stealth missed. This has now gone completely fucking crazy. It was one thing when we all sat in a hole and listened to breeding sex. It’s something else now that these assholes are blasting cars off the road. That is absolutely not legal, and will come with serious consequences, one way or another.
Sure enough, I recognize the wreckage even at a distance. It once was the chief’s muscle car, a black and beige thing that used to look pretty sweet and retro. Now it’s a twisted pile of burning metal and glass scattered across the road.
I knew this would happen. I told them this would happen. I knew the entire department could not disappear one person at a time without something being done. I don’t know how he found us, but I knew he would.
Running as fast as I can, I am compelled to at least try to save my boss. I should have fucking warned him. I should have escaped. I should have done anything other than passively sat in a hole in the ground and waited for everything to go wrong.
The closer I get the more I see the catastrophic damage. But it’s not as bad as I thought it was. The shot didn’t hit directly, but it fucked up the road enough to send the car careening off the road and into bushes.
Someone is getting out. Someone big, and hairy, and angry.
“Connor! It’s me!” I call out. “Don’t move! I’ll get you some help!”
Will I? What kind of help can I possibly get him? He’s probably going to end up as a monster prisoner just like me.
I’m getting closer way too slowly. My leg has started to ache. Once it starts to ache, there’s only a small amount of time until it buckles out from under me completely. I curse my weakness, along with the asshole who made me weak. This isn’t fair.
Order, Justice, and Stealth are behind me. I can hear them rushing up. I don’t want them here. I just want them to go away and maybe even let me go too. If I’ve learned anything among the monsters, it’s that I’m too weak and too human to have anything in common with them. That’s why Order treats me like a pet, because I am so much lesser than them.
The poor man emerging from the fucked up vehicle is making horrible, inhuman sounds.
“Chief!” I call out. “Stay still!”
But he doesn’t stay still. He rushes for me, and as he closes the distance between us I feel a flash of excitement followed by one of pure fear.
It is Chief Connor. But not as I know him. He is bursting out of his shirt, dark fur emerging from the strained buttons and the splits appearing at the seams. He was always hairy, but he never crossed the line into fur the way he is now.
“Wolf!”
The cry goes up and all three chimera hurl themselves toward Chief Connor. They’re going to hurt him. They’re probably going to kill him. I can’t allow that, even if werewolves are real.
“No!” I throw myself in front of Chief Connor with a last-minute desperate act, closing the last bit of space between us and physically allying myself with him. “He’s not a wolf. He’s my boss. You’re not going to hurt him, because he’s not here to hurt you. He just wants us back, Sally and me.”
“Tessie,” Order growls, coming to a halt, flanked by Stealth and Justice. “Get away from it. Now.”
I can hear Connor behind me, grunting and cursing. He must be in so much pain. I don’t have to imagine the agony of wounds, because I have had first hand experience. He is probably in shock, and terrified, and he has nobody to help him except me.
Order thinks I’m going to obey him because the consequence for not obeying him is humiliating punishment. He’s wrong. I’ve decided to stand my ground. I…
“OW!” I shriek at the top of my lungs as the thing that I really thought was Connor bites me. Hard. I feel teeth pierce the flesh of my shoulder and hit bone. I shriek in shock and pain, unable to believe he just did that to me. He releases immediately, but I can feel that the wounds are deep and nasty. I am bleeding. I am hurt.
“Chief! It’s me!” I scream. “It’s me! Why would you hurt me!?”
“Sorry,” he growls in my ear before fleeing into the night. The others try to give chase, Justice taking to the air, and Stealth slithering full speed across the grassy fields. Neither of them is successful in recapturing Chief Connor I later learn.
For now, I buckle in shock, my weak leg giving way completely as I collapse, bitten and betrayed. Order is immediately atop me, trying to staunch the blood. He says nothing as he lays me down in the grass at the side of the road. Sally is there too now, with a first aid kit. They work on me with a calm yet frantic energy while I lay there confused and hurt and no longer understanding anything. Why? Why would he come all this way just to kill me?
With my wounds packed, I am lifted carefully into Order’s arms and carried back down into the vault. I am crying, out of betrayal and shock. I cannot believe Chief Connor would ever hurt me, but he did. He hurt me bad. I am trembling and shaking, going into physical and emotional shock at the same time.
Order has still not said a word. He is too busy working on me, administering the painkillers they have in the vault — which, it turns out, are heavy and very effective.
I’m going down. Darkness is coming. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
9
“We’ve got to get rid of her.”
I can hear them talking about me. They’re not in the room, but their voices are as clear as if they were, partially because their discussion is heated, and partially because my hearing seems to have been turned up to eleven.
