Rebirth

by D. C. Alexander

  “Hey! Cut that shit out. You want me to help, you get up front with me, no bullshit, no cryin’.” I tried for a firm tone. I bullied her and hated it, but that move proved she wasn’t just an old lady. She sure acted like one though, defenseless, a little batty. No, it had to be an act.

  Tears filled her eyes and threatened to leak down her face. Fucking drama, she didn’t need to do this.

  “Look, what do you want? Just tell me, you don’t need all that stuff to get me to help.” Harry bumped his head into my shoulder. I noticed he didn’t stink any more. Remember to tell him thanks for bathing.

  “Oh, thank god, thank you, come on.” She backed away and it took me a second to catch up.

  “No, wait, I ain’t goin’ anywhere till I know more about it. You want to come in?” Immediately I thought about that “If you aint a vampire that is. I most explicitly ain’t invitin’ you in if you a vampire. Matter of fact, what are you? Let’s get that out of the way.”

  Harry bumped me again. If he tried to be inconspicuous he failed big time. Taller than me, he extended his neck and reached down with his head to bump me. He looked like a chicken. Oh. Yeah, he was a crow. It still looked funny.

  “What? If you got something to say, just say it! That looks weird. We gotta work on how you act.” I muttered that last to myself more than him. He didn’t care.

  “She’s a were. Blood and guts on her. Somebody injured.”

  “I was gonna tell you, not keepin’ it secret from you.” The old lady ignored the crow. “You been healing folk. I got a hurt one needs healin’. I can pay, I need you quick.”

  “Where? Why didn’t you bring the hurt person here? What sort of thing is this hurt person?” I had a lot more questions. Just a few days ago I’d been off the porch by now on my way somewhere. Getting beat up and stabbed and blown up and shit.

  “He’s over at my place. Brain goin’ bad. If not for that we’d let him heal natural, but the brain thing, need to fix that quick as we can.”

  “Let me take a huge leap here. This the one the werewolf girl tore the guts out of a couple days ago?”

  “Yes ma’am. Can we go now? Ah. How did you know about..Never mind.”

  “I need to know I’ll be ok if I go over there. I ain’t easy with strangers bein’ there while I work.”

  “Whatever you need we’ll make it happen. I ain’t got time, I guarantee you’ll be safe, there ain’t a thing to be scared of. Can we go?”

  “I don’t like this. Who’s in that house, other than the hurt one and you? Oh, fuck it, lead on, let’s go.” Yeah, it was gonna be a shits storm, but if somebody was goin’ brain dead I needed to get there quick.

  She opened the door and stepped aside to let me in. Me and Harry. She went to block Harry but she was way too slow. I waited for her to close the door and show us to the patient. I like that, the patient, like I was a medical person.

  The patient was lying in an unzipped black body bag in what I assume was her king-size bed. The bag contained the ice around and on his head. And in the gapped open hole in his belly. An oxygen tank, mask and tubes were shoved out of the way against the wall. This patient looked, what I could see of him, like they waited too long to call me. His skin should probably be caucasian white, it was pale greenish tan. Eyes wide open and glazed. The mouth wide open, no air moved. If there were lungs left in the torso they weren’t hooked up. This dude needed a mortician, not a doctor. I had to get uninvolved in this shit right now. “Ok, well, I ain’t got no aspirin, he needs somethin’ a little stronger anyway. I’ll just show myself out, nice meetin’ you miz Perkins.”

  I sprang for the door, fuck a bunch of decorum, I intended to be back at the house in the next ten seconds. I made it down the hall, in sight of the door. Harry had to take care of his own shit, he was a big crow now.

  The girlfriend from the night of the werewolf when the dude got his guts ripped out stood in front of the door, the boyfriend was closing the door behind them.

  “Excuse me, hey, how y’all doin’?” I turned sideways and grabbed for the knob. This was just a bump in the road.

  Boyfriend turned loose of the door knob and caught my hand and shook it with both of his. “Hi! You’re the healer, right? Rose? You got Rob fixed? Thank god. He’s an asshole, but his relatives don’t want him dead. Bein’ stupider will improve him.”

  Girlfriend punched the fuck out of him, hit him in the kidney. This wasn’t a cute girly slap. He’d be pissing blood from that. “Urghhh.” He collapsed against the door.

  “Hey, let’s get him off the door, I need to go outside.” I tried for casual, projecting the old ‘not in a screaming hurry to get the fuck out of there before y’all realize the dude is dead as shit and I ain’t healing him’ attitude. I think I did well.

  “How’s Rob? You get him breathing?” I got the feeling she didn’t buy into the attitude.

  “Well, about that.” Looked like it was time for some hard truths. “He is, like..well. What he needs is, let’s see, umm. Well. That’s your brother?”

  “Yes. Did. You. Get. Him Breathing?”

  “Well, ok. No. He needs some resurrection. He. Is. DEAD. As a fucking doorknob. Like this one. That I am fixin’ to turn and go out and go back to my house. And stomp your fuckin’ ass if you don’t get out of my face right fuckin’ now. Bitch.”

  She stepped back and held her hands up, “I’m sorry, I’m messing this all up, please, wait a second and let me talk with you. Please? That’s my brother, I hurt him, let me tell you about it. Then you leave if you want.”

  “I know how he got this way, I saw it. I’m very sorry for your loss.” The guy against the door looked better, getting some color back in his face. If I had to I’d use the door to move him.

  “Rob is a werewolf. He won’t die from this. But his brain isn’t getting any blood, it’s starved for oxygen. The longer it takes to get blood pumping the worse the damage is gonna be. He’ll heal from it. But he is losing stuff every second that we wait. I will do anything if you’ll go in there and fix his heart and lungs enough to let him breathe and pump blood. He can take it from there.”

  “Um. Ok, let’s go. I wish people would tell me things up front.”

  Harry stood in a corner out of the way in the bedroom. I bet he knew all this to start with, I looked at him and he looked up at the ceiling

  I put my hands through the ice and touched the corpse on his face. They weren’t bullshitting me. He was alive. His body was working hard to heal his guts but he didn’t have enough reserves to do much. His heart was undamaged. Both lungs had torn places partially repaired. Most of the damage was to all the connections that led to his legs. Everything around his belly button was, pardon me, gutted. He didn’t have enough blood left in him for anything useful.

  “I need him outside, on the ground. I need blood. If you don’t have a gallon or two of blood I need warm water. I’m guessin’ blood type don’t matter. I’m gonna need some coffee, some soup or such that I can drink for energy.”

  Maybelle grabbed one end of the body bag, girlfriend grabbed the other and they toted him out of the bedroom.

  “Hey, what’s your name? I can’t keep calling you girlfriend.”

  “Huh? Therese, call me Terry. That was Ralph in the front room. That’s everbody.”

  “Except the truck driver was, the one with the axe handle. If he don’t care I don’t guess I care though.”

  They did a great job getting the body bag outside. It’s awkward to handle that much limp weight. Terry looked puzzled, no doubt wondering how I knew about the other guy.

  Once I had the guy on the ground like I needed him, I had to figure out how to get blood to the brain. Seal off the lower body, come back later and fix that? Fix everything? That was gonna take longer but would be the better option.

  First thing, clean out broken, dead, or otherwise bad shit. I hunkered down and got started.

  Twenty Two

  I took my first good full breath in a long time. His b
elly was closed, making the missing skin and muscle for the closure had been rough. His heartbeat started a while back. He breathed slow and deep and even. Bugs showed up. I’m sure he had some inside him. But I was done, his body was fixed.

  I had blood on my pants and shirt. Hell, I was covered with the stuff. My knees creaked when I tried to stand up. My back froze up in a hunkered position. They’ held food and drink to my mouth while I worked and I’d sucked it down without looking away.

  I healed myself of the stiffness and refilled my energy. If I did that while healing I wouldn’t get so drained but I never thought to do it till I was finished.

  His eyes opened, bright blue, showing no signs of the glaze he had earlier. We were alone. I’d been out here for hours and the excitement faded for those watching. They’d left water and soup. I knew he was thirsty. He worked his mouth, he might have a bad taste. I raised his upper body and offered the pint jar of water, still cool from the melted ice.

  He drank most of the jar, slow and steady, my hand trembled from the strain before he turned his head.

  “Ahhh. That was sooo good. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I turned up the jar and drank the rest of the water.

  “It is good. Man, you were torn up. Glad to see you back.” I just spent hours arm deep in his guts, he was closer than the brother I never had. It was a shame he wouldn’t think the same way.

  “Thank you. I’m sure I’ve lost memories, did I know you before I got hurt?”

  “No, when they asked me to come heal you, that’s the first I ever knew of you.”

  “Well.”

  “Yeah. Just relax. You’re good to go. I’m going home to take a shower. You should get one too; get out of that body bag. And get some clothes on.” I realized he was naked as I spoke. Oh well.

  A mob watched us from where they stood in nice, even semicircle. One of them stepped out toward me and tossed a paper bag on the ground in front of me like it was full of shit.

  “Here. You’re paid. Take it and leave.” This was a seriously nasty bastard, he acted like I pissed in his shoe.

  I kept my eyes on jerkbait and sunk the bag without looking at it. Hey, if it was money, I could use it.

  “I don’t know what got your panties in a wad. Don’t take it out on me. I was under the impression this was Mis Perkin’s house, she asked me to come here. I don’t know you.”

  This might be a gang, but they were all mixed, whites and blacks, tans. I thought gangs were mostly the same race. They put off gang vibes though, and the leader was the guy talking to me.

  “Maryann, Terry” Both of them were in the crowd. “Is this jerk somebody I should listen to?” I deliberately spoke past the guy to let him know I wasn’t impressed. Ok, I was impressed. He had muscles on his muscles. I had a magic sword though; he really didn’t want to start shit. I would end it.

  “Bitch, I’m done with you. Leave. Keep that smart mouth closed, I’ll whip your ass. You got no idea who I am.”

  I was too tired for this shit, just mentally tired. I was ready to go to the house and get something to eat; I didn’t have time for some jerk needed his face adjusted. “You silly fuck, you ” About there is when he sprang at me head first from fifteen feet away. His arms grew fur as he flew, his face began to grow a muzzle, ho hum, seen this already. I churned through choices with Beta, what to do…let’s see. Between Earth and Beta, I had lots of options, and all the time in the world to think about it. I could use a different shape. Huh. Didn’t know that. Needed practice before I fought with it, probably.

  The obvious, just split him in two with the sword. That would be a lot of healing, if I wanted to fix him after.

  No, we had the perfect answer. I stepped aside and created a pit. He couldn’t change his path in the air, but he tried, soon as he saw what waited.

  This pit was special, just for this jerk piece of shit. It had stalagmites sticking up all over it, nice and sharp, and we even put all the silver handy in the things. That was just a little but maybe it would sting. He managed to twist around some of them, but he got one in the gut, one in his leg and one in his neck. They were the same diameter as my upper arm, and a little taller than my height. And sharp, the tips were earth sharp, and it don’t get sharper.

  He broke the one in his neck off. I had to look away, I noticed movement from the crowd, they might gang rush me. But no, they just wanted to see.

  He broke the one in his leg off and had the one out of his neck. That was impressive.

  I hollered down “Hey, stand up, I want to show you something special, asshole…heehee, that was a hint!”

  He threw one of the broken stones at me like a spear, I dodged it and got the other one in the thigh way too close to my crotch. Earth and I made it be loose dirt when it hit and it didn’t stick.

  He came jumping out of the hole with the wound in his stomach closing. He reached for my throat with both hands, hairy all over, sharp teeth filling a mouth that could cover my head.

  I grabbed his wrists – just the outside edges, my hands were too small to circle his big, brawny wrist – and snatched down while making me stick to the earth. Kinda like I made me heavy. He bit at my face so I shoved him back and turned him loose, he flew back in the hole. And got stuck with a couple more of the stone spears.

  “Fuckin’ bitch!” among all the grunting, he was cussing me and tell me what he was gonna do when he got loose.

  So I buried him. Closed the pit up and sank his ass down till I couldn’t hear him. About 20 feet deep seemed like enough and I packed the dirt on and around him so he couldn’t dig out.

  I turned to the crowd and asked, “Does anybody want him back? Do y’all need him for anything?”

  Terry said “Did you kill him?”

  “Naw, not yet. He’s just buried and the dirt packed in. Depends on how long he can go without breathin’.”

  “If you kill him, you’re the new Alpha.” I didn’t know this one, a medium height black guy with really short hair.

  “No, it wasn’t a challenge! She ain’t a shifter! Come on, let’s dogpile her ass and put her down!” This guy charged me as he said the last so I sucked him down till nothing but his head stuck out and pressed the earth in so he couldn’t talk any more, no air.

  “Next?” And that shifter thing…”

  I didn’t figure the dog would be too impressive judging from what I saw of the jerk, so I checked, I had some sort of bear form….let me see how quick I can do that.

  Pretty damn quick. I was looking level at them, and I was on all fours, which was odd feeling. I stood up, and that was some standing up, I was looking from about twice as high as normal, so somewhere around eight or ten feet high.

  “How is that?” I said, but it came out as a pretty solid growl and the crowd backed up a little, making sure they had maneuvering room.

  The jerk I had buried came boiling up about then, looked around, probably for me, noticed the bear, and attacked.

  He sprang at me from fifteen feet away teeth first; I reached out to hold him off me, and smacked him in the side of the head. My paw was larger than his head, it was a good lick, and sent him spinning away through the air.

  Damn, this was rocking! I ran over to him, the bear body ran on all fours on autopilot and did good cause there was no way I could control that many feet and hands or whatever the hell I had.

  He got up, which was amazing, and zipped at me and got a bite on my arm, which was a front leg at the moment. I think he meant to bite it off, but he couldn’t close his mouth on it. He still got his teeth stuck in good and was ripping his head back and forth to tear. I sat back and lifted my arm and he came with it, the body I was in put my mouth over his head and it fit. I closed my mouth a little till I made firm contact, and he went real still. I pulled him off my arm/leg, whatever, and he didn’t resist. He was careful not to hurt it any more as I pulled him off.

  I pushed his head to the ground and put a foot/hand on his chest with him on his back.
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  He spread his front paws out, like ‘I give’; so I took my mouth off his head, carefully, and kept the hand on his chest. That paw was as wide as his body and had claws, each one as long as my regular hand. Impressive.

  He didn’t move. I had to decide what to do with him. He was a rude shithead, and attacked me for no reason; and was a werewolf I guess, so that was a bad thing. According to my recent vampire experience I probably ought to go ahead and tear him into little pieces.

  He was talking to me – no, he was trying to breathe. I guess my paw had his chest compressed and he couldn’t get air. He was trying not to upset me now.

  Some of the crowd had come close, Terry said

  “Change back – she could’ve killed you, change back and see if she’ll let you go. Rose, he lost, he ain’t fighting, if you want you can let him go. He’ll behave.”

  “I got a blanket, you can change and I’ll cover you if you care.” Maryann was standing there with a blanket held out. My clothes must have got shredded. Shit. I lifted my hand and sat back to see what happened, and the nasty shithead changed back to human and remained on the ground on his back. So I stood and gestured to Maryann, got behind the blanket and changed.

  I shrugged the blanket around me and walked over to the asshole who remained on the ground watching me.

  “Are we done?” If this shithead made me go through this again, I would take his head off and bury him and be done.

  He was gasping for breath, it was hard to understand him “The pack…oh god….How…far?”

  I squatted, making a little tent of the blanket. My ass was hanging out, I was dirty and sweaty, in front of a crowd, how the hell did I ever get in a situation like this?

  “I ain’t got no idea what you’re talking about. If you go nuts on me again, I’m gonna pull off your head and shit down your neck hole. If that don’t get it, I am gonna get serious on yo ass.”

  He leaned his head way back and turned it like he was showing me something on his neck, a shiver shook his body. This was one well built asshole, it was a shame he was crazy as a fucking bedbug.