The Cannibal Cure

by Jeff D Ellis

  Abby readied her P-90 and chased after David.

  “The sounds seem to be coming from behind this door. In 3 … 2 … 1.”

  David slammed open the door and they entered. “Marshals!”

  Looking around, he saw Hammer and some man huddled over Ash and no sign of the monster. “Hammer, report.”

  Hammer looked up. “She was badly hurt by the Windigo and needs help. This is Otis Thorn.”

  Thorn yelled, “Ash needs her tree as fast as we can get her there, or she is going to die. Help me.”

  “Abby, check her out. Hammer, quickly explain. You indicated Thorn was the Windigo.”

  “I was wrong, it was his wife, who just ran out of here. I can explain later. We just need to help her!”

  Abby looked up after a quick look at Ash. “There’s no time. We have to get her to her tree. A hospital won’t be able to help a Dryad in this condition.”

  David had to make a quick decision. “I can’t tell what is going on. Otis Thorn, please put your hands behind your back and tell us the quickest way back to the parking lot.”

  Thorn put his hands behind his back and David slapped hand cuffs on him.

  “Hit the button on the far wall next to the roll-up doors. They will go up and you will be at a loading dock at a building next to Thorn Technologies.”

  “Hammer, if you would open the door. Abby, is Ash safe for me to pick her up?”

  Abby nodded and he bent down and picked her up as if he was cradling a very large baby.

  Abby got on the radio. “Team-2, we need you next door for prisoner transport. Look for the open loading bay.”

  “Roger, Team-1. ETA: two minutes.”

  David didn’t feel safe leaving Hammer with the others until he found out what had happened. He could tell Hammer wasn’t Human anymore and couldn’t risk the others getting hurt.

  “Abby, stay with Thorn and get him back to base. Hammer, you’re with me. I need a quick briefing on the way to the Ash’s tree.”

  David needed all of the speed and strength he could get to quickly carry Ash back to the SUV. Transforming into a Ware-Jaguar, he heard Hammer gasp out in shock, but he still ran behind David and they raced to Abby’s SUV.

  David, why am I not coming with you?

  Hammer is no longer Human, and we need to get Thorn back for interrogation once we have Ash sorted out. I will get back to you with the full story, once I know it. Also, Thorn has a similar magical aura as Ash, but doesn’t match anything I’ve seen yet. Don’t underestimate him.

  Perry stopped their SUV just before passing David and Hammer.

  David shifted back to Human form. “Let me have your SUV, then go in and help Abby get Otis Thorn back to hers. She will explain.”

  Perry jumped out and helped open the passenger door for David to set Ash in the back.

  “Thanks. Hammer, ride in the back with Ash.”

  ***

  Abby turned to her captive. “So, you’re a Dryad?”

  “What, you thought I was a Windigo?”

  “David is getting Ash to her tree. Where did the Windigo go?”

  “She went down that passage to an escape tunnel. She is long gone now.”

  Perry and Gwen came through the door.

  “I thought you had a car?”

  “We gave it to David and Hammer.”

  She took Thorn by the arm and walked in their direction. “Meet Otis Thorn, Dryad.”

  Thorn smirked. “That’s Doctor Thorn to you.”

  Abby jerked his arm. “Don’t think your PhD can help you much here.”

  “You would be surprised.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Debrief

  THEY GOT TO Ash’s house. Hammer opened the door. David carried Ash to the backyard. He held her close as he quickly moved around the house.

  “Hold on, Ash, we’re almost there.”

  Ash groaned. She was very pale and hardly breathing now. Not knowing what to do, David held her under her arms with her feet on the ground. He guided her hand as if she was going to hug her tree. The tree became very bright and its surface looked translucent as if it was a pool of water. He felt the tree start to suck Ash into it and David slowly relinquished his support as the tree took over. Within moments, Ash had been absorbed into the tree.

  Hammer shook his head. “I never thought I would see something like that, but I never thought I would see a monster turn into a woman, or a coyote turn into you.”

  “I can understand how much of a shock this all is to you, but I need to understand what happened to you. You know you’re no longer Human, right?”

  “It’s a long story. I was staking out Otis Thorn and a woman, Ash, came up to my car window frantically wanting help, and the next thing I know, I’m in an underground cell being told how I was part of some cure for death or something.”

  “You were moved just before we got to your cell. We almost rescued you then, but Ash must have told Thorn we were on our way.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered. They infected me with the Windigo virus just before they moved me. At that point, I was locked into hoping their new trial was the cure. By the way, they infected you on purpose so they could use your antibodies to finish their cure.”

  David nodded. “When Ash disappeared with my bloodwork, I had thought that was the case. Are you cured?”

  “All I have is Thorn’s word that the cure worked, but the cure didn’t work on his wife.”

  “What? The Windigo is his wife?”

  “She became a Windigo when Ash was a child.”

  “Thorn is her father?”

  “I learned this just before you and Abby burst in.”

  “Okay, take me back to the cure not working.”

  “It changed the woman back into the monster and it enraged it. That’s when it struck out at Ash and escaped.”

  “Maybe they didn’t factor in the fact the Windigo had changed someone that wasn’t Human into their formula. You and their test subjects started out fully Human.”

  “You would have to talk to them.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Mostly like my old self but healthier. I don’t feel the need to attack or eat Humans. I’m not starving all the time like when I was infected. What’s going to happen to me?”

  “I don’t know, but I suspect until the powers that be are fully sure you won’t revert to a Windigo, you can’t go back to your old life.”

  “That was my assumption as well. I don’t want to put other people at risk in any case. I do want to help capture or fight the Windigo. I think you and I are the only ones that may have any immunity to the virus right now.”

  “You may be right, but it’s not up to me.”

  “How long do we have to wait here for Ash to come out of her tree?”

  “I have no idea. When she needed healing before, I guess it took maybe half a day.”

  “You don’t know how bad I felt hurting her.”

  “You’re the reason she got hurt before?”

  “It was before they gave me the cure when they were trying to see how much of a Windigo I was. I partially transformed and lashed out and hurt her.”

  “Why didn’t she become a Windigo?”

  “They said I couldn’t infect anybody until I was fully a Windigo and they gave me the cure before then.”

  “Maybe that is also why it didn’t work on the Windigo. She had been one for many years.”

  “Since before your parents died.”

  “What did my parents have to do with it?”

  “Thorn said they thought having some blood to study from a Shapeshifter would be enough and by the time they needed the blood from a Shapeshifter that had beat the virus, your father had been killed.”

  David sucked in a sharp breath and spat out, “I think I really hate Thorn.”

  “I agree. I wasn’t happy being a mad scientist’s lab rat, but wasn’t given a choice.”

  “I better call the Chief.”

  �
��Chief, Hammer and I reunited Ash with her tree but have no idea how long she will be in it. It could be days and we have an enraged Windigo to catch.”

  “Understood. The rest of the team is back in the office. Leave a note in the house for her to contact us or else, and return to the office. Put Detective Hammer in an interview room the moment you are back. I need to talk to him myself.”

  “Yes, Chief.”

  ***

  Hammer found the ride back to the Marshals office filled with uncomfortable silence. Whatever David was told didn’t seem promising for him. In a way, he could understand it. He felt like some sort of monster they didn’t trust or know what to do with, or maybe it was like a ticking time bomb. In any case, he was worried.

  On arrival, he was ushered into an integration room and left to stew. He had sat on the other side of that table often enough to know all of the games and it felt like they were playing him right now. He never did get his watch back, and like the cell he had been in, there were no clocks in this room.

  Deputy Chief Marshal Knight entered the room.

  “Detective, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Can we get you something to eat or drink before we get started?”

  “Let’s not waste each other’s time. Ask your questions and I will answer the best that I can.”

  “Do you know we found evidence that you killed Cora Prescott?”

  So that’s what Thorn was talking about! They framed him for what they did.

  “I can’t understand how that could be true since I didn’t do any such thing.”

  “Abby had a vision that Dr. Ashleigh Mackie planted the evidence. It’s not something that would hold up with your boss, but we believe you.”

  “Then stop playing games and ask the questions you really want answers to.”

  “Detective, are you a Windigo?”

  “I was told by Dr. Otis Thorn and Dr. Mackie as I knew her, that I have been cured of everything, but I now have advanced healing and decreased aging.”

  “David says he can see you are no longer Human.”

  “But did he say I was a Windigo?”

  “He did not, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a danger to those around you.”

  “There is no way anyone can prove they can’t become a monster.”

  “You can understand the situation we’re in.”

  “I’ve done nothing wrong. I was the victim.”

  “Yes, you were, but when we rescued you, Thorn wasn’t treating you like a prisoner.”

  “He knew I had no choice. I couldn’t try to escape after I was infected. I also couldn’t try before I knew if the cure would need repeated doses. There was no way I wanted to risk others.”

  “Do you need repeated doses?”

  “They said my DNA or something has changed and is stable. As far as they are concerned, I’m cured.”

  “But you don’t trust them …”

  “How can I trust someone that turned me into a lab rat?”

  “Which is why before we can send you on your way, we need to run independent tests.”

  “Be honest with me. Will I ever be able to go back to my old life?”

  The Chief shook his head. “No. As far as the world is concerned, you died in the line of duty.”

  “What’s to stop you from making that true?”

  “You will just have to trust us. WITSEC is part of our charter and we can give you a new identity and life once we know you are safe to be in Human society.”

  “I want to help hunt the Windigo.”

  “David passed along your feelings.”

  “It’s better to risk me than to let Abby or someone else get infected.”

  “I will take that under advisement and make my decision after interviewing Dr. Otis Thorn.”

  “What happens to me until then?”

  “It’s my duty to protect the people under my command. I will need to put you in holding for a few hours until a decision can be reached. I hope you understand.”

  Hammer didn’t understand. David said he wasn’t a Windigo and they were armed Marshals. His long career in law enforcement should be worth something. At least he should be given desk duty. The idea of them faking his death didn’t sit well with him. What was to stop them from making it true? His biggest fear was his days as a lab rat weren’t over and he’d be moved to a different lab with different mad scientists poking and prodding him. They told him he would heal faster, but they didn’t say he wouldn’t feel the pain of injuries inflicted on him. If he could grow back body parts, would they make him an organ farm? He would rather die than let something like that happen. Best not to think that far ahead. He was never told he could grow back body parts. It could only be an immunity to disease, or the effects of aging and he didn’t want to test that out.

  The only good thing from his prior life as a police detective was it didn’t leave much room for a social life. There wasn’t a wife or kids to cry over his fake death. No one was going to miss him for very long. It may not have been much of a life, but it was his life and he resented it being taken away. Hammer hated feeling powerless. Why WITSEC? If he was harmless enough for a new life somewhere else, why not just keep an eye on him here in his old life? None of this made sense and felt more like false hopes to make him compliant than actual hope.

  He needed to talk to Abby. She seemed like an honest person who wasn’t fully bought into whatever the Marshals were doing. Maybe she could help him when the time came to take action and win back some power over his own life.

  ***

  Abby was invited to watch the interrogation of Dr. Otis Thorn through a hidden camera via CCTV. It wasn’t recorded in any way. What happened in these rooms was too sensitive to leave evidence behind. The Chief was hoping Abby might be able to tell if Thorn was lying, but she didn’t have great hopes her ability would work this way. She hadn’t been able to tell Ash was lying when face to face, so what was the chance of it working remotely with her dad? She told the Chief as much, but he still wanted her to do it.

  The Chief sat across a table from Thorn.

  “Why don’t we start with your real name?”

  “Dr. Otis Thorn.”

  “There is no record of anyone by that name more than ten years ago. Why don’t we start again? What is your name?”

  “I’ve had so many. Why does it really matter? Right now, I’m Otis Thorn.”

  “You are Ashleigh Mackie’s father?”

  “That is correct and the Windigo you seek was my wife and her mother.”

  “Where do you think she went?”

  “Ash?”

  “We know Ash is in her tree behind her house. Where would the Windigo have gone?”

  “Why should I tell you, even if I knew?”

  “You have been trying to save her for many years. Do you want us to try to bring her in alive or dead?”

  “Why should I think you’ll do anything but kill her?”

  “Was your research only to cure her, or were you actually trying to better the world?”

  “My research can continue to help others, but only if she’s alive.”

  “If your cure had worked on her, how were you going to continue your research? With no Windigo to get virus samples, how would you set up the conditions for the cure like you did with Detective Hammer? Did you actually expect a cure developed on Humans to work on a Dryad?”

  “I want to talk to your superiors.”

  The Chief stood and left the room. Moments later, he entered the viewing room.

  “What did you get from Thorn?”

  “I don’t know if he was lying or not, but I really don’t trust him. It felt like there was something more going on than finding a cure for his wife. I would like to talk to Hammer and see if there is anything more he might have overheard that could shed some light on this.”

  He nodded. “Let Hammer out, but I want you and David to watch over him.”

  “You still don’t trust Hammer?”

  “I don’t think he
would do anything to hurt someone on purpose, but I’m not sure he’s not a danger to others yet.”

  “We’ll be careful.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Watching Hammer

  ABBY ENTERED THE holding area containing Hammer and left the door open. How they were treating Hammer felt unfair to Abby. She didn’t think there was much risk, but it wasn’t her call to make.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk before.”

  “It was busy with Ash being hurt so badly.”

  Abby nodded. “I’m still sorry it’s taken this long.”

  Hammer looked pointedly at the door. “Can I take it by the door being open that I’m not going to be locked up anymore?”

  “The Chief says you don’t need to be confined anymore, but you do need to stay with David and me for the time being.”

  “I’m under observation.”

  “Can you blame him? We have no idea if you’re really cured or not and even if it’s still possible for you to become a Windigo. I want to hear your thoughts about this.”

  “I agree with him for those same reasons. I know me, but I can’t trust what I was told, and just because I feel fine and don’t have the urges I had before the cure, doesn’t mean I can’t become a monster. Do you feel safe being around me?”

  Abby smiled. “I’m here, aren’t I? David says your aura doesn’t match the Windigo we fought. I think if you really were a monster, you wouldn’t be worried about what could happen to me.”

  Hammer nodded and his voice had a shake in it. “Thanks, Abby. That means a lot to me. Can we go for a walk or something? I could use a breath of fresh air.”

  “Sure, Hammer.”

  “Any chance someone could get me a change of clothes and my watch? I’d like to get cleaned up and changed.”

  Abby smiled. “As long as you don’t mind sweatpants and a sweatshirt that says U.S. Marshals on it! If you want, you can take a shower here. At least it would be a start. David and I had to do that once when our clothes were needed for analysis after fighting some Zombies.”