by COE 3. 1. 0
“We never said you were a werewolf.” Will turned to Dr. Ivan. “What is he?”
“I have never been able to isolate the different shifter subtypes. At least . . . not on paper.” Ivan gazed at Oliver. “We would have to find out his phenotype in the usual way.”
“What usual way?” Oliver said.
Felicity was uncomfortable. She remembered the wolves near the hospital.
“You were there,” she said to Will. “You saved me from the mutants.”
“I believe you made that connection sometime this morning,” he replied, “only that your overriding consciousness wouldn’t let you believe it.”
“Is that why we are alive?” she said. “Because we have these latent shifter genes? Is that why you are all alive?”
“Yes. Our shifter genetics confer a certain immunity towards the virus for some reason. I suppose if the scientists in the CDC were still alive, they would be using us as guinea pigs to find a cure.”
“But Oliver almost died. If I didn’t get him those antibiotics – ” She faltered. Those antibiotics hadn’t helped a good many people. If they had, there would be a lot more human survivors walking around today.
“So had a good many of us here,” Will said. “The shifter genotype does not convey total immunity, especially if it is a recessive gene. It weeds out the weakest of us.”
“So some of you have succumbed?” Oliver said.
“Yes. A good many of us. The twenty of us who are still left are certainly, by Darwinian Law, the fittest.” Will eyed Oliver up and down with interest. “So are you, by natural selection, it would seem.”
“Then what about me?” Felicity said.
Her printout trembled in her hands.
Dr. Ivan said, glancing at Will, “I’m afraid she does not have the Chromosome 16 translocation. But there is a mutation in Chromosome 11 which is not seen in normal human chromosomes. I haven’t h-had a chance to study it.”
“What is she?” Will said pointedly.
Yeah, what am I? Felicity thought.
It was strange, but her reaction to all this was not as explosive as she thought it would be. It was like being told you had a terminal disease – only that you were not going to die. You were going to live. And Oliver. Her lover was a shifter. Not a werewolf shifter at that, but something else. What did that make him? He was still her lover. He was still the same caring, protective, strikingly handsome guy she had fallen in love with. He was still her Oliver. No DNA translocation would change that.
As for herself –
Was this what emotional numbness was all about?
Dr. Ivan said helplessly, “I don’t know.”
“Is she human?” Will asked.
Hey, don’t talk about me when I’m still in the room, she wanted to say. But her reactions were deadened, like she was swimming in molasses.
“Yes, she is. But there’s also something more,” Ivan said. “I don’t know what it is right now. Please . . . I need time.”
Why was he so frightened of Will Bennett? Felicity sensed that they were about to find out.
Oliver was processing all this.
“OK,” he said. “I’m a shifter. Maybe I’ll display some shifter characteristics, whatever they are. Maybe I won’t. The point is – I’ve lived my whole life thus far without displaying any, and I’ve gotten along just fine. Felicity has gotten along just fine too. So now we know the real deal about us, if what you say is true and what he’s giving us – ” he pointed at Ivan “ – isn’t some gobbledygook he cooked up. But it hasn’t changed anything. We are still us. We have always been us.”
Will leaned over. His face was eager, and yet slightly menacing.
“Yes, but now you get a chance to explore these abilities. To make the latent manifest in ways you would never have imagined. To run as you have never run before, to be free as you have never been free before. So stay here with us and learn to manage those abilities.”
Oliver hesitated, and Felicity could tell he was really mulling it over. But she had something to say to him. Something she wasn’t going to say in front of Will Bennett and Dr. Ivan.
Oliver finally said, “Let me talk it over with Felicity and let you know later.”
“Fine,” Will said. “I’ll be waiting.”
“OK.” Oliver got up, took Felicity’s arm and ushered her out.
27
In their bedroom, Oliver said, “How do you feel about all this?”
She simply shook her head. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“Do you believe them?”
“I don’t know. I did wonder about those wolves.”
“The only way I can find out if all this is true is that if we stay.” Oliver paused. “But . . . I can tell you have some misgivings.”
Felicity clutched his hands. “Oliver, I know you want to find out more about this. And I certainly won’t blame you one bit. But those guys . . . the way they look at me . . . like I’m the last female left on Earth.”
“You probably are. But I know what you mean.” He clasped her hands back. “No worries. We don’t need them to find out who we are. We’ll tell Will Bennett ‘no’ and we’ll go back to the lake house, or find somewhere else, OK?”
“OK,” she said, relieved.
He hugged her. “We’re going to be OK.”
“What if they won’t let us leave?”
He looked troubled. “He gave us his word.”
“What if his word is not worth anything?”
“There’s only one way to find out. Don’t worry. We’re in this together and I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” His clear blue eyes were resolute.
She wondered if it was a promise he could keep.
*
They went downstairs again with their backpacks to find Will Bennett waiting for them with Jim and Harry.
“You’re leaving,” Will stated, staring them down.
Uh oh, Felicity thought.
“Yes,” Oliver said. “We talked about it, Felicity and I, and decided we’d strike out on our own. No offense. You did say we were free to leave anytime.”
“Yes, I did say it.”
The three men – shifters – blocked the open doorway.
Oliver did not back down. They had suspected something like this would happen.
“So let us pass,” Oliver said.
“I’m afraid that is not possible,” Will said pleasantly.
“You gave us your word. You have twenty-one men here. You don’t need two more pairs of hands.”
Will gestured to Felicity.
“You can go,” he said to Oliver. “But she stays.”
“What for?” Oliver demanded.
“What do you think?”
“She’s my girlfriend. Find your own woman.”
“She’s the only woman left that we know about. We need her for the continuation of our species. Your species.”
Felicity was beginning to be alarmed.
“As far as I’m concerned, I have no vested interest in your species. I’m human, and so is she,” Oliver declared. “You have no right to be keeping anyone against their will.”
“This is bigger than either you or her.”
“You lied to us to get us to come here.”
“I lied to protect our continuity. I would do whatever it takes for us to survive. Don’t you see what’s happening?” Will spread his hands around. “The Creators or whatever you want to believe about them have spoken. Mankind has been weeded out and found wanting. We are the future now.”
“She’s not part of this. She’s not a shifter.”
“She’s the only human female left standing. We will need her to repopulate.”
The awful horror was dawning upon Felicity. Repopulation! Using her body and her womb! Technically, she knew it made sense, but the horror of it – being a brood mare to these shifters – was staggering.
“You don’t know that! You’re confined to this city. There are probably thousands of c
ities filled with survivors. You don’t have to take her!”
“We don’t know that. Better a bird in hand.”
Oliver whipped out his gun, as he had intended, and pointed it at Will. “She’s not a bird.”
Felicity whipped out her gun too, although her hands were trembling, and pointed it at Jim. “I know how to use this thing, in case you’re thinking what you’re thinking.” There was a quaver in her voice.
“Naturally, we were prepared for you to be desperate,” Will said. “Look behind you.”
Both Oliver and Felicity partially turned, while keeping their guns trained on their targets. Behind them were men with machine guns pointed at them.
“I can shoot you right now and you’d be dead,” Oliver said to Will.
“My men can shoot her right now, but not to kill,” Will retorted. “After all, we only need her torso to breed.”
The way he said it made Felicity’s blood run cold.
Oliver paled. He lowered the gun.
“No, Oliver!” she cried.
“We’ll find another way out of here,” he muttered. “I got us into this, I’ll get us out of this.”
“No! We made a joined decision to come here!”
Will pronounced, “Touching, but I can assure you . . . there is no way out.”
28
They were in the courtyard, surrounded by the men. It was cold, but the air wore a lethal crisp quality. There was a tang of iron in the atmosphere, or maybe it was blood, Felicity could not tell.
They were both tied up with their wrists behind them and sitting on chairs. The courtyard was fringed by trees, and the sun was partially occluded by clouds, but nothing could obscure what was standing in the middle of the courtyard.
It was a pillar. Attached to the pillar were several iron rings at each level. There was old blood streaked on that pillar.
Felicity had a very bad feeling about this.
“There is a way to make latent phenotypes manifest in recessives,” Will announced.
Oh yes. The usual way, she remembered Ivan saying.
“What are you going to do, Will?” Oliver said. “Torture it out of me?”
“You are a very perceptive young man. That is precisely what we will do. Excruciating pain has a way of manifesting the latent beasts in all of us. Other extremes would do as well. Severe cold. Blistering heat that would make you wish you were in hell.”
Felicity’s heart sank.
“Seize him,” Will said.
“No!” she cried.
Two men untied Oliver’s wrists and hauled his struggling body to the pillar. He was wearing a sweatshirt, and they tore this off him. They cuffed him to one of the iron rings with his back against the pillar. His arms were strung above his head and his beautiful body heaved as he spat and kicked at them.
“Secure him tightly,” Will ordered. “He must not be allowed to break free when the change happens.”
“Fuck you!” cried Oliver.
They did it to him anyway. They wrenched his shoes and socks off and cuffed his ankles to the pillar. One of the men who handled Oliver was Erasmus, and Felicity winced when she saw him cop a feel on Oliver’s crotch.
Oliver strained against his bonds, his muscles and abs bulging, but he could not break his iron manacles.
Jim picked up something which looked like a rod.
“No, please!” Felicity cringed. “Don’t hurt him!”
“It’s necessary,” Will said.
Jim pressed the rod against the side of Oliver’s body. A mild buzz sounded, and Felicity realized that the rod was a taser. Unseen bolts of electricity shot through Oliver’s body, causing him to writhe and cry out in agony.
Felicity’s eyes filled with tears. “Please, no,” she said desperately.
Will seized her neck in a tight grip – not to choke her but to secure his hold on her.
“Watch carefully,” he breathed in her ear. He smelled of some strange animal musk which was surprisingly sexy, and frightening to her that she found it sexy. “It might not be long.”
She hoped so too, for Oliver’s sake. But whatever was supposed to happen to him did not happen at the second time the rod was pressed to his side, and the third.
Jim continued to torture Oliver, moving the rod everywhere on his body – to his chest, neck, throat and even his crotch. Felicity wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She could only watch helplessly as Oliver screamed, despite not wanting to, and flailed helplessly against the torture. She could only be thankful that his body was not marred physically. She didn’t want him to carry the physical scars from this.
Finally, Oliver slumped against the pillar, held up by only his wrist manacles. He was barely conscious.
“Please,” Felicity cried. “Don’t do this anymore. He’ll die!”
“He’s still human,” Will said in disgust. “Cut him down and let him rest. We will continue with something else tomorrow.”
Felicity didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified.
“What about the girl?” Jim asked.
“Bring her to my room,” Will said.
Felicity felt faint. Oliver was still hanging by his wrists, oblivious.
She whispered, “I’ll do whatever it is you want me to do. Just don’t hurt him anymore.”
“Brave words, girl. But do you know what it is we have in store for you?”
“Wait,” Jim said. “It’s not a given that you would be the one to breed her.”
“I am the alpha of this pack,” growled Will. He was suddenly menacing, and Felicity could feel the atmosphere charge up and the hair on her arms rise. “I will breed her.”
“No,” Jim said, standing straight and tall. “The order decrees that any of us has a right to challenge you for first breeding of any female. I’m the beta, and I challenge you for the right to breed her.”
“You can wait your turn.”
“Wait a year when she’s milking the babe and recovering from childbirth? Who knows where any of us might be in a year? Who knows if she will be alive?”
This was becoming worse and worse, Felicity thought. They weren’t even pretending she was anything more than a brood mare anymore.
“I’ll accept your challenge,” Will said. He looked around at the men. “Are there any more of you?”
It was Harry who stepped up next. “I challenge both your rights to breed her first.”
Will said, “What? Are all of you turning this into a mating contest?”
“It is our right,” Jim asserted. “It would not be the first.”
He was large, Felicity would give him that.
“Any more?” Will said to the men. “Because I will beat all of you into submission, and I will not stop at killing you if you force my hand.”
“Are you sure she’s a safe bet for breeding?” Erasmus said. “We don’t know anything about her. She’s not one of us.”
“She’s the only female we know left alive. That makes her genes potent,” Harry said.
“Enough bickering,” Will thundered. “We will meet tonight to determine the rules of the contest. Take her and lock her up in her room. No one is to touch her until the actual mating.”
Someone untied her wrists, and someone else hauled her up. They were doing the same to Oliver, who was so weak that he had to be carried around the shoulders by two men.
“Wait,” came a faint voice.
Everyone stopped and stared at the source.
Oliver raised his head. His brow was wreathed in sweat.
“She’s my girlfriend,” he said, his voice gaining strength with every word. “She’s the woman I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my life with. I love her. I would give my life for her.”
Felicity’s jaw dropped. Oliver had never told her he loved her before. And now . . . considering their circumstances. He probably was afraid he would never see her again.
Everyone else there was just as stunned.
Oliver continued, locking shining eyes
with Felicity, “So if this is to be a challenge, I’ll throw my name into the ring as well. I will challenge all three of you for the right to mate with this woman. And if I win, she’s mine forever.”
Silence reigned for the next few moments.
Then Will laughed. It was not a nice laugh.
“You challenge us? You’re not even one of us yet. This is a man’s game, boy. Don’t get yourself killed over a college infatuation.”
“It is not an infatuation. You brought me here to be one of you. I demand the very same rights as all of you then.” Oliver eased himself away from the men supporting him to stand shakily on his bare feet. “If I’m not mistaken, I have those rights.” He eyed Will. “Unless you’re afraid . . . of what I really am.”
“Oliver,” cried Felicity, “don’t do this! None of this is your fault. Don’t do this to protect me or because you think you’re responsible for this happening!”
Oliver did not reply her. His blue eyes were resolute as he lifted his chin. His tortured body spasmed, but he did not fall down.
“I’m not afraid of anyone or anything,” Will declared.
“Good. Then I’ll be the fourth,” Oliver said.
“You’d better get prepared then, because we start the contest tomorrow.”
“What’s in the contest?” Oliver demanded. “The conditions have to be fair.”
“You’re not being fair!” Felicity said. “You just tortured him. He’s not fit to stand up for contest tomorrow!”
“Then we will see if he’s fit to mate with the only woman left in our world.”
29
Will brought her back to her room and threw her on the bed. She wondered whether or not to fight him, but decided that he would probably overpower her anyway. The sexual current was very strong in the room.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to touch me before the contest was decided,” she spat.
“I won’t touch you.”
“If you do, I’ll fight you and yell rape,” she warned. She sat up in bed. Part of her was frightened, and yet excited for some inexplicable reason. Will Bennett was a very overpowering and attractive man, and although she detested him and everything he stood for, a primal part of her – the part that wanted to be desired for being a beautiful woman – was piqued. “If you take me, I won’t come willingly.”