Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation

by Jen Haeger

  Gritting her teeth, Evelyn hunched. “Too…many…”

  “Perhaps. We will need all the fighters we can muster. But in two days it will all come to an end.” He looked relieved.

  It made sense. She couldn’t imagine the stress he’d been under since all this had started and the rest of the Wolfkin council had been killed. Feeling like she was almost able to ignore the throbbing in every cell of her body, Evelyn tried to stand upright, but then she heard howling that she recognized as Kim’s.

  “Roberto?!”

  He signaled Paul and John. “Let her through!”

  Evelyn felt herself changing even before she made it to the hallway.

  *

  Early the next morning, Evelyn was back in the makeshift lab preparing the distemper vaccinations for the sixty-six Wahya and Amaruq who had opted to be vaccinated in case something went wrong. Roberto had already taken the drums filled with the distemper virus to be transferred into tear gas canisters to rain down on the Vulke side of the battlefield. The test had gone spectacularly well, even though Evelyn hadn’t been able to observe the subjects the entire night, but so much could still go wrong. They needed to time the distribution canisters perfectly, because too soon would tip off the Vulke that something wasn’t right, causing them to retreat before most became infected, but too late would arrive after most of the strays had already transformed. Without testing, Evelyn couldn’t be positive of what would happen to already changed Wolfkin who became infected with the distemper. It was possible that the transformation might be reversed, but any number of other outcomes, including a permanent Wolfkin form followed by manifestation of distemper disease symptoms, were possible. Lost in these unpleasant thoughts, Evelyn almost didn’t hear David come in.

  “Evie?”

  “Mmmm?”

  “We need to talk.”

  She glanced up from a pile of filled syringes. “Now?”

  David’s green eyes were clear and sharp. “Now.”

  Evelyn’s temper flared, but she removed her mask and gloves and faced David. “Okay.”

  “I don’t think that you should vaccinate yourself.”

  “No.”

  She made to turn away but he grabbed her arm.

  “I’m serious, Evie. You never asked for any of this, and if everything goes well with the distemper, we won’t need you on the battlefield. Please do this. For me. You owe me.”

  Though he wasn’t necessarily wrong in light of Evelyn’s betrayal of his trust with regards to Nicolas, David’s words still irked her. “Look David. I appreciate your…concern for me, but I’m a big girl, so I get to make my own decisions. Don’t try to guilt me into the one you want me to make.”

  David set his jaw. “Are you doing this just to hurt me? Evie, I…know everything is messed up between us, and I know that you don’t even trust me anymore.” He grasped her shoulders. “But I can’t lose you. I can’t. Not now, not ten years from now when you start to get sick from Languorem luporum. Not ever.”

  Evelyn’s heart was heavy in her chest. She loved David and she wanted to do this for him, but yet, she knew she would never forgive herself for taking the easy road. Especially if it meant watching David die of Languorem luporum in the future if she didn’t find another cure. “I just can’t, David. Please. I just can’t.”

  His gaze fell from her face to the floor and his voice got colder. “Can you at least promise me that you won’t vaccinate him?”

  “Who?”

  “Nicolas.”

  “What?”

  David’s eyes found hers again, but she didn’t like what she saw there.

  “David, he’s…he should have a choice just like the rest of us.”

  “He’ll choose to stay a Wolfkin.”

  “So?”

  “So I see the way he looks at you.”

  Evelyn folded her arms to restrain her rage. “How does he look at me?”

  “Like you’d make a good mate.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I know what’s in his head, Evie. I’ve thought the same thing.”

  Evelyn’s hand flashed out and struck David’s cheek with a resounding smack that echoed around and around the lab. She felt the stinging in her hand, heard the ringing of the slap in her ears, but everything else around her turned to chaos. A roar reverberated through the room, seeming to shake the whole building. Evelyn was pushed backwards into the counter, which she hit hard before crashing to the floor in a heap and knocking her head against the concrete. Stars clouding her vision, she heard grunting and breaking glass. Moments—or maybe minutes—later, the pandemonium ceased and her vision cleared enough to take in the scene before her.

  David, his face bloody, stood over Nicolas, who lay on his back on the floor, a crimson pool spreading out beneath him. Evelyn crawled towards the two men. “What did you do?”

  She reached Nicolas’s side. A large piece of glass protruded from just under his rib cage and blood pumped steadily from the wound. Evelyn reached out a hand to staunch the bleeding, but Nicolas grabbed it. His pale blue eyes pleaded with her. “I was going to ask you…to stay…magnificent…to stay…to come…with…” His mouth made the word “me” but no sound came out. The light fled from his eyes.

  Evelyn could only stare at Nicolas. She was still holding his hand. It had gone cold.

  “Oh, Evie, Evie, Evie…”

  Her eyes trailed up to look at David.

  “I…I…he attacked me. We fell…oh God. I didn’t…”

  When his eyes finally tore away from Nicolas to look at her, they went wide. He lifted a shaking hand and extended his index finger. Evelyn followed the trajectory of David’s finger to her own arm where an empty vaccine syringe protruded. She gently laid Nicolas’s hand on his chest and plucked the syringe from her arm. A drop of blood hung off the end and a few droplets of vaccine rolled around inside the chamber. She was numb. She now had no choice. She wouldn’t be cured by the distemper.

  “Oh nonononononononono…” The panic in David’s voice drew Evelyn’s attention. He was staring at a broken vial on the counter and rocking back and forth. Suddenly he dropped to his knees, scooping up a full vaccine syringe. Yanking off the cap with his teeth, he stuck himself in the arm and injected the vaccine. Gingerly, Evelyn pulled herself upright using the counter for support. She picked out the broken vial from the debris. The label read: CANINE DISTEMPER V-59. It was a sample of the small amount of infectious distemper that Roberto had left behind for emergencies and further testing. Turning to face David, Evelyn shook her head.

  “Too late.”

  66

  And just like that Nicolas was dead, David was cured, and Evelyn was inoculated against the cure. Everything was different, yet nothing had changed. They buried Nicolas in the hospital’s old cemetery. No one spoke, but Evelyn wept and clung to Kim for support. She wept because Nicolas might have saved them all, but got nothing in return. Had she ever thanked him? Wondering if he had family birthed a new wave of tears as she realized that she hadn’t asked him anything about himself. His death was on her hands and she hadn’t even asked him about his family or where he’d grown up. She was ashamed that she’d treated him more as a resource than a person. He’d saved her life and given up everything to help her, and now he was gone.

  But there was no time for grief or regret. The Vulke had contacted Roberto, and the final battle would take place somewhere in Ontario, though they wouldn’t specify the exact site until tomorrow. The Wahya were on the move to meet with the Amaruq on Madeline’s property. Evelyn would vaccinate all those who were fighting there. For the second time, Evelyn packed a bag for war and looked around her bedroom at the condo. She thought about the letter she’d written for David and stashed under her pillow. Reaching for it, she relocated it to her freebie duffle bag from the gym. Letters for her family and Sylvy had long since been in Karen’s possession. As Evelyn rose, she thought about how different she felt now compared to the last time they left for what was su
pposed to be the deciding battle of the war with the Vulke. This time it felt like it was already over, but that the good guys had won out. She wondered why it didn’t make her feel happy.

  In a waking doze, Evelyn ate, followed the others out of the condo and into the car, and watched the scenery that she’d become almost too familiar with as they headed back to Sault Ste. Marie. At some point during the ride, she fell into a dreamless slumber that lasted until they reached a home with a dock at the mouth of Lake Superior. A shadow passed over Evelyn’s heart when she remembered that Bill wouldn’t be ferrying anyone across this day or ever again. She followed Clem and David and helped load the coolers of vaccines into a small cabin cruiser, but they had to wait about an hour for another carload of Wahya to join them. One of those Wahya was Paul, who’d helped with the distemper test.

  “Who’s watching Dr. Jonson?”

  Clem came up from below decks and answered before Paul had the chance.

  “Good people, Evie, don’t you worry none. And they’ll let us know A.S.A.P. if there’s anything to know. I promise.”

  Evelyn nodded.

  “Forgot that you’re the man now, Clem.”

  “Now, no need for flattery, ego’s healthy as a horse.”

  Turning towards David, Evelyn expected him to come back with a sarcastic retort about Clem’s ego, but he had his back to them and stared out towards the lake. The day was just as grey as the last time they’d made this journey together. She wanted to remind him of that, but his blank face caused the words to die on her lips. He was gutted, about Nicolas, about not being able to fight, especially now that Evelyn definitely would be on the battlefield, and she could think of no words to comfort him the entire boat ride over. Kim tried to placate him with words about how it wasn’t his fault, that he could still be there and still help, but in the rebuff of his silence, she eventually gave up.

  They disembarked and were driven up to Madeline’s property where tents and port-a-johns had been erected. Wahya and Amaruq were already milling about, but most gravitated towards them once they were out and unloading the coolers. Madeline ushered them inside where the side parlor had been prepared as a vaccine clinic. Bottles of rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs were thick on the rickety card tables in front of stacks of rubber glove boxes. Evelyn used the rest room in the house and washed her hands before donning her first pair of gloves.

  The vaccination procession lasted about an hour and a half. At the end, three garbage bags filled with used swabs, syringes, and gloves marked the passage of most of the sixty-six people. Stragglers would be vaccinated tomorrow, so the rest of the vaccines were stowed away in the refrigerator. Another meal then darkness fell and Evelyn joined the restless Wolfkin in a night of fighting exercises.

  *

  When morning came, Evelyn found herself alone and exhausted in a tent with her duffle bag. Outside she could hear the combined murmur of sixty or so still restless Wolfkin. She rose to find Clem and ask about the test subjects. She found him in front of several plastic tables laden with bagels, butter, jam, donuts, pastries, fruit, yogurt, and cereal.

  “Clem?”

  He turned, half a donut protruding from his mouth. Unable to speak, he gave her a thumbs up. She nodded.

  “David?”

  Clem shrugged and shook his head.

  Evelyn took a bagel and walked away, breaking bits off and forcing herself to swallow them. David was nowhere to be seen, but could have been hiding in any of the tents. Her determination to find him was stymied by several groups of people coming up to her at intervals to ask her to explain the co-infection and the vaccine to them. After the fourth group, she went back to her tent to hide.

  Kim was inside looking uncharacteristically unhappy. “Evie, this is going to work, right?”

  Zipping up the tent before she answered, Evelyn sat on a sleeping bag. “No sign that it won’t.”

  The worry lines in Kim’s face didn’t lessen. “Will David be alright?”

  “Not really. Not for a while at least.”

  “Do you think he meant to kill Nicolas?”

  The question startled Evelyn. She’d begun to just expect Kim to think the best of people, especially David. “No…not the human part of him. Maybe the wolf. But I was there. It was an accident. And Nicolas did attack him.”

  “Why?”

  “I…he…” Evelyn swallowed. “I’m not sure, but I think that he thought he was protecting me from David…or fighting for my honor maybe…? Or maybe he overheard David insisting that I not vaccinate myself?”

  “I guess we’ll never know.”

  “No, I guess we won’t.”

  Kim nodded. “I need to eat something. Walk around. Do you want to join me?”

  “Sorry, been there, done that. Might try to sleep a little.”

  Kim unzipped the tent half way, then stopped. “I know you think it was Nicolas who saved us, Evie, but it was really you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, you might jinx it.”

  Kim smiled a real smile. “Nah.” She exited the tent and zipped the flap shut behind her.

  Rolling onto her side, Evelyn closed her eyes. Sleep wouldn’t come, but she could still force her body to rest.

  *

  The communication from the Vulke came a little after one and they were on the road by two. This time, instead of loading vaccine coolers, Evelyn helped load up the canisters and their launchers. These were distributed throughout all the cars, so that the Vulke couldn’t confiscate the whole truckload. Evelyn fingered one of the canisters. It didn’t look like a cure, it looked a lot like a weapon, but then, if she thought about it, they were actually using biological warfare against the Vulke. Didn’t that break some part of the Geneva Convention?

  Caroline, Paul, and three others joined Kim, Clem, and a mysteriously appearing David in their assigned van when it was time to leave. The drive went by quickly despite the bad roads, but when they arrived at the coordinates the sun was already well on its way to sinking, and panic erupted in Evelyn’s belly. Before they had fully stopped, she was at the sliding door, jumping down to unload the canisters from the back. A mad rush into the woods ensued with everyone carrying some part of the biological artillery. Runners dropped their loads of launchers and canisters where Roberto directed them and then sprinted off in all directions to find where the Vulke were poised, ready to attack, when the sun dipped below the horizon.

  Back at the rallying point, Roberto organized teams for loading and reloading the launchers. These teams were mobile and ready to move, because as soon as they knew which direction the bulk of the Vulke were in, they would have to close the distance to within four-hundred meters to get in range of the launchers. The air vibrated with tension as the mass of armed Wolfkin quietly waited for a signal from one of the runners, and Evelyn couldn’t hear anything over the rush of blood in her ears. Finally, a faint whistle sounded from the North, and one-hundred and thirty-two feet crunched and crackled through dry leaves and over brush towards the enemy.

  67

  Only slightly more silent than a herd of enraged elephants, Evelyn wondered what the Vulke would think when they heard the Wahya and Amaruq coming. Everyone’s heads were up and eyes alert for the runners as they pounded through the forest. Then hands went up in the front of the pack with three fingers raised: the signal that they were about three-hundred meters from firing range. Soon the raised fingers decreased to two, then only one finger was raised, then the hands dropped and the lines stopped running. Then the firing began. It astounded Evelyn how little noise the launchers made given how powerful they were. The sudden lack of the trampling cacophony was punctuated over and over by the thwumps of the launchers, which were answered by distant shouts. Evelyn, terrified that they might be launching into barren woods, was encouraged by the shouts, until the change overtook her.

  The first thing her wolf-eyes saw when she came back to herself was David in human form, continuing to launch canisters. She fought her instinct to go prote
ct him and hurled forward through the trees towards shouts and smells that reminded her of bacon. The forest blurred past until a wall of strays sprang up suddenly before them. Most were huddled on the ground and cowered from the monsters approaching them, but a few fought each other or tried to attack the approaching Wolfkin. In just five or six cases, a stray had either changed too quickly or had not become infected and enraged, attacked the Wahya and Amaruq, but these were quickly surrounded and subdued.

  Though glad the strays were handled, Evelyn wanted evidence of distemper-neutered Vulke and Alonso too. Following her nose, and more screams and shouts, Evelyn eventually got her wish, though too many of the enemy Wolfkin had been able to make it back to their vehicles and escape. There were also, as predicted, enemy Wolfkin who were not initially infected. But, to Evelyn’s delight, capture and forced time in front of a canister spewing the distemper virus actually coerced a slow regression of the transformation. It was a painful transition and gruesome to witness, but it answered questions and solved timing issues. In only a few hours, sixty-six Wolfkin had rounded up two-hundred plus humans, sorting strays from Vulke by scent. No Alonso were found, which created a pit of unease in Evelyn’s chest, but she had to reserve that fear for a different day. She worried about the Vulke rallying and infecting more people or turning into a band of human murderers, but all of that was Roberto’s problem. She had done her part and, against all possible belief, she had found a kind-of cure.

  *

  In the still of the night, she found herself patrolling with Kim and Paul at her side. She finally felt some measure of elation at their accomplishment in defeating the Vulke, though David’s melancholy had led to her sneaking off on patrol without him. In just a few more hours they would leave these woods and, with luck, Evelyn would never have to pack another war duffle ever again. I can’t believe it’s over.

  Kim’s sparkling eyes mirrored exactly what Evelyn was feeling.

  Paul nudged Kim playfully with his shoulder and she snapped at him just as joyfully. Evelyn watched their antics with a tentative contentment.