Wolf Asylum

by Mark Fuson

  Darwin pushed Terri’s small body into the front passenger floor and then tossed a few bags on top of her to help conceal the crime. He retrieved his knife, wiping the blood on Terri’s blouse and then re-wiping it again with handy wipes. Darwin hopped out of his town vehicle, placing the silver dagger back into his coat pocket. He relocked the vehicle remotely and proceeded to the dinner as though nothing had happened, something he had done many times before. The perfect crime in a way; the towns people couldn’t see past their own interest to notice what had happened in front of them.

  The town square was as perfect as any of the previous gatherings. Checkered tables filled with happy and hungry citizens. Most had already had their first plate of barbeque. Laughs filled the park and happiness lined its edges. The bowling team was playing an old time German polka with a couple of accordions that helped citizens sway to the rhythm. Darwin had only wanted the perfect town, where everyone was treated with respect. On the surface, he had succeeded.

  He knew it to be an illusion—a clever one—yet a myth just the same. In his quest to evolve the species he had exemplified the elements of the old world he loathed most. Worst yet, the people he had infected hadn’t figured that out.

  Darwin went up to the podium and applause and ovation greeted him. He raised his arms in triumph and smiled to the crowd as they began to settle in.

  “Good evening, New Haven!” he said. “I’m back!”

  The crowd cheered louder than before and continued clapping. His citizens looked at him and adored him for what he was, the provider. As long as the food flowed, he would have their attention. He motioned for everyone to sit which they did without objection.

  “I guess I’m a bit early, but the rest should be along shortly. Unless I’m getting old and just can’t see ya? Clint? Doctor Gagnon, are you out there?” A moment of fear rushed though him, but when no answer came back he knew they were truly gone. “Well, I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”

  Darwin planted the seeds to keep people from asking the questions he needed them to avoid for the next hour. With everyone again seated and quietly eating, Darwin decided he would begin an introduction to the Harvest Festival.

  “I want to thank you all for taking time out of you evening to spend it with me. You have no idea what it means to have family, well maybe you don’t…I have no idea what it’s like so I appreciate you showing up! You are my family and I will always look upon you as nothing but that.

  “On the subject of family, I have sad news. Our beloved Tim Waters has been lost.” Darwin stopped to allow the gasps to subside before continuing. “I know some of you are wondering where I disappeared to? My answer is not an easy one to explain, but I’ll try. After I saw Tim taken away, and learned about my sister Marta, I knew I had to personally confront whatever was in that forest. That’s what I did. I slipped away from everyone with the intent of going back to the north woods so I could be taken by the power in the forest. I have no idea how it works, or why it happens, but we needed answers. The short answer I can give you is, I succeeded!” he announced.

  The crowd cheered and stood for another ovation that Darwin allowed with a modest blush on his face.

  “The afterlife is a strange place. Nothing makes much sense there. I don’t know if I could ever fully explain what I saw there. I learned a lot about our situation, and maybe I learnt a few ways we can fight back. So, after dessert tonight, I’m going to spend a little time talking about what we must do and ways we can quadruple our food stores! Does that sound like a good plan?” Nothing but cheers from his crowd who again could only see, smell and taste food.

  The pack gorged themselves on the remains of the former citizens of New Haven, lapping up every morsel they could find. Darwin sat by himself with the occasional citizen coming by asking how he was then quickly changing the subject to a dessert inquiry. The more it happened, the more settled he was in his decision to destroy it all.

  “Dessert will be here soon,” was all Darwin could say.

  “Ohhh! What is it? You made me come all the way back to town so it better be good!” Vivian Yee demanded jokingly.

  “It’s deadly!” Darwin admitted. “As a matter of fact I’m pretty sure you’ll die and go to heaven once you try it. Speak of the devil, here they are right now!”

  Darwin bolted from his seat at the empty head table and returned to the microphone to conclude the final act of New Haven.

  “If everyone could return to your seats, our special surprise is here. As soon as everyone gets a bottle, I want to propose a toast!” Darwin said enthusiastically.

  Steve and Teddy opened up the back of the delivery truck and began distributing cases of bottles filled with the deep burgundy dessert. One by one, the citizens quickly got their hands on a serving and obediently returned to their seats to await the toast.

  “One each, please! If there’s left over maybe we can auction it off,” Darwin suggested.

  Steve and Teddy were both wearing ball caps and Guardian outfits that helped to disguise them. Cindy Holmes took an entire case from her brother’s arms without noticing. She blindly began distributing the bottles as her brother smirked and mouthed the words: Good-bye.

  After ten minutes, the distribution was complete and from what Darwin could see everyone had been polite enough not to sneak a sample. If anyone had, everyone would know soon enough.

  Darwin stood in front of his people and raised his own vial. Thousands of onlookers raised their tiny glass bottles and waited for Darwin to give the green light.

  In silence, Darwin stood over the crowd scanning the back reaches looking for Steve and Teddy. After a moment, he found them near the road as though they were getting ready for a quick getaway.

  “A toast!” Darwin said with his black vial held high. “Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we begin again. Our festivities mark yet the latest achievement in the world we have created. We are the model, we are the symbol, and we are the chosen path to enlightenment. To our success and to new beginnings.”

  Darwin placed his lip on the vial and swallowed the substance whole, trying to bypass his taste buds. He closed his eyes and winced as his stomach knotted for a moment only to be replaced with searing heat that made him begin to perspire. Placing his hands on the podium he was unsure if he would be able to speak or if it would be too much for him to continue. He prayed silently that he would not pass out. He needed to continue speaking to keep everyone distracted. In a moment, the light-headedness passed he got his balance back, allowing him to continue.

  Looking on at the euphoric crowd, he could tell everyone was happy with their fix. They slumped into their chairs quivering, waiting to hear from their master.

  “And of our failings…” Darwin began again, “when I started this adventure, it wasn’t about making a new world. I got involved in this because I had to. Can you imagine what that meant? Here I am, a young, troubled man who nobody liked and I decide I want to create the perfect town using the gift. It was never about that! It was about covering my ass! That quickly evolved into a matter of control, and eventually it felt pretty fucking good. That’s what it was—control. Thy flock shall follow where the food grows plentiful. You see nothing really changed after the town became lycan. I was still alone; sure, people were polite, but that was about it. What really didn’t change was the evil that existed here. We were the good ones, but we became evil. I was everything I hated in this town and I infected the rest of you. I watched many of you sell out your morals for your next fix and you didn’t even notice. So, what that tells me is, you were never good! The moment each of you were in a position where you could do unto others as they had done to you, you did! That doesn’t make us good. It took dismembering one of my former high school bullies before I started to get it! What is wrong with us?” He lectured like a father to a child who had disappointed.

  “You must know how I felt about all of you; how I’ve tried my very best to give you the good life,” Darwin said humbly to a low level applause
that only lasted for a few seconds because the crowd didn’t know what else to do.

  “What is it that we envisioned here? We were brought together by a set of morals and beliefs. We stuck to those beliefs and the good that they held for our people. We evolved without consideration for the potential consequences of our actions. We’ve passed the point of no return. We’ve reached the precipice. We’re all used up and we can go no further. I have failed you.” He paused to the disagreement of his people.

  Darwin shook his head and raised his arms, attempting to bring order. Strengthening his voice he reasserted his control of the meeting.

  “What would you have me do? Everything I have tried hasn’t worked. It’s only a matter of time before they come for us. We’ll be discovered and then what? Our food stores…they’re all gone.

  “It’s over.”

  Cindy Holmes stood up from her table and hollered her opinion to her maker and her one time lover, “how can you say that? What’s changed that everything has suddenly become so dismal?”

  “Cindy, you know as well as anyone here that our appetite is growing at an insatiable rate. No matter what we do we can’t quench our hunger. Our life here is not sustainable. What do you want me to do? The food is all gone. All our plans to create more didn’t produce fast enough.”

  “Don’t I have a say, like anyone else in this family?” she asked.

  Darwin sighed but grudgingly agreed to listen, “Of course you do. If I thought there were any other plans out there that might save us, don’t you think I would try them? Perhaps that I would listen to you?”

  “Listen to me now!” Cindy begged. “It’s time our group left New Haven! We must move into a large center, our community will be fractured but at least our food supplies will be plentiful and we can survive.”

  “What good would that do? We can’t break up this family. It’s too late for that, I’m telling you. Se Venire-he’s real, he’s coming. I’ve been to Hell for you and I have returned and I know what awaits us. I saw what happened to Tim, you don’t want that. Our presence in this world must end. If nothing good can come from us then our decision here and now must be our only true good,” Darwin concluded.

  Cindy began to cry but continued her fight for the group, “It can’t be over Darwin! It can’t! Everything you promised—you did it! You gave us perfection and peace. You’re frightening me the way you’re talking.” She sobbed as Caroline grabbed her arm and stroked it in support.

  “There’s nothing to fear, I promise you. We can’t go on this way. Mister Slade has warned us of the other side and Se Venire. Our presence in this town by our very numbers jeopardizes everything. Hell only used us, I’m telling you. Have I ever lied to you?” Darwin asked to the group at large.

  The group agreed with no opposition.

  “The gate is opening, and when it does Se Venire will arrive along with Hell on Earth. You worry about food now; I’m telling you if that gate opens there won’t be any food anywhere! That pain you feel between feedings, imagine that all day everyday…never subsiding, never dying. It will drive you to insanity. That’s what our future holds. We have only one way to stop it, to save ourselves and to protect this world from the fire.”

  Cindy bawled openly and asked the question she already knew the answer to. “How?” she asked.

  “It’s already done—you don’t have to suffer anymore,” Darwin replied to a now silent crowd who were fixated on the glass vials they had all consumed.

  “I’m gay,” he said bluntly. “I kept that locked inside of me because shit fucks like you made me believe I was worthless. Many of you will say you knew and that is was no big deal. I have ears, and from what I heard, it never felt like it was no big deal. Every time you mimicked, mocked, joked, or rolled your eyes—you helped to create this astringent young man. Bit by bit my humanity was taken from me. I am responsible for how things ended, but you all played a part, too.”

  Darwin’s internal heat began to subside but his anger only continued to rise.

  Darwin said with his vein bulging on his neck, “Why did I tell you that?” he asked like the benevolent dictator one last time, “I have no fucking clue! It’s none of your goddamn business. It’s the dirty little secret everyone rumors about but nobody really wants to know. I gave up my life because I was so ashamed of who I was. I was ashamed of who I am! I’m sorry but I can’t be what you want. In the pursuit of perfection we create our own evil, I know that now.”

  Cindy fell to the ground and the crowd gasped. Darwin knew it had begun. As he scanned the crowd he could see other residents clutching their sides and begin to struggle for air. Necks began to inflate and skin began to sag like ice cream melting off a stick.

  “I just want you to know, if there had been another way…” Darwin said with a devilish grin. “The drug of youth was too strong for you to avoid.”

  Every citizen at the festival now coughed and gagged. Projections of vomit crossed the tables like a Grecian fountain. Many of the people were covering their ears as their eardrums ruptured one by one, spewing black and gray material in jets like a sprinkler. Blood leaked from the nose, mouth, and eyes. Within seconds, Darwin sat back waiting for the rush of the podium to begin.

  As the death began to consume them the transformation kicked in and tried to save them. Partial wolves looked at Darwin crying, wondering how he could betray them so handily. It was more than a betrayal; it was a holocaust.

  Darwin found himself mesmerized by one of the children who he recognized as the winner of the snowman contest in December. The little girl was crying and changing; her summer dress tearing at the shoulders. Blood drained from her ears but quickly it began pouring from the cracks in her skull that seemed to pulsate. The crack on her temple ran past her eye and down her cheek that seemed to pound at completely random intervals. Her right eye, full of color, fell out and began bouncing around her mouth. Like a rabid animal she snapped at her own eyeball and started chewing on it. The last thing Darwin saw was her skin sliding from her face just before she fell to the ground and burst.

  Caroline Lutz shuffled her way towards the podium with a spine that had seized. Of all the residents, she was the only one who was close to reaching Darwin. The poison was sparing no one and within moments, everyone was incapacitated yet Caroline pressed onwards. Her wolf emerged like never before. Her canines pushed through her human teeth which fell out onto the grass. The colored orbs clouded over and caved inwards leaving black holes behind. Blinded, the dying creature tripped on the steps of the stage and crushed her cranium on impact. A liquefied material poured from the gapping hole in her skull and rushed across the stage splashing onto Darwin’s foot. The yellowish fluid smelt of death and steamed. Even through Darwin’s shoes were biohazard, as were Teddy’s and Steve’s, he still felt as though it might burn through to his skin like acid. He kicked off his shoe and turned his back on his one-time family.

  His entire community was melting, exploding and disintegrating faster than Darwin could have imagined. It had been much easier than he had ever hoped.

  Darwin walked the perimeter of the festival, watching the last of his people snuff out. He approached Teddy and Steve who seemed overly-disturbed by what they had just participated in. The two men were standing side by side next to the delivery truck, frozen in place.

  Steve held his knuckle under his teeth and appeared to be gnawing on his own flesh nervously. His eyes were transfixed to nothing. He looked onwards blankly and in shock.

  Teddy had ruby eyes and wet cheeks. He rubbed the snot from his nose on his sleeve before acknowledging Darwin.

  “We just did that,” he said to himself.

  “It’s done. It had to be done,” Darwin assured as he took Steve’s hand to bring him from his daze.

  “How do you feel?” Steve asked.

  “Human,” he replied.

  “So, that’s it? The door is closed now? We won?” Teddy asked, growing excited.

  “We’ve got one more person t
o visit,” Darwin said with unease.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “It’s a girl!”

  Darwin, Steve and Teddy all heard the statement at the same time. The voice was familiar to Steve and Darwin. Lynda Aspen had found a way to punch a message though and everyone heard it.

  “A girl?” Darwin said slowly. “He’s coming?”

  “What does it mean?” Steve asked.

  “Everything we know is wrong,” Darwin said.

  The corridors of city hall were absent and Darwin wasn’t sure if he would find Tara and Slade in his office, but his instinct said yes. Walking quietly the trio slowly opened the door and found the office empty with nothing out of place other than the Power of One shattered on the floor.

  “I liked that picture,” Darwin commented.

  “That picture reminds me of Shawn’s place,” Steve added.

  “Hey Tara! You here?” Darwin shouted.

  For a moment, they heard nothing and then came a slight rustling from the private bedroom. The door knob rattled and then it opened. Tara emerged wearing a dress shirt but nothing else.

  “Darwin! I’m so embarrassed for you to find me like this. I hope you don’t mind I used your bedroom?” she asked.

  “You already have, so why ask now,” Darwin stated as an obvious point. “Where’s Slade, I must talk to him?”

  “He’ll be back soon. Is it me or do you guys smell different?” she asked as she slid behind her old desk.

  “I went to the afterlife, and I’ve learned a few things. Marta was not carrying Se Venire,” Darwin said sternly.

  “Afterlife…that sounds fun!” Tara commented like a dismissive mother. “So, who was she carrying?”

  “I don’t know, but I must see Slade before he leaves town, he might be able to help.”

  “I’m right here little man, what do you want to know?” Slade asked with his absorbed vocals and his trademark smoke cloud following him from the hallway.