by Storm Jk
Josef added, looking at Vondra as well, ‘When we grow up, we’ll be bad won’t we?’
Kissing both of the children on their heads and tightening her arms around them, Vondra replied, ‘We’re a new people, each of us is special, but we choose whether or not to be monsters. You’ll have a choice.’
‘I won’t be a monster,’ Iva declared strongly.
‘I won’t either,’ Josef added. ‘I’m going to be a truck driver like that man,’ pointing to Ross in the front.
Vondra laughed and the children smiled, relaxing in her arms. ‘What a splendid idea,’ and they could hear Ross chuckling, having overheard the conversation. ‘Would you like me to tell you a story?’ Vondra asked. The children both nodded and she began a story that Varrick had told her when she was young and life had seemed so sweet.
*
Eric had made it to the new camp in under three minutes from where he had left the truck. Within ten minutes, Vince had organised his men and they were on their way to the old camp site. Helena ran to find Janak, she would bring the children back so he could join Vince and return to help Vladimir. She knew Janak would join in the fight. Eric had quickly eaten a large bowl of stew that one of the other women in the camp had cooking over the fire, before turning back to the forest and morphing into his wolf. His speed was incredible and within seconds he had left Vince, in the old jeep, behind.
Vince tried to think of a plan. He was worried that they might not make it in time and knew if they did they’d only have minutes to come up with a plan. He knew that Vladimir would expect him to have one on the spot. They each had a machine gun but ammunition was limited, they also had a rocket launcher with only one rocket. Still, it was better than nothing.
Janak, in his wolf form, suddenly came out of the forest and joined the jeep, matching its pace. Looking at Janak, Vince had an idea and thought about it for a moment; he was sure it would work.
Talking out loud, more to himself than his men he said, ‘We’ve got to get to the camp before Varrick,’ and he pressed the accelerator to the floor.
Emily and Applejacks stopped as soon as Eric forged the connection. After the discussion, Emily told Valeskia what Vladimir had ordered. Valeskia was clearly uncomfortable on Applejacks. She didn’t say anything but both Emily and Applejacks could feel her tension.
‘Instead of riding back, I’ll teleport us,’ Emily told Valeskia. Valeskia nodded and within seconds she felt the in-between coldness, then they were back at the old camp. Taking a moment to orientate herself, Emily asked Applejacks to take them back into the forest where they would be out of sight from anyone entering the camp. Twenty minutes later, Vladimir, Eric and Jonas bounded into the camp. ‘Over here,’ Emily called from the bushes. The men morphed back into human shape as they gathered near Emily, Applejacks and Valeskia.
Vladimir said, ‘Ross and Vondra will be here with the children soon. Emily, as soon as Varrick shows up at the camp, transport the children and Mother to a safe place.’ Emily nodded. Vladimir added, ‘Then I want you to teleport away as many of his men as possible, but leave Ivan, Roy and Varrick. Eric I need you to go two kilometres down the road and let me know as soon as Ross and Vondra pass, then wait for Varrick. I need to know how many men and their configuration.’ Eric nodded and hugged Vladimir, Emily and finally, Valeskia before turning into his wolf and bounding off. Vladimir came and stood behind Emily, wrapping his arms around her. He gently kissed the top of her head as she reached back into his arms.
‘What’s your plan, Vladimir?’ Valeskia asked.
‘It is very simple, Mother. I need to kill Varrick! But I won’t ask Emily to send him into the void.’ Vladimir’s voice was tight. ‘I know most of the abnormals will join us.’
Valeskia felt a pang of sadness. Varrick must die. In her heart she knew that Varrick was evil but after so many years together she wasn’t sure how she felt about killing Varrick. They could hear a vehicle approach and Vince’s jeep broke into the compound with Janak coming out of the forest a few seconds after him.
‘Vince, over here!’ Vladimir yelled and Vince drove the jeep into the forest towards them. As he stopped the vehicle, he ordered his men into different positions.
‘Vladimir, I have an idea. We have only one rocket launcher but we also have two packets of C4 to place at the entrance. As Varrick comes through I’ll rocket the C4, it should take down most of his men.’
‘Good idea, Vince. That is a good plan.’ Vladimir had known Vince would come up with something. Vince lifted the pack from the jeep and went to a spot at the entrance of the camp. Carefully he placed the pack at the base of a large tree.
The explosion should cause the tree to disintegrate and that will add to the destruction, Vince thought to himself. After placing the bomb at the base of the tree, Vince moved to a spot that would hide him and give him easy access with the rocket launcher.
Vladimir looked at Jonas. ‘I need you to come around the rear and I will draw the group past the entrance.’ Jonas nodded, locking eyes with Valeskia.
She nodded and said, ‘Make sure you live, Jonas. We still have a lot of work ahead of us.’
‘I have a secret field to show you, we’ve kept busy,’ Jonas replied.
‘I expected no less of you,’ Valeskia smiled at him. Jonas returned the smile and morphed into his wolf form. He bolted to the spot where Vladimir had asked him to go. Eric forged a connection and spoke. ‘Ross and Vondra have just passed me,’ and within a couple of minutes they heard the truck come down the dirt track to the camp. Ross drove the truck to the centre of the camp and stopped, and Vladimir came and helped Vondra and the children out of the truck. Valeskia joined them and Vladimir told Ross and Vondra of the plan.
Kneeling in front of the children, Vondra told them gently, ‘You’re going to go on a special trip with Valeskia. It will be cold for a few seconds but you’ll be safe.’
Iva looked at Vondra and said, ‘But we don’t want to leave you.’ Josef nodded, clutching Vondra’s arms.
‘I don’t want to leave you either but the monster man is coming and you need to be safe.’
‘What if he kills you?’ Josef asked. His voice was small and there were tears in his eyes.
Ross stepped forward and said, ‘I won’t let that happen.’ He placed his hand on Vondra’s shoulder and with the other hand tousled Josef’s light brown hair. Turning to Janak, Vladimir told him to join Jonas and as he bounded off he called. ‘Be careful, friend.’ Then Eric connected again.
‘Varrick is passing me. He has at least fifty guards with machine guns and two jeeps with rocket launchers. All twelve of the abnormal guards appear to be with him as well. I can see Varrick and Ivan, but Roy is not with them.’ Even through the link Eric sounded angry about that.
‘How are the guns positioned?’ Vladimir asked, wondering where Roy was and why he was not with Varrick.
‘Close together, the whole group is moving tightly together. I estimate they’ll be with you in less than four minutes.’ He told Ross what Eric had said and sent him over to let Vince know. If Varrick came into the camp in a tight group, Vince’s plan might just work. Emily stood in the shadows of the trees; her whole body trembled with anticipation. Hearing Eric describe Varrick’s group, it all seemed so overwhelming. She rested her head on Applejacks’ shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, Emily. What will be, will be.’ Applejacks soothed her.
‘I know,’ Emily replied out loud. ‘It all seems so surreal compared to our lives just over two weeks ago.’ Pausing, she asked Applejacks, ‘Do you think we’ll win?’
Applejacks’ mind was silent and then he replied, ‘I do not know what will happen but no one will win today.’
‘Oh my friend, you’re so right,’ Emily said, hugging him. Emily opened up her connection to the other abnormals before she could hear the rumble of jeeps. They were confused and felt disoriented and jumping into their energy. Emily amplified the confusion by throwing pictures of the abnormal children in da
nger. She could feel their resentment of Varrick grow and Emily added into that emotion before asking them to join Vladimir.
‘Help us free you and your people! Join us! Please, this is your last chance.’ She then sent a vision of Iva and Josef huddled together in terror. ‘Is this what you want for your children?’ she yelled telepathically. ‘If you want to join us, move to the end of your convoy.’ She could feel in the link that at least half of the wolves began to move back. She told Vladimir what had happened and within seconds the vehicles entered the camp.
A moment later, Vince stood up and released the rocket. The explosion was massive. The large tree next to the entrance exploded into a million pieces that rained down on the camp. Emily barely had time to transport Valeskia and the children away before the wood hit the ground where they had been just a second before. Vladimir and Vondra hid behind the truck as the explosion caught the jeeps and there was a huge fireball. There was screaming from the men who did not die immediately from the blast but at least twenty of Varrick’s men were still alive and they started firing in the direction of the truck.
Emily started transporting them away as Vladimir had ordered and within seconds they started to pop away from the camp site. Suddenly Varrick broke through. He had been injured but he could still walk.
He yelled at the top of his lungs, ‘Stop witch or the children die!’ and he held up a small device that looked like a remote. Varrick ordered his men to stop firing.
‘Emily, stop for a moment,’ Vladimir ordered and stepped from behind the truck in his wolf form. Vondra followed, growling at Varrick.
Now, slowly entering the camp site were all the abnormals. Varrick smiled as they moved behind him, then he snarled as half of them moved to stand behind Vladimir.
A black and white wolf turned to Vladimir and said through the wolf connection, ‘We’re with you.’ The other wolves behind Varrick began to snarl; they were ready to fight.
‘Tell your witch that if she teleports one more of my men away I will kill the children.’
‘How?’ Vladimir demanded morphing back into his human form.
‘They’ve been injected with more than just trackers. Inside them is a small device that, once activated, opens to the size of a coin. It will rip their insides to bits.’ Laughing he added, ‘very painful and very slow. The remote is in my body and if the witch tries to transport me away it will send a kill signal.
‘Oh my God, Vladimir, what do we do?’ Emily thought; she could feel his frustration.
In the next instant, Eric ran into the clearing with Ivan just behind him. The pair were in the middle of a vicious fight and both had major wounds to their bodies. Ivan had blood pouring from a bite that Eric had delivered to his throat but he was in a total blood lust and had not noticed that it was a mortal wound.
‘Vladimir, I have an idea,’ Emily thought. ‘I need time.’
‘Then time is what I will give you,’ Vladimir replied. He looked at Vondra in her tiger form and then morphed back into his wolf form. Connecting to the abnormals that had joined him, he simply commanded, ‘Kill!’ and as the abnormals clashed, the grounds became a frenzy of snarls and screams. Varrick stood back and laughed. Touching Applejacks, Emily transported over to where Valeskia, Iva and Josef were.
‘What’s happening?’ Valeskia asked. She was worried about what was going on, it was hard for her to stay with the children.
‘The children’s trackers have a device that Varrick is threatening to explode.’
‘That man must die!’ Valeskia screamed in frustration before calming herself as the children jumped at her rage. ‘It’s alright, I’m sorry,’ she said to the children. It had been years since she had lost control and her nerves were raw. Emily looked at the women knowing how worried she must be.
‘I have an idea. When I was in the cell and they drugged me, I was able to escape by removing the drugs from my system. I think I can remove the trackers but we must do it quickly.’
Kneeling in front of Iva, Emily smiled gently, reaching out to touch Applejacks’ leg.
‘Iva, think about the injection,’ and Emily slipped into the young girl’s mind, sending soothing thoughts. As she joined the girl’s mind, her body began to match the small girl’s, and her heart and breath started to move faster to match the child’s body. Exploring her arteries, Emily felt the blood course through her veins until she came to a stop at something that was not natural. Focusing her mind on the spot, Emily teleported the strange object behind a tree that was a couple of metres away. The device did not go off so Emily released her thoughts from the girl. After hugging her, Emily turned to Josef. It took a few more seconds to connect with the young boy as he was so frightened but within seconds, knowing now what she was looking for, she had transported the device from the boy’s body.
Running to the tree, it took Emily a few seconds to find the small metal objects. She could see that it must have taken a large needle to inject the children and it must have hurt when it was given to them.
Running back to Applejacks, Emily prepared to transport them back into the camp. Valeskia laid a hand on Emily’s arm and looked deeply into Emily’s eyes.
‘I must come back with you,’ and Emily nodded, she wouldn’t deny Valeskia.
Looking at the small children she said gently. ‘I need you both to be brave and sit here until we come back.’
When they reappeared in the camp, the scene was chaos. Ross and Vince were firing the machine guns at the few guards that were left from Varrick’s group, and they were shooting back. The abnormals were a blur of flesh and fur. Apart from Vladimir and Eric, it was hard to tell who was who as most of the wolves were now red with blood.
Stepping into the clearing, Emily projected at the top of her mind a telepathic blow.
‘Stop!’ and all the abnormals froze. Then, slowly, the abnormals backed away from each other, forming two groups. There were only four abnormals, apart from Vladimir, Eric, Jonas and Janak, left alive. Ivan morphed back into human form and Emily had to look away as the wounds to Ivan’s body were hideous.
He fell to his knees and as he collapsed his last words were, ‘Sarah,’ and then he died. Emily quickly teleported the guns away from Varrick’s men, the silence of the camp was almost overwhelming.
Then Varrick stepped forward in a total rage and screamed, ‘I told you, witch. Now, those children will die.’
Valeskia faced him coolly and said, ‘You don’t want to do this Varrick, please. This is your chance to show us that you’re human.’
‘Human! Why on earth do I want to be that,’ he snarled at Valeskia. ‘Why can’t you see what I have created! We are better than humans and we’ll take over the world.’ Varrick was beyond reasoning. He couldn’t see that he was beaten and he would punish them for defying him, and so he lifted his hand up to press the button. Vondra morphed back into human form and stepped forward pleading.
‘No Father, please do not kill the children,’ but Varrick had no mercy in his heart and he pushed the button. Suddenly the look on his face changed from fury to confusion and then to pain. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach.
‘Oh God,’ he cried as he fell to the ground, withering in agony.
Vondra ran over to him with tears streaming down her face. ‘Father,’ she sobbed
Varrick’s thoughts were simply, She cries for me, and he felt amazed at the thought. Softly he whispered to his daughter, ‘My love, I cannot die.’
The camp was eerily quiet for a moment and then Ross called out from the end of the clearing, ‘Help, I need help. Vince has been shot.’
Vladimir and Eric ran to them but Vince was in a bad way. He was losing a lot of blood from two wounds, one in his lung and one in his stomach. Eric looked at Vladimir. He didn’t hold any hope in his eyes.
Vondra walked over to Vladimir and seeing how upset Ross was over his friend, said, ‘He is gone. Unless we give him the gene treatment, and even then it may not work.’
Looking a
t his friend, Vladimir wondered if he had the right to put such a dark curse on him and then he thought selfishly, I need him; we still have a long way to go.
‘Emily, can you project us back to the manor?’
‘Yes. Do you want me to take you to the lab I was held in?’ Vladimir nodded, lifting Vince in his arms. Turning to Applejacks, Emily said, ‘You, my friend, will stay here. There’s not enough room for you.’ Applejacks nodded his great head and Emily reached for Vladimir and Eric’s hands as she teleported them, with Vince, to the lab.
Carefully Vladimir lifted Vince onto the metal table. Emily went to the small fridge and removed a dose of the gene treatment. Giving the syringe to Vladimir, Eric held him down.
‘Emily, stand back, we don’t know what Vince will become.’ Vladimir commanded and under his breath he prayed that he was doing the right thing. Emily stood by the door, watching Vladimir inject Vince. Suddenly Vince started to convulse and Emily thought he was going to die. His body shook for a long time and then he became still, Eric and Vladimir backed away from the bed.
‘Look,’ Eric said pointing to Vince’s chest. ‘His wounds, they look like they’re closing.’
Vladimir came forward and suddenly Vince began to transform. It took a moment for the men to realise he wasn’t transforming into a wolf but a huge, black bear. Luckily, Vince was still unconscious.
‘You’re kidding, right?’ Eric was stumped. ‘Does that mean he’s stronger than us now?’ Emily laughed nervously. She knew that Vince had tested himself against both Vladimir and Eric.
Vladimir replied, ‘I don’t think this is the right time to find out. Let’s move him to a cell. We need to keep him locked up until he changes back.’
It took both men to move the bear and after Vince was secure, Vladimir and Eric morphed back into wolves to check the manor for any other of Varrick’s men, but they found no one. When they were back with Emily, Vladimir asked her to teleport back to the group at the camp then send everybody back to the manor, as he wanted to make sure everyone was alright and in a place that he could control.