Glyph

by Max Ellendale

  “Clever,” I muttered.

  I thought about this perfectly disguised staircase that no one would ever think to look for inside a stack of immovable crates. I reminded myself that this was probably only a temporary entrance, which validated that the Andrus had only just begun to infest the hospital. I took a deep breath and began my decent, counting the steps down and bracing myself with both hands on one wall. I cursed myself for not bringing a flashlight.

  I made my way down thirty-eight steps. The width of the chamber was about ten feet across to allow for very large creatures to be carried down. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and used the display screen as a light source. Up ahead I saw a blue light blinking and hurried toward it. The sound of my feet crunching on concrete suddenly changed. I bit my lip. I could tell I was getting closer. The size of the blue light grew until it was right in front of my nose. I used my hands to guide my chin placement on the spot for retinal scan. I held my breath, hoping this would work. I watched as the blue light scanned my eyes. Simultaneously, the door at the top of the stairs slammed, while a metal door directly ahead opened with a hiss. I was blinded by bright lights as the lair came alive. I pocketed my cell phone and walked inside, my mouth hanging open at the sight before me.

  The containment area was completely white, kind of like the television room in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The floors were made up of pristine white tiles that matched the white walls. The surface of the tiles was dull to prevent reflection. It was spotlessly clean and dry. I took a step inside and to my left was a huge gurney and medical equipment similar to that of an emergency room. To the right was a giant refrigeration unit, emitting a low, droning hum. Ahead of me was an endless hallway.

  I took another breath and began to walk down it. My belly started to ache. It was silent except for my footsteps. The white walls turned into thick, multilayer matted glass, or something of the sort. Just as I turned to look in one of the glass-covered cells, I heard a loud, threatening growl echo through the entire place. I spun around to see where it was coming from, clutching my chest. I saw nothing and tried to calm my breathing. There were six containment units. I walked toward the growling. Each unit contained either a big mattress and bedding or something of the sort, like stacks of hay. I couldn’t smell anything except bleach and cleaners, probably meant to dull the senses of any captive werecreature. The growling continued to grow louder while I walked. The three units to my left were completely empty, as were two on my right.

  When I reached the sixth unit on the right side, I screamed as a full-grown werewolf lunged for the glass. I fell backward and scuttled away, using my arms and legs in a crab walk. The werewolf roared, growled, and clawed at the glass. He was standing on his back legs in beast form like both werecats and werewolves do while fighting. They were agile, giant beasts that could walk on four legs or two depending on need. The thudding and banging against the glass was quieter than it should have been, and the fact that the glass was tough enough to withstand the assault of a full-grown, frenzied werewolf surprised me. I had no idea what the material was made of, but it was effective enough to keep this raging wolf captive. I stood slowly and held both hands up to the beast, dropping my head into a bow.

  “Shhh…easy. I’m not here to hurt you, but I need you to calm down.”

  The wolf tilted its giant head to the side for a second before lashing out at the glass again—snapping with large, salivating jaws and bearing its fangs. Startled, I took a step back.

  Easy, Shawnee, he’s contained. He’s contained. I tried to comfort myself and took another step toward the beast. “Shhh, it’s okay. I can help you, but you need to calm down,” I repeated, and the beast paused its roaring, tilting its head in the opposite direction. “Yes, that’s it, listen to me. I’m here to help,” I pleaded.

  He lowered his head enough to look me in the face. The fur on his back stood straight up—all the way down his spine to the tip of the tail—making him look larger than the ten feet he already was. I took another step closer to the cell when he did so and instead of remaining calm, he tossed his head back again and roared, thrashing angrily against the glass and yanking against the silver chain that was around his rear ankle. I frowned, realizing not only was this beast in a frenzy, but it was probably in a lot of pain too. Pure silver was toxic to almost all werecreatures, but werewolves suffered the most in particular. Wounds caused by silver healed slowly and were usually grossly infected. A werewolf held captive in silver could die over time from the poisoning it caused. The beast balled up his front paw into a fist of claws and punched full force at the glass, which simply waivered at the jolt. I sucked in my breath.

  “That’s enough!” I shouted, looking him right in the eye. A dangerous and desperate move, to say the least, that could backfire on me if he was not weak enough to tolerate a stare down from a Breeder. “Calm down!”

  The beast kept my gaze. He stared me down. My shoulders began to slump; my body began to submit.

  “No,” I said through clenched teeth. “Let me help you. Sit down!” I said with a final shout, breaking away from the hunched position and standing straight. I watched him fall backward with a loud thump on the ground. He looked at me, confused but silent. Did I just stare down a frenzied werewolf?

  Pay attention! Now’s your chance.

  “That’s better.” I walked to the glass, putting both my hands on it. “Listen to me, you need to shift. Be human,” I demanded.

  He narrowed his eyes at me and moved around, sitting on his haunches and crossing his immense arms over his chest in defiance.

  “Oh, no you don’t. I can’t help you like this. You have to trust me!” I said, the reality of time setting in. I had been down here for at least an hour, if not more, and it was getting riskier by the minute.

  The beast curled his upper lip, revealing his fangs in distaste, and made a gruff, yarp, grrrup sound while moving his jaws. My brain translated without thinking.

  “You should trust me because…” He was right, why should he trust me? I looked just like the people who had put him here. Then the idea popped into my head. “You should trust me because I am one of yours,” I said and pulled up the sleeve of my scrub top, showing him the glyph on my upper arm. He dropped his arms immediately and rushed to the glass. His eyes were wide, and he put both battered paws against the glass in desperation. The sight of my glyph sobered him.

  “Yes, yes. Now shift, be human. Please hurry. I know you’re hungry and hurt, but I can’t help you like this, it’s too risky. Please…” I begged. “If you shift, the chain will fall off,” I added, getting the sense that the werewolf had been too scared to shift to a more vulnerable form since containment.

  I watched as the beast closed his eyes and his breathing began to slow. I pleaded with Gaia to grant him grace and clarity enough to make a quick, painless shift. In less than a minute, there was a naked young man in front of me. He was a pale-skinned, blond-haired twenty-something-year-old who looked scrawny and scared.

  “What’s your name?” I asked him.

  “Bailey…” he said with a raspy voice. “Bailey Owens.”

  “Okay, Bailey, I’m Shawnee. We’re going to get you out of here and get you something to eat. But you need to keep the beast in check until I find food, all right? Get away from that silver,” I instructed. I could almost taste his fear.

  “Okay,” he said and stepped away from the silver, moving as close to the glass as he could.

  “Any idea how to open this cell?”

  “Yes…yes.” He coughed and I watched his hands tremble with the adrenaline that was rushing through him. “Behind that panel.” He raised a shaky hand and pointed.

  I followed his finger and went to the panel, prying it open. It was behind the same strong glass, probably to protect it from accidentally being triggered.

  “Okay. I need to get you food first before I let you out, your beast will be tempted. You know this, right?”

  He nodded. “Sorry.
I’m already thinking about eating you.”

  “You’re forgiven. I’ll be right back.” I patted the glass to reassure him and rushed back toward the entrance, remembering the large refrigerator and guessing that was where they were keeping the food. I hoped it had food and not corpses. I pulled open the fridge and beamed when I saw large racks of chilled meat, mainly deer and cheap leftover butcher cuts. I grabbed a nearby cart with wheels, started tossing as much meat on it as I could, then rushed back to Bailey with the full cart. When he saw the food, he stood immediately, and I saw his blue eyes flash yellow.

  “Ready?” I bit my lip knowing that his beast would have to choose between me and the cold meat. Bailey nodded, salivating as he eyed the meat. I backed away from the glass and left the cart. I pressed the panel button marked “6,” and the glass slowly began to descend into the floor. When it was halfway down, Bailey leaped over it and began devouring the meat in human form. Again, he changed into his beast with bones popping and snapping in and out of place to restructure his skeleton. The werewolf tore apart the meat, bones and all, in large gulps at first, then began to slow down. I held my breath and tried very hard not to move. When there was almost nothing left on the cart, Bailey shifted back down to human form and wiped his mouth on his arm, cracking his neck and shoulders from the discomfort of shifting consecutively.

  “Better?” I sounded winded, even to me.

  “Much. Thank you. It’s been a while.” He stood a bit straighter, his strength slowly returning.

  “We need to get you some clothes, bandage that ankle, and get the hell out of here before they get back. Can you walk?”

  “Yes,” he answered quickly. “They’ve been gone for… I don’t know. I can’t tell how long it’s been, but long enough for me to be really hungry.”

  “At least a week. C’mon.” I rushed with him over to the area with the gurney and searched around for some bandages and whatever I could find to sterilize his wound. I found a first aid kit and peroxide. “Sit up on the table. This is going to sting badly, but it’s the best we’ve got.”

  Bailey nodded and sat down. I poured half the bottle on his ankle, and he sucked in his breath. His chest rumbled. I did my best to ignore it and smeared his ankle in antibiotic ointment and wrapped it in gauze and tape. “Okay. Clothes…clothes.” I looked around quickly and saw a single lab coat hanging on a hook beside the medicine cabinet.

  “All right, okay, we can do this.”

  Bailey watched me quietly. I grabbed the lab coat and then slipped out of my scrubs, tossing them to him. “Put these on, and hurry.” Bailey slid quickly into my scrubs, and I was left wearing bike shorts and a white T-shirt. I buttoned up the lab coat and tossed a stethoscope around my neck. “This will do for me.” I went over and grabbed the scrub-in kit from beside the sink and took out three hair caps and handed them to him. “One on each foot, and then one on your head. Quickly.”

  Bailey grinned when he understood the plan and hurriedly dressed himself as a surgical assistant. I tossed a few pens in the pocket of his scrubs and put my identification tag on my lab coat. I looked around for anything that would help Bailey blend in more and grabbed a pair of glasses that were lying on a table beside a magnifying glass.

  “Put these on your head over the cap. That’s good enough. Let’s go. Don’t stop to talk to anyone, just follow me.”

  “You’re a bossy Breeder. I like it,” he teased.

  “Thank you. When I tell you to run, you run. I don’t care who you have to freak out in the mean time. Just run. Run like your Firsting, got it?” I turned to him, staring directly into his big, blue eyes. My heart leaped. They reminded me of my blue-eyed girl.

  “Got it. Run like my Firsting.” He slid off the gurney.

  I grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door, which opened automatically when we approached. We rushed up the stairs. Bailey could see perfectly so he ended up guiding me part of the way, and when we came to the fake ceiling, we pushed. The crate top released the hydraulics and swung open.

  “Do you have a place to run to? A family? A pack?” I asked as we raced to the elevator.

  “Yes, a pack. My family’s pack. What’s the date?” We skidded into the elevator.

  “February 24th.” I hit the button for the first floor. I dimly realized today was my birthday…

  “I’ve been gone for over a month.” He sighed. “They probably think I’m dead.”

  “You almost were.” I looked up at him. “We’ll be getting out near the ER and then I’ll walk you to my office. Follow my lead. If anyone asks, you’re a shadowing intern preparing for a surgical residency, got it?”

  “Got it.” He took a breath and so did I. When the doors opened, we walked slowly out of the elevator.

  “You’ll do a rotation in the ER eventually as well. It’s always best to have a well-rounded internship experience,” I babbled before we disappeared into my office, and then whispered, “Sit in the chair and act interested. The nurses don’t recognize you so they’re being nosy.” Bailey nodded, and I handed him my business card and smiled. We sat for a minute or two before getting up again and shaking hands. Bailey mimicked my expression, and I walked toward the door, waving for him to follow. “I’ll show you the way out. Be careful on your way home, it’s cold out there.” We walked toward the main entrance of the hospital. The nurses had lost interest. I paused and grabbed Bailey’s elbow just before we got to the outside surveillance cameras.

  “There’s cameras. Run, don’t look back. Don’t come back. Just, go.” I shoved him, fully knowing my effort to push a werecreature with the density of a stone wall would be useless.

  He nodded and then hesitated. “Thank you.”

  I nodded to him, crossing my arms over my chest. “Go now.”

  Bailey turned and bolted from the hospital at whirlwind speed. I held my breath and watched him disappear around the corner of the hospital. If I wasn’t mistaken, I could have sworn I saw him do a back flip before he disappeared into the patch of woods at the end of the road.

  When I returned to my office, I removed the diplomas from the walls and tucked them into my gym bag. I dropped my lab coat on the floor, then set my name tag, stethoscope, and a note down on my desk…

  I resign.

  -Shawnee

  Chapter Sixteen

  I walked home, wearing only my bike shorts and T-shirt in near freezing temperatures. My teeth chattered. The reality of what I had just done started to sink in. I collapsed on the steps to my apartment and sat there in silence.

  What have I done?

  I saved a life.

  You’re just lucky there was only one wolf in those cells.

  “I know… I know…”

  “Shawnee,” I heard a voice from behind me say. “Shawnee.” This time it was followed by a hand on my shoulder. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  When I recognized Vanessa’s voice, I stood and lunged into her arms, which is something I’d never done before. She caught and held me tight, wrapping my legs around her waist.

  “Hey, it’s okay. What happened? Where are your clothes?” She picked up my bag from the steps and carried me up to the apartment. One of the tenants leaving the building did a double-take when he saw the slender-framed Vanessa carrying me effortlessly. We entered my apartment, and I looked over her shoulder to see that there were a few black garbage bags outside of Xany’s door. Vanessa toted me to the sofa and sat down with me in her lap, rubbing my back and legs to warm me up.

  “You’re freezing,” she said. “And I can hear your heart racing. Tell me what happened, Shawnee, did someone hurt you?” Her voice quivered. I thought she was worried about potentially having to hear another horror story.

  “No.” My breath rushed in and out of my lungs. “I’m… I’m okay.” I spoke into her shoulder. She squeezed me tight and buried her face in my hair, then jerked back.

  “Dog! You smell like dog, but not like Xany’s dogs.” She frowned. “And meat, and… freez
er burn.”

  “I…there was an injured wolf in the ER tonight.” I had no idea how I was going to keep all these secrets from her.

  “Lie.” She frowned as she blew my story out of the water.

  “I quit my job.” I countered with the truth.

  “What?” Her fingers gripped my hips.

  “I quit. I… I’ve been thinking about things, and working there isn’t good for me anymore.” I told her more of the truth. I hadn’t been thinking about it for long, but it was the truth regardless.

  “Shawnee…are you sure that was the best decision?” Her voice sounded hesitant, as if she didn’t want to sway me one way or another.

  “I’m really sure.” I held my breath, anticipating her next question.

  “Then why are you riddled with fear? And smelling of foreign dog?”

  I bit my lip. “Did you mean it when you said you could visit me anywhere, no matter where it is?”

  “Of course, Shawnee. I go to Ireland every day.” She grinned proudly.

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, of course I promise.” She touched my face for a moment, purring loudly. She let her hand slide down my neck, over the side of my breast and stomach to settle on my thigh. I smiled because it tickled.

  I got the idea to distract her, hoping she’d forget about my little, or not so little, lie. “Xany said scars aren’t always bad. Mine tickles when you touch it.”

  “Huh? Your scar tickles?”

  “Uh-huh, want to see?” I lifted up my shirt to show her. She shifted in her seat, her eyes lingering on my stomach. She licked her lips before returning her gaze to mine and pushing my shirt down.

  “No, Shawnee, I don’t want to see. You’re avoiding telling me something.”

  She was right. I was avoiding telling her about the Andrus and about something else. “I think… I think I should go with Xany to Caden’s pack.”