by Terry Yates
The four of them stared silently at the bite marks.
“So, it’s all down to the pooch, eh?” Potts said, breaking the silence. “Well, what do we do…send him outside every night to fight the thing? From what I’ve seen of him lately, he can’t handle too many more scrapes with werewolves. I guess we’ll take him up on the roof tonight in case the thing comes back. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Or we could try to figure out a way to use his saliva,” Locklear suggested.
“What do you mean? We should cover our bodies in dog spit or something?” Potts asked sarcastically.”
“No,” Locklear answered, once again not understanding sarcasm when it was so deftly spewed in his direction. “Maybe we can harness it somehow. Make a weapon out of it or something.”
“Or put it into the bullets,” Potts said, wide-eyed. “How are we going to do it…kill him and take his saliva glands?”
“Hell no, we’re not killing him and taking his saliva glands!” Kyler shot back, indignantly. “If that dog killed Opal, then he saved all of our lives last night, and by God, no one’s killing him!”
This time, Kyler looked down at Potts. Had there not been such a difference in their heights, their noses might have been touching. Amazingly, Potts’ face softened a little, which was exactly the opposite of the doctor had expected.
“Look, Kyler. If no choppers come and get us today, that thing might turn into…well, that thing again, and I doubt if there’s much left on the island for it to eat, and it knows we’re here. If it’s all healed up again tonight, my guess is that it’s going to try and get back in, and we’ve spent a whole lot of ammunition on it. We can’t keep fighting the thing. Logistics tell us that sooner or later, we’re going to be out of ammo. Now if that dog holds the secret to killing the beast, then we have to use it.”
“Maybe we can outlast it until it stops being a full moon,” Kyler told him.
“We have no idea how long that might be,” Potts told him. “I’m no astrologer and neither are you, or anyone else in here as far as I know.”
Kyler wanted to laugh at Potts’ use of the word astrologer. He had meant to say astronomer and Kyler wanted to tell him that just to make him feel stupid, but he couldn’t. Potts was being as sincere as he knew how to be, so he let it go.
“We’re not killing the dog,” he told Potts.
He looked at Sam and Locklear who both seemed to be very uncomfortable. He could see it in their faces that they agreed with Potts whether they liked the thought of killing Joe or not.
After a moment, Kyler saw Locklear’s eyes widen.
“Perhaps there is a way,” he said softly, thinking aloud.
“You got something, O’Hearley?” Potts asked him.
“I’m not sure, Colonel,” he answered. “Maybe, but…”
“But what?”
“Well…I’m not sure it would work, that’s all.”
“If there’s a chance we can stop that thing, then we’ve got to take it,” Potts told him. “Now what’s your idea?”
CHAPTER 64
Locklear O’Hearley moved swiftly down the hall, his large lumbering body seemingly taking up the whole hallway. Kyler, Potts, Sam, Zora, Ariella, and Lauren, who was holding Joe by the nape of his neck, followed behind him trying to keep up. Joe was limping a little bit. Potts had decided to let Cohen, Hawkins, and FranAnne sleep for awhile, because they would be doing roof duty again tonight, and Potts knew that at some point, even soldiers need rest.
Lauren was not sure what was going on, but she had demanded that she go with the dog. Everyone had fought against her coming, but Locklear and Ariella had in no small way, let them know that their daughter would be joining them on this scientific experiment. They did not believe in keeping things, good or bad, from her. Besides, Joe had seemed a little nervous, and they figured that it was best to have someone with them who could calm the dog.
Zora walked next to Kyler. She was carrying five Tupperware bowls that she had been told to retrieve from the kitchen. She looked up at Kyler, who looked back down at her and smiled. She looked at the plastic bowls, then back up at Kyler and shrugged her shoulders whereby the doctor returned the shrug.
Locklear stopped at an office door. He took his cardkey out of his pocket and slipped it into the slot just above the door handle. After a moment, Locklear pushed down on the metal door handle, and pushed the door open. The group could see that the room was dark, but Locklear simply crossed the threshold and the lights came on. He walked into the room followed by the rest of them. It was huge…or looked huge, because there was very little in the way of furniture. There was a desk with a small lamp on it and a large bookshelf with what had to be sixty large books placed in perfect symmetrical order along all the shelves, two of which seemed to be bowing due to the weight of the books. There was also a small love seat against the wall. Other than two chairs, which sat in front of the desk, there was nothing else.
“This is your office?” Sam asked, putting a hand up to his cheek in wonder.
“It looks nice, Daddy,” Lauren said now scratching the top of Joe’s obliging head.
“It is nice, Locklear,” Ariella echoed.
“You mean you’ve never been here?” Kyler asked Ariella.
“No. I don’t have clearance to be on this floor,” Ariella answered, matter of fact.
“Could we get on with this?” Potts interjected, looking at his watch. “It’s half past fourteen hundred hours!”
Kyler, Zora, Sam, and Lauren began to count on their fingers, trying to figure out what time it was in nonmilitary speak.
“It’s two-thirty,” Potts said disgustedly. “And we don’t know how long O’Hearley’s experiment is going to take, so let’s get on with it.”
Without another word, Locklear walked to a closed door that Kyler, and probably everyone else in the room, took to be a closet, but when Locklear opened the door and turned on the light, the group peered in and saw that it was another large room, which contained a toilet, a sink with a medicine cabinet, a single shower, and a sauna.”
“Criminy shit, O’Hearley,” Potts said, his head in the doorway. “You must be some kind of important.”
“Not really,” Locklear responded as he walked into the room, followed closely by the others.
“So what’s your idea, Locklear?” Kyler asked, still impressed with the room.
Locklear walked over to the sauna and held the door open.
“The sauna,” he said, almost smiling.
“You can’t put Joe in there,” Lauren squealed, subconsciously trying to pull the dog back out of the room.
“I don’t think we’ll hurt him, Lauren,” Locklear told her. “I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.”
He touched her cheek uncomfortably in a way that told Kyler once again, that physical affection just wasn’t a staple in the O’Hearley residence.
“Here,” Locklear said, taking the plastic bowls from Zora and handing them to Ariella. “Put one to two inches of water in each of these, okay?”
Ariella nodded silently as Locklear walked out of the room and back into his office, where he walked to another door, and opened it. This door did have a closet on the other side. There were four or five white lab coats like the ones that Locklear and Ariella had been wearing when Kyler had met them. He took one out and put it on. As he did so, his whole personality seemed to change. Now, he no longer looked like a geek in army fatigues…he looked like a geek in a lab coat, but the white coat seemed to give him an air of confidence that none of them had seen yet. No longer did he look nervous and useless. He wasn’t stacking heavy sandbags anymore. Now, he was in his own element where he ruled.
He reached into another closet and pulled out another lab coat, this one appearing to be much smaller. He walked back to the bathroom.
“Here you go, Dear,” he said to Ariella, holding the smaller coat out to her.
Ariella took the jacket and looked at the collar.
“I sort of…uh…took it,” Locklear said sheepishly, looking at the floor. “I was hoping that perhaps we would work together one day, so I took it and put it in my office…plus, I like to touch it once in awhile when I’m at work…you know…because it’s yours.”
“Kinky,” Potts said with a face that made him look like he’d just eaten a six day old liverwurst sandwich.
Zora smiled as if it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever heard anyone say, while Kyler and Sam joined Potts with the bad liverwurst faces.
“So, what are we gonna do?” Potts asked.
Locklear walked over to the sauna and opened the door, which was made out of plastic, but meant to look like it was made from glass. The sauna was large with wooden benches clamped to the wall, with enough wood to sit at least four to six people. The floor was tiled with a drain on the center. There was a knob on the wall marked one to ten, and a glass plate next to it, where the user could digitally read the temperature of the room.
Locklear walked in and over to the dial and turned it up to ten, and then walked back out and closed the door.
“Now we wait,” he said, folding his arms in front of his paunch.
Kyler saw that Lauren was nervous. He put his arm around her.
“Joe will be all right, Sweetie,” he said, looking down into her big sad eyes.
“How do you know, Doctor?” she asked him, her eyes watering.
Damn. He knew she would be the kid to ask that question.
“I don’t think your father would allow you to be here if he thought something bad was going to happen,” he answered, rather proud of himself for having thought up a comeback so quickly.
They watched as Locklear took the Tupperware bowls one by one from Ariella. He placed two on the back of the toilet, two on top of the commode lid, and an empty one in the middle of the sink. Kyler began to wipe away the steam as he watched Locklear carefully place the bowls in what seemed to be strategic places.
The room was becoming very steamy, causing everyone but Locklear and Ariella to step out of the bathroom. Kyler’s hair was matted down as was Zora’s and Sam’s. Only Potts’ white spiky flattop was immune from the steam. Kyler and Zora both looked at each other, pointed, and laughed. Kyler’s hair made him look like Flat Head from the old Dick Tracy comics that his father gave him. Zora looked like a dead ringer for Cousin Itt from the Addams Family, while Sam looked as if he was wearing a beanie, propeller included.
Locklear, Ariella, Lauren, and Joe moved out of the bathroom, Ariella’s glasses covered with steam. She reminded Kyler of a blond haired Marcy from the Peanuts comic strip.
“It should be ready to go in about two minutes,” Locklear told the group as he wiped steam from his watch.
“Do you think it’ll really work, O’Hearley?” Potts asked, water running down his forehead.
“You know, Colonel, I do. I really, really do,” Locklear answered, seemingly amazed at the fact that he was probably doing something that had never been done before in the science world. Harnessing dog saliva for attacks against werewolves. It beat dull, boring nuclear fission any day.
“How long do you think it will take?” Zora asked him.
“I’m not sure, but we need to do everything that we can do while the process is taking place,” he answered.
Kyler looked over at Ariella, who seemed positively turned on at the moment.
“That means…” Locklear continued, “that we need to have everything in place when we’re done here. Colonel, can you take bullets apart?”
“In my sleep,” Potts answered as if Locklear had just asked him if he could count to one.
“Good,” Locklear came back. “Go and get me as many bullets for every kind of weapon that you have. My lab is next door.
“Come on, Fong,” Potts said to Sam. “You’re in the Army now.”
Potts walked briskly out of the room.
“Fong!” they heard him yell from the hallway.
Sam looked at the others and raised his thumb towards Potts’ direction in a “can you believe this shit?” pose. He looked like the first indoor hitchhiker. He rolled his eyes as he backed into the hallway and followed Potts.
“Should be about ready now,” Locklear told them as he opened the bathroom door. Hot billowy clouds of steam rushed out through the doorway and into the air-conditioned office, causing it to evaporate almost immediately.
He moved into the bathroom followed by Ariella, Kyler, and Zora. Once inside, they all turned back and looked at Lauren who stood with her hand on Joe’s back.
“It’s time, Lauren,” Locklear said, extending his hand and motioning for her to enter.
Lauren looked up at Zora and Kyler who both smiled and nodded to her. She looked down at the dog who looked back up at her, his golden eyes full of trust. The two entered the now completely steamy bathroom. Locklear opened the sauna door and even more steam billowed out.
“Come on, Boy,” Locklear beckoned, waving for the dog to go inside.
“Can I go in there with him?” Lauren asked.
Locklear started to open his mouth, but Kyler interrupted.
“I’m afraid not, Sweetie. Those…uh…stitches could come…eh…steam will make your stitches…uh…come out…yeah….so, I’m afraid not.”
As if he knew what they were saying, Joe walked into the sauna.
“Won’t his stitches come out, too?” Lauren asked, watching Joe walk into the sauna.
Zora looked at Kyler and raised an eyebrow.
“Eh…no, Lauren…umm…I put dog stitches…uh…in him…and they’re made out of…eh…stronger…thread.”
God, please don’t look at me, he prayed silently. Lauren looked up at him with the same trusting eyes that Joe had given her.
“We’ll take turns staying with him,” Zora told the young girl.
“We’re going to have to,” Locklear announced.
“What do you mean?” Kyler asked.
“Allow me,” Ariella butted in, smiling. Her glasses were completely fogged over now. Locklear smiled at her and gave her a go-ahead nod. “What my husband is doing is this. The dog will stay in the heat until it begins to sweat, which in the dog’s case, pant. We’ll wait until he works up enough saliva and drool, then let him out to drink some water, keeping only a little, maybe a couple of inches, in each bowl. We’ll let him take a few licks from one bowl, leaving in his wake saliva, and then we’ll give him another bowl, let him take a few licks, and so on and so forth, the whole time, we keep replenishing the bowls with water, while at the same time, marrying the waters into one bowl. When we have enough, Locklear will take the saliva and attempt to crystallize it…not crystallize it by the proper scientific meaning, which would be to freeze it, but basically, to dry it out.”
“Bravo, Ariella. Bravo,” Locklear said joyously, clapping as he did so. “Now,” he started, becoming serious again. “We’re going to start slow. We’ll leave him in there for fifteen minutes and hopefully he’ll start the panting process. Once he begins to get a good drool going, we’ll give him some water. Only let him get about four licks before you take it away from him. We want some of the water left in each bowl. As soon as your bowl is nearly empty, pour it into this one. All right?”
Everyone nodded.
“Lauren, wait outside,” Locklear told her.
Lauren exited the bathroom, her head sunk low.
“Everyone ready?” Locklear asked, turning to the sauna door, and wiping the fog off of the plastic, and trying to see inside. “Let’s give him fifteen minutes, then we’ll all go in and begin the process.”
The four of them walked out of the bathroom, Locklear closing the door behind them. They were met with an icy stare from Lauren.
“Oh yeah…right,” Kyler said. “We said that we’d stay with him.”
&n
bsp; The quartet looked at each other, turned around, and silently walked back into the bathroom.
CHAPTER 65
The experiment on Joe seemed to be going according to plan. The dog had quickly begun to pant and drool. When they let him out, Locklear went to one knee and let the dog take three or four licks from the water dish, and then pulled it away from him, much to the dog’s chagrin. But before he could get too angry, Ariella placed another bowl in front of him while Locklear dumped the remains of his bowl into the empty one, which now sat on the floor. When Joe took several licks from Ariella’s bowl, she pulled it away, followed by Zora, and lastly Kyler, who put their bowls down for the dog to drink from. After one round, they would put him in the sauna again, and let him work up even more drool since the minute amounts of water only whetted the dog’s thirst. They continued the process for a half hour at a time, whereby they would let the dog out into the office for a break. The adults felt guilty about what they were having to do to the dog, but they didn’t see any other real choice. Of course, Kyler could just tell them about Nicholas Klefka and it would all be over with. But the more he thought about it, the more he wasn’t sure. A man who had been basically on the run for over five centuries, would know how not to be found, but the man had been right about Potts. He probably hadn’t seen the likes of him before. Kyler had pretty much convinced himself that Nicholas Klefka was going to die one way or another, so he simply chose the latter so he wouldn’t have to break his word, which he technically hadn’t given anyway. Besides, he knew that werewolves were real now, and he was playing his part in finding a way to destroy them, so his conscious was clear…or he was trying to clear it. He couldn’t help but feel two faced at the moment. Klefka had called him a healer, and here he was plotting a way to kill him.
Kyler struggled back and forth, feeling guilty one minute, and then convincing himself that he was doing the right thing the next. As he fought with his conscious, he couldn’t help but remember what Klefka had been saying about things changing, and something about more full moons than usual. Perhaps the man had been right. Perhaps some great cataclysmic event was going to take place. Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps.