Commander

by Mel Todd

  His head turned and nudged her. She curled up tighter but spoke.

  ~He bumped me when he started to thrash and all I could see was the snake. I hate snakes and I freaked out a bit. The rest you know. You two saved him.~

  McKenna snorted.

  ~Perc and his prehistoric jaws did that but you did good in waking us up. Remind me to never fight you. Watching that terrified me. Perc, yes, we need a watch.~

  A rumble of laughter sank into her mind and it felt like good chocolate as his shoulder bumped hers lightly.

  She shook her head turning to track down Toni.

  ~You okay?~

  ~Yep, just thinking, at least dinner is taken over for the next day. Snake tartar.~

  ~Oh, I’ll enjoy every bite of that meal. It may become my new favorite. ~

  McKenna laughed and the others joined her as JD glared at the dead snake with a hungry look.

  [You should eat but reports from the other nanobots are coming in. The poison has only been slowed, currently there is no evidence it can be cured.]

  Wefor’s words put a damper on whatever amusement had existed. McKenna bowed her head as emotional and physical pain made its presence known.

  ~So the pain I feel is the poison?~

  Chapter 36 - Lurking Everywhere

  Research on this virus has come to a halt. Currently researchers are unable to continue trials as they are stuck without authorization for human trials and repeated tests have proved even with Bonobo monkeys, the virus goes inert. At this point most labs say they will halt research until additional information comes to light. While it is still considered a virus, the behavior is implying it might be more or maybe less than that. Some are suggesting a new type of prion as it can pass through the membrane around the brain. ~ TNN Science Reporter

  The snake tasted odd after laying there the rest of the night as Perc stood watch. He said he didn’t mind going with a bit less sleep, years of practice made him an expert.

  McKenna didn’t follow up with it, but curiosity tickled the back of her mind. Why did he have practice going without sleep?

  Pain wreathed her, and she noticed the others moved as slowly as she did halting as if steeling themselves. They all ate as much as they could stand, knowing they couldn’t guarantee they would get more food, especially not as protein based with as comparatively little work. Even though she knew most of their animals were better at night, she still felt more comfortable moving during the day. The next morning they headed out after the gorging. And McKenna fought down the desire to throw up as a wave of pain lanced through her.

  The GPS showed they still had a long way to go, but they moved faster this morning, their bodies more in sync with their movement through the jungle. This time she paid more attention to what went on around her in the jungle. The sounds started to become more familiar and tell her information that the first day just created a level of white noise. Today she tracked animals moving around them. The birds that fell quiet as they moved by and the sounds insects made in the background became comforting.

  It terrified her.

  She glanced back resisting the desire to move faster but JD and Cass couldn’t move as fast for as long. JD could do fast bursts of speed but not the long sustained pace. Out of deference she kept their movement at a steady pace that all of them could handle.

  They chattered back in and forth, their mental voices bouncing back and forth giving her information about how they felt and their mood. Toni remained the quietest, a dark current under her thoughts, but she still interacted. In many ways McKenna remained the quietest, focused, scared, and trying to figure out how to kill a man she’d never met.

  The animal state did help, guilt required too much effort to dredge up, so she just focused on the now.

  A sound, discordant from the rest of the normal jungle sounds, and she froze.

  ~Stop, be quiet.~

  ~We aren’t talking out loud.~ JD’s voice implied he was laughing.

  If she had been human she might have blushed, instead she snorted.

  ~Fine, fine. But listen.~

  The sound that had grabbed her attention repeated. A mechanical engine, revving up and then started to whine.

  ~Chainsaw.~ Perc sounded sure and JD agreed.

  ~We need to avoid these people. Anyone seeing us is going to shoot first and ask questions later. We are still about seven miles out. We should spread out a bit and quit traveling as a group.~

  ~How far can we talk to each other?~ Cass asked, a bit of hesitancy in her voice. She’d stayed close to JD the entire time, and her discomfort at moving off by her own rang clear.

  [Distance in this terrain is approximately one mile.]

  Wefor’s voice didn’t even cause them to flinch this time, but she saw them relax a bit knowing they didn’t have to be within sight of each other.

  Then let's spread out a bit, you can focus on where I am to know where to go. Anything else?

  A chorus of negatives and she went forward, planning on continuing towards their goal and trying to locate where the noise came from. The next thick grove of trees answered her question as she peered out to see two men cutting up a fallen tree. It took a minute but she saw the faint path that they had come in via. She faded back into the trees taking a wide berth around the men and kept moving towards the location on the GPS.

  Within an hour all signs of people disappeared, and they joined back up in a clear area near a still pool of water.

  ~I’m assuming since you didn’t say anything, no one saw anyone else?~

  ~Nope, clear with animals. Have to admit that walking though by myself is much more interesting than with all of you.~

  Toni’s voice reached all of them even as she bent down to drink from the pool, her black coat reflecting in the ripples in the water.

  McKenna turned to look at the ripples, hadn’t a minute ago it’d been smooth? She started to turn her head away, when the ripples sped up, and an alligator burst out of the formerly calm pool or water, latching on to Toni.

  ~TONI!~

  JD and her mental voices overlapped into a searing imperative as they lunged. Toni screamed, the cat’s cry of pain breaking the quiet of jungle. The alligators' jaws clamped down on Toni’s leg and started dragging her backwards, the red blood dripping down through the gaps in its teeth.

  Toni couldn’t even manage words just a scream of pain through their shared channel.

  Even as McKenna darted towards her, JD had gotten there first and shifted, his body morphing faster than she’d ever seen him shift to a bear, he changed into warrior form. A huge bear man with claws longer than Perc’s fangs slashed down through the alligator’s back.

  "Let my sister go!" The words roared out of his mouth, so deep and basso that McKenna felt her whiskers vibrate.

  Perc darted forward and his teeth sank into the tail of the alligator, and he began to try to drag it out of the water. The alligator thrashed his powerful tail dragging Perc back into the water, even as JD in warrior form yanked his claws through the spine of the alligator, severing it. The muscles twitched even as the life fled from the animal.

  ~Get it off, get it off, get it off!~

  Toni’s voice bounced between pain and panic. JD reached down, one clawed hand wrapping around the lower jaw, the other grabbing the top snout and he pulled. The alligator’s skull tore in half as JD pulled with a sucking sound, the teeth ripping out of Toni’s leg.

  She’d been pulling back against the teeth, hind legs dug into soft mud, trying to fight against the alligator's attack. The teeth had torn down her foreleg, shredding the muscle and tissue in that leg.

  A keening sound came from her, cutting through everything. McKenna crouched next to her, looking at the blood flowing from the wound.

  ~What can we do? ~

  Cass’s voice held terror even as she petted Toni, trying to offer comfort.

  [Feed her. She must shift, eat, shift. It should give her a chance to heal and the fuel to support it.]

 
Wefor’s voice laid out the plan and McKenna looked at the alligator and snarled.

  ~Drag that over here, start tearing it into chunks and feed it to her. Toni, do you have enough energy to change now?~

  ~Yeah. I think so. But I can’t eat that as a human.~

  ~I know. Change. Then change back.~

  Toni’s head lowered and she panted for a minute, then started to shift. McKenna watched as the body moved and changed, eyes locked onto the wound as it stopped gushing blood. Pulling up on her arm. In human it still had gaping opens wounds, but now blood seeped instead of gushed. Toni lay on the ground muddy with blood on her arm, panting but the keening of pain had slowed.

  ~Good. Do it again.~

  JD and Perc were chunking up the alligator into a bunch of small pieces leaving it sitting in the blood.

  "Change back, Toni." His voice still deep and growly and raised the hackles on her body.

  "Yeah, give me a second. I can’t digest this fast, so even though I can feel the nanobots working overtime to digest." Her voice stayed high and tight as she tried to breathe evenly. Everyone waited, watching her, the tension clear in everyone’s posture. With another deep breath she shifted again, a whimper escaping as she turned back into a jaguar, sides heaving, but the pain had lessened from her relaxation of her muscles. The wounds were still there, but closed and not bleeding.

  ~Again, Toni.~

  ~Food.~

  Before the word faded in their minds, JD handed her a chunk of alligator. Cass held her claws out and he and Perc started to pile pieces into her clawed hands. Toni ate with a grim determination. She ate about two pounds of flesh, then shifted again.

  ~Toni?~

  She lay in on the ground, on her arm only red, angry looking wounds.

  "Oh, so much better. Yeah, I’m fine. Let me rest for a minute" Her voice sounded better, but still shaky. "A huge stomach ache. Note, human stomachs not as big as animal.

  ~Take your time, no major rush. And so noted. Gorging and shifting is uncomfortable.~

  ~Uh, McKenna?~

  JD’s voice in her mind, not out loud and the odd tone, made her turn and look at him, ears back with stress.

  ~We might want to eat as much as we can and leave. There is company incoming.~

  She turned and looked, a hiss escaping her as she saw multiple ripples headed their way.

  ~Rip the tail off, JD. You can carry it for a bit so we can eat. Toni, you have to change now, or see if JD can carry you or Perc. But we can’t fight off that many alligators.~

  "Crap, I’m changing." Toni matched her words with deed and shifted, slower this time, her exhaustion clear. But she stood and her leg while it had scars running down the length of her light foreleg with no fur covering them, she stood on it and moved far away from the water.

  ~Now.~

  JD turned and roared at the ripples, but they only slowed a bit, still coming. He tore the tail off and one leg, thick with meat as Perc bounded away after Toni. Cass shoved a remaining chunk in her mouth, then with a deceptively fast waddle moved to follow Toni. JD turned and growled at the gator’s already grabbing at the body of their fallen comrade, starting a fight over the corpse.

  With three large bounds McKenna ran after Toni and Perc, catching up in a shaded under growth. The tromping behind her from JD had her turning to actually look at him, now that her heart decided to not try and burst with fear.

  JD stood at about six feet 3 inches, a bit shorter than his human form, fur covering every inch of his body, a modified snout, sharp brown eyes, ears like round disks, long sharp teeth, and power exuding from every inch of his body.

  ~Damn is that what I looked like?~

  Perc slowed to a stopped and looked at JD, a low keen coming from him.

  ~Damn, I agree. I didn’t realize I looked like this when I changed. I’m surprised those idiots didn’t shit themselves when I leaped at them.~

  McKenna choked on laughter, an odd feeling in this body.

  ~Agreed. That is much more intimidating that I expected. JD, can you change back?~

  [It would be best for him to stay in that form for a while. But there is some data needed.]

  ~Sure, Wefor. What do you need?~

  ~Please ingest blood from Toni. Information is needed.~

  Silence filled the mindscape and every turned to look at McKenna and by default Wefor.

  ~You want me to drink her blood?~ asked McKenna.

  [No, just taste. Blood from Toni is needed to help research the current poison infecting all of you.]

  ~Oh.~

  Everyone fell quiet and McKenna took a deep breath.

  ~Okay, I can taste her blood. Toni, you okay with this?~

  The jaguar lifted her head and bent her head to bite the unwounded leg. Toni created a small wound on her upper foreleg, then held it out to McKenna.

  Fighting back thinking, refusing to even consider this, McKenna moved to Toni, lowered her head and lapped up the blood. The warmth of the blood compared to the reptiles tasted good, but the knowledge of whose blood she tasted made her choke.

  [That is enough for the information to be collated.]

  McKenna pulled back and Toni leaned down to lick her own wound. Fighting the animal instincts proved to cause more stress than giving in to them.

  ~Now what?~

  Perc’s question caused everyone to look at McKenna. She sighed.

  ~JD you stay like that for a while, everyone needs to eat and give yourself time to digest.~

  With a violent savage motion, JD split the tail open, exposing the rich blood filled flesh to the others. He lifted the leg to his mouth and tore off a huge hunk, his eyes never leaving Cass who took her oddly delicate bites.

  McKenna took some for herself, noting the taste and deciding she’d like to taste it cooked. But the level of revenge in eating the alligator appealed to her.

  Everyone kept a careful eye on the gators fighting over the dead one. Ten minutes later they headed out, JD still in warrior form and ranging far ahead, needing to burn off stress.

  They moved the rest of the day with Cass clearing a space for them that evening. JD changed, collapsing into a bear shaped pile. McKenna told everyone to sleep, and she stared out at the dark jungle struggling with how to keep them all safe.

  Chapter 37 - Trampoline

  China is being very closed mouth about their shifters, but they are offering parents an extra child credit if one of theirs is a shifter. There have been whispers of parents who are both shifters being offered financial incentives to have multiple children. Exactly what will happen if two shifters have a child is yet to be determined as no children could have been conceived, born, and aged past six years old to any shifter couples. That remains a large question, does this virus translate to children? We won’t know for almost a decade, but if it does, what is China planning? ~ TNN News

  ~Per the GPS we are about two miles out and dusk is falling. I say we wait until dark and then go scout out the place? I smell oil and gas on the air, so I think we’ll have to fight for all of us to go unnoticed. JD, Cass, for this stay back in the trees. That way you can watch our backs and warn us if you see anything. Any issues or any other ideas?

  McKenna knew she was making this up as she went, so if anyone had any options, she’d take them.

  No one said anything and she fought back the urge to scream.

  ~JD? You were military any ideas?~

  The bear ducked his head, even as JD spoke, hiding his face from them.

  ~Not what I did in the military. I never had anything to do with strategic crap. All Military Police stuff. Planning raids and the like were not what we worried about. Drunk soldiers trying to sneak off base, or drive drunk, were.~

  ~You are no help.~

  ~Nope, not in this case. Sorry, not.~

  McKenna smacked him with her tail to the amusement of the group. Toni still hurt but her wounds were just scars.

  ~Everyone else feel as exhausted and sick as I do?~

  Even eating ha
d required effort.

  ~Yes~

  [That is the poison. Your organs are starting to fail, and the bots are trying to repair. But they can't keep up with repairing the damage, they are not programmed for this use, and it is wide spread.]

  ~I take it that means you haven't figured anything out.~

  [Not at this time, but research is proceeding on some information. You will be notified if an answer is found.]

  McKenna lifted her head, letting breeze blow into her face. All that mattered was Charley and the others.

  ~Let's move out. We'll find a good spot for JD and Cass to use as a lookout.~

  They moved out, carefully, but burning energy. Time had run out, and the longer they waited the more likely the poison would prevent them from succeeding. It took them two hours and the sun sank below the tops of the trees, giving the sky a red-orange glow that looked odd to her cat eyes.

  All of them crouched in the shadow of the jungle as they looked at their target. A road led up to it, in decent condition, which implied there would be a town not too far away. The house sat in a large clearing with clear lines of sight for the four towers. The towers were linked together with a chain link fence; the only opening was in the one facing the road. It only ran about eight feet high but it proved a solid barrier. The house emulated the villas of Italy, sprawling with stucco that had already started to rot with the humidity in the jungle. Three out buildings grabbed their attention though there were a bunch of small hovels near the back of the area up against the fence. One looked like a warehouse, where men were unloading bundles of leaves from the backs of trucks and stacking them in the building. The second one a bunch of women were emerging from, all wearing something on their bodies and faces but McKenna couldn't pick out details. They then stopped outside the building stripped and showered before getting dressed again from items laying on another table. The women didn't move fast, their bodies moving like they ached or had been standing too long.

  As far as she could tell no one even paid any attention to their nakedness. A guard standing by another building opened a door and a bunch of kids streamed out straight to the women, wrapping arms around their legs. Bowing over the kids, the women paused, then headed to the hovels and came back out carrying various objects, they then gathered around a stove and sink set roughly in the middle of the living area.