Moonlight Medicine: Epidemic (The Moonlight Medicine Trilogy Book 2)

by Jen Haeger

  Narrowed to such a small area, finding the newly created Wolfkin was a simple task, but it had proven Nicholas worthy in Taras’s eyes and silenced the snickers of the others. Not that all of his calculations had been entirely correct. Conversion was less than expected, but Nicholas attributed that to lower than anticipated ingestion, and possible partial immunity to the modified virus. There were also a few less optimal converts, consisting of a handful of women, the elderly, and children. Taras was at first furious with what he considered worthless outliers, but Nicholas had eventually shown him their value. Of course they would not be of much use in the new army, but their worth would instead be in sowing seeds of disquiet, anxiety, and confusion. Which was a brilliant spin on a drawback of Nicholas’s plan, if Nicholas did say so himself.

  The full scale infection process had been a much more complex feat of logistics, but Nicholas handled it well. Sure occasional strays got past the recruiting squads, but that only helped to preoccupy the other packs. Nicholas was confident in the history of pack isolationism and the packs’ more recent desire to refrain from upsetting the Council to keep them from becoming a true threat to the Vulke’s plans. The Wahya’s golden stray and personal veterinarian had at least been good for something, Nicholas mused. But then again, without them Taras might never have come to power and seen the necessity to embrace the truth about werewolfism and the merit in using technology to their advantage with respect to the virus. So in actuality, they owed Dr. Eisenhart quite a bit of thanks for opening up Pandora’s box and leading the Vulke to a new age in warfare against the other packs.

  Taras’ embracing the Wolfkin condition as a virus only went so far, however. He still evangelized becoming a Vulke as a religion and commanded the respect of a crusader for Wolfkin kind. Nicholas remembered the first time he heard Taras speak after he had been chosen to become a Wolfkin. His voice had been like a living, breathing entity that had spoken directly to Nicholas’s soul. Taras made everything so clear. They were the chosen ones, the ones who were to rise above both men and beasts, and the only ones who knew true purpose, true life. They were created for more than just watching humanity run rampant on the earth like a plague, or worse, helping them in their teeming, mindless breeding like the Council and other Wolfkin packs had been doing for centuries.

  At the time Nicholas had been in a prison camp in Maryinsk, Siberia, condemned to hard labor in that frozen wasteland for trying to earn a living selling illegally imported goods. His partners sold him out, literally paying the police with Nicholas’s share of the profits to keep themselves out of the appalling Russian prison system. Nicholas had been there three years, harvesting potatoes out of the unforgiving Siberian soil and trying not to freeze to death when one night the screams of the guards woke him. Wolf-like beasts unlike any he had ever seen before were tearing them apart. Most of the other inmates were also screaming or cowering in their cells, but something told Nicholas that this was the wrong thing to do. He remembered hunting wolves with his father growing up in their small town. His father had told him again and again that showing fear to a wolf was akin to digging your own grave. So while the others were cornered and slaughtered like lambs, Nicholas stood his ground when his cell was opened by one of the monsters. The thing had stared at him with black merciless eyes and Nicholas thought that he had seen a glint of amusement there as it bared the glistening teeth in its wide muzzle in a mockery of a smile.

  It took every ounce of willpower Nicholas had to not flinch away and run wailing in terror, but he managed to stare the beast down. When its muzzle was mere inches from Nicholas’s face, the thing let out a low growl that seemed almost like an obscene purr and latched on to his arm in a savage bite, then shook him like a dog shakes a rabbit. Nicholas was thrown against the concrete wall of his cell and knocked unconscious. When he woke, he was deep within the Vulke’s stronghold, his arm was bandaged, and a meal of hot stew and bread, finer than anything he had eaten in three years, was waiting for him. He ate his fill trying only to satisfy his hunger without thinking on what was happening or how he had gotten there. Then he was summoned to hear Taras speak in front of his followers.

  It took some time to come to terms with what he had become, but life was not much different with the Vulke than it had been in prison. He was still expected to follow orders and work, though usually in digging out more tunnels and adding on to the above ground structures rather than harvesting potatoes. But nearly every day Taras would speak to them and assure them of their superiority and purpose. For the first time in his life, Nicholas felt the touch of destiny. For months he strived to show his dedication through his enthusiasm for his work and for the weekly brutal fights that new pack members were required to partake in. Ultimately Taras had taken note of Nicholas’s efforts and gradually allowed him to move up in the ranks, and now he was closer to Taras than any other Vulke could claim to be.

  It was exactly what Nicholas wanted. Taras had even told him about the events that occurred just prior to Nicholas becoming a Wolfkin, which few fledgling Vulke knew. He told Nicholas about the stray and the doctor, and their part in the Vulke revolution that was about to take place. Taras explained how he was going to need Nicholas to lead his new armies and bring glory to the Vulke, elevating Wolfkin kind to its proper station. Nicholas took solace in these memories. He needed to focus when things got confused or went wrong. Of course Taras would be angry with tonight’s failures, and he had every right to be. He trusted Nicholas with so much and Nicholas continued to disappoint him. No more, thought Nicholas. No more excuses, no more whining about Taras’ lack of praise. Nicholas was the Vulke revolution.

  With new resolve he turned to his troops. In the east the rising sun was just beginning to make the horizon glow. “Kazimir! Gather the forces. Search the woods. They couldn’t have gotten far. Find them before the sun rises or suffer my wrath!” he shouted.

  18

  There was no doubt in Evelyn’s mind that Katie’s virus was a different strain than the one that both David and she had contracted. She was caught entirely off-guard by this revelation. She had never anticipated there being more than one strain. Her strain was the same as David’s, and even the tiny bit of parchment with The Scribe’s blood impregnated on it and the hair sample that their mysterious Council contact had sent them had all proven to have the same key viral sequences in them. But Katie’s was clearly different, clearly viral and clearly different.

  David tried to calm her down and tell her that she was tired and must have made a mistake, but there was not enough time to double check things. Evelyn started to feel the distinct pressure and vague nausea that accompanied the change into Wolfkin form. They fled from the cabin, but only covered a short distance before Evelyn fell to the forest floor and began screaming as the change overtook her. David held it off a bit longer to make sure that Evelyn went through the process without injuring herself then let himself go. It wasn’t that the change was any less painful for him, but he had learned to deal with the pain better over the years and was able to keep his screaming more to a series of painful cries.

  Once in Wolfkin form Evelyn felt her exhaustion slip away as hormones and adrenaline surged through her body. She felt the red, hot tide of the rage building inside her and took a moment to focus and control it. It was usually easier to do two days out from the full moon, but tonight there had been too much excitement, and too much had happened in the past month, so Evelyn struggled. Finally, David was able to catch her attention and motioned her farther away from the lab. For a while they just ran. It helped Evelyn dissipate some of the raw energy and emotion to speed through the trees and crash through the underbrush as she leapt over logs and dodged around boulders. They ran for a few hours and Evelyn even found a small stream and rolled around in the water for a while. Then the running and lack of proper meals from the last thirty-six hours caught up to her and she was ravenous.

  She got out of the water and began sniffing the air, searching for the scent of prey. Davi
d watched her and began to do the same. At first she smelled nothing but the dank earth of the forest, the woody scent of the trees, and David’s very musky wolf scent. David had gone still, so she knew that he had caught a whiff of something she had not. Frustrated, she whined a little then tried again, honing in on her hunger pangs. There! Oh my God, thought Evelyn, it smells like bacon! She looked over at David and although it was not physically possible with his elongated muzzle, he appeared to be grinning. He shot off in the direction of the wild boar and Evelyn launched after him.

  The boar never had a chance, although at the last minute he did a deft little dodge, escaping David’s claw and allowing Evelyn to bring him down. Although they both hunted, David was always the one who actually brought down the larger prey. It was a new sensation for Evelyn to feel the pig struggling against her teeth, fighting to live. The blood felt painfully hot as it trickled down her throat and she would have let go if she had not been so hungry. She and David tore into the carcass and Evelyn couldn’t believe how good it tasted.

  The consequences of her action hit Evelyn after they were sated and lay digesting and resting a short distance away from the poor animal. A wave of revulsion swept over her. She thought that she had come to grips with this part of it, of having to satiate the beast once a month, but killing the pig truly bothered her. She had never so fully given herself over to the animal before tonight. She now understood why David had been doing most of the actual killing until now. He must have known exactly how she would feel, because he must have felt it himself the first time that he had killed a large animal in wolf form.

  She rolled over on her side to face away from David. She hated this. At first it had been almost a rush after the pain from the change had subsided. Her senses felt incredibly heightened and she felt strong and fast and powerful. She could see how others could want to be this way, to feel as alive as she did when she was a Wolfkin, but she understood the other side even better now. She could see how the animal could take over and how the Vulke could become so twisted as to consider humans prey.

  She was still for a while, trying to think human thoughts and forget that she currently had gaping jaws and a tail. She tried to block out the sounds of the nighttime forest that she couldn’t normally hear when she was a human. She was trying so hard to do this, that she almost missed the distant howling. She sprang to her feet and looked at David. He was alert and wary, he had heard it too. This howling was unlike the howling they had heard the other night. This was the sound of pain, of agony. Evelyn could feel it deep within her bones. It was a terrible sound. There was definitely another Wolfkin out there in the darkness and whoever it was, they were suffering and crying out for help.

  Evelyn whined. She was torn. On the one hand it was not only her human nature, but her profession to help those in need. On the other hand, exposing themselves to a Wolfkin here in Tennessee, so close to the lab could bring up questions and risk the lab’s exposure. Now especially, with Evelyn discovering a new viral strain, she didn’t want to risk the lab. But as the tortured baying broke out again, Evelyn knew that she didn’t have a choice in the matter. She had just been laying there trying to reassure herself of her humanity, so to not offer help would be unconscionable.

  She started moving towards the cries. David grabbed her arm to stop her and gave her a look as if to say, “Are you sure about this?” Evelyn snarled at him and shook off his grip. He was not going to dissuade her. Then she got the rage back under control and nodded to him. David nodded in reply and then they both shot out into the woods in search of the howling Wolfkin. After about ten minutes they didn’t have to rely on their ears anymore as they picked up the individual’s scent. It didn’t smell like anyone they knew. The baying had been getting weaker and weaker as they tracked the scent, and Evelyn was beginning to fear that they would arrive too late to help.

  Then they crested a small rise and came upon a gruesome scene. In the ravine below lay a very light tan Wolfkin partially pinned under a boulder, but that was not what made the scene so terrible. What made the scene particularly grisly was that the boulder had forced the Wolfkin, a woman by the appearance of the shredded clothing on her legs, into a pile of pine deadfall, and a branch had impaled her and was protruding from her back. There was a large pool of blood under the woman and it was clear that there was no possible way that she could free herself.

  At first she didn’t notice them and gave another cry that was even feebler than the last one had been. Evelyn raced to the woman’s side to quiet her because she was wasting precious energy. She put a clawed hand on the woman’s Wolfkin shoulder causing her to flinch and immediately become enraged. She began growling and snarling at Evelyn, weakly attempting to claw and snap at her arm. Evelyn took a step back in surprise, but then lost her temper and let out a sharp bark at the woman to say, “Hey! Come on! We’re trying to help you.” The woman quietened some at that but Evelyn had seen her eyes. They were filled with anger and hate. There was no way to get through to her what they were trying to do, so she turned to David and huffed, then motioned for him to restrain the woman. David gently held back the woman’s near arm and her head while Evelyn examined the extent of her injuries. The woman struggled against David, but was quickly losing her strength.

  The complete penetration of the stick was not a good thing, and made the situation very grim. However, after careful examination, Evelyn was confident that the intestines were not perforated. Also, Evelyn noted that the woman’s legs, though pinned beneath the boulder, did not appear to be broken. She must be some kind of athlete, Evelyn thought absently. Evelyn quickly made a couple decisions: one, that in order to help the woman, they had to first free her legs from the boulder, and two, that they could not remove the branch until they were back at the cabin or the woman would bleed to death.

  The boulder was large and heavy, but it was not massive enough to have crushed the woman outright. She backed away again and David slowly released his hold on the strange Wolfkin. Evelyn pointed at the boulder and then put her shoulder against it and braced herself. David squatted down next to her and held up three clawed fingers, then two, then one. When he brought the last finger down he let out a savage cry and he and Evelyn heaved against the boulder. At first nothing much happened, then, gradually the stone began to inch backwards off of the woman’s legs. She howled with a renewed effort as it moved across her limbs.

  Steamrolling the boulder across the woman’s legs was not what Evelyn had intended, so she barked at David to get his attention, and then, without releasing the pressure on the boulder, she tried to get her furry hands under it in order to flip it off. David understood what she was striving to accomplish and did the same, then he yipped once, twice, and on the third yip they both pushed and lifted with all their might. Evelyn felt her Wolfkin muscles straining and her hunched back arch. She howled trying to dig even deeper into her reserves and with one final earsplitting cry from the woman as the pressure on her legs was released, they tipped the boulder over and off of the woman’s legs. At least this virus is good for something, thought Evelyn. She knew that they never would have been able to lift off that rock without their genetically enhanced upper body muscles.

  The woman tried to move, but only succeeded in floundering vaguely before losing consciousness. Evelyn wished that she could feel for a pulse, but her enlarged, awkward hand-paws prevented it, so she settled for placing her ear on the woman’s back and listening for her heartbeat and her breaths. She heard both, so she turned her attention to the next task at hand, breaking the branch so that they could transport the woman. David was panting heavily, but he grabbed hold of the woman’s body as if to pull her off the branch. Evelyn grabbed his arm and shook her head fiercely. Sometimes it was just so stupid to not be able to talk.

  She pantomimed pulling a branch out of her own body and then made motions of blood spraying out and then her falling dead on the ground. She couldn’t help but think how ridiculous the werewolf charades must look, but David
at least got the message and let go of the woman. Evelyn then picked up a nearby stick and broke it, then mimed them carrying the woman. David nodded his comprehension and Evelyn wrapped her arms around the woman and grabbed the offending branch close to the woman’s abdomen to stabilize it. David lifted his leg and then looked at Evelyn. She nodded slightly and he brought his booted footed down hard on the branch a little ways above where Evelyn held it. The wood splintered, and with a bit more effort on David’s part, the branch snapped.

  Evelyn supported the woman’s body so that it didn’t fall forward once the bough gave way, and then tilted the woman slightly and laid her softly on her side. Evelyn took up the woman’s muscular legs and David hefted her front half as they began to make their way back to the lab. They tried to move as fast as possible but the woman was dead weight and cumbersome to carry. Evelyn suddenly felt a slight prickling sensation over her entire body and glanced up at the sky. She could just barely make out the lightening of the eastern horizon through the trees, but hey had to hurry. Evelyn had no idea what would happen if the woman shifted with a piece of wood embedded in her abdomen, but it couldn’t be good.

  19

  They made it back to the cabin, but with only moments to spare. David bore the entire brunt of the woman’s weight as Evelyn spent several tense and precious seconds unlocking the door, which in Wolfkin form, was no small feat of dexterity. They managed to get the unconscious woman inside and onto the kitchen table. David held the woman on her side and Evelyn ran into the bedroom and ripped the sheets off of the bed and began tearing them into strips to make a pressure bandage. She emerged with the tattered fabric and had David slightly lift the woman so that she could feed the strips under her and be prepared to wrap them tightly once the branch was removed. Evelyn paused a moment and looked at the jagged piece of wood.