No Such Thing As Werewolves (21 page)

“We stop these things here, or we don’t stop them at all. The next few days are critical. We need to learn everything we can about them: their weaknesses, how they can be killed, how they hunt. Most importantly, we need to understand how the disease is transmitted,” the Director explained, a little of his fire returning.

“Understood, sir. What’s our next step?”

“I want you to meet with the science team for a debriefing. They’ll explain what we already know. Then we need to locate Subject Alpha. He’s the source of the contagion, so studying him might be our only hope of understanding what we’re dealing with. We’ve got ops working around the clock and have feelers out to the Peruvian government, offering them help in containing the spread.”

“Sir, do we have any way of knowing which of these attacks could be him?” Jordan asked, already considering options for finding Smith. He studied the map on the screen, keenly aware of the gravity of his failure.

The Director was silent for a long moment. He squared his shoulders, turning to face the room full of busy technicians. They worked diligently under the halogen glow, processing data and no doubt looking for the shred of evidence that would deliver their quarry. They were the best, but what they were searching for was tantamount to a black grain of sand on a white beach.

“No. We have to hope he makes a mistake. Uses a credit card. Ends up on camera somewhere. We’ve already arranged taps for his families and associates, and I’ll alert you if anything comes of it. In the meantime you’re going to have to think like him. We assume he’s probably trying to find a way back to the States,” the Director replied. He turned his gaze back to Jordan. “I understand I’m asking a lot, but you need to find him, Jordan. Quickly. Don’t fuck up this time. We won’t get another chance.”

Chapter 27- Naked

Liz had to pee. Urgently. Her teeth chattered as a breeze caressed her bare back. She blinked away sleep, pushing herself into a sitting position. There were mountains to the east. A surf pounded somewhere in the distance. Where was she? And why was she naked? Her heart nearly stopped when she realized there was a well-muscled arm draped over her legs. What the hell was going on? She scrambled away from the strange man, pain spiking through her left foot as it came down on a jagged rock. She careened off a tree that had somehow snuck up on her, barely catching herself on the sycamore’s lowest limb. She was trembling violently, and not just from the chill.

Her heart thundered, and she could only manage shallow breaths. What was the scarlet mess all over her neck and chest? The dried ichor flaked when she brushed it with her index finger. It was blood. She raised her hands to her cheeks. They were covered with the stuff. Where had it come from? What had she done? She remembered dimly lit dreams, horrible and dark. She remembered rending. Ripping. Rutting like an animal.

Her head whipped toward the stranger as she caught a flash of movement. He scooted sleepily into the spot she’d just occupied, scratching a mop of dirty-blond hair. He had an angular face that might border on handsome had it not been covered in gore. A chest wide enough for the cover of a trashy novel bore tendrils of tattered medical gauze—familiar gauze. She dimly recalled the clinic in Villa Milagros. Yes, he was the unconscious stranger. What had his name been? She’d lost it in the chaos. Apparently she’d lost a lot more than just that.
 

She scanned the beach to the west. A two-lane road dotted with gas stations paralleled it. To the north lay a smattering of buildings maybe twice as large as Villa Milagros. There would be a phone there. Maybe even police. The hike was a good ten miles, most if it through thickly tangled bushes or over rocks that would soon grow intolerably hot. Wonderful.
 

Hot, coppery anger flooded her. She didn’t even have shoes. It was time to get some answers.

“Hey,” she said, steeling her courage and hobbling toward the man. She prodded him roughly with a foot and then hopped to a safe distance. “Wake up. I said
wake up
.”

“Wuzzat?” the man asked, drowsily sitting up. He patted the ground next to him as if he were searching for something. Glasses, probably. Liz knew what that was like. Speaking of which, where were hers? And how could she see so clearly without them?
 

“Wake up,” she demanded with all the authority she could muster. It wasn’t easy when naked, lost, and covered with blood. “Where the hell are we? How did I get here? There’s plenty of rocks, and I’m going to start aiming for your head if I don’t get some answers.”

His deep brown eyes blinked into focus as he drank in her legs and ever so slowly lifted his gaze to her chest. He was blushing by the time he reached her face. In other circumstances she might have welcomed the attention, but right now the behavior only stoked her anger.

“I, uh, I don’t know. Look, I know this has got to be confusing,” he said, averting his gaze as he rose gracefully. At least he had manners. “Your name is Liz, right? You’re a doctor too? A medical one?”

“No,” she snapped, hackles relaxing slightly. There had been such strange nightmares, but they grew more distant as the sun picked skyward through the clouds.

“No? I could have sworn that Jefe guy introduced you as Doctor Liz. Anyway, my name is Blair Smith. I’m an anthropologist, well a teacher with an anthropology degree, anyway. How much do you remember from the clinic?” He spoke gently without looking at her, as if placating a wild animal. Did she really look that hysterical? Maybe she was.

“I…” she trailed off, tugging at the thread of memory. “Jefe drove me up to Villa Milagros. The villagers were dead. Killed by…” Killed by what? Fangs flashed in the jumbled corners of her mind.

“Killed by me,” the man interjected, heavy eyes finally returning to her. His face was stone. “Or by something inside me. A monster. The same one inside of you. I realize how crazy that sounds, but it’s true. We’re dealing with something I can’t even begin to comprehend, much less explain.”

“Yeah, great. Monsters. Got it. How did we get here? Why did you kidnap me, and for the love of God, where are my clothes?” she growled, anger surging as the tirade gained momentum. She didn’t know what was happening, but this man was at the heart of it. She fished a rock from the ground and hurled it at his face. Much to her surprise, it hit, snapping his head back as his mouth filled with blood.
 

“Oh my God,” she said, horrified by her own actions. It didn’t matter what he’d done. This wasn’t like her. She looked around the brush-covered hill for anything to staunch the flow.
 

Blair’s face twisted, and he took a threatening step toward her.
 

“Don’t. Do. That. Again,” he said, taking another step forward. He was taller than her and obviously stronger, but she didn’t budge. There was a curious lack of fear. “Whatever happened to me also happened to you. Where do you think all that blood came from? Look at yourself. Take a long look, Liz. You might not be a doctor, but you’ve been to college, right? Examine the fucking situation.”

She did. She was naked, but so was he. He was covered in blood, but so was she. Whatever was going on had affected him just as it had her. If he’d wanted to kidnap her, he’d be clothed and would probably have a gun. He’d also have bound her. The anger ebbed, leaving exhaustion in its wake.

“Tell me what you mean by monsters. Explain everything. Talk slow, like I’m stupid,” she said as calmly as she could manage.
 

“It’s complicated.”

“So
un
complicate it. How about something simple? Where are we?” she asked, anger returning in a sudden surge. She actually took a step toward
him
. They were inches apart now, each refusing to back down.
 

“I don’t know,” he growled, glaring down at her. “I was just woken up, remember? How the hell do I know where we are? And what is it you think I did, exactly? Carry you naked down a mountainside and roll you around in some blood?”

Liz didn’t have an immediate answer, and that just made the anger worse. She wanted answers and he didn’t have them. Yet he was the only target for her rage. She seethed silently.

“Listen, I know this is all a lot to take in, but we don’t have time for you to get hysterical. Think you’ve got it bad?” he blared, voice thundering over the waves. “I’m in a foreign country. I don’t speak the language. I’m naked. I have no money. My friends are dead. Oh, and I’m a fucking werewolf.”

She just stared, counterargument dying unspoken. His lip was knitting itself back together, the flesh literally closing before her eyes. Blair started to cough, raising a hand to his mouth. When the hacking ceased, he showed it to her, palm up. There were two broken teeth, clearly expelled from his mouth. In their place were two brand new replacements, clear and white in stark contrast to their neighbors.

“Wha-what just happened?” she asked in a tiny voice, though she was positive she didn’t want to hear the answer.

“You can probably answer that better than I can. That isn’t the only thing. Look,” he tugged at the remains of the bandage around his midsection, exposing smooth, pale skin. “If that isn’t proof enough for you, think back to that clinic. Do you remember the helicopter? Your friend dying, the guy in the leather Jacket?”

“Jefe,” she muttered, mind tangled in what she’d just witnessed. Spontaneous regeneration happened in starfish, not people. Even then, reforming a limb took days. The amount of energy required to do it instantly was nearly incalculable. It was impossible, but she’d just seen it.

“Yeah, Jefe,” Blair continued, seemingly oblivious to her stupor. He started pacing the rocky terrain, studying the area below them. “You know what they sent after us. Soldiers. Why do you think that is? Why do you have no memory of coming here? I’ll bet you had nightmares. Violent ones. Deny it, if I’m wrong.”

The fire inside her sputtered out, smothered by the weight of his words.

“I can’t,” she admitted, hating him for the truth. She sank into a crouch, hugging her chest to her knees. “What I just saw is impossible. And I did have nightmares.”

“That’s something, I guess,” Blair said, hopping atop a small boulder. She tried not to watch him, but even given the circumstances they were in, it was hard not to notice the way the muscles bunched in his legs. Such an odd thing to feel at a time like this. He turned a steely gaze on her. “I was called in to a dig site a few weeks back. Up in the mountains, near a mine.”

“Yanacocha,” she said, staring him in the face. It made ignoring…other things it easier. He seemed to be doing the same, eyes focused on her face. “It’s the largest goldmine in South America.“

“Ok, Yanacocha. We were studying an enormous pyramid, bigger than anything ever discovered on this continent or any other.” He shaded his eyes against the sun. He watched the town to the north. “We have no idea who built it, and the structure demonstrates command of a technology we can’t begin to understand. It changes our whole understanding of the ancient world.”

“So let me see if I have this straight,” Liz broke in, fanning an ember of her earlier anger. She gently stoked it into indignation. “You want me to believe that you were studying some pyramid built by
aliens
? If this thing is so gigantic, why wasn’t it discovered before? Some random kid in Georgia would have found it with Google Earth.”

“Why do people always assume its aliens?” Blair rolled his eyes. “We don’t know what culture built it, but it was humans, not little green men. I don’t know much about them yet, or why they disappeared. What I can tell you is that they designed a pyramid that can cause earthquakes.”

“And werewolves,” she added, answering his eye roll with one of her own. “So our mysterious lost people of Atlantis made werewolves? Seriously? What next, sparkly vampires? I believe in some things people think are pretty out there, but come on.”

“Listen, lady. You do whatever the hell you want. I’m done trying to convince you,” he said, sliding off the rock and moving toward the town in the distance.
 

“Where are you going?” she called, rising and trotting after him. She didn’t trust him, but she also didn’t want to be alone. Especially alone and naked.
 

“To that village. I need clothes. And a phone.” He paused, turning to face her. “I don’t know what’s happened to us, but I intend to find out.”

“Exactly how are you going to do that?” she asked, planting her hands on hips, like weapons. “Are you a doctor? Can you sequence DNA? Because if you can’t, you’re going to fail.”

“I’m guessing you can? I thought you weren’t a doctor,” he countered, turning a glare on her.

“Grad student. I’ve had a lot of training, and I understand how DNA works. If we can get to a lab, I might be able to get us some answers.”
 

“Great. First we’ll get some clothes. Then we’ll find a lab,” he said, turning back toward the village and setting a ground-eating pace down the rocky hill.

She hobbled after him, favoring her right foot and abruptly realizing she didn’t need to. The pain was gone.

“My foot,” she said, lifting a leg to inspect the sole of her foot. “The wound. It’s gone.” She ran a hand over smooth, unbroken skin.

“I told you. Whatever this is, we’re in it together,” Blair said, neither turning to face her nor slowing. “The faster we reach that town, the better. We can be there by nightfall, but we’re both going to look like lobsters. Wish I had some sunscreen.”