Rippled (16 page)

“Department of Defense.” The fur along the back of his neck bristled, and I couldn’t tell if it was from our discussion or the wind.

“What’s in it for them?”

“They aren’t so interested in the virus as they are the transformation. The Ripples were supposed to just be the first stage of what they asked Malcom to do. If they can formulate a way to change the way we look, then maybe he could work on giving us other superhuman traits.”

“So it’s basically being used as a weapon.”

“They’d like it to be, but it isn’t yet. And that’s why we need to destroy whatever’s left of the virus. I know Malcom has the formula memorised by now, but if we could just get rid of whatever we can, maybe we can halt its progression—or at the very least, we can slow it down. “

I sat back on my hunches and lowered my ears. “But then, if Darien and the others are against the virus, what did you need me for?”

His tail flicked idly behind him. “Deep down, Darien wanted out, but until you came along, he saw no need to contain it. He was even more convinced after the incident in the clinic, but we didn’t even know someone could die from it.”

“And the last couple of months?”

“He wanted to see if we could control it.”

“Meaning me.”

He bobbed his head. “I had to prove to Darien—to us—that you can control the shifts…that no matter how unstable you might’ve been in the beginning, it can still be contained, and you can survive it.”

I furrowed my brow. Not because I was confused, but because things were starting to fit together. The reason Brian was so hell-bent on getting me off the drugs and keeping them away from me was to prove a point to Darien. I admit it made me feel used. Betrayed. I tried not to show it.

“Krista.” Brian’s voice was gentle. Cautious. “Talk to me.”

Fighting back tears as a leopard was just as hard as if I were still human. “And us? What about us?”

Are we real?
Did he really love me, or was this all just some part of his plan?

Brian padded up beside me, nuzzling the side of my neck. “We weren’t planned.”

I pressed my forehead against his, but I didn’t look at him. “What we have…it’s real, right? You aren’t…”

“My dear, sweet Krista—no. I’m not going to leave you. I don’t think I ever can.” He sighed. “I said it wasn’t planned, not that I regret what’s happened.” He sat back to give me some air.

“Sorry, but I have to ask…if Darien and some of his men have supported you all along, why did you use the tranquilisers on some of them when you broke me out?”

“Because not everyone supported me. Or Darien. Those I put to sleep in the clinic were those still loyal to Malcom. Which, of course, gave them even more reason to hate me once they realised I was the one that put them to sleep.”

“But you supported Malcom at first, didn’t you?”

“In a way, yes—and I’m still kicking myself about it. He really was a smart guy back in college. I have no idea what happened. I’m not sure if he’s still doing this to prove himself to the DOD, to us, or himself.”

“It’s probably a little bit of each.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

I closed my eyes and sniffed at the air, the wind cool against my face. It seemed no matter how many questions Brian answered, I had about five more. And every single one of them had to do with the life I’d been living over the last two months. Whatever life I’d had before didn’t exist. It didn’t matter.

“But why wait until now?” I asked, breaking the silence between us. “I’m sure Darien and his men have been unhappy for a lot longer than my time here. And seeing as the other men remain loyal to Malcom, what’s changed?”

“Because, we couldn’t let something like—”

“Like me,” I urged.

Brian bowed his head. “…to get out into the general public. It’s one thing to release stable shifters, but if we left here before we knew how you’d react without all the drugs, if something happened—”

“You’d be liable, I get it.”

“No, not liable. Guilty. There’s a difference. While no one could link us to any outside events, we’d know we could’ve done something to prevent it.”

“So, all this time—all this training—has been preventative?”

“Yes. Malcom couldn’t possibly keep you on those drugs forever, and the sooner we got you off of them—away from that need to take them—the better.”

I turned my gaze to the sky, heavy with snow. “And Malcom? What all does he do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know he does the injections and takes care of the virus, but other than that, you never see him. Is he a hermit or something?”

“I wish. No. When you can’t find him, he’s almost always trying to find new formulas. It was part of the agreement he made with the DOD. More formulas in their eyes meant more powers. It’s stupid, really—trying to get invisibility or flight out of a shifter virus—but here we are.”

“And has he succeeded?”

“Not yet, no.”

“Then why stay here? You and I got out tonight just fine. Why go back?”

“Because the DOD will find us, and when they do, they’ll tag our asses and drag them back to the facilities faster than we can shift. There is no leaving a place like that. Not until they’re happy with Malcom’s as well as our progress.”

“And are they happy?”

“Doesn’t look like it. According to Malcom, they’ve cut our funding, which is why the food has gone to crap. And, though he hasn’t said anything, I’m pretty sure Malcom’s scrambling to prove himself to get that funding back.”

“What if they take it away entirely? Then can we leave?”

Brian shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure. On one hand, we’re individuals with rights. On the other, we belong to the government. The virus essentially makes it so we can’t go back to our normal lives.”

“What happens after the virus is destroyed?”
Can we leave then?
“Where do we go?”
What do we do?

“We start over, and we can go wherever you want. You can be
whoever
you want.”

He didn’t say whatever I wanted to be. I licked my lips. “I want to go with you.”

“And you will, but not tonight.” His gaze grew distant as he looked back in the direction of the camp.

We still have work to do…

“Think you can run some more?” Brian asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I flexed my paws before looking back at him. “Can we walk?”

He nodded towards the sky, which was filling with light. “Half and half?”

I noted the changing skies and inclined my head. It was almost morning, which meant we had very little time to get back to camp. We’d been gone long enough. Brian started to make his way down the slope, and I hurried to catch up with him.

Wait for us, Darien. Don’t lock us out just yet
.

We had a lot of distance to cover and not enough time. We’d have to run the entire way. My paws protested, but I didn’t stop. We couldn’t afford to screw up, not when we’d got this far.

Chapter Fifteen

Krista

We arrived back at camp with little time to spare, and after shifting back into human form and me changing into my clothes, Brian and I parted ways. I’d been due back at my room hours ago, but Brian had promised one of the guards would get me back inside without any problems. It didn’t surprise me when one of Darien’s men greeted me outside my quarters.

“Good run?” he asked with a knowing smile. “The lock’s been disabled. You can come and go until tomorrow afternoon. By then, Malcom will have noticed the error and fixed it.”

I inclined my head and reached for the door. “Thank you for this, and thank Darien for me as well.”

The guard squeezed one of my shoulders. “If you can control it, and if this works, we’ll be the ones thanking you.” His eyes softened, then he said, “I haven’t seen my family for close to a year. Haven’t spoken to them on the phone. Just letters.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to trouble you with all of this.”

I turned back to face him and took his hand in mine. “I know how important this is to Brian and the others. I cannot promise I’ll always be in control, but for now, the leopard inside me is still. Nothing like having a split personality, huh?”

He smiled, dipped his head and excused himself, likely to go where he was needed. The weight of his words, of Darien and Brian’s expectations, settled on my mind well after I’d got inside and had changed into my nightclothes. I knew I was the reason they were on pins and needles, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do about it. Tonight had gone flawlessly, but how could we be sure it would always work out this way?

Just don’t cage yourself inside your own body.

It was going to take a while to recognise the symptoms of needing to shift and when was a good time to actually do it, but I was willing to give it a shot.

Anything’s better than staying here.

If I had a choice between being a prisoner there and being one in my own body, I’d take my body any day. At least then, I was somewhat familiar with it, along with what I could expect.

Now we just need to find the virus and get rid of it.

The rest would all come down to what Brian and Darien did next.

* * * *

A few days later, with multiple shifts in between and no sex in sight, Brian and I met up with Darien in my quarters.

It’s hard thinking about sex, let alone remembering it when you’re planning an escape.

I wasn’t due for a new set of injections until later that afternoon, and Brian hoped that by then, we’d be disposing of the virus. After that, the last thing the nurses would be interested in was giving injections. Or so we hoped.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed with Brian, while Darien leaned against the door. His eyes looked redder than usual.
He probably hasn’t slept for days.
I knew I hadn’t. After Brian and Darien had decided I could control my shifts, we’d been working together to figure out what to do next.

Darien and his men had agreed to search for the virus—or as much as they could find—along with figuring out when would be the best time to go after it. Having him in my quarters now either meant they’d found it, or Malcom had moved it. I wasn’t sure how he would’ve known about our plans, or even if he knew about us at all, but it would’ve made sense.

We aren’t going to find it.

If Malcom or whoever was behind all this was stupid enough to keep the virus in the same place as their test subjects—intelligent test subjects—then they had a lot more to worry about than lab rats turning into snow leopards.

“Anything?” Brian asked, adding to the tension in the room.

The air around us grew heavy against my chest as Darien’s eyes shifted from Brian to me and back again.

You knew this wouldn’t be easy.

Yeah, but I’d been hoping it wouldn’t be so hard. We hadn’t even heard what he had to say just yet, and already my nerves were firing off all at once.

“Eating burgers, meatballs and nuggets for the better part of a month isn’t all that’s got most of my men in an uproar.” Darien sighed, then met Brian’s gaze, the sincerest look on his face. “Brian, Malcom docked our pay.”

Brian raised his eyebrows. “By how much?”

“As in, not getting paid at all.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Haven’t you checked?”

“Direct deposit. I get the stubs, but never bother to open them. The money’s just there.”

“You might want to. And from what I understand, the rest of the staff has been waiting on their checks as well. A one- or two-day delay I can understand. But a full week?”

“You think he knows?” Brian lowered his voice. “Could he know? What about the other guards? Can we expect trouble from them?”

Darien shook his head. “My men have been extra careful, and all the talk around here is about the food or the lack thereof. As for the guards in the clinic, I moved them to other areas on the grounds under the guise of them having a break for the day. Working at the clinic is a hard post, so they were happy to swap out with those of my men who are loyal to our cause.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing we’re almost done here. I don’t know how much more time I can spend in the mess hall breaking up fights before they get going. And it isn’t just one or two shifters now. They’re all acting poorly.”

“And with good reason. Even for us, mystery meat every fucking day makes me think he expects too much of us. Steak. That’s what I want. A nice, medium-rare steak.”

Brian groaned. “Don’t start. You’re going to make us more hungry than we already are, and we have work to do.”

“What about the virus?” I asked. “Did you find it?”

Darien smiled at us. “That’s at least one thing we have working in our favour. One of my men says you’ll find what’s left of the vials in the basement beneath the clinic.” He paused, then said, “You’ll find the entrance in section C.” He placed a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “There’s no telling who all knows what the formula actually is. There could be more—”

“It’s okay,” Brian began as he laced his fingers with mine. “So long as we can get rid of what’s left here, we can slow them down, if not stop them completely. The last thing the DOD will want is an infestation of leopards hidden amongst the general public.”

“You’ll have to change your names.”

“One thing at a time, my friend. One thing at a time.”

“I cannot help you any further than this. My men will let you pass without question, but we cannot join you.”

Brian nodded and stood to shake his hand. “I understand. Besides, it will be better this way. With each of you still at your posts, no one will know what two leopards are doing under the clinic. I’ll come to you when we’re ready.”

Darien released Brian’s hand and unlocked the door with a key card. “You’ll find me where I always am.” Then to me, he said, “Thank you.”

By now, I’d joined them at the door. “What for?”

“For trusting us. I know we look scary to a shifter, but it’s how we play our part.”

“And you did it well.” I licked my lips. “So, what happens after we get rid of the virus? What about the others?”