"Cedar Vale: Project Lycanthropis 1.5" by Jacob Bowdin

     The sound of short, repetitive scratches at the room’s door slowly registered in the back of his mind.  The light wooden door shook slightly while the rasping scratches escalated.  Suddenly, the room fell silent and the door stopped its quivering as a new noise emerged from behind the wooden panels.  An agitated huffing sent a thin wave of dust rolling under the door and along the hardwood floor.  Working its way along the floorboards at the entrance, the huffing stopped, instantly followed by a soft shuffling sound.  Slowly the doorknob began to jiggle and then finally rotated as the door swung open. 

      Sasha Jameson jerked awake under the thin sheet covering his bed.  Pale moonlight filtered through his bedroom’s window, flickering occasionally as the trees outside blew in the light breeze.  Sasha lay still, not wanting to move as he recalled the horrible dream.  Listening to the soothing wind outside of his open window, Sasha frowned as he realized something wasn’t right.  Usually the humid summer night came alive with the vibrant sound of insects and night birds.  Eerily, the night stood still except for the light rush of the wind in the towering pines.  Sasha slowly raised his head, peeking around the room as his gaze passed over a patch of dark shadow in the corner by the blinds; a chill tingled its icy fingers up the young boy’s spine.  His pale blue eyes came to a halt, widening as he saw the door cracked open and swinging slightly in the draft.  His mother had shut it, he remembered.  She always did when she went to bed for the night so his father wouldn’t wake him as he left for his job in the early morning hours.  Sasha’s body began to shake as he heard the shuffling noise again.  This time it came from the shadowed corner.  Slowly turning his wide-eyed gaze to the sound, Sasha’s throat tightened as he choked out a strangled cry.  Out of the darkness, something stared.  Shimmering eyes collected the moonlight and glowed a burnished golden hue as they narrowed menacingly.  A low growl rumbled from the shadowed creature as it took a crouching step toward the shaft of light by Sasha’s bed. 

      Crying out, Sasha thrashed to free himself of the beast’s grip.  Fighting wildly, the youth tumbled out of bed to find himself assailed by none other than his linen sheets.  Blinking in the sudden morning light, Sasha shivered as he recalled the odd dreams of last night. 

      Trying his best to rearrange his bed after the chaotic wakening, Sasha heard his mother calling from the kitchen.  “Sash, what was all that commotion?   Come and get breakfast.”

      Sasha grinned, his nightmare pushed from thought by the enticing smells of fried eggs drifting down the hallway to his room.  The young boy left his disheveled bed and scurried off to get his food.  Coming into the kitchen, Sasha skidded to a halt and smiled to his mother.  With a hasty, “Morning, Mother,” Sasha hopped up onto a stool at the center counter and looked eagerly to the frying eggs.  

      Poking at the sizzling mass with a fork, his mother turned and looked down at her son.  “Did you sleep okay, Sash?  I thought I heard you cry out a bit ago.”

      Sasha’s face scrunched up as he recalled the frightening dream.  Fidgeting with the silverware in front of him, the boy nodded.  “I slept fine, Mom.  Just had another nightmare, I guess, about Dad’s project again.” 

      A concerned look crossed over his mother’s face as she frowned and shook the fork as if it were a weapon.  “Ooooh, I’ll have to have another talk with your father again, I see.  He can’t keep up those stories he’s always telling.”  Sasha nodded and looked out the window as he and his plate awaited the juicy eggs. 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     He had followed the scent.  So familiar, the smell was the first thing the creature had ever known. Vague blurred images of glass containers linked by many cables, a man looking down at him, and white coats, so many white coats, flashed through his head as the creature looked upon the small human dwelling in front of him.  Finally, he had broken free.  The realization of his existence had crept upon the creature over the past weeks. 

     Rarely was he allowed to rest.  Thankfully he had his mate, another like him.  He sensed her as if she were right next to him.   The grueling hours of hunting, always being watched, always being controlled, were the only times he could be close to her.  Stalking the woods together, the pair had always performed their task to the will of those in the white coats.  War games with the security guards dragged on at all hours.  The creature knew what he was to be used for and now his entire being rebelled against it.  He loathed what had created him.  In the beginning the creature had not been aware of what his existence meant, but they had given him knowledge.  They expected him to use that knowledge as they wished.  And he had, until now. 

     The trials and tests stretched on.  The men in white coats always watched the exercises; never the same group, always a different set nodding and pointing as if he were a mere animal up for sale.  One white coat always watched, however, and the creature would never forget him.  He knew that man and always had since the day of his ‘birth’.  He knew what his creator wanted, but try as the man may to hone the creature’s killing instinct and unnatural intelligence to his own will, the creator only succeeded in seeding a hate into the creature.  Finally that hate had boiled over.  Unable to bear the constant tests, knowing full well what destiny awaited him when they finished his ‘training’, he waited, and watched.  Using the teachings of his creator to find the patterns and routines of his keepers, the creature had found the right moment and overpowered the unwary feeder and the guard outside.  Bounding through the halls as white coats leapt out of his way, the creature had had to kill two more guards as they attempted to bar the door.  And now freedom beckoned, but the creature had his own objectives now.  A primal rage fueled the creature, he would not be controlled, he would not be caged, and he would not allow the white coats to continue.

     Catching a lingering scent, the creature crept through the yard and into the home’s hallway through an unlocked screen door.  He sniffed the dusty floor at the bottom of the wooden frame, catching a different smell; so similar to the first he couldn’t ignore it.  The creature huffed loudly and then stood up, testing the doorknob. Finding the flimsy door unlocked, he opened it easily.  Sliding into the shadows, he watched the small human jerk awake in his sleep.  Tipping his head to one side, the creature tensed and growled as the young human spotted him.  Taking a step into the light, the creature tested the boy’s scent.  Knowing this small human was not the one he wanted, the creature turned and slipped out the window into the slowly lightening pines.  As the sun peeked over the rocky walls of the valley, he headed back to the site. 

     The trek back to the facility did not take the creature much time at all.  His powerful legs covered the ground in long, loping strides.  He ghosted through the trees, a flowing shadow moving through the murky shade of the deeper woods.  He avoided the roads; too much chance one of the targets may notice him and alert the rest.  After about ten minutes, the creature slowed, and lowered himself to creep to the edge of the woods.  He could see the stark grey walls of the facility.  Keeping himself concealed in the brush, the creature scanned the surrounding area, dull golden eyes searching for any movement.  The creature grunted softly and nodded to himself.  No guards on the exterior.  They would be short with the losses from his escape, the guards were well trained, but there were not many.  The creature stood back up and loped over to the building, keeping to all fours, and watching for any sign of life.  He reached a wire-laced window in a few strides, and rose to his hind legs to look in.  He had come out of the woods by the containment wing, where he had been housed.  His first objective was getting into that area, and for that, he needed to try and gather intelligence about the personnel left in the facility.  The creature’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of white coats, he lowered himself below the window’s level, and listened to the words that drifted out to his sensitive ears.

     The creature growled in spite of himself when he heard the first voice.  It could only be his creator, but his elimination would have to wait.  The creature concentrated on the voice as it spoke. 

     “What do you mean, he escaped?  How in blazes did it get out?  Where was security?”  Agitation lay heavily in the man’s tones.

     Another male voice followed after a hesitation.  This one held nothing but fear.  The creature’s muzzle curved into a semblance of a grin, fear worked to his advantage.  He turned his ear back to the conversation.

      “I don’t know, Doctor.  As near as we can tell, the specimen managed to attack his feeder.  When the security guard opened the door to assist, that’s when it got out and killed the two guards posted at the main entrance for the overnight shift.”  The owner of the voice cleared his throat and continued, “Ahem, Chief Sizemore sent three to track it last night.  When they didn’t check in at dawn, he took the last two guards out to find them.”  The voice hesitated again and cracked once it resumed.  “And find them, they did.  The three men were long dead.  The first appeared to have tried to put up a fight, but the others were apparently cut down while running.  The chief isn’t sure where the specimen is anymore.”

     His creator’s voice responded with annoyance.  “It can’t be helped now.  We will have to get him back, alive if possible.”

     The fearful one remained silent, and then his creator sighed, voice dwindling as he moved further away from the window.  “At least only the male escaped.  If the female had as well, who knows what the pair would have done.  Get this mess cleaned up.”

     The creature noted the conversation and tucked it away in his memory.  Leaving the windows, the creature moved back into the underbrush and started a slow circuit of the facility.  If he was going to go back in, he wanted to get a look at every angle.  None of the white coats inside knew he lurked outside.  None of them could see the brown shape, like a ghost, waiting, watching.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

      Stuffing the last forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth, Sasha handed the plate to his mother and hopped off the stool.  Setting the plate under the hot running water, Mrs. Jameson turned her head back to her son.  “Before you get too comfy, I need your help outside.  After the dishes, we have some yard work to be done.”  Ruffling Sasha’s hair with her free hand as he darted past, his mother chuckled. 

     Rolling his eyes and ducking past his mother, Sasha headed off to his room for a few precious minutes before his conscription began.  Muttering a sullen, “Okay, Mom, gotcha,” he disappeared down the short hall.  Pushing his door open, Sasha caught a glimpse of something odd at the frame by the floor.  Crouching down and peering closer, Sasha felt his heart quicken as he stood and looked around quickly.  On the very bottom of his door, shallow gouges were dug into the wood, as if something sharp had accidentally brushed it.  Sasha felt his legs shake as he stepped into his room.  He made his way over to the window and plucked a small brown patch of fur from the windowsill’s corner.  Dropping the coarse hair, Sasha hastily changed and darted out of his room to wait by his mother. 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

      The afternoon sun warmed his fur as a light breeze drifted through the tangle of brush the creature had taken shelter in.  He had listened at a few more windows, and had to retreat due to the unexpected appearance of a few white coats leaving the site.  He could have easily killed them, but he would not start yet, he had to avoid notice until the time was right.  The creature huffed in agitation, and ran through the conversation he had heard before retreating.

     His creator had just gotten off the phone.  The call had been made on speaker, so the creature had heard both sides of the talk.  His creator had been speaking to a General.  The creature knew ranks and military conduct to an extent, but names eluded him. The general worked the liaison between the corporation his creator worked for and the United States Government.  The military provided very hushed armed support for the corporation’s hidden projects apparently; projects that would be frowned upon by most of the world’s populace.  In return for cleverly masked funding to support its main public enterprises, the Sigara Corporation agreed to sign over the results of its hidden projects for military use.   Insuring the line secure, the creature huffed a rough laugh at that, General Varns had assured the rather stressed researcher that a quick-response SEAL team was en route from nearby Fisher’s Bay, the small fishing village turned covert-observation-base about ten miles out from Cedar Vale.  The doctor had hung up and left the room.  The creature had moved away, and reacquired the doctor at the main entrance once he had settled in the brush. 

     Pulling back from his memory, the creature looked up and found the humans gathered by the doors.  His creator now stood staring down at the oddly shaped, wolf-like prints set into the soggy gravel of the main drive.  The man jumped slightly as his assistant joined him, handing over a sheaf of papers. 

     Fidgeting with his glasses, the lower scientist glanced about nervously.  The creature made sure to keep himself concealed, but near enough to see and hear.  The human’s voices drifted to his ears on the breeze as he watched. 

     “Well, Dr. Jameson, h...here’s the news.   The guard wasn’t so badly injured as we thought, just bitten apparently.  A slip-up by the creature in the confusion, I suppose.    B...but as you can see from the analysis you ordered, his genetic makeup is slowly reconfiguring, mutating.” 

      Rubbing his temples with his free hand, the doctor sighed heavily.  “So the tests were right after all.  Our specimens are carriers for a disease.  Those splices wound up giving the subjects negative side effects.  Exactly what we wanted, but our own men weren’t supposed to be the test subjects, blast!  If the specimen reaches the civilian population, this will begin to spread like wildfire.”

      Tossing the sheet off to his assistant, the scientist waved his head security officer over.  Emerging from the doorway, the burly man stepped up, hands tightening and relaxing on his rifle’s grip as his eyes swept the woods.  The creature remained still and the man’s gaze swept over him.  Obviously his creator’s assistant wasn’t the only one worried.  “Yeah, Doc, whatcha need?”

       Looking out to the woods away from the creature, the doctor glanced at the trail of clawed paw prints.  “Hank, I need you to take a couple of guards and go to the service road.   We have a team of in-bound SEALs on the way in case matters get more out of hand than they already are.  If you find the specimen before you find the team, tranq it.  I want it alive.  Those military buffoons will just want to kill it and scrap the project.”       

     Hesitating before he nodded, the muscle-bound security chief whistled and waved to the last pair of guards who were casting nervous glances out the door.  “Pete, Vern, get out here, ya sissies, we got a job to do.   Follow me to the service road, there’s gonna be some company.”

      The creature watched the larger man obtain a white soft-topped jeep from the nearby garage with the black stenciling ‘Project Security’ on each door.  As the lead guard started the engine, the other two guards undid the top and hopped in the back, watching the woods with rifles ready.  Watching the security team disappear into the thick woods, splashing mud from the frequent puddles, the creature turned to regard the scientists still outside the door.  His creator exchanged a few more words with the other, and then got into a jeep and headed down a different road than the guards, the road to the village if the creature remembered right.  The creature settled back on his haunches.  Soon it would be time.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

      Sasha wasn’t sure just how much more he could take of planting flowers and yard work.  He and his mother had started at noon, and his watch declared the time bordering 4 o’clock.  The sun had just begun to set, unlike his hunger, which had already set in.  Straightening from the last flower, Sasha grinned as he watched his mother do the same.  “All done, Mom, so what’s for dinner?”

      Laughing at his enthusiasm, Susan Jameson walked over and patted her son’s head.  “Well, I’m not sure, Sash, but I’ll go in and get it started.  Your father should be home soon.  Hopefully he had a good day at the site.”

      As his mother disappeared into the house, Sasha walked back to one of the shrubs he had planted by his window, remembering something he had seen.  Frowning as he laid eyes on the oversized, dog-like tracks, Sasha followed them to the edge of the woods. Strangely they had started out with only two apparent tracks.  At the woods, however, they appeared to suddenly become a set of four.  Nervously glancing into the darkening pines, Sasha ran back to the house. 

            After a while of sitting and watching his mother cook dinner, occasionally helping as she asked for this or that, Sasha finally heard his dad’s jeep crunching over the gravel outside.  Grinning towards the door, Sasha jumped up and latched onto his father’s leg as soon as the doctor cleared the entrance.  Abandoning her pots for a second, Mrs. Jameson walked over and gave her husband an affectionate kiss on the cheek.  Letting her one hand rest on his tense shoulder and the other on Sasha’s head, she frowned up into her husband’s eyes.  “What’s wrong, Dear?  You look tired.  Is everything okay at the site?”    

      Setting his briefcase down as he patted Sasha’s shoulder and returned his wife’s kiss, Dr. Jameson smiled.  “Of course, Hon, everything is just like it always is.  So, what’s for dinner?   Sure smells good.”

- - - - - - - - - - - -

      Watching from the top of a pine, he waited patiently as he had been trained.  He had climbed the tree for a better view, while he planned his entry.  The thin, more fragile scientist still lingered outside, staring after the jeeps and twitching nervously.  Even at this distance the creature could smell the smaller one’s fear.  Growling low in his throat, he dropped without a sound from of the high branches onto the needle-carpeted ground.  Observing the thin, frail human at the building lift something to his mouth and light it on fire, the creature slowly crept through the swaying pines.  At the edge of the woods, a bare thirty feet from the human, he stopped.  Tilting his head to one side then the other, the creature watched the human for a moment in the dimming light.  As the little man flicked away whatever he had been consuming, the creature struck.  In one graceful leap it was on top of him, going straight for his soft, exposed throat. The creature felt flesh and muscle give and then the windpipe crunch, rent easily by his massive jaws.  Leaving the gasping figure behind, he bounded into the doors. 

      Remembering where he had been taught most power sources were in such buildings, the creature clawed his way into a nearby duct and worked his way through the tubing.  Moving swiftly through the dark tunnels, claws leaving thick gouges in the steel as he went, the creature finally reached his goal.  Carefully surveying the small room through the vent’s grille, he saw no guards.  Shredding the thin mesh with his razor sharp claws, the creature dropped into the room.  Locating the circuit box, he growled in satisfaction.  Standing upright he stepped over to the box, prying it open with little effort.  Finding the main power line, the creature easily ripped the wire out of the wall with a single pull, avoiding the sparks and live end of the line. 

      A pair of dull gold eyes emerged into the hallway as the lights died.  Following his mate’s scent as the hallways became bathed in the sporadic red flares of the emergency lights, he tracked down his companion.  Nearing the room adjacent to the one he had just recently escaped from earlier in the day, the male caught sight of the other creature in the darkened containment room. Harsh flashes blocked her out occasionally as the lights clashed with his natural vision. 

     The female’s lips curled into a smile, revealing glistening white fangs as the male stepped up to the security door of her room.  Simply standing and prying the powerless door open, the brown creature stepped in and regarded his mottled black and gray counterpart.  The female growled a low purr in greeting as the male stepped back, returning the rumble.  Catching another, unnatural scent from down the corridor near the treatment area, the pair stalked after it, hairs bristling in agitation at the odd stimulus. 

     Rounding a corner at the last t-junction in the tiled hallway, the male stopped and growled, the female close behind.  Ahead, approximately twenty feet down a small decline in the hall, light spilled from the viewing windows of the lab’s treatment room.  Emergency generators kept the life supporting equipment and soft lighting up and running.  Two white coats, a man and a woman, watched over a body laid out on an examination table.  The two humans continued looking over charts and data screens as the two creatures crept along the tiled floors outside.  As he neared the door, the male stopped, perfectly motionless when the white clad woman happened to look up from her chart and glance out the window next to the room’s airtight door.  Squinting against the glare of the light playing off the darkened windows, she turned away a split second ahead of the next flash from the emergency lights, which briefly silhouetted a sleek bipedal form in the hallway.  Tilting his head as the male white coat addressed the female, the creature stepped up to the door, growling to his mate as the female human responded.

     The pair split up and moved closer to the small room.  The female stepped up to crouch by the window, gleaming eyes intent on the pair of white coats.  She growled a constant tone low under her breath.  Her mate growled slightly himself.  They finally had a chance to use their training, their honed killing ability, against those who had tortured them.  The male crept over to the room’s door, watching the two humans through the small window. 

     Turning back from the window, the female white coat smiled a forced grin at something her partner had said.  Her voice sounded strained and tight as she replied.  “No, Ken, I am not jumping at ghosts again as you say.”  Crossing her arms and shivering, the female human cast a worried glance at the figure on the room’s one table.  Her voice picked up worry as she continued to speak.  “Besides, the specimens themselves are freaky enough without mentioning other supernatural tales.  Especially with the accident, those poor guards being killed, and now the power going out.  That thing is behaving just as the Doc programmed it to.  It’s just too odd, Ken, and too many coincidences for my liking.”

     The male white cloak glanced up from his study of the figure on the table, the wounded guard judging by the uniform.  The male doctor smiled reassuringly to his counterpart.  His voice held confidence, but a slight tightness in his tone betrayed his worry.  “What do you think, Tara, that we are unknowing pawns in some hideous weapon’s test?  It was an accident, and I am sure it will be dealt with soon enough, trust me.”  Watching his female companion step back towards the window, shaking her head as she skimmed the charts once again, the male doctor returned to his study of the body occupying the surgery table. He frowned at what he saw.

    The creature spared a moment to look over the guard on the table.  He remembered that from the conversation he had heard from his creator and the other, now dead, scientist.  Something tugged at his brain, like an error he had done, but he dismissed it.  The bitten guard appeared to be diseased.  The creature frowned, he and his mate knew they were supposed to be carriers, but the disease should take longer than this to present symptoms.  Perhaps the white coats had made a mistake.  Apparently harboring an extremely short incubation period, the mutations had begun progressing at an alarming rate.  The man’s fluttering eyelids revealed golden-hued eyes that gathered in the light.  His jaw hung open, tongue lolling out to one side, as he panted for breath.  The machines showed his heart operating at the extreme peak of a human’s bpm range.  The blood flow to his body's muscles had nearly doubled on the screen; in little over a half-day the man looked as if he had been weight training for years.  Quite possibly the most disturbing readout came as the beginnings of calcium deposits on his teeth, manifested as slowly lengthening and sharpening canines.

     The creature huffed to his mate and stopped looking at the guard.  She huffed back and then tensed, ready to leap.  The male creature looked back to the room.  He watched as the scientists resumed their conversation.  It was time.

     Just as the male doctor reached out for a new clipboard, he jumped at the sound of cracking glass.  Turning towards his companion, the scientist was just in time to see the window explode inward, showering her with glass shards as she raised her hands to shield her face.  A mass of black fur hurtled through the darkened opening, sending the shrieking woman to the glass-strewn floor.  As the male white coat felt a splotch of wet warmth land on his cheek, the door whooshed open.  Crying out as the brown male stepped lithely into the room, the man only had time to utter, “What have we done,” before the creature leapt on him.

     As the male white coat crumpled to the ground, dropping his clipboard into a pool of red liquid, the male turned to the confusing scent he had caught earlier.  Huffing at the figure on the table, both creatures eyed the unconscious, panting form up and down.  Something odd caught in the back of the male’s mind again.  Then realization dawned as to why the guard seemed odd.  This was one of the armed personnel from before.  Training dictated that he had to eliminate all armed resistance; only non-hostile civilian targets were suited for conversion, yet this man still lived.  Growling in frustration at the contradiction to his thought process, the creature gave up puzzling over how he had slipped up and allowed this one combatant to live and carry the hybrid strain of DNA.

      Hackles bristling at the odd scent, the pair dismissed the inactive man-thing and loped back out into the halls, making their way to and out the main doors.  The male stopped and crouched down on the damp gravel driveway.  Testing the air with his keen nose, he turned to regard his mate as she caught his eye and growled, signaling that she too had caught the scent.  Heading off in the direction of the smell, one of humans, fear, and frustration, the pair of creatures bounded off down the gravel road.  Following a set of tire tracks, the pair pursued the last of the security team.  Knowing the hunt was on once again, the two creatures howled, a long keening sound, a sound to warn men of what the dark may hold.  As the echoes faded, so did the creatures into the darkened woods ahead.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

            Sasha nearly dropped his fork as he heard the howl.  Long and menacing, it had come from the east, from the site.  Looking to his parents who had both frozen as well, Sasha shakily put the fork down.  His mother looked nervously at the window as his father got up.  “Jerry?  What...what was that?  I thought you said...”

     Turning the deadbolt in their home’s front door, Sasha’s father turned back to his family once it clicked solidly into place.  “It’s ok, Dear, just a little slip up.  Security is on it.  We just have to sit tight.”  Watching as lights flickered on across the small employee community, Dr. Jameson hoped he was right.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     The deepening darkness spread over the woods as nightfall took the trees.  The woods lay in utter silence, the type of hush when a large predator is in the area.  The only sound that could be heard came as curses, and spinning tires.  The two creatures sat on a small rise and watched the security team below.

     Pounding a fist on the hood of the jeep, the burly guard, the leader, cursed as the tires continued to spin uselessly, succeeding only in covering the skinny guard behind the vehicle with more muddy slop as he vainly pushed on the rear bumper.  Stepping back and almost losing his balance with one foot stuck in the muck, the skinny one shook off as much mud as he could.  Glaring up into the jeep, he waved a fist at the driver, shouting in a rough voice that echoed through the pines.  “Vern, ya bloomin’ idiot!  I said it won’t budge and yer stompin’ on the gas ain’t helpin’ a bit!”

     The creatures watched the men survey the jeep, now almost door deep in the sucking North Washington mud, the burly one gestured with a gloved hand.  “Shut it, you two.  Fighting won’t get us out any sooner.”

    Looking back over the seat, the third guard, shorter than the others shrugged as he opened the door.  “Darn it all, Chief, ya were goin’ so fast it’s no wonder why ya didn’t see how deep this one was.  With all the blasted rain, it’s a minor miracle we got this far.”

     The leader spread a look of malice between his two deputy security officers and walked up the trail a ways.  The male creature let out a piercing howl that drifted out of the black night beyond the glow of the jeep’s taillights.  Huffing to his mate, they moved positions as the other two guards scrambled into the back of the jeep, fumbling for the spotlight, the leader whipped his rifle up towards the eerie call.  “I knew it!  That thing found our trail; those blasted SEALs had better get here soon!”  The two creatures watched him scan the surrounding pine forest while the short one swept the scattered underbrush with the halogen searchlight; the leader cursed the overcast night sky.            

     The male nudged his mate and nodded his head; they had to move in now, while the men were still unsettled.  The male turned and smoothly loped parallel to the road, planning on circling behind them.  His mate headed straight for the men. 

     Causing a faint rustling in the brush, the female growled lowly as the leader swung his rifle in line almost the same instant that the short one focused the searchlight on her position in the twitching brambles.  The three men watched in horrified fascination as she stepped out of the brush on both hind legs and into the pool of light, blinking furiously as her eyes adjusted to the harsh light. 

     Baring her massive canines in an almost human grin, the creature growled in a most disturbing manner.  Unlatching his safety, the leader called back to his deputy, keeping one eye on the brown thing before him.  “Ok, Pete, tranq ‘im now.  I don’t wanna have to use this 30-06, you hear?”  As the sound of Pete’s safety clicking off broke the still night, the leader frowned as the creature began to huff in an imitation of laughter, a low guttural woofing.  Suddenly, the burly leader jerked his head around to the jeep as a cut-off cry followed closely by a sharp curse from the skinny one grabbed his attention.  The skinny guard tumbled from the jeep, splashing into the mud while he frantically scrabbled for his holstered .357.  The leader cursed once he caught sight of what had displaced his deputy.  A black furred shape had dropped onto the jeep, taking hold of the short guard still in the jeep and dismembering the man before he even knew what happened.  The black creature dropped the guard’s lifeless body as it pounced onto the other struggling guard just as he got his magnum out of the leather holster. 

            The powerful handgun discharged harmlessly into the mud sending a spray of grime into the air as the creature hit the man hard.  As the dark creature stood over its last victim and turned glowing eyes to the remaining guard, the chief suddenly realized his mistake.  A rush of warm, damp air passed over his neck as he heard a low, satisfied woof from behind him.  Slowly turning his head back, the leader cringed inwardly as he met a pair of golden-hued almonds staring intently back at him.  He had forgotten all about the first creature.  That fanged and grinning face was the last thing Hank Sizemore, Chief of Security for the Sigara Genetics Corporation, saw before he died that night.

     Leaving the last guard's body to slump to the soggy ground, skull crushed by vice-like jaws, the male creature mentally checked off completion of the pair’s primary objective: elimination of all active and passive hostile combatants.  Growling to his mate, the male surveyed the forest as she lightly stepped up to his side.  Locating the glare of lights in the distance, the male recalled a map glimpsed as he ran through the lab.  The position of the lights in reference to their current location meant it had to be the village.  The village meant the scientists who had made them, their second personal objective.  Dropping to his forepaws the male bounded into the woods that led to the employee housing, female close beside.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     He was still weak.  It had taken all of his energy to get up and move.  He could still feel contractions and shivers as his body finished the changes.  His world spun for a moment before he could stop it.  Shaking his head only made it worse so he stopped to put a hand out and steady himself on the rock wall.  His eyes focused on that hand, covered in smooth black and brown fur, claws extended as he flexed the hand.  He could still remember what it had been like, his hand, his body, himself.  Nothing remained but the memories, and those were slowly fading, all except his combat training, and odd new memories, like flashes of light, half realized thoughts.  He knew the basics of the program he had been hired to guard, genetic experiments with splicing animal DNA to human.  He had just never expected to become one of the subjects.  His head swam again and he stumbled.  Images flew through his head, he knew what was happening, the genetic memory of those creatures was taking over.  He would lose himself soon, and be almost identical to them.  He laughed bitterly, a rough, guttural sound.  At least he wouldn’t remember being human once the transformation completed.  He stiffened at a sound, picked up by ears so much clearer than his human hearing had been.  Slowly, he crept along the rocks of the cliff that bordered the vale, he had to escape, but investigating the noise wouldn’t delay him too much.  He reached a small ridge, and looked down at the main access road.  What he saw made him smile.  A good time to be going it seemed.  The once human security guard watched the scene below him.

     A military special forces officer, probably SEAL, was pacing back and forth, glancing at his watch.  Finally the man stalked over to another SEAL and spoke lowly.  “Ok, Luke, what’s the hold up?  First the storm that grounded our Black Hawk, then the hike from our boat, then no power or communications from the site, and now this gate, why haven’t you got it open yet?”

     The crouching SEAL kept fidgeting with wires and controls as he responded to his leader.  “Well, Sir, the power grid for the site is still on, but the building itself has been cut off from the main lines.  Since the main gate control is located in the facility for containment purposes, we have no power here either.”  The officer nodded and grudgingly stood back to keep watch.

     The team acted by pure conditioned reaction and raised their assault rifles to the ready as a high wailing howl cut through the gathering breeze, riding the winds over the rock walls of the valley.  Finding no targets for their sights, the team settled back, relaxing slightly and watched the soldier at the gate.  The once human hybrid also relaxed and retracted his claws as the noise faded.  He had no desire to meet the creatures that made him; he was going this alone.  He turned back to the SEALs.  Dully gleaming golden eyes watched from above, but they did not notice.  The officer muttered under his breath, as the gate stubbornly remained closed.  After a few minutes, the sharp report of a handgun discharging followed another howl over the sheer cliffs.  It came out of the direction of the gravel road that disappeared into the deep shadow of the pine forest on the other side of the heavy mesh windows set into the gate.  Standing and slapping his demolitions specialist on the shoulder, the officer waved his frustrated computer operative back from the sealed entrance.  “That tears it!  Jim, slap on some of your gadgets and get us a doorway!”

     Watching as the next SEAL stuck a pair of flat grayish putty slabs on each of the three-hinged locks, the hybrid saw the officer nod and duck behind a small rock outcropping.  The hybrid shielded his eyes just as a miniature tidal wave of dust and shrapnel washed over the sheltered special ops team as a sharp cracking explosion blew away the thick steel latches.  Watching the team move forward as the thirty-foot gate ground open, the hybrid turned his eyes back to the officer and perked his ears.  The officer stepped aside and raised a satellite phone to his helmet as the SEALs streamed by, fanning out down the road.  Pausing before keying the call, he turned to his team.  “Ok, boys, you know the drill.  GPS shows one mile to the site. Let’s go!”  Striding through the gate, the SEAL officer activated the phone and spoke quickly into the receiver before joining his team.  “Line secure, General, we are in and moving to acquire the specimens.  Engagement has been initiated by specimens or test subjects - shots fired.  Project status is unknown at this time. Will advise. Extraction Team Alpha out.”

     The hybrid smiled, his teeth baring as he watched the team move on down the road.  A small delay to ensure he would be the only one coming out of the vale would not hurt.  He stumbled slightly as he climbed down the rocks.  His head still felt unsteady, but he already felt a bit stronger.  Soon he wouldn’t have to think as much, only rely on instinct.  His thoughts were of amusement at the situation; only a small part of his brain cried for what was lost.  The human side of his mind continued its slow retreat into the dark as he ghosted after the team.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

    Sasha sat at the window and listened as a light rain began to patter against the oval glass panes.  Sitting in a chair in the den of their small home, Sasha let the even pitter patter sooth his nervousness as he stared into the shadows at the yard light's edge.  Looking back into the kitchen, Sasha saw his parents talking and gesturing quietly.  His dad had been trying to page his work or something, Sasha guessed, but they weren’t answering.  The howls had Sasha scared; he swore a gunshot had followed close behind the second beastly noise.  Turning back to the dark woods, Sasha started as he thought something stirred out in the misting night.  Watching as a vague shadow slipped through the obscured pines, the youth’s eyes widened as another shape joined the first.  The shadows passed out of his sight, disappearing down the short trail to the house next door.  Sasha shook as he watched the lights of their neighbor’s home wink out.

     Jumping as his father’s hand landed on his shoulder, Sasha looked up to his parents.  Peering out the window, Dr. Jameson frowned over at the darkened home next door.  “Sasha, did you see something?”

     Before his son could answer, a flashlight flickered on, shining out their neighbor’s window, moving to the larger glass patio doors.  As the faint beam cast out through the screen doors, it illuminated a hunched over, bipedal shape reaching for the door’s handle.  Watching the light drop, the three Jamesons looked on in horror as the small shaft of light captured the door shattering inwards to admit the shadowed figure, hurtling into the home.

     Sasha saw the light’s owner fall to the floor as the thing leapt on him.  Turning away from the ghastly scene, Sasha began to sob as his mother gasped, covering her mouth and looking away.  Dr. Jameson cursed and stared, amazed by the horror before them.  In the faint light filtering through the trees, another figure suddenly could be seen trying to run from the home.  Sasha’s mother grasped her husband’s arm as she spotted the running woman.  Looking into her husband’s stony eyes, she knew to help would be their death.  The two watched on as the figure reached the short dirt path to their house, only to be dragged back into the shadows as another of the creatures dropped from the creaking pines above.  The person’s screams followed into the dark as Sasha’s mother whipped the drapes shut and grabbed her son, holding him close while his father shut off the lights.  Looking at the shadowed faces of his son and beloved wife, Dr. Jameson joined them in the middle of the room.  The project didn’t seem like such a good idea when one was suddenly and unexpectedly the new test subject. 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     Slipping through the shadows, he kept a keen eye on the lighted windows of the small structure through the sparse brush.  Stopping at the edge of the pine forest, the male growled and huffed to his mate, watching as she clambered up one of the nearby pine trees, claws shredding chunks of wood from the thin bark as she ascended into the shadowed heights.   He turned back at a sound from the next human dwelling.  Finding the source, the creature spotted movement.  A male human was depositing a black bag into some sort of aluminum cylinder.  Catching the familiar scent of his creator behind him in the other home, the creature weighed his options.  Procedure dictated that the pair engage the most active and present threat, so that was just what he did.  Observing the human reenter his home, the creature moved.  Slowly he crept along the edge of the woods, staying just within the shadows.  Coming to a low shed, he simply tore the sheet metal in two at the back.  Pulling his muscled mass into the darkened structure, the creature searched about for a fuse box or some other critical power supply.  Brushing past hanging tools and other odds and ends, the male growled in satisfaction as he located the dully-gleaming metal of the fuse box housing.  Prying open the metallic casing, he selected a bright wire as taught.  Cutting the thin wire with his extended fore claw, the creature growled again in satisfaction as the lights cut out.

     Moments later the shed’s door slid open and a dark shape bearing twin glowing eyes slipped into the enshrouding darkness.  Quickly bounding to a wide wooden deck, the creature reached for a handle on the pair of swinging glass doors.  Out of the dim interior, a small beam of light appeared at the window next to him.  It swung toward the door he waited at and momentarily blinded his night sensitive eyes.  Hearing a gasp from within, the creature simply lunged toward the sound.  Feeling his body crash through the glass and impact upon another's, the creature sought out the wriggling human and sank his teeth into the nearest appendage.  As the man’s cry faded away, the creature left the body.  It had been neutralized and now with that single bite the ‘disease’, complex foreign genetic material, would work its mutations and the fallen man would soon take the creature’s form.  With the hostile armed threats in the immediate area gone, the pair would be able to exploit the exposed civilian population and spread out among them.  The perfect weapon.  Conquer the enemy from within.  If the disease became introduced into a target population, nothing could be done.  The male looked about, slightly dazed yet from the light, and heard the sounds of a fleeing human.  Glancing out the shattered door, the male’s lips curved back into a smile.   The human’s mate had darted out of the house and down the path into the woods, fleeing right into his own mate’s trap.  He watched on as the female human fell under his companion’s drop from above.  As the hapless human was hauled back into the house, the male rumbled to his mate and she huffed in return.  Together they stalked out into the dark, out toward the dark house of their creator.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     Dr. Jameson had retrieved his standard issue pistol.  The sleek 9mm seemed somewhat inadequate, however, as he heard the creatures outside.  His wife and son huddled in the den, sobbing quietly.  The front door’s handle jiggled as one of the things tested the lock.  Jameson double-checked the pistol’s chamber, accidentally jacking another shell out.  As he stepped towards the door, a light breeze brushed his back.  The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he turned slowly to look into Sasha’s room.  The doctor stopped cold when he saw the window hanging open, the cool night air calmly flowing into the dark house.  Jameson watched, transfixed as one of the creatures stepped out of the shadows and pinned him with its piercing golden eyes.  Jameson never got the handgun up in time, in fact he forgot about it completely.  He knew what fate awaited him now.  The folly and twisted nature of his research hit him like a freight train.  The words of a reporter who opposed genetics research came to him from his early years in a less deadly business, “So, what’s it feel like to play God, Doctor?”  Those words stretched through what seemed to be hours as the creature approached him, gaping jaws almost grinning.  “I’m sorry,” was all the good doctor had time to utter before the jaws closed.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

     The newly turned hybrid continued to trail after the SEAL team, observing their every move.  He was growing steadier with every passing minute.  It had barely been over twenty-four hours since his injuries, and already he felt more animal than human.  Though he still wondered at how clear his thoughts were, more focused than ever, like an arrow focused on a target.  He grinned as he watched the team.

     A faint but horrified shriek called out from the dark forest as the SEAL team surveyed the mired jeep and the carnage surrounding it.  The officer looked out into the darkness toward the faint lights of the corporate village, less than two miles away.  Another SEAL stepped up and rubbed his helmet in a nervous tick before speaking  “Well, Cap, best guess is they hit the site, tracked the security team here to finish off the last combatants per their training, and then moved on to infiltrate the village.  They performed as expected.”

     Pursing his lips thoughtfully, the officer nodded his head.  “Agreed Haksen, from the sound of things they just started in on the civilians.  They should have all personnel neutralized in half an hour, just as long as it will take us to get there.”  Casting a debating glance down the road towards the facility, the man sighed and looked back to the other SEAL.  “We can’t afford the time to perform a sweep of the facility.  There shouldn’t be anything left alive there anyways.  Move to the final objective.”

     The other SEAL saluted, stepped away, and began moving the team out with a quick, “Yes, Sir.”

     Unlatching the satellite phone once again from his pack, the officer activated the receiver and sent out a call that drifted faintly, even to the hybrid’s ears.  “Line is secure General.  Weapons Test for Project Lycanthropis has proceeded as expected.  Expendable site personnel are neutralized and the specimens have moved for the village as planned.  Alpha is en route to engage and contain the specimens once they have completed their task.  Will advise upon completion of specimen extraction.”  Consulting his watch for a moment, the officer activated the operation’s failsafe.  “Expected departure from Cedar Vale at O two hundred hours. Coordinate relay for aerial support will be set to this signal when I disconnect the call.  Abortion of Broken Arrow to be set at reactivation of this signal.  Confirm strike team Broken Arrow’s arrival on Alpha’s departure t-plus ten minutes.”  The officer waited for the response, “Confirmed, Alpha Lead. Broken Arrow in t-plus one hour ten.”

     The officer disconnected the call and set down the phone, keying in the code to activate the homing beacon.  Turning to his team, the human waved his hand in a circle and whistled.  “Allrighty, boys, we have aerial sanitation of the vale commencing in one hour and ten minutes.  That’s all the time we’ve got to retrieve the two specimens.  Remember, tranquilizers only.  At the village, hold until I give the command; we don‘t want any of the off duty staff escaping.”

     The hybrid watched the group of six dark-hued camouflaged figures slip into the darkness and head toward the now blacked-out village.  The frantic screams from the clustered buildings floated around them into the black of night, accented by the whispering pines.  He could still make them out from a distance; under the peacefully swaying trees, six dark figures held rifles at the ready as they watched from the shadowed woods while the village’s residents were mercilessly hunted down by a pair of nightmarish figures.  The hybrid watched for a few minutes, and then turned away, laughing inwardly as he disappeared into the dark, making his way back to the road and the way out of the vale.  He could feel his humanity ebbing away, there was little left.  He was strong now.  And soon, he would be free.

     A pair of dully gleaming, golden eyes shone in the night as a shadowed form paused in the open gate, gazing from the edge of the vale back towards the screams.  It smiled then, lips curving in a rictus of horrific amusement, before turning and bounding into the wilderness beyond the sheer rock walls.  If only the captain had spared the time.  They would have known sooner.