Seven seconds lost to my surprise. Time wasted. I needed to focus. I was looking at a monkey; my Intel was flawed. My target wasn’t here. He might have been moved. He might never have been here at all. I needed to leave. Now.
The monkey’s eyes opened.
It focused on me and my fur stood on end. I waited. It moved. I bolted. It wrapped a hand around me before I reached the door and lifted me into the air. I chattered in surprise and struggled. It gripped harder. Then I was staring into emerald green eyes too human to be a simian’s. He wasn’t a monkey at all. He was a Shifter.
Bloody Hell.
He studied me for a long moment before giving me an entirely non-simian smile and setting me gently back on the floor. He shuffled back a bit and brought up a hand, which he balled into a fist with his thumb up slightly. He pressed his fist against the center of his chest and slowly moved it in a circle.
I blinked. That was sign language. He was telling me he was sorry. Probably due to the manhandling he just put me through. Now I understood why my employers were so interested to learn I was fluent in sign.
Before I could reply, he signed again, “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head and brought the thumb of my right paw to my chest, fingers splayed like a fan. “I’m fine. Are you Davi?” He nodded. “My name is—”
“Risu. I know.” My blood ran cold as his fingers spelled my name.
“How?” I made the sign so fast, my paws snapped together. No one knew my real name. No one. I went to great lengths to ensure it so I wouldn’t end up in a place like this. Why did this Shifter know it?
“You don’t know?” His smile was gone.
“No. Explain,” I signed as forcefully as I could manage.
“There’s no time.” He was moving and out the door before I could argue. I raced after him, chattering a curse. I would get my explanation. And for his sake, I’d better like what he had to say.
Because if I didn’t, I would kill him.
* * *
The medical white hallway was empty as I followed Davi. The lights glared off the steel doors standing sentry on every cell and a slight smell of bleach and antiseptic pervaded the floor, likely coming from the labs. Every level I’d seen was the same and it made the complex feel like an asylum. It set my teeth on edge.
Davi ran in a sort of gallop, using his arms as much as his legs. He moved with far more grace than I expected, given his injuries. If he kept it up, we wouldn’t just be off the floor in ten minutes, we’d be clear of the compound. I still smelled his tainted blood, though. It wasn’t a matter of if he would give out. It was a matter of when. We needed to be free before he did.
Twenty-two seconds later, we reached the elevators and Davi turned and shambled into the guard room. I chattered angrily as I followed him. We didn’t have time for this. The guard room was little used and bare. No clutter on the desk and a heavy layer of dust over the keyboard. There was a bank of security monitors on the wall, screens black. Davi bounded up into one of the chairs and pressed a key to wake up the system. There was a command window already open on the Main System Monitor. The little green cursor flashed and words scrawled across the screen
SITREP. The cursor blinked, waiting. Davi put his hands to the keyboard and typed.
It’s Davi. I’m here with Risu. Why doesn’t she know anything?
She WOULDN’T have ACCEPTED the JOB if SHE did. Alternating cases. That was Adrian. But what did he mean, I wouldn’t have accepted the job? What didn’t I know?
I’ll fill her in when I can then, Davi replied, his fingers speeding across the keys. For now, I need you to open the rest of the cells.
THAT will SET off EVERY alarm IN the COMPLEX. Adrian’s answer was almost immediate. Davi shook his head, scowling as best his simian face would allow.
I don’t care.
YOU and ALL the REST will DIE.
They will die regardless. This complex is a thousand times worse than we thought. I WILL NOT leave them here to it. If we’re going to die, we’ll do it fighting.
I’d had enough. I launched myself from my spot on the desk and crashed onto the keyboard. Davi jerked his hands away, the chair he was in rolling backwards.
“What the hell is going on? How do you know Adrian? What don’t I know? Answers. Now.” I looked up at the cameras and signed, “Don’t do a thing until he answers me.”
I heard the ding of a new message arriving behind me and turned. BETTER do AS the LADY says, DAVI. i’ve SEEN her ANGRY before. I was angry with him too, but at least he was on my side. I turned back to Davi, my arms crossed across my furry chest.
“We don’t have time,” Davi signed.
I shook my head and didn’t move.
He watched me, teeth clenched. At last, he threw his arms into the air in defeat. “Fine.” He turned towards the camera. “Show her the feeds, Adrian.”
For a second, nothing happened. Then I heard a series of clicks and I turned to find the bank of monitors flickering on, one by one. Each one showed a feed from a cell on the floor and my tail bristled. Animals. In every single one. Most were predators; big cats, wolves, et cetera. A couple birds, mostly large and flightless—emu, ostrich. One held a kangaroo. Fifty cells in total, all occupied save for Davi’s, and I knew every one of them was a Shifter.
Just before I was born, the very first Shifter revealed herself to the world. She was an aide to Ronald Reagan, and the effects of the Full Moon caused her to shift involuntarily on live television. The administration tried their best to sweep it under the rug, but before they could, Shifters across the world came out of the closet. My kind had kept to the shadows for Millennia and we thought perhaps this was the time to reveal ourselves and be accepted.
We were incredibly wrong.
Today we’re legally categorized as Demi-human. Almost there, but not quite. Governments the world over preach that Shifters should be treated no differently than any human. Yet, they encourage citizens to report any Shifter they encounter. Reported Shifters have a habit of disappearing. We barely have any rights. A man could shoot one of us dead in the streets and it would be no different than if he shot a dog. And the populace wouldn’t care nearly as much. They think us unstable and dangerous.
The Terrorist group Artemis hasn’t helped our public opinion. They’ve been responsible for bombings and attacks across the globe. Public enemy number one. Hostility towards Shifters has increased a thousand-fold since their activities reached into the media. No one knows what they want or why they perpetrate their attacks. No one knows who leads them—
Oh my God.
I spun towards Davi, my hands blurring into motion. “You’re the leader of Artemis, aren’t you? A terrorist.”
Davi sighed, the sound rumbling in his chest. “I am a leader of Artemis, yes. But we are far from terrorists.”
“That’s not what I’ve seen in the news.”
“Of course not. Every government in the world would have the populace believe we are the enemy. That we break into houses at night to eat their children in their cribs,” Davi signed, so agitated his words were almost gibberish.
“What about the bombings? The beheadings? Who was that?”
“Other terrorist groups mostly. Extremists of one sort or another, none of them getting the credit they want.” He grabbed the desk and rolled the chair back over. “Which has just made things worse. No matter what any of the other groups do, it’s all attributed to Artemis. Which makes the other groups angry and causes them to perpetrate more attacks. Which are blamed on us. And so on.”
“So, Artemis isn’t responsible for any of them?” I didn’t believe a word of it.
Davi shook his head. “Some of them were us.”
That took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected him to admit to anything.
“Then what makes you special?”
“The bombings and attacks we carry out are on places like this,” he waved around the room, meaning the complex. “You know as well as I what actually ha
ppens to our kind when we’re reported and captured. At best, they just kill us. At worst, they dissect us first. We’re less than insects to this world. So we resist. We destroy labs and liberate our own. We find Shifters still in the closet and we spirit them away to safety. It’s this world’s governments that are the terrorists.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I’d lived in fear of being discovered by the government of one country or another. It’s why I got into this line of work. It kept me moving. I travel across the globe. Never staying anywhere long enough to raise suspicion. Teaming with Adrian helped immensely. He kept me supplied in fake identities, put me up in the best accommodations, and handled my business beautifully.
Speaking of Adrian. I turned towards the keyboard and scurried across the keys. How long have you been with Artemis? How long have you manipulated me?
SINCE the BEGINNING. I imagine he’d been waiting for the question. AND i HAVEN’T manipulated YOU. they SENT me TO keep YOU safe.
To keep me safe? My tail twitched. Why?
BECAUSE we NEED you.
I waited, expecting him to explain. The seconds ticked by, and nothing.
What does that mean?
No reply.
I chattered angrily and spun towards Davi. “What does that mean?”
Davi shook his head again. “It would take too long to explain. I promise I’ll tell you once we’re out.” I started to argue, but Davi reached out and wrapped a hand around me again. He picked me up and deposited me on the side of the desk, then put his hands to the keyboard again.
Open the cells.
NOT until BOTH of YOU are OUTSIDE, Adrian replied. Davi pounded a fist against the desk.
I WILL SEE THEM FREED BEFORE I LEAVE. DO IT NOW. THAT IS AN ORDER.
The cursor blinked a couple times before Adrian replied.
YES, sir.
A second window opened and lines of code scrawled across it. Davi huffed and nodded, clearly satisfied. Something had been bothering me and I finally realized what it was. “Why is everyone in their animal forms?”
“It’s part of their experiments. They give us injections that keep us from shifting. I’ve not been human in almost a year. It seems like they’re looking for some kind of vaccine against Shifters. As if we were infected with something,” Davi signed, his disgust obvious. “As if the problem is us, not them.”
“Can we get them all out?”
“No. Most of them will probably die.” His lips turned down in a frown.
“Then why free them?”
“Because they’ll die even if I don’t and I won’t have them do so in a cage like the animals they claim we are.” There was a sadness in his eyes deeper than I’d ever seen on anyone before. Davi cared for these Shifters and this was tearing him apart. The world thinks us less than human. Davi proved we were much more.
DONE, Adrian messaged, his bank of code complete.
A buzzer sounded throughout the hall and every door on the level opened simultaneously. The seconds ticked by and not a single one made a move. They just sat staring at their open doors, waiting for whatever new hell was being visited upon them. I wanted to scream at them to move. Davi wouldn’t leave until they did. He should have known this would happen. Why would they think they were being freed?
Davi bounded out of the door and appeared on the feed from the corridor. He came to a stop, looking towards the cells. He took a deep breath and I saw his chest expand. He opened his mouth and the most terrifying sound I’d ever heard ripped its way out of his throat.
It was an undulating wail and it echoed off the white tile like the screams of the damned. Even with the walls of the guard station to dampen the sound, it was still the loudest thing I’d ever heard. I clamped my paws over my ears, laying them flat as best I could, trying to keep the sound out.
It lasted just a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. The silence that fell after was almost more deafening than his howling. I sat unmoving, watching the monitors. Waiting.
One by one, the prisoners left their cells. They gathered in the corridor, all looking at Davi. It was incredibly odd, seeing so many exotic animals in the too white hall. Like the zoo took a field trip to a hospital. Not all left their cells, though. The ones that hadn’t wouldn’t be leaving at all.
Davi howled again, though not as loud, and threw his arms wide. It was clear to everyone what that meant.
You are free.
As one, the Weres joined him, raising a din far louder than Davi had. It was a good sound, though. The sound of the downtrodden rising up. Something rose up with them in my chest. Something primal. I found myself chattering as loud as I could with them. And I liked it.
It died when Adrian began typing again. THEY noticed THAT. they ATTEMPTED to REGAIN control. I didn’t LET them. SHUT down THE elevator. THERE are SOLDIERS inbound. COMING through THE labs. GET out OF there.
That wasn’t good. Alternate exit?
VENT back CORNER. I spun and saw the vent just over a filing cabinet in the back of the room. I jumped for it, hooking one of the handles with my paws. I scurried to the top and worked my paws into the grate, getting a good hold. I pulled as hard as I could, but the grate didn’t move. It was screwed into the wall and I definitely wasn’t strong enough to pull it free. I needed Davi.
I looked back at the monitors just as the doors at the far end of the corridor opened. Soldiers filed in, all in special-ops black. They stopped when they saw the Shifters, with their sharp teeth and killing claws. The Shifters turned to face them and an eerie quiet settled. For a split-second, nothing moved.
The Shifters roared again, even louder than before. They rampaged towards the soldiers, howling and snarling for blood and death. That was exactly what they got.
The soldiers recovered from their shock and took up formation. They met the Shifters with a wall of assault rifles. They fired, their bullets ripping through the horde. The Shifters’ howls for death were suddenly for their own.
It didn’t stop them, though. Those still alive crawled, leaped, and flew over the fallen. Their headlong rush crashed into the soldiers, bowling them over. They fell on them with tooth, beak, and claws. And the soldiers died.
I sat transfixed, watching. It was horrifying and, somehow, almost beautiful. They were unbridled, savage, as they unleashed on the soldiers all the pain and suffering that had been dealt to them. There was no mercy. They left none alive.
Davi hurried back into the station and the reek of blood trailed after him. I ripped my eyes away from the monitors and met his gaze. His face was grim. He climbed up the filing cabinet to me and wrapped his fingers into the grate of the vent. He planted his feet against the wall and pulled. The metal groaned and the entire vent gave, coming free from the wall. He threw the grate to the floor with a resounding clang.
“We need to move,” he signed, climbing into the vent.
“Are we just going to leave them?”
“There’s nothing else we can do for them.” He scowled, that deep sadness in his eyes again. He refused to look at the monitors now. “When we were captured, we knew we would die. We have to get out. You’re too important to lose now. They will give us that chance. It’s our duty to survive so their sacrifice isn’t in vain.”
There it was again. Why were they so concerned about me? Before I could ask, Davi disappeared up the shaft and I glanced back at the monitors in time to see the last of the Shifters disappear into the labs. The hall was littered with the dead and guilt flared in my soul for the fallen. They’d died for me and I had no idea why. I said a silent prayer for them and started to follow Davi when I noticed a new window on the main monitor. There was one word in it. Adrian’s last message.
SURVIVE.
* * *
The duct work wasn’t kind to Davi. His injuries were severe and the vertical shafts were agony for him. They weren’t made for traffic of any kind. The metal was smooth as ice with no handholds. My claws were sharp enough to find purchase in the seams, but Davi
had to use his strength alone to shimmy up the shafts.
I tried to help him, but I was a tenth of his size and nowhere near strong enough to do much good. Still, I did my best to pull him up each time. I was going to get him out, because he was damn well going to tell me why Artemis was so interested in me.
The only light came from intermittent vents that funneled the chill air out into the sub-basements. But I didn’t need the light to guide us. I’d poured over the blueprints of the ducts for days, memorizing every twist and turn. I could find the way in my sleep.
It was slow going and the nauseating stench of blood and sepsis grew stronger as we went. At least one of Davi’s sutures had ruptured. He pushed himself hard, so it was bound to happen. It wasn’t slowing him, so I remained silent. He needed to be treated, but we had neither the tools nor the time.
The seconds ticked in my head again, more from nervous habit now than actual necessity. We shuffled and climbed through the duct work for six hundred thirty-eight seconds when the bark of gunfire echoed through the shaft from the floor below. I pressed myself against the wall, making myself as small a target as possible, fully expecting bullets to rip into the duct. I heard Davi do the same.
The gunfire ceased three seconds later, leaving the shaft whole. My ears perked at the static crackle of a radio below and a rough, masculine voice said, “Subject terminated. Big Cat. Gender unknown. Moving up to sub-basement three.” The radio crackled again, followed by the stomp of booted feet. Then silence.