Lone Girl (The Wolfling Saga) (28 page)

Unless he fucked us over.

I quickened my pace, almost running towards Colt’s office on the other side of the building. However, I was only disappointed. The door was locked and there was no answer to my knocks.

Don’t panic
, I told myself.
There are many possible explanations for Tom’s absence
.
Perhaps he has been moved to the regular dormitories, or maybe he is eating breakfast.

I headed to the cafeteria, fully expecting to see Tom there.

I was disappointed again.

When I entered several people looked up and whispers spread through the room. I backed out of the cafeteria, my heart hammering in my chest, panic threatening to consume me.

I had to check the solitary cells.

I ran flat out, skidding around corners and barrelling past anyone that got in my way. When I reached the solitary ward I checked every single room only to discover that they were all empty.

Where is Tom?

“Rose?”

I turned on my heel, hoping to see Tom, but it wasn’t him. It was Doctor Kent the psychiatrist.

“What are you doing down here?” He approached me with quick steps, his many chins wobbling. He had a dusting of sugar on his chest and the smell of cinnamon donuts upon him.

“Where – where is everyone?” I said, out of breath. “I just – I woke up in the tank and everyone was gone. Tom. Where’s Tom?”

Doctor Kent stared at me, confused.
“Oh, has no one told you? I was sure Professor Colt sent someone to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” I said through gritted teeth.

“I think it’s best if we go to my office talk,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“What? No. I just want to see-” I began, shrugging him off.

“Please, Rose. I’ll explain in my office.”

I stared at Kent for a moment before allowing myself to be
taken down the corridor. I felt numb and could sense that something was very wrong.

Colt had betrayed us, I knew it. He was holding Tom somewhere, performing harsh experiments.
I vowed then and there that I would not rest until I’d got him out of this place.

I’d been foolish to trust these people.

Kent unlocked his office door and let me inside.

“Please, take a seat,” Kent said, brushing some of the sugar from his chest.

I did as he asked, never taking my eyes off him.

“What is it you wanted to tell me?” I said through gritted teeth.

“Well, I’m certainly sorry to be t
he one to tell you, Rose. Very unexpected, of course-”

“
What
?”

“There was a … complication during last night’s transformation.”

“What do you mean a complication?” I tried to keep my voice steady, but every syllable I spoke shook with anger.

“Unfortunately we were forced to use the sleeping gas about an hour into the episode. We noticed that Tom’s behaviour was, well, unusual.”

“Unusual?”

Kent looked down, toying with a pen on his desk. “I’m sorry to tell you this Rose, but …
Tom passed away last night.”

I couldn’t possibly have heard right. I stared at Doctor Kent, a loud ringing filling my ears. “I beg your pardon?”

“Our medical staff did everything they could to try and revive him. Unfortunately, by the time we had administered the sleeping gas to safely remove him from the tank and taken him to our emergency ward he was already flat-lining. It was too late. Nothing could be done.”

“No,” I br
eathed. Disbelief consumed me and a cold, prickling numbness spread over my body.

“I’m sorry, Rose.”
His voice was muffled as if a glass wall separated us.

“He’s not. He can’t be.” My head spun and my vision blurred. “We were going to be together.”

Doctor Kent’s reply was indistinguishable. I felt as if I was underwater, being dragged down into the depths. Icy water pressed upon my body from all sides and filled my lungs, choking me.

It couldn’t
be true. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there for in complete silence. I stared at my hands in my lap.

Empty numbness consumed me. Kent was talking, but I couldn’t understand the words.

“You’re lying,” I managed to croak, interrupting him mid-sentence.

“
I beg your pardon?”

“You’re
lying
,” I said louder this time.

“I wish I was, Rose. Tom was a very valuable patient. Our medical community will mourn this loss-”

“BULL SHIT
,” I said, jumping up and knocking over a lamp on Kent’s desk. The bulb smashed as it hit the floor. How dare he compare their loss to my own. He knew nothing – understood nothing.

“B
eing angry won’t bring him back. Tom would have wanted you to-”

“Don’t talk about him like you knew him!”
I found myself yelling at Kent.

“The loss of Thomas Stone affects us all
,” he continued.

The pain in my chest was so intense it was as though a dagger had been plunged into my heart. Each beat spilled more and more vital fluids into my chest cavity. I would certainly bleed to death - and if not that then the pain would surely kill me.

“I know how you feel-”

“YOU KNOW NOTHING!” I
bellowed, kicking my chair aside. I strode across the office; I didn’t want Kent to see the angry tears that streaked my face.

“There is no use in acting
like a tragically misunderstood teenager, Rose. We all suffer loss at some point in our lives. The best we can do is accept it and try to move on.”

I’d had enough of Kent’s words. I wanted to fly at him, attack him and cause him grievous bodily harm. Picking
up a small vase I hurled it across the room. Kent ducked and it smashed upon the wall, precisely where his face had been only moments before.

“Now,
really
,” he said angrily. “This is no way for a young lady to behave!”

“I DON’T CARE!” I yelled shrilly
, my entire body shaking with rage. “This is your fault.
YOUR
FAULT!”

“Come now, you’re being hysterical-”

I seized a trophy from Kent’s shelf and threw that at him as well, but my aim was poor. Throwing things wasn’t enough. I wanted to scream until my throat tore and hurt Kent. Maybe then he would understand the agony I was in.

“You’re trying to keep us apart,” I said,
breathing heavily. “It’s a trick - a plot to separate us.”

“You’re in denial, Rose – It’s a perfectly normal stage in the mourning process.”

“Prove it. Where is he? Let me see him,” I demanded. I would not believe them,
could
not believe them until I saw evidence.

“I’m afraid we can’t allow that-”

“Why?
WHY
?” I pointed a shaking finger at Kent. “Because you’re lying, that’s why.”

Kent sighed.
“The autopsy showed that Tom’s heart gave out. Heart-failure is very common among Lycanthropy sufferers. Often the transformation becomes too much for the body to bear as it gets older. Seeing Tom’s body would only upset you further. It’s in no condition to be viewed. It would destroy you.”

“He was
thirty-two
!” My voice broke as the sobs engulfed me. I’d been petrified of Tom’s deteriorating health, but the idea that he might actually die had never seemed like a possibility.

“I understand this comes as a bit of a shock-”

“Of course it’s a shock!” I shouted, advancing on Kent, who backed away into the wall. “Before he came here he was perfectly healthy!”

I grabbed the chair
I’d kicked aside and threw it across the room. It flew further than I’d anticipated, considering it had been heavy and dented the opposite wall.

“Rose, please don’t. Calm down. There’s nothing to be done.”
Kent looked afraid.

I couldn’t stop myself. “All of your fucking tests and experiments killed him!” I shouted, pushing Kent’s
heavy mahogany desk onto its side with surprising ease, causing the contents to cascade to the floor. Doctor Kent jumped out of its way and dived for the phone, picking up the receiver and hitting speed-dial.

“I need a sedative in my office,
now
!” he gasped into the phone before I slapped Kent as hard as I could – so hard my nail sliced his cheek open. He dropped the phone and held his cheek, tears in his eyes. Grabbing the phone I threw that against the wall too. It hit a mirror and shattered it into a thousand fragments which littered the floor.

Kent looked up at me, fear in his eyes. “Please don’t hurt me,” he begged. “Please!”

I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to attack. I had nothing. Everything was gone. There was only emptiness without Tom. However, his fear confused me. I was a weak teenage girl. He could easily overpower me if he wanted.

I turned away from Kent, disgusted. That was when I
caught my reflection in a fragment of mirror at my feet.

I stooped and picked the glass up, cutting my finger on the edge. I ignored the stinging pain
, staring in disbelief. I didn’t even notice when three orderlies barrelled into the room. Only one thought crossed my mind.

That
is not my reflection.

The thing that stared back at me had shining golden eyes
that were contorted in anger; its features harsh and animalistic.

I was staring at the monster; it looked out through my eyes but it did not consume me – did not control me as it would on the full moon.

Suddenly, a needle was jabbed into my neck and the plunger descended. I lashed out, throwing all three orderlies from me and sending them crashing to the floor.

Panting heavily I ran for the exit and grabbed the door knob, yanking it open. However the entire door was ripped from its hinges. I let it fall to the floor and barrelled into the corridor, sprinting along the hall. I’d barely run twenty feet when the sedative took effect.

I fell to my knees mid-stride, still clutching the fragment of mirror, its edges cutting into my palm.

I had to get out. I had to escape.

I began to crawl, leaving a trail of blood along the linoleum as my shredded hand oozed.

Tom had been right
. Now they knew.

The drugs took me and I collapsed face-first on the cold, hard floor. With my last ounce of strength I looked at my reflection in the blood-smeared mirror fragment.

The monster blinked sleepily back at me before everything went dark.

“Vitals are good. She’s stable.”

I could hear a familiar beeping sound. Was I in the hospital? Had the last few weeks been a horrible dream? Maybe I was just waking up after the truck accident.

“It’s incredible. Her genetic makeup was completely different a few hours ago.”

“What was her blood sample like before the full-moon?”

“Normal
.”

The voices were unfamiliar. A man and a woman.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the man said, seemingly in awe. “A
partial
transformation. And it wasn’t even a full moon.”

“Doctor Kent is lucky to be alive,” the woman said. “Though he won’t be the same again.”

“Did he contract the virus?”

It took the woman a few moments to answer. “Yes,” she said sadly. “The scratch on his cheek was enough.”

“But I thought they couldn’t pass it on unless it was a full-moon,” the man said.

“That
was
the understanding. Until yesterday. Hand me that will you?”

I heard the chinking of metal

“So, what does it mean? She could infect anyone at any time?”

“My guess is she doesn’t know how to control it. The beast rises to the surface when she is particularly emotional. That makes her incredibly dangerous,” said the woman.

“What are we gonna do? Put her down?”

“No. Her D.N.A could be the key to lucid transformations. If she can remain conscious during a partial transformation there’s no reason why she wouldn’t be able to do it during a full moon.
Injecting the microchip now.”

I
felt a jab in my arm.

“Did she just twitch?” asked the man.

“No, she’s out cold.”

My eyelids were opened and a blinding light was shone into them.

“Her pupils are responding. She’s coming to,” said the man.

“Up the dosage. Her temperature is still running higher than usual,” the woman replied.

I tried to move but it was like wading through jello. I managed to open my eyes but the room was so bright I had to blink several times to adjust. I was only awake for the briefest moment but I managed to glimpse my surroundings.