Wolf Asylum (22 page)

Darwin walked over to Steve and gave him a big hug and whispered into his ear, “There was nothing wrong with us! Our humanity was taken from us long before this happened. I'm sorry. I get it perfectly.”

“Come on boys, time for your first kiss!” Shawn laughed, making the situation that much more awkward.

The two young men, reunited finally and holding each other again blushed at the idea. They both wanted to, but their feelings were so buried and demonized that the idea of acting out their wants seemed impossible. Everything in life and death was possible…except that one thing.

“Actually, it would be our second kiss. You pecked me on the lips in the real world,” Darwin reminded.

Steve chuckled, “I thought it would be my only chance. It was rushed, I know.”

Darwin finally ignored his nerves and closed his eyes. Their lips met softly. They held in place for a long moment, feeling electricity pass between them. Both Darwin and Steve began to cry, but not from shame, but from happiness. Darwin released after a long moment and opened his eyes to be greeted with a big smile. For the first time, he felt human.

“If I never know happiness again, I always have that,” Darwin said.

“I hate to rush your reunion along, but we do have business that we must hit,” Shawn interrupted.

“He's right…we don't have much time.” Steve motioned to Darwin to move further into the cavern.

The rock walls were illuminated much in the same way the cavern in Darwin's vision was. The light existed but from an unknown source. The trio traveled deeper into the cave until Steve walked through a stone wall and vanished. Shawn was behind Darwin and gave him a gentle nudge to also pass through the barrier. Darwin quickly shut his eyes and took a step forward. When he allowed his vision to return he was in familiar territory.

“Wild,” Darwin said, “I've been here before.”

“Messages come to you though this room?” Shawn asked.

“Yes, not always, but most of the time. They told me it was ‘the inner most part of myself'.” Darwin hopped up on the stone altar in the center of the room.

Shawn said, “The underworld is disconnected. Much of what they say and do makes no sense, and they lie. It's almost as though we're not meant to understand it. They could just say ‘go kill that person', but they don't. Those of us touched by them still exercise free will, even if that will is pulled violently in all directions. Their affect is through suggestion and environment.”

He went on, “Their reach on the world is minimal. The man who tattooed me, was he one of them, or was it something in the ink? When I went back to where I thought his shop was, it was a porn shop. I'll never know.” Shawn directed his question to Darwin, “Why did they take Steve, if it was you they wanted?”

“That is a good question. Why me?” Darwin asked.

“We can't be sure, but we think it has to do with your sister and the child she carries. You had two purposes; the first was to create thousands of werewolves near the gate; this would allow the gate to break open allowing the under lords to pass into the real world more easily. Secondly, you were to impregnate your sister with your demon seed. That's the part we're not sure of,” Shawn said.

“
Se Venire
,” Darwin uttered.

“What is that?” Steve asked.

“I thought you knew everything?” Darwin asked.

“Sometimes the reception to the world is bad, or I'm not able to watch. So, I have no idea what that is,” Steve answered.

“It's only a story but it seems to have truth to it.
Se Venire
is Latin for, ‘He's coming'. We heard the story from an old one who was warned more than a hundred and fifty years ago. While we were doing some digging for information in New Haven, we found a suicide that had carved that very term on her back over and over again. The strange part is the woman had an encounter with my sister before she died.”

“So
Se Venire
is the child she now carries?” Shawn asked.

“Probably. But what does the child's arrival mean?” Darwin said.

“Anti-Christ?” Steve said, drawing his own conclusion.

“What happens if the gate opens?” Darwin asked.

“Nothing short of Hell of Earth,” Shawn said. “That's a guess, but a healthy one.”

“How do we stop them?” Darwin asked, knowing full well the problem was more dynamic than his incestuous bastard child.

Shawn answered, “We don't stop them. They can't be stopped. They don't die, they don't weaken, they simply exist and grow. The more humans there are in the world, the more sinister they become. They feed on our misdeeds. They can make small advances in to the world, they can infect us with their seeds and they manipulate us into doing their will; but you cannot fight them.”

“But you fight them!” Darwin yelled.

“And I'm losing,” he replied. Shawn pointed to his deformities on his scalp. “I'm becoming one of them. Day by day, year by year, they take more and more of me. I will become a demon.”

Steve pulled off his shirt and turned so Darwin could see his back. The muscular frame was covered in hair and a rough spine that made him look like he was caught part way through a transformation.

“They're taking me faster. I don't have the same will that Shawn does. I'll become one of them very soon, forever, and I'll be gone.”

“I don't understand! We were cursed on earth, but we continue to be…what…consumed? Transformed? They made us do things against our will…
how much more can they take?
” Darwin screamed.

“Everything,” Shawn said bluntly. “I've seen it before. When a marked person dies in the real world they come here. Some change fully in a short time. Steve will become a lycan with nothing but primal evil driving his spirit. He will never revert back to his human body. I will become a demon, cursed to kill the innocent, punished for eternity by watching my daughter die over and over again—it will drive my rage.”

“Steve, you came back to the real world once! Maybe we can escape?” Darwin jumped off the altar, grabbing Steve and shaking him.

“He can't go back,” Shawn stated simply.

“He already did!” Darwin bawled.

“At great cost he returned to Earth for a moment. It took most of our combined strength to send him back for a few seconds. This place has a tether on us, no matter how hard you push to break free, it snaps you back in. And there's a side effect. Leaving and returning accelerates the transformation. If we try again and Steve gets pulled back in, I don't think he will be the same man when he comes back,” Shawn calmly informed.

“What about me? Am I fucked too?” Darwin snapped.

Shawn said, “You are still alive, on Earth. The bind they have on you is still weak. We're pretty sure we can send you back.”

“Then why did you bring me here?” Darwin asked with a shake in his voice.

“I told you, they would have got you and that would have been it for you. This was the only way to save you and tell you what you must know,” Steve said with a firm grip on Darwin's shoulders.

“So what, they got Tim? He's gone…that's it?” Darwin belted out, growing more and more frustrated.

“Probably,” Shawn said. “You're thinking of this place all wrong, like there's some kind of instruction manual. We don't understand it all, I'm sorry.”

“I refuse to accept it. There is a way to save him and you two! This is winnable!”

“If it helps you to believe that—” Shawn suggested.

Steve spoke softly redirecting Darwin to the real problem. “Maybe we can, Dar…but we have to stop them from opening the gate first.”

“So,, what do I do? Make sure no one from New Haven enters the north woods?” he asked.

“It's too late for that. The town's proximity, and the exposure your people already have had to the gate has been too extreme. We're not even confident moving away from the gate would stop the opening,” Shawn said.

“Slade said our kind, the infected I guess; it's us who allow the gate to open. Our energy acts as the key,” Darwin informed. “So, we need destroy the key.”

Teddy Holmes had said nothing since his first session with Doctor Gagnon. His appetite was growing insatiable by the hour. In the silence of the padded room he had nothing to distract him from the rolling gargle within his gut.

Another part of Teddy wanted to change, to experience the euphoria of the wolf. With the eye in the sky aimed at him, he refused to satisfy the good doctor. He remained locked in place, hardened in his convictions. He would change at full moon—he conceded that, but he would fight the beast inside of him.

What the fuck!

For a moment Teddy drifted back to the moment in time that he destroyed Steve Cardwen. During a chance collision in the Ridgemount boys shower, Steve had spontaneously erupted his pubescent seed all over Teddy's backside.

You fucking little faggot!

Teddy grabbed Steve by the neck and tossed him into the wolf's lair. The small boy collided with the rear wall where his life would one day end. He wept openly; embarrassed for what had happened and frightened to know what would come next. Teddy washed the seed from his leg which trickled down the drain like Steve wanted to.

You trying to give me AIDS, you piece of shit!

The tall wrestler, being egged on by his classmates, approached the small boy and again picked him up by his throat. Eye to eye, Teddy sneered into the frightened youth. His anger boiled over and with the audience demanding retribution, Teddy delivered his punishment. With a quick snap of his neck Teddy head-butted Steve, blackening his eye. He dropped Steve to the slick white tiles and walked away.

Can you guys believe that little puke? This isn't over!

Steve watched as the nude wrestler walked away, casting in stone forever what would be his new life. Steve could see Darwin hidden in the toweling off area, looking at his helpless friend.

I'm so sorry!

Teddy thought after the replay of the shower, it was over. When he took himself back to that moment, he no longer felt angry at Steve. He no longer felt justified in his actions. He felt angry at himself. At the time he had felt righteous—his own secret was more important to keep.

A tear rolled down his cheek, a first in a very long time.

This all started because of me…

I created them…

He closed his eyes and waited for his punishment to begin. Not the punishment that the doctor would inflict upon him. Teddy would wait for the dream world to begin where he would play out his existence as Steve. The roles would be reversed and Steve would be the strong athlete and Teddy the helpless victim. He's had the dream so many times he couldn't be sure how often it had really happened. Every time the dream came, the pain and punishment felt worse than the previous time. It was his penance.

The shower room was cold and blue, void of any bodies except Steve who was showering alone. Teddy removed his towel and hung it on the hook before moving in to stand next to the tall athlete that would beat him. The dream was always the same, until now. Teddy stood reluctantly next to Steve waiting for his explosion to occur, but it never did.

The two young men showered next to each other not saying anything. Teddy began to relax as he rubbed himself down with a thick lather, washing away the dirt.

“I forgive you,” Steve said.

Teddy chilled and goose bumps raced across his skin. “Please. I don't deserve it.”

“Yes, you do,” Steve said softly. “How can we grow as individuals if we can't learn to forgive? Compassion and understanding. Darwin was right; you're not the same person anymore.”

“I'm a piece of shit!” Teddy bawled. “He's killed thousands because of what I did!”

“This is where you have a chance to put right what you set in motion.” Steve smiled.

“How?”

Steve replied, “I want you to cooperate with Doctor Gagnon. You're no good to anyone locked in here. Once you're out, we'll tell you what you must do.”

“Is this real or a dream?”

“A dream that is real. I can speak to you because you are emotionally bound to me. You welcomed me in by your guilt-laden soul. Darwin and I are on the other side, but the battle must be fought in the real world.”

“How will I know what to do?”

“You'll know. Be cooperative—that is the first thing you must do.”

In an instant, Teddy found himself back in the padded room. Everything was as it had been and doubt began to fill him. Was his mind playing a trick? It could be his subconscious suggesting a way to give in to his growing desires. The werewolf was new to him, and he knew it made people do things. His lingering doubts controlled him.

One point was nagging him and it
did
make some sense. He really couldn't do much trapped inside a padded room. He was a cripple. Even if he got out, what could he do?

It sure felt real…

The lights from above snapped on like an interrogation room. Doctor Gagnon came into view in the control room. She derided her specimen below before activating the PA system.

“What mood are we in today, Teddy?” she asked, not looking at the freak below.

A growl and grunt later and Doctor Gagnon watched her study object transform into the beast without prompting.

Like a good boy, he followed her every command without question.