Chapter 6
He woke to a bright light. Marcus thought he was in heaven, or maybe it was noon. When his vision came into focus, he realized that he was actually in what looked like a hospital bed. There were other beds around him. Most of them were vacant, but that didn’t mean there were few casualties. He tried to stand, but a pain in his side kept him motionless. He pulled the covers off his bed and found a scar shockingly similar in size to Dem’s fangs streak across his legs and chest. Bells ringing in close proximity told him that he was at the church. Marcus tried to stand again and succeeded in landing on the bed next to him. He used the mattress to pull himself up and found his cloths folded next to the bed. His handgun was sitting in the pocket. He put his cloths on and did everything possible to fight down the pain. Marcus marched outside and found not a church, but a full scale military operation. He looked around and saw a group of civilians sitting in chairs around a fire. He noticed a copper head and yelled Liz’s name. She and their parents went to him, but he told them not to hug him.
“I cant believe your moving, after taking a beating like that,” Marcus’s father said.
“Well, I’ve had worse. That was one of the worst lies I ever told!”
His family laughed at the half-assed joke, but he didn’t have the energy to laugh. He asked, “Where’s Demmy? I thought he’d be the first one over, considering that he was carrying me.”
He waited for an answer, but one didn’t come. A military officer called him over, and he tuned to face him. The man was dark skinned, bald, and looked like he could rip a man in two with his bare hands, but his facial expression was the exact opposite of what Marcus came to expect from a marine. He said, “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt the family reunion, but the general wants to speak with you.” Marcus didn’t want any trouble, so he obliged to the man’s orders. He followed the man into the church and was welcomed by two men with unnecessarily large weapons. They searched him, confiscated his gun, and escorted him to the alter, where the commander was pacing back and forward in front of a large group of monitors.
He was a grizzled old man, and Marcus guessed that he was about as old as his father. The man introduced himself as General McNally, and offered Marcus a seat. He said, “We set this station up overnight, and we’ve constantly been under siege. I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit in ‘nam, but never anything like this. And now, one of the security cameras we hacked into around the state caught a video that I just don’t understand. You seem like a smart kid; perhaps you could explicate some meaning from it.”
All of the monitors played the same video of a giant winged wolf traveling down a highway with a dark shape on its back. The man rewound the video to where the wolf was right next to the camera. He paused it and zoomed in at the picture of the dark spot. There was no mistaking who the person was. Marcus said, “Firstly, the video is self explanatory; I have some big friends. Secondly, I’m a scientist looking for an object that will turn me into something like that, so if you don’t mind, I will be needing one of your computer terminals.” The officer asked him, “Exactly which government agency did you say you worked for?” Marcus would have answered him, had an armored truck not fallen through the ceiling. The impact narrowly missed Marcus, but it turned the officer’s staff into a thick red paste.
“I cant believe your moving, after taking a beating like that,” Marcus’s father said.
“Well, I’ve had worse. That was one of the worst lies I ever told!”
His family laughed at the half-assed joke, but he didn’t have the energy to laugh. He asked, “Where’s Demmy? I thought he’d be the first one over, considering that he was carrying me.”
He waited for an answer, but one didn’t come. A military officer called him over, and he tuned to face him. The man was dark skinned, bald, and looked like he could rip a man in two with his bare hands, but his facial expression was the exact opposite of what Marcus came to expect from a marine. He said, “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt the family reunion, but the general wants to speak with you.” Marcus didn’t want any trouble, so he obliged to the man’s orders. He followed the man into the church and was welcomed by two men with unnecessarily large weapons. They searched him, confiscated his gun, and escorted him to the alter, where the commander was pacing back and forward in front of a large group of monitors.
He was a grizzled old man, and Marcus guessed that he was about as old as his father. The man introduced himself as General McNally, and offered Marcus a seat. He said, “We set this station up overnight, and we’ve constantly been under siege. I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit in ‘nam, but never anything like this. And now, one of the security cameras we hacked into around the state caught a video that I just don’t understand. You seem like a smart kid; perhaps you could explicate some meaning from it.”
All of the monitors played the same video of a giant winged wolf traveling down a highway with a dark shape on its back. The man rewound the video to where the wolf was right next to the camera. He paused it and zoomed in at the picture of the dark spot. There was no mistaking who the person was. Marcus said, “Firstly, the video is self explanatory; I have some big friends. Secondly, I’m a scientist looking for an object that will turn me into something like that, so if you don’t mind, I will be needing one of your computer terminals.” The officer asked him, “Exactly which government agency did you say you worked for?” Marcus would have answered him, had an armored truck not fallen through the ceiling. The impact narrowly missed Marcus, but it turned the officer’s staff into a thick red paste.