Wolves among men (25 page)

“
I know that but that’s
not what I meant.” I smiled as I looked curiously over the main
room. It had been converted into some sort of hub. Tables lined the
walls and each one was stacked with computers and various gadgets I
hardly recognized. Newspaper clippings decorated the white plaster
walls, old photographs and handmade charts had been pinned up to
join them and as I quickly read them over a sense of excitement and
mystery filled me.

“
What did you mean then?”
I jumped slightly as the sound of his voice just behind me shocked
me out of my trance.

“
It looks more like a
hospital lobby to me.” I added with a shrug as Sam and the others
joined at our side.

“
You’re observant.” He
nodded as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “It was a hospital at
one time, converted into a place to store and ship weapons overseas
when war was declared.”

“
So why did you decide to
come here?”

“
Was it easy for you to
find this place?” I shook my head. “That’s your answer.” He
smirked.

“
So what is all this?” I
asked as I turned back to the articles on the wall.

“
You like it?”

“
It’s definitely
interesting.” I chuckled as I skimmed over page after page
detailing the gruesome history of the man we were
chasing.

“
Our little operation has
been running for nearly thirty years now, although I am sad to say
that we don’t have much to show for it,” his voice was deep,
friendly and somehow fierce as he spoke, the voice of a man who had
seen his fair share of battle.

“
Thirty years?” I turned
to him as my eyes lit up with amazement. “That’s a long time.” He
nodded. “What are you doing here?”

“
Honestly, not much of
anything.” He sighed. “But what we’re trying to do is find the
boogeyman.” He offered a smile behind his silver beard.

“
Malik?”

“
The very same.” He
nodded. My attention shifted quickly from the expansive room laid
out before me to Grant, the man who might be able to make some
sense of the creature we were up against.

“
So what do you know about
him?” He shrugged slightly and looked out over the expanse of
computers that filled the room.

“
Well I’m sure Sam here
has told you some.” I nodded.

“
She said that he’s old,
he doesn’t fight for himself and that he’s a self-righteous
asshole.” Grant laughed loudly and nodded his head.

“
That’s a good chunk of
it.” He smiled. “There is still a lot we don’t know about him,” He
sighed. “But we hope to have a better understanding of him in
time.”

“
Why do you want to
understand him?” I scoffed. “He’s the bad guy right, we find him
and kill him end of story.” Grant smiled lightly and placed his
hand on my shoulder.

“
In order to overcome
something completely you have to understand what a perfect engine
it is. That’s how it works in fighting disease and Malik is nothing
more than a cancer in our world.” I nodded, I understood his
reasoning perfectly but somehow it still didn’t make any sense to
study him like some high school science project when the goal was
to kill him either way. “We have a lot to talk about.” He smiled as
he patted my shoulder.

“
That’s an
understatement.” I smirked. Grant chuckled and nodded as the room
began to flood with people and my heart began to thunder with
excitement once again.

“
Let me show you to your
room and we can finish our discussions later tonight if you like.”
I nodded and followed close behind as he led us out of the large
building and into the morning sun.

It wasn’t surprising to see a rather
large well-kept garden just behind the old factory, Grant and his
pack had done everything they could think of to make this place
home but the beauty of it still stunned me as we followed a narrow
brick walkway through the lush green utopia toward a long two story
brick complex hidden away behind a series of blossoming apple
trees. Park benches and fountains littered the small patch of Eden
that they had created for themselves and in some small way, after
all the ugliness I had seen in such a short time, the beauty of it
brought me a much needed sense of comfort.

“
Lovely isn’t it?” Grant
asked quietly as I stopped to take in the garden around me. I
nodded quietly and closed my eyes, allowing the sun to warm my face
as I sucked in a deep breath. My trance was broken as Logan and
Matt came bursting from the factory, James close behind and trying
desperately not to be knocked over as the two pushed each other
around in front of him, if I hadn’t known better I would have sworn
that they were brothers but in a way I guess they were, we
were.

Grant held the door open for me and
reluctantly I walked out of the garden and followed Sam into the
long brightly lit hallway of the towering building, the inside was
much more welcoming than the cold brick complex appeared to be from
the outside. Portraits and various works of art hung on the walls,
lit up by soft streaks of sunlight that poured in through the large
windows behind us. To our left a small room had been sanctioned off
and filled with overstuffed couches and chairs, a TV hummed quietly
in the corner and various toys and books littered the floor. I
looked back toward Grant as he made his way past Sam and stood in
front of us.

“
We have your rooms set up
at the end of the hall, the showers work and the beds are
comfortable.” He smiled, allowing the door to close loudly behind
him as he led us to the end of the long stretch of hallway that
separated us from our beds. Sam’s room was right next to mine and
as I watched him disappear into her room I took no time at all to
slip into the comforts of my own, closing the door gently behind
me.

The room was small and reminded me of
my old bedroom back home, a welcome change to the hotel rooms I had
grown accustom to recently. A large dark wood dresser spanned the
wall in front of me and not far to the right I spotted what it was
that I wanted more than anything else at that moment. A large and
inviting bed greeted my tired eyes and without a second thought I
dropped my bag on top of the dresser and threw myself face down
onto the mattress. I kicked off my shoes and closed my eyes,
relishing in the feeling of its inviting embrace and it wasn’t long
before I felt my eyes grow heavy and my body give in to the welcome
warm grip of sleep.

“
Cordillia?!” I screamed
into the darkness. Something deep within me knew she was close by
but as I searched for any sign of her I began to feel myself grow
desperate and frightened. “Cordillia!” I cried out again and like a
sign from the heavens I heard her soft crying in the distance. I
ran toward it, into the shadows, tired and afraid, yet hoping to
find something in the nothing that surrounded me. A faint light
shone from the distance, it was weak but it was just enough to see
her figure crouched on the ground. A smile crossed my lips and my
heart began to pound in my chest as I ran toward it, arms
outstretched and ready to save her to take her home and keep her
safe.

As I crossed the distance
between her and I, the sound of a faint roar broke the silence and
Cordillia looked up, fear in her eyes as she stared off into the
shadows. I could hear its footsteps like a freight train barreling
toward us and I hoped that it wouldn’t reach her before I did. She
screamed out in horror as its shape came into view. Larger than any
creature I had ever seen, a monster designed by the devil himself
to strike fear into those who were unlucky enough to lay eyes on
it. It stood as tall as a house and nearly as wide, murderous rage
poured off of the beast as it quickly turned its eyes on me and
roared exposing a bright white line of razor sharp
teeth.

Fur as black as pitch
covered the creature from head to toe making it nearly impossible
to tell where the creature ended and the shadows began and I could
feel my body changing in response to its guttural growls and
violent roars as I closed the distance between us.

It began to run toward me
and my mind froze as I realized that it towered over me and there
was no chance I would win a fight against this creature but against
my better judgment I turned from Cordillia and ran, leading it away
from her and hoping that if I couldn’t fight it at least there was
a chance I would be able to outrun it.

My lungs began to burn and
my legs ached as I pushed myself as fast as I could go but no
matter how much I pushed I could still feel it close behind me,
chasing me, ready for the kill. As quickly as that the beast lunged
at me and I fell with such force that the ground shook beneath us.
It flipped me onto my back and against my will I was forced to look
into the murderous face of the beast. It stared down at me through
blood red eyes and it took every ounce of effort I had to hold it
back as it snapped at the air just inches from my face. I cried out
as its weight began to crush me, making it hard to breath and
impossible to move.

It reared its head back
and howled as it prepared for the killing strike and like an animal
caught in trap I began to thrash and struggle under its grip,
desperate to get away before it ended me. As I realized
there
was no chance of survival I closed
my eyes and waited for death to come but instead I felt a
welcome
sense of release as the beast and
all that surrounded us melted away.

I was standing, still in
shadow but the fear and desperation that had surrounded me melted
away into a welcome sense of peace. I watched as the shadows began
to move and take shape, a thousand faces coming into view as I
stood dumbfounded and amazed.

In a flash, an instant,
Cordillia’s smiling face broke through the crowd. She took my hand
and held it tight in hers, the smell of flowers poured off of her
and brought my senses back to a time when everything was alright
and we were just two dumb kids trying to make it by.

“
Don’t give up, Ethan.”
She smiled sweetly.

“
What do I do?” I begged
as she let go of my hand and moved back to join the crowd behind
her.

“
Stay strong.” I reached
out for her but came back empty handed as she disappeared into the
shadows, leaving me alone with my thoughts and confusion, leaving
me with more questions and a growing gnawing sense of
doubt.

I groaned loudly as the sound of
incessant knocking pulled me from my dreams. I shoved my head under
my pillow in an attempt to drown out the noise but it just kept
coming like a fly that refused to stop landing on you no matter how
many times you swat it away.

“
What?” I grumbled from
underneath my cloth covered barrier.

“
Ethan, wake up!” Matt
barked from the other side of the door. I grumbled again, shoving
my head deeper under the pillow as I tried to ignore him. “If I
have to come in there I’m dragging you out by your
ears.”