Page 25 of The Wolf's Secret Baby

As we moved towards the entrance of the cave, I noticed a few wolves moving around the outpost. There were about five ofthem. They didn’t seem perturbed by our presence. Now that we were closer, I could see that the buildings were for habitation, which seemed strange to me. What could Vance be doing here that required these people? It was a most curious situation indeed.

“The Alpha will be pleased to learn that everything is on schedule. We have made the tweaks that we spoke about last time and there haven’t been any side effects yet. Of course, as I have told him again and again there’s a lot we won’t know until they are activated but all the signs are positive. There’s no reason to think that this won’t be successful.”

“That will please him. This war is important to us all. It’s time for us to take back what is rightfully ours. We have been forced into hiding for too long,” Typhon said. He was so convincing that I could almost believe he meant it.

We were led into the cave. The light dimmed immediately, and it took a moment for our eyes to adjust. The walls of the cave were lined with torches, which provided intermittent light. The wolf led us through a wide tunnel, which seemed at a slight incline. The temperature was cool and there was a damp smell lingering in the air.

“It’s my hope that we are going to be the first ones ready,” the wolf leading us said. “We have been working hard. We’ve barely had any rest at all. I’m sure that you’ll be able to take good news back to Vance.”

The tunnel opened out into a wide chamber. There was a proud smile on this wolf’s face as he led us to a terminal. It was behind a wall of glass. He pressed a few buttons and lights began flicking on, illuminating the chamber. There was a screen with readings. They looked familiar, although I couldn’t place them at first. But then the horror was revealed. I felt as though I had been punched in the gut, because the lights revealed an army bred for a singular purpose. They were standing motionless inrows, wires coiled around them, eyes closed. They were being fed through tubes and drugs were being pumped into them.

The experiment hadn’t ended with us at all. They had changed it, continued it, farmed it out to these remote outposts.

“As you can see, they are fine specimens. We were able to screen out any inferior samples before they reached maturation, so our consistency is our main quality. I have been made aware of some of the results in the other outposts and I can assure you that our attention to detail remains unequalled. These soldiers are going to be the finest in Vance’s army. They’re not going to let him down,” the wolf said proudly.

I wanted to throttle him. I wanted to pin him to the wall and tear his throat out for what he had done. As I looked at all of these soldiers, I saw myself and Typhon in them. All of the pain and humiliation that had plagued us for our entire lives came rushing back. Everyone had always looked at us with disdain and yet they still bred more to use. They still brought more of us into the world and why? Just to throw us all away?

“They are impressive,” Typhon said in a strangled voice.

“Yes, they are. I just can’t wait to see them in action.”

I blinked and breathed deeply, trying to compose myself even though my mind was swimming.

“Forgive me but Vance still has his concerns. He doesn’t want the same mistake to happen again. How can we be sure that these wolves are going to be any different to the ones that were bred before?” I asked. The wolf to which we were speaking did not realize that I was talking about myself.

“Oh, that’s never going to happen. We do learn from our mistakes,” he chuckled. “We’ve watched the readings closely and any one of these specimens that deviates from our expectations are terminated. We’ve also made sure to breed out any genetic quirks and as much individuality as we can. These specimens are going to be strength personified. They’re not going to be taintedwith real personalities. They are going to be focused on one thing and one thing only, violence. If you like I can probably activate a couple of them early and give you a demonstration of their skills. It’s not going to be an exact display of their capabilities, but it will give you some idea of their prowess.”

“No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I believe that this is exactly what Vance wanted to see,” Typhon said.

“Good! Then we look forward to being given the call to arms. After all of our hard work I’m eager to finally let these soldiers loose into the wild. I want to show Vance what they can do. It’s funny really,” he turned to look at the soldiers. They all had blank expressions on their faces, as though they weren’t really alive at all, just little dolls ready to be manipulated and used. “In a way they’re like my children. I’ll be a little sad to see them leave, especially when most of them are going to die but at least they will serve their pack well and they will do what they have been designed to do.”

“I’m sure Vance will recognize your contributions,” I said.

The wolf then pressed another button, and the lights began to wink out one by one until the chamber was bathed in darkness once again, and the soldiers were hidden from view. But I couldn’t think of them as soldiers. They might have felt like children to this scientist, but they were something else entirely to me.

They were brothers.

We were led back out into daylight. I felt sick inside. I found it hard to walk. I wanted to charge into these buildings and drag all the wolves outside and make them pay for what they were doing. This was sickening.

“Would you like to stay for any food?” the wolf offered.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. We should be getting back to the pack. As I said, Vance is anxious for updates.”

“We will try our best to ensure that we’re ready before schedule but of course we can’t promise anything. The process takes as much time as it takes, and we wouldn’t want to risk any aberrations again. We wouldn’t want all our hard work ruined like last time,” he laughed once again. I bristled at the sound and felt my hand clenching into my fist. It was happening almost without intention, as though I couldn’t control myself. Typhon noticed, however and gripped my forearm tightly.

“Your efforts are most appreciated, and I’ll make sure that Vance knows the lengths you have gone to in order to make this project a success. Soon enough we will all rejoice, and a big part of it is because of you,” Typhon said. Then, he practically dragged me away as the gate opened up for us and we left the outpost.

Chapter Twenty

Typhon

“We need to get back in there. We need to stop this!” Kull said in a hushed whisper as soon as we were out of earshot of the outpost. His words rang in my mind, but they sounded distant. I was still trying to make sense of everything we had just seen. Words clotted under my tongue and my throat constricted. My chest was tight, and it felt as though I was about to collapse. Kull spoke again but his words were getting farther away with every breath, and I couldn’t concentrate on them. They were muted sounds, blurry and indistinct, just like the world itself. There was a spike of pain in my mind, as though something was drilling right into the center of my brain.

It was only when Kull grabbed me by the shoulders that my senses were focused. He looked me right in the eye.

“How can you be silent at a time like this? How can you walk away when they are torturing our brothers like that? Do you know what this means?” he asked in a strained voice. I pulled away from him and turned, before vomiting up the contents of my stomach. I bent over and clutched my sides until I spat everything out. I groaned and put my hand to my head. I closed my eyes, wishing that the world would open up and swallow me whole. Kull was pacing around me. I could feel myself trembling with anger. It roiled within me until it came out in a huge burst of anguish. I threw my head back and screamed loudly. It was so hard it made my throat raw.

When I was finished, I turned to Kull and growled at him. “I know,” were the only two words I said and then I began stomping away.

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