Page 38 of Wolf Bane
Slidell shook his head, fretting over Zero’s lank ponytail.“They couldn’t answer questions, you know?Like how’d they know what dose to give an’ all that junk.They were giving the same shots to the kids as the adults.”
Benoit cleared his throat, putting himself between me and Zero.“Reason we brung you here, Doctor Babin, is because you can fix this.Ain’t no use lying to us about it.Stone there, he’s caught by the short an’ curlies with this council bullshit.But you?You’re not one of them.Or us.They may got you workin’ for them like one of them trained monkeys at the circus, but you know what it’s like, don’t you?To have someone change you without permission.”
He smiled grimly, stained teeth sharp and too close for my liking.“We know all about you, Doctor Landry Babin.You ain’t a secret.Heard it from kin ‘round your way.Lots of folks do love runnin’ they mouths about you, you know?”
“Yeah, I learned that a while back,” I muttered.
His bare-toothed grimace of a smile was unsettling, to say the least.“Did you?Well, you also learn how your man’s daddy cut us out when we wouldn’t kiss his ass?You learn how we got shunned from the clan for refusing to let him tell us how to live our lives?”He sucked his teeth, raking a disdainful glare over me.And I knew—they’d been the ones twenty or so years ago, the ones Ethan had told me about that got shunned out of Belmarais by his father.
I remembered the story—hell, I’d only just thought about it a few days ago.Or was it longer?Shit, how much time had passed?But knowing what I knew now about the complaints, knowing what I knew then about Mr.Stone running out the weres he didn’t like… I looked at the raggedy group around me with a new, uneasy awareness.Wonder if they’ll let me move in with them when shit goes south with the clan this time?
“We heard ‘bout you.Real interestin’, I think.Ethan’s not his daddy, huh?But he sure as hell ain’t runnin’ to mend fences.Leavin’ us hanging in the wind like he does.Been trying to broker a meetin’ with him for, lordy, six?Seven?Seven years now.Too busy playin’ cops and robbers first.Now he’s off bowin’ and scrapin’ for that council.And here we are,” he sneered.
Spreading his hands wide, he took in not just the moldering building around us but their lives as a whole.The hardscrabble small community outside the building that, without even seeing, I knew had to be scraping by, hanging on to life by the skin of its teeth like a hundred other money-poor, problem-rich communities that got ignored and NIMBY’d into dust.
Benoit watched whatever expression itched on my face, his sneer curling into a knowing smirk.“Yeah, that’s right.Way I figure it, the clan, particularly the Stones, owe us.They owe us our rightful homes back, they owe us our status back in the pack, they owe useverything,Doctor Babin.”
The way he spat my name mad my hackles—such as they were—rise.“I can’t do anything for you.I don’t understand what you’re expecting here, Benoit.I’m not part of their clan.”I jerked my chin at Daniel.“Hell, most of ‘em would just as soon let me be your buddy’s chew toy as look at me.”
“Well, we’ll just talk about that later, hm?First, you’re gonna help us get Zero here fixed up,” he said with menacing pleasantry.
Zero shook their head.“I’m getting better,” they muttered.“Rosa, though.And Kim.”
“Wait, wait, wait!”I covered my face with my hands, damning myself for that choice as my arm gave a screaming throb.“I can’t do what you’re asking.Do you think being some mutant hybrid’s given me the magic touch or something?Jesus…”
“No,” Benoit said, dropping all attempts of faking pleasantness.“But I do think you’re sucking the right dicks to get the council’s attention.And don’t you try an’ lie ‘bout the clinic,” he added with a suck-toothed sneer.“Daniel’s been pickin’ up hours with the Dallas place.Said your name got talked about a whole bunch up that way.Not a real popular guy,mutt.”
He nodded to Daniel, and I was grabbed—on my good arm, thankfully—and frog-marched towards that interior door.“Let me show you what they’re doing,” Benoit ground out.
They shoved me through the door and into what had once been some sort of cafeteria, from the looks of things.A long counter with empty steam tray slots ran down the far wall, rolled up metal shutters dangling from the ceiling along the length of it.Rather than people serving food, it was a repository for stacks and stacks of plastic tubs.Some were open and full of what looked like packets of IV tubing and other medical supplies.The others were closed but likely held more of the same.Instead of tables where employees could eat a quick lunch between shifts or hide out with coffee when shit was too much, there were several camping cots in a row, each with a were in various levels of respiratory distress.
“Stage one,” Benoit muttered beside me.“If they survive this, it turns into what we’ve started calling the feral stage.”
“They don’t survive that,” Slidell whispered beside me, voice shaking.
My feet moved unbidden towards the nearest cot.A young woman—barely more than a child—was still and sallow save for the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
“How long does this last?My friend who’s sick, it’s been about a week.And a little girl I know… she’s ill, too.”
“I’ve been sick like this for going on ten days,” Zero offered quietly.“It’s not getting worse.And I haven’t started going feral yet.”
“Feral…” There’s a list of words you never want to hear as a doctor—hell, as anyone, really—andferalis near the top.
“Just what it sounds like,” Benoit said, grim.“Uncontrollable shifts, lashing out, attacking other weres.Animals.”He heaved a sigh.“Humans.Like seeing a rabid dog but worse cuz it’s someone you know.Someone you care about.”
A woman in torn jeans and a too-large t-shirt came bustling out from behind the counter area, hands full of IV tubing packets.“We’re almost out of saline, Ringer’s and glutathione.”She shot me a harried look.“This him?”
“Landry Babin,” I said, nodding.“You a doctor?Why are you using glutathione?”It was more common in those trendy IV bars in some cities—which, no one asked my opinion, but I was gonna give it if they did, should all be shut down becausewho the fuck gives people unnecessary IV therapy?Glutathione was one of those buzzwordy things they liked to use because it sounded really medical and official when they tried to upsell clients on the benefits ofdetoxingandpurifying cellsand bullshit.In truth it was used sometimes to help patients recover after chemo or with certain autoimmune issues, but it wasn’t the miracle cure some of these scam artists liked to claim it was.
She shot me a tired, quick grin.“Most folks guess a nurse since I’m a woman.They’d be right, but it pisses me off they assume.”Stuffing some of the packets under one arm, she stuck out her hand for me to shake.“Fern Wade.And we’re using this as a sort of Hail Mary.Nothing seems to slow it down, so we figured…”
“Cellular regeneration on a Lego brick level?”
She nodded.“Yep.We don’t have access to a full lab so we’re piecing together best we can.”
“Is it helping?”
Fern gave me a pointed, sad look.
