Blind Rage - Chapter 9

Monday July 20, 1997, 2:16 pm

Boerne, Texas

Wagner pulled up to the house, a massive single floor ranch-style structure with a red brick exterior and a grey shingled roof.

In the front yard, he parked beside Rachel’s Neon. In front of Wagner’s black Taurus was a Mustang, and beside it, a Ford extended-cab truck parked ahead of Rachel’s car.

Walking around the front of his car, Wagner couldn’t help but think, But it’s not a proper redneck yard. All of these vehicles run.

He opened the passenger door and leaned over to grab a pair of boxes from the floorboard. The berserker was opening the front door when he looked at the house again.

Wagner didn’t try to hide his thoughts. He went over his memories of his discussion with Mark and waited for a reaction.

The berserker stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked to the car. “That explains why you sent Rachel.”

Wagner nodded. “It was a delaying tactic. I knew I couldn’t lie to you, but I wasn’t sure how you would take this.”

The berserker shrugged. “I’m on so much Thorazine right now that I can’t be mad at the furballs. Obviously, I can’t be mad at you either. This is just...it’s an interesting side note about our meeting today.”

Wagner frowned, noticing how badly the berserker was slurring. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to be taking this much medication?”

“I have to,” the berserker said. “Every time I get near anyone else in the house, my hands start tensing up, and I’m getting ready for a fight. I keep burning through my pills, and I have to keep calm, because I’m the only rational one here right now.”

“There’s Rachel,” Wagner said.

Sighing, the berserker shook his head. “No longer rational, trust me. Every one of them keeps trying to find excuses to leave, so I took their keys. Not one of them is too hot on the idea of being indoors tonight, and I’ve got this dreadful feeling that the dosages aren’t strong enough to keep them asleep.”

“Jobe, I brought pills and a set of high-power darts. If that won’t keep them down, I don’t think anything will.”

The berserker shook his head as he read Wagner’s thoughts. “No, you can’t stay here.”

“I outrank you,” Wagner said. “I’m staying to give you backup, whether you want it or not.”

The berserker’s mouth flapped open and closed several times. “All right, fine, but you can’t stay tomorrow. There’s no room, and Rosa’s already had a hissing fit over having four new houseguests.”

Wagner glanced at the house. “So...cat lady?”

“She doesn’t own any, but yeah, Gavin and I both think she’ll end up a cat.”

Wagner nodded, giving only a passing thought to how no revelation in their conversation had the power to shock or anger him. He wouldn’t be mortally wounded for taking Mark’s deal, and for the time being that was the only thing that mattered.

All he had left to worry about was being mauled or eaten by one of the werekin.

He’d no sooner had the thought when Rachel stomped out of the house, making a straight line for him.

Her short black hair was wet from a recent shower, and the frayed sweatshirt and sweat pants she wore both looked to be three or four sizes too big for her.

She stopped in front of Wagner, her hands on her hips. Her diminutive height did not make her intimidating, but the fury in her brown eyes did.

The real intimidation factor came from the fact that she was infected, and even the slightest scratch would curse Wagner too.

He held out the boxes. “Here. I’m sorry for sending you out without a proper warning.”

Rachel snapped the boxes away from him, her angry scowl so intense that the berserker looked away to avoid catching any of her ire.

She stepped up to Wagner, rising up on the tips of her toes though it didn’t help to bring her up to his height. “Just so we’re clear? If I wake up tonight, I’m eating you first.”

***

Monday, 9:24 pm

The transformations started for Gavin first, who groaned in his sleep as spasms tightened his body.

Wagner opened the door to check on him, a tranquilizer pistol aimed at the bed in case Gavin woke up.

Gavin was nude, but Wagner didn’t feel embarrassed watching his muscular body contorting on the bed. Any discomfort that Wagner might have felt was overwhelmed by his rattled nerves.

At the other end of the hall, the berserker opened the door to check on Rachel.

The tranquilizer pills had been strong enough to put a rhino to sleep. The contact from Mark’s office who supplied the medication had been concerned that such high dosages would be fatal for a human, even a large human.

Now Wagner wasn’t sure why he hadn’t asked for bigger pills.

The berserker had just shut Rachel’s door when George started to groan, followed only seconds later by Rosa whining in her room. Wagner and the berserker turned their heads to stare at Rachel’s door, but she didn’t make a sound.

Wagner had a dreadful thought, and the berserker read it. “You didn’t overdose her. She just didn’t have as much time for the curse to develop, so some of the changes will be more intense for—”

His point was emphasized when Rachel’s voice rose in a shrill keen.

Wagner jogged away from Gavin’s room, opening the door to make sure Rachel wasn’t awake.

Her eyes were still closed, but her nude body was arched high off the bed. Only her heels, her balled fists, and the top of her head still made contact with the mattress. Her face crumpled in a tight grimace of pain, and her every warbling cry was followed by a hissing gasp as she inhaled.

The berserker checked Gavin’s room, calling out, “We’ve got bubbles here.”

“Got what?” Wagner ran up the hallway and leaned around the door.

Gavin’s skin was rising and falling all over his body. He looked like his blood and muscles had started to boil under the surface of his skin, and even his face was becoming obscured by the process.

It was difficult to tell if his eyes were still closed, and Wagner had to glance at the berserker for a conformation.

He nodded, pointing back to the bed when Gavin’s skin started to darken and turn brown. Brown hair sprouted from his body, and just as his limbs began to swell, his arms produced a gut wrenching series of pops as the bones lengthened and grew thicker.

The berserker wandered across the hall to check on George next, nodding as he saw the man’s skin was also changing color. But while Gavin’s skin was turning brown, George’s brown skin was becoming as black as Erick’s.

He moved to check on Rosa, who had curled into a ball. A long tail was growing away from the base of her spine. Her skin had changed to a dark grey color and black hair started to sprout all over her body.

Most of Rachel’s bubbling skin was soft pink when he checked her, but the end of her tail was black. The ends of each limb were black as well. Red hairs were forming on her body, and her limbs were popping. Her arms extended and became thicker while new joints appeared in her legs.

Her ears shifted up as the sides of her skull bulged, and the cartilage lengthened, spreading out into two high triangular points.

The berserker nodded and thought, Fox.

Rachel’s legs buckled as her kneecaps floated over the sides of the joints. Her shins folded up in the opposite direction, and both legs began to pop with sickening frequency as her limbs changed shape.

The berserker turned around as Wagner’s tranquilizer pistol clacked. Gavin had opened his eyes, but he wasn’t awake.

The berserker didn’t bother explaining it. Instead, he went to check on George.

By then, the man’s rippling limbs were covered in glossy black hair, and his face was beginning to distort. His mouth stretched to form a canine snout, and his teeth spread out to fill the space before they elongated and sharpened into points.

He was starting to wake up, so the berserker hit him with a tranquilizer. He decided to give Rachel and Rosa their doses as well, but once he finished, he knew that the plan wasn’t working.

Moving to stand beside Wagner, he said, “New plan. Get in your car, and get out of here now. I’m going to get them outside once they’re up. Then I’ll feed them and take them for a run.”

“We can still try—”

“You’d still be putting darts in them when they rip you limb from limb. Mark’s guys didn’t mix the doses nearly high enough. If you leave now, we can add that to our report as something to consider for the next full moon.”

Wagner debated with himself before he nodded. “All right, but I’ll have the cell phone.”

“They don’t work so good out here.” The berserker smiled. “I appreciate the thought, and I appreciate that you don’t want to abandon me. But the fact is, I’m just about ready to let go myself.”

“Jobe—”

“No, not yet. But I’m burning off the last of my medicine now. I can feel it, and you can hear it in my voice.” Wagner nodded, and the berserker grinned. “I’m holding myself back for your sake. I had a backup plan ready anyway, so you can go. Check back in the morning, and I’ll let you know how it went.”

Despite Wagner’s reluctance to leave, it would have been hard to tell for the speed he used to dash out to his car.

His car flung gravel in both directions as he backed up and then sped away, the tires tossing rocks for the full length of the gravel-lined driveway.

***

The berserker went to the kitchen and started unpacking grocery bags from the top shelf of the refrigerator. He’d liked the idea of putting the animals to sleep for the night, but he still felt a need to drive to the store to pick up roughly half a cow’s worth of raw meat.

He took down six full bags, carrying them outside and setting them down on the yard. His second trip into the house was unnerving because the rooms had become too quiet. He emptied the six bags packed onto the second shelf of the refrigerator, cringing every time the plastic crinkled and deafened him.

Almost running outside with the second load, the berserker kept raising his head to check the open front door while he started to pull open plastic wrappers. There was still a third load of bags, but he wanted to save those, in case he needed a bribe later in the night.

Assuming he survived the first half of the night, of course.

The steaks were divided into four piles, spread out in a wide area in front of the house. When he finished and there were still no signs of any animals, he got up and crept to the door.

He whistled, as if he were calling for a pet. “Hellooo? Is anybody awake and ready for some food yet?”

Something thumped in one of the rooms, but he couldn’t tell who was up.

From Gavin’s room a round, fuzzy head emerged. The berserker grinned and waved to the werebear, wondering if Gavin would be disappointed to know that he wasn’t such a weasel after all.

“Hey there, big guy.” The berserker waved his blood covered hand into the house. “You smell that? I got twenty pounds of raw meat out here with your name on it.”

Glazed brown eyes tried to focus on the berserker, and the bear swayed unsteadily as it moved through the corridor on four legs.

The berserker backed down the steps, waving Gavin outside.

But by then, the bear had picked up the scent of the raw meat, and he was moving on instinct toward the door. He shuffled to a pile of meat, then stopped to look at the berserker with suspicion.

The berserker walked to another pile of meat and tore off a strip to chew it before he hummed with pleasure. “Mmmm, that’s damned good vittles there, hoss. I’d be a really stupid fucking bear to pass up a free meal.”

An expression flashed on the bear’s face, a look that could only be annoyance.

At the same time, the sentiment registered in the animal’s simplistic thoughts. The druid curse helped to hide Gavin’s thoughts in his human form, but as an animal his mind was unguarded.

The berserker grinned and shook his head. “But you aren’t a stupid bear, because you can understand me, can’t you?” Gavin could, and the berserker pointed to the pile. “Eat up. I’ll take you on a run around the lake to burn of the drugs after you finish.”

He stepped sideways back toward the door, keeping his gaze focused on Gavin until the bear dipped his head to start eating. Then he looked back into the house.

“George? Are you up yet?” No answer. “Rachel? Rosa?”

Oh what the hell? the berserker thought. George and Gavin, and Rachel and Rosa? Shouldn’t we at least get someone named Dave for this team? Or maybe John. No, that would imply that I’d be turning furball too, to maintain alliteral parity.

He pushed the sarcastic thought aside and whistled louder. “Food is outside! Time to get your fuzzy asses out of bed!”

He was just thinking, But if they chose to sleep it off, would that be a bad thing?

Before he could answer his own rhetorical question, there was a much softer thump, followed by another, and then another.

Rosa was awake, and she couldn’t figure out how to get out of her room.

The berserker went to pick up a steak from the pile closest to the front door, swallowing nervously as he went back into the house.

Only one of the werekin was outside, and with Rosa’s room being at the back of the hallway, both George and Rachel might have a chance to box him in. This thought made walking down the hallway hard, but he did it anyway.

Rosa was beginning to growl and hiss in frustration, but no matter which direction she tried, she ran into something.

Jobe turned on the overhead light to her room, a gasp of awe rising in his throat at his first sight of the werepanther. Sleek and lithe, Rosa stayed low to the floor and prowled anxiously around the bed in search of an exit. Like Gavin, she was still trying to shake off the effects of the drugs.

Glancing over his shoulder at the sound of a soft sigh, the berserker found himself looking into the bright brown eyes of a werefox. It took less than a second for him to realize that she wasn’t suffering any lingering side effect from the drugs.

“You’ve got a faster metabolism, don’t you?” the berserker asked.

Rachel’s long black muzzle pulled up in a leering smile, and drool dripped from the corner of her mouth.

The berserker turned around and held out the steak. “Okay, I know I might look tasty. But I throw a mean right hook, and the dead cows outside don’t. So, why don’t you be a good girl, and—”

Rachel leapt, and the berserker pivoted to run up the hallway, shouting, “bad fox!” with every other step.

He leapt off the top step, looking around for Gavin when he landed. The bear was still thankfully feasting from his pile.

Once she got outside, Rachel chose the non-moving meal, and all of the thumping had roused George. The gigantic black dog staggered out of the house and stretched, flexing his back while his mouth gaped open for a wide yawn.

He was huge, even bigger than Gavin’s bear form. But if the berserker were pressed to guess the dog’s breed, the best he could have offered would be “pedigreed mutt.”

The head reminded him of a Labrador, but the snout wasn’t long enough, and the thicker round body made the berserker think of a pit bull.

Friendly, warm brown eyes stared at the berserker as George ambled closer. He was still drugged, and he was feeling a need to be affectionate.

Against his better judgment, the berserker put out his bloody hands in front of the dog’s muzzle.

George sniffed at the blood, lapped it off, and then moved forward to nuzzle the berserker’s cheek with his wet nose.

Laughing, the berserker pointed to a pile of meat. “Go eat your dinner, and stop sucking up.”

He glanced back at the house and frowned. “Right, werepanther.”

By the time he got back inside with two steaks, Rosa had worked herself into a full hissing fit. She had also managed to get herself stuck in the closet.

The berserker snuck into the room and made a quiet smacking sound. “Rosa? Calm down.”

Hissing and a loud growl emerged from the dark closet.

The berserker peered around the corner, and he had to work hard not to laugh. Rosa’s head was covered by a sweatshirt, and she was bobbing to try and throw the clothing off without success.

“Rosa, I can help, okay?” Growling, this time louder. “I have food too. Just let—”

He was trying to reach down for the sleeve of the shirt, and Rosa lashed out, attempting to claw him. He thumped away from the closet, and she charged out, following the sounds while she growled. The sweatshirt snagged under her paw, pulling the grey fabric off of her head and shoulders

The berserker got her into the corridor when she froze. She pushed off of her front legs, sniffing at the air. Her fur covered her scars, and even without eyes in the scarred purple sockets, she was beautiful. A monster of sleek grace, she shimmered under the hallway light as she swayed on her hind legs. Her mouth opened in a wide cat grin when she smelled blood, exposing her sharp teeth

“Rosa, this way.” The berserker rolled his eyes when she hissed at him and drew back a paw in a menacing warning that she was prepared to strike, and strike hard. “Yes, you’re very scary, Rosa. If I were a human, I’d be shitting myself, really.”

He took a step closer, waving the steak to fan the scent toward her. “Just calm down, and follow my footsteps. I’ll take you to a nice stack of steaks just like this one.”

He threw it, and as the meat passed Rosa’s head, she spun and snapped. Catching the edge, she dropped to the floor and smacked noisily.

Bits of stray meat fell on the carpet, and the berserker thought, But I’m going to be the schmuck to clean that up.

When she finished, he stomped on the floor. “This way, Rosa.”

She followed him out of the house, and once he’d directed her to the pile to feed, he walked around the house to wash his hands off using the tap outside.

By the time he got back, Gavin was finished. The bear licked his bloody short muzzle, rolling his head sideways while he stared at the berserker.

Gavin was still hungry.

“No, you can have more food later. Let the others eat, and then we’ll—” The berserker was cut short by a retching sound, and he looked at George, who had eaten so fast his stomach tossed the meat back up.

George sniffed at the vomited mess, glancing back at the berserker before he shrugged and started lapping the mess up.

The berserker shuddered and returned his attention to Gavin. “We’re going to run, but I want you to put your nose to work, okay? I need you to look for the orc...or for the other werebear, you see?”

Gavin didn’t respond, but the berserker sensed from his thoughts that he did. ”If we can make it back home without anyone biting me, there’s more meat in the refrigerator for all of you.”

Rachel’s head came up, and she turned around to look at the berserker. Her bright brown eyes gleamed with humor as she imagined raking a deep set of furrows down his back.

He glared at her. “No scratching either, Rachel.” His glare melted as he grinned and shook his head. “I wouldn’t have figured you as the troublemaker of the group.”

Rachel growled, flattening her black tipped ears down before she tossed her snout high in the air. Having aired her indignation, she returned to her meal. She flipped her tail, a gesture which he took as the equivalent of her giving him the finger.

The berserker sighed and looked back toward Gavin. “All right, here’s how this works. Until you have a scent to track, I lead the hunt. Once we’ve got a trail, you can lead. Sound fair?”

The plan did not sit well with Gavin, who growled and rose up on his back legs.

The berserker sighed. He was going to have to fight for leadership, possibly with all four of the werekin. “All right, fine. Get your furry ass over here and help me burn off the rest of this medication. Then we’ll see which one of us is the smarter animal.”