Serpent Mound - 11. Lycans in the Mist

The reveille call went out at 6 am as usual, but this morning, it was immediately followed by an announcement from the Headmaster through the campus loudspeaker system.

“Cadets, as you wake today, you will notice that a military camp has risen on our Parade Grounds. For the next two or three days, the Academy will be host to an actual Special Forces unit conducting training exercises nearby. While they are here on campus, all classes and PT sessions are suspended. Their camp, the Parade Grounds, and the main building will be off-limits to all cadets until further notice. During this time, you will have free access to your dormitory, the cafeteria, the gymnasium, and the football field. Unlike other Free Days, you are all to remain on-campus during this time; any leave to visit the surrounding communities is also temporarily suspended for security reasons. Reveille and lights-out will occur at the same time during our guests’ stay.

“You will notice Special Forces soldiers patrolling the walls, and you will see them on the grounds and in the cafeteria. Please do not engage them unless they speak to you directly first. If you should hear an announcement at any time instructing you to return to your dormitory rooms, do so immediately and without question, wherever on campus you may be. This is because the Special Forces will be in the midst of war-game training exercises, and they will require you to clear the area for your own safety.

“Again, this should only be for the next two or three days. Enjoy the time off from classes and put the time to good use to study for upcoming exams!”

As the boys showered and got dressed, and headed over to the cafeteria for breakfast, they saw firsthand what the Headmaster was talking about. Soldiers patrolled on the top of the wall surrounding the campus, there were black Humvee vehicles parked along the sidewalk leading to the Parade Grounds, and the Parade Grounds themselves had become a full mobile military encampment overnight.

The boys were curious, but they stuck to their morning routines, and gave the Special Forces a wide berth as they headed into the cafeteria. Once inside, they found Rodney and Marcus in their usual stations, serving up breakfast, but they also saw many tall, lean, and muscular soldiers wearing dark uniforms occupying many of the tables and eating breakfast as well.

“I see rank insignia on their shoulders,” one of the boys whispered to his friends, “But no flag or military branch. That seems a little odd.”

“Dude,” his friend whispered back, “They’re Special Forces. They’re the ones who have to do the super-secret covert operations. If they wore a bunch of insignias like that on their uniforms, they might as well be wearing a big target telling the enemy, ‘Shoot me first!’”

When they got up to the head of the line, Rodney and Marcus greeted them with the usual cheerfulness, although they both seemed a little tired.

“Good morning little dudes!” Rodney said dishing out pancakes and sausage onto each of their plates. “Are you happy to have a couple days off from classes?”

“Man, you guys are lucky,” Marcus said, adding scrambled eggs and syrup to their plates. “Not only do we not have the day off from work, but we have twice as many mouths to feed! I thought you Cadets were a hungry bunch, but these Special Forces are bottomless pits!”

The boys chuckled and a few of the Special Forces threw the pair a disapproving look.

“Uh oh,” Rodney said, “Better watch it Marcus, or you may end up being used for target practice before lunch!”

The boys laughed and left to sit at an empty table. The cafeteria bears kept up the comedic banter with each of the boys that came through the line, to keep the cadets at ease over the sudden situation.

“I see that Marcus and Rodney have finally found their calling,” Apollo said to Thomas and Sam from a corner of the cafeteria. “Those two have always had their hearts in the right place, but in an emergency, they have a tendency to make a bad situation worse.”

“They seem to really like working here at the Academy, and they have a natural rapport with the kids,” Thomas replied.

“They’re practically a couple of kids themselves!” Susie commented, “How long does it take for werebears to grow out of their Cub phase anyway?”

“It all depends on how old we are when we’re turned,” Thomas replied with a bit of a sad look on his face, “I asked Ezekiel what was up with those two and it seems that they were both turned when they were very young.

“Rodney was turned when he was just eleven years old, and an old wandering bear found him abandoned by his family. They had been traveling west on the Oregon Trail and the boy caught cholera. Instead of waiting for him to die and then burying him proper-like, they just left him on the side of the trail wrapped in a blanket, figuring that he would die soon anyway. The old bear found him and realizing that he was kindred, took pity on him, changing him without really giving him a choice. He recovered from the illness, but in a matter of a few months found himself transformed from an eleven-year-old boy into a forty-year-old man.

“Marcus had a similar beginning. He was only ten when he was playing by himself in the woods and fell down a crevasse. None of his human family or friends knew where he was or what had happened. If it hadn’t been for the same old wandering bear who had rescued Rodney coming along at just the right time to change him and save his life, he would have died for sure.

“But, when you’re changed that young, there’s just something about the human brain that gets frozen in time. Over the years, they’ve learned what adult behavior is, and how they’re expected to act as a grown-up, but on the inside, they’re still a couple of ten and eleven-year-old boys. That’s why we never change someone under the age of twenty unless it is specifically to save their lives.”

“Well, that explains why they’re always together,” Susie commented, “They sort of grew-up as cub-brothers, didn’t they?”

“That’s right,” Thomas replied. “Ezekiel was pleased when they decided to come work at the Academy, not because he wanted them out of his fur, but because it has been good for them to get out of the enclave and experience something new. Maybe someday, one or the other of them will finally decide to take on a cub of their own. Most likely, they’ll finally come to the realization that they’re the perfect Mates for each other. Time will tell. For now, they seem to enjoy being around the kids, and they’re actually pretty good cooks!”

****

The day wore on, and there was no sign of Rieka or her wights. Rodney and Marcus were finishing up with dinner service, feeding both Cadets and soldiers, and the leadership team were in the ballroom of the main house discussing the changeover in their defensive strategy from a daytime attack to a night attack.

Just as dusk was beginning to set in, one of the wolves on top of the south-facing wall saw a strange cloud formation moving unusually fast in their direction on the horizon. He pulled out his walkie and keyed the button to call the General and Colonel.

“Hey boss,” the wolf said into the walkie, “You said that we’re supposed to be on the lookout for a strange mist, right?”

“That affirmative,” Apollo replied into his device, “Have you spotted something?”

“Maybe,” the wolf replied, “Maybe nothing, but get a look at the horizon in the southern sky and tell me what you think.”

Apollo looked around the room at the group assembled in the ballroom and they all walked out to the portico to look to the south.

An angry-looking white swirling cloud was headed directly toward Mt Savage, and it was coming fast.

“Funny,” Sam said, “The wind is definitely blowing west to east, but this cloud is moving south to north.”

“That’s no cloud,” Gary said, “Those are the wights. This is it, folks. Battle stations!”

Apollo and Susie immediately began giving orders to their soldiers while Gary ran back into his office and grabbed the microphone for the loudspeaker system.

“Attention all cadets,” Gary’s voice boomed over the whole campus. “All cadets report to your dorm rooms on the double. No exceptions. Drop whatever you’re doing and get in your dorm now, for your own safety. Do not leave your room until you hear the announcement that all is clear and that it is safe to emerge once again! I repeat. All cadets to your rooms now!”

For the next five minutes the campus grounds resembled a beehive as cadets scrambled to get into the dorm building before catching trouble, and the Council forces quickly moved to get into their defensive positions as the storm clouds continued to roll in their direction.

For a minute, there was silence across the Academy campus. The cadets were all indoors and the soldiers were holding their positions, awaiting orders or attack. The only movement was in the swirling white storm cloud that moved above campus and came to an abrupt halt.

“An attack from above,” Susie muttered to Apollo. “Clever bitches.”

She keyed on her walkie and broadcast to all soldiers as the cloud began a rapid descent onto the Academy.

“That cloud is our enemy, soldiers. Keep your wits about you. Once it envelops you it can mess with your head. Make you see things that aren’t real. But it can only affect sight, sound, and touch. When in doubt, go with your sense of smell!”

The mist settled onto the Academy, blanketing the campus in a thick fog. As the fog began to thin, the soldiers noticed that they were no longer in the Academy campus, but instead, in the middle of a dense forest.

Apollo watched the campus transform from his position within the portico. He heard a shout and a scream from his right, and he ran a few steps away to investigate. As soon as he moved away from the mansion, it faded away behind him, replaced by more thick forest.

“Shit,” Apollo muttered to himself and picked up his walkie.

“Banshee” Apollo said, keying the button. “Do not, I repeat, do not move away from the main building. Once you leave it, it disappears! Maintain the defensive perimeter around the mansion at all costs.”

“Oh, what a shame!” purred a female voice in reply from his walkie. “You can’t find your way home? Have you tried clicking your heels together three times? That has always worked in the past.”

“Fuck!” Apollo grumbled and turned his walkie off, raising his rifle and looking around in the gloom and trees. He saw movement to his right and ran toward it. It was a group of ten soldiers, huddled together in a defensive formation.

“General!” one of the troops shouted as he came near. “Thank Zeus! Something came out of the mist and picked off Anderson.”

“Stay alert,” Apollo said, “Keep your weapons ready, and fire on anything that isn’t wearing a uniform.”

They heard footfalls to the right and the wolves immediately snapped in that direction.

“General, I…”

“Shh!” Apollo snapped. “Quiet! Do you hear that noise?”

The wolves stopped moving and listened. They could hear a faint buzz that grew louder the longer they remained still. The buzz became a hum, and by the time Apollo recognized the sound, it was too late.

“Take cover!” Apollo cried as the air darkened and from the mist a swarm of hundreds of thousands of locusts descended upon the wolves.

“Dammit to fucking hell!” Apollo screamed as he fought the swarm, covering his eyes, and waving his arm in front of his face.

The other soldiers howled and rolled on the ground, trying to free themselves from the swarm that clung to their bodies and faces, chewing into their skin with needle-like mandibles.

From the mist, came a deafening roar. Six wolves leapt from the fog upon Apollo’s troops writhing on the ground and latched onto them with teeth and claws.

“Shift and fight!” Apollo yelled, and his ten troops transformed into their wolves, their uniforms breaking away cleanly as their bodies changed.

Apollo’s troops lunged at the invading wolves, and a melee began on the forest floor, with fur and blood flying through the mist.

Apollo spotted an invader who was tearing at the haunches of one of his troops and lunged to catch him by the throat and pin him to the ground.

“Submit,” Apollo growled in the wolf-language.

“I cannot,” the wolf growled back. “I fight for the Tuath Dé. If I submit to you now, I die by their hands later. I have no choice.”

Apollo’s wolves had subdued the rest of the invaders, and all six attackers were now pinned to the ground by their necks.

“Submit or die!” Apollo growled again, but the wolf beneath his jaws just laughed.

“Not today, I think.” The wolf replied and, in a blink, all six invaders dissolved into mist between the troops’ jaws.

Apollo and his wolves looked around at each other, blinking in surprise, but only for a few seconds, before the swarms of locusts moved in again, and the troops were howling and rolling on the ground in discomfort and pain.

****

Rodney and Marcus stumbled through the mist in between the dense trees of the forest that had somehow sprung up in an instant between the cafeteria and the main house.

“We’ve got to get to the mansion,” Rodney said, gripping Marcus by the arm to keep from losing each other in the fog, “Thomas is counting on us. We have to complete our mission, and if these wights get to Bernie first, the whole plan is screwed.”

“Yeah, well if you can spot the mansion, be fucking sure to let me know,” Marcus replied. “I can’t see shit out here but mist and trees.”

“Something’s coming,” Rodney said, “Listen, do you hear that?”

“Hoofbeats,” Marcus said. “What were the three types of lycans we’re supposed to be on the lookout for again?”

“Wolves,” Rodney replied, “Panthers, and…”

“Boars!” They both yelled, as a herd of six huge and sharp tusked boars came charging at them through the mist.

The boars made a quick hit-and-run strike against the pair of bears, gouging them both in the abdomen with their tusks before running away again through the mist.

“Shit!” Marcus yelled, “I vote we run in the opposite direction of those fucking boars. Let’s go!”

Marcus grabbed Rodney by the arm and pulled him along, weaving between the trees. Rodney struggled to keep up, as he was nursing a very deep belly wound and was bleeding copiously.

They heard the hoofbeats coming up behind them once again.

“Come on Rodney,” Marcus whispered, trying to pull him along faster.

“We’re going to have to turn and fight,” Rodney replied. “I’m not going to be able to outrun them until this wound heals.”

The pair stopped and turned, facing the approaching hoofbeats and preparing to shift into their bear forms to fight, when they heard a female voice shout directly behind them.

“Rodney and Marcus,” Susie shouted, “Duck!”

The bears dropped to the ground automatically, and from behind them, Susie stepped out of the mist and began spraying the stampeding herd of invaders with bullets.

The boars squealed, and two dropped to the ground, dead, with bullets through their skulls. The other four veered off and ran back into the mist.

Susie stepped forward and helped the bears to stand and they watched as the dead boars change back into naked human men. Susie walked forward toward the bodies, never lowering her rifle, and as she grew close, the mist rushed in consuming the prone forms on the ground. When the mist cleared again, the bodies were gone.

“Well, at least we know that the lycans are real, and that they can be killed,” Susie said. “Follow me back to the mansion. I came from there when I heard your voices, and I can follow my own scent trail back. Scent is the only sense we can truly rely on in this carnival funhouse.”

****

“I heard gunshots!” a sophomore cadet said to his roommate as he looked out the window.

“Well, they are doing war-games training out there,” the other boy replied, as he flipped through his history textbook, making notes. “I’m just glad they got all of us inside before they released that fake fog!”

“It’s weird that they’re doing war-games in fog like this, right?” the first boy asked. “I mean, who plans for fighting in fog so thick you can’t see ten feet in front of you?”

“Apparently the Special Forces do,” the other boy replied. “Makes sense to me. If you can practice and prepare for something like that, it will give you a tactical advantage. I also get now why they’re using our campus to do it. The Academy wall is holding the fake fog in to keep it thick and dense. Pretty smart if you ask me.”

“I don’t know,” the first boy said, “Something about it just seems really off. I’ll be glad when they’re done, and they all leave us alone.”

“I’m in no hurry to go back to class,” the other boy said. “At least this is giving me extra time to study for the History exam. Come away from that window and help me with these practice questions. If we work together, I just might pass after all!”

****

Bill sat at attention in his apartment with his arms wrapped around Bernie protectively. Joe sat a few feet away, also on guard with his senses on full alert.

They periodically heard screams and shouts coming from the campus outside, and when they heard a volley of gunshots not far from the mansion, Bernie twitched in shock in Bill’s grasp.

“Take it easy, Cub,” Bill said, trying to keep Bernie calm, “There’s only one way into this apartment, and there’s about ten bears guarding the halls between them and us. Plus, you have me and Joe in here with you, and I promise, I’m not going to let you go.”

With the commotion outside, neither Bill nor Joe noticed the gentle breeze blowing the wrong direction down the chimney, until a sudden gust completely blew out the fire.

“Shit!” Bill yelled, “Joe, the fireplace! Close the damper!”

“The what?” Joe asked in confusion as the room began to fill with white smoke.

“The handle inside the chimney! It closes a… flap and seals off the chimney from the outside! Gods I’m such an idiot!”

The white mist was flowing from the chimney flue and out of the fireplace like a stream of water, blanketing the apartment in the same thick fog that had obscured the campus grounds outside.

“Brave bear…” a female voice whispered.

“Smart bear…” another female murmured from the opposite corner of the room.

“Sexxx-y bear…” a third voice hissed, barely a foot from Bill’s face.

The three female panthers remained hidden in the mist, and prowled around the boy, the young wolf, and their large bear protector.

“I’m not letting the boy go,” Bill shouted into the mist as he saw the dark shadows circling. “You will have to kill me first, and I’d really like to see you fucking try, bitches.”

“No need to let the boy go,” a voice whispered, close to Bill’s ear. “We like you, bear. We want to take you with ussss…”

“We need fresssh bear meat in the village,” another voice hissed. “The bear we have is so worn-out he wouldn’t even make a decent rug.”

“Papa!” Bernie cried out, and Bill hugged him tightly.

“Oh, poor little cub,” a panther whispered. “Your Papa’s days are over, just as yours will be soon. Prepare yourself. It is time to return to the village. Now.”

“Hold onto me Bernie!” Bill shouted as the mist began to press close against them, feeling dense and heavy, making it hard to breathe. “I won’t let them take you!”

“Then, sexy bear,” the panther whispered, stroking his ear, “We’ll take you both!”

The mist began to swirl around the pair and Bill felt his feet leaving the floor.

“Staff Sergeant!” Joe yelled through the mist. “What should I do?”

“Joe!” Bill replied, “Go get the others! Tell them that the mist is taking us! There may still be time to rescue us outside before we’re gone forever!”

As soon as Bill’s words were spoken, he and Bernie’s bodies were absorbed into the dream-world of the mist, and they were whisked along with the trio of panthers back up the apartment chimney.

****

Joe ran through the halls of the mansion, gathering the bears to him as he went.

“Everyone! Outside now!” Joe shouted, “The mist took Bernie and the Staff Sergeant through the chimney! We have to get outside and save them before it’s too late!”

Joe and the bears who had been guarding the interior of the mansion ran out onto the portico where they met Susie, Rodney, and Marcus.

“Beta!” Joe cried as he ran up to Susie, “Thank the gods you’re here! They took Bernie and the Staff Sergeant out through the chimney!”

“Shit!” Susie replied. “We’ve got to find them before these lycans get reorganized and take off with them.”

“People!” a female voice shouted from the mist, some distance in front of the portico, “To me! We have the boy, and we have one bear! Let us depart, now!”

“Rieka wanted more than one measly bear,” a male voice could be heard approaching the first, “I’ve lost two of my boar brothers in this fight, and I’m not leaving unless we make this a success.”

“Fool!” the female replied, “You need to learn when to cut your losses and run. It is time to leave. Now!”

“I could open fire on the voices,” Susie muttered to Joe and the assembled bears, but there’s no way of keeping from shooting Bernie and Bill as well.”

“What if we rush them as a group?” one of the bears asked.

“As soon as we set foot off of this portico,” Susie replied, “We’d be hopelessly lost in the mist again. They’ve got the upper hand.”

“Wait,” Joe said, pointing out into the mist, “What’s that?”

As they looked, a bright light appeared within the mist, moving in their direction, and traveling fast. It was a black SUV with a bank of six halogen floodlights mounted to the roof. Wherever the floodlights pointed, the mist disappeared, and the regular campus grounds could be seen once again. It came to a stop nearly to the circular driveway, pointing the lights across the grass up to the portico.

As soon as the SUV came to a halt, Axel, Adam and the three polar bears leaped from the doors. The polar bears quickly shifted into their bear forms and roared at the sight illuminated by the floodlights.

Standing in the middle of the grass of the driveway circle, were three panthers, four boars and six bloody wolves, all nude and in their human forms. The three female panthers clutched Bill between them, and Bill’s arms were wrapped around Bernie like a vise. Bernie and Bill’s eyes were both open but completely white, as their souls were trapped within the dream-world of the wights.

“Time’s up!” Axel shouted, “The cavalry is here, and I’m going to give you exactly five seconds to release your prisoners and give up before we mow you down like weeds!”

“You are too late!” Namir the panther hissed back at him. “Make one move and we will be gone in the blink of an eye. We only stay here now to give the remaining bears an opportunity to join us. You can see that one of your own has already joined our collective. If any others wish to join The People in our glorious worship of the Tuath Dé, come to us now. This is the only time I will make this offer.”

“If you think any bears are stupid enough to get on your little cult’s crazy-train, you must have a fucking screw loose!” Axel shouted, and the lycans in the circle compressed themselves together in preparation of departure.

“Wait!” a voice shouted from the back of the group on the portico, “We’re coming with you!”

“What the fuck?” Susie yelled, as Rodney led Marcus by the arm and pulled him toward the group massed in the grassy circle.

“We’ve been treated like children by these bears,” Rodney said as they strode to the rogue lycans. “We need to find someone who shows us the respect we deserve.”

“Rodney and Marcus,” Axel shouted, “If you two imbeciles don’t get your fucking asses back on that portico right now, I swear I’m personally going to pound you into the mud when we catch up to you!”

“See?” Marcus said to Namir, “Take us with you. Please? We need new friends who treat us better.”

“Join us bears,” Namir said with a grin and a purr, holding out her hand, “And all your worries will be over. You will be one with The People.”

Rodney and Marcus pressed themselves against the group massed on the grass, and in a flash, the white mist descended upon them and whisked them from the ground.

Moments after the mist had collected its passengers, the fog lifted, and the campus of the Academy was visible once again.

The grounds were scattered with bloody and battered troops, some still in uniform, some nude, and some transformed into their wolf forms.

Apollo stood, covered with thousands of bites and chunks removed from his skin from the locusts who had mysteriously disappeared a moment earlier. He picked up his break-away uniform and dressed himself, striding back to the mansion as he did so.

“They’re gone,” Apollo said to Susie as he reached the portico. “Did we protect the boy? Report, Colonel.”

“Mission failed, General,” Susie replied. “We succeeded in eliminating two boars, but they have taken both Bernie and Bill.”

“And…” Susie continued with an expression of pain and sorrow, “Rodney and Marcus are gone as well. They’ve… joined the enemy.”

“When we find them, I’m going to finish off those fucking imbeciles once and for all,” Axel raged. “If they haven’t learned the noble werebear purpose of protecting others by now, then there’s no hope for them!”

“Don’t be so fast to judge those two,” Thomas said, stepping forward. “I gave them an assignment and they played their part perfectly.”

“What part?” Apollo asked. “We didn’t discuss any defense strategy that involved the cafeteria crew.”

“And that is why they were the perfect choice for my backup plan,” Thomas said. “I told them this morning that when the attack started, they needed to get to the mansion and keep their eyes out for Bernie. If they saw that Bernie was about to be taken away by the invaders, they were to offer themselves up to them too. We knew in advance that they were going to be trying to capture bears as well to restore the balance in their cult. With Rodney and Marcus tagging along as apparent turncoats, they’ll never notice them wearing these…”

Thomas reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, thin square of metal with a flat red blinking light embedded in the center.

“This is a little engineering project I’ve been working on for the last few months in preparation for this day. You’re looking at the smallest GPS tracking device in the world. It has a 3000-mile range, so as long as the guys stay on this continent, we’ll be able to track them wherever they end up.”

“Clever bear,” Apollo said. “We may just win this war yet.”

“There’s just one piece that I haven’t figured out, though,” Thomas replied.

“What’s that?” Susie asked.

“We can go and get our guys back, rescue Bernie, his Papa and the other three kids, but how the fuck are we supposed to kill five gods?”

“That would be the critical question,” Apollo replied, “Because until they’re dead, this war isn’t over.”