Dominant Species Ch. 59-60

Eric looked over at his twin, both had shifted to their wolves as they had already memorized the route they needed to take. The moon was moving in and out of the clouds, and they tried to time their movements to the darkness as they raced ahead of the others to their objective. Their senses were overwhelmed by what they were seeing on the way in; the smell of death was heavy in the air, it was clear that the dead were numerous and no attempt had been made to bury them. The neighborhoods were partially burned out, probably from people using fireplaces and campfires at a time when there was no power or water available. They raced through those areas as quickly as they could, then slowed again where people might be around. The Alphas had warned them that people might shoot at wolves as a reflex, not knowing they were here to help.

As they reached Bench Street, they were relieved to see that the neighborhood seemed to be intact. They took turns racing between housed until they arrived at a ranch style house number 1987. Lifting their noses, they searched around the outside and didn't sense or hear anything, so they went up on the front porch and shifted. Pulling on the clothes from their packs, they looked around the quiet neighborhood. There was plenty of decay in the air, but no indication of people.

They went to knock on the door before they realized the lock had been breached, it had been popped open with a crowbar and then reclosed. Derek reached into his bag and retrieved his Glock pistol, Eric following him as they stood on either side of the door. If anyone was inside, they weren't likely to be friendly. Eric mentally counted down from three and then Derek burst through the door, moving to the left as Eric crossed behind him and covered the right side.

The place had been ransacked, but not much had been taken. They moved through the house, seeing that the master bedroom jewelry case was on the floor and empty. Whoever it was who did this was looking for money and gold, as everything else was left even if it had been tossed on the floor. They cleared the rest of the bedrooms, completing their sweep of the main floor, then walked back to the kitchen where the door to the basement was.

Eric opened the door and stepped aside; the basement was very dark, only a few shafts of light came through from the escape windows. They waited a minute, using their wolf senses they sampled the air and listened, but nothing came through. Eric moved quietly down the stairs, sweeping the room with his pistol as he descended, and when he was sure the room was empty he called his brother down. They moved through the man cave, noting the bar had been emptied of some bottles while others were broken on the floor. The laundry room and storage areas were clear as well. Derek stood next to his brother, looking around in disappointment. If her family wasn't here, they were likely dead and neither of them wanted that answer.

"So what now?" Eric put his pistol in his pocket as they looked back through the basement. Derek didn't say anything, but then they heard a noise from behind them. They froze, focusing their senses on the concrete wall behind them as they held their breath. It was faint, but they could hear people breathing. Eric looked at his brother and pointed at the wall. They spread out, placing their ears on the wall they could hear the panicked pants of several people on the other side.

"Hey... something's wrong with these dimensions. See that window?" Derek pointed at the window during his mental communication. "That was a good twelve feet from the end of the house when we were outside, but here it's only two feet. This has to be a false wall."

They looked at the wall, most was blank except a large shelving unit on the side. Eric reached into his bag and pulled out the small flashlight, one that still worked and thus was worth its weight in gold. They looked at the edges and the floor. "Check this out," he sent. "You can see by the dust pattern on the floor that this unit opens up on this side. We need to find the latch." It took them a few minutes until they found it, then they could move the unit out of the way and see the vault-like door in front of them.

There was no quick way to get through this, Eric thought. "Maybe we just knock?" Derek nodded in agreement, so they used a wrench that was on the shelf to knock three times on the metal door. "Hello? We know you are in there. Silvia sent us to get you."

They could hear some whispering inside, then a man's voice yelled back at them. "Who are you?"

"I'm Eric Becker, along with my brother Derek. We're from North Fork, Idaho. Silvia and her family were attacked on the road, we've taken them in. She asked us to look for her parents and her brother, that's why we are here."

There was a pause. "Attacked? Are they all right? Why isn't David here to get us?"

Eric looked at his brother, the truth was always the best play. "David was killed when they were attacked and Silvia was assaulted. The trauma caused her to lose her baby." There were gasps from the other side of the door. "Zach and Michelle are fine, they are staying with their mom. It was too dangerous for them to come get you."

"So how are you here?"

"We came with a large group, the gangs that run this town are going to be dead by the end of the night. Too many people have been terrorized by them, it's time to bring peace to those who need it." He paused for a moment. "Are you Daniel and Ann Forrest, and your son Jacob?"

"Yes." There was a pause as they discussed things among themselves. "How do we know you are telling the truth?"

Derek looked at his brother, it wasn't like they had spent a lot of time with Silvia. Finally, he had an idea. "She showed me a photo of her family, taken at Michelle's baptism. Zach is holding on to her side, he looks like he'd rather be doing anything else."

There was a noise of bars moving and a few moments later the door opened. A man stood there, pistol in his hand, and looked at the two boys. "Zach hated sitting around, the boy just wanted to eat. He's always been that Jacob. Any friend of our daughter is welcome here."

They shook his hand and got a hug from Ann, but when they went to Jacob it was clear he was blind. "What happened with him?"

"When the power and communications went out, I thought it was an attack and I told everyone to get to our safe room here." He shined the flashlight around, the room was long and narrow, racks of guns lined one wall and there were bunks and food shelves along the other. "Jacob went to get his girlfriend, she wasn't home. By the time he was back to our house he could barely see, and his vision was gone by the time we got him down here. We've been hoping that it would get better, but no change so far."

"We can help that if you agree, my mate.. uh girlfriend was the same way and we were able to restore her vision." Derek looked at the three. "I can offer it to you, but you have to know a few things first. We are werewolves, and it is by biting him and turning him into a werewolf that we can start a regeneration of his eyes. He'll become like us in about three days."

Ann started to laugh. "Werewolves... just when I was starting to believe you! Get out of here, you..." She stopped as Eric pulled off his shirt and shorts and shifted into his large wolf.

"Like we said, werewolves." Derek looked at them as his brother sat at his side. "We've always been here, we're just a little better suited to living under these conditions than humans." Over the next few hours as they got to know the three, they explained everything about werewolves and what had happened with Silvia since the solar flare event.

It was getting late in the night when Jacob made the decision to take the bite; his parents wanted to wait until they talked to Silvia about it first. Derek did the honors, biting his forearm and starting the turn. They reported back to Donald what they had done and that they would be staying with the Forrests until the next night.

Since they now knew that the radiation danger was passed, they left the safe room open and hung blankets over the bedroom windows to keep the light out. Eric and Derek brought sleeping bags into Jacob's room so they could keep an eye on him, as the fevers might begin before the end of the day. Soon the house was quiet except for the light snores coming from Daniel.

Their sleep was interrupted about noon by Jacob, who was complaining about how the light was in his eyes. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking again; he could see in black and white! Looking around, he saw Eric and Derek sitting up and looking at him as he shouted to his parents that he could see again. They rushed into the room and embraced him as the twins smiled.