Donald's wolf was on alert as they slept, intent on protecting his mate that was snuggled in to his side where she belonged. As soon as the connecting door opened, his eyes opened and he saw Zach standing in the door. He could immediately smell his distress as his eyes took in the sweat spots on his T-shirt and his flushed appearance. "Come on in, Zach, Your mom is really tired right now, but I can help you."
Zach moved over and sat on the bed facing them. "I woke up, I'm all sweaty but I'm still shivering."
Donald carefully moved Silvia's arms and legs off him and tucked the pillow into her arms. He watched as she sniffed the pillow and pulled it closer, then dropped back into a deep sleep. He rolled off the bed and put his hand on Zach's forehead. He was burning up. "It's the fevers, Zach. The change is underway, you're going to become a werewolf."
Zach started to cry, and Donald sat by him and pulled him into his side. "I... I'm afraid. It looked like it hurt so much..." He closed his eyes, remembering the change that had come to Autumn.
"It does, but the pain goes away, and what you are left with is worth it," he said. "Look at Autumn now; she is happy with her wolf, she has sharp senses, she is stronger, and most importantly she is better suited to survive and thrive. Things are getting bad out there, Zach, and you changing will be a good thing. You will be able to protect your mom and your sister better as a wolf than as a human. That's important, I can't always be here for them." He picked him up, then pulled the comforter off the motel bed and pulled the thin sheet back. He set Zach down, covering him with the sheet, and put his hand on his shoulder. "You've seen what happens now; the fevers will get bad, but soon you will sleep and you'll miss most of them. We'll take care of you until then."
"I'm thirsty, Mr. Donald." Donald moved to the sink, taking a plastic glass he filled it with cold water and soaked a washcloth in it as well. He let Zach drink it down then, as he laid back, he placed the cold cloth on his forehead.
"Rest now, try to sleep. I'm going to check on the others." Donald knew that if Zach was changed, Abigail would be too. He quietly opened the door to the other room and moved to the bed where she was sleeping. Her forehead was burning hot and she had tossed her covers off. She didn't wake up as he picked her up in his arms and brought her back into the other room. He placed her on the other side of Zach, then went to get a cold cloth for her. There wasn't much else they could do, in about 24 hours they would both wake up. -- Duane Molback woke to the glare of the sun in his eye. He was going to roll back over and sleep, then his brain recalled that sunlight was bad and this meant something had happened. He sat up in the bed of grasses he was using to separate his body from the cold of the concrete tube they had taken refuge in; it was a drain pipe going underneath a roadway on the east foothills of the Bitteroot Mountains. Looking to the side, he saw that some of the branches they used to cover the south end of the pipe had fallen, probably due to the wind.
He looked back the other way, over the huddled forms of the women and children he had with him, and saw the north end was still good. Groaning a little as he rolled to his knees and stood up as best he could, he tried to focus on the floor as he walked to the light. The culvert pipe was only five feet in diameter, so his six foot two frame was hunched over. He held a hand over his eyes, his tanned fingers touching the gray that had started on his temples when he turned forty last year. He smiled as he recalled how his Alpha had teased him, telling him that he should use some Grecian formula so as not to scare away his mate when he saw her, since he was starting to look like a grandfather.
He made it to the end, and focused on moving the branches back to where they blocked sunlight again. This was their fourth day underground and there was no telling if and when it would be safe to be out in the light again. When he could finally look up and he verified all was ready, he turned and moved back to his makeshift bed. Laying on his back, he looked at the shadows in the diffuse light and thought about how he had gotten here.
That Saturday had been a normal day for the Wise River Pack in Montana. He was in his office, working on the training schedules and his other duties as the Gamma or Third in Command. He could see the pups playing in the yard out his office window when suddenly the lights went out and his radio stopped. The Pack bond was full of confused voices and reports until a patrol on their southern border reported he thought he smelled other wolves. The Alpha blasted through the link, declaring attack protocol and calling all warriors to go with him to the south.
In retrospect, it was the one false report that doomed most of his pack. As third in command, he was the Luna's guard and in charge of protecting the vulnerable of the Pack. Rushing to the basement, he opened the Pack safe room as the well-trained women and children lined up to get in. He stood guard outside until all were accounted for, then he locked himself in using the sliding iron bars. The thick steel doors and reinforced concrete of the safe room were designed to hold off attackers indefinitely.
He looked around, the room was full of the Pack's young and mothers of young children. Those women who were unmated, with no or with older children were outside the Pack house, forming a last line of defense. He reported all secure, followed by the Beta female's report that the house was secure, and listened to the Alpha's communications as they rushed south.
It wasn't long before they realized this wasn't something they were prepared for. In ten minutes, multiple wolves reported having problems seeing, and getting sunburns on exposed skin. By the time they all realized that being outside was deadly, their eyesight had failed and their bodies were literally cooking in the solar radiation that was pouring down on them. The Luna ordered the women to report to the safe room, but only half of them made it. Their wolf healing couldn't keep up with the damage, and over the next few hours all of them died.
The ones outside were lucky, their deaths were quicker and the pain was over sooner. The safe room was a madhouse, the mates feeling the pain and death of their men and wails filled the dim space. Many lost the will to live, and they begged to be let out to join them in death. It broke his heart to turn them down. Even the Luna had ordered Duane, and he refused her. He was still under orders to protect her, even against herself.
They didn't open the room until well after sundown. When we got outside, the scene they found was horrible. The Pack members who had died outside were red and bloated, their skin burned badly. The Pack cattle and livestock, all dead. When they listened, they heard nothing- no birds, no animals, just the wind through the trees and the wails of the women and children when they located their fathers and family members.
The Luna killed herself shortly after reaching her mate, and for the twenty-two remaining members of the Pack, it made for a lot of work. The warriors were gathered and burned together in a shallow ravine, while the rest were placed in the loft of the hay barn. Duane had chosen this as it was a ready-made pyre and without livestock would not be needed. Saying a few words, he tossed a lit torch into the hay and the remaining Pack watched as their family was sent home.
Duane ordered them back to the safe room before sunrise, not knowing what dangers the sun might bring. It was a wise decision. Looking around, he had six women left and he was the only adult male. The rest were children between six months and fourteen years. It wasn't much, he thought as he went to sleep.
