The Tribes, Chap 29

Jeff peered over the roof parapet and spoke softly to the others. “There’s five of them down there.”

“You say that like it’s a problem,” Cullen said, fingering the hand held three-pronged garden fork. He had spent countless hours sharpening and honing the three curved tines to razor sharpness. The garden tool made a formidable weapon capable of slicing through human flesh. “With our skills and abilities, we still have the edge over them.”

“They’ve stopped,” Kobe hissed. “Look, they’re waving their lights around and shouting.”

Cullen glanced around the street and didn’t see anything. He didn’t bother looking off into the distance. That was his first mistake. “They probably saw a pack of dogs or something,” he said sagely. “They’re probably just trying to scare them off.” He shifted his weight in anticipation. “C’mon, let’s take them now.”

Without a word, Kobe slunk off towards the fire escape to make his way to street level while Jeff headed straight to the roof entrance to the building. Cullen decided to make a more dramatic entrance by going down the drainpipe. He had lost track of the number of times he had practiced going down drainpipes during training. It was one of the maneuvers that he was best at doing. In The City, that maneuver turned out to be his second mistake.

Even before The Virus, the owner of the building had ignored keeping it in perfect maintenance. Cullen had made it about two-thirds of the way down the drainpipe when one of the brackets pulled out from the wall with a loud grinding noise. The prey below him turned and shone their lights towards him. In seconds the cones of light converged to spotlight him clinging to the side of the building. Cullen realized that he didn’t have any choice – he had to regain the initiative and take the attack to his prey. He gave a savage snarl, tightened his grip on the drainpipe and tensing his leg muscles, pushed hard against the side of the building.

The drainpipe groaned and under Cullen’s weight fell away from the side of the building. Cullen gripped the pipe tightly and let the pipe carry him towards the street. He flexed his leg muscles in anticipation of hitting the ground and was ready to tuck and roll if needed. Cullen didn’t hit the street – instead, he landed on the roof of a car. The car’s roof absorbed much of the energy of Cullen’s landing. Glass exploded outward in all directions as the roof collapsed under Cullen’s weight. Howling, Cullen leapt off the car and pulled at the garden fork that was tucked into his belt at about the same time that Jeff came charging out of the building, waving a long bladed Bowie knife.

The Shiprat exploration party knew that High Street was a straight shot to the highway overpass and couldn’t help waving their lights as a signal to Ryan. They weren’t sure that he’d be able to see them, but it still made them feel good to signal as they cheered. Suddenly a rasping noise came from behind them. Turning, the Shiprats played their lights over the side of the building. The source of the noise quickly became apparent when their lights converged on a black-clad figure clinging to a drainpipe. The stranger’s face and head were blacked out with greasepaint. The figure snarled and, with a powerful thrust of his legs, pushed away from the building.

As Peter watched the figure fall, he did two things. First, he assumed that the stranger was one of the Werewolves that they’d been warned about; and second, he reached into the canvas butt pack he wore strapped to his side to pull out one of the parachute signal flares. He had just pulled the flare from his pack when a second attacker appeared screaming in the doorway of the building behind them. Peter forced himself to ignore the danger as he pulled the flare activator and held it high above his head as the flare fired and shot upwards, leaving a sparkling red trail. Before he could do anything else, the attacker from the building was on top of him, growling and snarling like an animal and Peter felt a burning pain from his groin to just below his rib cage. And then the attacker was gone, moving on past him to slash at Jordan’s throat. Peter watched as Jordan’s mouth opened to cry out a warning – at first nothing came out and then blood fountained from Jordan’s mouth seconds before he fell to his face on the sidewalk.

For a second, Peter thought that he had peed in his pants when he felt the hot liquid running down his legs. Looking down, Peter realized what that burning pain had been – his attacker had cut him from his lower belly to his ribs. Already his intestines were beginning to protrude through the rip in his shirt. Peter’s mouth felt suddenly dry – like it was full of cotton – and he felt light-headed. He knew that what time that he had was running out rapidly. He felt like a heavy, wet woolen blanket was being wrapped around his brain, slowly smothering conscious thought. As he turned to look for his attacker, Peter saw a third Werewolf appear from the alley.

Another attacker meant danger; his mind reminded him sluggishly.

“D-danger,” Peter’s lips moved, mouthing the word his mind had just said.

Danger means that it’s time to fire a flare, his mind reminded him.

Peter’s fingers felt thick as he fumbled in his pack for another flare. He staggered backwards until the wall of the building supported his back as he tried to pull the activator while pointing the flare at the Werewolf. His thick, sluggish fingers finally worked the activator and Peter watched as the flare shot straight for the third Werewolf who was struggling with Brandon and struck him squarely in the ass.

“Cool,” Peter tried to shout, but it came out only as a hoarse whisper. “Gave you a rocket enema – how’d you like that, you asshole?”

Peter’s legs finally collapsed under his weight and he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the sidewalk with his legs splayed out in front of him, his head lolling on his chest. He tried to lift his head and failed. He farted, slumped to his left and died.

*****

Jack grabbed at his heavy canvas equipment bag, slung it over his neck, and took off running for the ramp down to high street. He heard Ryan shout something from behind him, but ignored the farm boy. Jack hadn’t managed to get thirty feet before Ryan grabbed him and shook him.

“Get into the ambulance!”

“The street’s blocked,” Jack screamed. “We’re wasting time.”

“Right, right, right,” Ryan screamed back. “The STREET is blocked. But, the sidewalk isn’t totally blocked. We can drive on the sidewalk and save some time,” he dragged Jack back to the heavy-duty vehicle and shoved him into the front seat and raced around to the driver’s side. “Hell, who knows – maybe we can even plow through some of the obstructions if they’re not too big.”

Ryan gunned the engine and killed the flashing lights as he turned the ambulance onto the ramp and pressed his foot down to the floor. Jack grew suddenly calm as his reason took over and sublimated his emotional side. He reached up for the radio microphone and radioed the ship; quickly outlining the little he and Ryan knew and asking to have the hospital stand by for more information as it became available.

Ryan kept his foot on the accelerator pedal as the heavy vehicle barreled down the sidewalk. Long abandoned newspaper boxes were smashed to bits as the ambulance sent them flying. Trashcans fared little better – the ambulance either sent them sailing or rumbled right over them. Glancing over to see how Jack was faring, Ryan was shocked to see the diminutive genius calmly fitting a crossbow together.

“Jeez, what the hell do you think you’re gonna do with that?”

“Take out a Werewolf,” Jack said calmly as he placed the butt of the fiberglass stock against his abdomen, reached out to grasp the bowstring and flexing his arms, jerked it smoothly back until it locked in place.

“Are you any good with that thing?”

“You get me close enough to see a target and I’ll do the rest,” Jack promised as he strapped a quiver of bolts to his thigh.

Ryan remained quiet for a while thinking about how much that he didn’t know about Jack. Ahead of the ambulance a small VW Beetle was slued across the sidewalk. Instinctively, Ryan began to ease his foot from the accelerator pedal. Then, he slammed his foot down, pressing the pedal to the floor. “Buckle up, or hang on,” Ryan said through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna plow this thing through or over that fucking car.”

The heavy ambulance picked up speed as it raced towards the VW. Instinctively, Ryan let out a loud, piercing rebel yell just moments before the ambulance struck the small German car. The heavy-duty bumper of the ambulance struck the VW and sent it tumbling down the sidewalk only to strike the overturned VW again moments later and push the remains of the little car to one side. Minutes later, the ambulance spotlights picked out the melee between their friends and the Werewolves.

*****

When Jeff burst from the building he instinctively knew that somehow the element of surprise for their attack had been lost. Snarling savagely he pulled his heavy Bowie knife and charged the person closest to him, the knife held low. As he started moving towards his prey there was a WHOOSH and a flare sailed high into the air. Jeff ignored the flare and jabbed the large knife into his prey’s groin, cutting edge up. He pulled his shoulder up as he twisted his torso away from his prey – that’s all it took to bring the big knife easily through the prey’s belly.

Jeff pushed his first victim away and moved on, thrusting the knife straight ahead of him at a tall, friendly looking teen. Jeff kept the broad side of the knife blade parallel to the ground and watched as it entered just below his new victim’s Adam’s apple. Instead of simply withdrawing the blade, Jeff jerked it to the right, cutting through the side of his prey’s throat.

Like Jeff, Kobe could tell that the attack had suffered a slight hitch, but it appeared that things still going their way. On the edge of his field of vision, Kobe saw Jeff literally disembowel one victim and cut the throat of another with his big Bowie knife. Kobe preferred using a long filleting knife and he already had it in his hand as he charged a large, powerfully built jock. As Kobe drew closer, he almost faltered when he saw his prey’s face. Much of the lower lip was missing, leaving the bottom teeth exposed. Deep scars ran across his prey’s face and one eye was milky white.

As Kobe thrust his filleting knife at the dead eye of his prey, two unexpected things happened. The scarred prey’s hands moved faster than Kobe believed possible and took hold of Kobe’s arm in a vise-like grip and easily held the knife away from his face. The scarred prey gave Kobe a savage grin that made the Werewolf’s blood run cold. Kobe felt his arm break before he heard the grinding snap of the bones. And then, before a grunt of pain could reach his lips, fire seemed to envelop Kobe’s whole ass. His legs went numb, but the burning only increased – it felt as if something was actually burning its way through his body. He dropped to the ground in agony, too weak to crawl away, but not weak enough to escape the horrible pain by falling unconscious.

Cullen didn’t waste precious time cursing his bad luck – the element of surprise may have been lost, but he and his team had quickly retaken the initiative. Leaping down from the roof of the car, Cullen brought the modified garden fork down savagely, digging it deep into the thigh of a tall, chestnut haired young man. The Werewolf jerked the weapon back as he aimed a kick at the prey’s chest that sent his victim sprawling in the street, blood pumping from his torn leg.

Cullen pivoted and brought his three tined weapon slashing across the midsection of his next victim – a young man with floppy, caramel colored hair. The tines dug deeply into his new victim’s belly, leaving three wide gashes in their wake. Cullen raised his weapon for another blow when he was grabbed from behind. He wrestled himself free and found that the first victim had regained his feet.

On the ground Bray cried out in pain as he pulled the handkerchief from around his neck and packed it against the injury to his thigh. He gasped in agony as he pulled his belt from around his waist and wrapped it around his thigh to keep the handkerchief in place. Taking several deep breaths, he gathered his strength and pulled himself to his feet. Looking around, Bray saw that the Werewolf who had attacked him was now going after Sasha.

Staggering forward, Bray grabbed the Werewolf and literally lifted him off his feet preventing a second attack on Sasha. The Werewolf wriggled and writhed like an eel and finally managed to break free from Bray’s grasp.

Cullen couldn’t believe that his first victim still had fight left in him. Breaking free from his opponent’s grasp, Cullen swung his weapon wildly and managed to catch his opponent in the side. He pulled the weapon back for another blow when he felt as if a mule had kicked him in twice – once in the wrist and once in the chest. His hand went numb and his weapon dropped from lifeless fingers. Curiously, Cullen looked at his wrist and found what looked like a lead ball embedded in it. Looking down, Cullen found the shaft of a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. He looked up in wonder at the small bowman with the orange-red hair and mouthed the name ‘Jack” before falling lifelessly on his face.

*****

When the ambulance stopped, Ryan grabbed the slingshot and bag of shot and leapt from the vehicle. He watched as Jack scrambled onto the top of a car scanning the melee for an appropriate target. Several Shiprats were on the ground; neither Jack nor Ryan could tell how badly they were hurt. Brandon seemed to be holding his own grappling with one Werewolf. Another Werewolf lay face down on the ground, smoke and a reddish glow rising from him. Turning, he saw a third Werewolf facing off against Bray. The Werewolf raised a three-bladed weapon that seemed stained darkly and dripping with blood. Instinctively, Ryan fitted a lead ball into the slingshot’s pouch, pulled the pouch back at the same time that he extended his arm, aimed and let the ball fly.

From the top of the car, Jack aimed the crossbow at the Werewolf who had clearly just finished attacking Sasha and who was now attacking Bray. He lined the weapon up even with the Werewolf’s heart and pulled the trigger watching with satisfaction as the bolt flew straight and true.

Jack quickly jerked the bowstring back and reloaded automatically as he turned to look for another target, while bringing the weapon to his shoulder. He hesitated and lowered the crossbow when he saw that Brandon and Ryan were occupied in taking turns punching the last Werewolf. He returned the bolt to his quiver before jumping down to the ground.

On the ground, Jack helped Bray down to a sitting position on the sidewalk and tried to examine his lover’s injuries. He looked up to where Ryan was still beating on the last Werewolf.

“Ryan, stop fooling around with that jerk and get the first aid kit from the ambulance!” Jack called. He turned his attention to Bray. “Just take it easy, we’ll have you taken care of in just a few minutes.”

“Go – go check Sasha,” Bray grunted through gritted teeth. “I think he’s hurt a lot worse than me.”

Jack looked over his shoulder to where Sasha was sitting on the curb. There was something about the slackness of Sasha’s posture that frightened Jack. He quickly promised Bray that he’d be right back and dashed over to his friend.

“Jack!” Sasha said in surprise. “I didn’t expect to find you here.” He groaned and slumped to one side. Jack caught him and eased him to the ground.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jack soothed as he began ripping at Sasha’s tattered shit. Blood poured steadily from three large gashes in the puppeteer’s abdomen. “Oh, dear God.”

Ryan dropped to one knee at Jack’s side and opened the large kit. His usually cheerful face was pale and drawn when he saw the wounds Sasha had suffered. Jack grabbed several surgical sponges and began tearing the packages open and stuffing them into the wounds to staunch the blood flow. Jack looked guiltily up at Ryan, who understood immediately and nodded.

“Do me a favor and see to Bray and the others, Ryan,” Jack asked. “I’ll be along as soon as I can.” He turned his attention to Sasha. “I’ll have an IV line up and running in just a few moments…”

Brandon limped up to where Ryan was pressing surgical sponges against the wounds in Bray’s thigh. The sponges quickly became blood soaked. He pulled his own belt off and fashioned it into a tourniquet.

“How … how … how are Sasha and the others?” Bray asked, his voice weak.

Ryan forced a smile to his broad face. “Sasha’s being taken care of by Jack. He’s going to be okay Bray,” Ryan lied.

“An – and Peter and Jordan?”

“They’re okay,” Brandon said moving into Bray’s line of vision and at the same time blocking his view of Sasha and Jack. “I swear they’re not in immediate need of Jack’s attention.”

Ryan craned his neck and looked over in Jack’s direction. Jack was bowed over the minstrel, his shoulders heaving. Ryan thought that he could hear a soft sobbing coming from that direction. He asked Brandon to watch over Bray and went over and knelt beside Jack. He looked down at Sasha. The minstrel’s eyes were half closed and his face was peaceful, almost as if he was asleep.

Ryan put his big hand gently on Jack’s shoulder. “Oh man, I’m so sorry…”

“He’s not dead,” Jack said, wiping away his tears. “Not yet,” he choked back another sob. “Um, I need to get an IV line running right now and some more sponges to try to stem the bleeding. As soon as I get the IV running I need to check on the others.”

“Peter and Jordan are gone, Jack,” Ryan said. “Brandon has a couple of small cuts, but I think that Bray’s in pretty bad shape. I’m having a hard time stopping the bleeding in his leg.”

Jack took a deep breath, closed his eyes and remained quiet for a few moments. Finally, he nodded his head. “Okay – you’re right,” Jack said softly. “First thing is to radio back to the ship – they’ll get the operating room set up and we’ll take it from there.” He ran trembling fingers through his hair as he tried to get his mind clear. “Okay, okay … there are some pressure splints in the back of the ambulance. Get one on Bray and inflate that sucker as high as you can … that should control the bleeding for a while … I’ll get an IV line running on him after I take care of Sasha. Then, we radio the ship … have Amber, Heather, and Tai San get the operating rooms ready to receive patients as soon as we arrive. Have Lars bring the other ambulance to the overpass with Dal and Selene.”

Ryan cleared his throat nervously. “I um, I hate to say this right now … but two of those Werewolves are still alive and they both need some medical attention.”

“How bad are off are they?”

“Well, the one me and Brandon worked over will live okay … at least I think he will,” Ryan said. “But, I think the other guy is really in bad shape. It looks like he was burned really bad.”

Jack closed his eyes and went silent for several long moments. “I’ll get Sasha’s IV going and then take a look at that bastard if you’ll get the pressure splint on Bray,” he finally said.

Once he had Sasha’s IV going, Jack reluctantly made his way over to the burned Werewolf. The attacker was barely conscious, moaning constantly in pain. As Jack gingerly pulled at the charred clothing, the Werewolf let out several pitiful screams. When Ryan had said burned, Jack hadn’t realized just how badly the attacker was injured. Besides serious third degree burns to large portions of his back, buttocks, and thighs, the Werewolf actually had deep holes burned into his body – mostly into the tissues of his buttocks.

“Got that pressure splint on Bray,” Ryan informed Jack as he knelt beside him. “How’s this one?”

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jack said.

“Brandon said that Peter shot this guy in the ass with a flare.”

“That would explain the deep destruction of tissue,” Jack said. “He’s in pretty bad shape – I don’t know what we can do for him right off hand.” He looked around and then pointed to one of the exploration team’s emergency packs. “Get a couple of the morphine auto injectors from that pack. Give him two injections – just jab him in the thigh.” He sighed. “That should ease his pain a little. It’s probably more than he deserves.” He looked coldly down at the Werewolf. “There’s not going to be a lot we can do for him except try to keep his pain down and watch out for infection, anyway.”

“Holy shit!” Ryan stopped short as he and Jack approached the ambulance. Neither had bothered looking at it when they jumped out. One headlight was missing entirely, the grill was bent, and the heavy-duty front bumper was twisted and almost torn off of the vehicle. The fenders were dented almost beyond recognition and had wide gashes in places.

“It’s still running,” Jack said in amazement.

“Yeah, well I never bothered turning off the engine,” Ryan said. “I have to be honest, I don’t know that it will get us all the way back to the ship.” He wandered completely around the battered ambulance. “At least all four tires are still inflated.”

“Okay, okay – we’ll have the other ambulance meet us at the overpass,” Jack said. “This bus should carry us at least that far.” He turned around and looked over to where Brandon had secured the two prisoners. “And we’ll need transportation for those two to meet us at the overpass,” Jack said. “Can you get this thing turned around?”

Ryan examined the street around them. “I think so … if I back up a few dozen yards I should be able to get turned around and have us headed back to the onramp. Once I’m facing the right way, I can just back up here.”

“Great … after I get the message to the ship, do that,” Jack said. “Then, we’ll get Bray and Sasha on the stretchers.” He looked back to the bodies of their companions.

“Don’t worry about them, Jack,” Ryan said softly. “I’ll make sure there’s a vehicle to come get them. We won’t leave them out here all night alone. But, you have to think about Bray and Sasha first.”

“Right … you’re right.”

*****

Dal stared in shock at the radio equipment. He had just finished talking with Jack and Ryan and still couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He knew that the news had to be bad when Jack insisted that no one else could be in the Radio Room – be he didn’t imagine that it would be that bad. He jotted some notes – a few reminders for himself and a message to be sent to The Farm Tribe warning them of the possibility of danger. Then, he pushed away from the desk and turned the radio back over to Kip and headed straight to the Dining Room where the others were waiting.

Entering the Dining Room, all eyes turned towards him. Dal ignored everyone as he headed straight for the large coffee urn and filled a mug. He took his time adding sugar and milk, feeling like a coward for stalling as long as he could. Finally, he turned and faced his Tribe mates.

“It’s bad,” Dal said, his breathing coming in gasps. “It’s as bad as our worst nightmares and then some.”

“What’s happened?” Heather asked.

“Some of our people are dead,” Dal blurted out. The room went silent as tears filled all eyes. Everyone waited for Dal to continue. “Peter and Jordan are dead,” he continued, fighting to control the tremor in his voice. “Bray and Sasha are in real bad shape – Jack said that they’re both critical.”

Heather’s hands flew to her mouth to stifle the sob that escaped her lips.

Dal turned to Lars. “I’m going to need you to drive the other ambulance. Selene, you and I will go along to help with … to help Jack. We’ll need two other vehicles…”

“Two – what for?” Amber asked.

“Evidently there are a couple of prisoners – they’re hurt,” Dal explained. “And another one … another one to bring Peter and Jordan home.” The room went silent again. “Amber, Heather … I’m going to need you two to get the hospital prepared to receive our patients. Jack said that we’d need both operating rooms ready to go.”

“I can get Tina to help me set things up down in the hospital,” Heather said. “That way, Amber could go with you if she wants – she can drive.”

“I’d like that,” Amber said.

“Cool – that will work,” Dal said. “Can you take one of the pickup trucks?”

“Sure I can, and don’t forget that Tina is a farm girl,” Amber pointed out. “She came from the same farm country as Ryan.”

Everyone had some helpful suggestions to offer and it wasn’t long before everything seemed to be organized. Paul came down from the Radio Room with a message from Luke out at the farm in response to the warning and news of the attack on Shiprats that Dal had sent them. He had increased security for his Tribe and also sent word along to the Eco Tribe.

A little over thirty minutes later the small convoy of vehicles from the ship approached the High Street Overpass. Up ahead they could see the flashing red and white lights from the box ambulance. Lars drove well past the first ambulance and turned around before parking the hearse body ambulance right behind the first one. Climbing out of the ambulance, Dal caught sight of two bodies wrapped tightly in sheets. Bloodstains marred the snowy whiteness of the sheets. Dal stopped and stared – his throat suddenly very tight. Ryan appeared by his side.

“Are … are those…”

“Yeah, that’s Peter and Jordan,” Ryan said softly. “I stashed the prisoners over on the other side of the bus. Brandon’s watching over them. One can walk okay, the other will need a stretcher.”

Dal nodded absently. “Yeah, yeah – we brought an extra folding stretcher along.”

Ryan gave a jerk of his head in the direction of the ambulance. “He’s waiting for you.”

Inside the ambulance, Dal found Jack hanging another IV bag from the stand over Sasha. Glancing up, Jack tilted his head down at the minstrel and silently pulled back the sheet covering him. Dal gulped at the sight of the bloodstained surgical towels that Jack had been using to try to apply pressure to Sasha’s injuries. Jack replaced the sheet and motioned for Dal to join him outside.

“I’d like you to transfer Bray over to your ambulance,” Jack said. “The less Sasha is jostled around, the better off he is.”

“Sure,” Dal agreed. “I make sure that Sasha stays quiet…”

“No,” Jack shook his head. “I’ll ride with Sasha. You ride with Bray – he’ll be good hands with you.”

“I – I just thought you’d want to look after Bray,” Dal said.

“I do,” Jack admitted. “But, I keep getting too emotional looking after him. I’m afraid I might miss something. He’s better off in your hands.”

Before Dal could argue, Jack took him over to see the prisoners. One had a face that was battered to the point of barely being recognizable as human. Both of the Werewolf’s eyes were swollen closed, his nose seemed to spread over half of his face, and his mouth was a parody of a mouth. He’d been thoroughly worked over. Looking at the wounds on the other, Dal put his hand to his mouth at the sight of the holes burned into the Werewolf’s buttocks.

“Wh – what did that?”

“Peter fired a flare at him,” Jack said. “These two can ride in the back of the pickup. We’ll take care of them back at the ship once we see to the others.”

*****

Ryan stared through the windshield in amazement as he eased the battered ambulance just past the gangway. He wanted to leave enough room for the other ambulance to have room at dockside. Killing the engine, Ryan looked around again and shook his head in wonder. Not only had the entire Shiprat Tribe shown up, but most of the vendors were also lined up in hushed silence. Ryan slid from behind the wheel and hurried around to the back to help get the stretcher out. He no sooner got the back doors open when several of the vendors hurried forward offering to help carry the gurney from the back of the ambulance. Looking back to the other vehicle, Ryan saw that the same scene was being reenacted back there with Bray’s stretcher.

As Ryan opened the back doors, Keith pushed through the crowd begging to be allowed to see Sasha. Ryan hesitated, but Jack motioned for him to let the puppeteer into the ambulance. As Keith tearfully took Sasha's hand, Jack moved back to give him a little room.

“You can save him, right? You can make him better,” Keith asked, turning his tear-streaked face to Jack.

“All I can promise is that I’ll do my best,” Jack said softly. “He’s hurt bad – real bad. I can’t lie to you about that.” He squeezed past Keith and pounded on the back door before turning and laying a gentle hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We’ve got to take Sasha up to the hospital now.”

“I wanna come with him!”

“Sure – you can come as far as the waiting room and then you have to let us do our jobs,” Jack said.

As soon as the gurneys reached the ship’s hospital, Selene took charge of the patients and oversaw the preparation of each of them for surgery. Jack and Dal slipped off to the scrub area, changed their clothes and began the process of scrubbing up.

“Are we going to start with Bray?” Dal asked lathering his forearms to his elbows.

“You’re taking Bray in OR 1 and I’m taking Sasha to OR 2,” Jack said.

“What? You’re kidding,” Dal exclaimed.

“Look you knocked a hole in my head and saved my life,” Jack pointed out. “You’ve been practicing suturing those pig blood vessels together, haven’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Okay – Bray’s got a thigh wound that’s bleeding like hell,” Jack said. “You’ve got to dissect the injury and repair the damaged blood vessel.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Dal said.

“Well, we both know that it’s not simple,” Jack admitted. “But, it doesn’t have to be more difficult than it really is, either.” He paused in his scrubbing and looked hard at Dal. His eyes were shining and moist. “Look, we’ve got to be honest – we don’t have the luxury of working to save one of them at a time.” Jack took a deep breath and shuddered. “I don’t even know if we can save either of them … but we’re damn well going to try.”

Heather entered the room. “Jack, we’ve got five units of blood left from the other day,” she said. “How do you want that divided? I mean – they’ve both lost a lot of blood.”

Jack looked across the room to Heather and then to Dal. He licked his lips and finally spoke; “One unit to Bray and the other four go to Sasha.”

“Wait, Heather! Get Tai San to see if there are others who are Type O positive,” Dal said quickly. “Let’s see if we can get as much blood as possible.” After Heather left, Dal turned to Jack. “Are you sure you want to give Bray only one unit?”

Jack’s face was wan and washed out as he nodded. “Yeah, Sasha needs the blood more,” Jack said in a weak voice. He rinsed his hands and shook them vigorously. “Let’s get moving.” He paused at the door to the second operating room. “Good luck.”

In OR 1, Dal had Amber remove the pressure dressing on Bray’s thigh. A stream of blood shot from the stab wound splashing across Dal’s scrub shirt. Amber quickly replaced the dressing and looked questioningly at Dal.

“It’s pretty clear that the femoral artery is damaged,” Dal said, thinking furiously about what he should do. He finally made his decision as he asked for a clamp and went to work.

In the other operating room, Jack studied the computer screen as he waited for Sasha to receive two units of blood before starting to work on him. Selene constantly monitored Sasha’s vital signs and was happy when she noticed the minstrel’s blood pressure and pulse getting slightly stronger. When Jack finally stood over Sasha, he fought the urge to run from the room. Sasha’s injuries were extensive externally and internally. Taking a deep breath, Jack held out his hand and asked for the first instrument.

*****

The operations had been underway for about an hour when Kip wormed through the crowd packed into the waiting area and made his way to Tai San. “Um, Brandon’s just come back with … ah, uh … with Peter and Jordan.”

Tai San nodded. She’d been waiting for the arrival of the pickup truck. “There are two gurneys out in the hall,” she said taking Kip out into the corridor where Jesse was waiting between two rolling tables. “Jesse will go with you and show you where to bring our friends when you come back.” She turned to the acrobat. “Remember what where I told you to go?”

Jesse nodded and tapped his forehead. “Don’t worry, I’ve got the route stored right up here,” he promised. “I’ll make sure everything’s done quietly.” He pointed to a shelf under one of the tables. “The other one can be put down there and brought aboard at the same time.” He hesitated uncertainly. “Um, are you sure you want that one brought aboard?”

Tai San nodded emphatically. “We can’t leave his body in the back of the truck, it wouldn’t be long before the crowd turned into a mob and did horrible things to it. That wouldn’t be right.”

Jesse shrugged and nodded. “Okay, I guess you’re right.”

*****

Prometheus crouched in a dark corner of the room and watched patiently as several of the other Werewolves paced back and forth in the room waiting for the return of Cullen and his team. They were already several hours overdue and there still wasn’t any sign of them. Prometheus flicked his eyes towards the window and studied the night sky. The color of the sky had already changed from black velvet to deep purple. In another hour or so, the first streaks of pink and then gold would announce the dawn.

“Call the sentries in,” Prometheus commanded as he smoothly rose from his crouching position. He waited, exuding calm, until the two sentries returned from their stations. “I don’t know what’s happened to Cullen and his pups – it’s possible that they’re just running late. It’s possible that they’re lost…”

“Maybe they got captured,” Tyler said ominously.

Prometheus shook his head. “No, that’s not possible,” he said confidently. “They’d fight to the death – just like any one of you would. But, whatever the reason for them not showing up yet … we’re moving to the next lair.” He looked around. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to gather everything up and be prepared to move out. Let’s get moving!”

*****

Dal was feeling satisfied with himself as he sat by Bray’s side in the recovery area. He had been forced to cut into Bray’s thigh in order to reach the femoral artery. Reaching the artery, Dal was almost overjoyed to discover that the artery had only been nicked and not totally severed as he had feared. The nick was serious and even life threatening, but it wasn’t nearly as complicated to repair. Dal managed to successfully repair the blood vessel. After placing several sutures in the artery, Dal had stared intently at it for nearly two minutes waiting for the faintest sign of leakage.

There wasn’t any. The sutures held.

Dal exhaled in relief and realized that he had been holding his breath as he had stared down at his repair work. He glanced over at the monitors and didn’t like what he saw – Bray’s vital signs were weak. Amber reminded him that Bray had lost a lot of blood and that he should expect Bray’s vitals to be on the low side. With Amber’s help, he had closed the incision and the original injury and then moved Bray out to the recovery area.

Now with the surgery over, Dal took a few minutes to take the weight off his feet and monitor Bray’s vitals – deep down he hoped that they would suddenly rise into the normal ranges. Hell, Dal thought, he’d be happy to see the life signs rise into the low normal ranges. But, that wasn’t happening yet and Dal knew that he’d have to be satisfied that the signs were holding steady. He patted Bray’s hand and left the room to scrub up.

Freshly scrubbed, gowned, and gloved, Dal took his place opposite from Jack and listened intently as Jack described the extent of the massive injuries. Jack had already removed Sasha’s spleen and repaired a rip in Sasha’s liver. The sutures there were holding and the blood loss had been significantly reduced, but there was still a lot of work to be done and they were almost out of blood. Heather had managed to get four more pints donated, but Sasha was losing it almost as fast as they could put it in him.

“Can’t we reuse the blood that he’s losing?” Dal asked.

“We’re doing that,” Selene said. “But it’s still not enough and there’s so much damage.”

“Then tell me where to pitch in,” Dal said leaning over the table.

*****

Zoot strode down the hospital corridor, followed by two of his guards who were carrying a third Loco. Reaching the waiting area, Zoot found that he actually had to push through the crowd gathered there. Of course, once the people in the crowd saw who was bulling through, they moved without protest. Reaching the desk, he found some Asian girl there.

“Where’s Sally or Sal, or Cel … whatever her name is – the one who was here the other day,” Zoot demanded. “I need her to get Jack or the other one down here right now.”

“I’m afraid that that’s not possible,” Tai San said calmly. “Both Jack and Dal are occupied in surgery at the moment, Selene is assisting them.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Zoot demanded. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“My name is Tai San and you are Zoot – leader of the Loco Tribe.” Tai San smiled gently. “Neither of which changes the present facts that Jack, Dal, and Selene are unavailable at this time. You clearly have an emergency – please follow me and we’ll see what can be done.”

Tai San serenely turned and glided to the treatment room totally unimpressed with Zoot’s implied threats. With a jerk of his arm, Zoot indicated that his guards should follow him to where Tai San waited. Reaching the treatment room, Tai San indicated that they should place their Tribe mate on the exam table. She moved to remove the blanket in which the Loco was wrapped.

“Yo, what do you think you’re doing?” Zoot demanded grabbing Tai San’s wrist.

Tai San placed her hand over Zoot’s and instinctively found several pressure points. Smiling, she pressed against the points just enough to cause the Loco leader pain, but not hard enough to bring him to his knees. She only wanted to let him know that she didn’t appreciate having him lay his hands on her without her permission, not humiliate him in front of his Tribe mates.

“I am a healer,” Tai San said calmly.

Zoot studied the Asian girl standing so placidly before him and snorted. “A healer? Like herbs and incense and that crap?”

“As in natural remedies,” Tai San replied calmly gracing the Loco on the table a reassuring smile when he moaned in pain. “Whether you believe in it or not is irrelevant – I am familiar with human anatomy and traditional first aid. The sooner I examine your friend, the sooner I can find someone to treat his injuries.”

Zoot stepped back. “Okay – do your stuff.”

“What’s his name?”

“Spike … his name’s Spike,” Zoot said. He almost smiled when Tai San pulled the blanket back and discovered that Spike was naked. But, Tai San’s placid expression didn’t change at all – not even when she saw that Spike’s scrotum was swollen to the size of a melon and almost colored an unhealthy blackish-green color.

Tai San looked up and past Zoot. “See if you can find Amber, Lars.”

Zoot’s jaw almost dropped when he turned and found a tall, shaven-headed guy in martial arts gear standing silently in the doorway behind him. Zoot hadn’t heard even the faintest of sounds and had no idea how long Lars had been standing there. Zoot watched as Lars pressed the palms of his hands together and gave a slight bow in his direction and another to Tai San. Straightening, Lars moved away as silently as he had moved into place.

“He’s quiet, that one.”

“Lars just didn’t want to be intrusive,” Tai San said as she continued to examine Spike. “Your friend has a broken arm in addition to his other injuries. Was this another Werewolf attack?”

“Yeah – and there’re two others who were killed outright,” Zoot said angrily.

“That seems to be their pattern,” Tai San observed. “Attack several and deliberately leave one alive to spread the word of how invincible they are.”

Before Zoot could reply Amber hurried into the room. Tai San quickly told her about the injuries she had already discovered on Spike’s body. Amber continued the examination, quickly confirming Tai San’s observations. “OR 1 is open,” Amber said. “We’ll take him in there – let’s get some cold compresses on his arm to reduce the swelling.”

“You gonna nut him?” Zoot asked.

“Castrate him, you mean?” Amber asked. She looked pointedly at Spike’s grotesquely swollen scrotum. “Would you want that between your legs?”

Jack stared numbly down at Sasha. He couldn’t believe that his friend was gone. He and Dal had worked feverishly to hunt down and repair all of the damage the Werewolf had done. They had reached a point where they almost had the blood loss under control when Selene announced that Sasha’s heart had stopped. After fifteen minutes of frantic attempts to bring Sasha back, Dal forced Jack to stop his attempts at resuscitation. Jack nodded – he had known that and just couldn’t bring himself to be the first to admit it. Silently, Jack removed the IV needles and monitor leads from his friend. Then, he asked Selene to bring him suture kits and asked the other two to leave the room. He began closing the wounds and incisions.

“How many time did I tell you to wear some kind of chest and belly protector? Huh? But, you never listened. You should have listened,” Jack said softly as if Sasha could still hear the words.

Finished with his suturing, Jack got a basin of warm water and several cloths and went to work cleaning Sasha’s body. “You don’t want Keith seeing you all dirty and bloody,” Jack whispered. “We’re all going to miss you, you know – but I can’t begin to imagine how hard it’s going to be on Keith.” Jack gently washed his friend’s face. “I know how I’d feel if it was Bray.” He leaned down and whispered in Sasha’s ear. “I’ll make sure Keith isn’t left alone, Sasha. I promise – someone will be there to watch over him as long as he needs it.” Jack dried Sasha’s face and finger combed his soft, honey-colored hair and covered him with clean, crisp sheets before going to get Keith.

Selene had taken the ashen-faced Keith to a small exam room to wait for news of Sasha. When the door opened and Jack stepped into the room, Selene noticed that he had changed into clean scrubs. She didn’t need Jack’s genius to know that Jack didn’t want to show up in front of Keith in scrubs splattered and stained with Sasha’s blood.

Keith looked hopefully up at Jack. “When can I see Sasha?”

“I’ll take you to him in a little bit,” Jack said softly. He looked around the room as if trying to find something else to talk about. “Sasha’s injuries were extensive,” Jack said, fighting to keep his voice under control. “He lost a lot of blood and we replaced it as quickly as we could.”

“So, he’s going to be weak and take a long time to heal?” Keith asked hopefully.

Jack took Keith’s hand in both of his own. “No … Keith, we did everything we could … but it wasn’t enough,” Jack said slowly. “Sasha died on the table.”

Keith reeled from the words as if he’d been physically slapped. Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. He swallowed hard several times, blinking owlishly as he looked numbly around the room. Keith opened and closed his mouth several times before he could produce the words Jack feared the most; “I need to see him. When can I see him?”

“Now,” Jack said in a choked voice. “I’ll take you to him now.”

In the operating room Jack stood back as Keith stood next to the operating table stroking Sasha’s soft caramel-colored hair. Suddenly, his shoulders began shaking violently and the puppeteer let out a long, low keening as he took Sasha in his arms. Jack dashed across the room to put his hand comfortingly on Keith’s shoulder; tears rolling freely down his face as he listened to Keith give vent to his grief.

After a long, agonizing time Keith’s sobs slowed and finally died out. He straightened and turned to face Jack. “Can … can I see how bad he was hurt?”

“Oh no, no you don’t want to see that,” Jack said, shaking his head.

“I have to … I have to know what they did to him,” Keith said evenly, barely managing to keep his voice under control. He looked pleadingly at Jack. "Please, don’t make me imagine what they did to him.”

Gulping, Jack moved to the other side of the table and methodically folded back the sheet to reveal the massive wounds that he had recently finished closing. “The, ah, the … the internal injuries were even more extensive,” Jack stuttered.

Keith stared at the ugly wounds; his mouth agape and then looked up at Jack. “There’s no way he could have survived that,” Keith gasped. “Why – why did you spend all that time…”

“He was still alive,” Jack said. “I couldn’t give up as long as he was alive. I couldn’t give up on him … he was my friend.”

Keith charged around the operating table and grabbed Jack in his arms. “Oh my God,” Keith cried, pulling Jack close to him. “I didn’t even think … that must have been so hard on you….”

Keith’s embrace broke through the last of Jack’s fragile reserves. He returned the puppeteer’s embrace and the two of them wept – they wept as much for each other as for the loss of Sasha. Keith suddenly pulled back from Jack, looking shocked.

“Bray!” Keith cried. “Have you been to see him yet?”

“No – no, I uh … not yet,” Jack stammered.

“Because you stayed here to clean up Sasha and comfort me … right?” Keith pushed Jack to arms length. “Get out of here – go to Bray. I’m sure that he needs to have you by his side.”

Jack backed from the room and asked Selene to stay with Keith. Jack went straight to sit with Bray.

Bray was asleep when Jack pulled a chair up next to the bed and slipped his hand into Bray’s much larger one. He leaned forward and kissed Bray’s cheek and told him about Sasha’s death. Jack wasn’t sure whether or not Bray could hear him, but it made him feel good to speak aloud to Bray.

“Peter died, too,” Jack told the sleeping Bray. “Y’know, he was the first one I ever operated on. You made me do it.” He shook his head. “Oh God, I can’t begin to tell you how pissed off I was with you. I really did hate you. You made me responsible for another life and I hated that. Knowing that Peter was going to live or die because of what I did scared me. I didn’t want that kind of responsibility.” Jack leaned his head back against the wall. “I’ll tell you something, though – even though I was pissed at you and said that I hated you, I still had a crush on you.” Jack rolled his head to one side to stare at Bray’s profile. “You were so good looking that it made it hard for me to breathe. I still get that way every time I look at you…”

Selene poked her head into the room and cleared her throat to get Jack’s attention. “I hate to bother you, but we need you.”

“What’s up?”

Selene glanced over at Bray meaningfully. “There’ve been more attacks.”

Entering the waiting area, Jack discovered a controlled frenzy taking place. Selene and Heather had already set up a triage and Heather was taking two injured people back into the treatment area. Selene quickly briefed Jack on Heather’s patients and gave him a quick rundown on the ones she was holding back. All in all, there were eight patients – six in Amber and Heather’s triage area and the two that had just gone back to treatment. Jack pulled Selene to one side and suggested that she have Ryan, Lars, and Brandon standing by in case the present calm turned ugly. Sighing, Jack turned and headed back to the treatment area.

In the treatment area, Jack found Tai San working to cleanse wounds until his arrival. Most of those injured needed broken bones set and cast and slash wounds sutured. Jack was almost pleased that the injuries weren’t more serious and then he realized that the reason that there weren’t more serious injuries facing him was because those patients had died before they could be brought to the ship for treatment. With Dal, Amber, and Selene assisting in actual procedures, and Heather and Tai San maintaining order in the waiting area all of the patients were treated in less than four hours.

With the patients treated and released to the care of their respective Tribes, the medical facility became calm and quiet for the first time in more hours than anyone cared to tally. One by one Jack and his medical partners drifted into the treatment area exhausted and emotionally numb. No one said a word – they just looked at each other and nodded or sighed.

Suddenly, the door to the waiting room burst open to reveal Ryan and Tina. “Okay you lot time for you guys to get out of here,” Ryan announced firmly. Amber and Jack opened their mouths to protest, but Ryan just continued. “Look, everything is quiet right now. Tina knows first aid and can keep a watch on the patients. If anyone comes along and needs treatment, we can have you guys paged.”

“That’s right,” Tina said. “All of you have been on your feet for almost two days straight and you haven’t eaten. Now go – get something to eat, get some rest, and if we need to call you down here, we will.”

“Don’t argue,” Ryan added. “I’m bigger than any of you and I’ll happily carry each of you off to bed if I have to. And, there’s not a soul on the ship who would stop me.”

Jack looked around at his friends and then slowly nodded. If they were only half as exhausted as they looked they needed to rest before they collapsed where they stood. “Ryan’s right – we need to eat and rest – in that order,” he said. His voice came out raspy and ragged.

After eating, Jack wandered out onto the Promenade Deck. The sky was heavy, leaden and low promising rain at any time. Ignoring the weather, Jack staggered over and leaned heavily on the rail staring out at the horizon. The strong breeze was thick with humidity, carrying a slight damp chill that slightly washed some of the weariness from Jack’s muscles. He knew that he should head to his suite and get some sleep – the thought of climbing into the bed all alone repelled him. Jack preferred staying on deck, leaning against the rail. Raising his head, Jack watched with dull fascination as two cloudbanks rolled across the horizon from opposite directions merging together to darken the sky.

Flashes of brilliant light broke through the newly formed super cloudbank on the horizon. And then the roiling sound of thunder rumbled through the distance. Jack continued to watch Nature’s pyrotechnic show – the lightning lighting up first one side of the sky and then the other. It was like an artillery battle from the First World War back in the pre-Virus days. Jack had seen old movies – both Hollywood recreations and documentary footage of that war.

War. Jack turned his back to the horizon and stared speculatively at the ship. There were Shiprats who were mourning the death of friends tonight – and soon as the word began to spread, even more would be joining that mourning. As far as he knew, Jordy hadn’t yet been told about Jordan. People died in wars – people on both sides, Jack reminded himself thinking of the Werewolf that he had killed. He wondered if there was anyone to mourn or miss that Werewolf.

The clouds grew denser and louder moments before fat, heavy raindrops fell from the sky hitting the deck and bulkheads with audible “plops.” As the rain increased, the plopping sounds merged into a heavy splattering noise. Jack remained where he was at the rail, letting the rain soak him, making the scrubs cling to his body and plaster his orange-red hair to his skull. He thought that he’d stay in the rain and let it wash all the blood from him – if that was even possible.

Amber came out onto the deck, holding an umbrella over her head and tentatively approached him. “Jack? Are you okay?” She asked gently as if speaking to a developmentally slow child.

“Huh?” Jack looked up blankly.

Amber realized that Jack didn’t recognize her and she began to grow worried about his mental state. “Jack, it’s raining … don’t you think you need to come in out of the rain?”

Jack blinked. “Yes … yes it is raining.”

“Jack,” Amber called, fear creeping into her voice. “Jack, you’re scaring me … and I need you right now. Oh sweet Jesus … do I need you … Jack, I’m sick…”

A violent shiver went through Jack’s slender frame and he blinked owlishly at Amber recognizing her. He rushed to her, his hands out to take her arm. “What’s wrong?”

“I – I think it’s,” Amber shoved her knuckles to her mouth and then pulled herself together. “I think I’ve got The Virus.”

In the hospital Jack installed Amber in a small treatment room and turned his back as she slipped into an examination gown. He rubbed at his hair and face with a towel. Once she was gowned, he began a physical exam of her.

“Now, tell me why you think you have It,” Jack said gently.

“I’ve been vomiting,” Amber answered, her whole body beginning to tremble in fright.

“How long?”

“About two … three weeks,” Amber said as Jack worked his fingers along her jaw line feeling for swollen, hard lymph glands that characterized the early stages of The Virus. “Then the heat flashes began… and I’ve been having dizzy spells…”

“Do me a favor – lower your gown and lift your arms,” Jack said, interrupting Amber. He dug his fingers into her underarms still unable to find indications of hard, swollen glands. Stepping back, Jack looked her over from head to toe and suddenly left the room, telling Amber to pull her gown back up and stay right where she was.

Amber drummed her fingers on the exam table nervously as she waited for Jack to come back. She wondered how soon it would be before she was forced to leave the ship and who would take care of he as The Virus progressed and she got sicker and weaker. Jack returned to the exam room and carefully closed the door behind him. Amber looked at him expectantly.

“Well?”

“Well,” Jack said slowly. “I’m pretty sure that you can expect the vomiting to continue for a while.”

“Then, I’ve got it.”

“I don’t know for sure, but you can stop worrying about The Virus,” Jack said. “I know that you do not – I repeat, do not have that.”

“I don’t understand – I have the early symptoms.”

Jack grinned. “Yeah, well vomiting your guts out, hot flashes, and swollen extremities can be symptoms of other things, too. I don’t know for sure, but I think that you’re pregnant.”

Amber looked at Jack as if he were crazy. “But, how…” She shook her head. “No, it can’t be … it’s not possible.”

“Let’s take it one step at a time,” Jack replied. “Of course it’s possible – as long as you and Dal,” Jack looked hard at Amber. “I assume it is Dal?” Amber blushed furiously and nodded. “Okay, as long as you and Dal had sexual relations it is possible.” Jack gave Amber a funny look. “As for how it happened, well I suspect along about now you know how that happened, too.” Jack crossed the room and jerked the door to the little bathroom open and pulled a long plastic tube from his pocket. “Now, go in there and pee and stick this thing in the stream. Then, come out here and give it back to me.”

It took Amber about ten minutes before she was able to do as Jack had told her and return. Jack took the indicator from her, and pulled out a small chart and began comparing the lines on the chart and the indicator. Finally, he smiled and looked up.

“I think you need to find Dal and give him the news – you and he are going to be parents,” Jack said. “You’ve created new life.” Jack nodded appreciatively. “That’s a pretty major accomplishment – congratulations.”

After Amber left the office to share the news of her pregnancy with Dal and whomever else she wanted to tell, Jack booted up the computer on the desk and began typing in the medical case notes on the procedures performed in the hospital. His eyes filled with tears as he keyed in the information about Sasha. Technically, Sasha wasn’t the first Shiprat to be killed – Cat had briefly been a member of the Tribe before the Brotherhood had killed him. Jack was sorry that he had been killed, but he hadn’t really known Cat like he had Sasha. He and Sasha had been closer than most brothers were – the two of them had gone on scrounging journeys all around The City. Together, they ferreted out medical supplies, books, movies, and games for the younger kids, food – just about anything that could be of use. Jack felt Sasha’s loss at the very core of his being.

The Werewolves had no reason to attack and kill Sasha. He hadn’t been threatening to them. He hadn’t stolen from them. He hadn’t given them a single reason to kill him. That was the thing bothering Jack the most – the Werewolves had appeared in The City apparently just to kill and maim others. Only one other group killed like that – the Brotherhood. Jack was sure that the Brotherhood was somehow behind the Werewolves, which just gave Jack another reason to despise the Brotherhood.

Jack closed Sasha’s file and was about to open one for Amber when the door to his office slammed open, revealing a panting Paul in the doorway. “Q-quick – quick … need … need you … in parking lot.”

Jack didn’t bother asking the winded Paul to elaborate – only something serious would have made him run from the parking lot to the hospital without stopping to catch his breath. He hurried through the ship to the parking lot and found Dal leaning over a girl on the ground. Taking deep breaths to get his wind back, Jack studied the girl and thought he recognized her. He just couldn’t place her name.

“I’m sorry to make you come out here, Jack,” Dal said without looking up. “But Alice absolutely refuses to let anyone take her onto the ship.” Alice! That was the girl’s name – she was one of Bubba’s helpers over at the Lost Boys’ Tribe. “She rode a bike all the way from the mall, and coming into the parking lot, she lost control of the bike and crashed into one of the stalls.”

“What’s the damage?”

“I think her leg is broken,” Dal replied. “She fainted when I manipulated her leg, and I figured to wait until you got here to try to revive her.”

“Do it.”

Dal fished an ammonia capsule from his first aid kit, held it under Alice’s nose and snapped it in half. At first nothing happened, then her upturned nose twitched and her eyelids flickered. They snapped open and after looking wildly around, she began babbling about the mall. It took a few minutes to calm her down and then her words began to make sense.

“Bubba had got all the kids bedded down and like an hour later the mall is filled with this spooky howling – y’know, like there was a pack of dogs or something inside,” Alice babbled. “Then all of a sudden there’s these guys with painted faces dressed all in black smashing things and tearing the place apart.”

“What happened?” Jack croaked his mouth suddenly dry.

“For no reason they started attacking the kids,” Alice sobbed. “Bubba tried to stop them – she got in a punch-up with a couple of them and then, one of them cut her and shoved her down the escalator steps.” Alice’s face screwed up for more hysterical sobbing as Alice tried to cover it. Jack quickly reached out and slapped her hard on each cheek. Alice’s face went blank, then she touched her face where Jack had hit her.

“We don’t have time to keep calming you down,” Jack said firmly. “Now, tell us what happened.”

“There’s all this blood,” Alice said frantically. “I know that Alice’s leg is broken…”

“How do you know that?” Dal asked.

“It’s all bent the wrong way,” Alice explained.

“Okay, is Alice conscious?” Jack asked.

“Yeah – she’s the one who made me come here to get help,” Alice said growing hysterical again. “I didn’t want to leave her there, I swear I didn’t.”

“Dal, let’s get Alice here into the hospital,” Jack said. Alice began protesting that she couldn’t stay at the ship and Jack put his index finger against her lips. “Listen to me – you are in no condition to travel anywhere. You are being taken up to the hospital where Dal is going to treat your injuries and watch over you until we get back here with Bubba and the kids.”

Dal protested that he should accompany Jack while Selene took care of Alice. But Jack refused to listen to his friend’s complaints. He stayed with Dal only long enough to see Alice was placed on a stretcher and moved to the hospital with Dal following along behind. Turning to Paul, Jack told him to get Ryan, Lars, Selene, Amber and Tai San and have them all meet with him in the hospital immediately. By the time they had gathered, Jack had two large emergency first aid packs ready to go. He quickly outlined everything Alice had told them earlier.

“So, what’s the plan?” Ryan asked.

“We’re going to give what first aid we can on the spot and then we’re going to round up all the kids, get them in the back of the truck and bring them here,” Jack said. He looked around at the shocked expressions on everyone’s faces. Like Jack, they all knew that the kids weren’t mentally quite right. “Yeah – I know that’s going to be an adventure in itself. We just don’t have any choice – Bubba’s going to have to come here to be treated and cared for. We can’t leave the kids alone out there.”

“So where are we going to put them?” Amber asked.

“In the small ballroom,” Jack said quickly. “Get sleeping bags and whatever cots wee have set up in there. Have one of the guys move a television in there and a DVD player – that might help to keep them entertained.”

It didn’t take long for Jack to get everything organized both with the rescue party and for those staying behind on the ship. Lars, Heather, and Tai San would be following the ambulance in the bus – they’d have the task of getting the kids on the bus and transported back to the ship. Selene would be accompanying Jack and Ryan in the ambulance.

As the long hearse-body ambulance neared the mall, Jack flicked on all of the searchlights, bathing the area all around the moving vehicle in dazzling white light. Ryan glanced over at Jack and understood – the little genius was hoping that the brilliant light would make the Werewolves keep their distance. Pulling up outside of the open entrance, Jack gathered his emergency kits and cautiously approached the doors. As he got closer, Jack could see that the glass had been smashed out from the inside – probably as the attackers left the building. He turned on his flashlight and entered the mall.

The mall was silent which unnerved Jack. He had been fully prepared to walk into the mall and find that it was an absolute zoo with the kids running wild and screaming. “Hello? Anybody home?” Jack called as he cautiously moved forward over broken glass. He remembered where he was and tried, “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free!”

“I’d have thought that the kids would be pretty much screaming up a storm,” Ryan said. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“C’mon, let’s try to find Bubba,” Jack said. “Maybe the kids are just scared and will come out once they see us with Bubba.” Jack picked up the pace and hurried to the escalator leading down to the lower level. Shining their lights down to the lower level, Ryan and Jack saw Bubba propped up against the non-functioning fountain, he head lolling to one side. Jack took the escalator steps three at a time as he rushed down to reach Bubba. As he reached the bottom of the escalator, Jack saw Bubba’s head sway to the side and begin to rise. Leaping over debris, Jack reached Bubba’s side and dropped to his knees beside her.

Bubba stared hard at Jack from behind blackened eyes and suddenly recognized her Shiprat friend. “’ack!” Bubba murmured her mouth not working quite right. Her breath came in painful, ragged gasps. Bubba would take a gulp of air and try to speak. “’ey … came … b’ek.” She stared at him as if begging him to understand what she was trying to say.

“I understand, Bubba,” Jack said gently. “They came back.” He tenderly explored her face with his fingers as Ryan stood to one side and held a light so that Jack could see. It was clear that Bubba had been beaten methodically to cause the maximum damage to her without killing her outright. “They came back and hurt you again, right?”

Bubba slowly nodded her head, grimacing with each movement. She took a massive gulp of air. “’ey ‘urt … ‘ey ‘urt y ‘abies.” Great tears were streaming down Bubba’s joule face. She strained and finally managed to raise her hand and extend a finger the size of a sausage and point past Jack. Turning he flashed his light in the direction indicated. The cone of bright light shone on what appeared to be a scarecrow poorly stuffed with rags. He turned the light off almost immediately and snapped at Ryan to keep his light trained on Bubba. Ryan had only caught a brief glimpse of something, but he hadn’t been able to make out what it was for sure.

“Get a cervical collar on Bubba and strap her to the backboard,” Jack said in a strange, strangled voice like he was fighting to keep it under control. “You’ll need Lars and Tai San to help you get the stretcher in the ambulance … Bubba’s a pretty big girl.” Jack rose to his feet.

“Just a minute, I’ll come with you,” Ryan said.

“NO!” Jack cried sharply. “You stay there … stay there and keep her distracted …please.”

“Sure, okay,” Ryan said.

Jack kept his light pointed straight down at the floor as he moved away from Bubba towards what he had seen. He paused long enough to ensure that the others were caring for Bubba and were preparing to move her to the ambulance. Only when he heard the gurney being rolled away did Jack steel himself to turn his light back on.

The cone of harsh light revealed the body of a young boy that had been tied with wire to the latticed side of a kiosk. Someone had spent a long time making the boy suffer. Every major bone in his body had been broken at least once. Tears streamed down Jack’s face as he fumbled to undo the wire and bring the boy down from the lattice wall. He had recognized the boy from the first time his light hit him – it was hard to miss the lime green tights and tunic that made up the Peter Pan costume. The boy even called himself Pan … and sometimes The Pan. Whenever Jack visited the mall, he made sure that he had a small bag filled with the most sour lemon balls that he could find, then he and Pan would share the bag. Jack finger combed the shaggy copper brown hair off of Pan’s face. He remembered that Pan was physically about nine years old and mentally he was maybe four or five at best.

The last of the wire finally came loose and Pan’s limp body sagged into Jack’s arms. Jack eased the boy to the floor and gently arranged Pan’s limbs. Lifting his lantern Jack moved to the other side of the kiosk and began searching for the other kids. He didn’t need to go far before he found the next one – a sweet, funny girl who had called herself Gwendolyn the Fairy. Jack gathered her in his arms and carried her to where Pan lay before going in search of the other children and praying that they were just hiding.

Lars looked towards the lower mall entrance and announced, “Maybe it’s time I go in there to see how Jack is.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Selene agreed leaning over Bubba.

“No, leave him alone,” Ryan said uneasily. “You guys didn’t see his face or hear his voice … and you didn’t see whatever that was in there…”

“What was it?” Tai San asked.

Ryan shook his head. “I dunno … I just got the briefest flash of something,” he said. “But, it kinda freaked me a little. Shivers ran down the back of my neck…” Ryan’s words were cut short by a long, drawn out animalistic scream of rage and pain. He and Lars almost fell over each other as they charged out of the back of the ambulance and raced for the mall.

Ryan skidded to a stop just past the fountain where they had found Bubba. There were five small bodies laid out on the floor and the mall had fallen into a death-like silence again. Lars and Ryan stood warily on guard ears straining to hear the faintest sound that would lead them to Jack. And then, from the upper level came the sound of metal clanging against metal. Lars took the lead, dashing up the nearest stairs three at a time. The sound was echoing around the upper mall, making it impossible to accurately pinpoint where it was coming from. Reaching the top of the stairs, the two of them slowly turned around. Ryan pointed to the beacon of light from Jack’s lantern at the far end of the mall in the corridor leading to the farthest upper level entrance.

As they neared Jack’s location, both Lars and Ryan became aware of a steady stream of profanity coming from Jack’s location punctuated by the sound of metal striking metal. Turning into the corridor at the end of the mall, they discovered the cause of the metal on metal sounds. A frenzied Jack was using a fire ax to alternately beat at the latch of a truck trailer and the heavy-duty security lock that kept the doors secured. Jack swore viscously as he attacked the locked doors seemingly totally unaware of their presence behind him.

Lars motioned for Ryan to grab the ax the next time Jack swung it over his head and that he would grab Jack. They both thought the discovery of the five bodies had made Jack snap. When Jack raised the ax for a mighty blow, Ryan grabbed it and with a powerful jerk pulled it from Jack’s grasp. Jack was just beginning to react when Lars moved in and wrapped his powerful, sinewy arms around the small Shiprat. Grabbing Jack was one thing Lars discovered – keeping hold of him was another. Jack screamed and shouted to be released, he twisted and writhed so violently that Ryan was beginning to fear that both Jack and Lars might end up seriously injured.

“Shhhh, relax Jack,” Lars cooed softly in Jack’s ear as he pulled Jack tight against his chest. “Let go of the anger … don’t let the anger control you.”

“Leggo me!” Jack screamed his face a contorted mask of fury. “They’re in there!”

“Jack what are you talking about?” Ryan asked warily.

“Listen … go on listen … they’re locked in there!”

It must have taken a superhuman effort for Jack to stop his screaming and cursing, but he did it and went limp in Lars’ arms. Silence should have filled the mall – except that it didn’t. The terrified crying of hysterical children could be faintly heard coming from the inside of the trailer.

“Oh sweet Jesus,” Ryan gasped. “We’ve got to get them out of there. Those kids are shit scared of being enclosed and in the dark.”

Lars almost released Jack, but at the last moment he tightened his grip on his captive. He bent his head down so that his lips actually brushed against Jack’s ear. “Jack, we need you,” he said softly. “We need you – the rational Jack not an emotional wild man. Please, please relax – release your anger.”

“They’re locked up in there,” Jack cried. “They’re terrified of the total darkness.”

“Right, I understand, Jack,” Lars said calmly. “But that’s a heavy duty lock – you’re not going to knock it off with an ax, I can promise you that. Now, come on … calm down, Jack. We need your brain – that’s the most powerful tool we have.” He rocked Jack gently trying to soothe him. “You can’t always attack problems head on … sometimes you have to seek another solution.”

Suddenly Jack ceased fighting and his eyes glazed over and his body went rigid. Ryan grew worried at the sudden change. Slowly Jack’s eyes regained their focus and he looked up and down the trailer.

“Let go of me,” Jack said in a calm soft voice. Warily Lars released his bear hug on Jack and took a tentative step back. “Ryan – there’s a Sears at the end of the mall…”

“Yeah, I saw it.”

“See if they have a couple of ladders – we need one that will reach from the floor to the top of the trailer and a slightly smaller one that will go from the bed of the trailer to the roof –say about eight feet,” Jack said. He turned to Lars. “Can you give me a boost to reach the roof?”

“Sure, are you sure?”

“The roof is the weakest point on this thing,” Jack said. “You said it yourself – solve the problem by approaching it from another direction.”

“I get it!” Ryan grinned. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

By the time Ryan returned with the first ladder, Jack had already chopped and bashed a good sized hole in the thin metal of the trailer’s roof. He propped the ladder against the wall and ran as fast as he could the length of the mall to retrieve the larger ladder. Minutes later, a winded Ryan was setting the larger ladder against the side of the truck. Not waiting to catch his breath, Ryan scrambled up the ladder and waved to Jack to pause for a moment.

“Here,” gasped Ryan pulling a pair of leather work gloves from his belt. “We can wear these and pull back on the roof – y’know, peel it back like a can top.”

When Jack put the ax down long enough to take the gloves, Ryan snatched the ax and went to work himself, panting that Jack needed a break. A short while later Lars had switched places with Ryan and finished off the work Jack had started. It took some effort, but the three of them finally managed to peel back the sheet metal far enough to create an escape hatch. In minutes they had the ladder in place and were getting the remaining members of the Lost Boys Tribe out of the trailer. There were only about a dozen and a half left. Jack figured that there were still another two dozen Lost Boys unaccounted for.

The boys and girls were in different states of terror. Some sobbed and clung to one another, others hugged themselves and shifted from foot to foot catatonically, while others were easily calmed and soothed.

“Let’s play a game!” Ryan called. The Lost Boys just stared blankly at him. “What do I do now?”

A knowing grin spread across Jack’s face. “I know,” he said slyly. “Let’s have an adventure!” Interest showed in the eyes of some of the kids.

“We can’t do no adventure wivout Bubba,” one of the girls said petulantly.

“Of course you can’t,” Ryan agreed. “Bubba is already playing the game – she’s playing nurse with Selene.”

“Nurse is no fun,” one of the boys said.

“It can be,” Ryan said. “Nurses go on adventures all the time – they go with pirates and adventurers and soldiers.”

Five minutes later, Ryan had the remaining members of the Lost Boys Tribe organized and snaking through the mall to the bus waiting at the lower level entrance. He shepherded the kids along, while Jack and Lars led the catatonic kids to the entrance. To everyone’s surprise, all of the kids eagerly climbed onto the bus calling for Ryan to start the motor so the game could continue.

“How’s she doing?” Jack asked Selene as he climbed into the back of the ambulance.

“She is awake and feels like shit,” Bubba said weakly. She lifted her head as far as she could and tried to give Jack a smile.

“Good – Selene’s going to take good care of you,” Jack promised. “She’ll get you to the ship where you’ll be fixed up. The kids are okay – they’re on the bus with Ryan.” He grinned. “He’s pretty good with them and they seem to like him, too.”

Selene stopped Jack as he climbed out of the ambulance. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“You go on ahead and send a vehicle back for me,” Jack said with a forced casual tone. “Bubba and the kids need to get out of here. Go on, I’ve got a few things to do here.” He gently, but firmly closed the rear hatch on the ambulance.

Lars and Ryan both hurried after Jack and tried to stop him from staying behind. In answer to their entreaties, Jack led them to the five bodies by the mall fountain. He said that he couldn’t leave until they had been properly cared for.

“Then we can stay and help you” Ryan insisted.

Jack shook his head. “Those kids need to be taken away from here as quick as possible,” Jack said. “I’ll bet they’re already getting scared because you’ve been gone so long.” He smiled and patted Ryan’s shoulder. “Go on, both of you – I’m okay now. Get the kids and Bubba back to the ship. Come back for me after getting them to safety.”

Jack watched the taillights of the two vehicles recede in the distance before scouting out a gravesite. It didn’t take him long to find a suitable place – right in front of the fountain on the lower level. Of course the fountain didn’t work right now, but it would one day – Jack promised himself that he’d see to that. There was a nice flowerbed right in front of the fountain that would serve nicely. He found a spade at Sears and went to work digging the mass grave. The digging was easy in the soft, well-cultivated soil of the flowerbed and Jack was finished his work long before he had expected to be.

The hardest part of Jack’s self-appointed task was wrapping each body in a sheet for burial. His heart burned with anger as he wrapped each small body in a colorful sheet. He was just finishing wrapping the last body when he heard the scrape of a foot on broken glass. Looking up warily, Jack carefully moved his hand towards the knife on his belt. He halted the movement when he saw the boy standing near him. Jack judged him to be about twelve or so, but he knew that physical age didn’t count for much in the Lost Boys Tribe. And his first words proved that.

“Are them going to be with the Mommies and Daddies?” The boy asked, pointing to the freshly wrapped bodies.

Jack nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah they are,” he said softly. “They’re going to be with all the Mommies and Daddies.” Jack took a step forward and the boy took two back away from him. He couldn’t blame the kid for not trusting a stranger. Jack shrugged like it didn’t matter and went over to his pack and rummaged around in it for the chocolate bar. “I was just going to have a snack – want to join me?” He waved the chocolate bar. The shaggy red head bobbed enthusiastically up and down, the boy’s brown eyes greedily locked onto the candy bar. “If you want to have this, you have to come sit by me and tell me your name, can you do that?”

“You first,” the boy said.

“You’re right,” Jack smiled. “I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Jack.”

The redheaded boy hesitantly marched up to Jack, held out his grubby hand said, “Hello Jack, I’m Huck but everyone calls me Huckleberry for short.” Huck’s face fell and turned bright red with shame. “I done it wrong! I didn’t do right like Bubba showed me.” He looked about ready to cry.

“Hey, you did just fine,” Jack said rubbing the boy’s shoulder. “I bet you did it that way on purpose just to make me smile and stop being sad. I know Bubba would like it if you did that. That’s what you did, isn’t it?’

“Maybe I did and didn’t know it,” Huck said clearly eager to please Jack and at the same time unwilling to commit to a lie that Bubba would disapprove of. He suddenly looked around. “Did the bad men make everyone go bye-bye?”

“No, Bubba and the others went to visit my Tribe,” Jack said handing the candy bar over to Huck. “Someone is going to be coming back for me real soon – then you can come and join your friends and ride in a car. Would you like that?"

Huck, already busily eating the candy bar, just shrugged and Jack realized that the kid probably didn’t have any idea of what a car was. He hoped that Ryan brought back something that would really impress the kid. He stood and told Huck to stay where he was and began taking the bodies out to the mass grave. He was halfway to the grave when he realized that Huck was following him like a shadow. The boy didn’t say a word as Jack made trip after trip between the mall and the grave. He watched with big round eyes as Jack shoveled the dirt back into the grave covering the bodies.

Jack finished smoothing the soil over the grave and looked up at the sky. The sky in the East was already a brilliant rose color with streaks of gold growing brighter. Jack trudged over to the fountain and sat wearily on the granite edge. Huck joined him, sitting hip to hip with Jack. He yawned and Jack put his arm around Huck’s shoulder and let the boy lean against him. They were sitting like that when the large hearse-body ambulance came around the corner. Huck stiffened and was ready to run, but Jack held him fast.

“It’s okay,” Jack soothed. “That’s just Ryan. He’s a real good guy and a friend of Bubba’s.”

Ryan did his magic on the boy and in only moments the two of them were fast friends. He got Huck to willingly climb into the ambulance by promising to let him work the lights and sirens.

*****

Keith tenderly stroked Jordy’s bald head and pulled the covers up around the boy. Keith had taken the task of telling Jordy about Jordan. The boy tried hard to keep his tears under control, but within moments he had thrown himself into Keith’s arms as he sobbed uncontrollably. Periodically the tears would stop and Jordy would aimlessly pace his room swearing revenge against the people who had killed Jordan – his manner was so adult that Keith became concerned that the boy might actually try something like that. Then, moments later the boy would fall to his knees sobbing like the little boy that he was. Eventually, Jordy fell asleep exhausted from his endless sobbing. Keith easily lifted the boy and placed him under the covers. He sat with Jordy for hours, his hand comfortingly stroking Jordy’s shaved head.

Keith wondered what Jordy looked like with hair. He was beautiful bald, but he couldn’t help wondering how significantly different Jordy would look with long bangs or a crewcut. When he had first come to the ship he had wondered why Jordan had kept the boy shaved bald. Then, he had learned that it was Jordy who wanted to be shaved bald like the warrior/monk, Lars. The shaved head seemed to empower Jordy and help him control his fears. Once again, Jordan impressed Keith – the unlikely hero seemed to have hidden reserves of courage and innate wisdom that helped him help others when they were at their most vulnerable.

Keith wished that he had been given more time to get to know Jordan better. He had heard the stories – some firsthand from Brandon who was in the best position to know the truth – about how Jordan had single-handedly escaped from the Brotherhood and evaded their best hunters only to return and rescue Brandon from a pack of wild dogs. Then, once aboard the Queen Mary, Jordan had met Jordy – a young boy who was having trouble making attachments and done all the right things to give the boy an anchor and solid role model.

Keith was just washing his hands after relieving himself when he noticed the clippers at the far edge of the vanity. He stared at them and then at his reflection. He ran his hand through his light brown hair and looked back down at the clippers. He remembered being fascinated with Lars’ appearance and seemingly limitless self-confidence the first time he had seen the warrior/monk. But Keith knew that he wasn’t any kind of warrior/monk. He didn’t want justice – he wanted revenge. He wanted those responsible to suffer for taking Sasha from him, Jordan from Jordy, and to pay for causing the kid to suffer. Keith didn’t have any philosophical desire to restore karma or harmony or morality anything like that. He just wanted good old-fashioned immoral revenge.

Before he really knew what he was doing, Keith had the clippers in one hand and had them placed against his forehead. He turned the clippers and pushed them straight back from forehead to crown. Clumps of his light brown hair tumbled to his shoulders, the vanity, and the floor as the clipper blades plowed through his hair. Keith never took his eyes off the reflection in the mirror. He watched as more and more of his hair – the long, silken hair that Sasha had loved to run his hands through – fell to the floor. Keith felt a fire burning in his belly that grew hotter and hotter as more and more of his scalp became visible.

With all of his long locks buzzed down to stubble, Keith placed the clippers on the vanity and lifted the can of shaving crème. The fire in his belly burned hotter and more intensely as he spread the white lather all over his skull. He pulled the razor over his scalp in slow, long easy strokes. By the time he was done, his scalp was totally hairless and the fire had spread from his belly throughout his entire body. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and smiled a cold, heartless smile. He knew exactly what he had to do now.

Leaving the bathroom, Keith tiptoed across the bedroom and leaning over the bed, he gently kissed Jordy’s smooth head. “Sleep well, Jordy,” he whispered. “I promise that I’ll make them pay for Jordan. I don’t think I’m coming back and I apologize for that.”

Hurrying to his suite, Keith hunted out the clothes he decided he’d need. It didn’t take long before he found the black jeans, black turtleneck, and black cargo shirt he needed. He ripped his old clothes off and quickly changed. Rummaging around on the floor of his closet, Keith eventually found his shoulder bag. He wished that it was black instead of olive drab, but it would do for his needs. His hiking boots weren’t black either, but the dark brown boots and olive bag would fade into the night.

Tai San slipped quietly into the gymnasium. Things had been strenuous physically, emotionally, and spiritually over the last couple of days. She had neglected her yoga and meditation and was now feeling the effects of an imbalance in her karma. She had just eased the door closed when she instantly became aware that something was wrong. Normally, the lights to the gym were either on or they were off. Tonight, they had been dimmed to a barely visible level. Then, Tai San became aware that she wasn’t alone in the gym. She could sense the presence of another person – a person consumed with anger and hatred. Tai San took a deep breath and concentrated on her senses, willing herself to absorb as much information about her surroundings as her physical body could transmit to her.

Closing her eyes, Tai San heard the sound of running feet on the other side of the gym. Then, the running stopped and she heard the thud of a body hitting the floor. She began to relax – whoever was in the gym with her wasn’t likely to be one of the Werewolves. The person in the gym was out of practice and Tai San couldn’t imagine any of the Werewolves being that clumsy. Whoever was in the gym was good, but not good enough. Straining her ears, Tai San thought that she could hear something cutting through the air followed by the solid THWOK of – of what, the sound was so familiar. There was another THWOK and Tai San knew what it was – someone was using throwing stars.

Turning, Tai San opened her eyes and scanned the gym. She quickly identified the other person’s location and went straight for him. Tai San normally moved quietly, but now she took greater effort to remain silent. As she drew closer, she could make out the other person’s silhouette – it was familiar and strange at the same time. And then, she saw his profile. “Keith? Is that you?” Tai San called out softly.

Keith spun around, his face a mask of astonishment. He recognized Tai San and relaxed. “Oh, it’s just you, Tai San.”

Tai San reached out and ran her hand over his shaven head. “Keith what have you done? Why did you shave your beautiful hair off?”

“I figured that it would get in the way,” Keith said. “It’ll be easier to cover my head with a bandana without that mane.”

“You plan to leave the ship?”

“Are you gonna stop me?”

Tai San shook her head. “You know better than that,” she admonished gently. “I can feel the anger and hate in you.”

“I guess you can call it that,” he said. “I’m going to need those feelings to carry me through what I’m going to do.” He held up one of the throwing stars. Tai San recognized it as one of Lars’ own stars. “Look, tell Lars that I’m sorry I had to take these without asking him first. They’re good, well-balanced, and sharp.’

“And deadly,” Tai San added. “Do you really think hunting down and killing these Werewolves will quench the hatred that’s burning in you?”

“No,” Keith said honestly, surprising Tai San. “I think I’ll get lucky and get a couple of them before they kill me and that will end my hatred.”

“Is this a suicide trip?”

“No, just out for revenge,” Keith said. “I watched Jordy cry hysterically for about four hours until he was totally exhausted. Somebody’s got to pay for that. This is at least the second time in his life that his closest loved ones were taken away from him. Last time there wasn’t anyone left to pay the price, so that wound goes unpaid. This time, someone will pay.”

“At the cost of your own life,” Tai San observed. “How will your death help Jordy?”

“Look, I can’t explain it all,” Keith said fervently. “I just know here in my heart that this is the right thing to do – for him and for me, too.”

Tai San nodded. She could tell that Keith was sincere – he was wrong, in her opinion, but honest and sincere. She couldn’t in good conscience try to talk him from following his own path. She bowed to him and suggested he continue his practice with the lights set even lower. Backing away, Tai San wished Keith well in his practice and asked only that he bid her good-bye before leaving.

Tai San waited patiently in the darkness for the return of the ambulance and the bus. A flurry of activity from the gangway behind her told Tai San that the vehicles were only moments away. Kip, Paul, Tina, Dal, and Heather came down the gangway to meet the vehicles. The ambulance led the way into the parking lot and made directly for the gangway. Tai San watched as Ryan expertly pulled up so that the rear hatch was even with the gangway. Dal ran up and opened the heavy hatch door – only Selene came out of the ambulance. She and Dal pulled the gurney with Bubba on it from the ambulance, but there still wasn’t any sign of Jack. As soon as Bubba was out of the ambulance and the rear hatch closed, Ryan pulled away and Lars maneuvered the bus up to the gangway.

The bus doors opened and Lars bounded down the steps shouting enthusiastically to the children about the great adventure. Tai San stifled the urge to laugh. She knew that while Lars was patient and gentle with children, he really had very little rapport with them and often grew uncomfortable with them after long periods of time. It was clear to Tai San that the children on the instinctively knew that Lars was uncomfortable with them. They milled about in the aisle of the bus, but didn’t make any effort to leave it. Lars was rescued by the arrival of Ryan.

Ryan bounded onto the bus and began to describe the great adventures awaiting the Lost Boys Tribe on the ship. Within moments, most of the children were screaming with excitement and lining up to rush onto the ship. Tai San noticed that about a half dozen children appeared to be catatonic and needed to be led physically. With Ryan’s help, Tina and Kip were able to lead the children to the small ballroom with a minimum of fuss and trouble. Lars approached Tai San with a sheepish expression on his face.

“No matter how hard I try, I get uncomfortable with children in unstructured settings,” Lars said.

“We each have different gifts, strengths, weaknesses,” Tai San replied. “There is no shame in our abilities.” She held out her hands to Lars. “There is a more serious problem to address.”

“You too?” Lars described Jack’s hysterical attack on the trailer. He admitted to Tai San that he had found it almost impossible to physically constrain the much smaller inventor. Tai San nodded. She’d heard stories of Jack’s outbursts before and was familiar with other accounts of his remarkable reserves of physical strength. When Lars was finished, Tai San told him about Keith and her concerns for his life.

“He has a remarkable skill with the throwing stars,” Tai San admitted. “But, he isn’t good enough to go up against well-trained killing machines. He will die.”

“Then we have to stop him from leaving the ship,” Lars said.

“No, we cannot,” Tai San shook her head. “He is sincere in his desire to bring balance to the life of another. We have no right to stand in the way of him following his path. His motives are good and his heart is sincere.”

“But, we cannot let him leave the ship and go to his death,” Lars protested.

“Of course not,” Tai San said. “At the same time, we cannot stop him either.”

“That I don’t understand,” Lars said. “We must do one or the other – there is no other road.”

“There is always another road, my friend,” Tai San said. “I said that neither of us can do anything to stop Keith from following his own path.” Tai San offered Lars a smile that would have shamed the Mona Lisa. “That does not mean that another cannot prevent Keith from going to his own destruction.”

Tai San waited patiently for the ambulance to return with Jack. She left Lars by the gangway while she went into the ship to check on the children. As she had expected, the newness of their surroundings had worn off quickly and they milled uncertainly in small groups in the small ballroom. Some stared at the television set that had been set up, not really following the story.

“I don’t know what to do with them,” Heather said. “Some of them seemed excited to be here at first and then they just seemed to get bored. They pretty much just ignore me.”

“It is to be expected,” Tai San whispered. “They have lost everything that is familiar, and thus safe to them, in just a few hours. And, I am sure that fatigue has something to do with their mood now. They probably haven’t had much sleep tonight.”

“I guess you’re right,” Heather admitted. “So what do I do with them?”

“For now, nothing,” Tai San advised. “Just watch them and leave them to their own devices so long as they do not harm themselves or each other.”

Returning to the gangway, Tai San found Lars staring at the early morning sky. She sat by his side and joined him in staring into the sky. Neither spoke a word until the glow of flashing lights announced the arrival of the ambulance. Tai San felt fear try to grip at her heart and she willed the emotion away. If something had happened to Jack while he was alone, Ryan would have radioed back to the ship to have Dal and a medical team standing by awaiting their arrival. The ambulance slowly pulled into the lot and instead of heading straight for the gangway, cruised to where Ryan normally parked the vehicle. She nodded to herself when three figures emerged from the ambulance.

Ryan held Huck’s hand as they walked to the gangway with Jack bringing up the rear. She could see that he was physically exhausted and guessed that he was nearing the limits of his physical and emotional reserves. Jack made the introductions and suggested that Ryan take Huck to rejoin his friends. Before he could stagger up the gangway, Tai San held out a hand.

“We have a problem,” Tai San started.

“A problem?” Jack interrupted. “I can think of at least a dozen without really trying and I’m sure there are a shitload more just waiting to make themselves known.”

Tai San bowed her head acknowledging Jack’s observation. “That may be true, but this latest problem should take precedence over the others.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Keith is preparing to leave the ship,” Tai San announced.

“We can’t keep him here against his will,” Jack said. “Maybe the only reason he stayed was because of Sasha – I hope that’s not the only reason he joined us, but I can’t stop him from going if he’s unhappy here.”

“That is not the problem,” Tai San explained. “He has made up his mind to hunt down these Werewolves in order to provide justice for little Jordy.”

“That’s crazy!” Jack spat. “He’s not a fighter – he’ll get himself killed…”

“His fighting ability is more impressive than you might think,” Tai San said. “But, I think you are correct. In the end, he will die.”

“If you know about this, why didn’t you try to talk him out of his crazy plan?”

“We cannot.”

“Why not?”

“It is against our training and beliefs to prevent anyone from following the path they set out for themselves so long as their hearts are pure and beliefs sincere. Keith’s heart is pure and his belief sincere. He feels that too much has been taken from Jordy and that unless someone is made accountable, the boy will suffer even more harm.”

“Yeah, well if he leaves and gets himself killed – which he will – Jordy will lose yet another person near and dear to him,” Jack said. “He’s got a knack for understanding kids…” Jack’s voice trailed off and he stared up at the ship as if he could see right through the steel plates. Without finishing his thoughts, Jack hurried up the gangway.

Tai San graced Lars with a knowing smile and nodded her head. “Everything will work out now.”

At the double doors to the ship, Jack turned around and hurried back down the gangway. “Where is Keith now?”

“The last time I saw him, he was in the gym,” Tai San said.

Keith was still practicing with the throwing stars when Jack quietly slipped into the gym. He watched the puppeteer throwing the stars with impressive accuracy for about five minutes before he walked out of the shadows. “Interesting look for you,” Jack said, startling Keith. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to it, though.”

“Look…”

“You’re pretty handy with those stars,” Jack continued as if Keith hadn’t said a word. “I need your help with something – so, if you wouldn’t mind interrupting your practice for just a little while, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Look, I don’t have a lot of time…”

“I understand,” Jack said quickly. “Really, I do. But, if you will just give me five – ten minutes tops, I’d really appreciate it.”

Jack waited patiently until Keith finally sighed and put the throwing stars down and moved towards the door. Jack took Keith along the open deck through the early morning air before reentering the ship and leading the way to the small ballroom. He opened the door and ushered Keith into the room. Keith stopped dead in his tracks and stared in disbelief at the children scattered around the room.

“What is this?”

“It’s the Lost Boy Tribe – or what’s left of it,” Jack said. “There are a couple of dozen still missing and some are dead.”

“What happened?”

“The Werewolves attacked,” Jack replied. “They beat Bubba – she’s the one who looks after the kids – anyway, they beat her pretty badly and broke her leg. She’s going to be unable to care for these kids for quite a while. Alice, her helper, broke her arm and banged her head racing here on a bicycle to get help. We couldn’t leave them at the mall where they live – they’d starve or get hurt or even killed in an accident if they’re left alone.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Keith asked.

“They’re all brain damaged,” Jack explained. “They were given a vaccine that was supposed to protect them from the Virus. Each of them developed high fevers that left them brain damaged. The best of them has a mental age of about six years old … mentally, they’ll never grow older and they’ll never be able to care for themselves. They need someone to look out for them – especially now.”

“So … why me?”

“I’ve seen how good you are with Jordy,” Jack said simply. “You’ve got a real talent with kids – they like you and trust you instinctively. That’s a real talent that a lot of people don’t have.” Jack went to one of the boys who simply stared blankly into space. “After what happened tonight, some of them have slipped into a catatonic state,” he looked down at the boy and gently patted the shaggy straw colored hair. “Maybe they can be brought back to reality – their reality, that is. Or maybe this is the end of the line for them – I don’t know.”

Keith stared at the blank brown eyes of the blond boy and felt his heart aching for what the boy had already suffered. He edged Jack out of the way, knelt by the boy’s bed, and began to tenderly examine the boy’s body. The lad didn’t offer any resistance when Keith lifted his arm to look for injuries. When Keith let go of the arm, it flopped lifelessly down to his side. The puppeteer pushed shakily to his knees and wandered over to another one of the catatonic kids – this one a girl with curly reddish hair. Like the boy, she gave no indication of even being aware that Keith was at her side.

Jack fought back tears of his own as he watched Keith move from one catatonic child to another examining them for physical injuries. He silently swore that he would make the ones behind the attack pay for what they had done – not only to the Lost Boys, but also to Sasha and Jordan and the ones left behind. On the ride back from the mall, a plan had begun to form in the back of Jack’s mind. Once he had Keith sorted out and the kids taken care of, he’d begin to implement that plan.

Jack watched as a boy with a head full of black curls tentatively approached Keith. The puppeteer sank smoothly to his knees in front of the boy. “Where Bubba?” The boy asked.

“Uh, Bubba is in the hospital,” Keith said. “She got hurt by some bad people and the doctors are making her all better so she can come back to you.”

“Is Bubba with the Mommies and Daddies?”

Keith didn’t understand and looked over to Jack in confusion. “With the Mommies and Daddies?” He asked.

“Are they dead?” Jack explained. “That’s what they mean when they ask if someone has gone to the Mommies and Daddies.”

Keith turned back to the boy. “Oh no, she’s not with the Mommies and Daddies,” he said, his voice choking up. “She will come back to take care of all of you real soon. I’ll tell you what; I’ll take you down to see Bubba when she wakes up. Is that okay?”

The black-haired boy reached out a dirty finger and wiped at one of the tears running down Keith’s face. “Why you crying?” The boy asked. “Did bad people hurt you, too?”

“Yeah, yeah … the bad people did hurt me and people I love,” Keith admitted, choking back a sob.

The boy leaned forward and gave Keith a kiss on the tip of the nose. “Did they go to the Mommies and Daddies?”

Keith’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold back the sobs. “Yes honey, my friend did go to be with the Mommies and Daddies,” Keith said tears streaming down his face.

To the surprise of everyone, the boy hugged Keith. “It’s okay,” the boy said. “Bubba says it’s okay to miss the Mommies and Daddies.”

Keith’s reserve broke and he pulled the black haired boy close to him in a hug. “Oh God, I do miss him,” he cried. And then, he repeated the words as he began sobbing uncontrollably and repeating Sasha’s name over and over.

Jack and Heather watched in amazement as the Lost Boys got up and singly and in small groups approached Keith, surrounding him protectively and clumsily patting him as he cried in an attempt to comfort him. Jack rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. Turning away, Jack caught Tai San peeking through the door.

“I think you can be pretty sure that Keith isn’t going to be going anywhere,” Jack whispered to her as he slipped through the door. “There’s no way he’s going to leave those kids. He needs them as much as they need him.”

“Thank you, Jack,” Tai San said.

“Excuse me,” Jack said. “I’ve got some things I need to do.”

*****

Dal looked up in surprise when Jack came through the swinging doors to the hospital. “Jack! I didn’t expect to see you here,” Dal called. “Everything is under control – you look like you could use some rest.”

“Not yet,” Jack said grimly. “I’ve got some work to do first.” He brushed past the reception desk where Dal was sitting and pushed into the pharmaceutical room. Dal followed Jack into the room and watched as Jack opened one cabinet after another, looking for something.

“Um, Jack? Is there something I can help you with?”

“No – no, I have what I want,” Jack said pulling out several vials and stuffing them into his short pockets. He closed the medicine cabinet that he had open and went straight for one of the drawers that held syringes. He removed two and pushed past Dal, headed for the room where the two injured Werewolves were being held. Each restrained to the bed with strong straps.

Dal followed Jack and entered the room in time to see him filling a syringe from one of the vials that he had stuffed in his pocket. Worried, Dal urged Jack to think about what he was doing. Jack ignored him and tied off the arm of the Werewolf who had been beaten. Dal watched nervously as Jack tapped the Werewolf’s forearm to bring up a vein. As Jack prepared to plunge the needle into the Werewolf’s arm, Dal grabbed Jack’s arm.

“Jack, I can’t let you do this,” Dal said.

“Relax Dal,” Jack said grimly as he fished one of the vials from his pocket and passed it over to his friend. “Even though these bastards deserve a hot shot, that’s not what I’m giving them.”

Dal looked at the label on the vial and blinked in surprise at the words PENTOBARBITAL SODIUM. For a moment Dal had trouble placing the words and couldn’t understand why Jack was sedating the Werewolf, then his dark eyes widened in surprise. Jack pentobarbital sodium was also one of the so-called “truth” drugs. He watched as Jack slid the needle into the Werewolf’s vein and slowly pushed the plunger down. Once he had emptied the contents of the syringe into the Werewolf’s arm, Jack massaged the spot he had injected and stepped back to wait.

Neither Werewolf had spoken to anyone other than to issue threats since their arrival at the ship. The situation had pretty much pleased everyone since no one was really interested in talking to either of the Werewolves.

Dal watched as the Werewolf fixed Jack with a hateful stare that Jack matched with a cold, impassive stare of his own. After several minutes had passed, Jack broke the silence.

“It’s about time we have a little talk,” Jack said firmly and evenly. “Let’s start with your name.”

“I ain’t talkin’ to you,” the Werewolf snapped, his words slightly slurred.

“Of course you aren’t,” Jack agreed. “Now, while you’re not talking, tell us your name.”

“J-Jeff.”

“Okay Jeff, why did the Werewolves come to The City?” Jack asked.

Jeff tried to resist the urge to spill everything that he knew and failed. As Jack asked more and more questions, Jeff found it easier and easier to supply him with truthful answers. He told about the Werewolves being an elite terror unit of the Brotherhood, he named each of the Werewolf lairs and gave their locations, he named Prometheus as the leader of the Werewolf unit, and he told about how Gull planned to meet the Werewolves at the rendezvous point.

Jack stiffened when he heard the Enforcer leader’s name. “Gull is going to be there?”

“Sure,” Jeff slurred, drooling all over himself. “The Werewolves report direkly to Gull…”

“Why were the Werewolves sent to The City to kill and maim people?” Jack demanded.

Jeff giggled and snorted. He looked at Jack as if the small genius were the stupidest person on earth. “T’ soften The City up, o’ course,” Jeff said. “Don’ know when the big attack is comin’ but we … we gonna hit The City lotsa times before the big move … th’ Leader is gonna roll right over this place.”

Satisfied that he had gotten useful information from Jeff, Jack left the room and sat down at the desk in the main office to write out his notes. He turned the computer on and brought up the word processor and began typing away. Dal leaned against the desk behind Jack and marveled at Jack’s recall ability. Jack was writing down everything that Jeff had told them verbatim. Once he had everything written down, Jack saved the file before printing it out. But Dal noticed that Jack didn’t print everything – he omitted the references to the Werewolves meeting with Gull outside The City.

“What are you going to do with the printout?”

“I’m going to organize a wolf hunt,” Jack said. “I need to get a couple of hours of sleep – can you have someone take messages to Zoot and some of the other Tribe Leaders for me?”

Dal looked from the printout to Jack’s face and suddenly understood. Jack was arranging for the hunters to become the hunted. Secrecy had been their greatest weapon; Jack was going to strip them of almost every secret that he had learned. “Okay, what I don’t understand is why you don’t give them everything and let them know about the rendezvous, too.”

“Who’s going to be waiting for the Werewolves there?” Jack asked coldly.

“That Gull Enforcer guy,” Dal said. His voice trailed off, leaving his mouth hanging open as the name Gull finally clicked in his mind. Gull wasn’t just one of the Brotherhood – he was the one who actually performed all the tortures that he and Jack had been forced to repair. “What are you going to do with him once you get him?”

Jack fished one of the vials from his shirt pocket and held it up like it was a rare gem. “Pump him as full of stuff like this as possible and wring every single secret from him,” Jack said. “With that information we can take down The Leader and after that, Gull will go on trial.” Jack yawned and checked the time. “Look, it’s almost seven – let me have three hours of sleep.”

“I think you need a lot more than that,” Dal said.

“Probably, but three will do me,” Jack countered. “We don’t have the luxury of a lot of time, so I’ll have to settle for what I can get.”

“You’re right,” Dal admitted. “How long do you think it will take to round the remaining Werewolves up?”

“With any luck, they’ll all be captured today,” Jack said. “If not, it shouldn’t take more than a day or two to have them on the run and put an end to their reign of terror.”

A little over three hours later Jack slowly made his way down the gangway to the tables by the food vendors. He took his place at the head table and waited for all of the Tribe leaders to take their places. Most had expected to find Bray chairing the meeting, not the pipsqueak who stood at the head of the table looking so smug.

“Yer messenger sez you got sumtin t’ say about them Werewoofs,” an angry-looking young man with a tall parrot-green Mohawk snarled.

“And you are?” Jack asked.

“An’ yew are?” The angry Tribe leader mimicked. “Name’s Hatchet an’ I’m da man leadin’ the Demon Dogs now.”

“Oh hell!” Zoot laughed sarcastically. “Not another incarnation of that Tribe – what the fuck do we have to do to bury you lot once and for all?”

Hatchet pushed back from the table, reaching for a blade as he sprang to his feet. “Sit down! Sit down!” Jack shrieked angrily. “We’ve got other, more serious problems facing us with the Werewolves running loose and attacking anyone they choose.”

“Jack’s right,” Zoot said. “I was just pulling your leg, Hatchet. Didn’t mean no harm.”

Hatchet glared from Jack to Zoot and then around the table to the nearly two dozen Tribe leaders and then gave Zoot a slow head bob as an indication that he had accepted the apology. Hatchet looked up to Jack. “So, say whacha gotta say,” he mumbled.

Jack looked slowly around the table. A couple of the Tribe leaders gave him almost imperceptible nods of support. Others glared at him, making their judgements of his abilities based on his size – that didn’t bother him, it was their mistake to underestimate him. “Most of us have been hurt by these Werewolves,” Jack said as murmurs of assent broke out. “What would you say if I could tell you where you’ll probably be able to find them right now?”

Snake Eyes, the new leader of Tribe Circus looked up at Jack and shook his head. “Man, I know you can do some pretty awesome stuff, but I didn’t think fortune tellin’ is one of ‘em,” he said.

Jack smiled and bowed towards Snake Eyes. “It has nothing to do with fortune telling,” Jack said. “It has everything to do with having a Werewolf prisoner and interrogating him.”

Everyone around the table began shouting and talking at the same time. The news that Jack and the Shiprats had a prisoner was a shock to them. Various Tribes demanded that the prisoner be turned over to the immediately to pay for the crimes the Werewolves had committed.

Jack waited until everyone quieted down before speaking again, “We’re keeping the prisoner – so that discussion is closed…”

“How can you be sure he didn’t lie to you?” Zoot asked.

“He couldn’t,” Jack said simply. “I have certain resources that make it impossible for him to lie to me. He told everything he knew.” Jack bent over to retrieve a cardboard box from the ground under the table. He began passing out his printed notes from the interview with Jeff. The leaders scanned the notes, devouring the information they contained.

“What do you want for this? Nobody gives anything for free,” Zoot said.

“I’d like to have Prometheus – the leader of the Werewolves turned over to me,” Jack said. “But, I’m not making that a stipulation for sharing the information. Besides, you already have the material so it’s a bit late for me to make any demands. I would appreciate it if Prometheus, the Werewolf leader were turned over to me…”

“For what?” Zoot demanded.

“To be held for a public trial,” Jack said.

“Why waste time with a trial?” Zoot asked. “He’s gonna die trial or no.”

“Probably,” Jack agreed.

Zoot stood and gave Jack’s face a friendly pat, “Don’t give up trying to civilize the rest of us,” he laughed. “You might even succeed. But, not this time. If we can find the Werewolves, they die – it’s that simple. I plan to hang each of the Werewolves outside of the Inferno for everyone to see. I plan on being the first to kill a Werewolf.”

“Settle for Number Two,” Ryan said from behind Zoot.

Zoot spun and stared at Ryan. He extended his riding crop and poked Ryan in the chest with it. “You?” He asked in wonder. “You killed a Werewolf? I’m impressed.”

Ryan shook his head. “No, not me,” he said slowly. “But Jack did.”

Zoot almost fell over when he heard Ryan’s words. He turned and stared at Jack with open awe and slight admiration. “Now I am really impressed,” he said slowly. “You might just succeed in civilizing this town after all.”

“That would be nice, but I’ll settle for a town where people are safe to walk the streets and the Tribes cooperate with each other for mutual benefit,” Jack said.

Jack remained at the head of the table until the last of the Tribe leaders had gone, then he turned to leave and found Ryan’s hand planted against his chest. “Uh huh, Dal warned me that you might try taking off all by yourself,” Ryan said.

“Look, I do plan to go somewhere, but I swear that I’ll be back today,” Jack said. “I just need some supplies.”

“Then I’ll drive you wherever you need to go,” Ryan said. “But, you’re not going anywhere without me. Just think of me as your friendly neighborhood shadow.”

Jack stared hard at Ryan who unconcernedly returned Jack’s stare. Finally, he shrugged and capitulated. “Okay you win – do you think you can find the quickest way to the old zoo?”

“Sure, that’s not a problem,” Ryan said. “But why do you want to go there? All the animals are dead or long gone.”

“If you’re going to try and catch a Gull, what better place to go for the right equipment than the zoo?” Jack smiled.

To Be Continued….