Awakening Exile

By Michael A. Burt

With Ravenwood out of the picture, Decan returns to the Den. Suspicions are on the rise when a berserker finds its way into the Brute's lair, and tears clan members apart. Tensions rise as Idle Awakening nears completion, and an alliance is proposed. With HAVOC attacking in full view of the public, no one knows what to think. The Brutes can feel it in the air, the end of the war is near.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael A. Burt
• Release date: Jul 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476310381

Michael A. Burt

Last year I started writing submissions for the Creepy Podcast, and they accepted quite a few of them. I decided to publish these stories in volumes, but as I continued to write, the stories began to get longer than the word capacity for the podcast. Most of the stories in Volume II are longer than they appear in the podcast. All of Volume III will be longer than what is on the podcast.

Book preview

Awakening Exile

By

Michael A. Burt.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

. . . . .

PUBLISHED BY:

Michael A. Burt at Smashwords

Awakening Exile

Copyright © 2012 Michael A. Burt

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Adult Reading Material

Table Of Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

AWAKENING EXILE

Light shines down on him from the ceiling light, but he doesn’t notice. His vision is tainted with black and reds. That’s all he sees. A tunnel of vision starts from the center and works its way out to a blur around the edges. It makes him mad, everything does. His mind is on one thing alone.

Killing…

He feels it like a drug coursing through his veins to reach his heart. A fine tremble starts in like it always does. The emotion is too raw for words, too primal for understanding. It takes over his mind in a rush that comes and goes, but while it’s here it feels like the only thing he’s ever known.

Rage…

They did this to him. He used to be a normal guy. Wife and two kids, job that sucked, but it could’ve been worse. Volunteering for this detail was a mistake he can’t remember, but that’s how it started. There was a time when he could feel something else, but that was so long ago. Now all he knows is the rage. An obsession with destruction and chaos. It’s the only thing he can think about, the only thing he knows.

He’s aware of movement around him. Others like him in the cages to right and left. They all want the same thing, need the same sensation to satisfy the craving deep inside. Tearing flesh from bone, the wet pop of a limb pulled from the joint, the bitter-sweet metallic taste of blood running down their throats. If he could ever have an ally, they would be it.

Someone, one of the white coats that periodically show themselves, stands in front of the bars. If he could get through he would tear that white coat and everything inside to pieces. Dark shadows fly around his vision and dance with the white coat. His eyes take on a hardness as the coat moves closer to the bars. He could reach through and pull that coat into his cell piece by piece, but he waits. If he’s lucky they will open the cage and let him out to play. It’s been such a long time since he got to play.

The madness is much too far gone for him to understand what the coat is saying. Recognition of the speech is beyond him. For all he knows the person could be talking about killing him like a dog in the street. No one likes them, they all fear them. He can smell it like a fine meal being prepared for a special event. It makes his mouth water. If he can, he’ll take a bite of that fear and roll it around his mouth before swallowing just so he can take another bite.

Frank? the coat asks. Frank, can you hear me? The man looks at the coat and cocks his head sideways with a puzzled expression. He can’t understand her, but he doesn’t need to. Everything he needs to know is in the smell of her. My god, what have they done to you? She moves closer to the cage door, but not within reach. We’ve got to get you out of there, Frank. I’ve got a friend that can help us get out. Draven won’t be able to experiment on you anymore. Still the man looks at her with the puzzled expression. The drug has turned his mind into something so primal there is no room for speech. No room for anything, but the urge to kill and destroy. To further its own existence with flesh and blood.

Her fear runs off her in waves of perspiration. She’s never done anything like this before, never gone against the clan in even the smallest of ways. When she learned from a friend what was going on down here she knew she had to do something. It only confirmed her need more when that same friend got killed for breaking into Sub-Level Five.

Dr. Leacocks wasn’t hard to overpower. Even for a Garou, the man is one of the weakest people in the whole Den. She took his keys and locked him in a closet. Bound and gagged with no one else allowed in this part of SL5, he won’t be a problem anymore. The last made it a lot easier to get into the containment area, no one trying to stop her or verify her status to be here. You’d think there’d be more people here for just that sort of thing. She tries for the right key and goes through six before putting the right one in the lock. She’s so happy that everything is going according to plan that she doesn’t even see the look in Frank’s eyes.

Hunger…

He’s been so hungry for so long. The last time he had any interaction with something warm and fleshy was before the cages, before the confinement. Back when he was still a man, still a member of society. Before he became a primal creature. The drug was supposed to make him better, stronger, faster, and it did. Just not the way they wanted it to.

Come on Frank, she says as she opens the cage, it’s time to go home.

He doesn’t wait. As soon as the cage is open he lunges at her with the full force of his animal. The change slips over him as an all encompassing terror fills her eyes, it fuels his unruly fire. She screams in his ear to stop, but it’s long since too late. His face elongates into a snout as his skin covers with fur. What little clothing he wore rips at the seams and falls off his changing body. Now as a seven foot tall biped wolf he lies on top of his prey as she squirms underneath for escape. Her struggle excites him, and she can feel it.

Before he begins to do what his body wants him to do he changes again. She can feel it like a tidal wave about to crash into a beach. Frank’s half wolf body gets bigger, larger than she’s ever known him to be. She breaks out in hysterics when he’s done. He’s taken on a new stage in the change, one that only a few have been able to do.

The camera’s glass eye watches without judgment as the creature known as inmate 013 becomes what Draven never thought possible. Dr. Leacocks’ creation, once a mess that feared everything, but now is pure rage. It rapes the woman Frank was married to for fifteen years. His muzzle rips her throat out as the other subjects take on the same change and howl. The dark red blood looks black against his blue fur.

ONE

It had been a long night, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be over any time soon. Instead of taking the helicopter back to the Den, Decan decided to drive the black Camaro back. This is the first time he’s come to the underground facility by car when he wasn’t blindfolded. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he drove up, but he wasn’t disappointed. From a distance the place looks just like an ordinary power plant with a three story parking structure to the left. One building stretches up six stories next to the plant and still isn’t the tallest structure. What he knows is true, but no ordinary person would know is that same building goes underground for at least another fifteen floors. The windows on the top floor overlook the desert from Draven’s office. On the roof sits the helicopter he hates so much.

Being one of the more important clan members that has to leave the Den more often than others, his parking space in the garage is close to the entrance. The structure goes underground for a few more floors since quite a few of the fifteen thousand clan members own vehicles. This way it doesn’t draw suspicion with only three floors visible.

With his duffle bag in one hand he walks over to the elevator and rides it all the way down to the bottom floor. It’s quite a long ride and by the time he reaches said floor he’s reached the point of wanting to pull out his gun and shoot the speaker. It’s been playing the same old annoying music that no one in their right mind likes. After he makes his way through the security check point he steps through the steel double doors that lead to the Den. He knows what’s on the other side, but it still unnerves him. It’s like stepping into time square in New York, minus the cars. Buildings stretch high into the air, some even reach the false night sky above and continue up. People walk the streets going from building to building. Lights shine from office windows and establishments all over. There are stores, a mall, restaurants and even a movie theatre for everyone to enjoy. It’s quite literally a small city, completely independent from the world above. If it wasn’t for the need to re-supply they would never need to venture out. Hell, they have a school for the children and a daycare center for smaller kids.

Decan shakes his head as he moves further into the city. Before he goes to see the big man to make his report he’s going to go home and clean up. His side still hurts from rolling through a wall, but he’s no longer limping. If it wasn’t for the hole in his left arm and the cuts on his cheek no one would think he just had a tussle with a skilled assassin. An assassin that was even on his level. It was a hell of a challenge with one of the most intense surprise endings he’s ever encountered.

As he makes his way across a street to his apartment building he hears a woman scream just before glass shatters into a million pieces. A second ago he was cataloging his injuries and trying to rate the level of pain he was in. He’d just escalated the number to seven. Now that seven is forgotten as he rushes over to the commotion.

He weaves around clan members who have stopped dead in their tracks looking to see what’s going on. Somewhere along the way he dropped his bag and pulled out his guns. More screaming and sounds of fighting as he gets closer. There’s a smell in the air he’s never experienced in this large a quantity.

Fear…

Everyone in this area is so scared that they’re frozen in place, like they looked Medusa in the eyes. Anyone could walk right up to them and put a bullet in their head, they wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop it. What the hell is going on? Decan makes his way around a cluster of clan members on their way to the movies when he sees it.

That can’t be. Decan says as he stands there with the rest of them. That’s not fucking possible. Raising one of the .45s Decan sights on the beast’s head and squeezes the trigger. At the sound of gun fire everyone comes out of their frozen stupor and runs.

Decan moves closer with both guns pointing at the still beast. With all the blood on the fur he tells himself it’s hard to determine, that he might be wrong. He isn’t fooling himself when he gets within spitting distance from the body. The creature, with several bodies around it with missing pieces, has blue fur. How in the hell did a Blue Wolf get in here? More importantly, who the hell is it? There are only so many Blue Wolves in the world and at least one of them is dead. He can tell that it’s a male, which is again impossible. He knows the only male Blue Wolf, and he knows that’s not him.

He lowers his guns at the sound of lots of heavy boots running his way. Better late than never, he mutters as Security Forces move in with assault weapons.

What the hell is going on? Decan asks as he puts his guns away.

I’m not at liberty to say, one of the armor clad soldiers says.

Who are you?

Lieutenant Gage, the man looks at him with scrutinizing eyes, who wants to know?

Decan reaches into his coat pocket for his wallet. It’s the first time he’s been able to do this inside the Den. Chief Morris. He flips the wallet open to show the clan ID.

My apologies. Gage says. I wasn’t aware you returned already, sir.

I just got in. Decan glances back at the body, Care to tell me what the fuck is going on here Lieutenant?

Gage moves closer to Morris so he won’t be overheard by the clan members looking on. Someone broke into SL5 and let out one of the berserkers.

Last Decan had heard about the Idle Awakening project the subjects were suffering from hyper fear. Hearing Gage call them berserkers tells Decan that the doctor has been working extra hard in the short time since he’s been away. Are you shitting me? Decan can’t even begin to wonder who would be that stupid.

I wish I was sir.

And can you tell me why this berserker is blue?

Gage looks at the body, as if seeing it for the first time. He didn’t notice on his first glance because of all the blood on the fur. That’s something I’d like to know too.

After everything Decan heard about Idle Awakening, no one told him it turned the subjects into Blue Wolves. Maybe it’s a new development, just like them being berserk. No wonder this shit’s going wrong.

Sir?

Nothing. Every Blue Wolf they’ve come across has been a berserker, a creature that has no higher function than to kill and destroy. Why Dr. Leacocks thought he could control that, Decan may never know. If this thing got out there’s a good chance he’s dead. Makes my job easier. Get this thing back down to SL5. I want a complete list of fatalities and casualties. If there’s one thing these bastards aren’t known for, it’s leaving people unharmed. He looks back at the body. Shouldn’t it have reverted back to human form by now?

That gets Lt. Gage to look back at the body as well. As if on cue the beast explodes in a flurry of movement and growls. The SF guard closest to him is flying through the air while his leg goes in another direction. Lt. Gage, Decan and a few other SF guards open fire on the creature as it rips into another person. Every bullet that is shot is silver, but the beast doesn’t register anything. Even a regular bullet hurts like hell, silver burns like a son of a bitch and the damage lasts a hell of a lot longer. This thing should be feeling something.

Decan remembers what Dr. Leacocks told him about the subjects. They have the highest threshold of pain known to Garou and they are immune to silver. The only way to stop this thing is to cause enough damage to kill it for good. As he reloads his pistols he looks around for something to help speed this up before the berserker kills everyone. A hotdog cart not far from him is what he finds.

Running over to it he opens the bottom compartment and retrieves the propane tank underneath. As he runs back Lt. Gage sees him. You know, he says as he reaches inside a pouch on his vest, I do have these. A grenade the size of a billiard ball is what he produces. Decan opens the valve on the tank, throws it at the berserker and grabs the grenade.

The berserker stops long enough to register the foul odor before something small and metal hits him in the head. He glances at Decan who is running for cover now. The beast is readying himself for a lunge after Decan when the grenade goes off.

Decan is still close enough that he’s thrown off his feet from the shock wave. He picks himself up, now rating his pain level at an eight going on nine. Looking back he sees the store the berserker was in front of, it’s on fire. The sprinkler system has been activated, but all the merchandise is ruined. Not to mention the damage done to everything in the blast radius and projectiles imbedded everywhere. He’s got one thought, I bet I’m to blame for this.

Lt. Gage picks himself up off the overturned hotdog cart. It was your bright idea to use a propane tank and a grenade.

Fucker’s dead, ain’t he? He yells back over the ringing in all their ears.

We were killing him. We didn’t need a fucking explosion. Lt. Gage shouts back.

With all the bullets in the beast it hadn’t slowed down at all. The only way to kill these things is to cause enough damage that they can’t heal themselves. By the time we accomplished that most of your team would’ve been dead.

Lt. Gage stops himself from yelling again. Technically Decan is a lot higher ranking than he is. He’ll leave Draven to speak with him about this. Whatever. He calls over the radio for emergency personnel. There are a