KYRSTY WRITES!

He felt a strong hand shove his head into the ground, and he grinded his teeth in anger. He knew he shouldn’t have come back. But there were people he cared about in the Organization- and things he needed to get. Besides, why were they attacking him? They were the ones who had sent him on that mission…
“Let him up” cooed a sultry voice from above him, and the hands dropped him onto the hard concrete. Hayden made an ‘oomph’ sound as he hit the ground, and then slowly got up onto his knees to see the Assistant Commander. A woman in her mid-thirties, she had long, black hair that she tied into a bun, letting loose strands cascade around her face. Her eyes were emerald green and were currently lit with excitement, as he soft, peachy lips curled into a malicious smile that only spelt trouble. She was dressed in a curt, neat business suit, but she was also wearing long, lace-up boots- a dominatrix if he ever saw one.
“Help him into the Infirmary. This is no way to treat an agent” she said. The hands picked him up, and he saw that they were Yale and Polowski; his two arch-nemesis’s. No wonder they’d taken the opportunity to shove his head into the floor.
Hayden brushed them off and limped toward the Infirmary by himself. He could hear them laughing behind him, but he knew the ‘comedy’ behind this wasn’t going to last very long. After all, the average conversion time was a week…
Hayden shuddered and shook his head. No. He would hold it off for as long as he could; for as long as it took to track down the bitch who had ordered that beast around and…
Hayden let out a deep breath, as he reached the door to the infirmary. He could hear Polowski and Yale chattering behind him. Grimacing and grinding his teeth, Hayden walked in.
The Assistant Commander was standing next to the nurse on duty, who happened to be Cade. The Assistant Commander had her long fingernails digging into his shoulder, the same grin still on her face.
“Now, Cade” she said gently, stroking his jaw bone. “You must not breathe a word of what you see here to anyone. You see…”
She turned to Hayden, still smiling. “The Commander wanted you terminated. But I stepped in and said ‘Oh, nooo…think of everything Ladsto has done. Plus, we have never conducted extensive research into conversions. Let’s keep him.’ So he said yes. You should be thankful, Hayden! I saved your life.”
Hayden tutted. “You speak like I’m a pet that needed to be put down” he sneered. The Assistant Director smiled.
“From this point forward, you are. Now, take a seat so Cade can treat you. Cade, to end the threat I began before, if you speak of this, you will be terminated.”
Cade went pale, and biting his lip, Hayden went and sat down on one of the Infirmary beds.
“Do you want me to pull up the leg?” asked Hayden, indicating to his bloodied pants. Cade shook his head.
“No, no, I’ll do it.”
Hayden sighed. “Alright. Just be careful.”
Cade nodded, and gently began pulling up the leg. Realizing the blood had become glued to the jeans, he grimaced.
“I’m going to have to cut them” he said. Hayden sighed, and nodded. Cade pulled out his fabric cutting scissors and began snipping away.
Snip, snip snip.
A massive claw mark, right under his knee. Hayden winced as Cade pulled the fabric off and threw it in a bucket. He began cutting to get at the next wound, and felt his blood turn cold.
But he said nothing, and kept cutting until the fabric was removed.
A massive bite mark, saliva still lingering in some places. Darkish, brown pus had begun to form around the edges.
“Fuck” he murmured, going for his medical kit, immediately recognizing what had inflicted the wound. “You know I can’t do a lot to help the bite, right?”
“I know. I never had the intention of seeking medical help” muttered Hayden. Cade sighed, and began treating the claw mark, gently disinfecting it, and then putting plaster over it.
“No point in giving you stitches. It’ll be healed in a few days” murmured Cade, as he turned to the bite.
“Brace yourself” he said, and Hayden nodded, clenching his jaw and gripping the bed sheets.
Cade carefully began cleaning around the wound, which, despite him not actually touching the wound, was sensitive to even the slightest touch. Hayden winced every time the cotton buds even came near him.
“Look at the wimp” said Yale, snickering, and Hayden immediately drew his gun and pulled the hammer. Yale took a step back in shock.
“You have no fucking idea how painful this is, you cock-munching son of a whore. Call me a wimp after you dealt with the same fucking thing. I’m sure it could be arranged.”
Yale glared at him, and then dragged Polowski out of the Infirmary, shutting the door behind him. Hayden uncocked the gun and put it away, and Cade sighed.
“Those guys have always been jerks to you, haven’t they?”
“It’s only going to get worse now, now that I’m…well…you know.”
Cade grimaced, and began cleaning the inside the wound. Hayden yelped in pain and surprise.
“Warning next time!” said Hayden, almost weeping with the pain. Cade apologised profusely, and Hayden nodded for him to continue. Cade cleaned it as well has he could, avoiding the brown pus (opening any of that would just quadruple the amount of pain Hayden was in). He put a plaster over it as well, and began cleaning up his utensils.
The Assistant Commander smiled. “Return to your quarters immediately from here. We will be checking up on you tomorrow.”
She strode out, her boots clicking, and Hayden felt his blood run cold. He knew what the Organization did to non-humans they found interesting- and he was quickly entering that category.
“I can’t believe that you, of all people…man. You weren’t even a field agent to begin with” said Cade, washing the stuff off in the sink.
“I know” muttered Hayden. “I’m 90% certain this was a set up. And I don’t care about saying that, either, because they’re going to torture me to hell and back anyway. That’s what this place does.”
“Are you going to tell Kaira?” asked Cade. Hayden sighed.
“I didn’t plan on it” he said grimly. “Imagine how she’d react. Hey, Kaira, guess what. I’m turning into a werewolf. La dee da.”
Cade raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you’d put it that way. At least, I hope you wouldn’t.”
Hayden shrugged. “Sad thing is she’d probably get all excited or something silly” he muttered, then gingerly got to his feet. Cade left the utensils behind and came over to help him.
“I’ll get you to your room, ok?” he said, with a cheerful smile. Hayden smiled back, only slightly though, and they headed to the dorms.

Hayden awoke the next morning to a knocking on his door. Groaning from a thumping headache, he clambered off the bed and staggered to his door, leaning on the frame as he opened it. Kaira was standing in the doorway, her face concerned.
“I heard you were injured last night. Are you ok?” she asked, looking genuinely worried. Hayden grimaced, rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. “I’m alright. Nothing a bit of alcohol and some healing time won’t fix.”
Big fat lie.
Kaira smiled slightly. “Well, you’ve been put off missions for a few days. The Assistant Commander told me to give you this and to meet her in the Infirmary in about half an hour.”
Hayden gritted his teeth and exhaled, taking the envelope from Kaira. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
Kaira rubbed her lips together, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “If anything’s up, you know you can tell me, right? We’re friends. More than that, we’re partners. I’d put my life on the line for you if it came down to it. So just remember you can rely on me. I’ll see you ‘round.”
Kaira walked off, leaving Hayden standing in his door way. Cussing inwardly at himself, he shut the door and sat down on his bed, opening the envelope.
“Today is an initial check-up. Cade has been put in charge of monitoring your conversion process. He is the only other Organization member who is to know of your non-human reidentification. Please refrain from informing others of the same.”
Hayden exhaled. So now he was officially not allowed to tell Kaira. Fantastic.
He read over the message again, and crumpled the paper the moment he read ‘non-human reidentification’ for the second time. What a load of bullshit!
Pain suddenly rushed through him as the wound on his leg exploded into white-hot agony. He doubled over, clutching his sides as the pain pulsed through him, his heart thudding loud and fast in his chest, every fiber of his being aching. Tears budded in his eyes as he tried to draw in desperate gasps of air, pain disabling almost all conscious thought. All he could think about was the moment of the bite, the girl’s sneering grin as the werewolf bit down into his leg…
Hayden threw himself back onto his bed as the pain- slowly but surely- began to subside, his chest heaving as he took deep breaths, staring at the ceiling. His body was left aching and sore, and his headache had just gotten worse. He crawled off the bed, his knees quaking as he stood up. He might’ve just woken up, but he felt like he’d just gotten back from a week long mission. His bed looked incredibly inviting, but knowing there were worse consequences than a ‘check-up’ if he didn’t go to the Infirmary, he staggered out his door and headed down there.
He tried to disguise his exhaustion from the other agents in the corridors. Some also looked tired, heading back to their quarters after a long mission, while others looked fresh and suited up- most likely totting desk jobs. Hayden dimly wished he could’ve kept his desk job, and would have held the thought, but he was struggling to hold onto any thoughts at all.
Hayden turned the corner into the corridor with ‘Human Services’written on a plaque above it. He wondered whether the Assistant Commander would be moving his check-ups to the ‘Non-Human Services’ corridor when he had progressed further, but the mere thought just made him angry, so he dismissed it.
He made it to the sliding door of the infirmary and leaned his head against it, the coolness of the paint soothing to his headache. He, however, was painfully aware he couldn’t just lean on the door all day, so he opened it up and stepped inside.
The only person in there was Cade, who was busily monitoring some blood samples.
“Morning” said Hayden gruffly, and Cade turned, a clipboard and pen in his arms.
“Good morning. I suppose you got the message?”
Hayden nodded and sat down on one of the beds. Unable to resist the temptation, he laid down on it and curled up.
“Didn’t you only just wake up?” asked Cade curiously. Hayden didn’t reply as his eyes began to drift shut, his breathing slowing. He closed his eyes and was immediately nursed to sleep.
A violently bang of the sliding door being shoved up caused him to immediately wake up and sit up on the bed, looking around in panic. The Assistant Commander was standing in the doorway, her arms folded with a satisfied smile.
“Did you not sleep well last night, Hayden?” she asked coolly, and he grimaced.
“Do you have to be present for the check-up?” he hissed angrily, and she nodded.
“Can’t let you run amok in human services now, can we?” she said dryly. “I’ll be moving you to non-human in four days. Enjoy the remainder of your days in the civilized section.”
Hayden let out a long breath, rubbing his forehead and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, looking over to Cade.
“Well, are we going to get this over with or what?” he asked irritably. Cade nodded and picked up a kit from the counter, taking it over to the bed.
“I have to take a blood sample first” he explained, pulling out a syringe. Hayden rolled up his sleeve and Cade found the vein in his arm, carefully extracting a syringe full of blood and putting it into a vial.
“Ok, open your mouth and say ‘ahh’” said Cade, taking out his ‘popsicle sticks’. Hayden opened his mouth as Cade placed the wooden stick on his tongue, using a small torch to conduct and inspection of his mouth. Cade’s brow furrowed slightly, and he pulled the stick out and jotted notes onto the clip board.
“Hold out your right hand” said Cade. Hayden did as he was instructed and Cade began picking over it, inspecting his palm and finger nails closely.
“Ok, I have one more thing to do up here, and then I’m going to check your bite. Watch the light as I move it.”
Cade shone the small torch in Hayden’s eyes, and he followed it as Cade moved it, wincing at the bright light. Cade moved it closer to his eye and Hayden instantly snapped his eyes shut.
“Jesus that’s bright” he groaned, rubbing his eye. Cade sighed.
“Bite time” he said sadly, and he pulled up the leg of Hayden’s pants, removing the plaster. Hayden began to wince again as Cade picked through the wound with a cotton bud, tutting every now and then. Cade reapplied the plaster and pulled the leg of his pants down.
“There’s minor signs of change” said Cade, looking at the clipboard and over to the Assistant Commander. “But nothing really major yet. We will probably start to see signs tomorrow or the day after.”
She nodded. “Very well then. We will do the same tomorrow.”
She left, slamming the door behind her as Hayden watched. The moment the sound of her high heels as disappeared down the hallway, Cade spun around to Hayden.
“What the hell, man?” he hissed, slapping the clipboard down on the bed. “What did you do?!”
“Huh?”
“Hayden, you’re already showing most major signs of lycanthropy. There’s vellus hair on your palms, your eyes react to bright lights and your teeth are definitely turning carnivore. It’s been one night.”
Hayden run his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t do anything. Nothing at all. Unless…oh, man. I know what it is.”
“What?” asked Cade.
“I had… an ‘attack’.”
Cade’s eyes widened. “You mean they’re real?”
Hayden shrugged. “I don’t know. One moment I’m reading that bitch’s note and the next I’m in absolute agony- mainly my bite. All I can think about is the moment that…thing… bit down on my leg. It didn’t last very long, but it felt like forever.”
Cade sighed. “If lycanthropic conversion really does occur through a series of ‘attacks’, it would explain the apparent changes- because you’ve now truly started the change.”
Hayden felt bile rise up in his throat and his stomach churn. He had really started to turn into a werewolf. The shock of it was really starting to sink in, and it took all the restraint he had not to start panicking.
Cade sat down on the bed opposite Hayden. “What it must be is the infection invading and changing the body. It would probably do small parts all at once. So everything is changing, but in increments.”
“That would explain the aching” muttered Hayden.
Cade nodded. “It’s already beginning to give your body the ability to transform. Resisting these attacks would probably be the best thing you can do to slow down your conversion…but it’s probably not going to help much.”
Cade folded his arms. “However…there might be something I can do. Unfortunately I’m going to have to wait until you experience another attack to see if it’s actually possible, but I might have something that will seize the invading cells up. You won’t be able to do it too many times without running the risk of stopping your heart completely, but it should dramatically slow down your conversion rate. Might even give you a few months.”
“That’s really all I can ask for” muttered Hayden.
Cade sighed. “You stay here. I’m going to go grab some breakfast for us. Anything you feel like?”
“Meat” muttered Hayden irritably. “As clichéd as it is.”
Cade sighed. “I should’ve figured. You might want to take a nap or something. I’ll go get some bacon from the cafeteria or some such.”
Hayden nodded as Cade left the infirmary, shutting the sliding door behind him. Hayden laid back down on the bed, slinging his arm over his face. He’d barely been up for half an hour and he already just felt like going to bed.
He heard the sliding door open again, and the sound of familiar sneakers.
“Kaira?”
“Hey, how’d you know it was me?” she asked brightly. Hayden sat up on the bed, grimacing.
“Lucky guess?”
She grinned, pulling out a paper bag. A paper bag that looked like it was from a liquor store.
“What are you doing, buying alcohol at this time of the morning?” asked Hayden, and she shrugged, sitting down on the bed opposite him.
“You had a headache this morning, so I thought it might help.”
Hayden looked at her, raising his eyebrow. “How’d you know I had a headache?”
Kaira rolled her eyes, pulling the bottle of expensive Irish whiskey out of the paper bag. “I’m your partner, Hayden. I can tell when you’re injured.”
Kaira grinned again, popping the bottle open and taking a swig of the golden-honey liquid. She usually drank it straight, so taking a swig like that was no big deal for her. In the line of work they were in, it was far from uncommon to rely on alcohol to get you through to the next mission. “I can also tell that your injury happens to be on your right calf. You’re good at hiding things, but I can see your limp, and you’re favouring the left leg more than usual- you usually favour your right.”
Hayden laughed in surprise. “You are good. I don’t think I’d be able to tell if you were injured.”
“Eh, it’s alright” said Kaira, shrugging. “I’m just a highly perceptive person. This sort of thing comes easily to me.”
“I suppose you’d be in the science sector if it wasn’t for getting involved in this mess” said Hayden grimly, as Kaira wiped her saliva from the bottle and handed it to Hayden, who took a hearty swig of the bottle and coughed loudly. Kaira laughed, as Hayden also wiped his saliva from the bottle- for a totally different reason to Kaira, though he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“Hey, Hayden” said Kaira. “Do you remember if lycanthropic infection can be passed in a non-transformed state?”
Hayden jumped on the bed, startled by her question. “N-no, I don’t recall” he said, a little too quickly. Kaira raised her eyebrow, and shrugged.
“I think it’s a no, but I’ll have to ask Cade. Management said there’s a possibility they might be allowing well-behaved and prior assessed werewolves to participate on missions. I think it’s ‘cause we have a bit of an overload of them in UNDERGROUND, but hey, we both know what happens to agents who question the system, so I can’t ask.”
Hayden nodded, trying to calm his fluttering heart. He’d thought she’d figured him out already. Although he was planning on telling her, he didn’t want her to know now. Especially not with the Assistant Commander saying he wasn’t allowed to tell any other agents. He didn’t want Kaira on the same blacklist he was on.
The sliding door slid open and Cade walked in, carrying cafeteria food. He started slightly at the sight of Kaira, but smiled before she noticed.
“Hey, Kaira” he said, walking inside and handing Hayden several foam containers of bacon and two egg and sausage muffins.
“Thanks, Cade” said Hayden, and he took a big bite out of one of the muffins. Kaira chuckled at the sight of his food.
“Ye olde meat craving. I know how that feels” she said cheerfully. “Man, I certainly woke up on the right side of the bed today. Hey, Cade!”
Cade turned around with a mouthful of pancake. “Yush?”
“Do you remember if lycanthropic infection can be transferred in a non-transformed state?”
Cade almost spat the pancake out, choked on it for a few seconds before swallowing hard, coughing. “Why do you ask?” he choked out, massaging his throat.
“Oh, I think management is planning to make some werewolves agents. I mean, it wouldn’t make a lot of difference to the usual order of things. They don’t let most agents out on full moons. Not the ones who would live through a conversion, at least.”
Cade coughed, still hurting from the swallow. “The answer to your question is no. A werewolf has to be fully transformed to pass on infection.”
“Heh, cool” said Kaira, smiling broadly. “Means we can all have a drink after a mission. That’s all I wanted to know. Thanks!”
Kaira took another drink from the bottle and handed it to Hayden, before walking out of the infirmary. Both Hayden and Cade were left speechless, staring at the door.
“Do you think she was asking because she knows about me?” asked Hayden nervously.
Cade shook his head in wonder. “I have no idea. That girl is as unreadable as War and Peace.”
Hayden sighed, taking another big bite out of the muffin. “This sausage is so processed it’s barely meat any more. You’d think they’d have better food at an establishment where the slightest misstep could get you terminated” said Hayden, and then he rolled his eyes. “Or get you turned into a werewolf. ‘From now on you are a pet dog that needs to be put down’. Stupid bitch.”
Hayden grumbled under his breath, using a plastic fork to pick at the bacon. Cade sighed loudly, taking a seat at his desk and beginning to compile two files. Hayden watched curiously, figuring he had nothing better do to, as he chewed on a rasher of bacon.
“What’s that?” asked Hayden, after he’d swallowed. Cade let out a long breath.
“It’s your file.”
Hayden grimaced. All non-humans in the Organization had to immediately have a file created with their details. All agents had one, too, but they were strictly guarded by the higher ups- as far as Hayden recalled, no agent had ever gotten access to his own files.
“Do you want to know something?” said Cade, and Hayden shrugged, shoving a forkful of bacon into his mouth.
“Since you’ve been reclassified, guess what I was issued?” said Cade slyly, holding up a manila folder. Hayden swallowed loudly and stared at it, his mouth agape.
“That isn’t what I think it is, is it?” he asked. Cade grinned and held the manila folder out to him as Hayden jumped off the bed, pulling it out of his hand and opening it up.
“I never thought I’d see this thing” said Hayden breathlessly, flicking through it. His bio, medical records, dental records, genetic anomalies, every mission report he’d ever written- it was all here. Hayden pulled out his bio and began to read it out loud.
“Ladsto is a highly intelligent young man, however, he has a behavioral tendency to investigate anomalies. As such, Ladsto was transferred to field work as of the 3rd of November, 2009.”
Hayden reread the date, raising his eyebrows. “I wasn’t transferred to the field until the 7th of January, 2010. Why is it listed as November?”
“That’s a good question” said Cade, reading over another file. Hayden looked at it, recognizing the layout.
“That’s a termination form” said Hayden, eyeing it suspiciously. Cade nodded.
“More accurately, it’s an order to be terminated. It was issued two weeks ago. However, Ms. Assistant Commander overrode the termination form and assigned you to that mission the night before, fully aware that you’re not supposed to be on werewolf related missions due to being assessed as a human who would survive a lycanthropic conversion.”
Hayden grimaced. “So she planned this, huh?”
Cade exhaled. “It was either you get bitten, or you get terminated. The werewolf probably would’ve killed you if it hadn’t successfully infected you, so it was basically a clean sweep sending you on that mission.”
“And I walked right into it” said Hayden angrily, sitting down on the bed. “’Moron’ would probably be the correct term right about now.”
Cade shook his head, and walked over, pulling the file out of Hayden’s hands. “There’s something more important here than that mission.”
Hayden gently grabbed his arm, worried about hurting him, and pulled him from returning to his desk. “Why are you helping me, Cade? You know they’ll terminate you, right?”
“I’m already blacklisted, Hayden” said Cade. “That’s why Assistant Commander issued the order for you not to tell anyone about your infection. Once you get transferred to non-human, I’ll fall off the map. And the moment they’re done with you…well.”
Cade grimaced and folded his arms. “There’s something more going on here. It’s bigger than the both of us- probably bigger than anything seen in the last two thousand years.”
Hayden raised his eyebrows. “Are you serious?”
Cade sat down at his desk. “I think mentioning any more here will definitely get me killed, so let’s move back to what I was going to tell you. Do you want to know why you were black listed and ordered to be terminated in the first place?”
“Yeah, I’d like to know what I did to get myself a spot on the non-human catalogue” said Hayden irritably. Cade exhaled, pulling out the termination order.
“’Agent is too close to a specimen of interest to us.’” he read out loud. “At first I thought they were talking about Jackson- you know, since you were friends with him- but I ran the I.D code they provided with the termination order and I didn’t even get a non-human listing.”
“What?” spluttered Hayden. “I was given a termination order because I was too close to a human?”
“Not just any human” said Cade, pulling out the I.D page, the only page provided with I.D codes. He held it up, and Hayden stared at the familiar photograph. It was Kaira.
“I was to be terminated for being too close to Kaira?!” he shouted, getting to his feet. Cade indicated for him to be a little quieter, but Hayden’s fuse had been lit now, and there was never any dousing of that flame.
“They were the ones who partnered me up with her!” spat Hayden, slamming his hand down onto the desk. “The moment I got transferred to field work!”
Hayden stopped suddenly, his mouth dropping open, and he picked up his bio page again.
“I just realized why the 3rd of November date is familiar” he said in shock, running his hands through his hair. Cade stared, waiting for an explanation.
“It was the date that Kaira was sent her invitation to the Organization” he murmured, dumbstruck. “This…it didn’t start now. They had planned for me to be terminated from the moment I was transferred from tech! I was the scapegoat given to partner up with Kaira, because they always intended to terminate!”
Hayden slumped back down on the bed, speechless. Cade looked at his notes, not sure what to say.
“What the hell is going on, Cade?” said Hayden, shaking his head. “This isn’t what the Organization should be doing. We’re meant to be protecting people from what’s out there. The things that go bump in the night. Not…concocting elaborate plans and terminating innocent people.”
“I don’t know what to tell you” said Cade numbly. “This whole thing…it has something to do with Kaira. Everything. Kaira is the center of this.”
“And she probably doesn’t even know” muttered Hayden.
Cade exhaled. “I’m going to do some digging into this. Try and get the truth before I lose all my access privileges. Meanwhile…”
Cade handed Hayden a list of names, all of which he recognized as Cade grinned slyly.
“What’s this?” asked Hayden, staring at the list. Yale and Polowski were on there, along with a couple of other names. Kaira’s was absent, but Cade’s was present.
“I thought our resident infectee should have a list of which agents in his unit will survive a lycanthropic conversion” said Cade, threading his fingers together and spinning a little on his desk chair. “Just in case you decided to live up to that threat you gave those bozos the other night.”
Hayden stared at him for a few moments, and then glanced back at the list. “I never would have pegged you for the type.”
“Couldn’t agree more” said Cade, leaning back in his chair. “According to the assessment, apparently, if I hadn’t been pegged down for a job in science when I was still a teen I probably would’ve been infected by now. Quite frankly I think that’s a load of crap, but that’s what they told me. I have the ‘ideal lycanthropic physique’.”
Hayden chuckled slightly. “They gave me a similar assessment. I was kind of proud of it at the time, but right now I wish I’d been assessed the opposite- that I’d die from the bite.”
Hayden winced, clenching his teeth. Cade’s eyes immediately became concerned.
“Are you ok?” he said, walking over to him. Hayden shook his head, his eyes tightly shut with pain, before doubling over and moaning.
Cade immediately rushed back to his desk and grabbed a syringe he had prepped, before running back over to Hayden, who was still hunched over, gasping from the agonizing pain he was in.
“Hayden, you need to give me your arm” said Cade gently. Trembling, he held it out, and Cade quickly took a blood sample before Hayden moaned again and used both his arms to cover his head, trying to block out the room, the pain, everything. Again, images from the moment he was infected flashed before his eyes, but this time they were coupled with images of everyone else he cared about- it was like they were all being taken away from him, all because of that girl, that werewolf, the curse, the Organization itself.
Without warning Hayden snarled loudly from under his arms, causing Cade took instinctively take a step back. However, when Hayden looked up, slowly, his breathing had calmed down, and his eyes were full of sadness, rather than pain. He took a deep gasp of breath and lay down on the bed, rolling over.
“That was definitely an ‘attack’” said Cade, flicking the syringe lightly. “I think I got enough to assess whether I’ll be able to halt these attacks in their tracks.”
“Please do” mumbled Hayden. “This is the worst thing I have ever experienced. Ever. Nothing, nothing could possibly come close.”
“I don’t want them progressing any further than you do, Hayden” said Cade, taking the syringe over to his work station, where he placed a few drops onto a petri dish.
“You weren’t feeling that pain, Cade” sighed Hayden.
“No, but you did snarl at me” he quipped, adjusting the microscope’s magnification. Hayden sat up on the bed, his expression terrified.
“I did what?”
“Well, not at me” admitted Cade. “You had covered your head with your arms. But it felt like it was directed at me. I am the only person in the room, y’know.”
Hayden exhaled, chewing on his lip. “I wasn’t snarling at you. I was snarling at the idea of losing everything.”
Cade spun around on his chair. “Losing everything?”
“Namely my humanity…but what about my parents? I can never see them again. I mean, it’s not like I visit often, but I’m not going to be able to face them now. Then there’s you guys. It’s been a day and I’m already starting to scare you. Who knows what I’ll be like in a few days…tomorrow, even…and Kaira. Oh man, Kaira. There’s some things she’s said to me that make me absolutely sure she’ll be fine with it, but…almost every friend she’s had since her brother died hasn’t been human. I think it’s beginning to make her wonder.”
Cade exhaled and went back to his microscope, unable to think of anything to say. Hayden chewed on his lip a little before laying back down, curling up and drifting to sleep.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been when Cade shook his shoulder to wake him up. Either way, he felt a lot better. Hayden sat up on the bed, rubbing his eye.
“What is it?” he mumbled tiredly. Cade proudly held up an epi-pen, and Hayden stared at it in confusion.
“I’m not epileptic.”
“Man, I’m still the resident head of infirmary. Of course I know you’re not epileptic” retorted Cade in exasperation. “It’s a modified epi-pen. One of your attacks start up, jab it into your leg and it’ll seize it in its tracks.”
“Oh, you have no idea how cool you are right now” said Hayden in awe, taking the epi-pen from him. Cade breathed out through his nose, putting his hands in his pockets.
“You can’t do it too often though. Unless you want to kill yourself- which in that case I wouldn’t really blame you…”
Cade sat down on the same bed as Hayden, looking glum. “I assessed the activity of your cells during that attack, and…well.”
“Well what?” asked Hayden.
“What the attacks are…they’re doing what I said they were. You know, changing you increments. The thing is that the activity almost perfectly mirrored what happens to a fully converted werewolf on full moon or during a transformation. If my assessment is correct, the conversion from human to werewolf occurs through a series of minute preliminary transformations- which is probably why it’s so painful. I suspect that in later stages of development, if we don’t throw the attacks off through that epi-pen or other distractions we may see physical change as well.”
“So…partially turning into a werewolf…? But what does that have to do with me only being able to use this pen occasionally rather than every time?”
“Lycanthropic infection invades every single cell in the human body. I don’t mean just your blood cells- every minute part of your flesh is infected. So there’s no way to physically isolate lycanthropic cells because all of it is lycanthropic. What that epi-pen does is it induces the cells to seize up and introduces a relaxant to stop the activity. So, quite literally, this epi-pen does the opposite of a regular epi-pen- it creates a seizure. Use it too often, and it will result in permanent brain damage or even death. In a regular human it would do exactly that with even one use.”
“So how do you know it’s not going to do it to me?” asked Hayden suspiciously, and Cade stood up and placed his hands on his hips.
“Pull up the leg of your pants. Right leg” he instructed. Hayden did as he was told. Rather than bearing a claw and bite mark, like it had the night before, the claw mark had become mere scratches. The bite wound was still an eerily present reminder of what was happening inside him.
“Rapid cellular regeneration” explained Cade. “Fully developed werewolves can heal from minor wounds in mere seconds while major ones, possibly a few days. Since all your cells have been converted to lycanthropic, the rapid cellular regeneration has already tagged along for the ride- meaning they will recover from an induced seizure.”
“If all my cells are lycanthropic, then why…isn’t the conversion instantaneous?” asked Hayden. Cade shrugged.
“I said all your cells were infected. They’re not fully converted. I compared your blood sample with one of the UNDERGROUND werewolf samples we have and noticed distinct differences. Mainly that your cells are still mostly human. As the conversion progresses, similarities with the werewolf blood from down below will increase, until you’re no longer human at all- in every way except your appearance.”
Hayden grimaced, fishing for the bottle of alcohol Kaira had brought in with his hand, pulling it up and popping the lid, taking a swig from it. “Comforting.”
*
Despite telling himself he wouldn’t repeatedly after returning to his dorm from the Infirmary, that night Hayden found himself wandering to the entrance of UNDERGROUND. He slid his access card through the terminal, and the elevator opened up with a beep. He shuffled into the stainless steel elevator and pressed the little glowing red ‘3’. Immediately, the elevator shifted and began to rapidly move down into the lower floors.
Within every city the Organization occupied, which was most cities over three hundred thousand inhabitants and any towns with registered paranormal activity, were usually several smaller docking points and the central hub. Every single one had an UNDERGROUND, always with at least three levels. There were specific, expendable agents charged with managing UNDERGROUND facilities who resided on the second level, and the most highly trained, dangerous agents patrolled the first level. The third level and below housed any creature declared too precious or invincible to be filed under the Organization’s clean, safe ‘terminate everything that moves in a non-specified manner’ policy. More dangerous specimens often were transferred to the central hub from any docking points due to the presence of more agents. Hayden and on extension Kaira had always been based at Auckland’s hub, so there were a lot of dangerous critters in the UNDERGROUND- some of which were more pleasant to be around than the Organization’s employees, which really doesn’t need to be explained.
The elevator made a low dinging sound and opened up, revealing corridors washed with fluorescent blue light. It was past lights out for the creatures in the UNDERGROUND, which had an advanced light system that corresponded to the sunrise and sunset above.
Hayden turned right and headed down the corridor. He’d walked this path several times, enough that he’d lost count. A few years back, he’d been the one to bring in a particularly dangerous subject. Rather than just plain resisting his arrest, he requested that Hayden, specifically, come and converse with him whenever he had the time, which Hayden had obliged to. It wasn’t really a friendship, more like a stalemate- he’d been put in UNDERGROUND for a reason, and there was no way he could harm Hayden within his constraints. Still, he was pleasant to talk to, at times, as long as the food and the company in UNDERGROUND had been decent, and he’d been civil enough to know that Hayden bringing him in was him just doing his job, nothing personal.
Hayden reached his door and opened it up with his own key. He flicked on the dim lights to find him sprawled out on his cot, reading a women’s magazine, oddly enough. The cell itself was padded cushion and soft carpet, besides the large bars out the front. Below were solid walls designed to keep him from escaping- which he easily could if that measure wasn’t in place.
He looked up, and a grin spread over his face. “Hayden! It’s been a month!”
“Nice to see you, Ezekiel” said Hayden quietly, sitting down at the seat in front of the criss cross bars of Ezekiel’s cell. Ezekiel sat forward on his cot, eager to talk.
“The unit that I was given were a bunch of greens this month” said Ezekiel, shaking his head. “Terrified from start to finish. The higher ups must be losing their minds.”
“You have no idea” said Hayden, shaking his head in despair. “There’s something big going on. I can’t really talk about it, but I’ve been caught right in the middle of whatever’s happening.”
“It’s got something to do with Kaira, right?” said Ezekiel. “She sounds like trouble. Did she get offed?”
Hayden shook his head and Ezekiel exhaled.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you, actually.”
Hayden looked at him, raising his eyebrows. “And what’s that?”
“The other night…full moon. There was a mission conducted. I told the Organization about a specific werewolf who was being forced outside of his will. I don’t like any of my brethren being hurt, so I told them where he was to try and get them to kill that stupid bitch who’s using him like an attack dog. I wasn’t told how the mission went…do you know?”
Hayden almost laughed. Almost. It had been a tip off from Ezekiel that had gotten him his present predicament, huh? No…the Organization had just found the mission in question convenient. Ezekiel barely knew about anything besides the condition of his pack, and was usually quite vocal about it, too. Nothing out of the ordinary.
“Let’s just say it didn’t go well” murmured Hayden tiredly.
Ezekiel leaned on the wall behind his cot. “Dammit. She’s more of a problem than I anticipated.”
He sighed. “There’s been a lot of rumors flying around here lately. They’ve been asking some of the wolves if they’d be interested as working as agents, that sort of thing. And I hear they’re planning to move Abel.”
Hayden raised his eyebrows again. He’d heard things about Abel- like he was incredibly dangerous, volatile, and hard to keep sedated. Moving him…
“To where?” he asked.
Ezekiel shrugged. “I think another part of UNDERGROUND. I dunno. You’re the agent, here.”
Hayden chuckled. “I don’t think that’s going to last very long, to be perfectly honest.”
Ezekiel looked at him suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing. Just a feeling.”
Ezekiel grimaced, sitting back down on his cot. “Anything of interest upstairs? Any earthquakes? How’d your team go in the…whatever sport you’re into?”
Hayden smiled. “Nothing really major. Some tremors down near Hastings, but that’s about it. My team did very well- advancing to the prelims.”
Hayden let out a long sigh, scratching his head. Ezekiel stood up and walked to the bars, tilting his head in a curious manner.
“Have they been doing blood tests lately?” he asked, and Hayden glanced down at his arm, where a large purple bruise was clearly evident. Hayden shrugged.
“General stuff.”
“Hmm” said Ezekiel, moving his nose from side to side as he thought. He glanced down at the leg of Hayden’s pants, folding his arms.
“I could’ve sworn…no. They wouldn’t…tch.”
Hayden leaned forward, smiling slightly. He knew it wouldn’t take Ezekiel long. And it was even faster than he’d anticipated- probably because the werewolf who’d taken a chunk out of his leg was one of Ezekiel’s own.
“My mission the other day was a doozy” said Hayden casually.
“Aren’t you restricted from doing full moon missions?” asked Ezekiel, rubbing his chin.
“I didn’t say it was full moon.”
Ezekiel rolled his eyes. “We both know you’re talking about a full moon mission…unless. They didn’t. You…they didn’t send you on that mission with the bitch involved, did they?”
Hayden scratched his chin as Ezekiel ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s suicide.”
“The Organization…might have been trying to terminate me.”
Ezekiel folded his arms. “If you really did get sent on that mission, you shouldn’t be alive right now. He would’ve torn you to shreds.”
Ezekiel stood there for a moment, before his mouth slid open slightly and he turned to face Hayden, his face full of shock.
“Unless he…he didn’t. Not you. No way…no way. Really? Really?! They can’t have been that stupid!”
Ezekiel sniffed the air and kicked the bars. “For fuck’s sake, they did. I can’t believe this.”
Hayden nodded a little. “You and me both.”
Ezekiel shook his head, sitting down heavily on his cot. “So they really...? You’re…Jesus. I can’t believe my own nose. Show me.”
Hayden looked at him incredulously and Ezekiel grimaced. “The bite, you moron.”
“Oh…”
Hayden lifted up the right leg of his pants and Ezekiel hit his head into the wall behind him. “I am so sorry, kid. If I hadn’t told them about that werewolf…”
“I’d be dead right now” murmured Hayden. “The only reason I’m still around is because they want to conduct research into conversions.”
“Are you serious?” asked Ezekiel, standing back up. “You’ve got to run, kid. I’m not kidding. Their ‘research’ will break you in half. They don’t show any kindness once you’re classified non-human. By Ares’s balls, they don’t show any kindness to humans, either! They will push you to your very limit and beyond it- try to prematurely get you to transform, mess with your instincts, everything. You have to run.”
“I am not running until I get some proper answers” spat Hayden. “I was ordered to be terminated because of Kaira. I want to know why. I want to know what’s going on.”
“This is the Organization, kid! You’re not going to get any answers- just your death.”
“One of my other friends is blacklisted for no apparent reason, and who knows how many others for being too close to Kaira. I’m not the type to sit around and let the people I care about be mulched!”
“Neither am I!” spat Ezekiel. “And I am telling you from personal experience; do not let yourself become the Organization’s chew toy! Don’t let them give you any chew toys either. How many have you had already? Two? Three? Humans have natural predatory, nasty instincts, and they only get ten times worse with what’s happening to you. How long do you think it’s going to be before they can set them off with a couple of drops of human blood? How long before the monster just takes over? Hayden…”
Ezekiel sat down on his cot, his shoulders sagging. “It isn’t easy. It will never be easy. The easy route is letting yourself die. When it takes over…there is no reason, no logic, no mercy, no morals. It’s blind, instinctive, simple. It’s not going to factor in that you care about someone, or that you have a ‘plan’. The first and foremost goal will always be to stay fed. And you have no idea what the hunger will get like. You cannot even imagine. The Organization will play on it. They will starve you. They will cut and tear at you like tissue paper to set you off and then just record the findings, because you’re nothing to them. Expendable. Always have been.”
Hayden grimaced, and Ezekiel looked at the floor, wringing his hands. “I feel like you’re my responsibility, and always have been. That’s why I wanted to talk to you and only you. You were…your body has been geared for this your whole life, which is probably why they decided to use you as a subject. But that won’t make it easier. I wanted…I would’ve liked for this to happen to you somewhere where you’re surrounded by people who do care. Who know the pain and want to help you…”
Hayden felt his mouth slide open slightly. “You were planning to bite me from the beginning, weren’t you?”
Ezekiel sighed. “I told you. You’ve been geared for this your whole life. Some people are just naturally drawn to it- it’s rare that those people don’t end up totting the fur coat eventually. I have a good group, where I am. We nurture newborns like any human would do with a child- most packs do, but we tend to not throw them out once they’re independent. It wouldn’t have been for a while, yet. Not until you were fully separated from your parents. I was going to tell you about my plan next month. I thought you were ready. I guess the Organization did, too.”
“I’m not ready for this” mumbled Hayden. “I’m terrified. I’m scared out of my mind, and every second that passes just makes me more afraid. How am I supposed to deal with something like this? Knowing that I’m going to lose everything…”
“That feeling is mutual in every conversion, Hayden” said Ezekiel, nodding. “You’d be weird not to feel like you were losing everything. It’s the body’s natural reaction to changing species.”
“That isn’t reassuring, Ezekiel. Not in the slightest.”
Ezekiel sighed again, leaning back on the wall. “How’s Cade?”
Hayden looked up, his eyes widening. “I haven’t even mentioned Cade.”
“But he’s involved, right?”
Hayden nodded. “He’s the one in charge of overseeing my conversion. He’s the one who’s blacklisted. Once I get reclassified he’ll fall off the map, apparently.”
Ezekiel chuckled. “So that’s what they told you.”
Hayden’s eyebrows furrowed, becoming confused. “You aren’t talking about his werewolf assessment results, are you?”
“I might be” said Ezekiel mysteriously. “I just want you to watch out for anyone you’re close to. Kaira can handle herself, but the rest…they may be more deeply involved than you think.”
“I don’t like the sound of that” muttered Hayden irritably.
“Nobody does” retorted Ezekiel. “Anyway, I think you should head back to your dorm. You’re at a very vulnerable stage right now and you need your rest.”
Hayden tutted, standing up. “Don’t think this’ll be the last time we’ll be talking about this.”
“I’m counting on it being the first of many times” said Ezekiel slyly. “Come any time you have questions. I’ll be willing to answer. I still stick by my advice on running as far from here as you can, though.”
“Over my dead body.”
“It’ll probably end up that way” said Ezekiel solemnly. Hayden didn’t reply, flicking off the light switch and closing the door behind him.
Hayden walked through the corridors and back up to the elevator. He slid his access card through the terminal, but rather than beeping and going green, it flashed red and displayed ‘Restricted Access’.
Hayden raised an eyebrow, hoping it was a one-off glitch, and slid his card through again. He got the same result, and this time, he violently kicked the door of the elevator and swore loudly.
“The bastards revoked my access!” he cursed loudly. “How the hell am I supposed to get back up now?!”
Hayden quickly pulled out his phone and went to mash in a phone number. However, he had a brief moment of clarity, remembering that werewolves were incredibly strong, and even though he was in an early stage of conversion, his current mood could still result in a pile of memory chips and broken glass. He took a deep breath and lightly punched in a number.
The phone rang a few times before a sleepy voice picked up. “Hayden? Why are you calling at this hour? My personal phone, too.”
“The Organization’s revoked my UNDERGROUND access. I’m stuck on Level 3. I came down to talk to Ezekiel and now I can’t get up the elevator. I’m gonna need you to come down and get me, Joseph.”
“I’m sure it’s just a bug in the system” he assured sleepily. “You’ll have your access back by tomorrow morning.”
“Somehow I doubt that” muttered Hayden. “Look, it’s not a bug. I’ve genuinely lost my access. Could you just come and get me?”
“Yeah, I’m up. What the hell did you do to get your access revoked?”
“I got bitten by a werewolf” mumbled Hayden incomprehensibly.
He heard Joseph stop, his breathing the only audible thing through the phone. Silence reigned for a few moments, before Joseph replied.
“You’re going to have to repeat that, Hayden.”
Hayden took a deep breath. “I got bitten by a werewolf” he pronounced, clearly this time. He heard Joseph spluttered and drop his phone, before swearing and catching it.
“Why were you on a werewolf mission anyway?! You were assessed as someone who’d survive a bite!”
“Look, Joseph…I don’t want to get you involved in this. Cade’s already blacklisted and I’m royally screwed. You don’t have to be.”
“Stick your protective bullshit up your stinkin’ hairy werewolf ass” retorted Joseph. Hayden heard him walk out his dorm door and shut it behind him. “If two of our group are already involved you’re not gonna be able to keep the rest of us out, dog breath.”
“I’ve been infected a day and I’m already sick of the wolf references, Joe. Cram it.”
“You cram it! I have to come pick your sorry ass up from UNDERGROUND and I’m about to lose two of my best friends. So you shut it and take the crap, you hear me?! I ain’t in the mood for your whining!”
Hayden rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, unable to stop himself from smiling. Joseph had a temper and a mouth to match, always had, and it often got him into trouble. Cade was the only one unable to see that Joseph’s ferocity was his way of cloaking the sadness and the misery that their job brought.
He heard the elevator rumble above him and the familiar disconnect tone ring from his phone. He hung up, pocketing the device as the elevator dinged and opened, revealing a very disgruntled Joseph, still in his pajamas. His short black hair was roughly tousled from sleep, and his blue eyes were still full of gunk. Rather than stopping to chat, he grabbed Hayden by the collar and dragged him inside the elevator, pressing the button for the first floor.
The doors scraped closed and they began moving upward. Joseph began squinting at Hayden, even going so far as lifting up his upper lip to look at his teeth.
“Fuck, man, I was praying you were bullshitting” he said despondently, letting Hayden go. Hayden puckered irritably.
“It isn’t that noticeable, is it?” he asked, folding his arms. Joseph shook his head.
“I just know what to look for. Plus I know you so well that any change is pretty obvious.”
Hayden rubbed his forehead. “Kaira’s going to notice straight away…”
Joseph exhaled. “Well, it could’ve been any of us, if their trying to terminate the werewolf way. Y’know, I got an ‘ideal lyncathrope’ or whatever assessment myself when I joined.”
Hayden felt his mouth slip open and he turned to stare at Joseph. “You’re kidding, right?”
Joseph raised his eyebrows. “Why the hell would I be kidding?”
Hayden folded his arms. “What about everyone else? Harrison, Kyle…?”
“I dunno. I think Harrison got the same assessment I did. I wouldn’t know about Kyle or Cade…”
“Cade got that assessment.” muttered Hayden. “And I’m willing to bet Kyle’s on that list too.”
Joseph looked at him. “So all of us…?”
Hayden nodded. “I got the same assessment too. Ezekiel said everyone might be more involved than I’d first thought…god forbid. What if they’re planning to make me turn everyone?”
“That’s ridiculous” pronounced Joseph, but Hayden could see he was worried.
“Yeah…” Hayden mumbled numbly.
Hayden suddenly winced in pain as white hot agony shot up his leg, pain spreading through him as his knees buckled.
“N-not again” he choked desperately, his arm shaking as he tried to hold himself upright. Joseph knelt down, unsure of what was wrong.
Hayden groaned, his hand curling into a fist. “Joseph, stay back…”
“This is-?!”
Hayden nodded weakly, before suddenly doubling over, a wave of something unfathomable coming over him. Hunger. God, he’d never felt this hungry before in his life. It was desperate, driving, gnashing its teeth and gnawing at him. He’d never felt such a pulsing desire to turn around and rip someone’s throat out before.
Hayden turned and looked Joseph in the eyes, and saw concern there, and he used that- somehow- to shove that unimaginable hunger back down.
Hayden took a long breath as the pain began to ease up, trying to calm his thudding heart.
“That was an attack, wasn’t it?” asked Joseph as the elevator finally reached ground level. Hayden didn’t say anything, barely able to think, so Joseph gently pulled him to his feet and draped his arm over his shoulder.
“I’ll take you back to your dorm, but don’t be expecting me to do it all the time!” hissed Joseph, but his voice still held layers of concern.
The two men slowly shuffled down the near-empty corridors toward the dorm, Hayden’s eyes struggling to stay open.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” murmured Hayden weakly.
“Huh?”
“The hunger, in my eyes. You could see it, couldn’t you?”
Joseph said nothing for a few moments.
“I saw it.”
“I’m turning into a fucking monster” Hayden whispered almost inaudibly, final admitting it to himself. “A crazed, flesh-hungry beast…”
He couldn’t help but shudder at the thought. “The thing that scares me the most…is that base and primal part of me that I know exists, and I know it’s going to enjoy being a monster.”
Joseph sighed loudly. “We all have that in us, Hayden. That’s why it’s possible for us to become monsters.”
Hayden didn’t reply for a few moments, and suddenly Hayden dead-weighted on him, his breathing turning into soft snores.
“Fucking idiot” cursed Joseph, adjusting Hayden onto his back and proceeding to almost carry him back to the dorm rooms.

That night, he had the most violent, terrifying nightmare he’d ever had in his life- a nightmare where he was tearing down the Organization corridors and ripping every person he came across to shreds. He could feel blood causing him to slid against the tiled floors and matting into his fur-
Hayden’s eyes suddenly snapped open with a deep gasp of air, the auto-lights in the dorm rousing him. He shakily sat up, flashes of the dream still appearing before his eyes. A nightmare. It was only a nightmare.
Hayden ran a trembling hand down his face, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. His body ached all over, and would tremble at periodic intervals. He was absolutely exhausted- sleeping had done nothing.
Hayden glanced at the palm of his hand and felt a steel lump develop in his throat, seeing that the hair had gotten noticeably darker since yesterday. He swallowed and shakily stood up, pulling some clothing out of his drawers and heading towards the showers.
It was very early still, so the showers were empty. Hayden placed his clothing on one of the wooden benches and began to strip off his clothing, laying it down next to his clean pile,
He sat down to pull off his socks and placed his foot down, appreciating the refreshing chill of the tiles against his bare foot. Standing back up, he slid into the shower cubicle and spun the hot tap, letting it warm until it was piping hot, before adding a little cold to make it bearable. 
He slid under the hot stream, wincing as it drilled into the tense muscles of his back and shoulders, feeling them beginning to ease. God, it was nice to be clean. 
He scrubbed himself as clean as he could muster, though the lurking feeling of taint under his skin remained, and let himself enjoy the shower for a while. Using the showers for extensive periods of time was often rewarded with cut backs on cafeteria coupons, but what did he care? They’d turned him into a monster, he was going to waste as much of their damn hot water as he wanted.
He exhaled and turned his head and shoulders down, pressing his palm against the cool tiles of the shower wall. The steady drum beat of water was comforting, almost letting him escape himself for a singular moment.
Almost.
Hayden let out another long sigh and spun the taps off, let himself stand there in the cool air for a moment, appreciating the goosebumps that coursed over him. It was probably because of what was happening to him, but everything felt so much more clear and concise, like every split second in its entirety was precious beyond belief.
Or maybe that was the same feeling one has when they feel as though they’re on death’s door- an appreciation for the things overlooked previously.
Hayden felt his ear twitch very suddenly as the sound of footsteps echoed from outside the shower stall. 
He silently cursed to himself. He’d intended on getting out fast enough to avoid the early risers, but he’d been swept away in the hot water and spent far too long in there.
Praying the person outside was far enough away for him to quickly grab his towel and flee like a dog with its tail between his legs, Hayden opened the door of the shower cubicle.
To come face to face with the shower room’s other occupant.
Hayden stood open-mouthed for a few minutes, having not been prepared for him to be waiting directly outside the shower, before awkwardly realizing he was horribly exposed.
“Uhm” mumbled Hayden, and he threw Hayden a towel.
“You’re up ridiculously early” said Harrison, looking confused. Hayden didn’t answer straight away, being too occupied with trying to dry himself off. He honestly had no real issues with being naked or such and such- he and his mates had gone to swimming holes after missions and the only one anal enough of the group to even consider a bathing suit would be Cade, and he usually forgot anyway. But Hayden felt exposed and probed enough as-is without having a full conversion with one of his friends whilst being fully nude and alone in the men’s bathroom.
“So…” said Harrison as Hayden wrapped the towel around his waist. “That’s a doozy of a wound you’ve got there.”
Hayden blinked a few times, before looking down at his leg, his bite wound exposed in all its ghastly wet-wound glory. Hayden slapped his hand to his face.
Harrison was probably the last guy in the group he would’ve told. He would’ve gotten to it eventually, but…
Harrison was the sensitive pansy. That’s how the guys put it, at least. Hayden had definitely known bigger pansies (Lex Crawford came to mind- but he’d never tell Kaira that), but out of the rest of the group- who mostly believed they were the epitome of manly awesome- Harrison was that touch of house cleaning and sandwiches.
That was even including Kaira, for the record.
Harrison grew up with two fairly feminine mothers, and although they were perfectly happy for him to play rugby, Harrison preferred the minorly safer alternatives such as cooking and embroidery. That being said, Harrison was a badass rugby player and for all intents and purposes was just as “manly” as the rest of group- occasionally moreso. However, with Hayden’s group being a generally stereotypical bunch of guys who in turn were prone to stereotyping, they took every opportunity to exploit Harrison’s kind nature- of course said “stereotyping” had gotten most of the group punched in the face at least once.
Again, including Kaira. Who would’ve cracked a hissy fit if he hadn’t punched her- she was the type of person who demanded equal rights, including the right to be punched in the face despite the fact she possesses a pair of boobs.
“So” said Harrison, quite calmly, as he pulled his Beretta 92FS 9mm handgun from its holster. “How should we do this?”
 Hayden took a step back, trying to stop his upper lip instinctively curling up. 
The real reason Hayden would tell Harrison last was probably not because he was the sensitive pansy- it was because he was the most efficient, deadly agent of the lot of them.
And this time Kaira would most likely be an exclusion.
“I don’t want to fight you, Harrison” said Hayden, almost desperately. Harrison tilted his head sideways slightly, surveying him with a near-neutral expression.
“The change seems to suit you” said Harrison curiously. “What’s obvious, at least.”
Harrison smiled and put his gun away. “You’re so daft. Like I’d shoot you- you know better than anyone that I’m a werewolf sympathizer. Kyle’s the one you’ve got to worry about.”
Hayden pinched the bridge of his nose. “Right. Forgot he’s a lycanphobe.”
Harrison chuckled. “I always found that kinda funny, given he’s predestined.”
Hayden nodded, before it struck him that he hadn’t mentioned anything about that. In fact, Harrison’s attitude almost seemed expectant of the circumstances.
“How’d you know about everyone’s assessment results?” Hayden asked slowly, as he walked over to his clothes and began pulling them on.
Harrison sat down on the bench, folding his arms with wry smile. “Oh, you mean the ‘ideal lycanthropic physique’ thing? The Organization uses some silly terminology, I have to admit.
The term usually used is ‘predestined’. Of all the classical terms to change, the changed that one.”
Harrison laughed heartily, but Hayden was quickly beginning to feel creeped out by his attitude. He pulled on his jeans and checked his own gun, a stainless steel Taurus PT 92, before strapping on his holster and pulling on his jacket.
“Out of curiosity…how do you know that?” asked Hayden, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice. Harrison’s grin widened at the question.
“Before I answer that, how many others know about you?”
“Just Cade and Joseph from our group. Besides them, Yale, Polowski, and the Assistant Commander.”
“That’s a majority, then. Good, it means I don’t have to avoid the subject anymore.”
“…I’m not sure what you mean.”
Harrison exhaled. “It’s a bit of a long story and not one I want to tell twice. I’m going to go get Joseph and Kyle- you and Cade will be in the non-human Infirmary, right?”
“Yeah, but, the Assistant Commander-“
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that” said Harrison, winking. “She’s suddenly going to become particularly bogged down with issues in about half an hour.”
Hayden raised an eyebrow, and Harrison chuckled again, heading for the door.
“Why are you acting so weird?!” asked Hayden suddenly.
Harrison spun on his heel, standing at the door to the shower room.
“If you must know, for the majority of the time that I’ve known you I’ve been acting weird. Now…now, I’m acting like myself.”
He left, leaving Hayden staring open-mouthed, again, in his wake.

Smoke hung thickly in the crowded tavern, leaving a dense grey cloud hovering over the crowded interior that smelt of tobacco and wood smoke. Sitting at the bar was a young man, about mid-twenties, swilling around a mug of mead with a slightly dazed expression, as though he had been drinking for a while. He was hunched over, his forearms resting on the wood of the bar, both hands clasped around the wooden mug. He was dressed in travelling leathers that looked well-made but worn from use, and his riding boots were scuffed and dirty, the soles mud-caked. His chestnut brown hair came done past his ears, and his fringe was pinned back with a hand-made clip made out of steel and a shell to keep his hair out of his hazel eyes. The only thing that really distinguished him from the rest of the oafs in the pub that night was the broadsword strapped across his back. It was an old weapon, but well kept, with a gold and amethyst handle twirling up into a closed roseesque shape at the end.
It might’ve been coincidence that drew her to him, or maybe it was fate, but either way, he was quite rudely disturbed from his inner musings by a firm yet feminine hand slapping him on the shoulder.
He turned to see a freckled, red-haired girl standing behind him, her hands on her hips and a sly grin on her face. She looked a little younger than he was, also dressed in travelling leathers, but they looked new and well-polished, as though she had bought them that morning. Strapped across her back was a fine-looking bow.
“Top of the evenin’ to ya!” she said cheerily in a thick Irish accent. “You look like the kinda man who can hold his own in a fight.”
He stared at her for a few minutes, trying to piece together exactly what she’d said due to alcohol inhibiting most of his brain function. When he finally figured it out, he gave her an irritated look and turned back to his mead.
She leaned against the bar with a raised eyebrow. “Drinkin’ away your troubles, are ya?”
“What do you want, exactly?” he murmured, his words slightly slurred. She chuckled cheerfully.
“I’m lookin’ for an additional companion. Y’see we be trackin’ down something nasty and the more brawn we got the more likely we’ll make it out alive, if ya know what I mean.”
He exhaled and rubbed his eye tiredly. “Are you going to still be here tomorrow?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yah, but why’s that?”
“I’d rather talk about this while not drunk” he replied, getting to his feet and causing the stool to squeak against the floorboards as he did. “We can have this discussion in the morning.”
“Aye, that sounds like a plan then. I’m Luighseach. Easy to say, hard to spell” she pronounced, holding out her hand. He took it and shook.
“Derek Sanders. Lee-shock…how’s it spelt?”
She smiled warmly, winking, and pranced back off to her table and ignoring his question as Derek stumbled upstairs to his room. He fumbled with the handle for a few moments before the door swung open, and he shuffled inside, kicking the door shut behind him and throwing himself onto the bed. Within five minutes, he was sound asleep.
*
Derek woke up the next morning to heavy thudding on his door, which reverberated around his still alcohol-drenched brain so loudly that he almost believed his ear drums were going to burst.
“Derek! You awake?! It’s dawn!” called Luighseach’s voice from outside his door. It took him a few minutes to recall exactly who she was through hazy memories, before comprehending that she had said ‘dawn’.
“Woman, when I said tomorrow I did not mean the ‘crack of dawn’ tomorrow. Come back at midday or some such” called Derek in an irritated voice.
He heard her grumble a little from outside his door, before she pronounced. “Fine then. I’ll send some else up to rouse ya ‘bout midday.”
Derek listened intently to her boots slowly getting further away, until he couldn’t hear her at all. He exhaled, and with a satisfied smile he pulled up his blanket and re-buried his head under the pillow.
*
Light suddenly burst up in front of his eyelids, causing him to immediately grab his cover, roll off the bed and drape it around himself, taking particular care to cover his head.
“G-go away” he stammered, his teeth chattering and fingers trembling from shock. He already had a thudding headache, and given he was naturally light-sensitive it had just made it ten times worse. To his disgruntlement, his ‘attacker’ chuckled.
“That Luighseach girl told me to wake you” explained the voice in a mild English accent.
Derek slowly removed the cover from his head, wincing from the bright light streaming into the room. His eyes slowly adjusted, and he was able to see that the person was a man about his age, dressed in worn but well-tended travelling clothes with rose-blonde hair and green eyes. He had an amused smile on his face, which just made Derek feel more irritated.
“Not one for the daylight hours, I presume?” asked the man, and Derek’s head snapped to face him properly, eyeing him with suspicion, before he continued with “It’s understandable. A good brew always tastes better by candlelight.”
Derek tutted before sighing deeply. “I suppose introductions are in order. I am Derek Sanders.”
“Yorick” he introduced, holding out his hand and helping Derek to his feet. “I suppose she simply ‘decided’ to make you a part of her group, as she did me?”
Derek nodded, smiling ruefully. “I wonder if it is just how she approaches people.”
The conversation ended there abruptly, with both men grasping for subjects to discuss. Unable to find any himself, Derek decided to retrieve his sword and pack from beside his bed and head downstairs to Luighseach, Yorick not far behind him.
Down in the bar, Luighseach was seated at a rounded table with two other people. One was a petite girl with soft, innocent eyes and raven black hair, pulled back into a ponytail. She was clad in riding leathers, and at current was staring at her delicate, smooth hands, which were resting on the table, as though she was in deep thought. Seated opposite to the girl and Luighseach was a man, a few years younger than Yorick and Derek, dressed in a priest’s cassock with a mid-sized silver cross attached to a leather cord around his neck.
The two men walked over to the table, and Luighseach looked up, seeing them and smiling broadly, causing her freckles to almost mesh together.
“Ah! So the drunkard rouses! Bet ya head feels like a drum, eh?”
Derek tutted, putting a hand on his hip. “My drinking habits are none of your concern. What exactly is it that we are to discuss?”
Luighseach laughed heartily, throwing her feet up onto the table casually. “Not one to mince words, aye? Well, let’s start off with what ya know about ‘nasties’.”
Derek smiled wryly. “I’ve encountered my fair share of ‘nasties’ in my time. It kind of runs in my family.”
“Well then” murmured the priest in a soft, unrecognizable accent, “what do you know of vampires?”
Derek’s upper lip twitched slightly before he let out a long sigh. “My mother was a vampire hunter. Does that give you enough?”
The priest smiled slightly. “Oh good. That should help us greatly.”
Derek tutted again, folding his arms with an irritated expression. “How about I respond with the same question. What do you know of vampires?”
“I have killed one” pronounced the man proudly, causing Derek’s eyebrows to shoot upwards at his boastfulness.
“You’re going to have to be a little less vague to get my approval” replied Derek with a shrug, and fury immediately budded in the man’s eyes. However, when he continued his tone was the same as before.
“It was a spring day. I found the monster feeding on a hapless girl, so I dragged it away and in the eyes of all the townspeople I stabbed the foul creature in the heart.”
“What time of day was this?” muttered Derek, rubbing his eyes with his fore finger and thumb in an irritated way.
“The beast had the gall to attack in broad daylight. The fiend quickly learned its lesson.”
Derek turned around, covering his mouth while trying to stifle his laughter. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore and he turned back around, laughing loud enough that the entire tavern turned to face him. In fact, he was laughing so hard he ended up on the floor, rolling, trying to stop.
“Ahaha, oh my god…I’ve never…in all my years…ahaha!” he spluttered, trying to piece a sentence together. “Pffffffffftttt ahahahaaha!!!!”
He smacked the wooden floorboards and shook his head, still laughing.
“Is he mad?” asked the man, staring.
“No, you’re just a moron for the bards to sing about” stated Yorick, who had managed to stifle his own laughter.
Derek’s howls of laughter eventually died down and he crawled up to the table, using it to prop himself up as he gasped for breath.
“Well!” he said cheerfully. “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard in my life. My mother is probably turning in her grave right as we speak.”
Derek stood up fully and sat on the wooden table, ignoring the indignant look he got from the petite girl. “Listen to me very carefully. Vampires burn in the sunlight. The only types who do not are the Marked, and even then they would never attack in broad daylight. Never. I suppose the poor bastard you staked had normal eyes?”
“Uh…yes?” said the man. Derek sighed.
“A vampire copycat, maybe. It happens. There are some who a vampire will quite simply refuse to turn because they do not understand what complications come with such a curse. So they go and try to prove that they can indeed deal with it. And then it seems they get staked by vampire hunter want-to-be-s. There is one other important issue with your story and your method, too.”
“And what’s that?” asked Luighseach enthusiastically, drinking in Derek’s every word.
“Stabbing a vampire in the heart will not work. The lore has some truth to it, but if your strike is straight and true you will not kill your target. If, however, you aim to the right a few centimetres, you will stab a vampire’s true weakness- the organ that rests next to the heart, which grows when a human is turned and processes the blood a vampire drinks- you will without a shred of doubt kill the vampire in question.”
“So…I’ve never killed a vampire?” asked the man, and Derek nodded.
“I suppose that’s what you’re hunting?” said Derek with a hint of a smile.
Luighseach nodded. “You might have heard about an increase in attacks. We’re investigating them- hopefully to find the culprits.”
Derek nodded solemnly. “I know of those attacks. If you must know I’m after those vampires for my own reasons.”
“Aye, so you followed in your mother’s footsteps!” pronounced Luighseach, slapping the table heartily. Derek chuckled.
“Not quite. I don’t plan on hunting for the rest of my life. To be perfectly frank, my greatest pastime is map-making. I plan on pursuing it once this is over. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence that I have to take up my mother’s mantle.”
“Surely you jest?” said the priest incredulously. “Your knowledge on vampires is invaluable. You could save thousands of lives.”
“I swore I wouldn’t hunt when I was still young, and I reaffirmed my oath when my mother died at the hands of what she was hunting. I am temporarily drawn to this profession, nothing more” said Derek quietly, as he pulled up a chair and sat down, Yorick doing the same beside him.
“Well now, I ‘spose introductions are in order! ‘Nyway, Derek, this is Lonnie, Mattheiu and Yorick. Comrades, this fine man is Derek Sanders.”
Derek exhaled at the comment. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Luighseach laughed heartily at his reluctance. “They say humble men are the greatest of heroes. I’m not goin’ to make any assumptions based on a lot of hot air, but ‘ey, it’s good to have you with us ‘nyway!”
“Have you ever killed a vampire, Derek?” asked Mattheiu, and Derek sighed.
“Only one. The subordinate of the bastard who killed my mother. Who knows where the slimy fiend is by now… I’m not chasing my own tail looking for him, either. If word pops up, I’m not going to let him slip through my fingers, but right now…I have bigger concerns.”
Luighseach nodded. “These attacks have more than one vampire involved. The big masscares…probably a whole group.”
Derek shook his head. “The smaller attacks, where there’s six or seven deaths, that’s multiple vampires. The massacres would be a single vampire.”
Luighseach’s jaw dropped open, and Mattheiu and Lonnie’s weren’t far behind. “How can that many deaths be a single vampire?”
“There are two methods of feeding, and vampires only have one or the other. The first is the common one- regular feeds on a couple of adult humans. And then there’s the worse types, who have the short end of the curse- they must gorge on human blood to satisfy their thirst for the same amount of time another vampire who had one or two. Some are just unlucky, I suppose. The massacring type are very rare, so that’s why we don’t have more ghost towns.”
“By the Lord Almighty” said Mattheiu, miming the cross across his heart. “These beasts truly are the devil’s children.”
Derek exhaled, looking downcast. “Our best bet is to try and contact any survivors before we start tracking the vampire…or we could walk straight into one of the massacres.”
“Well, couldn’t we kill the vampire then?” said Lonnie, speaking her first words of the night. “Aren’t they weakest when feeding?”
“I’m only going to say this once” said Derek darkly. “Never, under any circumstances, attack a feeding vampire. They will obliterate you in moments. They may be concentrating on their victim, but any distractions from that- anything- they will immediately destroy. They’re like dogs, biting anything that comes near their food. The best time to attack is once they are finished feeding. Blood has a soporific effect on vampires, and they will be at their most vulnerable.”
“That means we have to let another village be sacrificed to catch them at their weakest?” asked Mattheiu, and Derek shook his head solemnly.
“If we can catch up to them before he starts feeding we should be able to stop him” he explained. “But I think we should handle the lesser vampires first. Understand what they want.”
“A beast killing that many cannot be left unattended” hissed Mattheiu, and Derek glared him so furiously that Mattheiu pushed his chair back a little to get away from the heat of his stare.
“Massacring vampires know what they’re capable of. They wouldn’t attack villages like this without being forced into it.”
“I know you’re pretty good at this, Derek, but what if they are doing it on their own? Got sick of resisting or somethin’?” asked Luighseach. Derek said nothing, rather, he stood up out of his chair. With a long sigh, he turned to the door.
“I’m going to prepare my horse. And Luighseach- I doubt that’s the case.”
Derek walked out the door, and Mattheiu watched him suspiciously. “Are you sure about him, Luighseach? He seems like he could be more danger than the monsters we seek.”
“I’m sure he’ll lighten up” assured Luighseach. “Nobody that age stays serious all the time, y’know? Gotta live a little.”
Yorick looked unsure, frowning. “He lost his mother to vampires, not long ago, either. I don’t think he’ll ease up any time soon, not when we’re hunting vamps.”
Luighseach sighed, and the group stood up from their tables, also intending to prepare their horses.
*
Derek found himself mid-afternoon, sitting on his steed, surrounded by one of the most varied group of misfits he’d ever travelled with. His horse, a lean palomino gelding by the name of Horatio, threw his mane across and pawed the ground, anxious to get moving, as Luighseach and Lonnie led their horses out of the stables. Mattheiu had already mounted a dappled grey stallion, while Yorick sat high above them all on an imposing, midnight black Clydesdale he had affectionally dubbed ‘Tiny’. It was quite clearly a war horse, its muscles rippling every time it so much as breathed.
Derek suppressed a chuckle at the horse and looked at Yorick with raised eyebrows. “You aren’t compensating for something, are you?” he quipped. Yorick immediately look flustered before pouting childishly, his knuckles going white on the reins.
“I have my own reasons for possessing Tiny and it has nothing to do with my length or girth” retorted Yorick heatedly. Derek chuckled, smiling cheekily, as the girls also mounted.
“We ready set off yet?” said Luighseach cheerily, her red hair flapping like a banner in the wind. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, lads.”
Derek gently tugged on Horatio’s reins and he broke into a steady trot, Luighseach quickly moving her delicate cream gelding ahead of him to take the lead. He felt his upper lip tug slightly in annoyance, but paid it no heed as they headed into the deepening dusk.

(finalized CoT design for Derek):

(This is actually a later design of Kenneth [yeah he gets his face f**ked up pretty bad at some point, not in CoT though). I wanted to post it because it shows the hair difference :>