The Kill Order

Chapter 2

It was bright. Too bright. And those beeping noises were really starting to grate on my nerves.

I cracked one eye open until my pupils adjusted to the light, then immediately began observing my surroundings. If I survived (which, lets be honest, seems kind of unlikely), I should have ended up at the hospital at the base. This hospital room was obviously not part of the base, and instead of my squad, there was only a single visitor of a guy I didn’t recognize asleep in the corner.

I glanced at my arms, examining my injuries from the raid.

I certainly didn’t feel dead.

So, assuming I was still alive, there were a few questions that needed answering. One: where was I? Two: how did I get here? And three: who is the stranger sitting in my hospital room?

Trying not to wake my uninvited hospital guest, I leaned over the edge of the bed and snagged my chart. The only name listed was “Jane Doe.” Good. In my line of work, anonymity was a requirement. Flipping through the pages, I discovered the name and address of the hospital – definitely a step in the right direction. Curiosity won out over my training, and I examined the doctor’s report on my injuries.

Severe concussion and head laceration, the report noted. I gingerly pressed my fingertips to the back of my skull, and winced in disgust and pain when my fingertips brushed what felt like a large lump. My hair was crusty and matted with dried blood, and I absently twisted some of the strands between my fingers to try and break it loose.

Large animal bite to left forearm, twenty two stitches required. First rabies shot administered. None of that was exactly news, as there was a thick bandage still covering the majority of my lower arm. There was no speculation in the report as to what had done this to me, either – not surprising. Werewolves liked their secrecy almost as much as the Bureau. I doubted the nurses here even knew what happened outside their doors every full moon.

The rest of the report was minor bruising and lacerations, plus a bone bruise on my right hip from the fall out of the tree.

Overall, I walked away from a fight that should have killed me with only a few injuries worth commenting on. The thought made me frown – why hadn’t the wolves ripped me to shreds? I’d heard rumors that they ate the bodies of their enemies, so why on earth had they left me alone after I fell unconscious?

I had too many questions, and every potential answer I could come up with was either outrageous or unsettling. Wiping my mental slate clean of my next two questions, I decided my best plan of attack was to get the hell out of dodge and head back to base. A cursory glance of the room didn’t show any of my clothing, which was a bit distressing. Who exactly had been responsible for changing me?

Shaking off that disconcerting thought, I started by turning off the electrical equipment I was hooked up to. After pulling off my heart rate monitor, I slid out of bed as noiselessly as possible. The chart was coming with me. I’d rather leave zero record of being in this place. When the hallway outside my room was clear, I slipped out the door and snagged a spare lab coat I found hanging by a nurses’ station. The confidence of not having your butt showing through a hospital gown was really astonishing.