Seeing Red

Chapter 11

My head was pounding when I was able to move again. I raised my hand gingerly up to my head, only to have it pushed back down just as gently.

"Don't try to move too much," I heard Simon's voice bringing me back to reality, "You took a pretty bad lump to the head, but everything's going to be fine. Let me help you up."

My vision was finally coming back and I was able to see Simon, who looked all the worse for wear and had a bruise on his right eye. When I was sitting up on the bed, Simon gently took my hands so that I wasn't able to get up.

"Don't make too many movements," said Simon, "Sid really did a number on you. You can't see it, but there's still dried blood on your face."

Simon paused for a moment to allow me to touch my face. Sure enough, there was a trail of sticky going down from my left temple and my forehead, down across my face and stopping at my chin.

"Where are we?" I asked, "Where is everyone?"

"Things got a little hectic after Sid knocked you out," said Simon, "Gwen did a bit of a number on him and I tried to get us away in the confusion, but it didn't work out so well. We got taken to Gwen's HQ. It's been a while since then, you've been coming in and out."

"I have?"

"Yeah, you definitely have a concussion," said Simon, "Do you even recognize where we are right now?"

I looked around the cell. It seemed vaguely familiar, with shiny metal bars and a cell across from ours, almost like a jail. Then, it hit me hard.

"We're not... in a training cell for pups, right?" I asked.

"That's exactly where we are," said Simon, "In fact, welcome to Packington II, Scarlet. This is the same building, it's just all the surviving buildings were moved to a new location."

My mind and body froze at the same time. I didn't want it to be, but it was. Hell, for all I knew, it was the same damn cell that Mark locked himself in a year ago.

"Look, we need to get the hell out of here, I know that," said Simon, "I'm gonna try to tear through the bars. It's gonna get a little cramped in here."

Simon knelt down as fur sprouted on his body and completely covered his clothing. When he completed his transformation, he moved towards the bars.

I sat down on the uncomfortable bed and stared off into space. Simon was struggling to pull at the bars, but my mind was on so many other things. Gwen was around, I could sense it even without a canine smell. I couldn't - rather, I really didn't want to - think of what Gwen would do to me when she got the time. Meanwhile, I didn't have a clue how Mark or Becky were doing, or even if they were still alive, to say nothing of Brandon, Dustin, or Agent Palmer.

I wouldn't be able to bear it if Mark was dead. It would kill me. I would give up entirely. I lost that man a year ago, and I would be damned before I ever let that happened again.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Simon howled as he slammed a fist into the cell bars, turning back into his human form and bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What's going on?" I asked, "Can you not break through those things?"

"Nope," said Simon, "Titanium steel, probably brand new too. One werewolf would never be able to break through them. Looks like we're stuck here."

"There is one way..." I said as I realized something, "Simon, do you think that two wolves could break through these things?"

"Well, yeah, but... no, absolutely not!" Simon realized mid-sentence what I was getting at, and he looked shocked.

"We have to," I said, "You said that the full moon coming would make a new wolf's transformation go faster, right? Well, you turn me, and we can get these bars open together."