Ice -- Wolv book II

11 - Exploring the curious

We descended back down through the tunnels, our paws clicking against the concrete rythmically as we trailed after Sarah. Even underground, I could still hear the wind outside, battering endlessly at the ground as the storm slowly wore itself out.

Nadie's fur brushed against mine. "We need to talk," she whispered. I nodded back; it seemed that every interaction we had with the people here only left us with more questions than it did answers.

"Here, why don't we check out the vetrinary station?" Sarah waved us off into a narrow, white corridor, ending with a thick, stainless steel door. She pushed it open--this time, the entire door opened, rather than just the lower portion--and immediately, the scent of anaesthetic and peroxide flooded my nostrils. I took a step back and sneezed, fighting the memories that the scents brought.

On the other side of the door was a large, tiled room, with what looked like an operating table at one end, and a row of cupboards and a sink at the other end. I shivered, feeling like I was in a hospital. I guess I AM in a hospital...sort of.

But why would they have a vet clinic here? I haven't seen any animals yet. Other than ourselves, that is.

Hutch voiced my thoughts before I could. "What's the point of all this? Are there animals here, too?" My mouth began to water as I imagined sinking my teeth deep into a piece of beef, fresh off the kill. Maybe, before we leave, we should investigate that. I'd already stolen a truck this week, why not add a cow to the tally?

Sarah shook her head. "No. Not at the moment."

I padded my way to the cupboards, and looked up at them, eyeing the hundreds of jars and containers that sat behind the glass cupboard doors, and silently reading the labels.

Morphine, codine, rohypnol, chloroform, propofol, ketamine--my heart skipped a beat. I'd been drugged with ketamine before, as had Nadie.

It wasn't pleasant.

My eyes traced through the shelves, and my heart began to beat faster. There were rows and rows of various sedatives and painkillers, all of them clearly labelled. I sniffed the air, and caught a whiff of a faint, lemony smell hanging in the air. No, it can't be. Why would there be mostoswehk here? What possible use could they have for it?!?

My eyes came to a halt as I caught sight of a clear, glass jar inside the cupboard, filled with dried leaves. Even though they were wilted and crumpled, they were definately from the mostoswehk plant. The jar had been labelled "Silver Sage." Nadie gasped next to me, seeing it too.

What is this place? I fell like I'm in the operating room from hell!

I turned around and looked at Sarah, who was sitting on the operating table, speaking to Hutch and Tara.

"Hey, what's with all the sedatives?" I called out. "You've got enough juice here to roofie a small city!"

Sarah laughed, and slipped down from the table. "If someone gets hurt, we can't exactly dial 9-11. We've gotta fix it ourselves, you know?"

Nadie nudged me to stay silent, and stepped forward shooting me a "don't you dare speak" look. "Let me ask the questions here. Every time we start to push these people, they clam up. Observe," she hissed in my ear, than turned to Sarah. "So, you've pretty much built a hospital out here, huh?"

Sarah nodded proudly. "Yup! I mean, most of this place was built before my time, back in the 30's and early 40's."

"Oh, really?" Nadie asked, curiosity plastered all over her muzzle. Rather than trying to pound information out of Sarah, she was gently prodding the girl to keep talking.