Evolution

CHAPTER 3 | amazons and immigrants

📎A/N. Hello my lovelies! Another weekend is almost at an end.. we are now into September... and another month closer to Christmas... Good grief, I've only just gotten over the last one :(

Grab a coffee and some donuts or cake and settle back. Lot's happening today and is a little long-ish.

Don't forget to vote if you enjoy the chapter.

Take care

❤ ℳ

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"What do you think's going on?" Parker asked Alice after yet another person raced past the infirmary.

In the space of thirty minutes, Parker had lost count of the number of pack members who had powered passed them, congregated in small groups, and then disbanded just as quickly.

Alice, the pack's doctor, watched as the process repeated itself. "I'm not sure. They're too far away for me to hear."

When the next man in steel-toed work boots, hard hat, and high-viz shirt shot passed, Parker was certain something was wrong. "The Bridgeport construction project. So far, most of them are from that site." She turned back to Alice and sent out a silent prayer. "I need to go, there's been an accident."

The corner of Alice's mouth dropped into a frown, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you hear my phone ring? No? Neither did I. The amount of time's we have gone through the drills, you'd think they'd learn. But oh no, let's just surprise the doctor and front up with a bunch of broken and bleeding Werewolves and expect her to be prepared."

"Alice—"

Alice, a stickler for the rules, continued on her tirade. "Just wait until I get my hands on that foreman he'll be the one—"

"Alice," Parker said more loudly, "calm down. We don't know what's happened yet. I'll find out and let you know. Until then, you know what to do."

The air deflated from Alice, and she placed her head in her hands and groaned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off the deep end like that, but I'm so tired of losing patients because I'm not prepared."

Parker reached out and rubbed a soothing hand up and down her friend's arm. Once the devastation of Wildfire outbreak had died down, Alice had blamed herself for the high casualty rate. As a doctor, she had taken an oath to do no harm; to save and cure the sick; to heal the injured and ease suffering. The death that occurred during her watch had affected her more than anyone could have predicted.

"There's nothing more you could have done. The CDC could only stand by and watch. How do you think you could have saved them when the people trained to do that couldn't?" said Parker. "You need to stop blaming yourself, and spending every waking hour working or studying is not going to help anyone. Elise and that madman are responsible. Never forget that."

Alice tucked her hands into the pockets of her white coat and stared at the ground. "You know I still have nightmares about watching them die. Only in my dreams, it's Dominic whose body is eating him from the inside. It's gotten so bad I'm too afraid to sleep?"

"Have you spoken to him about it?"

Alice looked up and shook her head. Her eyes no longer held the twinkle and zest for life that Parker was used to. They were sunken and hollow, dulled with each life she watched slip away. The stress of her self-imposed silence had etched fine wrinkles into her forehead with the perpetual frown that was her constant companion.

Parker, saddened by the tortured soul of her friend, threw her arms around Alice and willed her to see sense. "Oh hon, you can't keep this from him. It'll be eating him up from the inside."