Lycan Pass

Lycan Pass - Chapter 4

      "Well, let's start with what you are." He settled down on the bed I had been laying on. "Around the 16th century," he started," a small village in Rome suffered through a plague, mind you, a very well contained one. It never spread any further than the town itself. The virus caused muscle spasms so intense that it often snapped bones and contorted the people into rather... grotesque shapes. Quite a terrifying prospect if you think about it. Most people drowned in their own blood after their ribs punctured their lungs.

      "The virus was horribly contagious. Anything you can imagine had the ability to pass it on. It was everywhere, no one was safe in the village. However, there were people who had... an unusual reaction to the virus. Some people began to shape their broken bones, healing at impossible rates. They began to take on stronger, more animal-like forms. It was later discovered that this reaction was brought about by a mutated strain of DNA, allowing the people who were born with it to manipulate the symptoms for their own benefit.

      "This condition is called biomorphiasis, and not every person takes the same shape you and I do. Some people shift into mountain lions, other turn into deer. Some simply grow wings. The wolves, however, are called Lycanthropes." Lycanthropes? Why did that sound so familiar? I thought on it for a while, and when the thought struck me, I had to laugh.
      
      "Werewolves? Really?" Tears welled up in my eyes as I worked to hold back the laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. John chuckled and even Trevor smiled a bit.
      
      "How do you think the legends got started?" John stood and began to instruct me on how to change back into a human. It was as simple as closing my eyes, and imagining myself standing on my own two human feet. Eventually, he had said, that I would be able to do this without even thinking.
      
      It didn't hurt this time, the change. John told me it was because me body was sending out nerve-blockers, preventing them from sending out signals. He also said that was when we were at our most vulnerable, because both our nerves and bones were out of commission during the change.
      
      "I'll show you the town tomorrow," John said.
      "Why not now?" I asked. Trevor stepped up behind me.
      "Because now, you rest."
      
      Trevor's rumbling voice was low and hypnotic. I felt my eyelids droop and the dark slip over my head. I must have slumped and been caught by Trevor, because the next minute I was flying, braced by strong arms. He set me down on what I assumed was another cot. I heard his footsteps trailing away. I whispered,
      "Thank you, Trevor." The footsteps stopped, then started up even faster.