The Wild Ones - Part 3 - The Sirens

5.

Tom opened his eyes. He realised he'd been drifting in and out of sleep for the last hour or so, but took to vigorously rubbing his face rather than giving in.

"Max won't be mad he if wakes up and you're not here, you know. You're free to take my car home, or go get some rest in the day room," Simon said, sipping at coffee to stave his own tiredness.

"It'll pass."

"Good to see you keep your stubbornness in a time of crisis," Simon smiled. "At least go get something to eat. A chocolate bar if nothing else. Not eating will only land you in a bed next to him."

Simon delved into his pockets and emptied a handful of coins into Tom's palm. Tom sighed, and steadied his weakened body as he stood up.

The corridor outside was quiet, dimly lit by orange lights. It would've been creepy if it weren't for the nurses and insomniac patients pacing around silently.

Tom spotted Michael and Dr Carter talking at one of the nurses' bays, and decided to take a detour down.

"I understand your concern, Mr Jones, but it's simply something neither the hospital nor I can do," Carter said, frantically shaking his head as Tom got into earshot.

"What's going on?" Tom asked. The two looked at him as if he were a child walking in on his parents arguing.

"It's nothing, mate. These quacks just don't seem to want to cooperate," Michael replied.

Tom furrowed his brow. "Why? What won't you do?" he asked Carter.

"What your uncle is asking is simply something beyond ethical. You getting involved won't sway my decision."

"You found a way to help Max?" Tom asked Michael.

"Well not as such. Some of my old buds from my science days have been looking into this case; all I wanted was a sample of blood to take down so they could try and isolate the venom themselves."

"And I assure you, Mr Jones, our own lab technicians are doing just that. You can't stray me on the matter," Carter said, pushing his glasses up even further and looking away slightly.

"You know what, fine. But if that kid dies, I'm coming for you." Michael prodded the doctor squarely in the waistcoat, before marching back down the corridor, looking for something non-important to push over.

"My uncle knows what he's doing. He was part of the team that studied shapeshifters a while back," Tom said, unsure of whether he was supporting Michael's case or simply defending him.

"Yes, well, I've heard how brash those people were. Seems the rumours were true." Carter looked flushed, scrabbling to get his papers together.

"Is there anything more you can tell me?" Tom asked in vain hope.

"Not until those tests come through. Normally with snake bites it's a case of creating antivenom, but our attempts haven't been as successful with this toxin."

"You know it's a snake bite?"

"Yes, the symptoms are similar to those exhibited by a patient bitten by a venomous snake. The problem being we can't identify a snake that's both venomous and large enough to leave those markings."

"Well it wasn't a snake."

Carter stopped shuffling through his papers and turned around to face Tom.

"Come again?"

"I mean, sure, they're probably both shapeshifters, but when I found Max neither were...snakey."

Carter thought for a moment before placing a reassuring, if not clenched hand on Tom's shoulder.

"Can you be more specific? You left your brother alone with them in the tent, correct?"

"Yeah, I was gone a few seconds, and then I heard Max yell, so I ran back and he had the bite marks on his neck, and one of the girls was bent over him. All toothy and what not."

"So she was human, yet had exposed snake fangs?"

Tom nodded. He sensed this was some kind of key revelation. Carter reacted accordingly.

He took his glasses off and bit the end, looking away in thought. After a while he pushed them back up his nose and began sifting through his paperwork, pages wildly flying over the desk.

"Of course," he said, examining one piece in particular. "The bite marks were an inch apart. Feasible for a human mouth."

"That's something, right?"

"You may have just saved your brother's life," Carter replied with a smile.