Misery County

Chapter 20 - Part 3

"Aaron?" Eric said in a voice that barely seemed to work.

The man took a puff of his cigarette, exhaled, and then shook the match out. The burning embers at the end of the cancer stick barely illuminated his face but did so just enough to bring an old memory back. "It's good to see you, my man," he said.

Eric jumped as another scratch came from behind him.

"Don't worry about him," Aaron said in a voice as low as the valleys and as smooth as silk. "He ain't going nowhere."

Raspy breaths were the only response that Eric had as he stared back at his old friend.

"What's the matter, big guy?" Aaron said. "You're looking a bit scared. Surely this isn't more frightening than kicking doors down in Basra or wherever the hell it was you were stationed."

Déjà vu.

"You... you... you..." Eric sputtered.

"I... I... I am doing very well. Thanks for asking," Aaron said with an innocent snicker.

"Are you a ghost?" Eric blurted out when he managed to gather the composure for it, but it was a stupid question. He knew exactly what Aaron was.

The lips behind the cigarette parted on one side, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth. This degree of transformation away from the full moon meant only one thing, and as if Aaron could read his mind...

"An alpha, Eric, and in so little time, if I can brag a bit."

"Why haven't I seen you until now?" Eric said.

"Because unlike some of the more unruly grunts in the packs, I can play the long game."

The packs? There was more than one werewolf pack in the county? "You knew I was here, didn't you?"

Aaron laughed. "How could I not? You've been making waves, my man."

"Not so fun when your plans get ruined, is it?"

"You always had a penchant for self-flattery, you know that?" Aaron took another long drag of his cigarette. "You've been out there. You know what's going on. Does it look like our plan has been ruined?"

Eric was shaking in either rage or fear, though he knew not which. "W-w-what do you –"

"W-w-w-w-w-" Aaron interrupted him with his mockery.

Another scrape from the cabinet reminded Eric that this reunion still had the potential to get worse.

"Naw, I'm sorry, man, go ahead," Aaron said after he was done.

"Are you behind all of this?" Eric asked between short breaths.

"Me? Oh no, not at all. Could it be said that I have a leadership role in this little... organization? Sure. And I do the best I can. Your boy, Jerry, for instance..."

Eric balled his hands into fists, the skin stretching thinner and thinner over his knuckles.

"Believe me or not, that wasn't intentional," Aaron continued. "You just spooked that little pack, and they reacted in the only way they knew how. But you know, now that I'm saying this, I don't think I should be the one apologizing to you. After all, you and your girlfriend wiped those guys out. Impressive – I give you that – but a bit of a set-back for me. You know how hard it is to get werewolves to cooperate, let alone follow you?"

"You recruited all of the werewolves?"

"Not all. The big boss played the hand here and there, but yeah, I did most of them."

"Why, Aaron? Why do this?"

"Because it's what I am."

"If you wanted this badly to be a recruiter, why didn't you just join the fucking Jehovah's Witnesses?" Eric could justify neither the quality of the joke nor its timing – clearly his nerves had reached all new levels of burnout.

"You always were a funny guy, you know that?"

"And you always laughed at my quips even when they were shit. It's good to see there's still a part of you in there."

"I'll tell you a secret – your quips were always shit."

"Yeah, I know." Eric wrestled to match the persona of his old friend with the monster that stood in front of him. His brain didn't know what to think or say. In truth, he felt reasonably certain that he was living the last moments of his life, and nothing he could do or say would change that. Wait! That's it! The idea struck him like lightning. "Aaron, I can fix you!"

"Is that a dog joke?"

"No. No more jokes, I promise." The conversation he'd had with Cassie days earlier was playing itself over in his head. "I don't know what being a werewolf has done to you, but it's reversible."

"You can make me human again?" The embers of the cigarette illuminated a raised eyebrow on Aaron's face.

"Yes. We just need to make a a a..." Eric was recalling the parts of the procedure. "A tea, is what it was, made with – with a part of the wolf that turned you."

"Great. Got a time machine?"

"No, Aaron, I still have it!"

"A time machine?"

"The tuft of fur! The tuft of fur I pulled off of the werewolf when he attacked you!" Eric was almost excited enough to forget about the apocalypse that was going on outside.

"A solid plan, my man, but you assume."

"I – I assume? Assume what?"

"You assume that I want to be turned back."