The KnightShift: Call of the Moon (Wattys2019)

Chapter 10:

Elfrida

Octavia and I were the only two weres that found the release we needed that night. And even still it was only enough to keep the fever at bay. When we were dressed again, we tore down the makeshift tent and used the mattresses to help the other women stay safe from the lycanthropes who's fever was almost to the point to where blood lust was taking over.

"What are we going to do," Tavi asked me.

"I don't know. We can't fight them all. Not all night," I said.

One of the other women said, "If you can get them to turn the gas on we will all be out until morning."

"How do we do that," Tavi asked.

"I don't know. Maybe if we make enough noise those guys will come back. They went through all the trouble to take us, there's no way they would let us be ripped apart by them," another of the women said and we all started yelling.

While the others banged on the bars I fended off the women who just wanted to rip us all apart and feed on our blood until they were sated or something broke them out of the violence. I didn't know if it was better that they were all in human form unable to shift at all or not, since they would heal up a lot slower from my attacks. Thus, making them useless if we ever got the opportunity to make a break for it.

I tried to only use enough force to knock them away.  My fist connected with jaws, chests and stomachs. I swept legs out from under people. Everything moved in a blur. It took maybe 10 minutes before the only door leading out of this room opened and four men walked in.

"Help us," Octavia called.

"Are you meaning to tell me you can't keep yourselves safe," the man who seemed to be in charge asked.

"Not without killing them," I called.

"Fine," he said and they all walked out.

A few seconds later gas began to fill the room. The other women began dropping like flies, but I held my breath. I didn't want to be out of it if those men came back. I stumbled through the smoke until I found Tavi passed out near the bars. I lay on the ground next to her and took her hand as I pretended to sleep.

The gas cleared after a few minutes and as I suspected the men returned. I could hear their breathing as they moved around the room. The cell bars opened on the side opposite of the door out of the room. Only three of the men came into the cell. They moved through the knocked-out women coming straight for us. I braced myself as one lifted me, and the other took Tavi.

They took us out of the cell and then out of the room. For a moment I felt hopeful. If we were near an exit I could have taken these men out and escaped. If I could get out and find Emersyn, then maybe we could get everyone else out. But that never happened.

We were taken from one room straight into the next. I was laid on a table and then strapped down with silver cuffs. I opened my eyes as the men did the same thing to Tavi. The room was filled with people in lab coats. There were trays with medical equipment on them near our abdomens.

"Find out why the fever did not affect them," the leader from earlier barked out.

"Claw, it is obvious why the moon isn't affecting them," a female voice said.

"They are lovers," a second female voice said.

I pulled on the cuffs to see how strong they were. There was little give before the pain from the silver made me want to cry out. It was a while before one of the women noticed I was awake. She let out a startled cry.

"Doctor Claw, this one is awake somehow," a woman with red hair said.

"Shit," one of the men said.