Hybrid

Fatherly Advice

Maria

"I guess some explanation is required. When I was shipped away in the Army, I met a man that claimed he could teach me how to win against any enemy. Of course, I figured he was drunk, so I never paid him any attention. I didn't listen to a word he said until he saved my life.

"Now, I was trained in hand to hand combat, so I was one of the lucky ones permitted to lead a team of my own and scout out a few areas. The nut was part of my team, and most of the time he didn't do very much. He was mostly dead weight, and I was ready to blow up on him at any minute.

"One day, on a normal patrol, he told me he didn't think it was safe to enter a specific building. I didn't listen, of course, because he was the biggest idiot I had ever met, so I walked into the building. I was attacked almost immediately by something that was stronger than I was, well, it was supernaturally strong.

"The nut was the one that saved me, and then his entire personality changed. He took me off base one night and brought me to a group of men that said they wanted to recruit me. They all sat around a fire and told me their stories. Most of them had come in because they lost someone to wolves, and they decided they wanted to get ahead of the losses and start recruiting people with promise.

"They started by telling me the legend of werewolves, I'm guessing it's one you don't know. The Greeks said the wolves came from gods, Nordics said magic wolf pelts turned wolves, and some crazy French guys said the devil made deals with men to turn them into wolves. None of these legends are true. The first wolf came from a mutated gene my men were able to trace in modern wolf blood. How that gene came to happen, I'm not sure, but it exists.

"Like an infection, it can be spread. The ancestors of my men were lucky in that most wolves decided to keep pure bloodlines, and that allowed them to wipe out half the population. And until recently, wolves didn't really enter into the human population. When they figured out they could create more wolves by having their saliva enter a human's bloodstream, we were screwed.

"The wolf population boomed. Half the hunters were wiped out and the half breeds were more feral than pureblood wolves. The main concern then became, 'Will wolves use this knowledge to try to wipe out the human race?' Because we didn't want to have to kill any humans turned wolves, we figured we needed another kind of weapon.

"I don't know how much you remember me because I left such a long time ago, but when I was around I absolutely loved science. I spent tons of time trying to get you to do experiments with me and trying to teach you about this earth. I didn't realize that this earth was more than just science, and supernatural things also existed.

"I wasn't around to raise you, but I'm here to share what knowledge I've gained since I left because now I think there are things you need to know. I have been leading my own group of hunters, and I have been watching over you and your mother since I returned. The hunters that attacked you and shot you weren't mine. You would've died if I wasn't there. Your stupid henchmen left you to die alone in your room, and I came in to heal you.

"I heard you say you didn't know how you came back, and I wanted to come forward and tell you that I was around and I was protecting you, but I couldn't do that knowing you were a wolf and a liability. I needed to observe your behavior to make sure you could be trusted. I was almost certain you were safe until I watched you murder a child.

"I knew in that moment that you weren't my daughter. My daughter was kind and compassionate. My daughter was gone. It broke my heart to see what you had turned into. If I had any idea you would become..." He paused, "Become this monster, I would've never left.

"Can you imagine what it felt like to find out the thing I brought onto this earth was killing innocent children? Can you imagine the giant hole in my chest that keeps growing with each kill you make? I don't think you can, because for whatever reason you don't see the problem with all of this. You're barely human at this point.

"Even though all of this happened, I think there is a solution. My men have created a cure, and there is a possibility that you could be human again. We've been doing trials on packs that we can capture, which unfortunately doesn't include your pack. You've made it incredibly difficult to try to get to your wolves.

"In our trials, we've only ever been able to catch and cure regular wolves. Capturing an alpha is harder than we imagined, so our hope is that you'll be our first test. If you decide to take the cure, you can start towards redeeming yourself. You've done some unspeakable things honey, and being a wolf will only make it harder to repent.

"Before you say no, just think about it. I could reunite our family. We could all be together again, like old times," My father begged.

"We could be like that now," I considered.

"Not with you," He paused, "Like you are now."

"Why not?" I said, my heart sinking into my toes.

"Right now, I can't look at you without seeing a monster."

The words were enough to knock the wind out of my lungs. I knew what I had done, and I was waiting for the impact to hit. I just didn't know it was going to be this difficult to get over. I thought I was doing the right thing for Stephanie, but I can't be sure it was the right thing for myself.

"I can't abandon my people," I stated.

"We can cure them," My father said.

"And leave them defenseless?" I clenched my jaw, "As humans, they're put in danger almost every day. Most have lived their entire lives as wolves. They're stronger as they are, and I refuse to take that away from them."

"Your mutation is like cancer, however, unlike cancer, we can fix you." My father relaxed, "I'm not going to force you to take the cure. I just hope you'll think about it."

My father extended his arm in the direction I guessed I was supposed to go. I allowed him to lead me away from the room I had been boxed in. It felt like an interrogation room, but the lighting was subpar and it smelled of dust. I'm also guessing I was the first person to be taken inside the room.

I hadn't imagined what a reunion would be like in a long time. I used to spend hours making my house look nice for when my father finally came back home. I eventually stopped because my mother would drunkenly destroy my progress while shouting about how my father was dead. It became a traumatic experience to think about him returning.

I never expected him to come home, and because of that, I decided it was best for myself to believe he was dead. I stopped imagining his return, or what it would be like to run into his embrace when he finally came back. I was protecting myself in the best way I knew how, denial.

He looked older now, altered by time. He had grown a beard, and in that time it had begun to turn white. The bags under his eyes resembled mine. Other than that, we didn't look very much alike anymore. I used to be his clone, and now we looked like we felt like, strangers.

"I've talked to your mother. She misses you," My father said.

He led me outside the building. The large steel door had to weigh hundreds of pounds, and as it opened it scraped against the floor. The sunbeams fell from the sky, hitting the earth and making the ground glow under their touch.

The breeze that rustled the leaves and smelled like spring pushed my hair out of my face. The warm air clashed with the cold steel building. I took a deep breath, knowing my time was most likely limited. I looked to my father, wondering why he was letting me go so easily.

"We want you to make the choice to take the cure for yourself, but we also need you to know that if you don't take the cure, we will have to hunt you down," My father paused, taking in a breath, "And we will kill you."