[IC] The Moon's Howl

[Thinker]

Rufus crouched in the tiny opening in the forest, rain splattered on his heated dark brown skin mingling in the dirt and gore mixed in his black wavy hair. The pain of the shift still resounding through his human body and joints. His fingernails dug into the damp soil throwing up the deep scent of black soil and last of his prey. His dark pupils were dimly illuminated with a silver tint reflecting the full moon hidden behind the gray clouds. He took a deep breath a hand slipped over his chest smearing the splatters of blood. The male body twisted and torn lay nearby, throat and belly torn open huge chunks removed from the shoulders and back.

The memory of the hunt and thrill of the kill caused bones to shift under his taunt skin. Rufus slammed that desire and let out a breath, he ran his tongue over his teeth relishing the coppery taste of the bite that had torn the other’s throat open. His stomach rumbled with the unending want for food. The changing process took up much energy like running a marathon with a pack of bricks on his back. This time, he had forced the change. He had overcome the sway of the moons power returned to his human form. Each time he forced himself to do it became easier. It was close enough to morning that they wouldn't know the difference. He snorted softly. Fools.

The smell of heated oil, grease and Major Henderson rolled over him before he could hear the jeeps engine or the creak of the suspension. Rufus turned toward the bouncing headlights, the Major was following the GPS embedded in his shoulder. Everyone that came to the camp was equipped with one, the government had to keep an eye on their projects.

The vehicle skidded to a stop, the major stood up holding on the roll cage. Behind him a solider trained an automatic weapon upon him. “The new batch is arriving,” he said with a snort.

Rufus turned in the direction of the camp, a soft growl vibrating out of him. Hopefully, this new group will prove more useful than the last bunch of harebrained idiots who couldn’t sniff their way out of a paper bag. The push for more lycan warriors was getting messy and the shareholders were getting antsy. The perfect mind had to accept the change, they had to find that balance between animal and human. The rich didn't understand the struggle, the endless clawing need to hunt and kill or the rage that continually boiled inside.

A pair of pants was thrown at him tearing him out of his destructive thoughts. Rufus scooped the garment off the ground and pulled them on. Time to play human for a little while. He climbed in the back seat, the driver found the GPS tracker in a chunk of meat laying a few feet away and retrieved the device.

“Poor fool,” the major snorted. “I bet he never knew what hit him. Why can’t we get more like you?”

Rufus blinked his strange eyes he grinned wickedly showing off the slight points of his upper four canine teeth. He had been a man who had lost everything, his job, his home and his lover all in the matter of two weeks. He had been approached after a bar fight he had started. Instead of abducting the test subject, the major offered Rufus a different direction in life.

Rufus had merged, fully embraced what he had become. It made him dangerous. Even more than the project heads knew. After five years, Rufus barely remembered the human world. He scratched the cloth against this thigh, he hated clothing.

The major sat down and the driver ground the gears until he forced the transmission into first. The old army jeep tore toward the camp and the group of infected people that would be waking soon behind very tall fences. The serum would take most of the day to fully incubate.

The night will show if they were mice or wolves.

[Miss Matryoshka]

Charlotte had always kept to herself, never intruding in other people's bussiness or disturbing them. She had always been kind, polite and quiet, yet still, one act of kindness had sealed her fate.

It had been a late night when it happened. She was walking home in the pouring rain, eager to get home, nestle herself in her beaten down second hand sofa and have a cup of tea to forget the stress her job caused. She had seen someone furter down the road, huddled up and crying out. She had dropped her umbrella and hurried over to the poor soul to help him.

Oh, how she would regret doing so.

It all happened in a blur of sharp teeth, burning pain and fear. She vaguely remered seeing the full moon and fearing it, though why she did not know.

It had taken the authoroties about three days to track her down and recrute her to be a warrior. She had faught them, giving one of them a nice scar on his face to remember her by. Then she had felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck and she was out like a light.

And now she sat in the back of a truck, slowely regaining consiousness. Her eyebrows furrowed at the unfamilair sents and sound. She blinked slowly, groaning as she felt how sore her body was. She would throw a fit or lash out at anyone close by if only her body wasn't so... Sluggish.

She slowly tried to sit up and gather her barings when it his her like a ton of bricks. She had been sent off to the lycan camp to fight.

A growl rose in the back of her throat as she fully realised the situation she'd been put it. She started to yell, a strange, broken cry at first but then her voice got louder and louder, ening in a shrill scream.

"Let me go!"

[Thinker]

The delivery team would beat, kick and did what was necessary to fling those out of the truck. The bodies were dumped with no ceremony in the middle of the cluster of huts in a pile of changing humanity. These poor souls lost from all they had once known, several moved. Other screamed. Two were fighting. A good sign, they may prove themselves able to survive the first shift. It was excruciating and broke many, mentally and physically.

Rufus stepped out of the jeep before the smaller vehicle followed the truck out. The gates were closed and secured, the towers manned and fully loaded with weapons that would take down any creature trying to climb the electrified fence. The change was like being on powerful narcotics at first, the pain and disorientation silenced anything else from the environment for nearly five minutes. He had seen puppies climbing and were shot to ribbons and fried before they realized they were dying.

Rufus had to fight the sheer terror that snapped through him when the gates closed, the sound was like a bullet through his mind. He looked up at the sky breathing, his terror igniting his rage clawing for freedom. Rufus kept breathing deeply, his exhaustion from the night hunt kept him from reverting to the beast fully. Hunger growled overpowering his other emotional responses, he glanced at the pile of bodies before stepping to the brick fire pit. It had a heavy duty refrigerator that had been bent and abused next to it. Inside were powerful protein shakes to replenish the nutrients the changing body needed. He picked one from the shelf and let the door shut softly. Tearing off the lid he leaned against the rarely used fire pit and chugged the thick purple-gray liquid.

In the sunlight, he didn't look any different than anyone else. Just an average dirty human in a pair of pants drinking a beverage. Only when the light caught his eyes just right would anyone notice the sliver sheen to his pupils. His gaze flipped from person to person waiting for any signs of potential. A male with spiked hair and dark clothing rolled to his side with a groan, his facial features pegged him about twenty at the most. He struggled to his feet and staggered holding his head. "Dude," he said with an irritating laugh. "You weren't kidding. That was an amazing high."

The kid glanced around and rubbed the injection site on his thigh and winced. "Could have been a bit nicer 'bout it though." He moved toward Rufus and stopped short, everything about the man set him on edge. He ignored his gut feelings and went straight for the fridge. "Got any beer?" He opened it and frowned at the unbreakable bottles filled with unlabeled stuff. He took one and yanked out the cork. He turned and took a swallow, his nose wrinkled and he spit it out. "Gross." He walked a few steps toward the gate. "Why is there a fence? What is out there that we need to have a fence."