{"sf1_id":906340,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Love and Lycanthropy - Chapter 21","author":"JakeXtraTall","words":12660,"posted_at":"2015-09-04T00:23:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Plot Development","Violence","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/906340-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-21","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/906340","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=906340\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Ben brought the Huey up to cruising speed and altitude as we\nsettled in for the flight back.  We'd been in the air only five\nminutes or so since our tangle with Samuel's group.\"How long until we reach the base?\" Jesse asked Ben.\"We're loaded down a fair bit.  It'll be a bit more than an hour and a half.\"I'd\nbeen standing behind and between the front seats of the helicopter and I decided to go\nback and check on Cole.  As I approached him I saw him shivering\nand he said, \"Jake, I'm cold.  Is there something I can put on?\"He\nwas still naked after the change back to human form.  I hadn't\neven considered that before we left the compound.  I could have\neasily taken some of his clothes from the RV.From the cockpit I\nheard Jesse say, \"Shit, cuz, I'm sorry!  I ran into Grace when I\nwas going to find Samuel.  When she got done laughing at how I\nlooked she told me she had clothes for Cole.  At least one person\nthought far enough ahead to realize he'd be naked.  I completely\nforgot I had them after the dust up with Samuel.\"He\nunbuckled himself and stood and worked his way back towards us.  I\nnoticed he was still limping, but it wasn't as pronounced.  I\nlooked down and saw a fair bit of blood on his right calf.  Most\nof it was dried but some looked fresh.  He'd thrown himself on top\nof Cole when the shooting started and he'd been hit by several bullets.\n One must have hit in a spot that wasn't covered by his armor.He turned to face away from me and said, \"Pop the bottom\npart of my pack open, Jake.  She put his clothes right on top.  Sorry,\nCole.  I should have remembered.\"Cole said, \"It's OK.  I'm just glad I can get dressed.\"I reached in and undid the fasteners for\nthe flap at the mid part of Jesse's backpack.  Sure enough, Grace had\nstuffed in a full set of clothes for Cole.I put the clothes on\nthe seat next to Cole and he unbuckled and went to work getting\ndressed.  She'd included underwear, jeans, a T-shirt and a warm hoodie along\nwith hiking shoes and heavy socks.  He'd be warm and comfy for the\nrest of the flight.While\nCole got dressed, I turned back to Jesse and said, \"Let me at your pack\nagain.  I want to see what sort of first aid is in there.  We\nneed to look at your leg.  It's still bleeding.\"He nodded\nand turned his back to me again and said, \"It stings like a son of a\nbitch, but it ain't bad.  Bullet grazed my calf.  Didn't hit\nthe muscle though.  We just need to make sure I don't bleed out\nbefore the next change tomorrow night.\"I found the small\nemergency kit and pulled it out.  I indicated the seat behind me\nand Jesse sat down.  I knelt in front of him to look at his leg.\n It had a gash on the back side of the fat part of his calf\nmuscle.  It was bleeding steadily, though not heavily.  It\nhad already started to clot a fair bit.  It looked as though it\njust needed a good bandage to keep pressure on the wound and the\nbleeding should stop completely.I opened the kit and found\nantiseptic, gauze and bandages and all of the other standard first aid\nsupplies.  I tore open some alcohol pads and set to work\ncleaning the wound, and Jesse jumped and winced at the contact.  Cole\nhissed and said, \"That looks like it must hurt!  You got that when\nyou jumped on me, didn't you?  You saved my life!  Those\nbullets would have hit me!\"Jesse shrugged and said, \"It was the least I could do, after what I did to you in Mexico.\"Cole\nstared harder at Jesse's face, then his eyes went wide as he said, \"I\nknow you!  I knew you looked familiar!  You were the one that\nwas talking to me when I got separated from Mom and Elias!  You\ndidn't have a beard then.  You were shaved.  That's why I had\ntrouble figuring out where I knew you from!  Why did you do that?!\n Why did you give me to those guys?  They were gonna cut me\nup!\"Jesse got a pained look on his face as he said, \"I'm so\nsorry, Cole.  It was the wrong thing to do, but I thought I had to\ndo it.  It's complicated.  I wish I could go back and do it\ndifferent.  I know for sure it was the wrong thing to do now.\n If I hadn't done it Samuel wouldn't be in possession of the\nvirus.  I should have guessed what he had in mind.  I've\nwrecked everything.  I could be the one responsible for the human\nspecies going extinct!\"\"Don't blame yourself for that, Jesse,\" I\nsaid as I continued to work on his leg, \"Nobody's responsible for that but Samuel if he goes through with\nit.  Cole, Jesse did what he thought he had to do to save all of\nthe werewolves from those government people.  To save the lupines,\ntoo.  Like the ones you saw outside the facility.  He gave\nyou to those people so he could track you, to find out where they would\ntake you so he could stop them from doing what they planned.  They\nhad no other way to find out where the government was doing their\nexperiments.  He knew he could get you back out as easy as we did.  He wanted\nto save all of the werewolves and it was the only way he could think to\ndo it.\"\"What do you mean, save them?  What were the government guys gonna do?\" Cole asked.\"They\nwere trying to find a cure that would turn all of the werewolves back\ninto normal people again.  They needed a werewolf to work with to\nfind the cure and they knew you were one.  That's why they tried\nto get you at your old house that first time.  They wanted to\ncontrol it all so they could decide who would get to be a werewolf.\n The lupines would be at risk because there aren't enough of them\nyet to keep their species going, and the government would never allow\nthem to exist because they'd be competition for the humans.  What\nJesse was trying to do was really important.\"\"But, if they turned me back to normal I'd have ALS again!  I would get weak again like I was before!\"I\nhadn't even thought of that, but he was right.  He would\nimmediately begin to deteriorate again and he would likely be in a\nwheel chair by the time he was twenty and would probably not live past\ntwenty-five.I nodded, \"That's right.  They were planning to\nspread it to everyone in the world using the virus Samuel wants to use\nto turn everyone into a werewolf.  You would be a normal boy again\nand you'd start aging again and the ALS would advance.\"Cole\nthought about it for a while and turned back to Jesse and said, \"I\nguess you really did have to do it.  If you didn't do anything and\nthey got that cure out then I'd die for sure, the same horrible way I\nwas gonna die before Elias saved me.  You sort of saved my life by\ngiving me to them.  I can't blame you for that.  I'm glad you\ndid it.\"Jesse got a puzzled look and asked, \"You have ALS?  I didn't know that.\"Cole\nnodded and said, \"It was killing me real slow by shutting my whole body\ndown and eventually I wouldn't be able to swallow and then I wouldn't\nbe able to breathe.  It would be an awful way to die.  It\ndoesn't matter\nanymore now that I'm a werewolf.  If they cured me though, I'd be\nback to being sick again.  You really did the right thing, even\nfor me.  If you didn't give me to them and track me so you could\nstop them, I would die for sure if they found some other werewolf\ninstead and used him to get a cure and then turned me back to normal.\n I never want to worry about my ALS again!\"Jesse suddenly\nlooked as though someone had just told him he'd been placed on death\nrow by mistake, and he was free to go.  A look of relief washed\nover him, but it was short lived.  He shook his head and said,\n\"No, it was still the wrong thing to do.  I saw what they were\ngonna do to you in there.  It was a stupid risk.\"Cole shrugged and said, \"If you say so, but I don't see it that way.\"I\nsaid, \"I'm with Cole.  They had to be stopped.  I've already\nforgiven you, Jesse.  Cole has too, obviously.  Maybe it's\ntime you forgave yourself.\"From the cockpit Ben said, \"I'm with Jake and Cole.  You need to lighten up on yourself, Jesse.\"He\nnodded, but said nothing.  I could tell by the look on his face\nthat he was still thinking of Grace and how she would react to the\ntruth once he told her.Cole went over to him and gave him a hug\nand said, \"You saved me from the worst death I could imagine.  I don't care that you gave me to\nthem.  It was the right thing to do and I'll never see it any other way.\"I saw tears welling in Jesse's eyes as Cole pulled away from the hug and he smiled at him and nodded.I'd\nfinished cleaning the wound fairly thoroughly and it had started to\nbleed a bit more as a result.  I put some thick gauze pads on it\nand began to bandage it up to put pressure on it so it could\nstart the process of clotting again.  It should be fine, and it\nwould of course heal up completely on the next change anyhow.  In\nhindsight I realized all I'd really needed to do was bandage it up tightly.\n Even the cleaning was unnecessary.  There were definitely\nperks for a soldier to be able to completely regenerate twice a day\nalmost every day.Cole looked up towards the cockpit and asked, \"Could I go up and watch out the window, Jake?\"From\nthe cockpit Ben said, \"Yes, of course you can.  Come on up, Cole.\n You can take the gunner's seat and Jesse can stay back there for\na while.\"\"Cool!\" Cole exclaimed, and he moved up to the front to\nhop into the seat Jesse had vacated and buckled himself in.  He\nlooked over at Ben for the first time and said, \"Oh my God!\n You're like those guys with the big guns!  You're a wolf\nman!  You look so cool!\"Ben said, \"Thanks.  We're\ncalled lupines.  If your mom got busy with someone like, oh, I\ndon't know, Jesse maybe, their babies would turn out like me.\"We\nall had to speak quite loudly to be heard over the noise of the\nhelicopter, but Ben had shouted just a bit louder to make sure Jesse\nheard what he'd said.  Jesse blushed a bit and I smiled.I moved up to stand behind the cockpit again and said, \"I guess I should introduce you two\nproperly.  Cole, this is Benjamin.  He's with you and me and\nElias now.  He's part of our family.\"Cole's face brightened and he excitedly asked, \"Really?  You're with us now?\"Ben smiled and said, \"Yup, I am.  I fell in love with Jake right when we first met.  I hope that's OK with you.\"Cole said, \"Of course it is!  If Jake loves you I know I will too.  I wish I could hug you right now.\"Ben\nsaid, \"Me too, but flying a helicopter is really sort of hands on.\n It's kind of like balancing a spinning plate on the end of a\nstick in the\nmiddle of a high wind.  I need to constantly adjust to compensate\nfor all of the changing forces the helo undergoes at all times.\"\"Could you teach me how to fly a helicopter?\" Cole asked.\"Sure,\nanyone\ncan learn to fly one.  You're a bit small to fly the Huey, though.\n Your feet need to be able to work the pedals at all times to\ncontrol the tail and yaw the chopper around to the left or right.\n Your left hand works the collective, which controls up and down\nbasically, and your right hand works the cyclic, which controls tilting\nthe disk to make the helo tilt in order to bank left and right or pitch\nforward and back.\n I could teach you how to fly it in a computer simulator I\nlike to\nplay around on.  It models the Huey almost perfectly and it's a\nlot like flying the real thing.  It's really not as hard as it\nmight seem,\nbut it takes a lot of practice before you can even just hold it in a\nsteady hover without crashing.  Once you really get used to it\nthough, you can do it without thinking.  It just takes time and\neffort to get there.\"Cole looked over the myriad of\ndials and switches and numerical displays scattered all over the\ncockpit.  There was a panel loaded with them between the pilot and\ngunner's seats.  The front was covered in dials showing engine\npressure and fuel flow and torque and altitude and heading and horizon.\n Even the roof was covered in switches, knobs and lights on a long panel\nbetween the two seats.Cole said, \"This is all so cool.  I\ndon't know how you could ever remember what it all does.  What\ndoes this flashing red one mean up here?\"Ben said, \"Huh?\"Just as he turned to look up at what Cole was pointing at,\na klaxon suddenly sounded loudly and the red light on the panel turned\nsolid while others began to flash on the forward panel next to the\nengine gauges.Ben said, \"Shit!  The engine temperature's\ngoing ballistic!  I think our ruptured fuel line might have\nignited!  Jake, strap in!\"I went back to sit next to Jesse and buckled myself in.\"Will you be able to get us down?\" Jesse asked.Ben shouted, \"I need to cut the fuel flow or the fire might get\ninto the main tank and we'll be blown to bits!  The temperature's\ncritical as it is!  If I don't shut it down we might lose the...\"There\nwas suddenly a muffled bang and the turbine engine's\nroar increased to an incredibly high-pitched howl while the\nhelicopter lurched and began to drop from the sky.Ben's shoulders slumped as he finished his sentence, \"...turboshaft.\"He\nflipped some switches and suddenly the sound of the engine died away\ncompletely.  We were without power and we started to fall faster\nand faster.\"Everyone hang on tight!\" Ben shouted, \"I'm gonna\nautorotate.  I can see a patch of ground ahead.  It should be\nbig enough and we just might have enough altitude to make it.  It\ncould be a bit of a rough landing!\"\"You mean you can land a helicopter without the engine?\" Cole asked.\"Sure,\nit's easy.  I've done it lots of times as part of my training.\n I can teach you how to do it in the simulator, too.  In\nfact, I can explain it to you right now.  Your first lesson in\nflying a helicopter will be to learn how to not crash when your engine\ndies.\"  He\ncontinued to work the controls as he explained the procedure,\n\"Autorotation isn't really that hard.  I lower the collective all\nthe way to get a near negative pitch on the blades and I push full\nright rudder with my feet because the tail doesn't have to fight the torque of the\nengine anymore so I need to compensate for that.  I keep the nose\nnearly level so we start to fall flat through the air.  The air\nrushing through the blades spins them up and\nkeeps the head rotating at a good, high speed to store our energy until\nwe need it most, like a flywheel.  The spinning blades continue to\nact\nsort of like a disk-shaped wing that keeps us gliding forward like a\nplane at the same time as we're losing altitude.  I need to keep\nadjusting the collective so I don't\noverspeed the rotor head and burn it out or throw a blade.  If the\nRPMs get too high I just add a bit more collective to generate more lift and that will slow the\nblades back down to a safe speed.  I also need to make sure I\ndon't cause us to lose too\nmuch head speed by going too shallow and burning up the momentum trying\nto maintain lift, which would be bad since it takes time and altitude\nto gain it back, and we're running out of both of those fast as we\nsteadily drop.\"\"Holy!\" Cole said, \"That's a lot of stuff to keep track of!  I could never do that!\"\"If\nyou practice it enough with the simulator I promise you I can get you\ndoing it just fine, over and over again.  You'll see.  It's\njust a balancing act, really.  When I\nget close to the ground I change the pitch of the blades with the\ncollective to add lift back and flare the helicopter.  The\nmomentum stored up in the spinning rotor\nprovides the power we need to slow us right down even while the blades\nslow down and we start to lose the lift again.  If I time\neverything right I burn up all of our head speed while slowing us\nalmost to a hover and the skids touch the ground nice and gently just\nas we lose the last bit of lift from the blades slowing down too much.\n If I don't time it right we might bounce, hard.  Just make\nsure your tongue isn't between your teeth and hold on tight.\"He\nthen shouted more loudly so he would be heard right to the back of the\nchopper, \"Everyone brace yourselves!  I shut down the fuel pump,\nbut there could\nstill be a fire burning out there so I need everyone to scramble\nas soon as we touch down!  Get as far away from the chopper as you\ncan, as fast as you can!\"Everyone went quiet and braced for the coming impact with the ground.  The sound in the helicopter was eerily\ndifferent with no engine running.  There was only a whining sort\nof whir from the smooth meshing of the gears in the transmission that\nlinked the main rotor to the tail rotor.  Other than that\nthere was only the sound of wind rushing past the airframe along with\nsome creaks and groans as the load shifted while Ben began to pull back\non the cyclic control to tilt the disk and bring the nose back to level.The\nwhine of the gears in the rotor head transmission increased as the\nblades began to bear the load of the helicopter while it rapidly began\nto slow down.The 'thwap thwap' sound of the blades that had almost faded\ncompletely began to increase in volume again while Ben lifted the\ncollective to change the angle of the blades so they would bite more\nair and begin to convert the momentum the head had built up back into\nlift to try to slow us to a hover.The helicopter groaned loudly\nand the thwapping of the blades grew louder and louder as the nose came\nup more and we felt ourselves decelerating rapidly. The\nairframe began to shake and shimmy as we began to lose translational lift and\nrapidly slowed almost to a hover, then the beating of the blades\nsuddenly began to go quiet again as the rotor slowed to the point of\nbecoming ineffective.  Ben had timed it perfectly though, and the\nhelicopter leveled off and\nwe felt a bump and a lurch as the skids touched the ground and we slid\njust a few feet forward before we finally came to a stop.\"Go! Go! Go!\" Ben shouted.One\nof the other men was already up and opening the door as I unbuckled\nmyself, and I jumped down to the ground.  I moved to the front and\nopened the side door for Cole.  He'd already unbuckled and he\njumped out to join me and we\nran as fast as Cole could go towards the tree line near the edge of the\npatch of open tundra we'd landed on.I looked back as we ran but\nI could see no sign of any fire as the rest of the men piled out and\nran to follow us. Ben was the last one out, but instead of\nrunning, he turned to look up at the helicopter.\n There was a small amount of smoke coming from the top of it near\nthe base of the rotor, but there didn't appear to be any flames.\n They would have been easily visible as the dusk had darkened a\nfair bit more towards full night.Ben stepped a foot up on the\nside of the helicopter and reached up and put his hand on the fuselage,\nthen pulled it away quickly.  He went back inside the helicopter\nand emerged a while later with a tool in his hand.  He turned\nseveral bolts with it and then he popped a panel open and looked\ninside.  After several moments he turned and jumped down to the\nground and waved us over.We emerged from the trees and walked back to the helicopter.\"It\nwasn't a fire at all,\" Ben said, \"One of Jeb's bullets hit the\nturboshaft casing and cracked it.  We lost all the lubricant.\n It heated up and seized and the shaft broke.  That's why the\nengine RPMs went up, when it was suddenly unloaded.  If it was\njust a fire and if I could have got us down in time, there was hope\nthat I might be able to repair the fuel line, but with a busted shaft\nthere's no way to get her in the air again.\"\"So what now?\" I asked, \"How far are we from the compound?\"Ben\nthought about it for a moment and said, \"The Huey's a lot slower than\nthe Hercules.  We were at cruising speed.  We were in the air\nfor close to twenty minutes.  I'd say we only got about\nthirty miles from the facility, and we'd still be close to a\nhundred and fifty miles from our base.\"\"Shit!\" Jesse exclaimed, \"No radio, so nobody back at base knows we're in trouble yet.\"\"Can't we look for high ground and use our field radios to contact the compound?\" I asked.Jesse\nshook his head and said, \"Not a chance.  Their best range in this\nkind of terrain is about twenty-five miles.  We can't contact base and\nthey won't know for sure that anything's wrong until they don't hear\nfrom us for long enough.\"Ben\nnodded and said, \"It would normally\ntake us at least an hour and a half to get back in the fully loaded\nHuey, so they won't guess anything's wrong until they still haven't heard from us by then.  Even if\nthey do, they have no more helicopters to come get us with.\n There's only the Herc, and there's no place anywhere near here\nwhere it could land.  I looked over the topography when the mission\nwas being planned.  It's all hills and forest for a long way.\n Even when you get to the more open areas, a lot of it is muskeg\nand the plane can't land on that boggy shit.\"Jesse\nsaid, \"Well, at least that means Samuel's options are limited, too,\neven\nif he manages to get the long range communications gear working at the\nfacility.  The best they could hope to do is hike out to someplace\nwhere the Hercules could land and pick them up.  It would likely\ntake them days if I remember the layout of the terrain.  They'd\nhave to head northeast and cover a good seventy-five miles to reach the\nclosest area flat enough and open enough, and that's only if they could\nfollow a straight track, which they can't.  The landscape around\nhere will require them to take several detours around bogs and small\npothole lakes, so it will take fairly long to hike it even at speed.\n Their only other hope\nwould be to fly up more choppers from one of our Colorado compounds and\nthat would take days too because they're slow and their range is\nlimited and they'd have to stop a few times to refuel.  That\nwouldn't really be an option\nanyhow because I'm sure the humans will eventually clue in that they've\nlost the facility and they'll send in a response of some sort.\n Samuel can't just wait around there for a pick up.  He'll\nneed to get away from there as quick as he can.\"\"So\nI guess they're as stuck as we are for now, at least until they can get\nthat antenna fixed and use the long range radio to call for help.\n We need to decide our next course of action,\" I said.I saw all eyes turn to me, as though waiting for me to say something more.  I asked Jesse, \"So, what are our options?\"He\nshrugged and said, \"I can think of three.  We sit tight and wait\nfor the compound to figure out something's wrong and send the Herc out\nto search for us and then figure out some way to help us out.\n That could be a long wait, and while we wait Samuel gets more and\nmore time to fix that radio antenna and divert any help we might have\ngot over\nto him and his team to get them out of there.  He might just leave\nus stranded here, or he might even send someone to capture us or maybe\nfinish us off.  Option two is to strike out for the base.  On\nfoot in this landscape, at our best speed, it would likely take us at\nleast four or five days.  Probably closer to a week.  Again,\nSamuel would have plenty of time\nto get things organized and he'd have full control of the base long\nbefore we got there.  They'd see us as the enemy and they'd be\nready for us and we'd be screwed.\n Option three is we head back to the research facility since it's\na lot\ncloser.  If we can get there quick enough we might make it before\nthey can get the radio working and we might have a chance to stop them\nfrom calling for help to get them out of there with the virus.  We\nmight be\nable to stop Samuel's plan, but it wouldn't be easy.  We've got\nshotguns and door knockers and our machine guns.  They have their\nmachine guns, rocket launchers, RPGs and Jeb's chain gun.  We'd be\nheavily outgunned.\"Ben said, \"But we'd have the element of\nsurprise.  They wouldn't know we had trouble and went down.\n They wouldn't expect us to be coming back on foot.  They\nmight have a guard posted outside, but if we could take him out\nquietly, I could get my hands on Josh's chain gun if they left it\noutside and we could use it to keep them pinned inside.  It would\nbe suicide for them to try to come down that long hallway.  I\ncould cut them to ribbons.  After what they did to Josh, I'd be\nhappy to do it.  If we can keep them pinned inside, we'd have the\nbig antenna outside.  We might be able to tie it to one of our\nshort range field radios to get the longer range we need to contact the\nbase and get help.\"All eyes turned back to me and waited\nexpectantly.  I couldn't figure out why they kept waiting for my\nopinion.  Why weren't they looking at their general?\"So which will it be, Jake?\" Jesse asked.\"Huh?  Why are you asking me?  You're in command!\"Jesse\nchuckled and said, \"Sorry, I guess I'm still following the wolf's\ninstincts.  We all saw you, Jake.  You're massive.\n You're all black.  I guess the wolf in us is seeing you as\nalpha of the group.\"I shook my head and said, \"I'm no alpha.\n I'm happy to give my opinion, but it doesn't carry any more\nweight than anyone else's.\"\"So, what's your opinion then?\"\"I\nthink we need to head back to the facility.  I don't know if it\nwould be safe to try to take on Samuel's men, but at least we need to\nstop them from using the radio antenna if we can.  Everything\nhinges on that.  The antenna was pretty badly wrecked and it would\nprobably take them most of the night to fix it and get it wired back\ninto the radio room, but it would take us most of the night to run back\nto the facility, so it would be a tight race.  We need to get back\nthere before they can use it.  We're screwed if Samuel can\ncommunicate back to\nbase before we can.  He'll be able to take over the army and he'll\nhave all the power.  We might never get any help if that happens.\n He'd block us.\"Jesse nodded, \"You're right about that.\n If I could get on the horn before he can, I could have those that\nare loyal to me lock everything down, including radio communications.\n Samuel would be out in the cold then instead of us.  He'd\nhave nobody to turn to.  It's hard to know if we'd stand a chance\nthough.  His group is bigger than ours and better armed.\"\"We\ncan make a better assessment of the situation once\nwe're there,\" I said, \"It's like Ben said, they won't know we're\ncoming.  It should be no problem for us to sneak up and surveil\nthe place all we want in order to determine the best coure of action.\n If we can somehow get the upper hand, then we'd\nbe able to use the radio equipment ourselves and call out for help, but\nthe main thing would be to stop Samuel from gaining control of the\narmy, even if it means doing a more thorough job of destroying that\nantenna so it can't possibly be repaired.\"Ben nodded and said, \"I'm with Jake.  It's the only\nreal option.  Samuel's not my alpha anymore.  He's gone\ninsane.  We need to stop him from killing billions of people.\n Jake's my alpha now and I go where he leads.  I say we head\nback to the facility.\"The\nother men nodded their agreement but\nJesse said, \"I don't know.  We have Cole with us now.\n We need to get him back safe to Grace like I promised her we\nwould.  If we go back to the\nfacility, someone needs to stay back here with Cole.  It would be too dangerous to bring him along.  These other\ntwo guys we picked up are naked and defenseless too.  They'd be no\ngood to us out there.  They wouldn't even be able to make it all the way there with\nno clothes and nothing to cover their feet.  We don't know them,\neither, so we can't trust them with Cole.  Someone else has to stay\nhere with him.\"Cole said, \"No!  I'm not staying back here!  I want to go with Jake and Ben!\"I\nsaid, \"Jesse's right, Cole.  It would be too dangerous.\"  I\nturned back to Jesse and said, \"I'm the only one here who's not trained\nto fight and not armed with anything other than a side arm.  I\nshould be the one to stay back with Cole.  The only reason I came\nout here in the first place was for him.  I'm not a soldier and I\nhave no business being here.  I'd only get in the way if I go back\nthere with you.\"The men all grumbled and shook\ntheir heads and Ben said, \"If you're staying back, then I'm staying\nback too.  I'm not leaving you and Cole out here.\"The\nmen protested even more and one of them said, \"We need everyone we can\nbring.  The kid\nshould be safe enough if he stays back in the trees when\nwe get close to the facility.  It would be\nhard enough with all of us and there's just no way we could do it with\ntwo less.\n We need Ben to operate the chain gun.  He's the only one\nstrong enough to carry it.  We might\nneed the biggest damn wolf we've ever seen, too, so Jake needs to\ncome along.  He may not be a trained soldier but if it comes to\nchanging back to a wolf again his wolf will know how to fight, and\nwould be better than any two of the others combined.  He's a\nkindred for fuck's sake, and the strongest we've ever seen.  He's\nmore alpha than even Samuel could ever be.  It doesn't matter what\nhe says right now as a human, when he changes again the wolf will know\nwho's alpha and will act on it.  We need him.\"Another\nof the men said, \"I agree with Hendricks.  Besides all that, if we can't stop\nthem from using that radio, then\nthere's no way to get Cole back safe anyhow.  What do you think\nwill happen if Samuel manages to radio back to base before we can get\nback\nthere?  He'll have anyone loyal to you locked up, Jesse, and that\nincludes the other two civilians, Cole's mom and the other one.\n You want to keep them safe too, don't you?  You're still the\ngeneral of our army until Samuel says otherwise, so we have to stop him\nfrom saying so to anyone back at our base.\n Samuel's still the alpha to everyone else, even if he ain't ours\nanymore.\n They'll do whatever he says.  If we let him get word back to\nbase he'll tell them all he\nstripped you of your rank because you turned on him, and we'll be out\nin\nthe cold with no hope of getting help.  He might send someone out\nhere to find our helicopter, but only to drop a damn bomb on it.\n How safe would Cole be then?  He'd be a primary target.\n He's safer with us than left behind here and the only way to keep\nhis mom safe too is to get back to that facility and stop Samuel from\ngetting that radio working and getting word back to the base that we're\nthe enemy now.  You said you came out here because of Cole, Jake.\n The only way to keep him safe is to keep him with you, and to\ncome along with us to stop Samuel.\"I\ncouldn't argue with the logic.  Both men were right.  It\nseemed like the only way to proceed.  \"I think they're making a\nlot of sense, Jesse.  It might be the only way to go.\"Jesse\nshrugged and said, \"I guess it's our only real option.  We need to stop them\nfrom using that radio if we can, or there won't be any way to get Cole\nback safe anyhow, and it might put Grace and Elias in danger.  Cole should be OK if he stays back in the trees and\nstays quiet and well out of the fight.  Have you ever hunted, Cole?\"He nodded and said, \"Yup, why?\"Jesse\nsaid, \"If it all goes to hell, you need to be able to survive out here on your own.\n Your wolf will keep you fed no problem.  We'll all\nbe eating just fine if we need to.  I just wanted to be sure you\ntried it before and you know you can do it.\"\"I\ncan do it.\n I can take care of myself.  I don't want to stay behind.\n If that Samuel guy does what he said, so many people are gonna die!\n We can't let him do that!  If he gets on the radio Mom and\nElias might be in trouble too.  Jake, we have to go back and stop\nhim!\"I said, \"Alright.  It's decided then, we head back to the facility.\"Jesse nodded his agreement and so did all of the others.The general looked over at the two naked men who'd been released from the cells and\nsaid, \"You guys can come with us, or stay here.  I'll leave that\nchoice up to you.  We've got nothing to offer you in the way of\nclothes.  It's gonna get a lot colder tonight before it starts to\nwarm up again in the morning.  We can't have you holding us back,\nso if you choose to come with us, we won't be stopping or slowing down\nfor you.  We need to get back to that facility as fast as we can.\"One of them said, \"I'm just gonna stay here if that's alright.  At least we have the helicopter for a shelter.\"The other nodded his agreement.Jesse\nlooked at his GPS watch and said, \"OK.  I've got the coordinates\nso\nI'll send help as soon as we have things back under control, but you'd\nbetter be prepared in case help doesn't come.  You'll be turning\nback into wolves at sunset tomorrow.  Make sure you're apart from\neach other at first.  You might want to seize the opportunity to\nlet your wolves hunt down some game for you or you'll be starving out\nhere if you have to wait too long for help to come, or if things go\nwrong for us and we can't even\nget help to you at all.  As soon as you become wolves start\nsniffing around for something to take down and eat and let the wolves\nshow you how it's done.  It'll be tough for you out here in human\nform, but once you turn into wolves you'll be right at home and you'll\nown the place.\"They nodded their understanding.Ben said, \"There's a survival kit in the Huey.  I'll show you\nwhere it is.  It's got blankets and field rations and a couple\ngallons of water and fire starting gear and a hatchet and knife and\nwhat not.  Just don't start a fire too close to the chopper.\n It's still almost half full of fuel and there's probably some on\nthe fuselage from the leak.  You should be fine out here.  I'm completely covered in nice warm fur, too, and I don't\nnormally dress up this much.  I wear a flight suit when\nI'm flying the Huey because even I get cold sitting in that thing for\nhours at night out here.  It'll be way too hot for me when we're\non the run, though, and I don't like the feel of it on my fur if I'm moving around a lot.\"He\ncrouched down to untie his army boots, then kicked them off.  He\nunzipped his one-piece flight suit and pulled his arms out and stepped\nout of it.  He handed the suit to the larger of the naked men and he\nsmiled and thanked Ben.  The lupine was still wearing an\nundershirt and his athletic shorts.  He pulled the shirt over his\nhead and handed it to the other man, then he pulled down his athletic\nshorts and stepped out of them and handed the man that, too.Ben\nwas now wearing nothing but his grey boxer briefs that clearly outlined\nhis magnificent package, and his heavy wool socks.Out of the\ncorner of my eye I saw movement and looked over to see Cole adjusting\nhis crotch.  He was staring raptly at Ben's heavily muscled, furry body\nand his eyes locked on to the beautiful bulge between his legs and he\nwas quickly becoming aroused.  I smiled and he noticed me looking and he\nblushed and grinned at me.  I winked and grinned back.Ben put his army boots back on and led the men over to the chopper to show them where the survival kit was.They thanked him profusely for literally giving them the clothes off his back, and he nodded and returned to join us.\"Alright, let's head out,\" Jesse said, \"We need to move fast.\"He checked his GPS watch again to get a heading and started off into the woods at a slow trot.  The rest of us followed.The\nterrain was rugged and varied.  The area was heavily treed and\nhilly and occasionally we started to run into mushy, wet bogland that\nwe needed to skirt around.  I wasn't sure at first how long I'd be\nable to keep up the\npace, but I realized quickly I was still thinking with my old body, not\nmy new one.  All of us were exceedingly fit werewolves, except for\nBen who was even more muscular and fit than any of us were in our human\nforms.  We ate up the\nmiles at an amazing pace and needed to stop for short rests only\noccasionally.  Those of us who'd been outfitted for the strike on\nthe facility had water in our packs that we shared with\nBen and Cole.  It felt like I could still go a lot longer yet when\nwe finally arrived back at the facility in about seven hours.\n When Jesse finally had us all stop, the dark of night was already\nbeginning to lighten up slightly to the east in the run up to the dawn\nthat would come in a couple of hours.Jesse\nwalked up to me and had me turn around.  He fiddled behind me and\ndetached my backpack from my armor.  He went over to one of his\nother men and asked him for his GPS watch.  He took both and came back\nto Cole, who was standing next to Ben.\"Put\nthis watch on, Cole.\n It's a little big, but the stretchy strap should hold.  The\nwatch uses satellites to tell you where you are so you can't really get\nlost if you have it on.  There's survival gear in this pack in the bottom part.\"Jesse\npulled the flap open at the bottom and reached in and pulled out a hand\nmicrophone with a coiled cord that was connected into the pack and\nsaid, \"This is a field radio.  I'm turning it on and setting it to our channel.  If we need\nto, we can talk to you.  You can talk to us to by holding this\nswitch on the side.  Don't do it unless you think you really have\nto because you might be giving away our position while we're sneaking up on them, OK?\"Cole nodded.\"If\nsomehow we lose you or you need to move to get to safety or something, we'll radio you, and I'll get you to give us the\nnumbers that are showing on your watch.  It will tell us exactly\nwhere you are so we can come and find you.  There's rations and\nwater in the pack and there's a knife on the side in that scabbard in\ncase you need it.  Be careful with it.\"Cole nodded again.Jesse pulled the side arm out of its holster on the side of the pack and handed it to me.I\nwent to Cole and have him a hug and a kiss, \"We'll be back here in a\nbit.  Stay hidden and stay quiet.  Will you be OK\nalone?\"He nodded and said, \"I'll be fine.  Please be careful.\"Benjamin came over next and crouched and said, \"I never got that hug from you yet.\"Cole grinned and hugged him tightly.Ben\nkissed him on the forehead and ruffled his hair and said, \"You look\nbeautiful in this light.  Your aura's so bright white I could read\nby it.  It would be a dead giveaway for Jeb if he came looking in this direction.\"\"My aura?\"Ben said, \"Never mind.  Just stay\ndown low and stay behind the tree.  Don't try to come any closer.\n There might be a little bit of shooting.  Don't panic.\n It'll be us shooting at them.  Just stay right here until we\ncome back for you.\"Cole nodded, \"Be careful, Ben.\"Jesse\nand his men all detached their deadly looking automatic assault rifles\nfrom the side of their packs and held them ready.  Jesse led the\nway again as we slowly made our way further through the forest towards\nthe facility's entrance.  We were there in less than five minutes\nand once again Jesse signaled us to stop and get down low.He motioned to Ben, who went over to crouch beside him.\"Your eyesight's a hell of a lot better than ours.  What do you see up that hill?\"Ben\nfollowed where he was pointing and said, \"There's an antenna up there.\n Big metal one.  It looks a bit banged up, but it's attached\nto the side of a tree.\"\"Shit,\" Jesse said, \"I guess they managed to get it back up.  They might have already contacted the base.\"\"Maybe\nnot yet.  I see two guys out there.  It looks like\nthey're coming back down the hill.  I think they might have just\nfinished putting it back\nup.\"  Ben looked further down the hill and added, \"There's one guard\nat\nthe entrance.  I can see a thick black cable coming out from the\nentrance and running back up the hill.  I bet those guys used it\nto hook up the antenna.\"\"Can you see anyone else?  Any sign of Jeb?\"\"No,\nI\nsee Josh's body.  It's still out in the clearing.  Looks like\nthey haven't touched him.  The chain gun is still there.\n Nobody else would be able to use it so I guess they never\nbothered to retrieve it.  If\nwe rush them now we can take out the guard at the door easy\nbefore the other two can get through the trees and I should be able to\nget to the chain gun before the ones inside catch wind of our attack.\"\"We need to hit\nall three of the ones outside at once,\" Jesse said, \"We can't let any of them get to cover\nor we'll expend too much ammo trying to take them out.  We need to\nbe quick and efficient.  Ben, can you get the chain gun off of\nJosh and onto your back without help?\"He shook his head, \"Not if you need me to do it in a hurry.  That ammo pack weighs a ton.  I need someone to help me.\"Jesse\nnodded and said, \"OK.  Jake, I need you to help Ben.  We need him\narmed and ready with that chain gun in case Jeb comes down that hallway\nonce we start shooting.  We need Ben to keep them all bottled up\ninside.\"I nodded.Jesse continued, \"Sykes, you're the best\ncrack shot we have.  I need you right here.  Get a bead on that guard at the door.  Hendricks, Wilson,\nBenjamin and Jake stay here with Sykes.  Myers and I will make our\nway around and up the hill to get ready to take out the other two.\n Once we're in position, I'll give the word on the radio and Sykes\nwill put a bullet through the guard's eye.  Sykes, Wilson and Hendricks\nthen rush the entrance and keep it covered in case anyone tries to come\nout, while Ben and Jake make for that chain gun and get it on Ben's\nback as fast as you can.  We need that chaingun ready to mow down\nanyone with a rocket or grenade launcher or Jeb before they can get\noutside or we're toast.  We'll take out the two on the hill and\ncome back to help cover the entrance as quick as we can.  Everyone\nclear?\"We all nodded and Jesse wasted no time.  He and the\nman he'd indicated vanished quickly into the forest to make their way\naround to where the two men had been running the antenna cable through the\nwoods.  Sykes moved to a position where he could lie down and keep his rifle perfectly stable on\nthe ground and he switched it to single fire mode.  He would have to make the shot without the benefit of a scope.Hendricks and Wilson crouched beside him, ready to rush the\nentrance as soon as the guard was dealt with.Ben and I stayed\nput off to the side, ready to run for Josh's chain gun.Several\nminutes went by as we waited for the word to proceed, and then it came.\n The radio crackled to life and Jesse said simply, \"Go.\"Even\nthough I was expecting it I still jumped when Sykes's rifle immediately\nfired a high caliber bullet that hit the guard right between the eyes\nand he instantly crumpled to the ground dead.  I heard a couple of\nbrief bursts of gunfire accompanied by muzzle flashes up in the forest,\nthen\nthere was silence as the rest of us burst from the trees and rushed\ninto the clearing.  Ben and I made for Josh's body while the\nothers headed towards the entrance to the facility with their rifles\nraised to cut down anyone who might try to come out.When we got to\nJosh's corpse, Ben immediately went to work undoing several fasteners at\nJosh's hips and breastbone that held the support frame for the chain\ngun.  He unclipped a belt around his waist that held the large\nhard case that was filled with the coiled ammo and I held Josh's\nmuscular shoulders off the ground while Ben slid the pack up and off\nhim, while trying to keep the long flexible tube that guided the chain from\nkinking or getting detached.  He then worked the support frame\nupwards while I pulled at Josh's legs and slid his incredibly heavy body out from under\nit.Rather\nthan try to pick it all up, Ben simply went to the\nground and crawled up into the frame and began reconnecting it by\nstrapping it tightly to his hips and breast bone.  I grabbed the\nlarge hard case and muscled it into position and hooked it onto his\nshoulders and he strapped it at his waist.  He then struggled to\nhis knees while I helped him lift the awkward load off the ground.\n Then he grunted as he went upright and his massively powerful thighs\nstrained as he bore the full weight of the ammo and the chain gun and\nstood up.  He adjusted it slightly and then smiled a wicked smile\nas he brought the gun around and started walking towards the entrance\nto the facility.Jesse and his other man were already emerging from the trees and making for the entrance.We all joined back together there and there was still no sign of anyone else coming from inside the facility.\"What now?\" I asked.Jesse\nshrugged and said, \"I sort of expected the shit to hit the fan at this\npoint.  They should be pouring out of there to try to stop us\nbefore we can get fortified out here and pin them inside.  I guess we should move inward.\"He looked over at Ben and said, \"I wish you would have at least put his flak gear on.\"Ben\nsaid, \"There wasn't time.  It didn't do Josh much good anyhow.\n It doesn't cover the neck or face.  I can go back and get it\nif you want to hold the chain gun for a bit.\"Jesse sighed and\nsaid, \"Just be careful.  You need to take the lead.  You're\nthe only one who can shred them completely if they try anything.\n We have to see who's still in there.\"Ben nodded and didn't\nwait for any further instructions.  He just waltzed right in past the broken doors at the entrance,\nchain gun at the ready, and the rest of us followed.Two\nof the\nothers flanked Ben as we got into the wide hallway and we continued on\nthrough without incident.  It was completely quiet in the main\nsection of the facility.  There was no sign of anyone, though the\ndead bodies of the armed guards and a couple of the scientists were\nstill scattered here and there along the bloody hallway.Jesse\nquietly gave the signal to continue on inward, but there were suddenly\nseveral gunshots from further in and everyone took positions to get\nready to return fire.The\ngunshots stopped and there was silence again, then a pistol slid out\nalong the floor from one of the rooms ahead and to the left.  It was followed quickly by an\nautomatic rifle that slid out to join it, then someone shouted, \"I surrender!  Don't shoot!  I'm alone.\n My weapons are on the floor.  I'm unarmed.  I'm coming out.\"A man\nemerged through the door the guns had slid out from with his arms raised and started to move slowly toward us.\n It was one of Samuel's men.  One of Jesse's men rushed\nto him and quickly checked that he had no weapons on him anywhere\nand he nodded to Jesse to indicate the man was unarmed.\"Where's Samuel?\" Jesse asked.\"Gone.\"Jesse\nsighed and got a hard look on his face as he hooked his assault rifle\nto the side of his pack and then asked me for my pistol and I handed it to him.  He\nturned back to face the man and\nbrought the gun up and said, \"I'll ask you one more time, but I expect\na much more thorough and constructive answer.  You really don't want to fuck around with me\nright now.  Where the hell is Samuel?\"\"He's\ngone!  He left with all the others hours ago.  He's afraid\nthe humans might hit this facility as soon as some check-in time is\nreached and they find they can't communicate.  He wanted to get\nthe virus samples and the research and scientists out and away as fast\nas possible.  He couldn't wait around for us to get the antenna fixed.  I don't know where he went.\"\"I gave you a\nchance, cuz, remember that,\" Jesse said.  He squeezed the trigger and\nthe man's knee exploded as he screamed out in pain and crumpled to the floor.Jesse\ngave\nthe man a moment and then said, \"You know where he is.  He left\nyou here to repair the radio so you could get word out to send in an\nextraction team.  The only aircraft left is the Herc.  He\nmust be\nmaking for a viable landing site, am I right?  He must have given\nyou the coordinates so you could radio them to base.  Where is he headed?\"The man's face hardened and he simply said, \"Fuck you!\"Jesse\ntook a step closer and aimed the gun at the man's hand that was now\ncovering his damaged knee and he pulled the trigger again.The\nman howled in pain as the bullet destroyed his hand and continued on\nthrough to further wreck his leg.  Jesse took one step closer and\nsaid, \"The next one's gonna make one of your testicles explode.\"The man put up his remaining good hand and said, \"Wait!  I'll give you the coordinates!\"He\nspoke them and Jesse looked over at Ben.  Ben nodded and said,\n\"Sounds about right from what I can remember of the topographic maps I\nstudied when we prepped for this mission.  That would be about the\nclosest relatively flat location the Hercules could\nset down that's big enough and isn't muskeg or forest.  I think he's telling the\ntruth.\"Jesse\nnodded and turned back to the wounded man and aimed the gun right at\nhis head and he said, \"Those wounds will heal and you'll be fine once\nyou go through your next change.  Your immortality can continue,\nprovided you tell me what I need to know without hesitation this time.\n Otherwise I put a bullet in your brain and your life ends here\nand now.\"The man looked defeated and he just nodded his acquiescence.Jesse asked, \"Did you manage to contact the base and give them the coordinates?\"The\nman didn't even pause this time as he nodded again and said, \"Yes.\n As soon as I heard shooting outside I knew we were in trouble so\nI didn't wait for the guys who were repairing the antenna to get back\nin.  I hoped they'd got it hooked up.  I tried the radio and\nit was working, so I got the message out.  They'll be sending the\nHerc to meet up with Samuel's team at the appointed time that he's\nexpected to arrive at the coordinates I gave you.\"\"And when is that?\"\"Three days.  Samuel said to have the Herc head out there in three days.\"\"Did he give you any other message to pass on to them?\"The\nman hesitated briefly, but nodded and said, \"I was to explain to them\nthat you had turned on him.  That you were the enemy.  I was\nto tell them that they were to take you all into custody as soon as you\narrived back there, but I didn't get that part of the message out.\n I heard you coming into the facility and I knew you'd be on me in\nseconds.  There wasn't time.  I had to make sure you couldn't\nuse the radio our you'd block Samuel's orders, so I shot it up.  I wrecked it.\"That must be\nthe gunfire we'd heard as we came in.  One of the men quickly went\nforward and looked into the radio room and his shoulders slumped.\n He looked back and nodded and said, \"It's completely trashed.  We can't\nuse it.\"Jesse\ncursed and he turned to me and said, \"You told me back at the compound\nthat electronics was a hobby of yours.  Is there any chance we\ncould do like Ben said before and hook one of our field radios to the\nbig antenna and use it to contact the base?\"I shook my head and\nsaid, \"Not a chance.  That's not how it works.  Antennas are\ndesigned for the frequencies they need to handle and our radios\ncouldn't really make use of it.  They're spread spectrum and they\noperate at a completely different frequency range.  Besides that,\nthe main thing that gives that antenna the range it needs is the\namplifiers that boost the signal up into the kilowatt power range.\n Our radios operate in milliwatts and that's the real reason their\nrange is so limited.  The amplifier we'd need to boost the signal\nhigh enough to reach the compound will be one of the things that's in\nthat room and riddled with bullet holes.\"Jesse said, \"Shit.\n So we have absolutely no chance of contacting the base now.\n That Herc is the only way to get back out of here.\"  He\nturned back to the wounded man and asked, \"So\nthey don't know we've been split up?  They think we're still all\ntogether under Samuel?\"The man shrugged and nodded and said,\n\"There's no\nreason for them to think otherwise, I guess.  I only managed to\ntell them things were fucked up here and we had no way to get back and\nwe needed them to send out the Herc to pick us up.  I gave them\nthe coordinates and the meeting time and waited for their\nacknowledgement and you were already coming down the hall so I had to\nwreck the\nequipment to make sure you couldn't give them any other orders.\"Jesse\nturned to me and said, \"Well, that's something at least.  They\nstill don't know I'm not their general anymore.  That means Grace\nand Elias\nare safe for now, too.  Nobody will be expecting us back if they\nthink\nsomething went wrong and we're all headed to the extraction site to be\npicked up by the Herc.  They'll let Grace and Elias know, and\nthey'll simply have to settle in for a longer wait than they\nanticipated.  They'll know not to expect to hear anything more\nfrom us for three days until the Herc goes out to pick us up.\"I nodded,\n\"It's not much, but at least we're still not the enemy as far as\nthey're concerned back at the base.  We just need to catch up to\nSamuel and his crew before they can reach the extraction site and hook\nup with the Herc.\"Ben said, \"Yup, and they have four men less\nthan they did before.  The odds will be closer to even when we go\nto butt heads with them.  I've got a chain gun now to match Jeb's.\n If we can get the jump on them we'll have the upper hand.\n They won't have a clue that we're coming for them.  They'll\nbe going as fast as they can to get to the extraction site and they\nwon't know we're chasing them so they might be so focused forward that\nthey're not watching their backs.\"I turned to Jesse and asked,\n\"Were the two outside killed outright?  We need to make sure\nnobody can use field radios to let Samuel know we're coming for him.\"He nodded and said, \"They're both dead.  We'll just need to make sure this one can't get a message out.\"The man said, \"Please, don't kill me!  I won't try to reach them!  I swear it!\"Jesse\nthought about it for a moment and then he turned to Sykes and said,\n\"Take him downstairs to where they were holding Cole and the others.\n Lock him up in one of the cages.\"\"No!  I'll die in there!  It'll be days before anyone can come and get me out!\"Jesse\nshrugged and said, \"Could be over a week.  The only way to get you\nout would be by chopper, and those would have to come up from Colorado\nand it will be at least three days before we can even get word out that they're\nneeded.  It would take them days longer to make their way up here.\"The man's face paled and he groaned as Jesse continued,\n\"You're the architect of your own fate, cuz.  You chose the wrong\nside.  We'll leave you some water and rations, but that's the best\nwe can do.  I don't doubt for a second you'd screw us over in a\nheartbeat if we gave you half a chance.  If I was a bit more\ncold-blooded I'd finish you right now.  You should consider yourself lucky we're leaving you alive.\"The man's shoulders slumped as he realized there would be no arguing his way out of it.Jesse\nturned to Hendricks and said, \"Help Sykes bring him down and lock him\nup.  Take the rations, water and first aid from his backpack and\nleave them with him in the cage.  Throw the rest of his gear out\nof his reach.  It's just another door knocker and we've got no use\nfor that.\"Hendricks nodded and he and Sykes grabbed the man\nunder his arms and lifted him up and dragged him down the hall towards\nthe door that leads down to the lower level.  As they passed Ben,\nhe reached out and snagged something from a pocket on the side of the\nman's backpack.  It was a loaded magazine for the automatic rifle.\n He then went over to the rifle on the floor and picked it up,\nthen he handed me the rifle and the extra mag so I'd be better armed\nfor the coming encounter with Samuel's team.Jesse watched Ben hand me the rifle and it gave him an idea and he said to\nanother of the men, \"Myers, go back up the hill to the other\ntwo we shot.  One of them had an auto-shotgun attachment.\n Trade it for your door-knocker.  It'll be a lot more useful\nto us when we meet up with Samuel and his men.  Wilson, go with him and help him swap the gear.  Grab the rations\nand water from their packs, too, and take them down to the guy in the\ncage.  I guess we should give him as much chance to survive as we can.\n Death by starvation or dehydration would be a bit too cruel.\n We'll send someone up here to get him when all this is over and\nhe can face justice then.\"The men nodded and headed out to follow the general's orders.I\nsaid, \"I'm all for giving the guy a fair chance, but shouldn't we keep\nthe rations for ourselves?  We've got a three day hard march ahead\nof us if we hope to catch up to Samuel.  He's got several hours\nhead start and he'll be pushing hard.\"\"They'll\nneed to rest,\ntoo,\" Jesse said, \"Also, they know they have three days so they'll\nmaintain the pace that will get them there in that time.  There's\nno reason for them to go any faster than they need to.  We'll be\npushing harder than them so we should have no problem catching up even\nwith their head start.  We'll\nneed more energy than the rations could provide for us anyhow.\n We'll\nhave to take down a moose or something later tonight when we're wolves\nand gorge so that we'll be good for the rest of the march.  From\nthen on we'll only need fresh water and there's plenty of that out\nhere.  They'll have to do the same as us and stop to gorge, so we\nwon't really lose any\nground.\"\"What about Ben?\" I asked, \"He needs to eat too.\"Ben\nsaid, \"My favorite food is actually pizza, but I love raw meat too,\nJake.  I'm more wolf than man in that way.  I'll happily chow\ndown on a moose.\"I shrugged and nodded.Jesse said,\n\"Ben, go back into the woods and get Cole.  I'm sure he's\nwondering what the hell is going on and worrying about you and Jake.  We'll all meet out front.\n We need to get going right away.\"Ben nodded and hustled out to get Cole and bring him back.Jesse\nturned to me and said, \"I wish they'd left us with more to work with on\nthe four men they left behind.\n A rocket launcher or RPG would be pretty handy, but we'll have to\nmake do with one more shotgun.  We don't know if we'll be in wolf\nor human form when we finally catch up to them.  If we're human,\nwe'll be pretty even since all we can use are the assault rifles and\nBen's chain gun to match Jeb's.  If we're in wolf form, we'll\nstill be\nfairly outgunned if we try a ranged confrontation.  We'll have to\nhit them up close and tight to take their rockets and grenades out of\nthe\nequation.\"\"I wish I could work some of your fancy wolf weapons.\n Even just a door knocker would give me more to work with than I\nhave right now in wolf form.  I won't be much use if it comes\ndown to a wolf fight.  I'm unarmed.\"\"You ain't unarmed,\ncuz.  You got teeth.  You're the biggest damn wolf any of us have ever seen.\n Likely the biggest that ever existed.  We'll just take the\nfight in close if we have to.  Your wolf will have no problem,\nJake.  Trust me.  You'll only need to watch out for the ones with shotguns.\"\"And if we have to fight them as humans?\n I've never tried to work one of these before.  I've never\neven seen one that looks like this,\" I said as I held up the deadly\nlooking automatic rifle.\"It's a Tavor TAR-21.  It's an\nIsraeli design.  Super reliable and very accurate.  Easy to\nuse, too.  Just put the red dot on the target and squeeze the\ntrigger.  It's got a kick, but if you stick to burst mode instead\nof full-auto mode you should be fine.  The safety is on the side\nthere and it controls the fire modes.  You can set it from safe to\nsemi-auto, to burst, then full-auto.\"\"OK, got it.\"\"Good.  Let's head out.  There's nothing more we can do here.  We've got a long run ahead of us.\"I nodded and Jesse led the way out.We\nassembled outside the facility and before long Ben emerged from the\nwoods with Cole in tow.  It struck me as comical for a moment\nbecause it almost looked like a giant dog was taking his little human\npet for a walk.Ben said, \"Look what I found out there in the woods!  Can I keep him, Jake, huh?  Can I?  Please?\"I\nchuckled and said, \"Sure, so long as you promise to feed him and bathe\nhim so he doesn't stink or get fleas, and take him out for a walk once\nin a while.  If you want to keep him you need to take care of him.\n I don't need the hassle.\"Cole giggled and Ben laughed.Ben\nhad taken my pack from Cole and was carrying it, and he had me turn\naround so he could reattach it to my armor.  He then took my rifle\nand slung it on the side and stuffed the extra mag in a side pocket for\nme and I thanked him.Jesse\ndid not want to waste any more time.  He fiddled with his watch to\nget the bearing to the coordinates we were given for the extraction\nsite and he led us out at a brisk trot.We\nran part way around\nthe huge hill that the facility was buried in and then struck out to\nthe\nnortheast through the forest.  Jesse increased the pace to the\nbest that we could all maintain and once again we began to eat up the\nmiles at a terrific pace.  His intent was for us to run as long as\nwe could manage before we were too exhausted to go on, then get a solid\nrest before sunset later tonight when we would shift to wolf form and\ndeal with hunting a significant enough meal to keep us going the rest\nof the way.We hadn't been running for more\nthan an hour and we'd just come to the peak of a smaller hill when\nsuddenly there was a screeching-woosh as something raced by just over\nour heads followed immediately by the roar of a jet engine in its wake.\n We all hit the deck wondering what the hell was going on, but\nthere was silence afterward.Ben jumped up and looked back towards the facility and shouted, \"Holy shit!  I think that was a Tomahawk!\"We\nall stood to look back towards the facility.  Just then there was\nanother woosh and a roar as a second cruise missile passed over our\nheads.Then we saw the hill that contained the facility burst\nupwards in massive chunks as a huge explosion lit up the night and blew\nthe top off the hill.  A short time later we heard the nearly\ndeafening explosion as the sound caught up to us.  Then, suddenly,\nwe saw a far more brilliant explosion that quickly expanded into a\nmassive bright yellow fireball that continued to grow into a huge\nmushroom cloud shape and we saw a shock wave rushing outward from the\nexplosion and knocking down trees as it traveled rapidly across the\nground.\"Hit the deck!\" Jesse yelled, \"Cover your ears!\"We\nhit the ground again and covered our ears just as a massive\nand deafening explosion roared through and we actually felt the\ntemperature rise and our bodies compress and vibrate from the\nconcussive force of the shock\nwave as the entire countryside was lit orange and then slowly dimmed\nback down.  Had we been much closer we likely would not have\nsurvived the explosion.  As it was we were just out of range of\nthe worst of it, but still would have been knocked hard on our asses if\nwe'd been standing.  It had to have been an incredibly powerful\nexplosion to be felt so strongly this far out.We all stood again and looked back just in time to see the mushroom cloud dimming back down to be enveloped by the night.One of the men asked, \"Did those crazy fucks launch a nuke?  Isn't that what they use cruise missiles for?\"Ben\nshook his head and said, \"Not always.  There's no way they'd do\nthat on US\nsoil.  Cruise missiles can carry all sorts of different warheads.\n The main point of them is to come in low just above the treetops\nand follow the terrain to come in under the radar and completely\nundetectable.  If I had to guess, I'd say whatever government guys\nwe're up against are operating without the knowledge of the main\nbranch.  They need to be as covert as they can be even if they\nneed to take a target out.  That last explosion wasn't a nuke, it\nwas a thermobaric warhead.  A fuel-air bomb.\n Closest thing to the power of a nuke that's still conventional.\n That first explosion was probably a bunker buster.  They're\ndesigned to penetrate hardened targets buried deep underground and blow\nthem wide open.  The second one was a fuel-air.  It creates\ntwo explosions in rapid succession.  The first one is a 'scatter\ncharge' that cracks open a container of highly oxidized fuel and sprays\nit out over a huge area, the second charge ignites the aerosolized fuel\nin one massive explosion that consumes every molecule of oxygen in the\nair to create a gigantic fireball that will melt everything it contacts\ninto slag, with a blast wave that will crush everything in its path and\nwill vaporize any living thing it encounters for a radius of hundreds\nof yards.  It's a hot, long-burning explosion.  It's\ndesigned to sterilize the area and leave absolutely nothing left alive.\n They wanted to crack open the hill and then cook everything\ninside it.  They must have wanted to be sure all of the dangerous\nshit they were working on down there wouldn't fall into the wrong\nhands and would be vaporized and then incinerated.  They were a\nbit too late.  I guess that poor sap we\nleft behind in the cage won't have to worry about starving to death\nanymore.\"\"It seems Samuel was right,\" Jesse said, \"The\ngoons must have realized the site was compromised when some radio\ncheck-in was missed.  They couldn't take any\nchances of letting any of their experiments loose and would have to\nvaporize the site, so they wouldn't waste time sending men in to check\nthings out.  They must have seen the damage we'd done at the\nentrance in a satellite photo once they realized they'd lost radio\ncontact.  They must have decided to hit it hard and fast, hoping\nto catch us inside.\n They'll likely follow it up with more surveillance from space\nonce the satellites come around again.  They\nwon't know for sure what the hell happened out there.  They'll be\nusing\ntheir satellites to examine this region carefully.  Hopefully they\nwon't find our forward staging area.\"\"I don't see how they\ncould.  It's almost two hundred miles from here and hidden.\n They wouldn't have a clue where to look or what exactly to look for,\" Ben said.Jesse\nshrugged and said, \"There's a decent chance they'll find our downed\nHuey if they search their satellite images carefully enough over a wide\nenough area.  It's right out in the open.  If\nthey draw a straight line from the facility's location through the Huey\nand onward, it will cross right through our base, or at least pretty\nclose, since that's where we\nwere headed.  They could focus their search in just one direction\nout from the facility instead of having to search three hundred and\nsixty degrees around it.  There's a chance they might find the\ncompound, though it\nwouldn't be easy for them.  If they do, there's a solid chance\nthey'll be sending another Tomahawk or two in that direction.\n With luck they'll never find it since we're always so careful and\nwe know the schedules of satellite fly-overs.  If they do find it,\nhopefully it will take them more than the few\ndays it will take us to get to that plane so we can send a warning to\nstart an evacuation.\"\"This shit's constantly going from bad to\nworse,\" I said, \"We need to find some way to get word to Grace and\nElias and get them the hell out of there.\"Jesse said, \"That's\nexactly what we're working on, Jake.  We just need to keep on\nmoving and try to get to Samuel before he can get to that plane.\n Once we take care of him, we'll hook up with the plane and start\nthe evac process back at the base.\"I nodded and said, \"Let's get back to it, then.\"There was nothing more we could do but\npress on to try to catch up to Samuel.  We felt an even greater\nurgency to reach him now.  We needed to ensure he couldn't get away\nfrom us, or we'd be left stranded in the middle of nowhere and he would\nbe able to seize control of the werewolf army and proceed with his\nfanatical plan to eliminate the human race.We increased the pace and headed off into the cold Alaskan predawn.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/858763-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-20.json"}