Rachel jumped to her feet. "I've... I've got to go. I can't stay here any more."
Reggie looked with sadness at his sister, but she was right. "Go to him as soon as you can travel. Whatever it takes, you get him and get your family to safety." She ran over and embraced him, she was shaking with emotion right now. "Get things packed."
"I'm going too." They all turned around to see Abigail standing. "I may be tolerated, but I know when I'm not wanted. I'll take my chances out there."
"Me too," said Silvia. She got up and hugged Abigail. "We can take my car. I'll take my chances on the road, I can't live in a place that would do this to innocent humans."
Rachel joined their hug, tears streaming down her face. "Get the kid's stuff ready, the car is in the garage and we need it packed before dusk. As soon as the sun is below the mountains, we need to take off, before anyone can stop us." They nodded and went off to gather their meager belongings while their children kept sleeping. Rachel linked Marcus again, and filled him in on what was said at the meeting. "Marcus, love, I don't even know who my father is anymore."
Marcus sent his love back, there was nothing else he could do; he wanted to regret his actions, to make it all go away, but he couldn't do that and there was no point in wallowing in self pity. They would have to suck it up and go with it. "All right, if you have the car, drive to town as fast as you can. I'll have Josi meet you in front of the bank, Reggie needs her safe and she can help protect you guys on the road. She's not bad at riding shotgun."
"The car's going to be full, Marcus."
"Don't worry about anything but the people, sit on each other's laps if you have to, just get out of town. We need you safe."
"What about you? How are you going to be safe? Come with us, Marcus."
He paused. "You know I can't abandon my patients, love. Don't worry about me, I have a plan. I'll be up at North Fork in a week or so. Please, love, for me. Keep Raven safe with you. I have nothing to live for without you."
"And I have nothing to live for without you."
She closed the bond and opened the door to their bedroom; she allotted herself one suitcase to carry the essentials. The rest would have to be abandoned, unless she could get someone to deliver it later.
Tears ran down her face as she looked around the room; the memories in photos on the walls, the life they had built together here, it was all gone now. Wiping her face, she steeled herself for what was coming up. She had to get her family through this, no matter the cost.
While she was packing, back in the living room Reggie was still pacing back and forth while his mother watched in worry. He was linking his friends, lining up those people he would need to initiate the challenge. The Pack meeting had spooked them, now that they knew what the Alpha had planned, he had people coming to him asking how they could stop it. So far, he had over a dozen who pledged to support his challenge.
He cut off the latest mind link and looked back at his Mom. She was hunched over, her face in her hands, crying softly as she watched her family explode apart around her. He walked off to the guest room, hoping she would somehow talk her mate out of this madness before it was too late.
Reaching the room, he pulled off his shirt and looked in the mirror. He knew he was strong, but he would need to be ready and rested. He closed off all links and laid down on the comforter, hoping to get a couple hours of rest before this all went down.
He was almost asleep when the door softly opened; without opening his eyes, he knew it was him Mom. She walked over to the bed and sat down; opening his eyes, he could see the dried tears on her face and the redness of her eyes. "Mom?"
"He won't listen to me anymore, Reggie." In a flash, he was sitting up, taking her into his arms as she broke down emotionally. "I can't stop it!"
He hugged her tightly until her sobs stopped. "I've got it, Mom. I'll do what I have to do. I'm just sorry for what it is going to do to you. I don't want you hurt."
"It's too late, baby," she whispered in his ear. "And I'm only doing what I have to do."
Reggie didn't have time to register the meaning before he felt a sharp poke in his neck. His mouth opened in shock, but the fast acting sedative was already flooding his brain and shutting it down. Lisa withdrew the hypodermic needle and tossed the injector into the corner of the room. "Shhh..." She caught his weight as his muscles gave out, laying him gently back on the bed. The last thing he heard before blackness took him was his mother. "Sleep, baby. I can't let you do this."
She got up and locked the door as she left.
-
Josi paced back and forth in the front office of the clinic. The sun was going to be down in another thirty minutes, and she hadn't heard a thing from Reggie. His link wouldn't respond to her, no matter how hard she pushed on it.
Marcus had been gone for most of the day now. With each passing hour, the humans he had bitten were improving, with a dozen that had already woken up. She and the others who could had been very busy caring for everyone and explaining what had happened. So far, no one had freaked out.
At least, not too much. They had all seen too much death already not to cling to the life rope when it was tossed to them.
Finally, Marcus pushed through the doors of the clinic, tossing off the blanket and putting the glasses in his pocket. He smiled as Josi ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Easy, little one, your mate might get jealous."
"I'm not worried about that, he knows you're an old man, even if you are my brother in law now." She stepped back and looked at him, noting the changes from when he left. He was carrying a Glock 19 on his hip, and was wearing a mesh hunting vest with a half dozen thirty round magazines stuffed into the pockets. She could see two barrels sticking up from the rifles on his back, recognizing the flash hiders as being from AR-15 sporting rifles. "Marcus? Are those for the trip to North Fork?"
"In part." He took off one of the rifles and handed it to her, it had a Trijicon illuminated reticle scope that didn't need batteries, so it was still working. He pulled three more magazines out of his pocket and set them on the table for her, then from the other pocket he pulled out a small 9mm semiautomatic she recognized as a Smith and Wesson M&P compact. "These are for you. As soon as the sun sets, a car is going to leave my house with my family, Silvia's family and Abigail's family. They are going to pick you up at the bank on the way through town. I need you to protect them on the way, and make sure they get to North Fork safe and sound for me."
She looked down at the weapons, but then she picked up on what he didn't say. "So what are the rest of the weapons for?"
"I'm staying here, Josi."
"NO! He will KILL you!" She pushed him onto the couch, anger coming off of him in waves. "Reggie told me they are coming for you. You HAVE to leave."
"I can't, Josi. But I won't be alone." As he stood up, other townspeople started to make their way in the door. Those that could protect their eyes were making their way here, and they were carrying duffel bags full of weapons and ammunition.
"Doc, what do you need us to do?" Deputy Robert Stevens was the highest ranking law enforcement official left in town, but he was clearly deferring to Marcus.
"Start talking to those people who can fight, figure out what they can comfortably do and arm them up. When the rest get here, we will set up the rest of the defense. We don't have much time." The men nodded and started laying the armaments on the appointment desk. Patients who had overheard what was going on, who knew the Alpha was coming after Marcus for what he had done to them, started picking out things they were used to.
One thing about Northern Idaho was that pretty much everyone knew how to shoot, and many had military experience at some point. While they were getting weapons ready, Marcus gathered the Deputy and other men around a map to talk tactics.
"First off, boys, it's worse than I thought. I told you they were coming for me, but that's not all." He paused and looked down before looking him in the eyes. "I told you earlier that werewolf law was not to turn humans and not to let humans know we exist. Alpha Richard has decided that the new turns are a danger to him and his Pack, and so are humans knowing of us."
"Why? We've known your family for generations, Marcus!" Stanley Drummond shook his head.
"It's the way things are; or at least the way they were. Look, I told you we were a small Pack. Even after all the people who have been lost here, humans still outnumber wolves in this town by far, and wolves can still be killed by hunters. It may be paranoid, but it's consistent." He looked around, making sure to make eye contact with each one. "It's not all Alphas that are like that; Alpha Marcus, he bit every surviving citizen of his town just like I bit everyone here. We don't have central authority we can go to right now to resolve this, there are no communications, no law enforcement. Right now there is us and them, and they are coming for us."
Deputy Stevens nodded. "Then we'll be fucking ready for them." Using the map and Marcus' military experience, they identified likely attack paths and defensive emplacements. While they were working on this, men and women started pouring in to the building, all of them heavily armed and with serious faces. By the time everyone had been assigned, they had fifty shooters available on and inside the clinic and six surrounding buildings.
Marcus called them all together just before sundown. "My friends and neighbors, thank you for standing up for your town today. The people coming are coming to do you harm, and you cannot allow that to happen. Humans and werewolves need each other, now more than ever."
He waited for the murmuring to die down before continuing. "There is still a chance to fix this, to stop it before we kill each other, so I need you to give me that chance. When you are in place, pass word back to me if you spot men or wolves coming. It is CRUCIAL that no one starts shooting until Deputy Stevens orders it." He looked over to the Deputy who had an air horn in his hands. "When and ONLY when you hear the air horn, do you shoot until the threat is gone. Don't worry about me or anything else, we won't have anyone outside so if it moves, shoot until it doesn't. Got it?"
