Alec
"Alec, someone shot Christopher with an arrow in your backyard. Someone who has been on the loose for over an hour now. I have over a dozen people downstairs that I need to get home safely. No, you cannot just 'shower here real quick'."
Christopher's dad, who introduced himself to me as Marlon, is the reason I got in this van. He has the same sturdy build as his son but doesn't tower over me. He did in fact order me into this van but his manner was more compelling than commanding. He had spoken with a protective and forthright tone.
So, now I just have a bundle of loose clothes on my lap, sitting in a large van with Christopher and strangers. We left the highway a while ago, traveling deeper and deeper into the woods. The sky has already darkened, the trees forming a wall of shadows on either side of the road. Alec, you idiot, you should have called the police! Anything but get into a vehicle with these people.
I am scared actually, at the thought that the arrow I had pulled out of Christopher's heart hadn't arrived there accidentally. That someone shot Christopher.
Moving my eyes to the side, I peek at the man seated next to me. That is my boyfriend. Two hours ago I was looking forward to getting my next text from him. Now, he's been a wolf that almost died in front of me. Wolf? Werewolf? It doesn't matter, he's more like a snake!
Oh! I know, maybe I just mixed chemicals while cleaning and this is a weird, horrible asphyxiation dream?
Shaking my head a little, I focus on my lap again, holding my arms close to my sides and trying to disappear into the seat. In the full, silent van it's as if everyone is trying to look at me. Christopher seems to keep giving them a stern look and they look away again.
I was surprised when we came down from my apartment to see as many people as there were standing beside two vans. I hesitated then, looking over to Christopher at that moment. "Don't worry, Alec. I promise you're safe with us."
A part of me still trusts him, enough to get into this van of strangers. A part of me knows, if I had said no, I wouldn't have been able to stop them from taking me. There's one other part, a sick part, that wants to see Christopher change again. I want to see the wolf and know this is real.
"Dr. Alec?" Jumping a little when the doctor from earlier spoke to me, everyone's eyes turned to me at once. A look from Christopher had everyone looking away again just as quickly. When Christopher catches me watching him as well, he instead gives me a smile.
Turning quickly, I face the seat across the narrow aisle instead. Trying to pay attention to what's being said. "-just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Robert Crane, family practitioner. Are you feeling okay now?"
"Um, yeah, yeah, I'm good now. I'm Alec Harrison, just Alec is fine."
"I also wanted to ask more about Christopher's surgery."
My stomach starts to turn at the mention of surgery. My memory flashing images of fur and bone and Christopher covered in blood. Dimly, I realize the doctor is still talking.
"-since the recovery is going so well, I just wanted to know your procedure. After medical, I did four years in veterinary, for obvious reasons-"
"Obvious reasons?" My voice cut in involuntarily. I know what he means but the phrasing is so out of the ordinary and so casually mentioned that my brain is lagging to connect the dots.
Dr. Crane's face seems to jerk to the side to look at the man behind me, the doctor's eyes widening. I want to look and see what expression is on Christopher's face but my brain is still going over that obviously he went to veterinary school, because everyone here are wolves.
Turning back to me, Dr. Crane waves his hands back and forth in the air. "Never mind, never mind. We can talk another time, I'm sure you'd like to rest." And he turned in his seat pretending to busy himself with his bag.
Turning I look at Christopher who just gives me another irritating smile. Annoyed, I look away. Glancing around I take in more about the other passengers. At first, it seemed like an overwhelming group of people but now I have time to process more things.
If I think about movies, I think werewolf characters all look like they belong to the same street fighting gang. If I believe that these people around me can, in fact, turn into wolves, they are not what I would be expecting. They all look like regular people that I would see around town, different ages, sizes and shapes, but they all look to be fit. I wonder if I have seen them around town, sending a slight chill down my spine.
As I look around, the others still glance at me but look away. They also seem to glance at each other a lot. Some casually, while others are looking at each other longer, sometimes nodding or shaking their head.
Feeling confused, I instinctively turn again to Christopher, wanting to ask...ask what? I don't even know what I don't understand right now. So I stay silent, watching as Christopher's smile becomes more strained under my stare. After a little while he turns away, looking up through the front window
"Hey, we're almost there." He turns back to me, smiling widely again.
Watching out what I can see up front in the van's headlights, we slow and turn off onto an even smaller road. This one seems more new, with a smoother surface. After we continue on through the blur of woods for a while, I realize that Christopher's 'almost there' is different from mine.
"I thought you said we were almost there?"
"We are already on pack land, it'll just be a little bit longer."
Side-eyeing Christopher, "Pack land? You really call it that? Don't wolves have territories anyway?"
"We have a human side, too. We call a lot of things for the pack like that."
'Human, too'. 'The pack'. Weird.
"Wait, so does that mean that all of you really live together?"
"It's not a hard and fast rule but almost all of us live on land owned by the pack. And we built the houses nearby one another so that most of the land is natural wilderness for us. However, some of us prefer to live in town but no one is further away than that."
"So, you guys just live there, like, all the time?"
"Yup"
"For how long?"
"Our pack has been here for a little over two hundred years."
"Two hundred-" Damn! "But, don't wolves roam around?"
"Alec," Christopher leans in close to my ear. "We. Are. Humans, too."
I swat him away and rub my ear a little bit. I think about dragging a wolf on a tarp, cutting through the fur and muscle of a wolf, then the wolf completely changing its entire form into the man sitting next to me now. Human? Debatable.
The van turns a curve and I can see the headlights ounce off of something other than the road and trees. Soon, we're out of the trees and driving through a large clearing. I can't see much detail now, but I see small lights gathered in the distance. Coming closer and I can see the stark, black outline of an enormous building in the distance, the lights are coming from lit windows.
However, cast in its shadow, barely imperceptible until the vans were just pulling past them, were dozens of dark, uniform buildings, each the size of a house. There were no street lights or house lights, all of the dwellings sat dark and quiet.
It looks like a town that popped up all at once and is now abandoned. No sidewalks or driveways at all. The only paved area I see is the twisting road we keep traveling down. There aren't even any mailboxes. The far reaching grass stretches across another, with only foot-worn paths moving here and there between the building structures.
We keep moving past them and head towards the largest building I've seen since moving here. Everyone in the van seems to get a little more relaxed and start to talk quietly among themselves.
"We'll head on up to the main house. No one is outside right now because of lockdown, because of what happened earlier."
The vans bypass the driveway up to the front doors, instead turning around and following the worn dirt path to the back. It opens up to a large, grassy parking area. I see other vans parked as we pull alongside them but there is still no one around.
Parking seems to lift the no-talking ban and the volume grows among the other passengers as the doors are opened and the van starts to empty. Again I look at the size of the house, the doors at the back opening to let everyone in. Just going along with all these other people, it's like an emergency drill on the first day of school. The feeling that I am an idiot for coming with rises in my stomach again.
Christopher stands but is forced to stand awkwardly because I am not moving.
"I changed my mind." I refuse to look up at him, my mouth suddenly dry. "I'm not going in there, just take me home. Or to the police if you think there really is some crazed archer on the loose!"
"I understand that you're scared, Alec, but I promise nothing will happen that you don't want to happen. Just pretend you're coming over to my house for a visit. I know it's a little unsettling but everything will be fine."
Christopher puts his hand on the backrest of my seat. I turn to meet his face as he leans down closer. This time there is no annoying smile, just concern on his face.
"I can't," my eyes beg him. "It's too weird, Chris."
"Alec-" He starts but then stops, glancing out the window. Following his gaze, I see his dad waiting outside the van, looking in at us. "Just wait here, then, for a little bit. Take your time. I have to go talk to my dad."
Christopher brushes past me to get to the aisle and leaves the van. Watching the two talk, something seems odd but I can't put my finger on it. Occasionally, Christopher glances in my direction.
I can't hear what they're saying but I do hear a loudly yelled, "Christopher!" from the house. The over-muscular figure of that friend of Christohper's, Reed comes tearing out the door and down to the parked vans. He pulls Christopher into a hug, which my boyfriend returns. Separating, Reed keeps his hands on Christopher's shoulders, looking him up and down. I watch Christopher smile and shake his head a little in response to something.
Taking a large breath in, I wrap my arms tighter around my bundle of clothes and stand up. Getting off the van, I walk past Christopher and the others without a word and march to the still open door of the massive house. I ignore Christopher calling my name but hear him catch up and fall into step just behind me.
Walking in, I find myself in a large hallway with a lot of eyes on me. Some of the faces I recognize from traveling in the van, but there are dozens more standing in wide, arched doorways. I stumble to a stop, making Christopher halt behind me. The light voices of Marlon and Reed follow, too. The door thumps closed loudly, shutting me in with everyone here.
A space suddenly forms as the crowd parts in front of me, the heads turning to look back as if they are being tugged, before a tall woman strides in. Athletic and graceful, she pauses a moment, scanning over me. Her eyes have the same worry I saw in Marlon's back in my apartment.
"Christopher." I step quickly to the side as she glides forward, embracing Christopher. As she pulls back I can tell that she is almost eye to eye with him. Her hair is also the same fair color, only long and pulled back in a ponytail.
"And you're Alec," she says as she turns, towering over me. Without hesitation she wraps her arms around me and I'm pulled into a hug. The unfamiliar touch causes me to tense up. Although, instead of fear that a stranger, that a werewolf, is hugging me, the hug feels instantly motherly. Pretending not to notice how tense I am, she releases me. "Thank you for coming."
"My mother." Christopher tells me unnecessarily.
"Please call me Gina."
"Hi." I manage smally. Glancing around, there seems to be even more faces arriving to witness our arrival. How many of them are there?
With a start, they all move their heads at the same time, looking at Christopher's mom. My eyes automatically follow as well but all Gina does is flick her eyes to the side. It's like some sort of signal and everyone else in the hall starts to move around and make their way through the doorways and into the colossal house.
Some of the people see me watching and nod or wave on their way out. I haven't seen this many people since moving here to Shady Woods and now here they all are gathered in one hallway. There are even children, too.
In a rapid amount of time, the hallway is empty aside from Christopher, his parents, Reed and myself. Without all the people, I can see that the hallway has a simple, nondescript style. The feeling of a commercialized space, easy to clean and designed for no one in particular. One of the doorways leads to, from what I can tell, a large mudroom. The others, to more hallway.
Focusing back on the others, they are all watching me. Christopher and his mother exchange glances and then look at me again. There's something in the way their eyes meet that brings back the eerie, something-is-off feeling.
"Alec, do you want me to show you around?" Stepping forward, Christopher reaches out his hand to me, holding it out and letting me decide if I want to take it. A part of me does want to grab it. I want to hold onto Christopher and pretend like this whole day didn't happen. I want to stay by his side and be comforted. But that feeling is dangerous.
"No, I want an explanation. A better one. A complete one."
Christopher's hand drops to his side. "I can, and will, explain everything, Alec. But you look exhausted. You can get cleaned up and get some rest, or at least sit comfortably and we will answer all of your questions."
"No! I don't want to be comfortable here. I don't want to get cleaned up here, I don't want to rest here or eat here. I don't want to be here! Christopher," I step closer to him. If there is someone here I can trust, it will have to be him. "Christopher, I just want to understand."
Glances are exchanged, again, between Christopher and his parents. Marlon pats Christopher on the shoulder before him and Gina turn to go. "We'll let you two talk."
Reed also goes to leave, giving me a nod and smile before looking at Christopher's eyes and starting to walk away.
"Okay, that!" I shout, unable to hold it in any more. Reed, Marlon and Gina all freeze, looking at me, then at Christopher. "That! What is that?! What is with all the looks at each other?!"
Startled glances all around. Christopher lets out a small sigh. "We're, uh, we're talking to each other."
"Solely with your eyes?" What bogus animal instinct is that? I look at the others, standing there patiently, content to let Christopher answer me.
"Not with our eyes, exactly. Um," he taps one finger to his temple, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. His eyes waver from mine, not quite being able to meet them. "Inside our minds, we can talk to each other inside...our minds?"
Crossing my arms over my chest, I let out a frustrated breath. "Unbelievable! What do you take me for?"
It's true, Alec. Christopher's is looking me in the eye now. His mouth didn't move. I heard his voice. Shaking my head, I remind myself that ventriloquism exists. Opening my mouth to speak again, Christopher nods his head slowly, stopping me. It's inside your head, Alec. Werewolves can communicate like this with people they are close to.
It's Christopher's exact voice. Every word and tone matches the nuances of his facial expression. My mind flashes to the expressions made by everyone back in the van, in the silence. Numbness starts to drain down my face. Christopher looks very concerned and takes a step forward.
Quickly I step back and wave him off with one hand. "I- I, uh, I think I- I think I do want to get cleaned up, before, uh, we talk about this."