Chapter 17

The lights went out, and with the lack of humming machinery, the silence deafened. The shooting also stopped for the moment.

"Mom?" Athena called out to her.

"Still here, baby girl. Almost got my feet untied." A hiss and Mom exclaimed, "I'm loose, but I can't see a darned thing."

"Follow my voice." Athena began talking. "Just walk slow, hands in front of you so you don't smash your face into anything."

"What's happening?" Mom asked.

"Ares came for us," Selene replied.

"How did he know where to find us?" Athena asked.

"I couldn't say anything before because of the cameras, but he GPS-chipped us when you went missing. Thought he was a little nuts at the time but turned out he had the right idea."

"Chipped?" Athena didn't even know that was possible.

"Think of it as an air tag for humans, only it's inside our bodies."

"Well, damn." No wonder Selene appeared so confident about rescue.

"Athena?"

Mom sounded close, and Athena murmured, "Not far now, Mom. Just a few more steps." She heard rather than saw the hand that slapped into her bars. "You found me. Now feel for the lock." The doctor hadn't used electronic ones this time but rather good old-fashioned padlocks.

"How am I supposed to open it? I don't have a key."

"Fuck." For some reason, Athena had forgotten that crucial component. "Maybe you can smash it."

"With what?" her mother huffed. "Dammit. I wish I could see. Let me go groping and see what I can find." Mom wandered off, her feet sliding on the floor.

Selene sighed. "We're so dumb. Rogers has the key."

"I'm aware." Her ears caught a sound. "Someone's coming. Hide, Mom." Kind of an oxymoron since none of them could see shit.

The person coming down had a heavy step, but it wasn't until she heard, "Athena?" that she relaxed, and her heart burst.

"Derek!"

"Thank fuck. Are you all right?" he exclaimed.

"Yes, but me and my sister are stuck in a cage."

"What about your mom? Is she here too?" he asked.

"I'm here," Mom chirped. "You must be the man Athena was blushing about."

"Mom!" Athena felt her cheeks heating and was glad Derek couldn't see.

"What? It's true. Never seen you do that before," Mom retorted.

"Hello, ma'am. What do you say we get out of here so we can actually meet?" Amusement hued Derek's words.

"I was looking for something to smash the locks," Mom explained. "Rogers has the key."

"I can help with that. Athena, where are you?"

"Over here, honey. I take it Ares recruited you?"

"Yeah, he showed up at the farm looking for you and told us what happened to your sister and mom. Sorry we didn't get here sooner. We had to scout the situation first to make sure we didn't fail in our rescue."

"Are your grandparents okay? Rogers and his goons attacked them."

"They're fine and in their glory. I've never seen them so excited. Gramps has been hoping he'd have a chance to use Bessie before he died."

"Bessie?"

"Bessie is an armored vehicle he's been tinkering on for years. Think of it as a Mad-Max truck made for the apocalypse."

"Hold on. He's here?"

"Grams too." His voice sounded close. "Who do you think is holding off Rogers' men?"

Selene started laughing. "Oh my God, you didn't mention how cool his family was."

"Very cool, with the exception of his ass of a cousin," Athena muttered.

"Grams almost killed Frank. She still might after this," Derek replied from right in front. Close enough that when she ran her fingers over the bars, she found his hands.

He clasped them tight and whispered, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there, sugarplum."

"You're here now. You couldn't have known."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'll be better once I'm out of this fucking cage," she grumbled.

"Stand back while I shoot the lock."

Athena shuffled to the back of the cage, and her ears vibrated when he fired.

"Hold on while I… Got it. Come on," Derek ordered.

"Coming. Help my sister. She's right across from me."

He slipped away, and she aimed for the front of her cage, her hands feeling to find the opening and stepping out.

Bang .

Selene crowed, "Freedom!"

"You and that movie," Athena huffed but good-naturedly. Maybe they would escape this place alive.

Maybe…

They'd yet to see the situation outside the basement. While no guns fired, that didn't mean shit.

"Mom?"

"Right here, baby girl."

She sensed her mom a second before her hands clutched her arm. "Selene? Derek?"

"I've got your sister," Derek replied. "Let's head back upstairs. Stay behind me."

"Chivalrous too, lucky girl," Selene murmured.

"Paws off my man," Athena muttered, to which her sister laughed.

Her sister clung to Mom, who shuffled between them as they made their way to the stairs, Derek leading the way and cursing when he bumped his foot. "Shift left. There's something in the way."

They followed his instructions and made it across the room.

"Where are we?" Athena whispered.

"Abandoned church basement. Watch your step. The stairs are straight ahead."

He crept up first, while Athena hung back with her mom and sister, even as she itched to be by his side. This wasn't his fight, yet he'd volunteered, him and his grandparents. It boggled the mind they would risk themselves for her, a person they'd known a month.

It took a moment to realize she could see. The lightening proved gradual, pitch-black turning gray, and moist.

"A fog's rolled in," he murmured. The morning mist was common in fall when the warmer ground hit the cooler air.

They emerged from the stairwell into what she assumed to be a cavernous space from feeling alone, not one she could truly see with the lights off and the moist air kissing her skin.

It was quiet, too quiet, and Derek muttered, "Bessie's not running."

"Is that bad?" she whispered back.

"Hope not. Stick close. Everyone hold on to each other. I'm going to bring us in the direction of the door." She hooked her fingers to the loops in his pants, leaving his hands free even as she wanted to clutch one. Mom grabbed hold of the hem of Athena's shirt, and she assumed Selene did the same to her mom.

They shuffled, their feet sliding and sounding much too loud. Every so often her foot would nudge something soft and squishy, a body, but the kicking of something that rattled as it rolled had Derek hissing, "Fuck."

"Is that you, little bastard?" Grams suddenly yelled.

"Yeah, it's me, you old coot. I've got Athena and family. What's the situation?"

"I think the church is empty. Hard to tell with the lights out and this fucking fog," Grams complained. "Should have brought the goggles."

"Did you get Rogers?" Athena called out.

"I don't think so. The men I shot weren't wearing white coats. He could be hiding in the back office."

"He can't be allowed to leave," Athena stated. If he escaped, then they'd have to live in fear he'd come back.

Derek murmured, "Let's get your mom and sister to Bessie, and then we'll see if we can hunt him down."

"If he's not already left," her ominous reply.

"I doubt your brother would have allowed that."

"Where is Ares?" she asked, surprised he'd not been inside as part of the rescue.

"Handling the guards outside. I think he took out the generator, too."

Smart.

A pair of lights illuminated, diffused by the fog but giving them a direction. It meant they didn't trip on the shattered equipment and could step over the prone bodies. Once they reached the source of the lights, she could see Bessie, and she turned out to be exactly as Derek described, a futuristic armored truck with a grinning Gramps in the driver's seat. Grams hung out at the top, gray hair peeking, looking a tad demonic with her wide grin and rifle in hand.

"Get in through the passenger door," Grams called out. "There's cocoa and tea in the thermoses, as well as snacks if you're hungry."

"Thank you," Mom exclaimed. "Thank you so much, Gertie. From now on, all your honey is on the house."

It took a second for Athena to realize that was Grams' real name.

"Bah. I should be paying you. This is the most fun I've had in years. Get in. Get in. We're going to be reversing shortly and blowing this place to pieces. Gotta hide the evidence."

Athena approved of that plan. While some of Rogers' research might remain on a hard drive somewhere, the samples would at least be destroyed.

Mom and Selene wasted no time getting inside Bessie, but Athena didn't join them. She wasn't done hunting.

"This way." Derek held her hand while the other one gripped a gun. He led her outside into a world of swirling mist. In the open, it hung so thick she could barely see Derek by her side.

It muffled sound as well, and strain as she might, she struggled to hear anything. She'd never find Rogers in this.

Grawr . The sudden growl of a wolf and a man yelling, "Where is it?" had her moving fast and instantly tripping, as the uneven pavement caught at her feet.

Derek hauled her up before she hit the ground. "Move slower," he cautioned. "Won't help your brother much if you twist an ankle, or worse."

She inched, chafing at her slow speed, but Derek was right. She couldn't allow something stupid to stop her from helping her brother.

"I see him, argh!" A man screamed as the sounds of growling intensified.

A sudden yelp made Athena flinch.

"I got him!" someone crowed. "Shoot him with another tranq. He's not going down." The same man screamed as the snarling continued.

She flinched at each pft sound of the dart being fired. Poor Ares.

"He's down!" crowed someone she couldn't yet see.

"Take him to the car." Athena stiffened as Rogers barked the command, his voice unmistakable. The fucker lived and appeared to have captured Ares.

"We have to stop them," she huffed.

"They're parked around back," Derek said just as an engine roared to life.

The direction led to her slapping a hand on the church and using it to guide her through the thick fog. As she turned the corner, she was in time to see two glowing eyes in the mist.

Not eyes, headlights.

"They're getting away!"

"No, they're not," Derek's grim reply. He aimed and fired, the popping of a tire explosively loud. Another shot and the engine whined before dying.

Car doors opened with Rogers shouting, "Shoot them." Shots pinged from the mist, flying wildly, as they couldn't see each other. A good thing for them.

"We need to reach that vehicle," she huffed.

"I'll cover you. Stay low," Derek advised.

As he fired back, someone screamed, "I'm hit! Oh, God."

Athena crouched low and ran in a zigzag for the vehicle, the fog making her difficult to spot. The pavement here hadn't buckled as bad, and she managed to not trip.

When she suddenly came face to face with an armed man, she couldn't say who was more surprised.

"Duck!" Derek yelled from closer than expected.

She dropped. So did the guy when the bullet took him in the chest.

Having reached the rumbling van, she rounded the open driver-side door and found a body on the ground, bled out from the nick at his neck. She peeked in to see the front seats empty, but in the back…

A very big and unconscious wolf.

Ares… Oh shit. How to hide this from Derek?

There was no time. Derek was by her side and saw the wolf. "Don't panic. Your brother's alive," he stated, running his hands over Ares' flanks. "A few injuries but nothing that can't be patched."

He knew.

"You're okay with…" She waved a hand at her brother's furry shape.

His lips quirked. "It was a bit of a shock hearing about it, but it explains a lot. Although I will go on the record now saying if you sniff my butt, I am not responsible for what you smell."

Her laughter sounded out of place. "Fair enough." She turned from the van. "The doctor's not in the truck."

"He can't have gotten far." Derek squinted at the fog.

"Which direction, though?" She scanned best she could, but in this shape, her senses of hearing, sight, and most especially smell were greatly reduced.

If she were a wolf, though…

She glanced at Derek. Would he notice her slipping away?

"What's wrong?"

"I need to find Rogers. If he escapes, then we'll need to disappear. Which is fine for us, but Mom won't want to leave the farm."

"This fog is too thick," he grumbled.

"For human senses, yes."

"Do it." He understood right away.

"You won't be freaked out?"

"Depends. You going to tear my face off?"

"Nah. You're cute. Although I might bite other parts." She waggled her brows.

His lips quirked. "You should get going before Rogers gets too far."

"Okay. Maybe look away?"

He turned around, and she quickly stripped, tossing her clothes in the van to keep them from the damp ground. Then she had to concentrate. Unlike her brother, she needed to drop into an almost Zen-like state when trying to shift without the full moon.

It took a few calming breaths.

In.

Out.

Then it happened, the sprout of fur, the rearrangement of her bones and muscles. When she landed on the ground on four paws, it was to find Derek watching, his lips in a rueful twist.

"Sorry, curiosity got the better of me."

She barked.

"Still going to bang you, although the term doggy-style just took on new meaning."

She chuffed.

"I'll be pestering you with questions later, but right now… can you track the doctor?"

She padded around the van, sniffing, finding the scent she hated by the passenger side door. Cologne, antiseptic, and pure asshole.

With a yip, she began trotting, the mist obscuring her view, but scent didn't lie. She followed the trace of it, heading out of the parking lot into the overgrown cemetery, the gravestones abrupt sentinels in the mist. Rogers had slammed into one in his flight.

The doctor made it across the boneyard into the field beyond, the shorn cornstalks crunchy if brushed, but even better, they crackled loudly when stepped on by a man in shoes, giving her sound to follow while her paws navigated them silently.

A low muttered, "Fuck me, where's the road?" had her tail wagging. Rogers was right ahead.

And then the doctor was in front of her, a bulky form that parted the mist and provided a perfect target. She leaped and knocked him to the ground, snarling.

To her surprise, he proved stronger than expected, heaving her from his body before standing.

She scrambled to four paws and kept low as she growled, stalking him.

The fucker sighed. "You just couldn't cooperate, could you? You do realize even if you kill me, all my notes, everything I've catalogued remains on my hard drive. This won't save you."

No, but she'd sure feel good about it.

"Why not collaborate with me instead? I could make you famous."

"In a cage?" Derek appeared from the mist, gun cradled in his hands. "She's not an animal."

"Says the guy willfully ignoring what's in front of him," Rogers scoffed. "She and her siblings are monsters."

"I only see one monster here, and it's not wearing fur," Derek snapped.

"How can you be so blind? Look at her. A savage beast. Do you really want a dog as the mother of your children?"

"Whoa. We're not even engaged yet. And even if we were having kids, do you really think I'd care? Happy and healthy. That's all that matters."

"Until they hurt someone."

"Hurt who?" Derek scoffed. "The only one causing harm is you."

While Derek talked, Athena inched closer. Might have even gotten a clean kill if Rogers didn't suddenly lunge, a dart in hand, which he used to jab down. The sharp tip pierced her skin and fur, drawing a yelp.

Derek didn't fuck around.

He shot Rogers in the head.

A single shot to end the nightmare.