Chapter 13 - The Living: Part 4

Simon woke suddenly. That in itself wasn’t so unusual, and had in fact become annoyingly common. What was unusual was the feeling that woke him. Something was making a hell of a lot of noise in The Veil. Simon wasn’t sure how to describe it, though an analogy might be like the sound of distant gunfire. If that gunfire could only be heard by Simon’s newfound sixth sense.

Throwing the bedsheets off and stepping out into the quasi hotel room, Simon walked over to the door, intent on going down to Amoc’s room. Only he realized that Amoc was already in the hallway, moving his way.

Figures he would have felt this too.

Simon opened the door and found Amoc coming to a stop in front of him, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs in the dim light of the hallway.

“You know, we’ve got to stop meeting like this.” Simon began, sarcastically. “They’ll start talking again.”

Amoc took a moment to comprehend the joke, and proceeded to roll his eyes.

“I guess you felt it too.” Amoc concluded, returning to the matter at hand.

Before Simon could reply, every light in the building went out, plunging them into complete darkness.

“Well that’s not good.” Simon stated. “I feel like I should be getting ready for something, but it doesn’t seem like it’s that close.”

“No.” Amoc’s voice said from the darkness. “You’re getting better at figuring distances. Whatever’s happening, it’s not inside the compound. This might be like one of Logan’s blackouts.”

“Let’s hope so.” Simon replied. “And this is where I wish I had your ability to see in the dark.”

“We’ve got company coming.” Amoc informed Simon. “Ben, I think.”

“And I still can’t do that either.”

Amoc’s ability to identify individuals through the Veil was impressive. Simon wasn’t sure if he had the same level of sensitivity, but Amoc most definitely had years of practice on him.

“You’ll get there.” Amoc reassured him.

A door was heard opening down the hallway, and Simon could make out the presence.

“Amoc?” Ben’s voice asked from the area of the building entrance.

“Down here.” Amoc replied. “What’s going on?”

“The fires are back.” Ben quickly stated. “Just a few miles out, east side of the hill. We blacked out the compound. They want you on the other side, you can see it from there.”

“We’re coming.” Amoc stated.

A door was heard opening elsewhere in the hallway.

“What is this about fires?” Marcus said from the dark.

“Our dragon?” Amoc asked.

“If you’re feeling what I’m feeling right now, I’d say that’s a yes.” Ben confirmed.

“I’m not missing this.” Simon resolutely stated.

“Marcus, get everyone else up.” Amoc ordered. “Just in case.”

“On it.”

Marcus was heard going back into his room, likely for a flashlight; the building was legitimately pitch black. Simon reached out to find where Amoc was standing, and found Amoc’s arm.

“Careful, groping a Garou in the dark never ends well.” Amoc warned Simon.

“Funny.” Simon sardonically replied. “Now help me find my backpack before I grope something else.”

Within thirty seconds Simon had a flashlight, and was partially dressed. Marcus, Maggie, and Ari were all in similar states. Amoc hadn’t dressed any further, which didn’t really shock Simon anymore. He also supposed there was a chance of needing to use the war form, if this dragon decided to head their way. 

Let’s really, really hope it doesn’t come to that, given this thing has probably killed Garou already.

“Where’s Draki?” Simon asked.

“Already in the air.” Amoc replied. “Let’s go.”

Of course. Draki’s vision in the dark is just as good as Amoc’s.

There was enough moonlight outside to not need their flashlights. The building was impressively well sealed from light intrusion. They found Ben waiting, and Simon noted he was also only wearing underwear.

“So I see it’s not just Amoc.” Simon observed. “Just a Garou thing in general.”

Ben looked quizzically at Simon.

“Normally we’d be completely nude for this sort of thing.” Amoc explained.

“I mean, I’m not stopping you.” Maggie quickly replied, getting Simon to chuckle.

Ben shook his head, and started moving towards the staircase leading up to the bridge. Simon had to imagine Ben was thinking about how this comedy troupe had come to be in their compound. Here they were facing down what was potentially an extremely dangerous situation, and they were cracking jokes. The realization Simon had made early on was that you needed to find humor in this world, any way you could, or you’d probably go insane. That did find him pushing it into areas he wouldn’t have before.

Like joking about a Garou’s fear of clothes. Doesn’t help that Amoc’s built like he is, likes running around mostly or completely naked, and dammit if I’m not at least a little bit attracted to him. Not just because of that body, he’s a friend that would do anything for me, and I’ve never had anyone like that, of any orientation or species. The body definitely helps though. Where the hell am I going with this?

Simon shook the thoughts and focused on not tripping on a stair in the dark. True to Ben’s word, no lights were on anywhere in the compound, as far as Simon could see. There were a few people out, armed and wearing gear like Simon had seen on Greg’s group when they arrived. Likely they were whatever passed for security or police, or both, in Mt. Weather. They only gave the barest of glances to the two nearly naked Garou leading a group of half-dressed people through the compound.

Probably not the weirdest thing they’ve ever seen. And from what Sam, Sadie, and Ben told us, they’ve been through a hell of a lot.

They traversed the overpass, and Simon noted the LAVs were exactly where they had left them. Cresting the hill past the two main buildings, the lowlands to the east came into view, all pitch dark… with one exception.

“Holy hell.” Simon couldn’t help but exclaim.

There was an intense point of yellow-white light down there, just a few miles out. Far too close for comfort. Simon almost jumped as a sudden ripple in the Veil made itself known nearby. He belatedly realized it was Garou, and only a few moments later he saw Sadie walking out of the dark. She was more dressed than Ben or Amoc were, but only just. She was also carrying something.

“Fuckers have bitten off more than they can chew.” Sadie said as she held up the object to Amoc. “Have a look.”

Sadie wasn’t one to mince words. Simon also realized the object was a pair of binoculars. Amoc took them, and looked through them at the fire in the distance.

“Can’t really make much out.” Amoc said. “Too much glare.”

“Started about ten minutes ago, we think.” Sadie explained. “The watch saw it, and called us up. I was first out and saw what I thought were four or five forms moving around a much larger one. The fire was coming from the large one.”

There was a sudden burst of noise in The Veil that made Simon flinch. It felt like pure anguish. It then went quiet, and there was nothing other than the churning of the three Garou around him.

“Shit.” Sadie swore. “I hate the fuckers, but I never wished that on them.”

“What just happened?” Simon asked, not understanding what he had just felt. “What was that I just felt?”

“The death of Garou.” Amoc plainly stated.

“Fuck.” Simon had no other words.

“Yeah.” Sadie continued. “Doesn’t matter if you hate their guts, that feeling still hits you hard.”

There was a weight to Sadie’s words that said it wasn’t the first time she had felt that.

“All quiet now.” Amoc observed. “I don’t think any survived it.”

Amoc’s impression in the Veil was rippling again. The Beast was present, and Simon felt it clearly, but this time the feeling was different. It wasn’t buried under the blanket that covered the human sense of the Veil. This was clear as day, and not as terrifying as it once had been.

I’m part of his world now.

They continued to observe for close to an hour, but no further activity was seen or felt, and the fires had begun to die down. Thankfully the Spring night was fairly mild. Draki landed to report once, but said he hadn’t been able to make out any movement since the last burst of activity in the Veil. Amoc had specifically ordered Draki to keep a safe distance. Whatever was down there had slinked off through the woods, or hadn’t moved at all. Simon wasn’t sure either option was good, but he agreed it wasn’t worth the risk to go closer.

“We’re going in the morning.” Sadie had been back and forth to the main building a few times. “John and Greg both confirmed it. You might want to try and get some sleep now.”

“What about our dragon down there?” Amoc asked.

“I’ve had some thoughts on that.” Sadie began. “When it happened the first time, it disappeared like it did just now. We saw things that said something big was moving around out there, but never the something itself. It was like it was avoiding us. I think maybe it just wanted to be left alone, and the fuckers provoked it. So it defended itself. And I think they went after it again tonight.”

“You think whatever it is, it's smart enough to know the difference between us?” Amoc asked.

“Yeah.” Sadie’s one word reply confirmed. “I don’t think we’d still be here if it wasn’t.”

“Then I guess we should get some sleep.” Amoc concluded.

“I’m only getting four impressions from inside, what about you?” Amoc asked.

Amoc had been asking Simon to use his newfound ability quite a bit. He seemed to be doing it mostly to keep Simon focused and practicing, but it also helped him feel less like a stranger in his own body. That could have also been part of Amoc’s motivation.

Simon looked over at the Fenris compound’s wall. It was made up of cargo containers and overturned tractor trailers. It had places for people to hide behind on top of it, but so far no one had stuck a head up or come to the gate that their assembled group was standing in front of. Simon knew there were people behind that wall, though. There were hundreds of indistinct impressions in the Veil… and four much more defined. Those had to be Garou.

“Yeah, the same.” Simon confirmed. “They’re in there. Lots of humans too.”

“A lot of scared humans.” Amoc added. “I can smell it from here.”

“Literally, or otherwise?” Simon asked for clarification.

“A bit of both.”

“The fuckers really did get themselves killed.” Sadie commented. “I didn’t think they were that stupid. And my expectations were already pretty low. Now we’re going to have to clean up their mess.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” John, the former mayor of Elk Valley and current leader of Mt. Weather, spoke up. “We need to get a dialogue started before we can even begin to unpack all of this.”

“Draki, anyone coming to the wall yet?” Amoc asked the Gargoyle through the radio.

“There’s movement, but nothing near the wall yet.” Simon heard Draki report back.

“No one’s interested in talking.” Amoc informed the group around them.

Draki was somewhere overhead, and the one LAV they brought was a hundred feet behind them being crewed by Marcus and Maggie. Ari’s distinctive head could be seen sticking out of the hatch adjacent to Maggie’s. They lead a column of Humvees that had been inherited from Mt. Weather. There was no elevation advantage on this side, so Draki was the only one with a view inside the compound. John, Greg, Sam and Sadie were in their immediate group, and a number of Greg’s security people were spread out around them. Simon imagined they looked like a detachment of mechanized infantry.

“They absolutely know we’re here.” Sam stated the obvious.

“But we weren’t what they were expecting this morning.” Amoc added. “So they’re trying to figure out what to do now.”

“And they probably realized last night there’s no help coming.” Greg offered the tactical perspective.

“Safe bets, but we have to let them make the first move.” John stated. “First time I’ve come to the negotiating table armed, but I’ve done this enough times to know the longer we let them think about the pickle they’re in, the more reasonable they’ll be when they’re finally ready to talk.”

“Or they’ll just say ‘fuck it all’ and come out swinging.” Sam bluntly offered.

“Won’t say I haven’t seen it before, but if we try to force our way in, we’ll guarantee that.” John retorted. “So we wait.”

They waited. Simon tried to focus on getting better impressions of the makeup of people inside the Fenris compound. He still wasn’t sure how to imagine the feeling of impressions in the Veil. Amoc often called it a scent, but he also had a Garou’s sense of smell. To Simon it felt distinctly different from any other sense. There was no good way to describe it, but maybe Amoc’s scent analogy was his own way of making sense of it.

Simon thought about how spiders were said to be able to feel any vibration in the webs they spun, and that feeling was sensitive enough to exactly pinpoint where it was coming from. It felt a bit like that; like he was standing on a tightly strung web of some invisible material that made up the Veil, and that he could feel the vibrations created by all of the living things that moved over it.

Two of those vibrations suddenly stood out among the rest.

“Two moving towards the gate.” Draki’s quick report came from the radio.

“They’re coming.” Amoc relayed to the group.

“That didn’t take long.” Simon commented. “Good thing maybe?”

“Maybe.” John replied. “Depending on who they left in charge. Some of them are more reasonable than the rest.”

John looked around at the assembled group.

“Greg, Sam…” John began. “Stay with me, but let me do the talking. Sadie, hang back here with Amoc and his people. I think you know why.”

“Yeah.” Sadie flatly confirmed.

Greg and Sam nodded. There was definitely more to Sadie’s story, but they hadn’t earned much in personal histories yet.

“Just be ready in case they do something stupid.” Greg added.

John moved forward towards the gate with his group. Simon absently wished the LAV had a better line of sight, but there was no other position available within the narrow approach to the gate. Likely that wasn’t a coincidence, now that Simon thought about it.

After a minute or so of waiting, the gate began to move. Slowly it opened to reveal two figures standing behind it. The impression they gave told Simon these were two of the remaining Fenris Garou.

“Garou.” Simon whispered to Amoc.

“Correct.” Amoc whispered back. “Now we see what happens.”

Simon could only imagine what was going through Amoc’s head right now. A few days ago he was fairly well convinced he was the last of his kind. Now there were no less than seven in the immediate area. Four with unknown intentions.

The two figures walked out of the gate and approached John’s group.

“I see you’ve got armor now.” One of the two figures said, referring to the LAV. “And new friends. What do you want?”

“It’s Burgh, right?” John asked.

John seemed to be confirming the speaking Garou’s name. He got a curt nod and nothing else.

“If there’s anyone reasonable among Fenris, it’s Burgh.” Sadie whispered to Amoc and Simon. “Might actually be a good thing he’s the one they left in charge. Other one is Trole. Angry fucker, keep an eye on him.”

“What I want, Burgh, is to help.” John offered. “I’m not going to insult you and say I’m making this offer out of the goodness of my heart. I know you’ve suffered losses. How long do you think you can hold out when the undead come back? They’re not going to stay missing forever. I can help you when that happens, but that’s not going to work with our old arrangement. So I want to talk about a new arrangement that helps your people survive. But it’s going to be on our terms from here on out.”

John wasn’t mincing words. The two Garou were roiling in the Veil, but Simon realized it wasn’t fear or anger, but internal conflict. He realized now why it had always been so easy for Amoc to spot any lie or half-truth. Especially when emotions were up.

“What are you proposing?” Burgh asked.

“We take all the humans in your compound to Mt. Weather.” John replied. “All of them, under our care and protection. No exceptions. We’ll bring them to the fields here when work needs to be done to supplement our own food supplies, if they’re willing and able.”

“And what about us?” Burgh asked, presumably meaning the four Garou left.

“I don’t know, Burgh.” John stated. “What about you? Silverclaw always made it clear you would never accept our way of doing things. Even equal footing was too much for him, never mind taking orders. If that’s still off the table, then we’ll leave. I don’t want to, because I know how that’s going to end. It nearly happened to us, before three Garou decided a different arrangement was needed between us. So what happens to you… is entirely up to you.”

“Silverclaw was their leader, pretentiously named fucker, too stubburn for his own good.” Sadie whispered.

“We’re being watched.” Amoc stated, out of the blue.

Simon hadn’t felt anything change in the Veil. Sadie looked as surprised as Simon, so this was something only Amoc was feeling.

“That Hunter intuition going off?” Sadie asked.

“You could say that.” Amoc confirmed.

Glancing over to John’s group, Sam didn’t appear any wiser either. It looked like the two Fenris Garou had asked for a moment to talk amongst themselves.

“Not Garou.” Amoc continued to whisper. “Not sure what it is, but it’s out there.”

Amoc was looking to the forested area south and east of the compound. He was being very careful not to let the Beast come up, given the delicate negotiations going on nearby. The forest was too dense to see anything that might be hiding in it.

“Our dragon?” Simon asked.

“Shit, I hope not.” Sadie replied.

“No idea, don’t recognize it, never been close enough to the dragon to get a sense of it.” Amoc added. “But I caught just a moment of something… recognition, maybe. Enough to tell me there’s something intelligent out there very interested in what we’re doing here.”

“Hunter skills.” Sadie stated, as if that explained Amoc’s reasoning. “This is why I said your friend here was so feared in the old world. Downright spooky what they can sense.”

It could definitely feel that way at times. Simon just hadn’t really understood how sensitive Amoc was to the Veil, even compared to other Garou.

“We’re going to need to discuss this with the others.” Burgh was suddenly saying.

Simon looked over to see Burgh had turned back to face John’s group.

“We’ll be here.” John replied.

With that, Burgh and the Garou called Trole turned to walk back inside the compound, and the gate closed behind them. John’s group made their way over to Amoc’s.

“Well I think that went well.” John offered.

“They’re fucked and they know it.” Sadie bluntly added.

“That’s one way of putting it.” John conceded. “And while we could certainly use their fields to help with our food problems, we can manage without them. The way I see it, they know we don’t really need them. They can refuse us and we’ll leave, and they’ll be the only ones worse off.”

“Burgh will get them to see it.” Sadie added. “He’s an asshole, but he’s always been the only brains they have. He’s got to realize going on their own is just rolling the dice until the undead come back.”

“So what do we do about them, assuming they accept our terms?” Greg asked. “The Garou I mean. I’m sure as hell not going to trust them to roam free inside Mt. Weather.”

“Let me take them on.” Amoc offered.

Simon snap-turned to look at Amoc in surprise. He continued before Simon could get a word in.

“I’m the obvious choice.” Amoc continued. “You’re going to have enough to do trying to take on a thousand humans. This is what I can do for you.”

Simon couldn’t argue with the logic. Greg turned to look at John.

“I don’t have a better idea to offer right now, do you?” John asked Greg.

“No.” Greg conceded. “And Amoc’s right; we’re going to have plenty of challenges with the Fenris humans. Of course this is all assuming they accept your offer.”

“Right.” John concluded.

“By the way, there’s something else out there watching this.” Amoc brought up the unknown observer.

“Wait, what?” Greg was just as surprised as Sadie had been. “You’re just telling us this now? Where?”

“Somewhere to the southeast.” Amoc explained. “I’ve felt no threat. It’s just… watching. I can’t tell more than that.”

“Hunter stuff.” Sadie again explained. “I’ve got nothing, so whatever it is, it’s very good at not being noticed.”

“We’re just not very good at sniffing out the Veil.” Sam admitted, and continued as Sadie was presumably about to object. “You and I both know it. Ben’s never had any training at all. That’s something else Amoc can do for us. Maybe this something isn’t a threat, but what if it had been? What good are we to any of you if we’re not able to use those senses? We’ve got to accept what we are again if we want to keep surviving.”

“It’s also about living.” Amoc interjected. “Surviving only gets you so far. Took me a while to figure that out, but I get it now. We fight for more than ourselves; we fight for the living. I don’t know how good a teacher I am, but I’m willing to try. For you, and hopefully for the remaining Garou in there.”

Amoc nodded to the Fenris compound. Sam and Sadie looked at John.

“I can get behind doing more than just surviving.” John approved. “Especially with all we may be about to take on. Greg?”

“Having seen what they can do, I gotta be honest, making them even better fighters is kind of terrifying.” Greg admitted. “But terrifying is what we need on our side, especially with unknowns lurking out in the woods.”

“That settles it.” John stated. “Now we’ll have to see if Burgh and his group feel the same.”

The waiting didn’t last very long. After about thirty minutes, Draki reported Burgh and Trole were returning to the gate. Simon recalled Amoc saying how quick debates among Garou tended to be, and Simon had experienced exactly that only the night before. John’s group went back up to meet them once again.

“I never wanted this, you know.” Burgh began. “When we found these people they were so busy fighting each other for the scraps of the city, they couldn’t see they were all going to die anyway. I was fine with that, but Silverclaw convinced me we needed them if we were going to survive too. So I went with it. We gave them discipline and purpose, and they stopped fighting each other. Mostly. Then a few months back a miracle happened; one of their children was born as one of us.”

The Garou child Greg had mentioned when they first arrived.

“Things were going just fine until a few days ago, and it all fell apart so fast.” Burgh’s tone became angry. “Silverclaw went out and got himself and three other Garou killed. And last night I tried to stop them from going on some fucking rage-fueled revenge hunt, but I couldn’t. So now it’s just us. And you’re right we’ve got no chance when the undead come back. So how do we do this? What happens to us?”

“Definitely the smartest one among them.” Sadie whispered.

It seemed that way. And it seemed like Burgh was fully conceding to Mt. Weather’s authority.

“First we take advantage of this window and we get your people back to Mt. Weather.” John didn’t miss a beat. “Starting today. We’ll need to do a quarantine, and it may be a bit rough for a few days, but we’ll get it done.”

“Well I hope the watch wasn’t planning on sleeping this week.” Sadie whispered.

“As to you…” John continued, referring to Burgh and his Garou. “I know you’re probably not going to want to take orders from myself or Greg, so you’re going to answer to Amoc here.”

Greg turned and looked at Amoc.

“He’s a recent ally of ours.” John continued. “And volunteered for the possibility, if you agreed to our terms. So there they are. Do you have any questions?”

It was simple and to the point. John had definitely taken some advice on Garou-style debate.

“What happens when the undead come back?” Trole spoke up for the first time, asking the question that was likely on everyone’s minds.

“We have plans for Mt. Weather that have been working for over a year.” John answered. “We’ll need to add plans for trips to and from this compound, which will be Greg’s domain. Then of course we also have the unknown factor of what killed your other Garou. That will be Amoc’s domain. He’s a Hunter.”

That revelation got surprised glances from both Burgh and Trole. Simon imagined they were suddenly reassessing just what they had in store in their future.

“Anything else?” John asked the two Garou.

Burgh shook his head.

“Like I said, what happens next is up to you.” John stated. “There’s a place for you in this. For all of you, but that trust is earned. Amoc and his people know that well, and are still working on that with us, but they’re a few steps ahead of you. I’d suggest following his lead from here on out.”

John turned to Amoc.

“If you would be so kind as to let Mt. Weather know what we’re about to send their way.” John asked. “I’ll be heading back to oversee the effort.”

Amoc nodded to John, and Simon followed him when Amoc started walking towards Burgh and Trole. They both regarded Amoc as he approached. Amoc began by reaching for his radio.

“Marcus, radio back to Mt. Weather, let them know plans are in motion to start bringing Fenris humans there.”

“Copy.” Simon heard the single word reply from Marcus on his radio.

Amoc then turned to address Burgh and Trole.

“I don’t know you, I don’t know much of your history with Mt. Weather, so we’re going to start clean, here and now.” Amoc began. “This is now a world where we cooperate for the greater good. You had your way, Mt. Weather has theirs. Your way failed, and I happen to agree with Mt. Weather’s. So however you did things before, that’s done. Are we going to have any issues with that?”

“Not like we have a choice.” Burgh conceded. “So what you say goes.”

“Good.” Amoc replied. “In time you’ll see there are advantages to this way. Things become possible that you couldn’t imagine before. I learned it the hard way. It also cost a lot of Garou lives. I don’t aim to repeat those mistakes again.”

Amoc regarded Burgh and Trole for a moment. Simon felt roiling emotions from both Fenris Garou, but he was pretty sure that was to be expected considering what they had just committed to. Amoc had been blunt as hell, but there was nothing unfair in what he said, biased as Simon might be. The Fenris Garou were in a similar position to Amoc before they had met. Mistakes had been made that had cost them dearly, and now there was nothing left to do but change or die.

“Now let’s get these people ready to move.” Amoc ordered.

Simon entered the compound with Amoc, Sam and Sadie, as well as Burgh and Trole. The population of humans inside looked reasonably healthy as far as Simon could tell, but there was a sense of fear that permeated all of them. That was reinforced by their reactions when Burgh started ordering anyone they came across to start getting people to the ‘assembly area’ at the west end of the compound. They reacted without hesitation, using the phrase ‘Yes, chosen’ before moving with haste to gather anyone they could find.

Simon learned that their full title was ‘Fenris’ Chosen’, which was suitably pretentious for a group of Garou that saw themselves as some kind of superior being. Amoc looked on in silence as Burgh carried out the first order he had been given. Sam shared Amoc’s stoicism, though Sadie wasn’t bothering to hide the disgust in her expression. They were met by the other two Garou, Ember and Mote, who both identified as female. Simon realized he didn’t count for much if the four Fenris Garou decided to try something, but Simon’s money would still be on Amoc if they did. Plus, Sadie had slipped Amoc her silver dagger before entering the compound.

Ember and Mote definitely weren’t happy about what Burgh had agreed to, but it was clear their earlier discussion had already settled the matter. They went out to round up stragglers in the more remote corners of the compound. It was quite a large compound, significantly more so than Mt. Weather. There were open fields that looked like they were being prepared for planting. There also looked to be an Apple orchard on one of the hills. Virginia was fairly well known for its ciders, Simon recalled.

All of this was too valuable to give up, that was certain, but the problem of how they would safely keep working the land was not going to be an easy one to solve. When there had been twelve Garou dedicated to defending it, clearly it had been possible. But now with half that number split between two compounds… well, that was a problem for later.

Eventually Burgh reported to Amoc that everyone was gathered. They all stood in a field outside the largest farmhouse, which was on a hill that made it into almost a natural amphitheater. Simon hadn’t seen this many people in one place since the apocalypse began. Burgh looked to Amoc expectantly.

“Tell them.” Amoc ordered. “It needs to come from you. Don’t hold anything back.”

Burgh grimaced, but didn’t object. He turned to face the gathered mass of humanity.

“Things have changed.” Burgh began, speaking loudly so all could hear him. “A few days ago, Silverfang was killed by something we haven’t identified. Three other Garou died with him. Last night four more of us went out to try and find the thing that killed them and take revenge. They didn’t come back. We’re all that’s left, and four of us can’t defend this place.”

There were murmurs in the crowd of humans, but they were quiet and impossible to make out clearly. Simon thought they were probably used to listening in silence to the words of their masters, but this was too significant for even that old fear to maintain silence. Simon noted a woman in the front of the crowd holding a baby. Ember, one of the Fenris Garou, was standing next to her, and everyone else was keeping their distance. Amoc was looking very intently at them. Was that perhaps the Garou child Greg told them about?

“So we have conceded to Mt. Weather’s authority.” Burgh pushed on, though the words clearly were difficult. “And starting today, you will be taken to Mt. Weather to be put under their care and guidance.”

That brought the voices up even further. Simon thought he made out statements like “this can’t be true” and “our chosen have fallen” and “how will we survive?” It was like this was some kind of cult.

That’s exactly what this is. Whatever they call it doesn’t matter, the Fenris Garou clearly set themselves up to lord over these people.

“Quiet!” Burgh yelled, and the crowd was cowed into silence. “This is happening. Your survival depends on it, and it will continue without us. Your future is no longer ours to decide. In a few minutes, humans from Mt. Weather are going to come here and start taking you up the hill in groups. You will go with them and do as they say. This is our last order to you.”

There was only shocked silence that followed. A few minutes later, Greg’s security people entered the compound and started taking stock of just what they were getting themselves into. This was likely going to be a very long day for everyone.

Integrating a bunch of former Fenris cultists into Mt. Weather definitely proved to be a challenge. Not that anyone had expected it to be easy. A few days into the process, nearly everyone had been moved to Mt. Weather, bringing its population to well over fifteen hundred. The compound didn’t have enough housing for all of them, so many were living outside in tents. Which was actually something of an improvement from their arrangement with Fenris, which had nearly all of them outside in tents. The Fenris compound only had a few farmhouses, and those seemed to have been reserved for work that simply couldn’t be done outdoors.

Mt. Weather’s population included a professional doctor and several nurses, mostly from their original group in Elk Valley, and they confirmed that most of the Fenris humans were in reasonably good physical health, with only a few exceptions. It did seem Fenris took care of their people, despite everything else. Mental health was a different concern, and not one that was going to be resolved anywhere near as quickly. As for the four Garou themselves, they had not been very forthcoming with details on where they had come from, and how they arrived at this arrangement. Simon expected that would remain the case for some time. That is, if they decided to stay, which still was far from certain.

Burgh was definitely the brains of the four, as Sadie had said. He generally spoke for the others, and seemed to be the most diplomatic. Trole was the most stoic of the bunch. He barely ever spoke, and seemed to wear a permanent scowl. Ember, Simon learned, had been entrusted with looking after the Garou child and his mother, both of whom were now under Sadie’s direct purview back at Mt. Weather. There was an intensity to Ember that Simon felt but couldn’t pin down to any specific reason. Lastly there was Mote, who seemed to be the most combative of the group. Despite her smaller stature, she seemed to enjoy challenging Burgh and Trole’s more dominant positions in their group.

Simon had learned all of this as they spent several days outside the fence line of Mt. Weather, searching for signs of undead and their dragon. The former was still mysteriously absent, and the latter was frustratingly elusive. It had, at the very least, given the Fenris Garou something to do and focus on, and they seemed to be coming around to Amoc’s far more methodical process of working these two mysteries. Their position on Mt. Weather’s way of cooperating was still undecided. Simon wasn’t going to trust them any time soon, but so far they had been far more agreeable than Simon had expected them to be.

Maybe that shouldn’t be all that surprising. They did have to manage a thousand humans for a year or more. Those Garou Amoc said couldn’t be trusted around people never would have been able to do that. And even if their methods weren’t exactly egalitarian, they did seem to take care of those people. Amoc always said Garou were far more pragmatic than humans. Even if two Garou hated each other, they’d still work together if it served both of their purposes.

On the fourth day of Amoc’s organized hunt, they were gathered in one of the many empty houses that dotted the hill around Mt. Weather. Those present included Amoc and their complete party since finding Ari at Quantico, as well as the four Fenris Garou. They had left the Mt. Weather Garou to help with the influx of humans, and had largely been on their own in the hunt for answers on why the undead were missing. As well as why, despite still finding fresh traces of their dragon, they hadn’t found the dragon itself.

“I have a theory.” Simon found himself saying.

“Oh this should be good.” Mote, as usual, was the first to comment.

Amoc glared at Mote, and Simon continued.

“What’s changed here at Mt. Weather since the undead went missing?” Simon looked around the room; it was mostly a rhetorical question. “There’s only a few line items on that list. There’s us, Amoc’s company. Everyone else has been here since before the life beam… thing. And there’s the dragon. We thought what was driving the undead away was that beam, but we found undead in and around Quantico the morning after. So that doesn’t make sense.”

“Taking your word on that one, since we never saw it.” This time it was Burgh commenting, though he was intently listening now.

“I ended that group myself.” Amoc added, which drew looks from all of the Fenris Garou. “Simon’s right, it couldn’t have been what happened there.”

“And it can’t be us.” Simon continued. “For the previously mentioned reason. It also can’t be Ari, because we found him running from that exact same horde.”

“It was scary.” Ari commented.

Ari’s language skills had improved immensely in the week or so since they found him. He was definitely able to keep up with most conversations these days, and only really struggled with more complex and uncommon words.

“What are you getting at?” Ember asked, in her usual vaguely intense manner.

“The dragon.” Simon explained. “They’re afraid of it for some reason, the undead. This has been bugging me since we started this hunt, and I can’t think of any other explanation. It’s still out there, and there’s still no undead in this area. You got any other ideas on why we’re suddenly a ‘no undead’ zone?”

Simon looked around the room. No one offered any other theories.

“How does this help us hunt it?” Marcus asked the question of the hour.

“I mean… I don’t know.” Simon conceded. “I thought maybe we could figure out an area of effect for this ‘no undead zone’ thing that could help us, but it’s clear the dragon is moving around, and that would take too long so… yeah. I don’t know.”

“It’s misleading us.” Amoc stated, and proceeded to explain. “It’s something Sadie said, back when we first got here. Always finding the evidence, but never what created it. Like it was always a step ahead of them. It was watching us when we met you for the first time.” Amoc addressed Burgh. “I think I’ve had this all wrong. I thought I was hunting a monster, like an Eldritch, but I’m not. I think it’s sentient.”

“That would explain some things.” Burgh began. “But I still don’t have anything more I can offer. I don’t know what Silveclaw did to piss it off, or what the others did. We’ve never seen it.”

“Gabriel’s our only surviving witness.” Simon stated. “Maybe it’s time we had another talk with him, now that things have had some time to settle down. Maybe Draki can surface some memories.”

“I can certainly try.” Draki offered.

“Probably best without Garou present.” Amoc reasoned, turning to Simon. “Want to go with Draki back to Mt. Weather?”

“Yeah.” Simon agreed. “I think it’s about time we found out what really happened.”

Mt. Weather was a hub of activity. People were everywhere inside the compound, indoors and out. It was more noise and movement than Simon had seen since that final night in New York City, before the apocalypse kicked off. Draki, of course, drew stares as Simon drove into the compound in one of the many military surplus Humvees that came with Mt. Weather.

“I’m really starting to wonder how we’re going to protect all of this when the undead come back.” Simon  wondered out loud. “How is this not going to be a flashing beacon for undead?”

“All the more reason to get to the bottom of this mystery as soon as possible.” Draki pragmatically replied.

Draki seemed oddly at ease, despite the many problems they currently faced. Simon had a guess as to why.

“This feel a bit like before?” Simon asked, motioning around them.

“A bit.” Draki replied. “Movement and voices, patterns and shapes. I have an urge to perch on the water tower and just study it for a few weeks. But I’ve also come to enjoy the more in the moment nature of how we’ve been living for some time now. It’s much more thrilling.”

Simon laughed.

“That’s certainly a word for it.”

The drive up to the main building was short, and they were pulling up to the front doors within moments. Simon saw Greg exiting the building to meet them, so it seemed the gate had orders to let him know when any of them arrived. Simon and Draki exited the Humvee, and met Greg halfway to the doors.

“Any news?” Greg asked.

“Afraid not.” Simon replied. “No undead, no dragon. But we’ve got a new idea.”

“I was hoping for more than ideas, but let’s hear it.” Greg wasn’t entirely happy with the results so far.

Simon couldn’t blame him. They had been at it for days and had nothing to show for it beyond a compound full of confused and noisy humans.

“It’s intelligent.” Simon began explaining. “We think Sadie was right. It’s smarter than we gave it credit for. Probably sentient. Amoc thinks it’s been misleading us, which would mean it knows we’re hunting it. Which is going to make finding it a lot harder.”

“Didn’t Amoc used to hunt thinking beings?” Greg asked. “Beings that often knew they were being hunted?”

“Yeah, but this is different.” Simon continued. “It doesn’t register like us. Or even a human, really. We’ve not picked up on it at all, and Amoc says he’s only got the slightest impressions from it. Creating fear would have been Amoc’s tactic in the past to increase the impression, but even if we wanted to use that tactic, I’m not sure we could.”

“Right, it’s already killed several Garou.” Greg posited. “Which begs the question of why it hasn’t attacked you yet. If we’re assuming it knows you’re hunting it, why is it only avoiding you?”

“That’s the million missing undead question.” Simon replied. “And I don’t want to think about what this thing that killed eight Garou and still seems perfectly capable of misleading five Garou and Draki is really capable of. So we’re here to talk to the one person that might help answer some of those questions. How is Gabriel?”

“Well that explains why you’re here with no Garou backup.” Greg correctly assumed. “He’s… better. Seeing friendly faces and no Garou has helped. I don’t know what they did to him, he’s not talked about it. What are you planning?”

“Just a talk.” Simon assured Greg. “And maybe a bit of a reminder that right now we’re running on borrowed time for when we’re going to have to figure out how to defend this place with its new population.”

That was a point Greg had likely been spending sleepless nights on for days now. Work was happening to reinforce the fence line, but there was no guarantee any of it was going to be enough. Greg’s face said it all; he knew that fact all too well.

“This way, we’ll need to take the bunker elevator.” Greg stated. “He’s been down there helping with refurbishment, since it keeps him from crossing paths with our Garou.”

Greg led them to the basement of the main building where the special bunker access elevator was located. The elevator took about a minute to reach the central office area of the bunker. It looked very much like a regular office, largely because it was literally just a building constructed inside a hollowed out cavern under the mountain. To Simon it looked like it had last been refurbished some time in the early 2000’s. Many of the government systems and computers were still present, but John had said there wasn’t anything interesting on them. The networks they used to be connected to were long dead, and there wasn’t any practical way to sign in and see if anything was left in local storage.

Not that it would be useful to us even if we could.

Greg led them towards the sounds of construction, where one of the more run down sections of the building was being restored for habitation. Draki was as out of place as ever in the fluorescent-lit office space, and drew a few quick stares from those working before they realized who he was. Greg pointed to a corner of the room, and Simon saw Gabriel there, busy pulling up the grungy old carpet. Simon felt momentarily displaced in time, like he was back on a construction site trying to find the one guy that knew how to do some odd job he needed done.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Greg said. “Just go easy on him.”

Greg turned and walked back out towards the main room. Gabriel looked up when he noticed others staring, and immediately recognized the very distinctive form of Draki. He put down his tools and stood up to walk over to them.

“I think I know why you’re here.” Gabriel began. “Word’s been going around about your hunt for the dragon. I figured we were going to have to revisit it at some point.”

“We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.” Simon offered. “We think the dragon might be key to something critical. But if you’re not ready, we can come back.”

“They’ve been focusing heavily on the fence line.” Gabriel observed. “They’re worried, aren’t they?”

Simon motioned for them to move to the less occupied central room, away from the many ears listening in the side room. He was sure word would get around, but he might as well not encourage it. Gabriel followed, and Simon resumed the discussion.

“They are, but not about the dragon.” Simon explained. “They’re worried about what happens when the undead come back.”

“Ah.” Gabriel realized. “How is the dragon connected?”

“We think it’s keeping them away.” Simon stated. “I don’t know how, but I’ve got no other explanation for why the undead haven’t come back. That dragon may be all that stands between us and a million undead.”

The statement lingered in the air for several moments as Gabriel considered the weight of it.

“They were baiting something.” Gabriel began. “It wasn’t the first time, so I don’t think their target was the dragon.”

“Who was?” Simon didn’t follow.

“Silverclaw, their leader.” Gabriel explained. “They were hunting something, and they were using living bait. I think… I think their bait was another one like your dark-furred friend. They found it not long after the beam of light.”

Ari. Another gnoll?

“We were just waiting for something to happen.” Gabriel continued. “Silverclaw and the others were all in what you called ‘war form.’ Then all hell broke loose. Something came at us from behind, and then the fire began. They tried to fight it, but it just tore through them. I ran when it became obvious it was going to tear through all of us.”

Fuck. If our dragon really is intelligent… maybe it took offense at what Silverclaw was doing. Maybe it saw something new like itself being put in danger, and attacked. Maybe it recognized Ari back at the Fenris compound. Maybe that’s why it’s been trying to figure us out.

That’s a lot of maybes.

“I don’t know if that helps.” Gabriel added when Simon didn’t immediately respond.

“Actually I think it explains quite a bit.” Simon replied. “They pissed it off. And it killed them for it.”

Gabriel had no response for that.

“I need to get back to Amoc with this.” Simon stated. “Thank you, Gabriel. I know it wasn’t easy going back to that.”

“If it helps, then it was worth it.” Gabriel concluded. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, we’re going to need it.”

Simon turned to walk back towards the elevator with Draki in tow. They entered and began the ride back up to the surface.

“That went easier than I thought it would.” Simon commented. “Thought you were going to have to dig around in Gabriel’s head.”

“I’ve been doing much less of that as of late.” Draki replied. “I think everyone here is aware of the stakes. And the consequences of failure.”

“The consequences if we fail.” Simon added. “It feels like everything’s riding on what happens next with this dragon.”

“It may very well be.” Draki unhelpfully confirmed.

“No pressure, right?” Simon nervously chucked. “I sure as hell hope I’m right about this.

“As do I.”