“You know they will figure it out eventually, right?” Sam was saying. “Maybe not exactly what we are, but they’re going to start wondering how the three of us made it through everything so far without so much as a scratch.”
It was their first group meeting since the world had gone to hell. It had all happened so fast, they hadn’t really had time to even think about things like planning outings for wolfing out, pest control, or anything else the Veil decided to throw at them during normal times. The zombie apocalypse had flipped the table on the whole world, Elk Valley included. Lots of houses were vacant now, and Sam had called them to this one to talk about what needed to happen now that everything was different.
“What are you trying to say?” Sadie, the town’s sole mechanic, asked.
“I’m saying we need to get ahead of this, before the inevitable happens.” Sam asserted. “They’re doing okay for now, but you’ve been out there with me. You know what’s coming. They don’t stand a chance if one of the big ones decides to turn our way.”
The ‘big ones’ were hordes of undead, tens of thousands strong, that got pushed out of the cities when their mass just became too great to contain. Elk Valley was a town of less than a thousand humans, now quite a lot less, and three Garou. Three Garou that had come here to get away from the problems of civilization. Human civilization, non-human civilization, and otherwise. The irony was that they had succeeded, and now their biggest problem was the impending end of civilization.
“We’re already helping.” Sadie offered. “Hell, I wouldn’t have thought we could get the main square locked down that quickly, but we did. We’ve got a wall we can retreat behind. It’s not like the hordes are hard to spot coming.”
“Yeah, and when will they start asking about how we do that so well, huh?” Sam countered. “We need to tell them.”
“Oh hell no.” Sadie immediately countered back. “We tell them what we are and all bets are off.”
“Dammit, Sadie…” Sam was getting visibly angry now. “You know damn well that wall won’t hold up to a big one. Why am I the one arguing to help these people when you and Ben were the ones that always worked with them before?”
“I can’t.” Ben finally spoke up, having been silent for the argument so far. “You know I can’t.”
Ben had never changed forms in Sam or Sadie’s presence. He was afraid of the Beast, that much was clear, but Sam had always thought it was something deeper rooted. It wasn’t his place to ask, especially since the three of them had come to Elk Valley to get away from the expectations of being a Garou, but things were different now. The world was suddenly a lot more hostile, and Ben was going to have to start working through his fear.
“You can.” Sam assured Ben. “You know how I am when I change. Sadie keeps me in line; she can do the same for you. We can make this work.”
“We are not having this conversation right now.” Sadie firmly stated. “I can keep you in line when you’re out in the woods and not around humans. Ben’s downright terrified of the Beast, and you want me to keep both of you in check around a bunch of scared shitless humans? Dammit, why am I even talking about this? No! The last thing this town needs is you two running around in war or wolf form trying to ‘help’.”
“What’s the alternative?” Sam again countered. “Wait for Death to come for them? Most days I want nothing to do with people, but even I think that’s cold. How are you okay with just standing by when we could be doing more?”
Both Sadie and Ben remained silent for several moments before Sam spoke up again.
“I’ll take your silence to mean that you’re not.” Sam continued, somewhat smugly. “We came here because we’re not like them; the ones that would probably get themselves killed raging against the undead.”
“Yeah, and we’re not fighters like they are.” Sadie shot back. “We’d be a liability in more ways than one.”
“We can hunt and track, and run circles around a horde, even without those skills.” Sam offered. “There’s still plenty we can do, if we’re not still trying to hide what we are.”
“Dammit Sam…” Sadie was exasperated, but continued more calmly. “I’m not agreeing to anything, but let’s say for a second that we did this. How? How do we go up to these people and say ‘hey, we’re three werewolves and want to help you survive the apocalypse’.”
“Carefully.” Ben offered. “I don’t like it, but Sam’s right. We need to do more. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but… that’s going to happen even if I do nothing.”
Not wanting to hurt anyone was the usual excuse Ben used. Ben spent his days being obnoxiously helpful; odd jobs that needed doing here and there, and he had picked up a lot of random skills along the way. Enough to even help out Sadie in her shop, and on occasion with some of Sam’s larger art projects. Sam couldn’t fathom how a person that enjoyed helping people so much could have been born a Garou, but then Sam himself had spent his days doing arts and crafts to sell to tourists and online buyers, and Sadie often spent her weekends driving mud trucks. They didn’t exactly adhere to any Garou norms.
“Thank you.” Sam thanked Ben for his support.
“I guess I’m out-voted.” Sadie conceded. “But I still haven’t heard any ideas on how we do this without sending the monkey-brains straight into flight mode. And that’s before we even get to the problem of how we harden this town against a big one.”
“I don’t think telling them will be like it was before the apocalypse.” Ben spoke up again. “They’ve seen the dead rise, seen their own family and friends get killed and rise up again. Werewolves being real isn’t going to have the impact it once did.”
“So just go for it, that’s the plan?” Sadie asked. “What about everything else? We’re not exactly the only things they don’t know about.”
“We start small.” Sam added. “We know these people. We’ve been working with them full-time fortifying this town for weeks now, and we’ve been part of the community for years. We know the cooler heads among them, and I think they know the same thing we know; that we need a better plan. We give them that plan, and the first part of that is telling them what we can really do. The rest can come in time.”
“Fine.” Sadie finally agreed. “And what is that better plan? Telling them what we are helps nothing if we can’t defend this town. Maybe if I had three months and an unlimited supply of steel and concrete I could turn the main square into a fortress, but that’s rolling the dice every day even if I did have that kind of material.”
“Mt. Weather.” Sam replied. “High, fortified fences, underground bunkers, generators and solar power. I scouted it out, it looked abandoned.”
“That’s seventy miles from here, when was this?” Sadie asked.
“About a week back, out on one of my long scouting trips.” Sam explained. “This was just further out than normal.”
“You’ve been planning this talk for a while.” Sadie concluded.
“Yeah.”
“So let me see if I’ve got all this straight.” Sadie began. “We’re going to tell the humans of this town they’ve been living with three werewolves for years, and that their only hope of survival is trusting us and going on a seventy mile walk to Virginia.”
“Basically, yeah.” Sam confirmed.
“And I guess that means I’m the one that’s going to get my tits out first and show them what we are?”
“I didn’t want to ask, but… I don’t fully trust myself to do it first.” Sam attempted an excuse.
“You know I can’t.” Ben added.
Sadie sighed.
“Not like anyone probably gives a shit about discovery anymore.” Sadie conceded. “And as much as I hate saying you’re right, Sam… you’re right. It’s just a slow death if we do nothing. At least with us not having one hand tied behind our backs, they’ll have a better chance.”
“But!” Sadie added before Sam could thank her. “We are not those crazy fuckers that think we should be ruling humans. We are going to help them, hunt for them, scout for them, whatever we’re asked to do, and if you two get any ideas otherwise, I’ll rip your throats out myself.”
Somewhere in Sadie’s past she had run afoul of that particular sect of Garou-kind. She had never said much about it, and as with Ben, Sam had never pried. But he gathered it was a large part of why she was out here with them.
“Never entered my mind, never will.” Sam was resolute in his oath.
“You know I’d never do anything like that.” Ben sounded ashamed, and Sam felt a little sorry for him.
“Sorry, just… bad memories.” Sadie explained. “There’s a reason you’re the only two I trust. I’ll just leave it at that.”
“I appreciate it.” Ben assured Sadie.
“Likewise.” Sam added.
“Okay.” Sadie took a deep breath and exhaled, appearing to steel her resolve. “Let’s find John and do this before I change my mind.”
The three of them returned to the center of town, Sadie leading at Sam’s suggestion. Sadie and Ben kept their secrets, as was their right, but Sam didn’t. He created no illusions around the fact that he generally didn’t like people, but it wasn’t driven by anything from his past. That’s just how Sam had always been. Sadie was probably the best known out of the three of them, given her very prominent business.
They were looking for John in the town’s fortified square. Town hall was inside the wall, and he was usually there. He had been the mayor of Elk Valley for many years, generally because nobody else wanted to run against him, but mainly because he was a genuinely, and sometimes insufferably, nice guy. John’s wife had been out of town when the apocalypse started, and there was no telling if he would ever see her again. It’s often said a person’s true colors come out in the face of tragedy, and despite that he had somehow managed to remain positive and in charge.
It almost made Sam want to like the guy. Almost.
Sam spotted John at a table outside the town hall, pointed him out to Sadie, and she pivoted in his direction. It was a beautiful Spring day, and most of the town was outside working on various projects. It could have been any other day, were it not for the wall made of old cars and scrap metal, and the fact that the number of people here was only a fraction of the population of the town before the apocalypse. As much as Sam disliked people, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the images of the horde tearing through the town out of his head. They needed to make sure it didn’t happen again.
John spotted them as they approached, and looked up from the map he had been pouring over.
“I know that look.” John said to Sadie. “Especially after you three have come back from outside the wall. It’s such a nice day, I was hoping for some good news.”
“Well, depends on how you look at it.” Sadie began. “But yeah, we need to talk, somewhere private. Might want to bring Greg too.”
“You know I don’t like private talks.” John retorted. “But if Greg’s going to be there, I guess that’s fine. And I trust you’ve got a good reason.”
Greg was Elk Valley’s acting sheriff. All of the actual law enforcement of the town hadn’t survived that first horde.
“Trust me, there’s a very good reason for this.” Sadie assured John.
“Greg, you still back there?” John yelled into the town hall.
“Yep, what’s up?” Greg replied from inside.
“Stay there, we’re coming in.” John explained. “Sadie’s got something she wants to tell us.”
“We should use the meeting room.” Sadie pointed to the windowless space used for official business.
“I like this even less now.” John protested. “You know I tried to avoid using that room as much as possible, even more so now.”
Sam could guess Sadie wasn’t going to dance around this. If she wanted that space, it meant she intended to change in front of John and Greg. Sam would be lying if he said he wasn’t suddenly very nervous about this, but they were the two most level heads in Elk Valley. If there was anyone to reveal their secret to, it was them.
It also helped that the room had a ten foot ceiling.
“I promise you can do whatever you want with what I’m about to tell you, but I don’t want to start a panic.” Sadie tried some reasoning on John.
“What’s this about, John?” Greg asked.
“No idea, Sadie’s not told me a thing yet, but she is making me nervous.” John admitted.
As they entered the meeting room, Sam took Sadie’s hint and closed the doors behind him. He also noted Greg was armed with the usual pistol he kept on his hip. Not that it would do anything to stop them, but if he decided to use the pistol, it would cause chaos. John and Greg waited patiently for Sadie to speak.
“I’ve never really thought about how I might have to do this, so I’m going to be winging this a bit.” Sadie began. “We’re not what you think we are. Shit… how do I drop you into this softly? You both remember the day the horde came through, right? Dumb question, sorry… none of us will ever forget that. But do you remember how in the middle of it, it got pulled away? That was me and Sam. We pulled them away. Then we showed back up that night with not a scratch on either of us, while everyone that survived was cut up, both physically and mentally. But not us. You ever stop to wonder why?”
“I have occasionally wondered that, yes.” John’s tone was measured and cautious, and it was as close to hostile as Sam had ever heard him. “I always just put it down to sheer dumb luck, but I never fully resolved it.”
“Ben, Sam, clear a space for me.” Saide ordered them.
Sam wasn’t sure who was more nervous right now, himself or John. Ben helped clear the chairs in the room to give Sadie a 20 foot area of clear floor. When he was done, Sam moved closer to Greg, hoping the excuse of keeping the space clear would look less suspicious. Assuming anything about this could not look suspicious. Sadie began undressing.
“Now I’m about to get naked in a room full of men.” Sadie bluntly resumed. “But I guarantee you, that’s not going to be the weirdest thing about what you’re about to see. You’re going to have to trust me here, because being able to adjust to this is going to give this town a much better chance at survival.”
Sadie was removing her bra now, and John tried to speak up.
“Sadie, this ain’t funny.” John’s tone wasn’t hiding the fear now.
Sadie’s Beast was coming to the surface. Sam had always figured humans could sense it, even if they didn’t know what it was. It was fascinating to see it happening like this, probably in no way it had ever happened before. Sam looked over to Greg and noticed his hand was unconsciously going for his holstered pistol.
Sam was standing next to Greg before he had realized it, and grabbed his gun arm, putting a bit of Garou strength into the grip to lock him in place. Greg looked at him, eyes wild, but not in full panic just yet. They knew each other, but he was clearly feeling the effects of three Garou in the room with instincts coming up. Ben was slowly retreating into a corner.
That was an angle Sam hadn’t thought about. Bringing Ben to this might not have been a good idea.
“Just… everyone stay calm.” Sam attempted to reassure the room, Ben included. “You’ve known us for years, and you know we’ve always supported this town. We’re going to keep doing that, just not with any more secrets.”
Sadie was fully nude now, and began the change, standing upright. Which meant Sadie was going for the war form, so John & Greg were about to get one hell of an introduction to their world. As she added muscle mass, the floorboards creaked below her. John and Greg could only stare, completely frozen in place. Fur sprouted from every part of her skin into her distinctive red and brown coat. Her arms and legs reformed and lengthened, and her head changed into the massive lupine shape of the war form. She now stood an eight foot tall Garou, completely incongruous in the artificial lighting of the meeting room.
Sam figured he had better say something. Sadie didn’t like talking in war form, and the two humans in the room looked like they were both about to piss themselves. Ben was in a corner, but seemed to still have it together.
“So… you’ve been living with werewolves since I first came to this town.” Sam explained to the frozen humans. “Sadie and Ben followed not long after. It’s just us, though. I know you’re probably having a hard time right now putting this fact on top of the zombie apocalypse, but you’ve got to trust us when I say we’re here to help, with our full ability.”
The room was silent for some time. Sadie stayed as still as possible, probably trying to avoid scaring the two humans any more shitless than they already were. Ben still seemed to be fine in his corner.
“John, say something, please.”
Sam was genuinely worried now. He’d seen a form of delirium take hold of humans that had been unexpectedly exposed to a change. It often led to madness. Had they miscalculated? Sam took the opportunity to remove Greg’s pistol from its holster, and he didn’t even seem to notice. He cautiously released Greg, and placed the gun below a chair several paces away from him.
“I always suspected something…” John began, very quietly. “But not this.”
“John, look at me.” Sam asked.
John did as he was asked. Sam saw… resignation? He had to be reading that wrong.
“That is still Sadie.” Sam began, pointing up to Sadie in war form, then to himself. “I’m still Sam. That’s still Ben. Nothing about that has changed, nothing about our commitment to helping this town survive has changed, but now you’re going to get us as we really are, in all forms.”
“I… I need a moment.” John reached for a chair and sat down.
“It’s a lot I know.” Sam kept talking; he needed to talk John through this, especially since Ben, who was usually good with people, didn’t seem to be especially useful right now.
“And there’s more, but none of that’s important right now.” Sam continued. “What’s important is that this town survives. We could not in good conscience keep this secret when we knew we could be doing more. That’s just… too cold, even for me.”
“I thought… werewolves were supposed to be monsters?” Greg finally spoke up, which was a good thing; they were both starting to process this.
“To our enemies, we can be.” Sam replied. “To our friends, we can be the most powerful ally you’ve ever had. Not all of the myths are true, but the one about being able to heal from any injury? That one is. You can imagine how useful that’s going to be now.”
“I don’t know how the town is going to take this.” John was still quiet, but returning to rationality.
“We’re going to leave that one to you.” Sam stated. “This doesn’t leave this room until you want it to.”
Sadie kneeled down, and the floor creaked again. Ben remained unchanged. Greg had also taken a seat, oblivious to his missing pistol. Sam supposed this was going fairly well so far. No one had run out of the room screaming.
“Are you going to want to call the shots from now on?” John asked.
“No.”
Sadie's response was immediate, and it rumbled out with the gravely baritone of the war form. Both John and Greg flinched at the sound of it.
“No.” Sam repeated. “We’re going to keep helping, same as before. This is still your show, and we’ll still take orders. A lot of our kind wouldn’t, but we’re not like them. Sadie would also want me to remind you that this is a lot of trust we’re putting in you. A lot of power. I want to be clear this is all to help the town. You’re a good guy, John, I know you’ll only do what’s best for this town, and that’s why we’re trusting you with this.”
Some humans might be tempted to abuse the power of having three Garou taking orders from them. Sam was pretty sure John wasn’t one of those people. Sam was also sure he, Sadie, and Ben weren’t the kind of Garou that would accept those orders. That dynamic was still going to take a lot of figuring out, though.
“I need to think about this.” John stated. “God… werewolves. And more. On top of the undead. What else is out there? Wait… don’t answer that.”
“When you’re ready.” Sam assured John.
The plan to go to Mt. Weather hadn’t been brought up, but that was probably too much for today. It could wait. Greg had finally noticed his missing pistol.
“It’s behind you.” Sam offered. “I took it off you when you were… out of it.”
“Did I reach for it?” Greg asked, very confused.
“You did.” Sam confirmed.
“Sorry, I… don’t know why.”
“It happens.” Sam stated. “It wouldn’t have done anything to us, but… well, shots being fired in the town hall would have been a problem.”
Greg looked to Sadie, still in war form, kneeling on the floor.
“Yeah.” Greg conceded.
Sadie gave Sam a small shrug.
“Silver.” Sam stated. “That one is true. It stops our healing ability. Should the need ever arise.”
“Good to know.” Greg wasn’t fully with it yet, but getting there.
The room again was silent for a time. Both humans had the look of shell shock. Sam figured that was earned, given they had just flipped the table on their world, for the second time in less than two months.
“Can I have the room?” John asked. “I need to talk with Greg.”
“Of course.” Sam replied.
Sadie reverted back to human form, a process that the two humans again couldn’t look away from, though they did once Sadie was just back to being a naked human-looking woman. Rural human sensibilities, both of them, though Garou certainly had never had any shame about nudity. It just came with being Garou.
Sadie dressed, and left to leave John and Greg to deliberate.
“Ben, you okay?” Sam asked, as they were walking out of the meeting room.
“Yeah.” Was Ben’s one word reply.
Sam wasn’t sure that was entirely true, but he left it at that for now.
“That went better than I thought it would.” Sadie stated.
“How did you think it would go?” Sam asked.
“I dunno… running, screaming, shooting… but that was before the undead.”
“Yeah, things are definitely different now.” Sam admitted. “Not just for humans either… been meaning to ask, when you’ve scouted a horde, do you get anything back from them?”
“No, nothing… just like they’re not there, even though I can see them right in front of me.” Sadie admitted.
“Yeah, gives me the creeps.” Sam added. “Nothing should be that blank, but they are.”
“Tell you what wasn’t blank, though; John and Greg. Can still feel them out here. Think they’ll be okay in there?” Sadie asked, stopping before they exited the town hall.
“For now, yeah.” Sam offered. “But I think a lot of things are about to change, and there are going to be surprises on both sides.”
“Yeah… pretty sure you ain’t wrong about that.” Sadie concluded.
The three of them exited town hall to the still beautiful Spring day outside.
“So what do we do now?” Sam asked.
“Same thing we have been.” Sadie stated. “Until John says otherwise. Got company coming, no more on that.”
Sadie nodded in the direction behind Sam. He turned to see one of the residents of Elk Valley headed their way. One of the town’s utility workers, Sam vaguely recalled. He never cared enough to remember names, mostly just functions.
“Hey Sadie.” They greeted before diving into their request. “You got a bit? I’m having a heck of a time with one of the inverter arrays at the solar farm and could use a second set of eyes on it.”
“Sure, go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” Sadie replied, turning back to Sam. “And while I’m doing that, you need to have a talk with Ben.”
“I’m fine, really.” Ben affirmed.
“Like hell you are.” Sadie shot back, blunt as ever. “I don’t know who was more scared in that room, you or John.”
Sadie looked around, realizing she had just broken her own rule.
“You two go somewhere private and talk it out.” Sadie lowered her voice. “I’m going to go make sure this town still has power tonight.”
With that Sadie turned and walked away.
“Come on.” Sam stated to Ben. “We’ve been needing to check out that plant nursery outside of town anyway.”
They made it out to the nursery with a truck borrowed on the excuse of needing to gather some vegetable and fruit plants, as well as seeds. It was actually a job they had been needing to do for some time, but there was also a need for some Garou talk between Sam and Ben.
“Sadie wasn’t wrong, you know.” Sam began, as they were loading plants into the truck. “You’re not fooling me or her, so let’s just get it out there. What happened in there?”
Ben paused in his work, but didn’t look at Sam. After a moment he replied.
“I wasn’t ready.” Ben explained. “I knew what backing you up meant. I just… Sadie took it so fast. I wasn’t ready to confront it that soon. I could feel it rising up, wanting to come out.”
“Yeah, that’s Sadie for you.” Sam offered. “Full speed once she commits to something. Not going to lie, I felt it too, but I was more afraid of what John and Greg might do.”
“I hurt people I cared about, the first time.” Ben abruptly blurted out.
The first time for most Garou was carefully planned, as most communities found and took care of the neophyte Garou among them. Few incidents ever happened, but they did happen. Accidents, poor planning… and occasionally a Garou that got missed for one reason or another. Sam wasn’t sure which it was for Ben.
“Oh Ben, I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.” Ben continued. “I’ve not changed into the war form since. I’ve used the wolf a couple times, but even with that I don’t fully trust myself. But I know I’m going to have to. I can’t be afraid of it forever.”
“You want to try now?” Sam asked.
Ben looked at him now, shock in his eyes.
“It’s just me.” Sam continued. “You can’t hurt me if I know what’s coming. We’re ten miles from town. Plenty of room. It’s not going to get any easier waiting.”
The logic wasn’t entirely without fault. Ten miles wasn’t a huge range for a Garou in war form, but stopping a Garou with little war form experience in that distance shouldn’t be a problem, if Ben couldn’t control the Beast. But it would probably hurt. Sam wasn’t convinced Sam was hopeless, though.
“You’re right.” Ben replied. “In the barn?”
Ben looked over at the nursery’s barn. It was large and mostly enclosed, so inside would be out of any line of sight. It didn’t really matter this far out, but…
“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” Sam conceded. “Honestly I wasn’t expecting you to go for it.”
“Like you said, it’s not going to get any easier.” Ben admitted. “So it might as well be now. But if I lose control…”
“You won’t.” Sam cut Ben off to reassure him. “No subsequent change is ever like the first. The first is only raw instinct. You’re just along for the ride. But it changes after that, it becomes your show. I’m sorry Ben, but I have to say it; someone did you a disservice. I don’t know what happened your first time, and I’ll never ask. But you’re a good guy, and for someone to not see that and push you to try again, that’s a shame.”
“I didn’t want to.”
Sam sighed.
“Look, I understand.” Sam softened his tone. “Expectations are why we’re out here on our own; we wanted nothing to do with them. But you’ve got abilities, Sam. Abilities that can help people. It’s not the same as before. We’re not going to be expected to hurt anyone, not on my watch or Sadie’s. You’ve always wanted to help people, and honestly, I have no idea how such a nice guy got born a Garou. Maybe they thought there was no place for you before and that’s why you were shoved off. But there is a place for you now.”
“What happened to the Sam that used to hate people?” Ben reasonably asked.
“Maybe the apocalypse changed me too.” Sam replied. “Maybe it’s harder to hate people when you realize they may be the last people left to hate. Maybe I just want to see you be a better Garou than I ever was.”
“We don’t know what John will say.”
“I think he’ll come around.” Sam assumed. “We probably won’t be giving everyone the full monty today, but we’ll be helping the town one way or another.”
They had reached the barn, and walked inside. Ben began undressing. Sam did not.
“I’m not even going to change, that’s how confident I am in you.” Sam stated.
Sam hoped he was right.
“Thanks.” Ben replied, taking off the last of his clothes. “I guess it’s time.”
“When you’re ready.”
Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It took a moment, but willing the change wasn’t something a Garou ever forgot how to do, and after a few seconds it began. Sam watched in fascination; this would be the first time he had ever seen Ben change. Fur sprouted and began covering every inch of Ben’s skin; it was a mottled mix of browns, some darker, some lighter. That was a fairly typical pattern for a Garou. Ben’s limbs reshaped and began lengthening, and muscle mass started increasing. And then kept increasing beyond where Sam thought it would have stopped.
Garou were not uniform. The human form for all Garou was the most varied, coming in all skin tones, sizes, and shapes, though it tended to always favor a lean, athletic build. The metabolism of a Garou didn’t allow for much fat. The human form also didn’t have much relation to what you would get in the wolf or war forms. The wolf form would share the coloration of the war form, but otherwise tended to appear to be a fairly typical, if large, wolf. The war form hybridized human and wolf, but massively increased the size of both. A typical Garou in war form stood eight to nine feet tall, and was in every sense a hulking monster of legend.
Ben was not typical. He had reached nine feet without any question, but the muscle mass he had put on was greater than anything Sam had seen before. The change finished, Ben stood before him a veritable mountain of a Garou. Sam wasn’t sure he would be able to stop Ben in war form, lack of training or not.
“Holy shit.” Sam stared in awe.
“What?” Ben asked, now with the deep, guttural voice of the war form. “Oh that’s weird.”
The words were difficult to understand. Ben clearly hadn’t ever practiced speaking in war form. It was probably the first time he had ever spoken in war form, now that Sam thought about it.
“Have you uh… ever seen yourself in war form?” Sam asked.
“No.”
“I mean, well… you’re massive.”
Sam now had a working theory on why Ben’s first change had ended in tragedy. The first was usually only attended by one other Garou; someone with a reasonable amount of skill and experience. The fewer Garou in one place, the less chance of discovery, so the logic went. The experience of the Garou was important, because there was no way of knowing what would come out of the neophyte’s first change. Skill and experience might not have been enough to control Ben’s first change. He had muscles on top of muscles; he looked like he could plow through a reinforced concrete wall without even trying.
It was a very good thing that this hulk of a Garou was Ben.
“Is this… not normal?” Ben said, looking over his tree trunk arms.
Sam realized that Ben hadn’t really ever been around when he or Sadie were in war form, and they hadn’t needed it much over the years of being in Elk Valley. The truth was none of them changed very often. It explained a lot about what happened in the town hall. They were all out of practice.
“Not really, no.” Sam remembered to get back on course. “But what is normal is you’re in control. You’re talking to me, right? You’re feeling the Beast telling you things, but it’s just information, and you’re the arbiter of what you do with it.”
“Yeah.”
“Like I said, still you.” Sam reassured. “There’s just… quite a lot more of you than I was expecting. Sadie’s going to want to see this, that’s for sure.”
“Can we go for a run now?”
Ben had gone into full puppy mode. It did tend to happen on the first few changes. New sensations and experiences were tantalizing to the neophyte. Ben was a bit older than most, but it was a very good sign.
“Well… we do need to get back eventually.” Sam teased. “But I think we can spare thirty minutes.”
“You did what?” Sadie asked in disbelief.
The afternoon had come, and they had gone back out to one of the abandoned houses for a private chat. Ben had let slip what had happened out at the nursery when Sadie had asked what they had been up to.
“He was in complete control the whole time, just like I knew he would be.” Sam stepped in to explain. “I pushed him to do it, so blame me if you want to blame anyone.”
Ben looked like a kid who had caught his parents arguing. Sam and Sadie were both many years Ben’s senior. Being the only other Garou in Elk Valley did kind of make them Ben’s authority figures by default.
“I thought you came out here because you didn’t want to be a mentor anymore.” Sadie asked, angrily. “What changed?”
“The apocalypse happened.” Sam countered. “And maybe I’ve been thinking a lot about what that means for us.”
“Yeah, I definitely got that.” Sadie relented. “Fine, but you never told me why you gave up mentoring. I think we’re owed that.”
Sadie was right. He hadn’t been truthful before. There was one secret left.
“I stopped because I got tired of pushing every neophyte into becoming a killing machine.” Sam began. “Whether or not they were cut out for it. ‘Our numbers have never been great enough to spare even a single Garou for other pursuits’, so they said. Those expectations got plenty of Garou killed. Ben reminded me of one of them. The last one I accepted.”
“It was about five years ago.” Sam began the story. “This neophyte wasn’t like any I had mentored before. At eighteen the kid already spoke four languages, was perpetually nose-in with a book of something I had no hope of understanding, and was already lining up international study for college. How many Garou manage any college? They were smarter than me, that’s for sure, but still knew when to listen to a bitter fart like me about things that weren’t in books. They were not a fighter, that much was clear to me. But expectations came knocking.”
“A Hunter shows up one day.” Sam continued. “Says they’re just doing some pest control in the area, nothing serious, and heard I had a neophyte that could use some training. Like I said, they were no fighter, but they were still a Garou, and they had just bagged their first bare-clawed mule deer kill a few days before. To the kid’s credit, when I proposed it, they were excited to finally get to see some of the truly weird shit from our world. So we went with the Hunter.”
“But the asshole was lying.” Sam’s tone became angry as the memories came back. “The ‘pest control’ was a full-on eldritch monster. The kind of thing even the best Hunters think twice about taking on solo. Two seconds into realizing what we were actually facing, and why we were actually there, the thing nearly rips the kid in two and smashes them into a wall before turning on us. I’ve never been a great fighter myself, but I’ve not survived this long without picking some things up. I dodged it a few times, grabbed the kid, and ran like hell, leaving the Hunter behind me.”
“Damn, Sam.” Sadie commented, quietly. “Why haven’t you ever told me this?”
“Shame.” Sam blurted out the word. “I felt like I failed the kid, while they were bleeding on my back as I ran. I didn’t want to remember that again. I don’t know what happened to the Hunter. I didn’t care. I heard fighting behind me, figured win or lose, the eldritch wouldn’t be bothering anyone for a while.”
“Did they survive, your neophyte?” Ben asked.
“Barely.” Sam replied. “Took them days to heal, it was that bad. They thanked me for saving their ass later, and then apologized to me. Said they would do better next time. I wanted to scream at that moment, tell them it didn’t have to be this way. Tell them they had the smarts to be a Garou mediator, translator, or something we hadn’t ever thought of because we were too busy fighting the darkness. I moved out here not long after. Started making art. Turned out I was pretty good at it. You know the rest.”
“Know what happened to the kid?” Sadie asked.
“Heard through the vine that they went out to California to study at Berkeley.” Sam answered. “After that, no idea. Usual reasons, no contact for everyone’s safety, et cetera. I do hope they survived all this. This world needs more like them. More like Ben here.”
Sam looked over to Ben, who had been listening intently. Ben and Sadie both knew what Sam had been in their world, but had never really heard him reveal much about his past. It was overdue. Sam regretted that it took an apocalypse to finally make it happen.
“So how did he do?” Sadie finally inquired, referring to Ben.
“Like I said, perfectly in control the whole time.” Sam explained. “I think I know a bit more of why Ben never wanted to try again now too. Never seen a Garou his size before. Same height as most male Garou, but… well, built like a tank doesn’t do it justice. Built like the factory that built the tank. I think they were afraid to push an unwilling Garou with a war form like that, so they sent him out here to us. The misfits.”
“We are definitely that.” Sadie admitted. “And I’m looking forward to that show next time it happens.”
“I can change if you want.” Ben offered, helpful as always.
“Much as I’d love that Ben, we’re too close to town.” Sadie countered.
“Speaking of, has John said anything yet?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.” Sadie’s tone suggested it wasn’t what she was hoping for.
“And?” Sam asked, when Sadie didn’t continue.
“He said he’s ready to hand over the town to us.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Sam was confused.
“It means he’s scared of us, that’s what.” Sadie explained. “Probably too afraid of turning us down or trying to give us orders. I dunno, Sam, I’m not any better with people than you. But I’m pretty sure this is exactly what you didn’t want.”
“Damn… I thought it went better than that.” Sam was disappointed. “But we’re making this up as we go, there are bound to be problems. We’ll figure it out and…”
Sam let the sentence trail off. He had just felt a ripple outside the house.
“I don’t think we’re alone.” Sam explained his sudden stop.
It was easier these days to pick out humans. The world was quieter, in more ways than one. Whatever it was, it was close.
Sadie suddenly shot out the front door like a bolt. A few moments passed, and there was a yelp. She returned holding a human child by the collar, walking them into the home.
“Speaking of problems.” Sadie began. “Katie Wilkes. It would be you.”
Katie was just a kid, maybe twelve years old? Sam didn’t know who’s kid she was, but Sadie seemed to know her.
“I’m sorry Ms. Sadie, I didn’t hear anything, swear.” Katie tried to make an excuse.
“You know this kid?” Sam asked.
“Too well.” Sadie confirmed. “Little troublemaker. Her parents are… well, you know what I’m going to say. So I’ve been helping babysit. Yeah, I know, but… I kind of like the brat. At least I did. What the hell are you doing outside the wall? And you know I can tell when you’re lying.”
“Does she know?” Sam asked, cautiously.
“I think she does now.” Sadie assumed. “Out with it, why were you out here, and what did you hear?”
“I… I wanted to know what you were doing out here.” Katie wasn’t lying. “This was the second time today you’ve come out here. And John’s been acting really funny, I thought maybe it was part of that.”
“Smart little snoop.” Sadie scolded. “Too smart. You stop to think it might be dangerous?”
“No.” Katie admitted.
“Yeah, thought not.” Sadie’s tone was acid. “And what did you hear?”
Katie was afraid, but Sam was astonished to realize that it wasn’t fear of them. She was just a kid that had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“That you’re all werewolves, and you’re going to take over the town.” Sadie confirmed, but continued before Sadie could get another word in. “But I don’t believe it. Not the werewolf part, there was a lot of stuff about that I heard, so it must be true. I don’t believe you want to take over the town.”
Katie must have been out there for a while. They were all badly rusty if she had been able to hide from them long enough to hear all of that. Or just really distracted.
“Oh?” Sadie was mildly amused now. “And why is that?”
“Because you would have already, if you wanted to.” Katie reasoned. “And nobody could have stopped you. So you obviously don’t want to.”
“Kid’s not wrong.” Sam conceded the logic.
“I’m not?” Katie looked at Sam, elated. “You really are werewolves?”
There was no more fear in Katie. She completely baffled Sam, but it was fascinating to watch Sadie’s ‘snoop’ confirm all her theories in real-time. He wasn’t sure who was learning more about how this relationship was going to work.
“You want to show her?” Sam asked Sadie.
Katie looked to Sadie. Katie’s heart was pounding, Sam could hear it across the room, but it was pure excitement. She was a kid that had just had her imagination completely validated. He imagined it as if Katie had been told Santa Claus was real, and then he suddenly showed up. Sam then realized the irony of Santa not being a real thing, considering the world he lived in. That was one myth that was firmly rooted in human history, not their history.
“Fine.” Sadie conceded. “But just the wolf. You’re not ready for the other form, not yet. Ceiling’s too low in here anyway, and we’re not doing this outside this close to town. Also, you’re going to promise me something, Katie. You’re going to keep this to yourself until John says otherwise. You understand me?”
“Promise.” Katie vociferously replied.
“Now I’m going to have to get naked for this, Katie, you okay with that?” Sadie asked.
“Yeah, I know what it all looks like.” Katie firmly replied. “But in front of them?”
Katie pointed to Sam and Ben. Humans would probably consider this a bit creepy, Sam realized. Better Sadie than either of them, he supposed.
“Yeah I bet you know.” Sadie replied, amused. “And they’ve seen it all plenty of times. How do you think we change as a group?”
“Oh, right.” Katie suddenly realized.
With no further preamble, Sadie stripped down and began the change. Katie was absolutely mesmerized as Sadie went down on her hands and knees, and those limbs began reshaping into lupine legs. Sadie’s characteristic red and brown fur grew out, and within moments she stood before Katie as a wolf, nearly as tall at the shoulder as Katie herself.
“So, are we what you expected?” Sam asked Katie.
“Can I?” Katie asked, holding a hand out to Sadie.
Sadie answered by moving her head under Katie’s hand and pushing it up, causing Katie to gasp. For a moment Katie seemed frozen, but she quickly regained her composure and gently felt the fur on Sadie’s wolven head.
“So cool…”
“I think that’s a yes.” Ben commented.
“Now if we can just talk John into being as reasonable as Katie.” Sam added. “How do you think we do that, Ben? Of the three of us, you’re the best with people.
“I guess I’d start by reminding him that he knows us.” Ben proposed. “Remind him what we’ve done for the town, before and since the apocalypse. It might have been a bit too much to process the first time. I’m not sure we can do much else besides just telling John we’ve got no interest in running things, until he believes it.”
A giggle was heard, and Sam looked over to see Sadie licking Katie’s face.
“Eww, wolf breath.” Katie laughed.
“Well we’ve got at least one ally in this, if nothing else.” Sam concluded, thoroughly amused by Sadie’s shamelessness.
“For what it’s worth, I do believe you.” John was saying. “But it’s not that simple.”
The conversation could have been going better, but Sam supposed John’s acceptance of their refusal was at least some form of progress.
“Katie seems to think it is.” Sadie shot back.
“Katie… wait, why is Katie part of this?” John asked, clearly surprised.
“She made herself part of it.” Sadie explained. “Found us outside the wall having a chat. She heard everything, it seems. So she knows everything now.”
“Damn…” John swore, a rare thing. “And you just… let her go?”
“Who the hell do you think I am, John?” Sadie angrily replied. “I’ve been taking care of Katie since this thing started. I wasn’t going to do anything to her, none of us were. What have we ever done to make you think something like that?”
John seemed to shrink a bit as Sadie unleashed.
“We’re not like that, John.” Sadie’s tone returned to calm. “The three of us are here in Elk Valley precisely because we’re not like most of our kind. We just never fit.”
“We didn’t want anything to do with our kind and our world.” Ben added. “But we’re not loners. Well, Sam maybe a bit.”
“Guilty as charged.” Sam commented.
“And this town didn’t have a mechanic until Sadie came along and fixed up that abandoned shop.” Ben continued. “I do odd jobs, and just anything that someone needs help with. Sam’s art even brought in tourists every so often.”
Some of Sam’s larger works did tend to get some attention, but he obviously never advertised any of it. It was very word of mouth among enthusiasts, which was an interesting world Sam hadn’t realized existed.
“In short, it really is that simple.” Sadie tagged on to the end.
“I really wish it was.” John stated, after a moment of consideration. “One of the things you learn about people when holding any kind of office, though, is that dealing with individuals, and dealing with populations are two very different things. Everyone’s going to have a different reaction. Some might believe you, like Katie did. Some might see the fact that I’ve got three werewolves taking orders from me as a power play, like I’m aiming to become a tyrant. And some might bow down and worship you as gods.”
“John…” Sadie tried to reply, but John cut her off.
“I’m serious, Sadie.” John interjected. “For everything I’ve seen, I’ve never had to figure anything like this… but I know people. And that’s why I want to hand the town to you. Because I do believe you, and I think it’s the only option for us to survive this.”
“Is it fear, John?” Sadie asked, blunt as ever. “Are you afraid of something we might do? How many times do I have to say we don’t want your town, we just want to help!”
John paused, likely choosing his next words very carefully.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little afraid of you… but I’m more afraid of what the town might do, and what you’d be forced to do because of it.”
“We’d leave.” Sam stated firmly. “If it came to that. We don’t want to give up on these people, but we would if it became obvious we’re not welcome anymore.”
“Just give it a chance, John, that’s all we’re asking.” Sadie pleaded. “I told these two, when I first agreed to it, that if they ever even thought about lording their abilities over this town, I’d take care of them myself. I will make good on that promise if they do. But I know these two, so I know they never will.”
“Our odds are better together.” Ben added. “We have been helping. We can help even more if we’re able to use all our abilities.”
John clearly wasn’t happy. He probably had hoped his days of thinking about people and how they’d react to difficult decisions were over. Survival was simple math, and this was not. Figuring out how to integrate three Garou into the daily lives of his town wasn’t likely to be the last of many hard puzzles he was going to need to figure out.
“If even half the myths about you are true… I believe that.” John mused. “Maybe that’s how we make this work. We need something good to come out of all this. Maybe having three helpful werewolves among us is that good news we’ve been waiting for.”
John sighed the sigh of a man that realized there was no rest coming any time soon.
“Let’s give it a try.” John stated with conviction.
“Attaboy.” Sadie concluded.