by Jeff Uribe
[NRPG: Happy New Years all!!!!!
Man, I hope that Peter will be able to rejoin us sometime soon. ]
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[Brookhaven, Building 7]
> Just then, Jessica looked at the agents. She still looked like a human > being, but her action was definitely canine. With one swift movement, she > ran out of the room, coordinating all four limbs with graceful familiarity.
> "Go after her!" Leo shouted.
> Vanessa obeyed and ran out of the room, following the woman/wolf/dog as > it/she run down the stairs, broke down the door and run into the open space. > The alarm sounded, breaking the silence of the night, but Vanessa ignored > it, choosing to run after the fleeing figure.
Jim and Leo looked at each other as the alarms sounded. The head scientist looked smug knowing that help was soon on its way.
"You'll never get away now." The lead scientist sneered. "This place will soon be swarming with security and who knows? Maybe you'll be a part of our next experiment."
"Not just yet." Leo said as he aimed his gun at the chemicals behind the group huddled across the room. He squeezed off a shot and a few of the bottles burst on the counter.
"You fool!" An assistant yelled. "Those are flammable."
Jim had been busy shooting off the locks on the cages and started to open the doors. Leo lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag, making sure that the end was well lit. Most of the "animals" were cautiously walking out of their cages sniffing the air cautiously and looking at everyone within the room.
"Sorry, gotta run." Leo said, flicking the cigarette at the pooling liquid on the floor. With a whoosh, the lab caught on fire and that started the stampede towards the door by the newly released animals. Jim and Leo made their way out of the lab and Leo shut the door behind him, breaking off the key within the lock.
They caught up with Vanessa outside and made their way out of the compound as the security at Brookhaven started to slaughter the escaped animals.
Sandy was on the trail of the young male as he made his way through the forest. She knew that he was injured, but he still could outrace her and possibly outfight her if it came to that. As she came to a small clearing, she sensed another creature.... newly turned. Sandy crouched down as she saw another she-wolf make her way across the clearing. Reaching out with her mind, she searched the she-wolf's mind, and found the name Jessica coming to mind. Pics of FBI agents were flashing through its mind followed by waves of hatred, pure and unadulterated.
Jessica picked up the scent of the injured male and followed it. Sandy knew that following the male would be dangerous in itself, but with another creature with it, it would be suicidal. Besides, Dr. Kleinberg was following behind her and he would be in trouble if they decided to double back. Protecting him was paramount, so Sandy turned back and made her way back to where he was looking for her.
As Kleinberg and Sandy made their way back to the Doctor's place, Sandy laid her head down between her paws and drifted into the stream of dreams and memories. Unlike the new turned ones, she remembered everything. It started many years before... when she was still... human.
Her name was Sandra Templeton, an assistant to Dr. Kleinberg and very much in love with him. They had worked on the Grey Wolf project for months now, but Kleinberg had discovered a variant of the serum that could possibly be used on humans instead. There were no human subjects to be tested on, but that didn't deter them from refining the serum.
One night, Kleinberg came into the lab, very visibly upset about something.
"What's wrong, Doctor?" Sandra asked, concern visible in her voice.
"They're shutting down Grey Wolf." Kleinberg said. "They want to proceed with human testing, starting up Project Man Wolf."
"How?" Sandra asked. "Who are they going to run the tests on?"
"They didn't say." Dr. Kleinberg said. "They said that they had candidates in mind, but wouldn't tell me who they were. I'll finish up here, Sandy. You go on ahead and head home, there's not much left to do here."
Sandra looked into Kleinberg's eyes and said, "Are you sure? I could stay if you want."
"No, that's okay." Kleinberg said. "Go on ahead."
Sandra turned and waved goodbye to Kleinberg. "Dinner later?" she asked.
Kleinberg nodded and waved back to Sandra. Sandy walked out of the lab and headed down the hall towards the entrance. Once outside, she took a deep whiff of the cool night air and started towards her car when she heard someone call her name from behind. She stopped and turned around when she felt someone put a rag over her face, the chloroform quickly invading her body, and that's all she knew.
That is, until she woke up strapped to an operating room table. There were other doctors surrounding her strapped form. In the gallery box above the operating table, she could see the shocked face of Dr. Kleinberg staring down at her. He was yelling something at the men holding him to his chair and she realized what was about to happen. She felt the prick in her arm as the needle was inserted and the serum was drained into her. Project Man Wolf had begun.
The next few hours were pure agony for Sandra. Her muscles started to stretch and fold in on itself. All of her senses were heightened, and it took all she had to keep in check the fury that was boiling within her. Sandra had passed out several times but she remained strapped to the table as wave after wave of pain flowed over her. All of a sudden, clarity came within her mind, and Sandy was able to hear a jumble of thoughts in her mind. An unexpected side- effect of the drug, Sandy thought to herself.
The next few weeks, she was run through a battery of tests. She knew what they were looking for ahead of time, so she purposely failed everything. If she failed, then they would scrap the project.... or so she hoped. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out that way. Dr. Kleinberg was there to take care of her until the men came with orders to "conclude her portion of the experiment." Thanks to her newfound ability, she was able to make them think they had killed her as she escaped into the woods.
Dr. Kleinberg looked at Sandy laying in the back seat of his car. She had been growling and turning as some dream took over her. He caught some of the flashes as she involuntary projected some of it towards him. The lab at Brookhaven were destroyed in a freak fire, most of the animals were killed.
Since he had been missing at the time of the fire, he had come under suspicion so he knew that they would be looking for him. Kleinberg had all of his notes in his trunk and the computer data had been destroyed. Most of Man Wolf had been single-handedly destroyed in the fire, but he didn't know who could have been responsible. Driving around for a while, he knew what had to be done. He looked at Sandy in the backseat and used his cell phone to give the FBI agents a call. They would have to track the loose creatures down and Sandy would be able to hone in on them better than anyone.
[Hotel, 11:00 pm]
> "Why should they when they've got us to do their dirty work for them?"
Just then, the hotel room phone rang. Jordan picked it up and nodded several times before hanging up.
"That was Kleinberg. We're to meet him at the site of the last murder. Sandy is going to help us hunt the rogue wolves down."