"Tory wake up." Kit shook his daughter awake. "There is something I must tell you."
"Can't it wait? I was trying to take a nap." She whined,stupid mood swing.
"No. It can't. I got a phone call from Ohio Government. They need you and your friends A.S.A.P." Her father explained. "Ben is already here."
As if on que her close friend Ben Blue walked in,bags under his eyes. He must not have slept at all or got very little sleep last night.
"What is it they need us for?" Now she was taking interest. "Another cold case?"
2 knocks were heard at the door. "Ben. Can you explain? I need to answer the door." Not even waiting for a reply Kit left in a rush.
"What's going on? What do they need us for-"
"Tory calm down. It's not an easy task,but it's not as hard as our first case. I knew we would get summoned in for another case somewhere. It should be easy,though it is our 2nd case."
"Just tell me what it is your losing me. It could have been a fly dying for all I know!" The girl rolled her yes. Task Please.
Hesitating a bit Ben opened his mouth to say something,closed it,then opened again, "5 other kids a bit around our age,the eldest is 18 and the youngest is 16. They were out on a field trip to a top-secret lab in New York and were injected with a toxic serum. They should have died,but 2 weeks later they awoke from a coma,the police want them found. The thing is though. They are literally human wolves,they can turn into them. Their like the Virals."
"No way. What was the serum made of?" Tory stood and found some thicker jackets. Ohio had to be freezing in winter!
"That's why their wanted. They stopped the alien attack and saved us all,but the President wants them found and their blood studied. Thing is their tight,they don't like being studied. One of them is said to be very powerful,but is very skittish and emotional. The Police know they only show up when their around him. They get very vicious though."
"I would understand. Would you want to be studied?" Hi walked in,Shelton trailing behind.
"Nope. Anybody know their names though?" Shelton twitched and looked out the window.
"Kasey,Sean,Dakota,Kyler,and Jack. They've spotted a German Shepherd from the police force and a boy with white hair with them as well,but they have no lead on who it is. Nobody has come up missing with that description." Ben looked annoyed. Was he the only one who paid attention?
"All boys I'm guessing." Tory slouched a bit. She was really hoping on meeting a girl who understood everything about her and how things worked in them.
"Nope. Kasey is a girl. She is so far the only American. Their thinking Kyler is too." Hi was catching on now.
"Don't you mean Tyler Not Kyler?" Shelton was on a totally different page.
"Nope. They said Kyler." Tory ignored the bickering boys and decided to keep packing some warmer clothes that seemed rare in her closet,but she found some never the less.
"How long are we going to stay there?"
"A while I'm guessing. These guys are top-notch at exterminating evidence." Said Ben.
"Oh Tory. There you are darling. Are you really going to Ohio? I hear they can be real mean sometimes and I lovely petunia like you should never be around that." Whitney.
"Well. Thank You for caring,but I go where the rest of the Virals go. I'll be fine." Tory reassured,then Kit was back.
"All of you ready? You have a long flight ahead of you."
0 0 0
"So. That's how it happens? They get on their hands and knees and boom. They become wolves?" Hi watched the You Tube video of the most delicate member of the group Jack Armstrong transform over and over.
"Pretty much. But it says here in the file about them that a man named Mark Switchenson. I don't know why the name seems so familiar though." Shelton pointed to the files he had read.
"Mark Switchenson? He's Karsten's brother! He Changed his last name remember? He didn't like being called Switchenson because...well it has 'Switch' in it." Tory solved the confusion with ease as they walked through the airport searching for the Secret Agent waiting for them.
"Excuse me. Are you Tory Brennan?" A man in black inquired at random.
"Um. Yes Sir." She spotted their bags being carried by men behind him.
"Great. I am Secret Agent Howard. Pleasure to meet you. Shall we get you to the place they were last seen? Or would you like to rest?" The man showed his badge.
"We slept on the way so it should be best to go ahead and onto the site." Hi summarized the entire plane trip in one sentence. Sleeping. Thank God for sleeping pills.
"Okay. Follow me. We found your bags by the way." The man led them away.
"As if we didn't see that." Shelton whispered.
The ride was quick and sooner than they'd expected they were out in the woods. Snow fell upon the dead trees. Perfect.
"Any evidence?" Ben asked as they got out,all of them were in sweats and hoodies now.
"Not a trace. They went into the clearing though. It's so strange. You would have thought they went into a deeper area,but their hanging in plain sight." One of the officers pointed.
"Virals. Let's get to work." Tory commended and immediately they were going towards the clearing
SNAP
"Uh oh." Their abilities kicked in,in the distance Ben saw something move. He smelled the light scent of cinnamon,hazel nut,vanilla,almond,chocolate,and sugar.
"Anybody else smell 6 different winter perfumes?" Shelton asked.
"I do. And I've got a lead." Hi took off,over time he had gotten to be a bit better at running,but he looked like a penguin trudging though the two foot deep snow.
The rest of the pack chased him down then,Hi was gone.
"Guys!?" Hi looked around in the woods. He swore he had seen a figure. It had what seemed fluffy brown hair and pale skin. His hypened senses slowly returned to normal. Now he was screwed.
Thinking he had just come from the left he turned to run back,but ended up getting lost.
A sudden growl made him freeze in his place. What was that? Was it one of the people they were supposed to be searching for? One of the Virals? Or something else?
"Who's there?" He turned. 8 very large and real wolves!
What seemed the leader of the pack lunged at him. He tried to flare,but it was no use. Hi thought he was done for. Over. Dead meat. He was wrong.
5 Very loud vicious growls came from the sides,one bark. A reddish-brown wolf shot into the air,little lights still glowing around it,the wolf struck the other and knocked it from the air.
"Dang! Shimm you nailed him!" A husky voice said.
"No time to celebrate now. Lets just get rid of these guys!" A female voice came from the wolf that had just practically saved Hi's life.
"Electrix Squad Up!" A black wolf said. 5 wolves all formed into a group. A deep brown wolf was in the center. His tail tucked between his legs looking confused.
"Now!" They all scrambled to fight off the wolves,blood was shed upon the freshly fallen snow. The brown wolf that had been previously frightened pranced away from the fight and towards Hi.
"What are you doing here? I'm Jack by the way." He seemed so sure yet unsure of himself.
"I'm Hiram. You can call me Hi though. Are you-" Hi didn't get to finish his sentence. A wolf the Electrix were fighting had ambushed him,a bite to the leg was all Hi needed to scream and almost Flare. Thing was. He couldn't. Not yet.
"Back off!" Jack made a high-pitched squeak that hurt the wolf's ears. 1...2...3. 3 squeaks/barks/growls what ever they were sent the 8 wolves running for their lives.
0 0 0
A scream came from the distance. Left.
"Ah! That hurts!" Shelton and Ben covered their ears,Tory did last. Was that some kind of warning call? What ever it was the scream belonged to Hi.
"Follow the sound! Hi never screams. Something must be up." Tory ordered and the remaining Virals chased down the sound. They found the 'battlefield' Shoe prints,and wolf prints. A LOT of them.
"There's blood." Ben stepped away from the blood patches.
"They...they hurt Hi. They had to." Shelton said quickly.
"Actually..." A female voice said. Out emerged a reddish-brown wolf. "He was ambushed by 8 of the feral wolves that live around here. Would be dead if Sean hadn't seen them. And most of the blood was from Dakota. He took on the leader by accident. That is normally my job on the squad."
"Then...your who we were looking for." Tory said,crouching down to look at the wolf.
"I was? Dang. You're the people from around Charleston aren't you? No I wasn't eves dropping we just happened to be going back to base,but when we found we were being tracked we split. Jack got a bit adventurous though." The wolf pawed at them "I'm Kasey Whitney by the way. You can call me Shimmer though."
"Well hello Shimmer. I'm Tory and this is Ben and Shelton. We call ourselves Virals." Tory introduced everybody then shivered from the cold snow. "How do you live out here? It's freezing."
Another blizzard had just begun in a heart beat.
"Shimmer! We have to get back now!" A honey colored wolf shot over extremely fast.
"That's Sean. And why such a rush? I thought the blizzard was over." Shimmer stood on her hind legs,little blue and gold lights surrounded her,then there stood a girl.
Brown hair with a deep red tint,brown eyes,pale skin,thin and lanky like Tory was. No freckles,just scars here and there on her arms.
"Actually another just hit. Why you going human? You'll freeze to death." Sean jumped up and knocked her down,forcing her back into position to become a wolf again.
"Well your just pleasant. Anyhow if the blizzard is starting then we had all better get back to base. Follow us." Shimmer got up again and took off. The Virals and Sean trailing behind.
"Does she always run this fast?" Shelton asked.
"Yeah. Actually faster ,but we can't lose you." Sean explained,on instinct he raised his head and let out a long howl. 5 more howls. 4 more wolves,1 German Shepherd.
"Gosh we're losing the trail!" The black one called.
"I'll try to keep up. My legs are a bit shaky,but oh well." The deep brown one shot off at a fast speed. Finding Shimmer gone he slowed. Deer!
The buck turned and charged at him,hitting him with its antlers and knocking him back against a tree.
"Jack!" Sean saw the wolf topple away like nothing.
The 4 intimidated the buck and chased it away,then to where Tory,Shelton,and Ben were kneeling by Jack breathlessly. Blood spilled onto the icy snow,coming in contact with the Virals.
"Do you feel tingly?" Shelton asked,realising there was blood on their hands. Too late.
"Shoot!" The other 4 snapped.
"What!?"
"Jack's blood. He can infect anybody with what we have. That tingly feeling is going to turn you into wolves like us. He is the strongest because he can do this without the side effects. Maybe a little fainting ,but its rare." The black one gulped. "Kyler any ideas?"
"Nada. Their infected with it. Nothing I can do Dakota. Any news reports Drake?" Kyler shook the icy snow from his frosty white fur.
"The storm is picking up. I think Jack is coming out of it." The German Shepherd said.
"Ow... What did I ruin this time?" Jack's tail began thumping against the snow,then he was on two feet,chest bleeding just not serious.