I miss Sanctuary… So here comes a fic. I love reviews. :)
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Chapter One:
Will hurried down the empty corridor. They had been searching an abandoned factory for a good hour now and seen no sign of the creature they were looking for. His walkie talkie crackled loudly in the silence.
"Think I found something," Kate told him. "First room next to roof access on left." He quickly consulted the map Henry had managed to procure for them. He checked the image of the creature again while he was at it, and sighed as he had when he first saw it. The "Retta" as it was called looked nothing like the abnormals they were normally searching for. He knew that just because the Retta looked like a pussy cat (literally) it didn't mean they were dangerous. He hadn't read over the entire file to be honest, he just knew that no matter what they weren't to be bitten. Helen had said it took a lot to aggravate a Retta into biting so they should be fairly safe. He trod quietly up the stairs until he reached the right level. He didn't need to figure out what door as Kate was crouched outside the it.
"Hey," she whispered and gestured to the room. "I heard a scuffling noise, I checked the room earlier and there was nothing then, it may have circled back."
"On three…?" Kate waved her stun gun towards the door and nodded towards it. He crouched on the other side of the door in answer.
Helen had assured him that stun guns would be all that they needed. Sometimes she was a little too trusting of abnormals, but he figured he was in more danger not following her directions than being distrusting enough to bring a real firearm.
They didn't kick down the door, just entered the room quietly their guns pointed in front of them. It took his eyes a while to adjust to the dark but eventually he made out a small furry something in the furthest corner. It looked as though it was trying - successfully mind - to camouflage against the back wall. Before it became impossible to see it he pulled the trigger. Kate flicked her gun in the same direction but there was no need for the back up as the abnormal collapsed to the floor. He crept forward and saw it change back to its natural tabby colouring. He gave Kate a thumb up and she gave him a thumb up in return. She would go and get the carrier they had brought for it, and he would monitor it for the moment but it seemed unconscious to him - it's breathing slow and even and its eyes closed.
Not long after Kate had left he heard her running footsteps on the stairs. Without thinking really - he scooped up the prone form of the Retta and began heading towards the door. In a fraction of a second he felt the Retta move in his arms and a strange tingle on his forearm. He dropped the Retta and the cat-like abnormal landed gracefully on its feet and looked up at him with wide green eyes. He recovered quickly and shot it once more. He saw its pupils widen and then it was once more unconscious on the ground.
"What happened?" Kate ran into the room. "I heard you yell something." Had he yelled? Maybe he had.
"It woke up,"
"Are you okay?" He ignored the tingling in his arm, probably just a scratch.
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Will watched Helen inspect their new abnormal with curiosity. He had almost forgotten about the scratch on his arm until she inspected its paws. She spread the toes and smiled.
"Definitely a Retta, no matter how much it looks like your average tabby." Will remembered the intelligent look he had seen in the abnormals eyes after he had dropped it. No - not your normal cat. Something niggled at the back of his mind, and he frowned.
"Wait, do that again." Helen turned to him, a look of surprise on her face. She grabbed the paw gently in her gloved hands and spread the Retta's toes again. No claws.
"Are you okay Will?" She asked dropping the paw and removing her gloves. "You can take her to her room Kate." She said over her shoulder, and approached Will. His arm itched, probably just his mind reminding him of earlier but he resisted the urge to pull up his sleeve and inspect the injury.
"Yeah," he finally told her, he avoided her scrutinising eyes.
"Okay, if you are sure." She left the room too and Will quickly lifted his sleeve.
Puncture wounds. He felt his face drain of colour and stood still a moment. Helen was very adamant about not being bitten by the Retta. He rummaged through his back pack and found the slightly crumpled file on the Retta.
Sudden and painful death. Not always immediate.
Immortality.
Wait, what...? Death and immortality? He slowed his brain down and read over the paragraph slower. It seemed that no one knew much about them but what they did know was that the Retta's bite would cause an intensely painful death - which seemed to occur suddenly without warning anytime up to fourteen days after the bite... But there was something else. It hadn't been proven, too difficult to research but in some cases the Retta's bite would instead cause the victim to be frozen - age wise that is, being rendered virtually immortal except if they are bitten again by another Retta.
Will's head spun and he sat heavily into the nearest chair in the lab. He was going to die. He knew it. He looked down at the puncture wounds and a wave of calm fell over him. There was no need to frighten the others. It would happen suddenly, at any time. He rose to his feet and gathered his things together. He needed to sleep; it had been a long day.
TBC.