Author's Note:
Probably going to need a few OCs soon but I'm not entirely sure just yet, I'll let everyone know if I need some in these author's notes so be on the lookout for that :)
Thank you for reading guys, I hope you continue to enjoy the story…..
(Warning, slight blood and cursing towards end of chapter)
Brittany was confused, and curious, but mostly confused.
She's worked with werewolves for almost two years now, the disease had begun to spread across the globe about thirty or forty years ago and yet there still wasn't a whole lot of information on how the transformations work and how the disease spread so rapidly, many were bitten, they knew that much.
But then there was those that weren't…..and had become ill any way.
The chipette hurries down the asylum walk-way, glancing at every other cell she'd pass making sure that most of the patients were sleeping, which they were.
"What're you doing? Thought your shift ended….." Brittany slows as she comes up on his cell, he had heard her apparently and peers out into the dimly lit hall, golden eyes squinted and russet hair tousled about on his head.
She felt a bit guilty for waking him, but she could get over that, "It did, but I need to know…." She sits down on the concrete floor, ignoring the chill that races up her spine as soon as she makes contact with the cold unforgiving stone.
"Know what?" The munk sits up more, he had been sleeping on the floor….
"The transformations, how do they work…..they don't tell us much," Brittany sets the clipboard down in front of her, scooting it closer to the bars as the munk stretches, eyes closed as he rolls his head around slowly, ears twitching.
"Probably cause you're better off not knowing, why the sudden interest anyways?" His eyes open and he peers at her around the bars, eyebrow arched.
"I've always been interested, something like this is still a mystery to most people, including me. And most of the patients here won't speak a single word to me, Rose always clams up when I mention anything like this to her…and you're the only one who seems to know anything," Brittany admits, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrows her eyes, challenging him to refuse her.
He chuckles, "Stubborn….." He mutters scooting up to the bars, she tenses as he reaches his paw out between the silver and drags the clipboard into his cell, face calm and hard as stone as his fingers brush the silver.
"It hurts like hell, first time is the worst, your body isn't used to it and neither is your mind. You hear stories and watch movies about stuff like that and you think you're prepared but you're damn wrong, it isn't fast and it isn't painless, no CGI animation will save you from the sticky hot feeling of your skin shriveling up along your muscles, it won't prepare you for the fact that your teeth grow, and grow and your gums feel like they're peeling open…nothing can prepare you for that kind of pain," He tears a corner off one of the papers and continues to just rip the tiny piece into smaller ones.
"Some bones will stay beneath your skin but a lot of them have to tear right through and fuse back together, your organs constrict and throb like your body is filled with dozens of hearts instead of just one, you don't know what happened to your blood but it feels like someone is pouring molten lava into every vein and pinching the ends closed to hold the lava inside so it can eat away at your bones and dive you mad. Sometimes it feels like there's fire ants just beneath your skin, biting and pinching at your muscles until all you want to do is curl up and die…..most shifts are like that the first time but every werewolf is different," He sprinkles the paper over the concrete like shredded lopsided snow and shrugs his shoulders.
"It's different for everyone," He says simply, pushing the clipboard back towards her, "Want to play hangman, or tic-tac-toe?"
It continued like this for the next few days, Brittany would go about her work like normal except she'd visit the munk as if he were one of her patients.
The more she talked to him the more she realized that she didn't know a thing about their wolf sides, and that no one working at the asylum knew a thing about the wolves either.
It was like they're only there to keep an eye on the bitten, to keep them under control and away from others, she wasn't even sure if they were trying to find a cure anymore…
"Have they ever tested you or given you shots?" Brittany fiddles with the playing cards in her hand, looking up to the munk across from her, separated by bars.
"Once or twice, most I think were for rabies," He places a group of threes down on the floor, glancing up at her, "Why?"
"No reason…..it's just, when they started putting the bitten away they said they were doing it to help find a cure, that having so many werewolves under one roof would help speed up the process," She says, tucking a stray piece of auburn hair behind her ear.
Alvin raises an eyebrow and shrugs his shoulders, "I think that's what they had in plan when this all started, but eventually they were getting no where and gave up, they'll test a serum on a wolf or two between the process of vaccinating them, if it didn't work they'll move on and eventually the process died down and now all they do is the required shots,"
"So they gave up on you guys?"
"Well yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. To them we're just people who got unlucky and now we're stuck like this, they'll sit back and hope that keeping us locked up tight will kill off the disease and all they'll have to do when this is over is claim they found the cure and that they're saviors, that's how it usually works," Alvin sets all his cards down, having noticed that the chipette was staring blankly ahead.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," She whispers chewing on her lip, "It's not fair but it sounds like what's going on….."
"Are you planning on quitting, I would," He gathers up their cards, careful with the bars when he takes hers and adds it to the deck, shuffling the cards lazily.
Brittany raises an eyebrow as she watches him, "It sounds like you want me leave, think I'll turn tail and run after hearing that what I was told about my job is all a lie? I don't quit,"
"Still stubborn, fine I can't make you, besides I bet it pays good,"
The chipette tenses slightly, Alvin's voice has taken on a cold hard edge, and he wasn't looking at her at all, he was too focused on shuffling the cards, "Alvin….."
"How much do they pay you to make sure we don't kill anyone? Kill each other? I know you're required to carry a gun around I see it on your hip all the time, have you killed anyone yet?" He was growing agitated and it frightened her, a lot.
"I-I haven't used it, I won't kill you or the others! I-"
"Oh don't even try the whole 'I care for you all' line, I've heard that bullshit before, you'll leave eventually once something goes wrong, once you see one of us turn you'll turn around and escape to your cozy little house and pretend you never worked here," He was standing now, fur bristling beneath his torn hoody, golden eyes blazing, his pupils have consumed the whites of his eyes and that's when Brittany realizes what's going on.
He's shifting.
"I won't leave," Brittany keeps her gaze locked with his as she stands slowly, knowing that as soon his he begins to convulse more workers will come to his aid, to try and restrain him so they can take him down to the lower levels and keep an eye on him while he's a wolf .
His skin trembles and he turns away sharply, fist connecting with the stone wall, the sound echoes down the hall, alerting the other patients around them to the fact that one of their own was in distress, Brittany merely stares in silent shock as the munk curls inward, clutching his fist as a strangled sound gurgles past his lips.
She barely hears the other patients talking around them, urging him to hurry, to let it happen and not fight, they were trying to help, and for a few of them this is the first time Brittany has heard them speak a single word.
She would've been thrilled to hear them talk normally, she would've thought they were recovering, but now she knew that this would only be a small lapse in the disease, that they would only go back to their silence.
"Alvin, tell what to do….." She steps forward, fear gripping her she watches his spine expand and curl, the bone pressing against his skin as he staggers forward to lean heavily against the wall.
She wanted to help, wanted to make this stop….."G-go…."
Brittany looks up, he was staring at her, one eye was open while the other is closed in pain, the bones in his face were pulsing beneath his skin, sweat was beginning to form along his brow and he looked like he was going to vomit.
"Get away!" His body slams against the silver bars and a strangled cry escapes her lips as she stumbles back, caught off guard by the impact she trips and falls onto her side as she hears the silver bars hiss….and break.
She looks up in time to see his convulsing form hit the concrete, blood drips from his mouth as his hoody rips open along the back, exposing the edges of his spine as it breaks through his skin.
Her stomach clenches and she turns away as panicked voices reach her ears, her vision swims slightly as his pained screams block out the voices of her co-workers, and she black outs.
Should I have the shift scene start out the next chapter? It'll probably be pretty bloody and gross so I might just leave it out unless you guys want to read it?
Also I'm thinking about accepting four OCS :)
Let me know what you guys think! And thank you again for reading!