Ginger Snaps Together Again: A Virtual Movie

by Unitarian Jihadist

Ginger's alive, Brigitte's out of the basement, and they have one last chance to get things right.

7. Act 6

Act 6

So here we are, Act 6. Twice as long as I anticipated and twice as long as some of the other acts. I decided, since I separated out the prologue, to do the same with the epilogue. Thus, I am posting the epilogue at the same time I am posting this act.

We see the red Escape pull into the parking lot of an Applebee's restaurant. The parking lot is three quarters empty. Our view shifts to the Hunter inside the Escape. He looks back and forth then pulls into a parking spot.

"Where are they?" he says.

He pulls out his cell phone and punches in a number.

"Yeah, Veronica?" he says. "No call? No. No, just stay put. Stay out of this. Thanks for your offer to help. Yeah, I miss her too. Goodbye."

The Hunter shuts his cell phone and looks at it.

"Shit," he says.

---

"Pamela, what are you doing?"

This question is asked voice over by Henry as we look down on the Fitzgerald's SUV moving extremely fast down a highway. Then we are face on with the interior of the SUV. Pamela is driving, Henry's in the passenger seat, and Brigitte and Ginger are sitting behind them.

"Yeah, Pamela," Ginger says. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I'm not leaving you two just after finding you again," Pamela says.

"Shit," says Ginger. "I knew this was going to happen. Here's the shit storm."

"Be quiet, Ginger, you're not helping," Brigitte says. "Mom, not to correct you or anything, but Ginger and I found you. We came in and saved you from people who were going to kill you, and the chief bad guy is still out there! You're going to be safest at the Applebee's until the Hunter's cousin arrives. She's a Mountie."

"No," Pamela says, shaking her head. "No, we'll find someone. Someone in the government who can give you that treatment other than that awful Rowlands."

"Mom," Brigitte says, talking calmly as if she was the parent, and Pamela was the child. "There is no one else, and the point is moot. Neither Ginger nor I are going back. Remember the prophecy, Mom? We're fulfilling the prophecy. We won't do that if we go back to the government."

"Not to mention the fact that the government wouldn't take us back without killing you!" Ginger says.

"Ginger…" Brigitte says.

"Yeah, right," Ginger says. "I know. I'm not helping."

Ginger's hair now has white streaks along the front. Her head goes down and her hair hangs down over her face.

"Fine, then!" Pamela says. "You can bite your father and me, and we can all be wendigos and wolves together."

"What?" Henry says, staring at his wife.

"OK, fine," Pamela says. "You can bite me and we can all eat your father!"

"WHAT?? Henry says.

"Fuck this shit!" Ginger yells. "Pamela, stop the fucking car!"

Pamela jumps slightly. Ginger leans forward and grabs Pamela's right upper arm and starts to squeeze. Ginger's teeth are gritted and we now see extended canine teeth, small but noticeable fangs.

"Ginger!" Pamela yells. "You're hurting me!"

In response, Ginger simply growls. The SUV starts to swerve violently back and forth.

"Oh God," Henry says, his expression sick and terrified.

"Ginger!" Brigitte says authoritatively. "Get yourself under control. NOW!"

Ginger lets go and sits back in her seat. Her head goes back down.

"Mom," Brigitte says calmly but forcefully, leaning forward as she does so. "Mom, stop the car."

Pamela slows and stops the car. She is breathing hard, and her eyes are wide and terrified.

"Mom," Brigitte says. "We can't stay with you. We can't go back. You now know we're alive, which is something you didn't know three hours ago. Ginger and I want to keep you alive too. That's the best that we can do."

Pamela starts to cry, then to sob. Henry awkwardly tries to lean forward and hug her with his one good arm, but Pamela swats him away. Henry sits back for a second. Then he leans forward again.

"Pamela," he says gently. "You know she's right. You know she's right. Shhhhh. Shhhhhh."

This time, Pamela collapses on Henry's shoulder and starts to weep. Evidently, his injured wrist bears some of the weight and he makes a pained face. But he doesn't pull away, and his good left arm moves around her.

"Shhhhh," he says.

Our view switches to a close up of the next seat back. Ginger is starting to rock.

"Ginger?" Brigitte says, a concerned look on her face.

"It's starting, B," Ginger whispers. "The hair color change, the teeth, and I've got a tail hanging between my butt cheeks. I'm getting hungry and it isn't for fucking nachos. We've got to get to the woods and get away from them, or I swear to God, B, I'm gonna kill them both."

"I'm feeling it to, Ginger," Brigitte says. "We just have to hold it together."

"Yeah, but you've got a lot better self control than I do," Ginger says.

"Fuck you, Ginger!" Brigitte hisses.

"What?" Ginger says.

"You heard me," Brigitte says. "I said fuck you! You spent this entire fucking trip apologizing to me for all the things you did, but you obviously aren't really sorry if you are so fucking ready to lose self control again! Do you think it's not hard for me? You think I don't want to kill the meat in the front seat?"

Our view briefly shifts to Pamela and Henry. Pamela raises her tearstained face and she and Henry exchange frightened looks.

"Sure I want to kill them, Ginger! Sure I want to eat them! But I won't do it because they're my fucking parents and whether you are a human or a wolf, eating your parents is just fucking wrong! It's that fucking simple! So I won't do it and you won't either. You got it?"

Ginger doesn't respond.

"You fucking got it?" Brigitte asks again. This time Ginger nods meekly.

Brigitte leans back. Henry and Pamela look at her wordlessly.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" Brigitte says to them.

Henry and Pamela look down.

"No, wait," Brigitte says. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked to you like that. But Mom, Dad, do you see how it is? Part of the transition from human to werewolf is a homicidal phase that increases as you approach transformation. By the time we reach chrysalis…"

"Chrysalis?" Pamela echoes numbly.

"The wendigo stage," Brigitte says. "When we reach that we will try to kill and eat anything we can catch, including you or any human being that comes around. You guys can't be around us when we get to that point. No human being can. Do you understand now?"

Pamela nods. Henry just looks at Pamela and reaches forward with his left hand and gently strokes her cheek.

"Pamela," he says. "We have to go back to Applebee's and let them go with the Hunter. We have to let them go, sweetheart."

Pamela nods again, then turns to start the car.

"No," Ginger says.

"What?" Brigitte says. "What do you mean 'no', Ginger?"

"B, listen," Ginger says. Brigitte cocks her head and listens. Then she turns and looks at Ginger.

"Helicopters," she says.

"Yeah," Ginger says. "Two of them. At least troop transport, possibly gun ships as well. We won't be able to make it back to Bailey Downs and Applebee's now. We have to keep going."

Brigitte nods.

"She's right," she says to Pamela. "Mom, start the car up and drive towards the forest. And drive fast."

Ginger shakes her head.

"We're not gonna make it, B," she says. "We're still too far."

---

Inside one of the helicopters, the man with black curly hair is leaning over his pilot.

"We have satellite confirmation, sir," the pilot says. "That's the Fitzgerald's SUV. We've also got confirmation that traffic is light. They're practically alone out there."

"Good," the curly haired man says. "Call our people on the ground, have them block off the road about ten miles on each end. Then let's start buzzing them, see if we can slow them down."

"Yes, sir," the pilot says.

"Major North," Rowlands says, appearing next to the curly haired man. "I'd like you to have the pilot hover our craft directly over the Fitzgerald's vehicle, if you will."

"We are going to be buzzing them, Colonel," North says.

"Not buzzing, Major," Rowlands says. "Hovering. I want to do a drop."

"A drop?" North says incredulously. "The driver of that thing is going almost a 100. You won't be able to do a drop onto that."

"I can," Rowlands says.

The pilot and North look at one another. Then Major North claps his pilot on the shoulder.

"You heard the Colonel," North says. "Bring the copter over the van and hold position over it."

"All right, sir," the pilot says with a shrug, an odd expression on his face.

As North and Rowlands leave the cockpit, the pilot turns to his co-pilot.

"Either we have Indiana Jones on board," he says. "Or we have someone who's really fucking delusional."

The co-pilot nods.

Our view switches to the side of the helicopter. The door opens, and we see Rowlands and North. Rowlands is working with a rigging and a thin rope. While he is doing so, North turns to look in the interior of the helicopter and jerks his head in a summoning gesture. A bald man of far eastern heritage, dressed in identical black fatigues to North, appears. Then North turns to Rowlands.

"I'm having Captain Chang assist us," North says.

Rowlands turns to look at Chang, and finds himself looking at a pistol pointed at his gut.

"You don't need to finish fastening the harness, Colonel," North says. "You can go ahead and make the drop now."

"I see," Rowlands says. "Director Bligh has decided to close the entire project."

"Are you really surprised?" North asks.

"No," Rowlands says, then with lightning quickness he grabs North with his right hand and swings him into Chang, knocking the gun aside. Then he throws North out the door. "When I said I could make the drop, I didn't mean that I would be the one dropping."

Our view switches to North falling onto the road. The Fitzgerald van is coming up right underneath him.

---

"They're right over us, B," Ginger says, looking out the side window.

"I see that, Ginger," Brigitte responds from behind her. "Do you have any ideas of what to do about it?"

Suddenly, we hear a loud crash, and our view switches to the interior of the SUV, looking out the front windshield. North's body has dropped onto the front end of the van and rolled into the windshield, cracking it. Pamela screams and the SUV skids and everyone is screaming. It doesn't roll, however, and it comes to a complete stop. North's wide eyed and very dead face is staring in at them.

---

"Holy shit!" yells the pilot. "That was the Major!"

He pulls up and our view switches to the exterior of the helicopter as we see it move up vertically instead of continuing to travel horizontally. We see someone drop along the rope, sliding down it for about thirty feet before dropping the last twenty feet or so to the ground.

The man who slid down the rope is, of course, Rowlands. As he lands we now see him close up. Immediately after he lands, his face morphs. His ears become pointed, his face projects almost into a snout, and he has fangs. His hands are now fur covered and clawed, and then he turns and starts to literally lope away into the evergreen brush on the side of the road.

---

Inside the SUV, Ginger is yelling.

"Everybody out!" she yells. "Mom, you're with me. Dad, you're with Brigitte."

Pamela and Ginger open their doors and get out. Pamela stumbles but Ginger hauls her to her feet and they start to run in a straight line away from the SUV. About 10 feet from the side of the road, they run into evergreen brush about 8 to 10 feet high, and start to fight their way through it. Behind them, the SUV suddenly explodes, and Ginger tackles Pamela to the ground.

"Brigitte!" Pamela yells. "Hank!"

"They're all right!" Ginger yells, practically in Pamela's ear. "She'll have gotten them out. We need to keep moving!"

---

Chang now has a sniper rifle and is trying line a shot into the brush.

"Dammit!" Chang yells. "I've lost visual on all of them."

Another man comes up alongside him.

"Shall we try to burn them out, sir?" he yells.

Chang shakes his head.

"If we start a fire here, they may not be able get it under control before it reaches either the forest or Bailey Downs, whichever way the wind is blowing," Chang says.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but is that our problem?" the man says.

"We're still Canadians, soldier," Chang says. "So yes, it is."

Chang turns and moves up to the front of the helicopter.

"Radio Thunderbird 2," Chang says. "Tell them to keep aloft, fly low and see if they can't blow some of the brush out of the way to get a visual. Then I want you to land on the street. We're going to ground."

"Sir, there's still some traffic approaching," the pilot says. "Our men on the ground weren't able to get set in time to keep all incoming traffic out."

Chang shakes his head.

"Can't be helped," he says. "I want to get down there, get Rowlands and the Fitzgeralds, and end this quickly."

"Yes, sir," the pilot says.

---

"Ginger, I think they're landing one of the helicopters," Pamela says.

"That's good," Ginger says. "That means they're not using infrared. As long as we stay in the brush, they won't be able to find us to pick us off, and B and I will have the advantage over the people on the ground."

"Not over all of the people on the ground," we hear Rowlands' voice say, and suddenly, he is standing in front of Pamela, pointing his silenced gun at her sternum. His features are still a mixture of human and lupine. "Me, for instance."

"Your face…" Pamela says in horror.

"Hello, Pamela," Rowlands says, pulling the trigger twice. Pfft! Pfft! "Goodbye, Pamela."

Pamela drops down to the ground, her eyes wide in shock. Rowlands turns.

"Ginger, so good to see you…" he says, before he is cut off as Ginger leaps on him with a growl. She grabs his gun arm and we have a quick close up as she takes his arm in both hands and bites him on the wrist.

"Ow," Rowlands says mildly as he drops the gun. He reaches over and grabs Ginger's hair and pulls her off of his wrist. Then he drops to a knee and slams her face down into the ground and holds her there. "Bad girl."

---

We switch to the interior of the Escape. We are looking over the Hunter's right shoulder as he drives up to a line of cars. The cars in front of him are turning around, mostly one at a time from the front, but occasionally a car further back turns around as well.

"Bingo," the Hunter says. He steers his vehicle onto the left shoulder of the road. There is the brush of a regenerating forest growing on either side of the road, so he doesn't have much room. In front of him, there is a road block manned by men with RCMP and military uniforms. As they see the Hunter approach, several of the men bring out their automatic rifles and point them at him. The Hunter slows down, and rolls down his window.

One of the men in a military uniform runs up, his rifle pointed at the Hunter.

"Get out of the car, now!" he yells.

"I'm expected," the Hunter says. "Run my tags."

As he speaks, he turns off his engine and gets out of the Escape with his hands up.

"Stay where you are," the soldier says. Another soldier talks into a radio on his shoulder, then looks up at the first soldier.

"The vehicle's registered with the Department," he says.

"Who are you?" the soldier asks the Hunter.

"My ID is in my wallet," the Hunter says. "You'll also find an empty holster on my right hip. The gun is inside the car."

The soldier jerks his head at his fellow who had talked into the radio.

"Check it out," he says.

The second soldier circles behind the Hunter, reaches into his rear pocket, and pulls out the wallet. He opens it up, looks in it, then steps back and talks into his radio again. Then he listens for a few seconds, talks again, then listens some more. Then he turns and hands the wallet to the Hunter.

"He checks out," the second soldier says. "He's authorized to go in there."

The first soldier raises his rifle and jerks his head at the Hunter.

"Go," he says.

The Hunter gets into the Escape and drives up the barricade. The first soldier waves to the men at the barricade, and they open it up. The Hunter drives through.

The first soldier looks at the second soldier.

"Call command again, and suggest to them that they radio the people inside and tell them that an Indian from CSIS is coming to join them. I'm still not sure that guy's supposed to be in there."

---

Ginger's struggles are weakening as Rowlands still continues to press her face into the ground.

"Ginger, Ginger," Rowlands says. "You have caused me all sorts of heartache. We have lost our funding, and we are going to have to go on the run. Well, I will anyway. You won't be coming."

"Get off of her, asshole."

Rowlands looks up just in time to get kicked in the face. He falls back into a sitting position, and Ginger pulls her dirt encrusted face up and loudly gasps as she inhales air. Brigitte stands between Rowlands and Ginger, Rowlands' gun in her hand.

"Shoot him, B!" Ginger gasps. "He shot Mom."

"It won't work, Brigitte," Rowlands says. "Like the Hunter's, my gun is custom made and has a second safety."

Brigitte looks at the gun briefly, then decides to pull the trigger anyway, only to have her gun swatted aside by Rowlands. We hear the gun go off. Pfft!

"I lied, of course," Rowlands says. Brigitte in response hits Rowlands as hard as she can with her left fist, knocking him back several steps and then onto his butt. Brigitte waves her hand in obvious pain, but then, her face determined, she closes on Rowlands.

"Well done, Brigitte," Rowlands says. "But it isn't time for the main event quite yet."

With that, he stands up with incredible speed and backhands Brigitte across the face, literally knocking her into the air and into Ginger, who is getting to her feet behind her. Both sisters fall down.

"Brigitte," Rowlands says. "You need to learn by smell. Smell will give you the answers you don't even know you need."

With that, Rowlands' face shifts, becoming even more bestial. His ears become more pointed and his teeth increase in length.

"My condolences for your mother, Brigitte," he says as he turns and moves silently into the brush.

Brigitte turns and looks at her mother lying on her back, a red stain on her black sweatshirt.

"Mom!" Brigitte yells.

Pamela's eyes are wide and still, and her chest isn't moving.

"She's gone, B, and we can't stay," Ginger says. "Where's Dad?"

Brigitte turns and looks towards the road. Standing under a particularly thick canopy of evergreen brush, Henry is standing and staring down at his wife.

"pam?" he whispers. "baby?"

Then he starts to move forward but Brigitte intercepts him.

"Nononononononono!" Henry says, trying to push forward.

"No, Dad," she says. "We can't stay here. We have to move."

"So go," Henry says. "I'll just slow you down."

"Dad," Brigitte says. "We've just lost our mother. We don't want to lose our father too."

"Why not?" Henry says. "You were leaving us to become animals. I'll never see you again, and now my Pam is gone. I have no one. Let me stay."

"If you stay," Brigitte says. "They'll kill you, too."

Ginger comes up to her sister and her father. There is more white hair along the front of her part now, her forehead has ridges on it, and her eyes are a very light, arctic blue. Her teeth, particularly her canines, are very long. She looks terrifying, but Henry doesn't notice, he is looking back at his wife's body.

"Dad," Ginger says, speaking softly in his ear. "If we all get through this, B and I promise to…"

Then Ginger whispers something. Brigitte looks up, tears on her cheeks.

"Really?" Brigitte asks Ginger.

"Cross my heart, B," Ginger says. "But we all have to get through this first."

"Right," Brigitte says. "Come on, Dad. Follow us."

We now hear, through the kind of amplified hearing that Ginger and Brigitte have, soldiers moving through the brush.

"They're on all sides of us but there…" Ginger says, pointing to her right at about the two o'clock position. "…and there." Ginger now points further to her right.

Brigitte points briefly to the second direction that Ginger pointed in.

"That's the way Rowlands went," she says. "So let's go the other way."

Ginger picks up Rowlands' abandoned gun. "I'll lead the way, you get Dad."

"Right," Brigitte says as she picks up her father and puts him over her shoulder. "Don't say anything, Dad."

The sisters move off. Our view pans down to Pamela, her eyes wide and staring. Then, we hear footsteps, and reflected in her eyes we see Chang and two other men.

"Son of a bitch," Chang says, gently and sadly. He drops to a knee and closes Pamela's eyes.

"Begging your pardon, sir," one of the men says. "But wasn't that one of our targets?"

"Yes, soldier, but she was also a civilian." Chang says. "So is the father. This is nothing but tragic."

"Sir, our orders are to…" the man starts to say. Chang stands up and gets right into his face.

"I am aware of what my orders are, Reynolds!" Chang yells. "But the fact is we are simply sacrificing the parents because of their physical and emotional proximity to two of our real targets. We need to never forget that they are the very people we are supposed to be here to protect!

"Never forget that, Reynolds, but make no mistake either. I will follow orders."

As more soldiers appear around him, Chang looks around. Then he says:

"The Fitzgerald sisters, the father, and Rowlands; find them and do them all."

---

The Hunter is driving down the road in the red Escape when in the distance he and we see a small line of cars stopped before a large black helicopter sitting on the highway. The second helicopter is hovering over the brush forest about 200 hundred feet on the left side of the highway. The Hunter pulls over, gets out, crosses the highway, and runs into the brush.

---

We are in the second helicopter. A sniper is looking out the open door, and we are looking down with him as the rotors blow aside some of the branches, and we briefly see Brigitte running with Henry on her back.

The sniper fires.

---

Brigitte continues to run with surprising ease considering Henry is slung over her back. She looks over her shoulder as we hear the crack of several bullets as she moves into more dense brush. Then Brigitte runs at a 90% angle from the direction she was going. Ginger crosses her path and starts to run ahead of her.

"You OK?" she asks Brigitte.

"Yeah," she says. "Dad?"

"Here," he croaks.

Brigitte and Ginger run a bit father then stop. Brigitte puts her father down.

"The soldier boys are all to our left, but they're all moving in our direction thanks to that shot," Ginger says. As the helicopter goes overhead, all three of them move under the densest tangle of branches projecting from the thickest trunk. The helicopter hovers for a few seconds, and some of the branches around them part, but the ones over them hold steady. Then the helicopter moves on.

"They're moving in a pretty solid line," Brigitte says. "If we double back where we came from we might be able to get around them."

"No," Ginger says. "I think we move this way at an angle." Ginger points back the way they came, but at a ten o'clock angle. "We need to be trying to move towards the thickest part of the forest."

"Ok," Brigitte says.

"I'll take Dad," Ginger says, handing Brigitte the Rowlands' pistol. "You take the gun."

---

Three soldiers, all dressed in black, are moving into a small clearing in the brush. The lead soldier, a powerful looking man with very short sandy hair, raises his hand, and the two men behind him stop. He starts to point to his left when there is a deep, inhuman growl, seemingly coming from all around them. All three men put their automatic rifles to their shoulders. One of them, a shorter man with a pencil thin mustache, suddenly starts to fire into the brush.

"Hold your fire!" the sandy haired man yells. "You have no idea who is in there!"

Suddenly, there is a growl from right behind him. He turns, and there is Rowlands' face, spare inches from his. Rowlands smiles, showing very big teeth. As the scene suddenly turns black, we hear a scream followed by a sudden wet crunch.

---

Brigitte and Ginger stop their movement through the forest. We hear gunshots and screams at a distance. Then the sounds change, becoming amplified as we hear the events as Ginger and Brigitte hear them. The screams and gunshots are gone, replaced by tapering whimpers, growls and wet crunching and tearing noises.

"Rowlands is killing them," Brigitte says.

"Good," Ginger says.

"Ginger, that's not good," Brigitte says.

"You heard that Captain Chang guy," Ginger says. "'Find them and do them all'? 'All' includes us, B. These guys have two helicopters and probably 40 guys between them. There is no way the two of us, particularly carrying Dad, are going to get away from them unless something slows them down or even stops them. Rowlands may be homicidal, but he is saving our butts right now."

Brigitte looks back in the direction of the soldiers. Then she looks at Ginger and her father. Brigitte then nods.

"You're right, Ginger," she says. "Let's keep going."

Brigitte and Ginger continue to move deeper into the brush. The trees are now larger, and the brush is now giving way to true forest.

---

The Hunter arrives at the small clearing we saw the three soldiers in. The clearing is now red from one end to the other, and is filled with limbs, viscera, and scraps of black clothing. The sandy haired man's head is resting in a crook in the tree.

The Hunter drops to a knee and picks up a rifle. He checks the rifle and stands up again. He looks around, as if trying to decide what to do. Then, slinging the rife over his shoulder, he goes back into the brush. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

There are more screams and gunshots.

"That's at least 10 down now," Brigitte says, stopping. They are now standing in what appears to be the main forest.

"No, I count 11, or is that 12?" Ginger says as she puts Henry down. Henry gently rubs his injured arm gratefully. "Jesus, B! How are we going to beat this guy? Those are hard core guys out there and Rowlands is tearing through them like sheep standing in a field. Anyone else in the pack would have been cut to pieces by those guys by now."

"Well, wasn't Rowlands one of 'those guys' before he became a werewolf?" Brigitte asks.

"Yeah, but that's not all of it," Ginger says. "Didn't you see what he did just before he left us? His face changed. A lot. That kind of change that fast usually only happens the first night of the full moon. He shouldn't have been able to do that."

Brigitte's expression becomes thoughtful.

"You're right," she says. "And Rowlands said something about learning by smell."

Once again we experience amplified sound, the way werewolves hear the world.

From a distance, we hear Rowlands' amused voice.

"What did I mean by that?" he asks. "Hmmmmmm. Let's think."

"Jesus," Ginger says. "He's listening to us. Making fun of us."

"Doesn't matter," Brigitte says. "That can't be helped and we need to go ahead and think this out. Smell. What did he mean learn by smell?"

"Was he talking about his smell?" asks Ginger.

"Maybe," says Brigitte. "Was there anything different about the way he smelled? Wait. Wait a minute! I think maybe there was."

"What?" Ginger asks.

"What do you notice right after you get the treatment?" Brigitte asks.

"Pulled muscles, mostly," Ginger says.

"Other than that," Brigitte says. "Think smell, Ginger."

"Well, it's not exactly smell but I have a funky taste in my mouth." Ginger says. "Sort of like an extra human tang."

"Yeah," says Brigitte. "Me too. And did you smell it on other members of the pack right after they got their treatments?"

Ginger's eyes narrow thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I think maybe I did," she says. "Wait, I know I did."

"How about Rowlands?" Brigitte asks. "Do you ever remember smelling that tang on Rowlands?"

"I think so," Ginger says. "I mean, I don't remember him without it."

"But you weren't scenting for it either," Brigitte says. "You essentially just said that you've never thought about this before."

"No, you're right," Ginger says. "I never thought about it at all."

"Well, I think I've noticed that scent on all of us," Brigitte says. "Strongest when we just get the treatment, weakening over time, but always there. I still smell it on you and on me now, just not as strong as it was three days ago."

Ginger inhales through her nose.

"Yeah, you're right," Ginger says. "I smell it."

"How about Rowlands?" Brigitte asks. "Do you remember smelling it on Rowlands back there?"

"B," Ginger says. "Rowlands had me face first in the dirt. I don't remember smelling much of anything."

"Well, Ginger," Brigitte says. "I just got a face full of his hand, and I can tell you, the tang wasn't there. And I don't ever recall smelling it on him."

"So what are you saying, B?" Ginger asks.

"I'm saying that Rowlands isn't taking his own treatment," Brigitte says.

"B, that's just crazy," Ginger says.

Then we hear Rowlands' voice, twice as loud and therefore sounding much closer than before.

"It may be crazy, Ginger," Rowlands says. "But it's also correct. I don't take the treatment. I haven't needed it in years."

"Jesus," Ginger says. "He's closer, B, we need to get moving again. Trade you."

Brigitte hands Ginger the gun, and Brigitte takes her father and puts him over her shoulder. This time he groans.

"Sorry, Dad," Brigitte says.

They then start to jog deeper into the woods.

---

"Nash? Carmichael? Mellon?"

Reynolds is talking into his shoulder radio as he follows Chang. Six other men are with them.

The radio crackles and a voice comes over.

"Here," it says.

"Mellon?" Reynolds says. "What's your status?"

"Frankly, sir," Mellon says. "I'm feeling rather sick. I think I'm looking at Carmichael's team. What's left of them anyway. Jes-"

The radio goes out for a moment, then Mellon comes back on.

"Yeah, it's Carmichael's team," Mellon says.

"How do you know?" Reynolds asks.

"Because I'm looking at Carmichael's head literally sitting in his stomach," Mellon says. "Jesus is that…?"

We hear a retching sound, and the radio cuts out briefly again.

"What is it?" Reynolds asks. Chang is coming up next to him.

"His testicles, sir," Mellon says. "Whoever or whatever attacked him put his…"

Chang cuts him off.

"Never mind that, soldier," Chang says. "Get back toThunderbird One. Immediately."

"Yes, sir," Mellon says. "Thank you, sir."

"Reynolds," Chang says. "Call all of the remaining men back to Thunderbird One. I have reconsidered my earlier decision. We're going to burn them out."

"I don't think so."

Chang whirls to see the Hunter standing, an automatic rifle leveled right at his face. Chang's men all level their rifles at the Hunter.

"If I die, Chris," the Hunter says. "We both go together."

"You think I care about that, Sam?" Chang answers.

"Not particularly, but it would be an awful waste on a day that has seen a lot of waste already," the Hunter says.

"Sam, what are you doing here?" Chang asks.

"I'm with the Fitzgerald sisters," the Hunter says.

"Sam," Chang says. "The Fitzgerald sisters have a very dangerous infection. We have to stop them from getting outside our perimeter."

"I'm sure they're already outside your perimeter," the Hunter says. "Chris, who's in charge here?"

"I am," Chang says. "At least, I am now."

"No, I mean whose orders are you following on this?" the Hunter asks.

"I can't answer that, Sam," Chang says.

"You don't have to," the Hunter says. "Call your superior, tell him that I have a proposal for him. A proposal to take out Rowlands and contain the infection."

Chang looks back to the rest of your men.

"Stand down," he says. "I know this guy."

Chang looks at the Hunter.

"You know," he says. "If you shoot me now, we're both going to look very stupid."

Chang takes out his cell phone and punches in a number.

"Yes," Chang says. "Hello. ma'am. I have Sam Hunter, Junior here. Yes, ma'am, General Hunter's son. He says he has a proposal for you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, I am aware of that."

Chang hold the cell phone out to the Hunter.

"She'll hear your proposal," he says.

---

Ginger chuckles briefly as they continue to move through the woods.

"Did you hear that?" Ginger asks.

"Yeah, his name is Sam," Brigitte says. "Which is a coincidence, I guess."

"I think it's destiny, B," Ginger says.

"And I think you need to shut up, Ginger," Brigitte replies, an amused tone belying the angry words.

"What are you two talking about?" Henry asks, his voice strained.

"It's a sister thing and a wolf thing," Ginger says.

"Yeah," Brigitte says. "You wouldn't understand.
………………………………………………………………………………………………

We are now in a very large office. We see the back of a chair, and a woman's left hand reach out to a folder. We hear the woman talking, and see a speaker phone is on her desk. A very, very large man, tall and wide, is standing next to the woman's very large desk. He hands her another folder. She opens it.

"No," the woman says. "This one does look good at first glance. She is brilliant and is not encumbered with a conscience. Unfortunately, if you read the psychiatric report she's also delusional. I can't use her, at least yet."

The woman tosses the folder onto the desk. Before the large man closes it, we see Ghost's face in black and white.

"So, Mr. Hunter," the woman asks, turning her attention to the speaker phone. "What are you offering to me?"

The scene switches to the brush and the Hunter. One of the men starts to raise his gun towards the Hunter, but Chang shakes his head and pushes it down. Then he makes the universal shhhh gesture by bringing his index finger in front of his mouth.

"I suspect that you have decided Rowlands' program is a liability," the Hunter says.

"Who?" the woman asks. "And what program?"

"Ma'am, I don't have the time to play games," the Hunter says. "Rowlands is playing with your men down here. They aren't a serious threat to him."

"So what do you suggest?" the woman asks.

"I suggest that Chang and his men leave the area, and that the Fitzgerald sisters and I take out Rowlands," the Hunter says.

"Why do you assume that two teenaged girls and a former hired killer will be able to succeed where a special forces team has failed?" the woman asks.

"Because Rowlands is obsessed with those girls," the Hunter says. "He will come after them and when he does, they'll have the strength to go against him, and I'll have the training to go against him. Your best chance to stop him is for us to join forces. Furthermore, the Fitzgerald sisters are proposing to go deep into the woods and let their infections take their course. It's almost winter, no one will want to go into the forest then. To be safe, I suspect you have the influence to shut down the right section of forest to the public. Once the sisters transition from werewolf to wolf, they will have no more interest in catching and killing human beings. They will have no interest in humans at all."

The woman takes a deep breath.

"I'll need proof," she says. "Something physical. Something more than a staged cell phone photograph."

"I can get that," the Hunter says.

"And if you fail, I will come after you," the woman says. "I have other resources than men and black helicopters."

"Ma'am," the Hunter says. "If I fail, there will be nothing left of me to 'come after'. Either Rowlands dies, or we do."

"Hand the phone to Chang," the woman says.

Chang takes his cell phone back.

"Yes ma'am," Chang says. "Right away. I'll tell him."

Chang snaps shut his phone and looks at the Hunter.

"She's giving you 20 minutes to finish this," Chang says. "Then we firebomb this place and let God sort it out."

Chang tosses the cell phone to the Hunter.

"When you're done, call the first number on the list and send a picture," Chang says. "The Director told me to remind you that you will have to also bring physical proof of Rowland's death, but the picture will stop the firebombing."

"Understood," the Hunter says.

"Good hunting, Sam," Chang says. "I hope you get him. This whole thing stinks."

Chang turns to his men.

"Everyone back to the helicopter," he says.

---

"Did you hear that, B?" Ginger says. She stops. Brigitte puts her father down.

"I heard it," we hear the distant voice of Rowlands say. "Not the most brilliant move on our young Mr. Hunter's part, talking about you joining forces against me when I can hear him, and I am standing between you and him."

"What do we do now, B?" Ginger asks her sister.

"Deferring to your sister, Ginger?" Rowlands says. "This is new."

"Shut up, Rowlands," Ginger says.

"Why don't you come find me and make me, Ginger?" Rowlands says.

"Ginger, shhhh," Brigitte says. "I'm thinking."

We flash back to Brigitte's first visit to Rowlands' and Murphy's lab. We hear Rowlands' voice say:

"The full moon appears to act as a visual trigger to start a more rapid transformation into a 'werewolf' beast."

"A visual trigger," Brigitte says to herself softly. "That sounds psychological."

"Like a post hypnotic suggestion?" asks Rowlands from a distance.

"That's it, isn't it?" Brigitte asks. "That's how you control it."

"What are you two talking about?" Ginger asks.

"Two?" Henry asks. "Brigitte is talking to someone?"

"Yeah," Ginger says. "She's talking to Rowlands."

"That son of a bitch is here?" Henry says.

"Convey my best regards to your father right back," Rowlands says.

"He's a couple of miles away, Dad," Ginger says. "It's slow, because he's so far away it takes awhile for what he says to come to us, and vice versa. But with our hearing, we can talk to each other fine."

"Something in the wolf DNA, it responds to the moonlight, and that's when the change to chrysalis happens," Brigitte says.

"Yes, that appears to be the case," Rowlands says. "It takes about two to two and a half weeks for the lupine DNA to infect the entire person, but once that happens, the next full moon will trigger the change to chrysalis form, unless the person is receiving the treatment. It is during the full moon, you see, that humans most see the world as a wolf would see it. I am assuming that seeing the world in a full moon reminds the wolf of being a wolf, and the change accelerates because of it."

"In other words, kind of a genetic post hypnotic suggestion, just like you said," Brigitte says. "But if you can be convinced to turn into a werewolf because of a post hypnotic suggestion, you should be able to use another post hypnotic suggestion to convince yourself not to change."

"Precisely, or to be more accurate, to convince the wolf it's not time to come out yet," Rowlands says. "Or to come out a little more, or a little less. I can assume any stage of development this side of the chrysalis, and I can change myself back. It takes a lot of fuel, but I have eaten a lot just now."

"B," Ginger says. "He's moving away from us. I think he's going for the Hunter."

"I am," Roskoff says. "But don't worry, I'll be coming back to see you both soon."

"Shit!" says Ginger. "B, I think we need to get moving again. Go deeper to the forest."

"No," says Brigitte. "It's too late for that. He'll catch us easily. Here's where we'll make our stand."

"B," Ginger says. "You heard the man. He's not only stronger than us, he's not only better trained than us, he has complete control over his infection. We wouldn't have a chance. The Hunter seems to do pretty well against werewolves, we've seen him kill three already."

"Rowlands is out of his league," Brigitte says.

"Yeah," says Ginger. "And he's out of ours too."

"Not any more," Brigitte says. "Ginger, stay with Dad."

"What?" Ginger says. "B, are you crazy? What the Hell do you think you're going to do?"

"Save the Hunter," Brigitte says.

Ginger opens her mouth as if to speak, then her mouth drops open in shock.

Our view switches to Brigitte's face as it rapidly morphs, becoming more wolf like with longer, pointed ears, and enlarging teeth moving forward in an emerging snout.

Brigitte's next words are distorted, but still recognizable.

"Hey Rowlands, guess what?" Brigitte says. "It's on, bitch."

With that, Brigitte takes off at a lope, moving very fast into the forest.

---

The Hunter has moved out of the brush and into the forest proper. He moves in starts and stops, dropping to a knee to look at a broken twig here, a depression that looks like a small part of a footprint there.

"They're part wolf, and yet they have no woodcraft skills," says Rowlands voice from behind the Hunter. The Hunter turns and rolls, bringing the rifle around. But he doesn't complete the movement, the barrel of his rifle is still pointing up. As our perspective moves behind the Hunter so that we are now behind him, looking in the direction he's looking, we see why. Rowlands is standing with a rifle trained right on the Hunter.

"It's really kind of sad, don't you think, how they blunder through the woods so that anyone can track them," Rowlands says. "Put down the rifle, Mr. Hunter. Just to be safe, I think I'm going to shoot you from a distance."

The Hunter shrugs, very slightly and carefully.

"Colonel Rowlands, if you are going to shoot me anyway, why would I put the rifle down?" he asks.

"Good point," says Rowlands. "Why don't you go ahead and try to shoot me?"

The Hunter moves with amazing speed to bring the rifle to his shoulder, even though since Rowlands is already covering him, his efforts are doomed to failure. However, as the Hunter moves the rifle around to bring to bear on Rowlands, we hear rustling, followed by a thud, a grunt, and a gunshot going off simultaneously. The Hunter finishes bringing his rifle to his shoulder before he seems to realize that something is happening. As he raises his head to look at what is happening, we now hear growling and the sounds of a struggle.

Then we see what the Hunter sees. Rowlands and Brigitte are rolling on the ground, both snarling, clawing, and biting. The rifle Rowlands was holding is lying on the ground. The struggle ends as quickly as it began, however, when Rowlands gets one clawed hand under Brigitte's chin. Brigitte's face is enraged and savage, and spittle is flying out of her mouth. As she snarls at him and claws at his arm, shredding the black sleeve of his uniform, Rowlands chuckles.

"Well done, Brigitte," Rowlands says. "You've learned from smell, and I can't tell you how very, very proud of you I am for that. None of the others in the pack ever had a hope learning to do what you just have."

He then heaves Brigitte back across the clearing and into the trunk of a tree. Branches fall around her as Brigitte bounces off of the trunk and onto the ground with a pained groan.

Then we see the Hunter, bringing the rifle back to his shoulder, but before he can fire, we hear a whistle and thump as a hiltless knife, twin to the one he used to kill James, is suddenly projecting from the Hunter's upper right arm. His rifle falls to the ground. He falls to his knees.

"We'll have none of that," Rowlands says, pointing to the Hunter. He walks over and picks up the Hunter's rifle and throws it across the clearing, then pulls his knife out of the Hunter's arm. The Hunter doesn't even flinch.

"Now," Rowlands says. "Where were we?"

---

"Ginger," Henry says. "Go help your sister."

"I'm sorry, Dad, not now," Ginger says. "B and the Hunter are fighting for their lives, and I'm trying to follow what's happening."

"Ginger," Henry says. "Leave me here and go help your sister. Be a part of what's happening. If Rowlands is fighting the Hunter and your sister, I'm relatively safe."

Ginger shakes her head. It is obvious she is still shocked by her sister's recent rapid transformation.

"Oh, yeah," she says. "You're right, what the fuck's wrong with me?"

She turns and looks at her father.

"Go deeper in the forest, find a hiding spot, then don't move and stay as quiet as you can. Someone will be by for you. Better hope it's me or B."

Ginger then moves off in the same direction her sister went.

---

Rowlands, holding his hiltless knife as the Hunter had held his to kill James, draws his hand back.

Then, a large branch hits him on the side of his head with a loud crack. The branch itself breaks in two. Rowlands rolls away and stands up unsteadily. Brigitte is holding the remains of the branch she swung at him. The Hunter stands up unsteadily next to her and from his back pulls out his large hunting knife.

"Well then," Rowlands says. "I think I'll try some easier game. Your sister's on her way, I think I'll go greet her."

And with that, Rowlands turns and runs into the woods.

Brigitte stands holding her shattered branch, looking at the spot where Rowlands had just been standing. The Hunter turns and looks at her, then replaces his knife behind his back. Then he gently takes Brigitte's head, projecting, black nosed snout and all, and kisses her. Brigitte appears to be startled at first, but then her hands go around and move up his back until her fingers take hold of his hair and pull back, gently.

"Sorry, Hunter," Brigitte says. "Teeth. I don't want to infect you. Besides, now he's going after Ginger. I need to go help her."

"Sorry," the Hunter says. "I was just really glad to see you. Thanks for saving my skin."

"Sure," Brigitte says. "Thanks for saving mine."

"Go ahead," the Hunter says. "I'll catch up."

As Brigitte runs off, the Hunter walks over and picks up the rifle.

---

Ginger is running through the forest. Then, she slows and stops.

"Ginger," Rowlands says, sounding close. "Ginger, how does it feel to be the weak one now?"

"Why don't you come here and find out just how weak I am?" Ginger asks.

"All right," Rowlands says, stepping out from behind a tree in front of her. Ginger suddenly looks very frightened.

"Come on, Ginger," Rowlands says. "I'll even let you take the first shot."

Instead, Ginger turns and runs.

"Huh," Rowlands says to himself. "She's smarter than I thought."

He runs after her.

We see Ginger running, and we hear Brigitte's voice through amplified hearing but at a distance.

"Ginger, count," Brigitte says.

"What?" Ginger asks.

"Count out loud, it will help me find you," Brigitte says. "Stay alive and keep counting and I'll be there by the time you reach 100."

We hear Rowlands voice, from a much closer distance, say:

"Yes, Ginger, count. It will help me to find you as well."

As Ginger runs, breathing slightly hard, she starts to count:

"1...2…3…"

Ginger hurtles a fallen tree and keeps running. Moments later, we see Rowlands hurtle the same log.

"10…11…12…"

We see Rowlands hand reach out, grab a hold of Ginger's red hair, and yank back. Ginger barely keeps her feet, but manages to turn and slam her elbow into Rowlands' distorted, lupine face. Rowlands' head jerks back, but then he chuckles, and throws Ginger to the ground. Ginger rolls to her feet and holds up her hands in a fighting posture.

"Little Ginger, trying to look so brave and tough, when actually you are scared and needy," he says. "Still, I must admit, you showed more potential than the rest of the pack, with the singular exception of your sister, of course. But that really isn't saying much when the competition was an illiterate street thug masquerading as a big city cop, a professor whose sole purpose in life was to manipulate rich young college girls into sleeping with him, and a stripper who went from one abusive relationship to the next. "

"27…28…29…."

"And then there's you," Rowlands continues as he feints towards Ginger, making her jump. "A girl from a conventional suburb who tried to be a rebel, but like so many other suburban girls, was so conventional in her rebellion. I mean, do you have any idea how cliché a death fetish is among girls your age?"

"36…37…38…"

"What?" Rowlands says. "No 'Fuck you Rowlands'? No 'Shut up and fight, asshole'? None of your customary profanity at all?"

"44…45…46…"

"Guess there's nothing more to say, Ginger," Rowlands says. "Give my regards to your mother,"

Rowlands lunges at Ginger, slashing with one clawed hand at her face. Ginger dodges aside, only to be caught by his elbow. Ginger falls to her knees, her face now angry. She stands up, and Rowlands grabs her hair. She elbows him in the face, then turns and kicks him in the stomach. Rowlands stumbles back a couple of steps and smiles.

"59…60…61…"

"Ahhh, Ginger," he says. "You always were a fighter. That's why you moved so quickly past both Danielle and Claude. Even James was not the match for you he thought he was."

"64…65…66…"

Rowlands lunges forward again, but this time when Ginger attempts to dodge, he follows her, slashing her across the face. Ginger tries to hit him with her left fist, but he catches it on his shoulder easily, then head butts her. The sound is a loud and hollow crack, and Ginger falls back stunned. Rowlands' claw marks have left gouges across the left side of her face.

"Too bad, Ginger," Rowlands said. "You couldn't hold out until 100 after all."

Rowlands snarls, and lunges down and forward.

"74…"

And suddenly Brigitte is there, grabbing Rowland's left arm and pulling it back and up. We hear a pop! Rowlands screams in pain, and Ginger scrambles out and up from under him.

"Smart guy like you should know to pay attention to where I am, not where the fucking count is," Brigitte says.

Rowlands tries to bring his other hand up, but Brigitte pulls up with one hand, aggravating the dislocation, while pushing down on his shoulder with the other hand. Rowlands' head is pushed to the ground.

"Let's see how you like a face full of dirt!" Brigitte says.

Suddenly, Rowlands turns onto his side, facing Brigitte and pulling her off balance. He reaches up with his good right hand and grabs her ankle, digging his claws into it. Brigitte screams in pain as he throws her over him and scrambles to his feet. Ginger tries to kick him in his face as he gets to his feet but he backs away, and she misses. Ginger circles in the direction of Rowlands' injured arm while Brigitte gets to her feet and circles the other way. Rowlands quickly reaches over, grabs his left arm and pushes it into the socket. He winces slightly, but that's it. Ginger tries to attack him as he is pushing his arm into the socket, but he backs away, and then demonstrates the return to function of his left arm by hitting her across the face with his left fist. She falls to the ground. Brigitte attempts to attack from his right but he moves away again and then leaps up and kicks her in the face. Brigitte also falls to the ground next to Ginger, who isn't moving.

"A little help here, Ginger?" Brigitte says just before Rowlands grabs her hair and pulls her to her feet. He hits her again in the face with his fist. Brigitte falls down again, and Rowlands kicks her under her ear at the jaw line. Brigitte falls onto her back and lays still, gasping for breath.

"Magnificent effort, Brigitte!" Rowlands says. "Truly. You've become everything I'd hoped you would become. A true alpha female, one worthy to be co-ruler of my little kingdom. Unfortunately, I have no more kingdom, and therefore I no longer have any use for a queen."

Suddenly, Rowlands pauses, tilting his head.

"We have another guest," he says. Then Rowlands reaches for something at his belt, turns, and throws. There is a pained grunt and the Hunter falls into sight, this time with Rowland's hiltless knife in his upper left leg so deep that none of it is sticking out.

"Hey, Rowlands," Brigitte says, reaching behind her back under her turtleneck. "Surprise…"

Brigitte's face falls as she evidently does not find what she was reaching for.

Rowlands reaches behind his own back and pulls out the pistol that Ginger had taken from him earlier.

"Oh," he says. "You mean this surprise? Like I said, Brigitte, this was a magnificent effort containing several misdirections. But I remain several steps ahead of you, the master of the game. "

"Well, 'master'," Ginger says, her head coming up from the ground. "Here's something you didn't count on."

Rowlands sighs, obviously irritated by an interruption from someone he feels is an inferior to himself and Brigitte. He doesn't even turn to look at Ginger.

"What's that, Ginger?" he says in an exasperated tone as he points the gun at Brigitte's head, preparing to fire.

"The class dunce just figured it out," Ginger says. Ginger's hair suddenly starts to change color from red to white, and her own face starts to project, and fur sprouts up along her arms and her fingernails become claws. She leaps up. Rowlands turns to train the gun on her but before he can fire, Brigitte is up and sinking the claws on her right hand into his wrist. The gun falls to the ground. Rowlands backhands Brigitte away from him with his left hand and kicks the gun away into the forest. Ginger chop blocks Rowlands in the knees from behind. As he falls, she slashes him across the face, leaving gouges that match the ones he left on her own face. Rowlands rolls to his back and kicks Ginger in the stomach with both feet. She flies into the air and out of sight into the trees, close to where the gun was kicked. We hear branches break and fall. Brigitte comes up behind Rowlands and bites him on the left shoulder. Rowlands reaches around, grabs her by the hair and pulls her over his shoulder. As she lands in a seated position in front of him, he places her into a rear choke hold. He buries his face into her back, ignoring Brigitte's clawed hands as they dig into his scalp.

Our view switches to the Hunter, who is digging the hiltless knife out of his leg with the large hunting knife. As he finally succeeds in pulling it out, Henry Fitzgerald comes up alongside him.

"What are you doing here?" the Hunter asks, his voice reflecting the considerable pain he must be in.

"If I am going to die today, I want to die with the rest of my family," Henry says.

"Makes sense to me," the Hunter says. "Help me up."

Henry helps the Hunter to his feet. He seems to be barely able to bear weight on his injured leg.

"Brace me," the Hunter says. Henry grimaces with effort, and the Hunter throws the knife he just pulled out of himself.

Brigitte seems to be losing consciousness when the knife ends up point down in the dirt right next to her. Brigitte picks up the knife and slams it into Rowlands' right forearm. Rowlands yells in pain and releases his chokehold. Brigitte falls forward and then rolls to her back, gasping for air. Rowlands pulls the knife out and drops to his knee, grabbing Brigitte by the hair and raising up the knife.

He looks at the Hunter.

"Thank you for the assist," he says.

"Rowlands," Brigitte croaks. "Rowlands, do you know what your problem is?"

"That I'm stronger, smarter, and more experienced than you?" he replies.

"No," Brigitte says. "Your problem is that you told me just how far you're willing to go…"

"I can assume any stage of development this side of the chrysalis, and I can change myself back."

"…while I'll go all the way," Brigitte says. As the knife comes down, Brigitte's hand catches his knife hand at the wrist. Suddenly, Brigitte's arm becomes much thicker, developing a covering of black fur. The black sweater she is wearing tears apart. Suddenly, Rowlands is rolled onto his back under Brigitte, who is finishing her transformation into a full, 300 pound werewolf. Brigitte's immense fanged mouth descends. We hear a chomping crunch, and Rowlands begins to scream.

Emerging out of the woods, carrying the broken remains of the pistol Rowlands kicked, is Ginger.

"Holy shit," Ginger says. She then drops to her knees, apparently exhausted.

Rowlands, still holding his knife, slashes it across Brigitte's left foreleg. Brigitte yipes and backs away. Rowlands crab crawls away on his elbows and feet.

"You're insane," he says. "You can't turn back from this stage, not without the treatment!"

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" says Ginger. "We don't want to turn back."

She starts to transform as well, vomiting blood before her joints and bones crack. As her clothes tear and her body changes shape, we see her turning into an even larger werewolf than Brigitte. One that is white to her sister's black.

Rowlands looks back and forth.

"Fine then," he says. "Let's finish this."

Both the Brigitte and the Ginger werewolves, apparently taking Rowlands at his word, leap on him.

"You know, they ate two full sacks of groceries between them on the way here," the Hunter conversationally says to Henry. We hear the sounds of a terrible canine fight, full of snarling and snapping and clawing and tearing.

"What?" Henry says, obviously not really listening as he watches the spectacle of his daughters turning into full blown monsters.

"Food," the Hunter says. "Something has to fuel the change, and it doesn't have to be human flesh."

"Right," Henry says, obviously still not listening.

Then he points in the direction of the fight.

"Is that supposed to happen?" he asks.

"Henry," the Hunter says. "Everything I've learned about werewolves has gone out the window during the last few minutes. I no longer have any idea concerning what is supposed to happen."

"Something's wrong," Henry says. "I think Rowlands is changing too."

And sure enough, as our view returns to the fight, we see the Ginger beast being flung away, landing on her back and leaving the Brigitte beast to struggle with Rowlands alone. Rowlands too is changing shape, becoming a much larger werewolf than either Brigitte or Ginger. The immense Rowlands beast, weighing perhaps as much as 500 pounds, pins the Brigitte beast under his immense bulk, and then bites down on her throat.

"NO!" Henry and the Hunter cry simultaneously. It is too late, however, the great Rowlands beast has torn out Brigitte's throat.

The Ginger beast has scrambled to her feet. Looking at the Brigitte beast's body, the Ginger beast throws back her head, and howls. Then she attacks. The Rowlands beast meets her half way. A monstrous struggle begins again, with the gigantic Rowlands beast swiftly assuming the advantage, clawing into the Ginger beast's body while tearing great chunks of flesh from her shoulders with his huge teeth and jaws.

Henry is silently weeping as we hear the continued sounds of the struggle. The Hunter forces himself to his feet. Holding his hunting knife in his right hand, he starts to limp towards the struggle, but stumbles to his knees. As he struggles to stand again, he makes a face.

"What's that smell?" Henry asks behind him. "Like dead meat rotting."

The Hunter turns to look at the Brigitte beast's body. The eyes have sunk in, and the lips have receded from the teeth. In fact, the entire body seems to be falling in on itself except for the stomach, which seems to be bloating out.

"No way," the Hunter whispers. "No fucking way."

"No way what?" Henry asks.

But before the Hunter can answer, the bloated stomach explodes in a shower of gore that ends just in front of the Hunter. Something struggles out of the bloody mess, something on four legs.

The Rowlands beast in his struggle with the Ginger beast clearly has the upper hand. He shoves the Ginger beast to the ground. Both beasts have horrible gouges and bite marks on their bodies, but the Ginger beast's wounds are clearly much more numerous and grievous. The Rowlands beast turns and looks in the direction of the Brigitte beast's body, but there is nothing remaining but a hollowed out mess.

Then comes the growl, a deep and powerful growl, a pure growl coming from a beast that is no longer a hybrid. The Rowlands beast turns to his right, and there, at the edge of a thicker stand of trees, stands a blood covered but still recognizably black wolf, perhaps as large as 130 pounds. The Brigitte wolf growls again, slowly and almost luxuriously, the expression on her snarling face one of supreme confidence.

---

The Rowlands beast stares at the Brigitte wolf in shock, obviously stunned by this turn of events. As the Rowlands beast continues to stare at the Brigitte wolf, the Ginger beast rolls over and bites him on his right rear leg, chomping down and holding on. The Rowlands beast yipes and starts to turn towards the Ginger beast, but then stops and turns slowly and faces the Brigitte wolf.

Our view point now shifts so that we are looking through the Brigitte wolf's eyes. We see a very clear and sharp world of blacks, whites, and greys. The sounds are very amplified. We hear the Rowlands beast swallow, and we hear his increasingly rapid heartbeat as his fear escalates. Suddenly, we are moving towards the Rowlands beast so fast that it can barely register.

As our view switches to Henry's and the Hunter's stunned faces, we hear a crunch and a tearing sound, and a cry of pain. When our view switches back to the Rowlands beast, this time in full color, we see that he is now missing his left hand/forepaw. The Brigitte wolf carries the hand/forepaw a short distance, then drops it on the ground. The Rowlands beast is crying now, completely beaten.

Now we see the very clear black and white image of the Rowlands beast again. Suddenly, we are moving very fast towards him, and we hear another tearing sound.

When we see the Rowlands beast in color again, he is missing his left eye and most of the left side of his face.

"Brigitte, stop," the Hunter says softly. "You've made your point. You've made him what he was. Now end it."

The Brigitte wolf looks briefly at the Hunter and Henry, her expression seeming to soften. Then she turns towards the Rowlands beast, still pinned by the Ginger beast's hold on his right rear leg. He is keening, trying to get away, obviously no longer interested in fighting.

We see the beast through the clear black and white of Brigitte's wolf vision one more time. The Rowlands beast looks back at us, then slowly and painfully, lies down on the ground, and then stretches his head back, offering the Brigitte wolf his throat. Then we move rapidly towards his throat, and we hear the sound of a tearing bite, and things go black.

---

We start with an aerial view of the forest. We see hovering in the distance the two large, black helicopters. Then we are back within the forest. The Hunter has just completed a bandage made from his shirt, and had a walking stick made from a large branch. Still, Henry is still helping him to walk as he limps up to the two werewolves lying on the ground. The larger brown one, the Rowlands beast, is obviously dead. The white one, the Ginger beast, raises her head and growls and snaps her huge jaws at the two men. The snap has a loud, hollow sound.

"Don't take it personally," the Hunter says to Henry. "Full blown werewolves tend to be hostile to everyone and everything."

Henry nods.

"I need to take this," the Hunter says as he takes out Chang's cell phone and holds it up. He snaps a picture of the two werewolves. Then he punches a number.

We are now in an indoor swimming pool. We see a rear view of a woman in a black swimsuit and a matching black cap stroke to the side of the pool, where the very large man flips open a cell phone and hands it to her. The woman sees the Hunter's picture of the two werewolves. It's centered on the brown one. The woman hands the phone back to the man.

"Make the call," she says. "Place it with Lt. Reynolds. Captain Chang no longer has his cell phone."

The very large man takes the cell phone and punches in a number.

In the helicopter, Reynolds answers his cell phone.

"It's for you," he says to Captain Chang. Chang takes the phone.

"Yes, sir," he says. "Yes, sir. Understood, sir."

Chang flips the phone shut and hands it to Reynolds. He goes to the front of the helicopter.

"Has the road been evacuated of all civilians?" he asks.

"Yes, sir," the pilot says.

He nods.

"Let's collect our dead, those there's enough left of to collect," Chang says. "Then we'll start a fire."

The Hunter and Henry are back where they were when they were watching the werewolf fight. Both are leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Where's Brigitte?" Henry asks.

"I don't know," the Hunter says.

"I want to go to her," Henry says. "To Ginger."

"You can't," the Hunter says. "She'll try to kill you."

"She doesn't look very good," Henry says. "She hasn't even tried to stand."

"No," the Hunter agreed. "No, she doesn't."

They look at the Ginger beast. Her breathing is labored and her head rests on the ground, her eyes looking back and forth.

"I can't believe Brigitte left her," Henry says. "Left us."

Chang's cell phone rings. The Hunter answers it.

"Hello, Chris," he says. "Yes, thanks for the heads up. Yes, Rowlands is dead, but I can't take any of the credit. The Fitzgerald sisters took him down."

The Hunter flips shut the cell phone.

"That was Captain Chang," he says. "He was giving me the heads up that they are going to firebomb the brush forest in 20 minutes."

"I thought you made a deal with them so that they wouldn't do that," Henry says.

"Oh, they're holding up their end of the bargain, after a fashion," the Hunter says. "They were going to bomb as widely as possible in an effort to get Rowlands and your daughters. If I hadn't sent their director the picture of Rowlands, they would be bombing all of us. As it is, they are giving us time to move out of the way."

The Hunter takes out his hunting knife.

"I'm going to have to take a piece of him, though," the Hunter says. "To provide them with final confirmation."

At that moment, the great, black Brigitte wolf returns. Her belly is now huge, almost distended. She walks in front of the Hunter and Henry, looking at them both, then walks over to the Ginger beast. The Ginger beast raises her head, her breathing more labored, seemingly from excitement. The Ginger beast wags her relatively stumpy tail. The Brigitte wolf's head goes down next to the Ginger beast's head, and her mouth opens.

Then, we hear retching sounds.

"What is she doing? Henry asks.

"Brigitte's been feeding," the Hunter says. "Usually werewolves have to eat over about two months before the wolf emerges from the chrysalis. The kind of rapid change from semi-human to werewolf, that's been seen before, although typically on full moons, and not in the middle of the day. But for a chrysalis to bring forth a full blown wolf in a matter of minutes? That's completely unprecedented. I think my grandmother would have said that it was impossible. I know Rowlands thought it was impossible, which is why even in chrysalis form he was so flabbergasted by what Brigitte did. I have no idea how she pulled this off. Her strength of will must simply be phenomenal, but even so there still had to have been an immense physical cost for the transformation. So right after killing Rowlands, she immediately had to go out and kill and eat something."

"OK," Henry says. "But what is she doing now?"

"She's feeding Ginger leftovers," the Hunter says.

"Yuck," Henry says.

Indeed, the Ginger beast is eagerly gobbling up the vomitus. Then, after eating, the Ginger beast lays down her head and her breathing becomes more labored. The Brigitte wolf whines in response, then lies down beside her and watches.

"What?" Henry says, leaning forward. "What's happening? Is Ginger dying?"

"It looks like it," the Hunter says grimly.

---

We see the helicopters hovering over the brush, and we see the brush erupting into flame in several spots, one after the other. The sun is lower on the horizon.

We see the Hunter and Henry, and we hear the Ginger beast's breathing, now extremely labored.

Then we see the Ginger beast, her head lying down on the ground and her chest moving raggedly up and down. The Brigitte wolf is now standing beside her, nuzzling her face. The Ginger beast, however, does not respond. Not even her eyes move. There is a final, hitched intake of breath, then the Ginger beast stops breathing.

The Brigitte wolf looks down at the now still form of the Ginger beast. Then she throws back her head and howls.

"Dammit," the Hunter says.

"Is that it?" Henry says.

"I guess so," the Hunter says. "Help me up again."

"What?" Henry says.

"I smell smoke, which means the fire is probably moving in this direction. We need to go, and before we go, I need to collect a piece of Rowlands."

"We can't leave Ginger here," Henry says. "And oh God, Pam is still back there!"

"Not any more," the Hunter says grimly. "Please help me up, Henry."

"Why?" Henry asks.

"Because I have to collect proof that Rowlands is dead, or I will be dead," the Hunter says.

Henry helps the Hunter to his feet.

"Thanks, Henry," the Hunter says. "I can make it from here."

The Hunter limps towards the corpse of the Rowlands beast, pulling out his hunting knife as he does so. Then he stops and makes a face.

"Henry," the Hunter says. "I think I may have good news for you. Really good news, in fact."

"What?' Henry asks.

"Ginger stinks," the Hunter says. "In fact, she really stinks bad, like Brigitte did before…"

The Hunter makes his way to the corpse of the Ginger beast. The Brigitte wolf is now standing and sniffing anxiously at the corpse. As the Hunter approaches, we see that like the Brigitte beast before the wolf emerged, the eyes of the Ginger beast have sunk into the head, and the lips have shrunk from the teeth. The entire body seems to be mummifying, except for the stomach, which seems to be bloating. The Brigitte wolf whines anxiously and begins to gently pull with her teeth at the Ginger beast's stomach. There is a tearing sound. The Hunter looks at the Brigitte wolf, who in turn looks back at him. The Hunter drops painfully to a single knee and begins to help the Brigitte wolf carefully cut and tear open the Ginger beast's stomach. Henry comes up and looks anxiously over their shoulders, making a face at the smell as he does so.

Then, a red blob falls out. It looks like a red, pulsating sac. The Brigitte wolf tears open the sack with her teeth and another wolf falls out. This wolf is smaller than the Brigitte wolf, and in fact does not look full grown, with a skinny body and big feet. Even so, the new wolf looks like she might weigh as much as 90 to 100 pounds.

"Ginger," Henry says. "Thank God."

The Hunter is smiling broadly as he turns to Henry.

"I don't think that Ginger's the big sister any more," the Hunter says. The Ginger wolf throws up some blood, and then stands up awkwardly. The Brigitte wolf comes up and starts to lick her.

The Hunter awkwardly gets to his feet. Henry comes up beside him and offers a steadying hand.

"I just thought of something," Henry says. "If Brigitte and Ginger can come back as wolves so quickly, what about…"

With that, Henry turns and looks at the corpse of the Rowlands beast.

The Hunter shakes his head.

"I don't think there's a threat there," he says. "If there was, the Brigitte wolf would have been all over it, or the both of them would be backing away from it. Instead, they aren't even paying attention."

"Still," Henry says as he looks at the two wolves, now licking the gore off of one another. The smaller wolf's fur, where the blood has been cleaned off, is white. "Don't you think we should make sure?"

"Yeah," the Hunter says. "I think we should."

The Hunter limps over to the corpse of the Rowlands beast, dropping in front of its stomach. There appears to be no accelerated rotting or mummification with this corpse. Nevertheless, the Hunter takes his hunting knife and plunges it into the Rowlands beast's stomach. Intestines and other viscera fall out, including a small grey sac that looks like a miniature version of the one the Ginger wolf hatched out of. It flops wetly to the ground. The Hunter cuts the sac open, then averts his eyes. The Brigitte wolf has come up behind him and looks over his shoulder. She drops her head and closes her eyes at the sight of the thing in the sac.

"What…what is it?" Henry asks.

"You don't want to know," the Hunter says. He turns to the Brigitte wolf. "You did him a favor by killing him when you did."

"What do you mean?" Henry asks.

"It looks like Rowlands couldn't make up his mind about what he was going to be," the Hunter says. As he speaks, the Hunter reaches down and cuts something off of the thing in the grey sac. Then he lifts it into the air. It looks like a cross between a hand and a paw. It has two fingers off of a human hand, two toes off of a paw, and perhaps one more shapeless blob that couldn't make up its mind to be a toe or a finger. He shows it to Henry.

"The rest looks worse than this," the Hunter says. "Rowlands said that no one could turn back from the werewolf stage without his treatment. It looks like he believed it, but tried to 'turn back' anyway."

With that, the Hunter drops the deformed hand/paw into his shirt pocket. The forest starts to become hazy with smoke.

"We need to get out of here," the Hunter says. He turns towards the Brigitte wolf. "Can you guide us out of here?"

The Brigirre wolf chuffs as if answering the question affirmatively. The Ginger wolf, wagging her tail, comes up and nuzzles the Brigitte wolf, then looks back at Henry. She appears to be smiling.

"Lead the way then, ladies," the Hunter says, leaning partially on Henry's good arm. With that, the two men follow the two wolves out of the clearing and into the forest. Our viewpoint, however, lingers on the clearing and the three werewolf bodies. We start to hear the crackling of fire, and soon we see a flickering orange glow, and a flaming branch falls into the frame and onto the Rowlands beast. The fur of the Rowlands beast starts to smoke and then catch fire. The hollowed out bodies of the Ginger and Brigitte beasts catch fire as well. The grey sac next to the Rowlands beast melts away, and just before the contents are consumed by flames, we see something misshapen, but we can't quite make it out.

---

It is now night, and the brush forest next to the highway is a smoking ruin. We hear and see large airplanes flying overhead.

Captain Christopher Chang is standing on the highway talking to an RCMP officer, who happens to be the Hunter's cousin Veronica.

"Those are tanker planes," Veronica says.

"I know," Chang says. "I used to be a smoke jumper."

"Really?" Veronica says. "Me too."

She looks at him.

"So are you going to tell me what happened here?" Veronica asks.

"I'm afraid not," Chang says. "Most of it I really don't know anyway, and what I do know you probably wouldn't believe."

"You'd be surprised," Veronica says.

---

We see the exterior of a very expensive looking house with floor to roof windows on one side, and these windows glow orange. As we approach the house, we see three young trick or treaters approach the large double front doors of the house, one of them dressed in a Wolverine costume, one dressed like a grim reaper, and another dressed like a princess, except that with the crown and the long dress she also has a plastic sword in her right hand, her trick or treat bag in her left. When the youngsters ring the doorbell, the double doors open, and the kids scream briefly when the very large man answers the door.

"You rang?" he asks in a very passable imitation of Lurch.

"Uh," says one of the kids, the princess in fact. "Trick or treat?"

"Yeah," says little Wolverine. "Trick or treat, bub."

The big man smiles, suddenly looking very friendly and approachable.

"Why certainly," he says.

Upstairs in the house, a little boy of about four runs up, dressed in an Ottawa Senators uniform. Standing with her back to us, but showing a long braid of red hair, is the woman.

"Can we go trick or treating now, Mommy?" the little boy says. "Can we?"

"Certainly, Jeffy," the woman says. "But Mommy needs to take this phone call first."

She opens her cell phone.

"Yes, Captain?" she asks. "Make it quick."

We now see Chang amidst charred tree trunks. Temporary lights are on, and somewhere we hear the drone of a generator, as well as the shouts of fire fighters.

"The fire seems to have been successful in cleaning up most of the mess," Chang says. "And we've come across the charred remains of what appear to be three werewolves."

"Three?" the woman says. "Are you sure about this?"

"Not absolutely, but they look like werewolves to me," Chang says.

The boy is now walking in a small circle, moving left to right with each step in an exaggerated swagger. With each step he says "trickertreat trickertreat".

"Obtain tissue samples from the corpses," the woman says. "If these are in fact our three remaining wolves, then this is probably for the best. I didn't really trust the Hunter's solution, anyway. Is there any sign of him?"

"No, ma'am," says Chang.

"Pity," says the woman. "By the way, Major?"

"I'm a Captain, ma'am," Chang says.

"Not for long, Major," she says. "And to finish what I was going to say…"

"Sorry, ma'am," Chang says.

"…the next time your men are confronted with someone identifying himself as Sam Hunter, make certain they make a positive ID on Sam Hunter, senior before they let him through."

"Yes, ma'am," Chang says. "And thank you, ma'am."

"Happy Halloween, Major," the woman says. She closes her cell phone and turns to her son.

"Time to go, Jeffy," she says.

"Yayyyyyyyyyy!" Jeffy replies.

---

It is now morning. The Brigitte and Ginger wolves emerge from a stream. The two wolves shake themselves free of excess water. The Brigitte wolf is jet black, the Ginger wolf is bright white. With a groan, emerging from a hollowed out log, is Henry Fitzgerald. After standing unsteadily, he turns and reaches his good left hand into the log and pulls out the Hunter. The Hunter moves stiffly, and his left leg in particular seems unresponsive.

"Well," the Hunter says. "That was a lousy night's sleep."

"Yeah, it was," Henry says. "Aside from sleeping in a log, I was thinking about how last night I was sleeping in my house next to my wife. Now my wife is dead, my house is burned to the ground, and the two children I thought were dead have just turned into wolves."

"I'm sorry," the Hunter says.

Henry shrugs.

"The last day of Pam's life, at least when we came up those stairs and we saw Ginger and Brigitte standing there, was probably the happiest. I don't think she ever loved me like she loved them, or for that matter like I loved her."

Henry drops to a knee. The Brigitte wolf and the Ginger wolf both approach him, and he ruffles the manes on both of their necks.

"And you two," Henry says. "You're going to be leaving me as well."

Tears start to roll down his cheeks. The Ginger wolf licks them off of his face. Henry chuckles slightly.

"Just…just remember the promise you made me, Ginger," Henry says.

"Chuff!" the Ginger wolf responds.

"Good," Henry says. "That really is the only thing I have to look forward to just now."

Henry stands up shakily, and the Hunter kneels down in his place. Both of the wolves approach him, but the Brigitte wolf stands right in front of him, her face scant inches away from his. The Hunter fishes in his front left pocket, and pulls something out.

"I found this among the ruins of your clothing, Brigitte," the Hunter says. He's holding the condom Brigitte bought in the gas station. "Were you making plans I didn't know about?"

The Brigitte wolf steps forward and licks him on the face. The Hunter laughs softly.

"I thought so," he says. Then the smile leaves his face. He looks serious and even a little wistful.

"You are a remarkable woman, Brigitte," the Hunter says. "You have the will of a goddess. If this was for me…"

The Hunter holds up the condom.

"…I can not tell you how honored I am."

The Hunter shakes his head sadly.

"Shit," he says. "I finally find the right woman, and she's a dog."

The Brigitte wolf drops her head and noses it under the Hunter's right arm. Then she looks at his face, then at his arm. She alternates this gaze several times.

At first, the Hunter looks at the Brigitte wolf in confusion. But then there follows a look of comprehension, followed by a look of profound joy.

"Yes," the Hunter says. "I accept your proposal."

"What?" Henry says.

The Brigitte wolf quickly turns and bites the Hunter on his right forearm. He makes a brief cry of pain, but the look of pain is followed by a huge grin.

"Brigitte!" Henry says. "Why did you…"

Then a look of comprehension crosses Henry's face as well. He looks at the Hunter.

"You know," he says to the Hunter. "It is usually customary to ask the father for the daughter's paw in marriage."

Both men then laugh uproariously. We pan away, seeing the two men, the Brigitte wolf in front of them, and the Ginger wolf weaving among them, her tail wagging.

End Act 6