Thanks to all the people who favorited/followed the story inbetween two updates ! I know I'm slow to update, but when I get a notification it just makes my heart melt ! So thank you, and here's a long chapter :)
CHAPTER 13
Paris, France.
Niamh stretched cautiously, careful not to strain her shoulder, and silently left Chloé's room in the morning. The analyst was still sleeping, and the others too. She was the first awake, and she was hungry. So she quietly stalked to the kitchen to pour herself a bowl of cereals. She sat on a stool in the kitchen, looking out the window at the city struggling to wake up. Buses were already driving in the streets, as well as several cars, but it had nothing to do with what it would look like in an hour or two. The cereal crunched under her teeth while she thought back to her DNA profile. Mitch said it didn't match the wolves' or the bears', and so she was just perplexed. She wasn't even that much human either. She considered trying to acquire a purebred werewolf's DNA to compare, but knew it would be a bad idea. The Île-de-France pack would just tear her apart, even if she gave them a good advice about the animal uprising.
She laboriously washed her bowl in the sink with one hand when she finished eating, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, still being very discreet to not wake the others. They went through a rough day yesterday, they deserved some sleep. She then silently picked up her bag from Chloé's room and brought it to the kitchen, where she started searching it. Meeting the metamorph in front of Reiden's offices had reminded her of her pack, and what she had left of them. It wasn't much, she only kept a wooden box, sealed close so she wouldn't be tempted to look inside. But today, she was tempted. She had stayed alone for the past few years, but meeting a peer brought back memories.
She put the box on the kitchen table, and sat in front of it, staring. She was unconscioulsy opening and closing her fist, trying to alleviate the temptation, without much success. The longer she eyed the box, the worse it was to resist. She knew what was inside. She remembered it, but it wasn't the same thing as looking at these tokens of her past life for real.
"What is it ?"
She repressed a start. Jackson was standing in the doorway and pointed at the sealed box. She sighed and pulled the item close to her in a protective and almost territorial way.
"Memories. From my pack", she said quietly, not looking at him.
"You miss them", he stated, not even asking.
"Sometimes, yes. This is why I kept this. To be able to remember properly", she explained in a soft voice. "I stocked photos and little nothings I used to collect when I was a child. Every child likes to pick up pleasant looking rocks or nice sticks. I used to pick sticks. Small ones, barely the size of my finger. I would choose them because of the essence of wood. I collected every essence around our territory, but I lost the collection when I left. I only kept the birch stick... Because I like its color, and because in Celt tradition, it's supposed to help the deceased to a new life. It reminds me of my mother. In another culture, I heard it represents duality, and since I'm a hybrid, I guess it can apply to me as well."
"I don't have very good memories of my father", Jackson started to say without looking at her, opening up a little on his personal experience. "When I was a child, he would take me camping and we would track foxes and deers for days, just to catch a glimpse of them. But then, he began to act crazy. He would lock us inside a motel for days, repeated the same sentences again and again. But if I rack my brain, I can still find one or two good memories."
Niamh stuffed the box back in her bag, the temptation gone. Her pack wolf heart was pushing her towards Jackson, to ease his obvious pain. She could practically hear his heart aching and bleeding retrospectively. She remained seated.
"One day... One day I'll open it. And I'll look at the photos, and hope not to destroy myself doing so", she promised to herself, while knowing she would probably break this promise. She knew the wound would always be there and wouldn't heal enough to let her open the memory box.
"So, I guess today will be filled with paper reading, right ?" Jackson rhetorically asked her in a clumsy attempt to change of subject.
"Probably", she replied, aware of what he was doing but content with it. "I really hope we find something, I'd hate it if Reiden covered their tracks so well we couldn't track the payments to Shafer... It sucks being on the run. Always having to take precautions, taking care of who you talk to, not trusting anyone... Jamie shouldn't have to deal with that because of that bastard dirty agent. She saved my life, the least I can do is protect her and give her freedom", Niamh thought out loud.
"That was very sweet", the reporter's voice sounded behind them both, making them turn their head.
Jamie was standing next to Abraham, obviously eavesdropping and not wanting to interrupt. Niamh cursed herself inwardly for not listening to the noises around her and missing not only Jackson's arrival, but then Jamie and Abe's.
"Ugh, can't believe I didn't hear you guys..." she groaned. "Maybe I'm still high..."
"Yesterday you said your pills loosened your control over your senses, so you should have heard them, not the opposite", Jackson taunted her with a corner smile.
She gave a death rattle of annoyance and buried her face in her crossed arms on the table. While the others were getting breakfast, she picked her book from her bag and started reading. The last time she opened it, it was in their hotel room, in Mobile, before they found out Shafer was a liar. Well, she had realized that before, but then he proved it by killing the optometrist and trying to steal the Mother Cell. The precious crystal was now safely kept by their veterinary, until they found something useful to do with it.
She watched them eat their breakfast and chat idly whereas she settled for reading her book again. Chloé still wasn't awake, and neither was Mitch.
"Niamh, you really think we won't find anything about Shafer ?" Jamie's voice woke her from her reading.
"I fear it. If they managed to keep so many things secret, they very well could be able to hide their finances and any payment Shafer received. I hope we find something, but I'd rather not get my hopes up."
"You said things about being on the run, earlier..." Abraham said quietly, a softness in his eyes she recognized as friendship.
"I've been on the run, remember. Shit, I technically still am. Noone cancelled the banishment I'm subjected to. If I ever step in a pack's territory, they are legally allowed to kill me."
"I'm not sure killing people is legal, Niamh", Jamie tried to joke to lighten the atmosphere.
"Not by human laws, no. But who cares about human laws when they don't even know you exist and what you do ? Human laws apply to humans, and we discovered we weren't even close to being humans", the girl replied, trying (poorly) to distance herself from her companions and to lower their empathy.
"That does not mean you are barbarians ! We are in 2015, not in the Middle Ages, dammit !" the reporter flared up, barely able not to yell and wake the others.
"What do you want me to say ? That I think it should be changed ? That I will fight them myself ?", Niamh bit out, too agressively for her own taste. "I can't. I hate being separated from my pack, but I can't fight the whole system all by myself", she added in a softer voice. "They are tens of thousands across the world, and they all agreed to follow the same rules. It's already something you humans can't do. They managed to create a set of fundamental laws, and one of them is that a pack can't change a kill order or a banishment emitted by another. They can only accept it. If they didn't, it would cause riots and wars between the different clans and packs, sending us back to the Dark Ages. I don't like the rules, but I don't make them, and since I'm an outcast, I never will."
"That sucks."
"Oh, you're all up. Great."
They all turned in the direction of the new voice and faced Chloé, already clothed and her hair neatly done, almost as if she was ready to go in an instant.
"I just got a message from Delavane. Apparently, we have a new situation. We have to go back to America. Two weeks ago, a cargo ship left Oslo, Norway, and sailed to Portland, Maine. The crew reported an unusually high rat population, and in forty-eight hours, they were literally swarmed. The ship went adrift, and was seen near Pender Island, where a local fisherman swore he saw thousands of rats swimming for the coast. The local authorities found the bodies of the crew in a terrible condition, as well as grain from a farm using Reiden pesticides among the cargo."
"Rats ? Seriously ?" Mitch moaned when he joined them in the kitchen, disheveled and obviously in a bad mood. "What's next ? Leeches ? Snakes ? Spiders ?"
"Well, I don't want to sound dramatic, but I think we'll get there anytime", Niamh retorted with anger. "I hate those things, I can't wait to be there..."
"You're afraid of spiders ? Snakes I can understand, but spiders ? Aren't you like... a bit too terrifying to be scared of spiders ?" Jackson wondered, leaning on the kitchen table, across from her.
"Do you even know how dangerous these little shits can be ?"
"Australian spiders are dangerous, I know, but the european ones usually are not", the zoologist argued convincingly.
"I had a bad experience."
"You wanna share that experience with us ?" Jackson prompted her.
"I had a bad experience, I said", Niamh replied with a growl. "Can we focus on the rat problem now ?"
"Uh... yeah, sorry, you're right. So... We're heading back to the States, are we ?"
"Yeah. Delavane wants us to assess the situation and determine if a containment protocol will be necessary. He hopes it won't, but we can never be sure. He wants us to capture a male and a female for analysis too. He will stay here, though."
"So I guess we have to book tickets for a flight today. I hope we'll have enough money for this whole animal apocalypse thing, 'cause all these travels are becoming expensive", Mitch remarked with snark.
"Delavane funds us", Chloé assured as she grabbed a toast and spread jam on it.
"Yeah, sure, but even if it's not our money, this job is getting expensive. Are we sure we'll be able to finish it ?"
"Let's just hope so. I would worry more about the animals killing us all rather than about the lack of money, if I were you, though", Abe said.
They then finished eating and packed their belongings, then headed to the airport and bought six tickets for the next flight. Either they were lucky or someone was watching over them from above, because there was a direct flight between Paris and Portland in the afternoon. They loaded their luggage with the others and climbed in the plane, once again lucky to sit next to each other. The flight would last about nine hours, and they were all trying to think of things to do to busy themselves or to sleep.
After starting dozing off, about three hours after they took off, the plane started to shake violently. Turbulences. Nothing dramatic, since neither the stewards nor the pilot made any announcement stating to buckle yourself up, or prepare for an emergency landing in the ocean, but they had a metamorph with kind of a low tolerance to pressure on board. The first tremor made Niamh jolt awake and grip her chair, color drained from her face. Abe, sitting next to her, tried to comfort her and reassure her that planes were by far the safest way to travel, and that they were very unlikely to crash. Still tense, her jaws clenched tightly, she wasn't able to sleep again, only to start growling lowly when the plane started to shake again, but more longly.
She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the low and steady voice of her friend on the seat next to her, her hands shaking and clasped on the armrests, her fingers digging in the stuffing in an attempt to calm herself down. She was so irrationaly scared that she didn't even notice she was also using her wounded arm. She felt her eyes tingling and her gums burn as she did her best to control her fear and the adrenaline her body was producing in response. It was in times like that that she cursed her hybrid DNA. If she had been 100% werewolf, she wouldn't face such problems.
Fortunately, the turbulences didn't last. Slowly, with Abe's quite frantic and apprehensive help, she managed to regain control over herself and they all could resume to their naps, though she could feel Jackson and Abe eyeing her carefully, as if they were still worried she would snap. To avoid this problem again, Niamh dug in her pockets for her painkillers, her shoulder now sore being another reason to gobble down a handful of them. She slipped into sleep in a matter of minutes, under the cautious gaze of the gentle giant in the seat next to her, wondering if she didn't overdose herself.
When they landed, it was still pitch black outside and they had to find a hotel quickly to store their stuff and get a couple hours of proper sleep before going to their next assignment. The second they got in their beds, they fell asleep and slept right through the night. They only woke up late in the morning and had to rush to find a ferry to sail to the island. Mitch accompanied them to the docks, and remained behind the group with Jamie.
Niamh was already on the boat, almost jumping in happiness and excitement, and every member of the group could see the dog part of her, in the way she could practically be wagging her animal tail in joy. Jackson, Chloé and Abraham joined her, looking at her with a grin, amused by her antics.
"So... you don't like planes, but you're okay with boats ?" Jackson asked when they all walked to the front of the ferry.
"Yeah. I can swim. And I can't fly", the metamorph replied as if it was an appropriate answer.
"It's the ocean, Niamh."
"I can still swim", she persisted obstinately. "And I love sailing. I love the feeling of the sea moving under the ship, I love the noise of the waves, I love the salty smell of the sea, I love the sensation of the wind blowing through my hair. I just love sailing", she then explained with a huge goofy grin.
Jamie joined them a minute later, and another few minutes later, the ferry left the docks. The group was standing at the front of the ship, talking about their mission on the island.
"How did a few rats become thousands on the course of a trip across the Atlantic ?" Jamie asked.
"Well, if Mitch is right, and the Mother Cell is an accelerant, it may be by being exposed to it in a contained environment, it accelerated the reproductive nature of the rats", Jackson said, arms crossed and leaning on the guard-rail behind him.
"Or we could be seeing it in the rats first, because they have a short gestation period", Abraham suggested. "What if this is just the beginning ?"
"We could face a massive population explosion in the entire animal kingdom..."
Niamh reflected back on the animals they already faced. Angry wolves, man-slaughtering dogs, telepathic lions, armored bears... And then she imagined if they were to suddenly increase their population. Would it affect the metamorphs too ? If the population of shapeshifters boomed, the Secret would definitely be out, and considering the madness that afflicted them when they transformed, the humans would also try to hunt them down as much as the other animals.
"A swarm of rats is one thing, a swarm of lions, tigers, alligators..." Abe enumerated, worry tainting his low voice.
"How would we even begin to fight back against something like that ?" Jamie protested against their future task almost desperately.
"We probably couldn't", Niamh deadpanned. "Unless we nuked them all, and hid in bunkers for the next millenia until the radiation is low enough to not kill us", she added with caustic humor.
The others glared at her, as if her comment would jinx them and bring the apocalypse sooner than expected. Jackson discarded her remark with a gesture of his hand, and spoke again.
"Okay, first things first. We have to warn the people on Pender Island."
"I'm pretty sure they'd be aware", Jamie said sarcastically.
If thousands of rats swam to their coasts, and if they reproduces that fast, the locals should indeed have noticed something.
"Aside from the fisherman, no one has reported any rats at all", Chloé told them, contradicting the reporter's thoughts.
"None ?" Jamie insisted, while Chloé simply shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."
"What does make sense since this whole thing began ? I mean, now we even have werewolves, real ones. At this point, I think we can legitimately expect anything to happen", Abraham intervened calmly, though his face showed concern.
Niamh turned to the sea, looking straight at the island in the distance. The wind was blowing through her hair, bringing the salty smell of the sea to her nostrils. She really missed it. Even though they were heading to an island swarmed by blood thirsty rats, she was allowing herself to relax a bit.
"We need to capture a male and a female. It's the only way to see how the Mother Cell affects the reproductive behavior", Chloé reminded them of their mission
"So we're going on a rat hunt", Jamie stated while Jackson stared at the sea as if he was rethinking his life choices.
"What's the matter, Rafiki ?" Abe wondered.
"The men that died on that cargo were eaten by rats. It's been proven that rats that taste human blood begin to crave it", Jackson replied to his friends and told the others.
"Well... that's just awesome", the reporter groaned in annoyance and spite.
While Jackson and Abraham leaned on the rail, Chloé turned to Jamie and Niamh.
"Are you going to be okay ?" she wondered.
"Why wouldn't we ?" Jamie retorted, looking slightly offended.
"Because you shot someone, and we didn't really talk about it since then", Niamh whispered in answer, to avoid being overheard.
"And you, were shot and fought bears. This is one of the rare calm moments we will have these times, so let's just enjoy it and take advantage of it to talk. How are you ?" Chloé insisted.
Jamie averted her eyes and sighed. Niamh could sense she hadn't completely come to terms with what she did.
"We don't have time for that. We need to focus on the matter at hand. These rats aren't going to be easy to deal with, we should think of a strategy, not wonder whether or not I can deal with Shafer's death", Jamie ranted, turning to the sea so she wouldn't have to look the DGSE agent in the eye.
"Look, once we're done here, we'll join Mitch and start browsing Reiden's finances again", Niamh assured her. "We'll find something against Shafer, don't worry."
"Ladies and gentleman, we are approaching the island and will be berthing in a few minutes, please remain on the ferry until full stop. Thank you", a voice said through the speakers.
Jamie waved her hand as a dismissal of Chloé's worries. Neither Chloé nor Niamh actually managed to get her to talk anymore, and when the ferry landed, they gathered to decide what to do next.
"I suggest we split up. One group meets with the Sheriff to get info on what's going on here, and the other stays with Jamie", Jackson said.
"Why ?" the reporter objected. "I don't need anybody to keep an eye on me, and I don't see why we couldn't stay together..."
"Because you might be on the FBI wanted list, and we don't want you near any police officer", Abraham replied patiently. "I'll stay with you."
"Yeah, me too", Niamh added. "Jackson, Chloé, you mind talking to the Sheriff ?"
"No problem", Chloé replied. "Let's do that."
They walked to the main street of the town, spotted a restaurant just in front of the police station, and dropped Abraham, Jamie and Niamh there, and Jackson and Chloé then tried to meet with the Sheriff. Sitting at a table, they ordered drinks and proceeded to wait. Fortunately, the Sheriff they were looking for exited the station only minutes later, and Jackson and Chloé loomed in on her. While Abe and Jamie sipped their drinks in silence, Jamie trying to get Mitch on the phone, Niamh was trying to spy on the others' conversation with the Sheriff.
Then suddenly her face reddened in embarrassment when she heard the policewoman mention the fact that she used to 'date' Jackson when they were kids, and drew attention on her as she hid behind her hands.
"What ?" Jamie wondered, finally letting go of her phone.
"I'm listening in on their conversation, and just heard one of the most cringe situation possible."
"What happened, do tell !" Jamie prompted her with curiosity.
"Wait, they keep talking... Apparently, the fisherman who saw the rats may have drunk too much and only saw like twelve rats rather than a hundred. However, Jackson told us rats get addicted to human blood, and the bodies on the boat were displaying bite marks, so... The Sheriff says that the coroner hasn't finished the autopsies yet, though he thinks the crew was killed by a... carbon monoxide leak..." Niamh continued without looking at anything, her gaze lost in space as she focused on her hearing to only listen to their conversation, and not the dozen others around them.
"And Mitch who still ignores me..." the reporter complained. "Does any of you have had news ?"
"Nope."
"Me neither, but I haven't reached out to him yet. I have patience", Abe added, calm and composed.
Niamh sipped a bit of her coke and watched Jackson and Chloé ending their conversation with the Sheriff a moment later. She had stopped listening in, and so didn't know what they talked about or what lead they had and could now follow. They joined Niamh and the others, but didn't sit next to them.
"Apparently, rats were spotted near hotel Wilson, so that's our next stop. The city sent an exterminator, but he hasn't come back yet", Chloé explained to her team. "Finish your drinks and let's go."
XXXXXXXXXX
The hotel was located in the outskirts of town, and due to the renovations, there wasn't anyone in a large radius. Niamh pricked up her ears, looking for any suspicious noise. If the thousands rats that swam from the ship ended nesting here, she should be able to hear them, right ? No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't hear anything else than Abraham fidgeting with the door lock as he struggled to pick it. She tried to circle the building while Abe was trying to open the door, but there were fences all around it, and with her injured shoulder, she didn't want to risk tearing off her stiches once again, though she was thinking that they should be almost definitely closed now. She healed faster than humans, and it had been three days since the shooting. Even though she broke her stitches during the fight with the bears, she was confident enough that by the end of the day, she wouldn't bleed out anymore. Her shoulder still wouldn't be totally healed, it would be stiff and sore for a few days more, but she could remove the sling.
"Come on, you son of a..." Abe groaned at the lock.
"You used to be good at this", Jackson taunted his friend, when the tall black guy finally managed to unlock the door.
They all got in the hotel one behind the other, and looked around them with a mix of curiosity and slight anxiety. Niamh cast an eye in a nearby room, closed by a plastic curtain, and inhaled deeply to try and find any rat smell. She immediately sneezed, overwhelmed by the massive amount of dust, from paint as well as from usual dust.
"37 seconds, you're slowing down", Jackson remarked, still taunting.
"It's the salt air, makes the lock stick", the other responded casually as he looked around and began searching his bag.
Jamie tried to switch on the light, to no avail as it flickered and then died, to her dismay. She was obviously not fond of the rats they would have to face, and she wasn't very enthusiastic at the idea of them wandering alone in this semi abandoned hotel with a swarm of killer rodents. Chloé was scouting the area, searching for any threat with Jackson, and Niamh was simply trying her best not to sneeze again, while her eyes watered due her effort. Good news was they found the rats, their smell was everywhere around them, as much as the smell of dust. Bad news was they found the rats. For Niamh to be able to smell them so strongly while in human form, they had to be more than a thousand. Way more. And they were only five of them to face them off.
"I'll have a look for a circuit panel", Abe said about their light problem. "See if I can get some light."
"Hey, the exterminator left some traps. Look", Chloé exclaimed, a few meters away from them, in the corridor.
"It hasn't been touched", Abraham remarked.
"Neither has this one", Jackson agreed, gesturing to another one.
"Those traps are no good to us because they are store-bought junk intended to kill the rats. Unlike like what we've bought, which should merely trap them, hopefully becoming a honeymoon suite for a male and female for Mitch to observe", the tall man explained slowly, as he scooped a spoonful of peanut butter from a jar he brought especially to use as bait, and applied on the floor of the trap he set.
Jamie was eyeing him do with a mixture of fear and disgust, and regretfully complained : "The fact that it's come to this, searching for killer rats in an abandoned hotel... I should have gone to college..."
"I thought you did go to college", Abraham objected.
"Should have gone to a better college."
"Not to be the devil's advocate, but I think Mitch did go to college too, Chloé and I as well, and still, we're all here", Niamh argued.
"I see where you're going. I just meant that if I did go to a better college, I may not have worked as a reporter and wouldn't have found out about the telepath lions, wouldn't have met Mitch, and wouldn't have had to come here..."
"You are a reporter, you have it in your guts, you would have found out, trust me. Especially since it involves Reiden", the girl assured her confidently. "We should get going, now... I have a bad feeling about this place, it puts me on edge."
"Yeah. Chloé and I will check the traps on the upper floors. You guys look down here", Jackson commanded.
Niamh instinctively bristled at the command in his voice, but reminded herself not to be difficult. She nodded and headed first towards the next corridors and room of the first floor. Abe put the trap down on the floor, and followed her, Jamie between them, in second position. As they walked across the corridor, Niamh noticed a few rats observing them from holes in the walls and from the top of shelves here and there. She growled at those that were the closest to them, sending them packing in fear.
"We should go downstairs, find the circuit panel", Abe suggested.
"I agree. Jamie, stay between us, just in case."
The reporter nodded and complied obediently, placing herself two steps behind the metamorph, and followed her as the girl carefully treaded along the walls. Every so often, they noticed a few rats observing them curiously. Tense and nervous, Niamh located the stairwell going down and led the way for her companions. She could see in the dark better than the others, but she didn't complain when they lit flashlights. It was actually more convenient than narrowing her eyes to try and see shit in that darkness.
They walked past a few empty traps, and a lot more with rats stuck dead in them. The smell of the rats was almost overwhelming, and only the smell of their dejections was stronger. Niamh frowned her nose and tried to get rid of that scent by breathing through her nose repeatedly.
"What's wrong, Niamh ?"
"I'm sure you can smell it too. These rats stink."
"I'll admit that this place will need a serious cleaning after the rats are exterminated", Jamie replied.
A few minutes later, Abraham stopped and drew their attention on the room they just walked by. The circuit panel was in there. They all gathered in, Abe opening the panel, Jamie lighting it so he could see what he was doing, and Niamh keeping watch at the door. She doubted they would have to face any danger for now, but you know. Better be safe than Abraham was trying to fix the light, Jamie was browsing her phone, slowly but surely diverting the light she provided with the device from the panel.
"I could fix it if I could see it, Jamie", Abe chided her.
"Sorry. I just still haven't heard from Mitch. It's killing me, to be this close to taking down Reiden", she explained herself.
"So what if we did ? What if Reiden was found guilty of everything you ever suspected them of doing ? What then ?" the tall man asked her as he fiddled with the cables, sighing in annoyance at the chewed things.
"What do you mean ?" Jamie replied with another question, but agreeing to keep her phone's flash in the right direction.
"He's worried about your future lack of purpose in life afterwards, I guess", Niamh whispered just loud enough for the others to hear her from the doorway.
"When I was a little boy, my cousin, Simon, and I were obsessed with finding a particularly endangered member of the antelope family, the hirola", he began, and then turned to cast a brief glance at the reporter. We travelled all around countryside just to catch a glimpse of one. Then, finally, in Somalia, we found a small herd of hirola. Yes, it was as beautiful as we had hoped, and many photos were taken. But when we travelled home, we realized there was an emptiness. We had spent so much energy on a single-minded pursuit, and it was over."
As he kept talking, Niamh allowed herself to look at Jamie for a second. She had that sad air a kid would have when told their favorite toy was damaged.
"What now ?" Abe ended his story, conveying the feelings of emptiness and anguish he had then.
"I appreciate what you're saying. But I assure you, there will be no emptiness when we bring down Reiden", Jamie retorted fiercely while the light suddenly worked again and Abe chuckled in victory. "There will be only joy", she added with grim determination.
They closed the circuit panel to prevent the rats from eating the cable again as much as they could, and backtracked to the ground level. Still in first position, Niamh was reviewing what had been told. And she thought the two purposes pursued by Abraham and Jamie were different in the end.
"I agree with Jamie, you know", she said loudly so Abe could hear her from the rear. "It's different. There is a difference between finding a rare species and putting an end to a dangerous company's business. When we'll stop Reiden, they won't be able to hurt anyone again, whereas when you found the antelope, no offense, but you didn't change the world. Finding that herd didn't save humanity, and taking photos didn't stop a massive animal uprising. While I understand what you mean by 'what now ?', I also think that there won't be any emptiness, there will be accomplishment."
She lowered her gaze to the ground, unseen by the others behind her.
"And my kind will come back to reason... Hopefully..." she whispered under her breath.
They were heading back to the ground level in silence, when Niamh abruptly stopped walking and tensed. There was a weird noise she could hear now... She started walking again, extremely cautiously and slowly, Jamie and Abraham in tow. She was wary of everything, taking time to check the rooms they were passing by on their way back upstairs and make sure they weren't in danger from the rats. They were almost back to the stairwell when she stopped once again. But this time, it wasn't because she thought she was hearing things. This time, she definitely heard something, and it was becoming painful. She winced and growled as she brought a hand to her ear, trying to protect her sense of hearing from the sound.
"Hey, are you okay ? Niamh ?" she heard Jamie wonder next to her.
"What's wrong ?" Abe added worrily.
"Don't you hear them ? The rats... They're making these horrible sounds, as if they were... I don't know, grinding their teeth ? Sharpening their claws ? I don't know but it's fucking loud and really painful..."
The noise kept hurting her ears a few more minutes, before lowering, and then stopping completely. She breathed out deeply, eyes closed in relief, and leaned against the wall with contentedness. She took another minute to enjoy the calm, before standing straight up, ready to go. The others were eyeing her with uncertainty, probably wondering if she really was fine or just pretending like she was used to do.
"It's over. We can go now."
When they made it to the first floor, they travelled back to where Abe left his traps. He walked past the two girls to reach for the small cage, and grabbed it with a smile.
"Looks like we have a winner", he remarked as he opened the gate of the cage to grab the rat.
Behind them, Niamh heard the rustling of steps that betrayed the arrival of Jackson and Chloé, so she didn't jump in surprise like Jamie, who was focused on watching Abraham put the rat in his game bag, when Jackson called for them.
"Hey ! It's worse than we thought", he said. "Oh, you got one."
"Yes. A male", Abe replied to his friend, holding the hissing and squeaking rat carefully.
"Okay, now we just need a female."
"At the risk of sounding overly girly, this is all really, really... really disgusting." Jamie frowned and made a face at the rat while Chloé just stared blankly at her with an air of 'you're weak' criticism.
Niamh decided to make a round to secure the place, and checked all the rooms around them while Jackson was dialing someone on his phone. She could only hear the other person reply "Sheriff Bowman", before having to clasp her hands on her ears again. The rats were bruxing again, and this time, they were a lot closer than they were in the basement. She could hear them from everywhere : the floor, the walls, the ceiling. They were everywhere.
She started to whine and pant, tears beginning to well up in her eyes with the pain. She couldn't even fight it properly, it wasn't as if she could punch the noise to make it stop. And there were too many rats to punch them all into silence.
"What's going on with her ?" Chloé asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"The rats. She hears them louder than us", Jamie explained quickly as she searched her pockets for earplugs that she kept from the plane flight.
She eventually found them and handed them to the distressed metamorph who gladly accepted them and pushed them deep in her ears with relief. She mouthed a thanks to the reporter and closed her eyes. She had enough of these rats. She only wanted to go home, get off this damned island and call Richard. While she was having her hearing crisis, Jackson was still talking to the Sheriff.
"You have to evacuate all the nearby homes", he said, before a pause while the woman must have answered, but Niamh couldn't hear her anymore between the earplugs and her unwillingness to hear the rats as well as the woman's answer. "No, no, don't, don't come here. Please, you have to keep people away from here. Becky ! Damn it, she hung up. Come on, the sooner we find a female rat, the sooner we get out of here", he commanded.
"Niamh, are you gonna make it ? You could wait outside, it won't take long", Chloé suggested, clearly hoping to protect her.
"Hell no. These rats killed humans, I'm not gonna leave you here alone."
"Well, technically, we wouldn't be alone, and since you're wounded, you'd be safer outside", Jamie insisted.
"I am not leaving you. I am the blood of an Alpha, I will not let myself be bossed around lightly", Niamh replied, stubborn, and headed first in the next corridor.
They only walked a matter of minutes before the lights suddenly shutted down. Outside of the hotel, the sun must have started to go down, because the light coming from the windows was low.
"My patch work must not have held", Abe casually said as they all took flashlights from their bags.
A second later, though, the lights flickered on again, and they put the torches back in their bags, slightly confused.
"Perhaps it worked better than I thought", Abe added to his previous statement.
Niamh and Chloé were walking front, then Jackson and Abraham, and finally Jamie was walking behind them. They trailed carefully through the hallway, checking the rooms and the traps set by both the exterminator and Abe in hope to find a female rat.
"Wait guys, I hear something..." Niamh said, breaking the silence.
They froze on their tracks, and tried to hear it to, to not avail. Focusing on the sound, Niamh took off the earplugs and realized that what she was hearing faintly was actually a lot louder now. Not enough to cause her pain like before, but enough to worry her. There were rats squeaking noises. She paled as it dawned on her that there must be a lot of rats nearby if she heard them that strongly. And then the elevator rang, drawing all of their attention to it.
"Hey guys, the elevator's here", Jamie distractedly remarked as they all looked at it in curiosity.
"Must be Becky", Jackson assumed.
Her throat knotted, Niamh managed nonetheless to swallow and warn them.
"No it's not... Run", she whispered, unable to speak louder because of the damn knot that was already back.
The elevator's doors opened, releasing hundreds of rats that swarmed the corridor in a matter of seconds. Without even having time to understand how the hell they managed to work the elevator with their tiny paws and their stupid brain, the group scattered and tried to run away. Only Niamh wasn't able to move, petrified by her fight or flight response. A part of her wanted to get the hell out of here, and the other part was ready to bare her fangs and start mauling these vermins. She rounded her back and growled angrily, her eyes turning gold as adrenaline washed over her. She didn't even care anymore of her injured arm, she only wanted to salughter these rodents.
The swarm of rats noticed her and immediately tried to get to her, almost ignoring Jackson, Abe and Jamie running away from them. She could see the rats' sharp incisors as they bared them at her and were about to bite her, when she felt herself being pulled aside. Chloé violently slammed the door after she had dragged her inside the room in which she already was, and breathed loudly, obviously scared of the rats. On the other side of the door, the angry rodents tried to chew the wood panel to make a passage, and so Chloé kept dragging Niamh behind her until they found another room to hide in until the rats stopped looking for them.
When she finally allowed herself to breathe freely, she realized they weren't out of the woods yet. Niamh was still running high on adrenaline, and her eyes were still the color of molten gold, and though she was doing her best to control her heartrate, she was clearly losing the fight right now. The only time Chloé saw her shapeshift was in the woods in Mississipi, when they were looking for Mitch and Abraham, and only for a brief moment. She never had to deal with her when in animal form, and from what Jackson and Abraham told them, it was not easy to deal with the terror you feel when a giant beast looked at you as if you were its next meal. So she'd rather not have Niamh turn at all. And so she had to help her control herself right now.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay. The rats are gone, we're safe", she tried to say calmly, and failing to keep her voice from shaking.
The young girl raised her gaze to look at her in the eye, aware that the DGSE agent was totally freaking out. She also knew that she couldn't transform and risk to harm herself even more because of her arm. She focused on her breathing, eyes closed, and tried to count backwards from 100.
"My sister used to have panic attacks when we were younger", Chloé then started to tell her, sounding like she had just found a good way to help her (and she might actually have). "We had her describe something she could see in the most accurate way possible, to distract her brain from panic. You can also try to breathe in for four seconds, hold for one and breathe out for four seconds again. It's going to be okay, Niamh. Breathe in with me. In... Block. And out..." the blonde woman commanded her as she lightly set hands on the young metamorph's shoulders in a comforting way.
Niamh blindly trusted Chloé and completely gave in to the strategy she suggested, and kept her eyes fixed in the other's. Slowly, she managed to regain control over her breathing, and her muscles relaxed as her eyes turned back to ice blue. It took her about ten minutes to totally relax and reverse the transformation process, but then, she was sure she wouldn't accidentally turn.
"Thank you..." she muttered in a croaky voice. "I never know how to deal with these. And before I was infected, I had no trouble finding a safe place to turn, cool down, and then shift back to human again. Now, I can't risk it anymore."
"It's okay, don't worry. How are you feeling ? Can you walk ?" Chloé inquired, still concerned.
Niamh let out a bark of sharp laughter.
"Yeah, of course. It's my arm that's injured, not my leg. And now that I won't turn into the Beast, I've got no problem going with you. Thanks again", the girl repeated, insistent on making sure Chloé knew how much she helped her.
She tried to smile at the woman, but she was more used to sarcastic smirks and predatory grins, so when she tried to smile a warm and kind smile, it felt kind of weird.
"We should try and find the others. Apparently, the rats were mostly after us, but a good number of them still went after the three others."
Chloé nodded and both of them carefully exited the room they locked themselves in while trying to escape the rats. There were no rodents outside anymore, and they could start to explore again without having to run. They were wary of any suspicious noise, of course, but it seemed like there weren't any rats nearby for now.
"You called your wolf form 'the Beast', earlier", Chloé whispered, feeling that she shouldn't make any noise. "Why ?"
"Well, it is a Beast", Niamh snickered, not looking at the other woman.
"Isn't it a bit self-deprecating ?" Chloé remarked, her analyst brain immediately pointing out what was wrong to her.
Niamh tightened her jaws and looked away, though she wasn't even looking at the DGSE agent, who was walking behind her.
"I guess it is... But you know... Appellons un chat, un chat (let's call a spade a spade (A.N : literally 'let's call a cat a cat'), as it is a Beast, I don't know how I could call it else than that."
"I don't know either... But it just feels wrong. It's a part of you, and calling it a 'Beast' is like hating that part of yourself. A beast has no mind, no heart, just instinct and violence. You aren't a beast. And that other part of you isn't either."
Niamh swallowed hard, realizing noone ever told her that about herself. She always thought, deep down in her heart, not even admitting it totally to herself, that the Beast was that angry wolf-bear hybrid that caused her mother's death. She liked the freedom the Beast gave her, she loved the power she had when in animal form. But she never really acknowledged the Beast as a part of her that she could fully respect. It was kind of that dark side everyone hid in their heart, but a dark side she had access to. It was violent, full of fury, and quick to anger. So 'the Beast' it was.
"Are you alright ?" Chloé asked her after she'd been silent for a long time.
"Hmm", she mumbled with a quick nod, avoiding her eyes.
This was her pack. The pack she never really had. How could she come to bond so fast to them ? Was it some kind of psychologic bullshit such as 'she was starved of affection and needed it now' ? Her parents loved her, she had never lacked anything, she had been protected, cared for. She wasn't starved of affection, was she ? So why did Chloé's words hit so close to home ? Why did they stir something deep in her heart ?
"So..." she tried, had to clear her throat, and then continued. "So how would you like to call it ?"
"I don't know. She is your alter ego, not mine." Chloé shrugged while following the younger girl. "But I was thinking about 'Niamh'. You are the two sides of the same coin, after all."
Once again, Niamh tightened her jaws, trying to suppress the emotion biting at her heart. She casually tried to dismiss the emotion as she kept walking, completely refusing to look at the DGSE agent.
"Wait, I hear something", the girl said after a while.
She stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes to focus on her hearing sense. Behind her, Chloé remained perfectly silent and waited for more info.
"Is it the rats ? Did they find us ?" she eventually wondered in a whisper.
"No... I think it's the Sheriff. I'm not sure I recognized her voice right, but it definitely was a woman. She's calling for Jackson."
"We should try and find her. It's not safe to be alone", Chloé decided.
"Indeed. Glad we didn't get separated back then. And thanks for dragging me along, I couldn't react in time."
"Forget about it, it was nothing." The blonde woman waved her hand and shook her head in a 'no problem' kind of gesture. "Where did you hear her ?"
"She just got in the hotel. She still must be on the first floor. Well... au rez-de-chaussée (on the ground level)."
Chloé smiled in amusement. In French, what americans called first floor was called floor 0. She wasn't quite sure why they were still speaking English at this point, being alone together and of French birth, but maybe they both got used to speaking another language and didn't think about switching back.
Niamh ruffled her hair and sighed. She only wanted to leave this island, but they still had to deal with the rats, and now there was someone else in danger. As if she wasn't already worried for her group, she now had a police officer to watch out for. Not that she really cared about her personally, but she mattered for Jackson, and in addition, they didn't actually want to be responsible for another death. She pushed open a door to the stairwell and cautiously began to walk down the steps. Every sense in alert, she was so tense that she might actually just punch someone by accident if startled. The light was still decreasing outside, and though the power was still working, some lightbulbs had died and there were some dark spots here and there in the corridors and in the stairwell.
When arrived at the first floor, the rats started bruxing again, causing Niamh to wince in pain and frantically search her pockets for the earplugs Jamie gave her. When she put them in her ears, she felt better, but the mere thought of the rats sharpening their teeth made her uncomfortable. And now she couldn't even track the Sheriff by the noise she made. She couldn't smell her either, because of the overwhelming rat reek. Chloé was now walking side by side with her younger colleague, and was the first to notice the plastic curtain flapping as if someone had pushed it aside to walk in the room. She was also the first to enter the room, and stopped abruptly.
"Chloé", Niamh could hear another voice say with relief as she too walked into the room a second later. "So much for the coroner's theory that rats don't eat people", she added, gesturing towards the dead body of the exterminator, covered in little bites.
"Yes, and we need to find something better than rats traps", Chloé added, still shivering retrospectively about the swarm of rats that attacked them.
"Yeah... Uh, who is this ?" the Sheriff asked, with a hand gesture at Niamh.
"Niamh, this is Sheriff Bowman. Sheriff, this is Niamh. She... She's our intern", Chloé introduced the younger girl to the police officer.
"Colleague", Niamh corrected softly. "Nice to meet you. Now can we go and find the others ? They are alone somewhere in this infested hotel, and I don't like it. I'm supposed to protect you, how am I supposed to do that if we're separated ? Not even mentioning my arm..." she mumbled grumpily.
She didn't approach to salute the woman more formally. As the bruxing was still heard around them and her wariness only grew, she could feel her eyes tingle again, and knew it meant they were turning gold. She controlled her transformation, she wasn't on a huge adrenaline rush, but she wanted to be ready to anything, and so the process had somehow started. So her eyes were of an unusual color, she didn't want the Sheriff to notice, and though she wasn't about to transform, she couldn't relax and fought the Beast to keep it under control. She thought about Chloé telling her to stop calling the Beast like that, and forced herself to think her thought again : 'she fought against herself to remain in control of her anger'. Better. Ish... She still had some anger issues, but at least, she acknowledged them as hers, and not her inner wolf's.
"I'll take this. It could come in handy, and it's better than traps or guns", Chloé said, unaware of Niamh's inner dialogue.
She carefully and respectfully pried the flamethrower off the back of the exterminator, and put it on her own back like a backpack. She checked that it was still functional and that she knew how to make it work, accidentally almost burning down the hotel, and then declared they were ready to go. Niamh and Becky Bowman nodded, and this time the young metamorph let her elder go first. She didn't like it, but at the time, Chloé was deadlier than she was.
"So, I didn't see you earlier, when Jackson and Chloé went to talk to me about the hotel", the Sheriff tried to start a conversation with Niamh.
"Yeah, I was with the others at the nearby bar."
Niamh wasn't really eager to talk. She was mainly focused on keeping her adrenaline in check, and tried to listen for anything despite the earplugs and the rats still bruxing. She also tried not to look at the Sheriff directly so she wouldn't notice her golden eyes.
"What happened to your arm ?" the woman inquired as a good detective.
Chloé almost froze, in front of them, and barely managed to keep walking without pausing, though she glanced at Niamh in concern. What would she tell the officer that wouldn't endanger them ?
"Nothing important. Just slipped in the bathtub and sprained my shoulder. I'll be fully healed soon", the girl lied swiftly.
They kept walking, until Chloé had to open a door, and they were suddenly in danger. A swarm of rats was awaiting them on the other side, and immediately flooded the corridor. Niamh growled ferociously and grabbed the Sheriff's arm with one hand, forcibly removing her from harm's way. The brunette was pushed aside brutally and could only fall on her behind while Niamh placed herself between her and the rats and Chloé just fired her flamethrower at the swarm. The vermins burnt in seconds, a foul stench rapidly emitting from their charred carcasses. Niamh gagged, but didn't throw up, and stayed between the now dead creatures and the Sheriff, to be sure she was safe.
"I think they're all dead", Chloé eventually uttered as she lowered the flamethrower. "Are you two alright ?"
"Yeah... You're really strong", the Sheriff remarked in a suspicious tone, accepting Niamh's hand to help her up.
The girl froze as she pulled the brunette up, and realized that, caught up in the action as she was, she forgot that she wasn't supposed to look at her in the eye.
"Wow, that' a very unique eye color", the woman added, frowning.
"Yeah, it runs in the family", Niamh dismissed the comment with calm confidence. "And I'm scared, it's adrenaline, not real strength."
"You don't strike me as a fearful person, though."
"We literally are surrounded by thousands of man-eating rodents", Niamh deadpanned, staring blankly at the brunette.
"Maybe you could ask these questions later, Sheriff", Chloé stepped in the conversation. "We are still missing three friends, and there are murdering rats in the walls."
The brunette nodded sheepishly while Niamh cast a thankful glance at the other blonde. They resumed to their silent walk, and slowly headed to the basement. After a moment of reflexion, they agreed that it was the most likely place for the rats to hide and their friends to be, since they explored almost everything else. Extremely wary and alert, Niamh picked up the scent of Jamie's perfume on their way to the basement, and discreetly confirmed to Chloé that they were on the right way. They carefully stepped down the stairs, and overheard squeaking and hissing and bruxing from ahead. Niamh winced and clasped her hands on her ears in addition of the earplugs, and Chloé called out for the others.
"Guys ?"
"Chloé, stay out of here !" Jackson shouted from behind the door they were facing.
Without any reflexion, Chloé kicked the door open, the flamethrower ready to fire in her hands, and saw the swarm of rats threatening to attack Jackson, Abe and Jamie. She calmly pointed the weapon at them and began to burn them all alsmot casually. Meanwhile, Niamh and the Sheriff stayed cautiously behind her, waiting for the area to be cleared of rats.
"Queens ! Get the queens !" the zoologist yelled.
Chloé nodded and walked up determinedly further inside the room, burning every rat brave or stupid enough to try to attack her, as well as the swarm of rodents piled up in the back of the room. Niamh pushed past the Sheriff to get to the others and caught a glance of the queen rats Jackson talked about. She froze and made a disgusted grimace.
Ew, ew, ew. Am outta here. She shivered mentally as she grabbed the arms of Jamie and Jackson and dragged them with her outside of the basement. She made sure that Abraham also followed her, and made it outside in one piece. The Sheriff had followed her as well while Chloé was dealing with the remaining animals. They exited the basement and were able to breathe freely again. Chloé eventually joined them and got rid of the flamethrower.
"Are they all dead ?" Jamie worried.
"Pretty sure they are, yeah", Chloé rassured them, slightly out of breath because of the smoke and the smell of the dead rodents.
"I'm calling my colleagues and the firefighters", the Sheriff said in a toneless voice, face pale and inexpressive.
"We should go", Jamie stated with a shiver. "I don't want to be there when the police starts searching the place. They could ask unrequired questions."
"I agree. The Sheriff is already suspicious of me, I don't want to give her more reasons to be even more inquisitive", Niamh added, starting to feel the adrenaline dissolve in her bloodstream, and her eyes turn blue again.
"You two hide, I want to talk to her before we go and I doubt she will pay attention to me until the reinforcements are here", Jackson objected.
Niamh and Jamie both sighed but had no other choice but to comply. So they they simply waited until the police and firefighters arrived. It was a small town, so they were here in less than ten minutes, and while they stayed away from the police, the Sheriff talked to the firefighters about what they had to do in the basement and in some various other floors.
Even if she knew she shouldn't do that, Niamh was curious and wanted to erase the concerned frown on Jamie's face. It was hazardous, because she didn't know if she would worry her more or not, but she had to try anyway.
"Still no news from Mitch ?"
"No..." the reporter replied sadly after a quick glance at her phone. "I hope he's fine."
"He probably just forgot to charge his phone", Niamh snorted spitefully.
"That sounds like him, yes. I can't wait to get off this island..."
"Same."
Niamh stalked to the door and glanced at Jackson, approached by the Sheriff.
"I called an off-island exterminator, just to be safe", the woman said to her childhood friend, unaware of Niamh spying on their conversation.
"That's a good idea."
"There's something more to it, isn't there ? Whatever it is you're looking into ? And this girl, I could swear she had golden eyes earlier, and now they're ice blue..."
Jackson tensed slightly while Niamh backed inside the building quickly. They needed to go. Now. She gathered their stuff, Abraham made sure his game bag was sealed and didn't let any of the baby rats out, and Chloé prepared herself to go as well. She eventually left the building first, quickly followed by a sulky Jamie.
"Ill breathe a lot easier when we're off this island", the reporter huffed grumpily as she walked past Jackson and Chloé.
They got to their rental car and drove to the docks where they only could watch the last ferry sail away from the island. They shared an annoyed sigh and booked two rooms in the only hotel of the island for the night. They crashed on their beds and fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted from their day.
A.N : To 'Guest', who told me that NHS was simply called 'paramedics' (chapter 1), I say thank you. When I think back about it now, it seems indeed a better option than the acronym. I actually knew the term but was still thinking I was translating the french part, and not writing in english and thus using the appropriate technical terms (and in French we use the acronym SAMU for the paramedics, so...) ^^' I will correct it when I finish the season 1 and edit the whole story instead of correcting every mistake I made everytime someone points it to me :)