Lone Girl (The Wolfling Saga) (18 page)

“Positive. I’ve made this journey countless times.”

“How much farther is it?” I asked after another fifteen minutes of driving.

“Only fo
rty-five minutes left. The entrance must be hidden. We can’t have anyone wandering into the community. It’s a privately owned nature reserve, after all. Not even helicopters are allowed to fly overhead. That doesn’t mean that break-ins are unheard of. They’ve had their share of trespassers.”

“And what happened to them?” I asked
.

“Most were lucky it wasn’t a full moon.” Anna glanced back at me and gave a sly smile.
A chill ran through my spine.

“And how big is this
nature reserve
?” I asked, forming quotation marks in the air with my fingers.

“A few hundred acres,
” said Anna.

“And who owns this land?”

Anna gave a slight shrug. “You ask a lot of questions,” she said disapprovingly.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” I said. “
Living hours away from civilisation is-”

“-is the safest way.” Anna finished my sentence.

She was right, I supposed. Farther was indeed safer. Hell, even locking myself in a bomb-shelter hadn’t worked. Maybe a life amongst the chilly wilderness was what lay ahead for me.

Finally, after some time driving
I could see a bright light in the distance. It grew stronger and stronger with each passing second, until I saw that it was two huge floodlights atop a great stone wall topped with barbed wire. There was an iron gate flagged by two guards in military gear, carrying rifles.

“Holy shit-” Fear paralysed me
. This wasn’t a werewolf community, I realized. These men were United States military. “Anna, No!”

A
nna slowed the car to a crawl and before we’d come to a complete halt the two military men were opening the car’s rear doors.

“What is this?” I demanded, clutching the passenger seat as tightly as I could. “Anna?”

She didn’t answer me. Instead she stared ahead, her expression blank.

“Get out of the car,” the guard ordered. “Now.”

“No! Anna! Back the car up. Please!”

She didn’t move
.

“Anna!” I cried, grabbing the driver’s seat and shaking it.

I was grabbed around the arm by one of the men and I had no choice but to obey. Everything was happening so fast. I wanted to move, but my muscles had decided to quit on me.

I was pulled from the car
against my will. They stood me on my feet and began marching me towards the gates. I looked back at Anna who remained in the car. She didn’t look me in the eye as I was carried away.

There was a dull ringing in my ears as I was taken through the gates and loaded into a military
Jeep, seated beside the two guards whilst a third drove. I watched as Anna’s car slowly faded from sight as I was driven away. Shock paralysed me as I came to terms with the events that had just taken place. How could I have been so foolish? The community of werewolves had been a farce; a lie to lure unsuspecting werewolves into a trap. And I’d fallen for it. How ridiculous the whole idea seemed now.

A horrible, dizzying possibility dawned upon me. My mother knew about this.

“Wh-where are you taking me?” I asked in a small voice, looking from one guard to the other. They ignored me, which wasn’t surprising. My body felt numb as they drove along the dirt track which had seemingly been carved through the forest by numerous Jeeps over many years. Floodlights illuminated the way, positioned every ten yards.

“Please … can I borrow a phone? Can I call someone?” I asked desperately. Still, I was ignored.

The ride in the camouflaged Jeep lasted only fifteen minutes until another twelve-foot-high gate came into view, guarded by another pair of armed men.

I was being taken to a prison; I could feel it.

My panic flared and I made an attempt to jump from the jeep. A struggle between me and the two guards ensued but I was quickly held in my place by their strong arms.  One of the guards brought his radio to his mouth and said quickly. “This is Victor, bringing in the girl; we’re having a little trouble. Send out Doctor Kent to meet us please. Over.”

We passed through the second set of gates and a
n angular building, several stories high loomed ahead. It stood atop a gentle hill, its many roofs slanted at different angles, the walls made entirely of reflective glass so nothing on the inside could be seen. The building looked clean, modern and sterile. It simply didn’t belong here amongst the Alaskan wilderness. The surrounding grounds, which were brightly lit by search lights atop high observation towers, featured picnic benches, a playground, a pond and gazebo. There was even a running track circling the premises.

The
fields were deserted at the moment, with the exception of a few military men who patrolled the grounds, each one holding a large rifle.

The Jeep came to a halt out the front of the facility and my guards hopped out,
dragging me with them. Their fingers dug painfully into my arms and I cried out and struggled against them.

“Get off! Get off! You’re – ow! You’re hurting me!”

I looked up at the front of the building. It was an intimidating sight; the high glass windows would reflect the surrounding forest during the day, but at night they were as cold and dark as the night sky.

I kicked and yelled – I even tried to bite one of them, but their grip did not
yield.

Suddenly, t
he automatic doors slid open, bathing us in light and two silhouetted men descended the white steps towards us.

I tried to wrench myself free with
all the strength I could muster – my feet even left the ground – but it was useless.

The taller of the two produced a needle and I began to shout. It was no use. The needle was jabbed into my arm
and the plunger descended. For a second time that day I was drugged into submission.

Monday
– 14 days to go

My brain was groggy when I woke, but I was very aware of what had happened prior to the drugging. Managing to pry my eyes open, I found that I lay in a single bed inside a small white room with no decorations or distinctive features. Morning sunlight streamed in through the open window, which had bars like a jail-cell on it. There was a full-length mirror, a chest of drawers, a wooden chair and the door, which had a small square window at eye-level.

I swung my feet off the bed and dashed towards the door, grabbing the handle and twistin
g. It was locked. Cursing, I peered through the small window but all I could see what a portion of the white corridor beyond.

“Hey!” I said, banging loudly on the door with the palm of my hand. “HEY! Let me out!”

I banged on the door for a solid five minutes before I was paid any attention.

A man with thinning auburn hair stood on the other side of the door. He produced a swipe-card and unlocked the door which swung inwards. I took a few steps back, adrenalin coursing through my body.

“Who are you?” I demanded - my posture defensive.

“Welcome, Miss Goldman
. I am Professor Colt.”

“
Colt,” I repeated. The name sounded familiar. “You drugged me, you son of a bitch.”

“I’m afraid that was my colleague, Doctor Kent.
I do apologize for the manner in which you arrived. I know our military personnel can be quite frightening. I can assure you that I did not authorize it.”

I stared at hi
m, my mouth moving soundlessly. I was confused. Was I in a hostile situation, or a friendly one?

“Where – Where am I?” I managed to stutter. This man did not have the scent of the werewolf upon him, so I was certain he was not like me.

“This is the Silver Moon Facility,” he said.

“Am I – am I in trouble?”

Professor Colt smiled kindly. “No, child. You are not in trouble, nor are you in any danger."

“I don’t – I didn’t – What is this place?” I found it hard to form coherent sentences. “Is it some kind of prison, or hospital?”

“We do a number of things here,” said Colt
, “but first and foremost we take care of people like you.”

“Werewolves?” I asked, disbelief in my tone.

“We don’t call them werewolves here,” Colt said, “We prefer to refer to the condition as Lycanthropy. Sounds less … aggressive.”

I silently agreed with Colt.

“It’s not … it’s not a prison, is it?”

Colt’s mouth twitched
. “I am sorry if our military personnel gave you a fright, Miss Goldman. Our patients are free to leave their rooms whenever they like. They can go almost anywhere in the facility. We have many amenities to keep you happy and comfortable here, even an indoor pool.”

He hadn’t entirely answered my question. The patients may be allowed to go wherever they wanted within the facility, but were they allowed to leave the grounds whenever they pleased?

“And what if I tried to walk right through those front gates? I bet you’d tackle me to the ground faster than I could blink.”

Colt gave me a knowing smile. “I’d ask you to give us a chance, Miss Goldman. A week, at least. You never know, you might like it here.”

“You’re a liar,” I hissed. “You can’t fool me.”

“No one is trying to fool you, Rose.”

“I came here thinking it was a community for people like me; a sanctuary, where I could live and be free.  Before I know it I’m being drugged and carted across the country against my will and dragged into this – this
prison
,” I spat.

“But I thought you
wanted
to be here, Miss Goldman? Isn’t that why you sought us out? To be with your own kind? To be with your lover?”

I froze, staring at Colt. I saw no hint of a lie in his eyes.

“Tom?” I breathed.

Colt nodded slowly. “Yes, Rose. Your mate submitted himself to us not
two weeks ago.”

“He-he’s
here
? Right now?”

“Oh, yes.
”

My heart thundered
. He’d left me, after all. But I needed answers. I needed closure.