(Sur)real

Headlights lit the inside of the car briefly before the other car passed us.

It hurt. All of it. Losing Mom and now Dad. Liam shook next to me. I kept my arm around him, trying my best to help him feel safe again. Aden had cried himself to sleep hours ago and currently leaned against me in oblivious peace. At least, it smelled like peace. I hoped the cub continued to have good dreams.

Liam’s scent remained far from peaceful. Worry, grief, and confusion melded together to create a toxic soup that I wanted to choke on with each inhale.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get anything to eat, Liam,” I said.

“I’m sorry they took Uncle Gregory,” he said.

“I know. Me, too. But we can’t stay sad about it for too long.”

He tipped his head up to look at me.

“Why not?”

“We have things to do. Being sad will distract us.”

“What do we have to do?” he asked.

“Get you back to Mimi safe and sound. I’m not going to lie; those bad guys are going to keep trying to find us. But Uncle Jim, Paul, and I are going to do everything we can to keep that from happening. You can help us by staying focused. What did Aunt Mary tell you about what you feel?”

“It all has a smell.”

“That’s right. And little kids, like you, usually smell happy. Sure, they sometimes smell angry or sad, but never for long. The bad guys looking for us are going to use their noses to try to find the saddest, most scared kids they can. So don’t be sad. Don’t be scared.”

Liam nodded and looked out the window. I hated having to tell him all that. Cubs weren’t supposed to worry about their scents or people using them to track. But, we needed to do everything we could to keep the cubs safe.

Slowly, Liam’s scent changed. It stayed far from happy, but the grief and worry eased up considerably. I caught Jim’s gaze in the mirror. He nodded at me and returned his focus to the road.

“Have you ever been on a vacation?” I asked Liam.

He shook his head.

“Me, neither. I think when we get to Emmitt and your sister, we’ll tell them we want a vacation. Where should we go?”

“The place where they make the mouse pancakes.”

His immediate answer surprised me.

“You mean Disney World?” I asked.

“Yep. I want to see that mouse.” He lowered his voice and looked up at me. “Uncle Jim isn’t so good at making that shape. Dad isn’t any better.”

Jim burst out laughing, and I grinned.

“Then, we need to go there.”

“Yep. Aden would like that, too. I think it would help his smell.”

“I think you’re right. What do you say, Paul?”

“I’m always up for mingling with some princesses,” he said.

He didn’t sound up for it. He sounded ready to fight. I knew my brother well enough, though, to know his issue wasn’t with a vacation.

Tell him to cut it out, I sent Jim.

He just wants blood. Like we all do.

I know. But, I just told a cub to hide his emotions. Paul needs to do the same, or he’ll be the princess when we finally get to Disney.

Jim snorted, but otherwise remained silent.

“Hey, Liam,” Paul said suddenly. “Do you think Henry could get in free if we dressed him up like Merida?”

Liam snorted.

“I’m disturbed that you know who Merida is,” I said.

“Nope. You should be more disturbed that you know who I was talking about,” Paul said.

Liam’s mood lightened further over the next few minutes with Paul and me quietly bantering about who would make the best princess.

“Gabby is telling me it’s clear, and this tank needs gas,” Jim interrupted. “I’m pulling into the next station.”

Any hint of humor left Liam’s expression, and I could tell by his scent he was struggling to keep his emotions positive. I understood his concern.

How clear? I sent Jim.

She said they are still in the same city. There are a few around here, but nothing close. Grey will keep me posted.

“A gas station is good. Paul made me hungry for some man-food with all his princess talk,” I said. Paul snorted, and Liam giggled from behind his hand.

“Perfect,” Jim said. “You two princesses can take the cubs to the bathroom and grab some road food. I’ll fill the car.”

Any update on Dad? I asked silently.

Winifred has been listening to the news. There were reports of the fight but so far there’s nothing being said about anyone having been captured. Your Dad’s still not answering, but I can feel him.

I almost wished Jim couldn’t feel him. That he wasn’t answering meant that someone had him and he didn’t want us to know who and try to get him. Whether human or Urbat, there was only one reason to keep Dad alive. Information. And he wouldn’t ever give any. No matter how they tried to pry it from him.

Jim found a quiet place in the middle of a country community. Pulling up to the vacant pumps, he winked back at Liam.

“Get me some Twinkies, okay?”

Liam grinned and nodded. Paul opened the door for him and stayed close while I woke Aden and took him inside. The clerk called out a friendly hello, only looking away from the TV mounted behind the counter for a moment.

I said hello in return and steered the boys toward the back. They went in together with a promise to be quick and wash with soap. I didn’t care about the soap, just the speed.

While Paul stood by the door to wait for them, I started loading up on some food items. Nothing looked good. I doubted anything would for a long time. But, I knew we all needed to eat. So I grabbed things at random and took them up to the counter just as the clerk’s show was interrupted with a breaking news update. The reporter talked about a werewolf and Urbat sighting north of us. The screen switched to show a parking lot of a familiar fast food place. Glass and blood smattered the blacktop. My chest ached at the sight and anger boiled in my veins.

“I still don’t believe that shit’s real,” the guy said, not looking away from the screen. “I mean, how could another race possibly exist without a hint of anyone knowing?”

“I don’t know,” I said calmly. “Where else would all those legends have come from?”

“True,” the guy said, turning toward me. “Paying for the gas, too?” he asked.

“Yep.” I pulled out my wallet. Mom and Dad had split money between all of us in case we were separated. Thanks to Michelle and her lawyer, there was plenty of it.

While I counted out bills, the reporter on the television went on to ask for help finding the van that fled from the attack. They believed the “family” of one of the “victims” fled in fear and stole another car. My pulse jumped, and I looked up at the TV. The screen showed a house with an open garage and an older woman with a picture of the car we now drove. The clerk looked up at the TV, following my gaze. He frowned and glanced out the window where Jim now filled the car, then he looked back to the TV.

“Shit,” he breathed softly.

Our eyes met.

“They killed my mom, took my dad, and are after the rest of us. I’m sorry about this.”

Using my speed, I grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face down onto the counter, knocking him out. I checked his pulse before letting him go. He slowly slid to the floor.

I just knocked out the clerk, I sent Jim.

I hope you had a good reason, he sent back.

The TV had a picture of our car and was asking for anyone with any information to call in.

Are there cameras inside?

I glanced at the wall behind the register, my stomach sinking.

Yes.

Hurry up.

Throwing the payment on the counter, I turned toward Paul. He released his hold on the door knob. Liam opened the door and frowned up at Paul.

“Sorry, bud,” he said, messing the cub’s hair. “You’re right. It wasn’t funny. Let’s get these Twinkies to the big guy.”

Neither boy seemed to notice the missing clerk as we walked out. Jim teased Aden about eating all the snack food as we got back into the car.

What now? I sent Jim. We’re clear of Urbat, but what about the humans?

JIM…

Winifred, we have a problem. Henry just had to knock out a human because we’re on the news. They’re looking for the car we’re driving.

For a moment, she said nothing. I could feel her frustration over the link and waited.

Michelle can contact her lawyer for a car. Head to Casper. There will be a rental waiting for you.

I did a U-turn in the road and started heading north again.

“Did we forget something, Uncle Jim?” Liam asked in a worried voice.

“Nah. Just took a wrong turn, bud,” I said. “Can you hand me a Twinkie?”

He threw one my way, and I caught it without looking back. Aden giggled. I heard cellophane crinkle and got ready to catch another one.

“I’ll eat them all if you keep throwing them,” I warned with a laugh I didn’t feel.

The cub didn’t throw any more after the second one. I opened the first and took a bite, making a good show of it. The boys smiled and snacked in the back, filling their little bellies during the drive. We stuck to as many backroads as possible. Not that there were many around these parts.

A distance from Casper, I cut the lights and turned off the road onto a little easement a farmer used to access his field. Creeping slowly forward, I drove along the tree line, slipping and sliding over the snow-covered ground. The boys giggled and grunted over the bumps. When the car wouldn’t move any further, Paul and Henry got out and pushed us the rest of the way. Nestled in between the trees of the two fields, the car would be hard to see from the road. Especially after we covered it with snow and cleared the tracks.

Once we finished, Paul and Henry carried the boys, and I shouldered the bags for all of them. The jog to town didn’t take long. Still, the cubs’ cheeks were red with cold by the time we arrived.

If the guy behind the counter wondered how we’d gotten there, he didn’t say anything. I provided my ID and signed his sheets of paper then got the keys from him.

As soon as we were in the new car, I turned up the heat for the cubs.

We have the rental and are heading for Salt Lake, I sent Winifred.

Stay on the main roads. If what Olivia says is true, it’ll be unlikely they find you. We’re at a hotel in Missoula. Grey, Sam, and I will stay up and keep watch on things here.

Gabby sleeping then?

Yes. She needs it. She’ll likely wake and check again at some point in the night just to verify Urbat positions, but she said since we’d picked up Olivia, nothing’s changed.

Still not sure if you can trust her?

No. She feels different. All these girls have some sort of strong emotions. Bethi’s fear. Isabelle is anger. Charlene and Michelle are worry. Gabby has desperation. But Olivia has nothing. She’s hiding something. Until I know what, we won’t let down our guard. Keep those cubs safe.

Aden stripped out of his winter jacket and fell asleep against Henry. Liam watched out the window for an hour before crashing.

“I need you both to sleep,” I said when neither Paul nor Henry tried to rest. “We don’t know what’s coming next and can’t all be exhausted when we face it.”

Paul exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. Henry watched me for a few minutes before speaking.

“What’s going to happen to us when this is finished?”

“If your dad’s not back by then, you can stay with me,” I said. Did he honestly think we would forget about them, even if they were adults by human standards?

“Not that,” he said. “I mean what’s going to happen to all of us when the girls do their magic, whatever it is? Even if the humans are no longer ‘in power,’ they aren’t going to conveniently forget we exist.”

“No, they won’t. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve survived worse according to the stories Winifred liked to tell us when we were cubs.”

“Come on, Jim. Do you honestly think the humans are just going to roll over and show us their bellies?”

I didn’t think that at all. Winifred and the other Elders were so focused on helping the girls and getting the Judgement made that they hadn’t discussed what might happen afterwards. Like Henry, I’d thought of little else.

When I’d told Winifred, the cubs were our future, I’d meant it. They were the bridge that would tie our two races together. Growing up with us, they would have no fear or prejudice. But they were only two voices against many, and they wouldn’t influence the world yet for several years.

“Honestly? I think it will be chaos. Look at what they’re doing already. Human remains are popping up all over the place, dead from humans torturing other humans. They’re already obsessed with eliminating both werewolves and Urbat. But if you look at any pivotal point of history for our world, you’ll know one thing for certain. Change and acceptance don’t ever come easy.”

Henry closed his eyes and rested his head back against the seat, an arm around each cub.

As the tires ate up the miles, my mind stayed on Henry’s question. I’d heard enough conversation over the last few weeks to know the Judgement Bethi kept talking about was meant to change the ruling race. If I were human like them, I’d want to just stick with what I knew and Judge in favor of the humans.

I mean, it didn’t take a genius to know those girls would never Judge in favor of the Urbat. Not after what those bastards had done to Michelle, Isabelle, or the dreams that Bethi kept having about them murdering her in previous lives.

No matter how they Judged, we’d irrevocably changed the world by announcing our existence. I still remembered the fear in Michelle’s eyes when she found out what Emmitt and I were and the way Mom talked about how she’d feared our kind in the beginning too. The world would turn into a dangerous place to exist for any race.

At first, I’d questioned the wisdom of revealing ourselves. Then, I’d realized, just as the Elders probably had, we had little choice. Living in the shadows had nearly killed us. Mom’s persistence in bringing us into the human world had stopped our extinction, but our numbers hadn’t flourished. We needed to change. Not just for the sake of changing, but to make progress.

I fully believed the time for living in the shadows was at an end and hoped all our suffering now wouldn’t be for nothing.

Well before the sun rose, Paul opened his eyes and stretched.

“Want me to take over for a while?” he offered.

“Yep.” I pulled over to the side of the road. Elder or not, I needed sleep. How long had it been?

Paul and I got out and switched seats. Henry roused in the back but said nothing about the switch.

Paul’s driving. I’m taking a quick nap. We only have an hour to go before we reach the city, I sent Winifred.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything from Gabby.

I closed my eyes and sunk into an immediate dreamless sleep.

It felt like seconds before the smell of fear swamped the car. I opened my eyes just as the front window shattered from the impact of a large, furred body.

“Don’t stop, Paul,” I said, grabbing the wheel to keep the car on the road as the pup tried to avoid the next shape hurtling toward us.

The cubs started whimpering, letting me know they were awake.

Winifred, we’re under attack. I need to know how many.

There was a moment of silence.

Four. Nothing else is moving toward you.

“Henry, hang on to those cubs. Paul, stop the car.”

Paul slammed on the brakes. As the car screeched on the blacktop, I opened my door and launched myself out, already shifting. The momentum carried me into the next shape emerging from the trees. I slammed into the body and raked my claws up the mutt’s soft middle, just like they’d done to Mary. Letting him fall, I turned for the next. One ripped at the roof of the car, claws piercing the metal. Another pulled the driver’s door clear off its hinges. Paul burst out in his fur, snarling.

Be careful, I sent him, already launching myself at the one on the roof. I knocked the mongrel off and slammed into Paul’s attacker, taking them both at once. Claws ready, I gutted the first in a spray of blood. The teeth of the second dug into my shoulder. I shook him off and went for his throat.

A sudden yip filled the air, followed by another growl.

“Send ‘em out, pup,” a male voice called from the other side of the vehicle. “Or I’ll break his other leg.”

I hurtled over the car without a second thought. As the air ruffled my fur, I took in the sight of a half-shifted man gripping Paul in his arms. Still in wolf form, it was easy to see Paul’s broken hind leg hanging at a useless, odd angle. The man’s gaze shifted from Henry, inside the car, to me. He pulled back his lips in a silent snarl, tossed Paul aside, and jumped to meet me.

He never saw my claws. But, he felt them. With a grunt, the mutt fell to his knees and clutched his middle. His pained sounds weren’t the only ones. The other two men were moving, trying to drag themselves into the trees. The fourth had already shifted to his skin. The three who were wounded wouldn’t last much longer. Our healing could only do so much.

The back door opened, and Henry climbed out. Behind him, Aden and Liam clung to each other, their little faces pale and their eyes wide.

“I’ll grab some clothes from the trunk for both of you,” Henry said.

Paul shifted back to his skin in the bloodied snow where he lay. I shifted as well, the cold winter air giving me goosebumps. Kneeling beside Paul, I felt along his leg for the break.

“Want me to try to straighten it?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don’t want it to heal funny.”

He grunted as I gripped his leg and did my best. Our healing gave us an advantage, but it needed help sometimes. I hoped what I’d done would keep him from walking with a limp in the future.

Henry tossed clothes at us then went to the car again to hold the cubs.

As much as I want to see them suffer, we don’t want them communicating our location to anyone, Henry sent me.

I lifted my head to see the one near us trying to use his phone.

“Get dressed,” I said.

I stood, leaving my clothes in the snow to approach the dying Urbat. Knocking the device from his fingers, I swiped my claws across his throat on the backswing before moving to finish the other two. I left them where they lay, thankful that the falling snow and the pre-dawn hours had kept the road free of any traffic.

“We need to move,” Paul called.

In the distance, I caught oncoming lights and regretted my thankful thought.

“Damn.”

I picked up the first body and threw it into the ditch, followed quickly by the second. The blood in the road would be hard to see with the falling snow. A naked man would be easier to spot. Sprinting around the car, I tugged on my pants then lifted Paul into the front seat.

We were back on the road before the car passed us. With any luck, they hadn’t noticed anything.

Henry spoke soothingly to the cubs in back while Paul panted beside me.

Winifred, Paul’s been hurt. Broken leg. He’ll live, but we need a place to hole up so he can rest and heal until you get here. Oh, and you need Michelle to buy the rental. We can’t return it.