Dominant Species Ch. 20-21

"Let me do my job here first, I need to at least make the rounds. On the way through, Deputy Robert and the guys at the funeral pyre told me they've found three hundred or so dead already tonight, and they are still going house to house. The clinic is packed with injured, and I have no power, no medical supplies and no chance to do anything that will save them." He parked and turned off the car. "Come on, you'll see what I mean."

They opened the doors to see what looked like a war zone. Wounded were covering the hallways and every horizontal surface. Many were unconscious, but the noise from those who weren't so fortunate ripped at his heart. Richard's face dropped at the sight; there were not words to express what he felt. He knew these people, they had been his friends, they worked in the town, he had gone to school with them. Yes, they were human, but in a way he knew they were his too.

"DOC! Thank God!" His nurse practitioner, Tammy Cordoba, moved slowly towards them. She normally was a bundle of energy, but the past few days had worn on her. He could see bruising on her neck and face, her eyes were bloodshot and he could see a trace of blood from her nose. She almost collapsed in his arms.

"Jesus, Tammy, you look like shit." He sat her on the floor and leaned her against the wall. "Have you gotten any sleep?"

She shook her head no. "Too many patients." She gave him an overview of what had happened while he looked in her eyes and mouth. Her tale was interrupted by a coughing fit that left a fine mist of blood on his shoulder.

He looked over at his Alpha. "Radiation poisoning. Even inside, the walls and ceiling weren't enough to protect her." Looking back at his trusted coworker, his shoulders slumped. "Let me guess- those who didn't succumb to severe burns have blindness, nausea, diarrhea, headaches and bleeding sores in the mouth and nose."

"Yep, you just described most of the people here. I've been losing ten to twenty an hour for the last twelve. The body wagon has been here three times tonight already." She coughed again. "I don't have any supplies and no ventilator. All I can do is palliative care for the ones still conscious, but I ran out of painkillers a few hours ago. This sucks, Doc. The lucky ones will go quick."

Marcus stood up. "Take a nap, that's an order. I'll make my way through. I have a few supplies back at the house. Have you collected medicines from the town?"

"The pharmacy gave me what they had, but it wasn't much."

Marcus looked at his Alpha. "Dad, can you find the Sheriff. As they go door to door, have them check the medicine cabinets. Any painkiller from aspirin on up, have them bring it here. Same thing for burn and antibiotic creams, bandages, anything they think we can use." He watched him leave, he could feel the anger and despair through their bond and knew it was killing him to see this.

It took Marcus an hour to make his way through, there were almost a hundred patients in the small clinic and more were being brought in all the time. There was nothing he could do to help them, not unless he could convince his Alpha to break Werewolf law. His jaw was set hard by the time his Alpha returned. "Come on, Dad, I need to go home and get some supplies out of my storage. Everyone, try to stay calm and I'll be back in an hour or so." There were a few older ladies who were helping with things like distributing water, cleaning wounds and covering the dead. They looked at him and nodded, they would take care of things.

As soon as they left, Marcus put his hand on his father's shoulder. "Out of the hundred people in there, only a couple dozen will be alive in 48 hours. This town, it's dying right before our eyes. Two thousand humans a few days ago, and by the end of the week we'll outnumber them. Their bodies can't cope, they can't heal as fast as we can, can't function in the dark like we can." They pulled out of the parking lot. "They are good people, they would be an asset to the Pack."

"They aren't Pack. You know the rules, Marcus. We can't change people without their consent and the consent of the Alpha, and only in cases like yours of mates. I'm sorry, my hands are tied."

Marcus sighed as they moved slowly through the dark town. "Richard, the two girls I told you about earlier I treated up in North Fork? Britney and Bethany are mates to Eric and Derek. When the three of us were coming here the first night, they caught scent of them on the river and I couldn't stop them. Both girls would have been dead by morning, in fact we had to use CPR on Britney as we were bringing them back to the Den. The boys bit them. Their wolves knew that the change would give them a chance. And you know what?" He looked in Richard's eyes. "It worked. By the time we left the next day, the burns were almost gone and one had regained consciousness. The change stimulates healing and regeneration. I even saw indications that the wolf vision changes could restore some sight."

"I'm glad their mates were saved, but we have RULES. There are penalties for not following them, and you know what they are."

"Calvin did too. That's why he told his Pack that this was his decision and his only, so if there was any blowback he'd take the fall. He changed them. They only had a handful of people still alive, they were all his friends and were good people. The ones who could understand he asked, the ones who were out of it, he just did it anyway. He bit them, Dad."

They pulled up at the house again and he stopped the car. "North Fork is now a werewolf town, and he saved those people. You need to do the same, or all of those people," he gestured back at the city, "all of them are dead anyway."