The First SaR Mission Ch. 08

"We have two volunteer ex-combat medics and one certified EMT for attendants and a doctor available by satellite phone, via radio."

"We are being supplied with medical materials and drugs by The University Hospital. Our special thanks to them for the supplies. They had everything required in stock in their supply room and the materials are being sent here 'pro-bono'. We sincerely thank them for their help and generosity."

"We, of course, realize that our tent-intensive-care unit falls far short of the real thing. However, given the fact that the location is inaccessible to all but strong four-legged creatures and that medevac is not possible at this time we are trying to give them the best care that we can. We pray that this will be sufficient to stabilize them until we can get them to a real hospital. We are awaiting the arrival of the supplies and materials to accomplish this. That is all I have at this time."

"Are there any questions that I have not answered?"

A hand from one of the reporters goes up...

"I see a hand over there."

Cynthia Chandler CCN News: "Jack, you said that turning humans was an 'issue' for you. Would you elaborate and explain that please."

"Yes...It is oddly difficult to explain but to start, the words "image" "stigma" and "stereotype" play into the issue. Werewolves, in fact, all Weres desperately want to be accepted into open human society. We have existed among the mundane human population pretty much throughout the entire history of man. Our numbers have always been a tiny fraction of the mundane human population but we have been there. The problem is that higher thinking animals let's take humans, for example, tend to fear what they do not understand. Fear doesn't always manifest as withdrawal, cringing, and hiding. When a large enough group of higher thinking animals has a fear of something in common, the thinking tends to become, ("We are a strong group which is afraid of 'them' so let's go destroy 'them' before 'they' can harm us"). A synopsis of that is 'humans tend to destroy what they fear.' The problem is then that legend and Hollywood has given Werewolves a "stigmatized" "image" that is a "stereotypical" monster that is out to bite humans and turn them into more Werewolves. If that image were even a little bit true there would be more Werewolves than cockroaches."

"I won't say that we don't have our Jeffery Dahmers, Ted Bundys, and Charles Mansons, we do. They are very rare, but they happen. You call them crazies; we call them rogues. In Werewolf society rogues are put down without a great deal of hand-wringing or debate. A pack will all grieve together when we have had to put down a young wolf. Because that wolf was a member of our family and all pack members are a close extended family. However, Werewolves through an eternity of hard experience are very pragmatic.

Young and new Werewolves are coached taught and nurtured to make their human half the dominate half. It is an absolute that the wolf must be subordinated and tamed to fit into the human society. In rare instances, we don't always understand why, the wolf will seize control over the human half and it isn't possible to pull the human back. In every case that I have ever heard of this happening the wolf is crazed and is extremely dangerous to Werewolves and humans alike. They are summarily put down. This is one of the downsides to a human being 'turned.' As rare as it may be it is a possibility and a wolf gone rouge will be put down."

"I apologize if this is a muddled explanation but this is a situation where we feel that there is a compassionate reason to 'turn' an entire human family and yet doing so plays into our stigmatized image. We want to help and we are fairly sure that we can but we expect to have to take a hit for doing so. New pack members are welcomed and loved but 'turning' humans naturally conjure up the image of the stereotypical monster that bites humans. We are not monsters and never have been. It has been one of our strictest laws for hundreds of years: 'turning' a human against his or her will is subject to summary judgment. With very few exceptions the prescribed punishment is immediate execution."