The First SaR Mission Ch. 10

"Well it's a family decision and blatant rape carries the death penalty. It's, just, since accidental pregnancies can't happen and Weres can't get or transmit diseases and mated pairs can't stray; there is, simply, no issues against sex. Now, it is not permitted until they turn eighteen, but after that, there is no stigma to it and it is seen as a good education for, when and if you find a mate, being able to please them. As I said, it is a family decision, but young people would sure miss out on a lot if they aren't allowed to share sex."

"Wow! I really do have a lot to get accustomed to."

"It really is a good life, especially since we don't often have inter-pack conflicts, anymore."

Ken Ambrose, the medic walks up at that moment.

"Ma'am we have the syringes, now. Would you and your family like to get the process started?"

"Ah... sure. Let me check with Aaron and see if he is ready."

Anna goes to Aaron and wakes him.

"Aaron, are you awake? Aaron..."

Aaron: Wha... What?

"They have the syringes, now. Are you ready to get this done?"

"Yes, let's get it over with. So, we can stop worrying about it."

"I'm with you."

"Aaron, I love you. I hope that this works for us."

"I love you too. It'll be ok. It's like getting into cold water. You have to, just jump in, and don't keep worrying about it."

"Let's do it."

"Ok, I'll tell him."

Anna returns to Ken and tells him that Aaron is ready.

"Well, we need to find a couple of saliva donors. They will need to shift to their wolf and put some saliva in a syringe. Do you want me to ask for volunteers?"

"Maybe I should do the asking. Would you do the collecting?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

Anna stands up and moves to the center of the shelter, between the two fires and turn to address the wolves...

"May I have everybody's attention, please? I am sure that you already know, but my family and I will be joining your pack as new wolves. (There are cheers and applauding). Thanks, all of you. You already feel like family. What I want to ask of you is this. We are going to inject wolf saliva, instead of being bitten. I hope that isn't a bad thing. It was just that my kids are so small and well I was worried about them."

From the group, someone says: "It doesn't matter how it gets done. You will still be family."

"What I need is for some to volunteer to shift into your wolves and, well, drool into some syringes for us. Ken, here will collect the saliva. And, thanks to you all. You have all done so much for us already... I don't know how to thank you enough.

Everyone applauds. Several people start to strip off their jumpsuits and shift. Ambrose moves in to begin the collection of saliva. In ten minutes Ambrose is satisfied with the collected liquid and approaches Anna and Aaron.

"Anna, Aaron, I have the saliva. I don't know how quickly this will take effect. This should definitely get enough into your systems to turn you. Much more than a bite would. I don't know if that will cause the process to start sooner or not. So, we need to get you ready. You are going to develop a fever and at some point, you will pass out. If it goes as we think that it will, you will be out for about two days. During that time, we will be giving you sponge baths to cool you down. So, you need to be nude."

We'll set up the cots that they sent down. And, Aaron, we'll go ahead and put you on a cot. Anna, we will wrap you up in a blanket and I guess that you can stay up until you feel ill. They say that it's like a human having a bad case of the flu. You will eventually feel bad and want to lie down and go to sleep. That's when you will pass out. As I understand it, when you wake up in a couple of days you will feel good. You won't shift until the next full moon, but I think that the Alpha is going to come down and force your first shift so that you can trek out of here back to base camp."

"Let me set up the cots then, let's do the children first. Anna, you'll need to strip Bobby. Suzy is good to go. By the way, she is looking a little better already. Wolf slobber is amazing stuff."

Ambrose proceeds to set up the four cots, with clean sheets and pillows.

"They are supposed to send down tents, more cots, and bedclothes tomorrow. We're going to have a regular 'tent city' for a few days."

[00:00, Thursday]

Anna lays each of the naked children on a cot and covers them with the sheet and a blanket. Ambrose then injects each child with a syringe of liquid. Anna can't help but, to shed tears.

Ambrose garners the assistance of several other wolves and places Aaron on a cot and covers him.

Anna kneels next to Aaron, and Ambrose asks Aaron if he is ready. Aaron just nods. Anna kisses him and Ambrose gives him the injection in the right arm.

Finally, Ambrose asks Anna if she is ready and she answers yes and removes her clothes then presents her right shoulder. Ambrose gives Anna the injection and hands her a blanket from the last cot. Ambrose can hear her heart racing and says: "Anna, it's going to be alright. Humans aren't turned much anymore, but the process isn't new, save for not biting you. You will be a beautiful wolf. I'm sure of it."

Anna goes over, and, sits on the cot next to Aaron's and holds his hand. He seems calm and perfectly relaxed. 'Good old Aaron, cool as a cucumber.'

[06:30, Thursday, the campsite]

Anna wakes and sits up on her cot and looks over to see a wolf has just finished tending to Suzy.

"Oh, she is looking a lot better! It really is healing her. Anna speaking to the wolf, "Thank you for tending her. Wh... Who... Becky? Is that you Becky?"

The wolf transforms into Becky Winston. Becky then stands up and comes over to sit on the cot next to Anna...

"It is you, Becky! Oh, it's working... I feel awful! There is a little man kicking the back of my eyeballs, and my head hurts and my stomach feels horrible!"

Hugging Anna tight, Becky asks Anna, "Did you know that your scent is changing?"

"Oh, I need a bath."

"No, no, Anna. You don't smell exactly human anymore."

"I feel like Sasquatch. I probably smell like one, too."

"No, Anna. You are starting to smell 'wolfier,' not quite wolf, but, 'wolfier."

"Oh! I guess that's good, huh?"

"How's Aaron and Bobby?"

"Ken checked on them a few minutes ago. The kids haven't come around from before and Aaron is sleeping. I was just filling in for Nancy. She's pretty worn out."

It dawns on Anna that she is sitting, totally nude, in the embrace of another naked woman. Shocked at herself, she realizes that it feels warm and good and she feels loved, like being held when she was sick as a child.

"Thank you, Becky. You and Nancy have just been so good to me. And thank you for taking care of Suzy. I was so scared for her. It is just so incredibly fortunate that we were found by you. A day after the crash, I was completely sure that we were all going to die here."

[06:45, Thursday, base camp, the dining hall]

"Mari, I swear, I have never been, so, exhausted in my life. The last couple of days has been such a strain."

"Well, Jack you've held it all together. Look what all has happened. You got the teams together and here with all of their equipment, got them in the field, with radios that work, no less, found the plane and survivors. They had to be turned to save them, but, there was no other way, and they asked to be turned. The entire world has been watching and, from what I'm hearing back from the press, the whole world is in love with Werewolves. To top it all off Leon got back with all that stuff you wanted and the medical supplies arrived, before daylight, this morning. The teams are rested and raring to go, again. And, apparently, the Council is in love with you. It sounds like it should be a good kind of tired. Oh, 'and the cherry on top', you have four new pack members."

"Yeah, I guess that I shouldn't complain. We've got to get these supplies down to the crash site and then we settle in for a long wait. I wish there was something that I could offer to the wolves for a perk. I would arrange a hunt or something, but I doubt that they would have much fun in this miserable weather. I think that after we get these supplies down there and everyone is back, I am going to call a general assembly to see if there is anything that would make the waiting easier."

"Mari, would it help you any if I could convince the Dawsons to address the press when they come out?"

"Jack that would be great. The press would eat it up. Don't stress the Dawsons, though."

"Well, the way I see it is if they talk to them now, and they tell their story, then maybe the press won't be hounding them later. We could have Aaron and Anna address the press in human form and the kids can be here in wolf form. That should suffice to protect their identity from the cameras."

"Well, I need to start organizing the wolf express. So, I had best get to it."

Jack stands up to get everyone's attention...

"Could I have the attention of all of the people on the search teams, please! Let me have your attention, please!"

"Ok, this is going to be another day of slogging through the weather. We have to get all of these supplies, (pointing to stacks of boxes against the wall), down to the crash site. So, we have to rig packs to carry this stuff and then hike it down there. If you are still eating breakfast, then go ahead and finish and then come and join us. Everyone else, let's get after it. Oh, there is one other thing. After we get this stuff delivered and everybody gets back, I want to call for an assembly. We're going to be waiting around here for two or three days until the Dawsons are wolfie enough to hike out. I want everyone to think about what we could do to make the waiting a little easier. In this weather, a run wouldn't be much fun, but, maybe a big hunt and a cookout... uh, cookin!" There is scattered laughter. "Anyway be thinking about it and we'll discuss ideas when our day's work is done.

Jay Robinson walks up to Jack...

"Good morning Alpha."

"Good morning, Jay."

"What would you like me to do?"

"Why don't you ramrod this operation. You handled that run, last night, pretty well. I'm going to track down that climbing gear that we brought with us, and a couple of rolls of heavy duty trash bags. I would like to add that to the stuff going down to the crash site."

"Climbing gear? What are they going to do with climbing gear?"

"I don't know, Jay. I just have a feeling that it might be useful. The trash bags are to clean up our mess around the crash site. I'm figuring to hire a helicopter to come in and pick up our equipment and trash when the weather lifts. I may try to bring the plane out too. I'll have to talk to the NTSB and see if they object. This may be the closest thing to untouched wilderness left in the lower forty-eight. We have to retrieve our radio repeater from that ridge, too. I don't want to send anyone out there to get it the way we put it there."

"Anyway, you go ahead and get this operation started. Everything goes."

"Ok, Boss."

[08:30, Thursday, the campsite]

Anna, feeling quite sick has become feverish decides to lay down and sleep.

[09:45, Thursday, the campsite, Anna dreams]

~~~Anna sits on a flat, stone ledge leaning back, braced up with her arms behind her, eyes shuttered, legs over the edge and spread wide; she is completely naked. The sun is warm and pleasant on her body as she drowses lazily. Before her precipitous throne lays a verdant, wooded valley. Birdsong and the buzz of a myriad of bees and other insects drift on the breeze... And, some damned fool whistling tunelessly, yet at a distance, but, coming this way!

"May it be that he passes on by..."

~~~But, alas, the random whistling grows steadily in volume, until, "Clop, Clop," and silence.

~LeWolf: "Madam?"

~~~Anna lazily rolls her head over to spy a pair of black and white spats. Growing from the shoes, a pair of pinstriped pant legs. She follows the legs up and there sits atop them, a peaked tailcoat... With a gray, three, sausage fingered, cartoon hand, protruding from the sleeve! Filling the collar, an animated, gray wolf's head, with a long muzzle sporting two small fangs and a pencil mustache. All topped off with two big eyes and silk top hat cocked at a jaunty angle.

"Oh, for fuck sake! You're my wolf, aren't you?"

~~~Doffing the top hat and drawing it to his waist, the character bows deeply...

~LeWolf: "at your service, Madam"

~~~Anna sputters...

"With all the Big-Bad-Werewolves around, and what do I get; Wile E. Coyote channeling Snidley Whiplash! Do you chase 'Wa-bits', too?" Asks Anna, now laughing hysterically.

~LeWolf: "Madam, you wound me. I considered presenting as the 'Big-Bad-Wolf,' but, feared that madam might piss herself"

Anna laughing so hard that she can hardly speak, "And I yet may!"

~LeWolf: Look sister, I can do a little cabaret, but the Big-Bad-Wolf is just too butch for me.

~~~'fut!' a puff of greasy orange smoke and...

Wile E Coyote sits next to Anna. Wile E. slowly looks over at Anna.

~LeWolf: "swit-swoo", (wolf whistle), [aw, what the hell do you expect!], "Nice clam, ma'am."

~~~'fut!' another puff of greasy orange smoke and a sleek gray wolf, (a real one, this time), lies next to Anna. [hey! It's my dream and I can illustrate it any way I want!]

~LeWolf: "Anna, we need to talk."

~~~Anna, with tears of laughter running down her cheeks, "God, I hope that it's this much fun all the time!"

~LeWolf: "Anna!!"

"Yeah, fine. What?"

~LeWolf: "Anna, we need to 'come to terms' with one another."

"Yes... so, I've been told."

~LeWolf: "I've been listening. I know how it has to be. I, rather, do not want my head torn off. And, by the way, you look better with yours still attached, too."

"Yep! I captain the ship, you're the first mate"

~LeWolf: "Rather, well stated, I think. But, Anna... You will not ignore me, will you? Sister, I will 'chap your ass,' if you do. I want out to run at every opportunity and I like to chase deer and damned 'Wa-bits,' and eat them, too."

"eeww..."

~LeWolf: "So, bring your damned toothbrush then. Look, we'll make a great team, just don't forget that this body is 'time-share'."

"Are you going to behave, so, that we can get through this "Were training" thing quick and smooth?"

~LeWolf: "Yes, Anna. I'll play nice."

"Hey! By the way, why did you pop up as a male wolf?"

~LeWolf: Just how many female wolf characters can you name, and Betty Boop in a fur coat just doesn't cut it."

~~~'fut!' greasy orange smoke, and in a huff, ~LeWolf disappears.

~~~Anna returns to her sun worshiping, then...

"Aw, damn it! I did pee myself. Wolf! Hey Wolf, damn it!"

~~~'fut!' more greasy orange smoke...

~LeWolf: "Sorry, Anna. Personal hygiene is your shtick, not mine."

~~~'fut!'

"And... what's with all of the stinking, greasy orange smoke?"

A disembodied voice... "Sorry, dumpster enchiladas for supper, last night."