Vengeance Of The Wolf

A sampling of Chapter 1 -

FIRST MUTATION AMERICA – CHAPTER ONE   (Now I lay me down to sleep)

A mist was creeping in from the trees that lined the house. He frowned and tried to remember where he was. Wolves were howling in the distance, as if they had been frightened, and he sympathized with them. Sensing movement, he whirled around and saw a shape advancing through the nearest trees toward him. Nausea swept through his stomach and he could taste bile in his throat. With a slight popping sound, the shape disappeared and materialized beside him.

“Just not having a very good day, are we Senator?”

Like a flash the Senator felt he should know this place but the image eluded his clouded mind. “Where am I? – And how did I get here?”

“Come, come Senator; you used to live here as a boy.”

The Senator turned slowly and looked at the house, a sense of realization beginning to show upon his face. “This estate burned down many years ago, and was never rebuilt.”

“This is a dream Senator; one you’ve had many times before; but take heart, you’ll never have it again.”

Senator Harkness, in an agonizingly slow progression, watched as the ground began opening around his shoes. Like hundreds of tiny tendrils the roots of underground plant life began writhing upward until his feet had disappeared beneath the level of the grass. Although he wanted desperately to move his feet, they simply would not comply, as if they had suddenly grown into the ground like the roots of the trees surrounding the house. Dimly in the back of his mind he noticed that the howling of the wolves had stopped.

Harkness had gone to bed in his Seattle home after having consumed more martinis than his doctor would have approved of, and surely would regret in the morning. Middle aged and not in the best of health, he had indeed dreamed this scenario before but not since he had been a younger man. This was when he always woke up. He frowned again. The pressure on his feet was beginning to become uncomfortable, and panic was setting in.

“You know Senator, I don’t like politicians.” “I especially don’t like dishonest ones.”

With a stab of pain, Harkness felt his ankles snap with the sound of dried twigs. His hands went instinctively to his chest as the familiar pressure and pain erupted in his rib cage. This was not the first heart attack he had suffered through but he knew somehow it would be his last.

“Hurts doesn’t it Senator?”

Their eyes met as the snapping sound escalated to his shins. Each bone seemed to break independently and with each sound the pain grew worse. The tendrils wound methodically around his body like a living cocoon until only his head remained visible. The snapping sounds were going off like popcorn kernels, but somehow the bliss of unconsciousness would not take him. Searing gouts of pain shot through him with the ferocity of electrical current but his cognizance seemed enhanced with every break.

“Time to wake up now, Senator.”

Harkness could hear a hollow laugh as the veil of sleep pushed itself from darkness into the light.

~~~~~~~~~

Seattle, Washington – March 3rd, 1990.

~~~~~~~~~

The morning light bathed the Senator’s face as he opened his eyes. His breathing came in short gasps that closely corresponded with the beating of his heart. Never had the pressure in his chest been this great with previous attacks. Beaded sweat rolled down his face and stung his eyes. Music was playing softly over the central intercom system and he could make out the sounds of the morning meal being prepared. Medication for his weakened heart lay within reach on the bedside table but at this moment seemed a thousand miles away. Every part of his body felt as if it was on fire and his extremities refused to obey even the simplest of commands. Try as he might, he could not move either arm to retrieve the bottle of pills within his sight. Tiny explosions erupted in his eyes as the heart attack escalated to its predictable end. In desperation, the Senator attempted to scream for help but instead, pathetic mewlings emerged as the pain became too great to breath. With a sudden fierceness the pain stopped and along with it went the beating of his heart. The room seemed to back away and the lighting dimmed. Absently he noticed that the peripheral vision was gone and he could no longer move his eyes. The room continued to grow darker until it was black. Senator Harkness accepted the darkness but thought of nothing until even the memory was gone.