Dominance

Chapter 27: The Questionable Gates

"Shhh!" Sara told him as she strained her ears to hear the far-off conversing.

Sara cautiously peeked around the corner, past the trash bins, to see Lee, Laura, and Tyson, hands bound behind their backs and being held down by people similarly dressed like Mr. Shale. The dazed Lee and sobbing Laura weren't putting up a fight, but Tyson had his face forced against the pavement to try to reduce his struggling. Mr Shale himself stood nearby, almost out of the restricted window of view Sara could see of the car park.

Thanks to the evening sun, many shadows were cast against the sidewalk and asphalt, but Sara could not see who all of them belonged to.

"Let the kids go, Gates."

Sara recognised Drayton's strong voice immediately.

"And why would I do that?" A second unfamiliar voice replied. The low, cold tone of the man sent shivers up Sara's spine.

"Because if you do, you have my word of silence on your little extinction project."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid, Gates. My own team has discovered that the serum you used to knock out the taudogs is eerily similar to the traces of virus found in the bodies piling up in the morgue. The said virus you sold to multiple countries, intending to quietly kill off shapeshifters intertwined in the community with no effect on the human population."

"Really, now?" Was Gates' amused response. "You would accuse me of such a thing?"

"Except, that's not exactly it, is it?" Drayton continued.

Mr Shale's head snapped upwards. Sara could not see his expression but he seemed interested in what Drayton had to say.

"Because, while it does kill off fenrin. And a strong dose is powerful enough to immobilise a taudog. Your virus doesn't actually kill shapeshifting people. It makes them very ill, but only temporarily. And when this virus is exposed for long enough under the right conditions, it is designed to mutate and is then, in fact, deadly to regular humans."

Sara's eyes went wide in disbelief at what she was hearing. She turned to Twister to see his reaction, but his response was blank and seemingly unaffected. She felt a little panic as she glanced at Sparkie who was drooping over his brother's shoulder. His neck was not bleeding anymore, but it was bruised and looked extremely irritated.

"You don't think he's contagious, do you?"

Twister's eyebrows slanted down at Sara's question.

"Am I infected too? Am I going to die?" Sara's voice came out as a high-pitched squeak.

"Yes- I mean no. He's not contagious." Twister responded quickly.

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Twister hissed. "I can feel stuff like that. Now shut up."

Twister was suddenly interested in the conversation yonder, leaning over Sara to look over at the scene.

"You can feel stuff like wha-"

"SHHH!"

Mr Shale and the staff holding the teenage hostages had begun to chatter quietly amongst each other until Gates commanded them to be silent. They did as they were told. Tyson grumbled something inaudible into the pavement.

"Just let them go, and then none of your scheming needs to be spilled by me," Drayton spoke again.

It was a horrible, scary sound as Gates laughed. Sara could not even see what this man looked like from where she was, but she had already decided he was an awful person. Even his staff, Shale included, appeared to cower at the sound.