Wolv

18 - Questioning that which is

"That would've been from the change."

"Well, I know that now, but I didn't back then. I ended up in a hospital, being treated by the same doctor that had tried to treat Mingan, ten years ago."

"Mingan...?" I could see a look of horror creeping onto Alawa's features. She was no doubt worried that the secret existence of her pack had just been compromised.

"Yup. Anyways, this doctor, this crazy doctor, had me restrained while he took a bunch of blood samples, trying to figure out what was going on with me. I got away and headed up to Bloodvein First Nation; I'd read about Mingan in a newspaper article. Mingan's sister told me that Dr. Abrams has been searching around for his body for years, going so far as to put spies in the community. The guy is pretty obsessed--not that I can blame him."

Alawa's face was now contorted with confusion. "What? What do you mean, 'not that you can blame him?'"

"Well, his daughter was bitten a few years back, and apparently, she died during the change."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth hung open. "There's only ever been one instance where someone was bitten, and was never seen by us again. A girl...after a month had passed without us seeing her, we realized that she had most likely died. The change never takes that long--even your own change was a little on the drawn-out side."

"She wasn't fully Ojibwe. She was Métis; her father, Dr. Abrams, was of European descent."

"We'd known that she was only half Ojibwe when we'd bitten her. After she never came back, we assumed that it had been due to her Métis heritage. So when you were bitten..."

"You naturally assumed I would die as well, I know."

Alawa hung her head knowingly. "Some of the elders used to tell stories of a French voyageur, who was a close friend of the Anishinaabe. As such, he was accepted into the community, and apparently, he ended up being bitten by the wolves. He died a horrible, painful death...so the story goes." Her ears twitched curiously. "So this Abrams fellow..."

"He's dangerous. He was willing to break the law back in Winnipeg--back in the city--and, on my way in here a few days ago, he sent some guys into the park to find me. They even drugged a girl that had been following me. He doesn't seem to have any limits; he's intent on finding out what caused Mingan and his daughter's conditions."

"Does he know about us? About the wolves?" A hint of worry crept into Alawa's voice.

"No. I mean, if he did, he sure didn't let onto it. He didn't seem to understand what was happening."

"In the past five years, we've lost ten wolves to traps and hunters. Every time, we found where they had died, but their bodies were gone. Is it possible that this is Abrams' doing?"

"Uh..." No, it couldn't be. Abrams didn't know what had happened to his daughter.

I remembered lying back in a hospital bed, restrained, with Dr. Abrams standing over me, lecturing me: "This isn't about just you.Don't be so arrogant as to think that this has only ever happened twice! My daughter came back from Ontario one summer with the exact same condition. I couldn't treat her. She was dying right in front of me. She disappeared from the hospital, just like Mingan Tihkoosue. Just like you wanted to. Just like everyone else who has ever gotten this thing!

"You are simply too valuable to lose. I have to know what happens in the end stages of this sickness."

Abrams knew that his daughter had been in the wilderness, as had Mingan, before they'd became sick. And the newspaper clipping that I'd read back in Winnipeg had said that Mingan had been attacked by an animal...