Adam's Pulse

Part 26

“Sounds like you’re talking from experience.”

“A lot of experience, and maybe, when you’re back from you’re run, I’ll tell you about it.”

He turned his back on Slator, walking towards the cabin without pause, but the further away he got, the more curious Slator became.  “Wait!” Slator called, while mentally slapping himself for being more curious than he should.  It was what got him in this situation to begin with, but he never learned.

Ned stopped as he glanced at Slator over his shoulder.  “Yeah?”

“A month,” he answered while closing his eyes.  “I was with them a month before they started on me.  I guess I started asking questions that they didn’t want asked.”

“Questions about Ally,” Ned said as Slator opened his eyes.  “I was only with them a week before it started.  I remember thinking that I’d finally found somewhere I could belong, but then I started hearing whispers, at that time, it wasn’t about Ally.  Hell, none of them even knew anything about Ally then, but they were about leopards.  About how they were slowly starting to rise in population again, about how they would have to start killing them off now if they wanted to keep the leopards from growing strong once more.”

Slator watched as Ned’s face flashed with multiple emotions, emotions that Slator had felt himself.  “It took me a month to start asking questions because I was afraid,” Slator admitted.  “I knew I didn’t belong with them from the beginning, but they were as close as I had found.  I was just so afraid that they would make me leave if I started asking questions about other shifters.  I didn’t even know any of them existed for a while.”

“Then you shifted with them around you,” Ned said with a nod.  “Even while we are in control of our animals, the urge to kill one of them is strong.  We don’t know why, but it is.  The first time I shifted with them around, I killed one of their wolves.  I think that was what really started it.  The questions that I had started asking were just a small part of it.  They knew that I was beginning to realize that I didn’t belong with them, but then knew that if they let me go, I’d find others like me.”

“Couldn’t let you give away all their secrets,” Slator said with a laugh.  “They act like all of their secrets aren’t already known.  They used to whisper how precious their secrets were into my ear before they started.”

Ned smiled.  “They couldn’t have been that precious if they kept us alive for that long.  How long were you with them?  How long did they torture you?”

“Only six months, you?”

“Two years,” Ned said as his smile dimmed slightly.  “They made the mistake of telling me exactly what I was.  As soon as they did that, I escaped.”

“How?”

A genuine laugh left Ned’s mouth as the man shook his head in what looked like slight wonderment.  “Walked through a mirror.  When I landed on the other side, it was at Zeke's feet.”  The laughter died down as an emotion that looked like regret flashed in his eyes.  “The man took me in, trained me, and I took out my past on every shifter mutt I crossed.  I didn’t care who they were, what their story was.  None of it mattered.  Then Zeke gave us an assignment.”

“Ally?” Slator guessed, and Ned nodded in agreement.  “She really helped a lot of you, didn’t she?”

“She gave us a cause.  Before, we were fighting for our livelihood.  We were killing for our next meal.  When Zeke started making us follow Ally around, before she even knew what her future was, she gave us a different reason to fight.  She gave us hope, and for that, I’ll always owe her my life.”

Slator glanced back towards the wood, but didn’t feel the urge to run any longer.  Turning away from the forest and towards Ned, Slator smiled.  “You were watching her before she knew what her future was going to be?  Sounds like a stalker.”

Another laugh echoed around them as Ned shook his head.  “I wasn’t the only one watching her, but I have to admit it was entertaining.  I remember having to hold back Tony this one time.  She was actually at school, if you can imagine it.  A couple of shifters attacked her, and she took them all out.  At that time, Tony liked the fight more than us all, and seeing the blood fly made him want in on it.  Barron just wanted to mess with Ally’s mind as much as he could without actually being seen.  When she left with a couple of the bodies, he hid the others.”  Ned chuckled.  “You should have seen Ally and Seb’s faces when they came back and the bodies were gone.”

Laughing along with Ned, Slator shook his head.  “Does Ally know all this?”

“I’m sure she does,” Ned answered.  “If Zeke hasn’t already told her, I know Barron’s rubbed it in her face as often as he could.  He wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that he actually succeeded in messing with Ally’s mind.”

“What is he?” Slator mumbled, more to himself than to Ned.  “Barron, I’ve only seen him a couple of times, but he doesn’t have the same feel as the rest of you.  He’s, I don’t know, he’s darker.”

Something flashed on Ned’s face too fast for Slator to catch.  “He’s one of us, but I’m warning you now, never ask Barron the question you just asked me.  If you do, the only one that will keep him from killing you is Ally, and even then, Barron will make you hurt before she stops him.”  Ned smiled, erasing the tension his words caused.  “Come on.  I kinda feel like taking a run myself.”

He walked passed Slator, but when Slator turned towards him, he realized that Ned hadn’t shifted yet.  With a shrug, Ned motioned towards him.  “You first.  Despite trusting you not to run, I can’t quite trust you enough not to attack me while I shift.  Call me paranoid.”

“How can I trust you not to attack me?” Slator said as he began letting the shift take over.

“Ally’s commands.” 

They were the last words Slator heard as he let the shift take over.  The movements were fluid, more relaxing than hurtful.  Not like it had been the first dozen times, not like it had been when he was forced to shift.  He kept his eyes firmly away from himself as the bones snapped in his body, reforming into an animal that he still didn’t know what was.  As his feet hit the ground, all he knew was that he had four legs with claws attached to each.

“Shit.”

Slator turned his head in Ned’s direction, only to find the man staring at him with some unknown emotion on his face.  When he realized Slator was staring at him, Ned blined and attempted a smile.  “I think we’re going to run in a different direction,” Ned mumbled as his body changed almost instantly into a white leopard. 

Nodding his large head in the opposite direction in which he had told Slator to go in earlier, Ned bounded towards it.  Slator stood still for a moment, wondering what the expression on Ned’s face had meant.  What had the man seen that changed things?  What did Ned know?  With a frustrated growl, Slator took off after Ned, knowing that if he didn’t follow the man now, he would never get answers.