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| Sebastien, during the retreat |
Sebastien watched while Jackson and Julian helped Lalo out of his cage. Then, once the three of them joined him, he hastily led the way out of the hunter camp and into the trees. All they had to do now was get back to the van and wait for the rest of the wolf walker pack to join them. He just hoped that Damon managed to capture Wilson.
"Are we heading back to the van?" Julian called from behind.
"That's where your Alpha told us to regroup, so yeah," Sebastien answered, glancing back at them.
But his eyes shifted from Julian to Lalo. The brown-furred wolf was limping and struggling to keep up with them.
"We need to slow down," Jackson said and then looked back at Lalo. "Are you okay?"
Sebastien sighed to himself and rolled his eyes a little. But he couldn't sense any incoming danger, so he slowed down enough for Lalo to keep up.
Lalo panted as he responded to Jackson, "Y-yeah...just...been stuck in that cage a while. S-so...what's going on here?"
"It's a long story," Jackson answered. "But the short version is that we made a deal with the Venaticus, and in exchange for whatever we want, we need to help them find a laboratory."
Sebastien felt a little disgruntled. He wished he'd been as cautious as Jackson when he signed his deal with Lord Caedis. Now, he was paying the price for being an idiot...but at least he got what he asked for. Being stuck working for a demon god wasn't so bad, but it was at times like these he found himself wondering why he was there. He was a creature that could communicate with phantoms and spirits, not some chaperone.
"Do you need to stop?" Julian asked Lalo.
Sebastien snapped out of his thoughts. "No stopping. We keep going."
"We need to stop," Jackson insisted, slowing down.
Sebastien grunted irritably. He just wanted to get back to the van, but evidently, things weren't going to go as smoothly as he wanted. He slowed when the others did, and while he turned back and moved over to where they were, he said, "We can't hang around out here. Some of those hunters could come back at any moment."
As he wheezed and collapsed, Lalo shook his head. "N-no. If...if they're herding, n-no one's getting away. Alpha...Damon's herding technique, it's...it's perfect."
"Are you all right?" Julian asked worriedly. "You...don't look too good."
Lalo huffed and puffed as he rested his head on his paws. "I just...need a minute, that's all."
Sebastien grunted as he looked around cautiously. A minute could be all it took for something he couldn't detect to pounce out of the fog. He might not be able to smell or hear anything rotting coming their way, but he'd seen enough surprises to be so naïve as to think everything was going to be fine.
And there it was. That rotting, disgusting stench.
"Shit," he growled, setting his sights on Jackson, Julian, and Lalo. "We need to move now!"
Lalo tried getting up as everyone prepared to run, but he fell again.
Sebastien growled angrily, "We have to leave him." There was no other way. He wasn't going to risk losing a valuable asset because of some weak wolf.
"What?!" Jackson exclaimed. "We're not leaving—"
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Sebastien yelled. He moved closer and stood in front of Lalo. There wasn't any time to argue, and if Jackson wouldn't leave without this guy, then he'd have to do something he vowed never to do in front of people. "Shift back."
"W-wh—"
"Shift back!"
Lalo groaned and did as he was told. He shifted into his human form.
Sebastien crouched down and ignored the feeling of embarrassment that was beginning to consume him. "Get him on my back."
Jackson and Julian helped Lalo climb onto his back, and once he was securely between Sebastien's wings, Sebastien got up and started running.
But the rotting stench was closing in on them. Sebastien tried picking up the pace, attempting to outrun the cadejo on his trail, but he could hear the savage snarls and pounding footsteps. Whatever was coming was big, and as much as he wanted to get back to the van, he couldn't risk their only transport back to Silverlake—he had to ensure that Jackson got back to the Venaticus.
He stretched out his wings, but before he could take off and grab Jackson, something huge burst out of the fog and smashed into him, throwing Lalo off his back as the force of the collision sent him tumbling across the snow and away from Jackson.
With a pained grunt, he hit a tree, but before he could even try to get up, the creature which threw him off course sunk its teeth into his front leg and threw him through the air.
Sebastien yelled painfully as the monster's venom entered his bloodstream, ensnaring him in agony. He hit the ground, tumbled through the snow, and came to a halt after rolling through some brush.
Thumping footsteps were coming his way.
Despite the burning, throbbing pain, he grunted and climbed to his paws. He turned to face his incoming enemy, and it was unlike anything he'd seen before. It looked like a bear with a wolf's head, and just like the cadejo, it was rotten and missing huge chunks of flesh, exposing its bones and organs.
The creature was charging at him faster than any other cadejo he'd faced, and the sounds it made were distorted and similar to those a bear would make. But whatever the hell it was, Sebastien was evidently going to have to fight and kill it before getting back to Jackson.
When the creature reached him, Sebastien used his wings to propel himself up, and as the beast skidded in the snow and tried to turn around, he descended on it and dug his claws into its back. But before he could try to lift it, it reached its head back, gripped his left wing with its teeth, and pulled him off.
Sebastien recovered the moment he hit the ground. He got back up, turned to face his foe, and dodged its charge. Then, he swiftly swung his right wing around and sliced the beast's side with his carpal spike. The creature shrieked and howled as its body tore, and when it abruptly turned to face and try to attack Sebastien, he pulled his carpal from the monster's flesh and leapt onto a nearby tree. He dug his claws into the bark, enabling himself to grip the tree and remain there while the rotting bear-wolf tried to reach him.
But something else snatched Sebastien's attention. A flurry of dark blurs was moving through the fog below, and the longer he focused, the clearer they became, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.
They were people. Groaning, stumbling human figures shifted through the murk; some of them were missing limbs...and he spotted one of them with its insides hanging around through its stomach.
And they were heading in Jackson's direction.
Sebastien snarled in frustration. He needed a little longer for his wounds to heal, but he couldn't risk the Venaticus' asset. He looked down at the bear-wolf, which was trying to climb up to him, but its huge, heavy body wouldn't let it get further than a few inches off the ground. Then, he glanced at each tree around him. Flying wasn't an option with his injured wing, so he was going to have to use the trees.
He took a deep breath, set his eyes on his target, and jumped. When he reached the first tree and dig his claws into it, his healing wounds tore a little, but he didn't care. He had to get to Jackson before the swarm of disfigured humanoids. So, he jumped again, and again, and again, and when he reached a tree right on the edge of the horde, his nostrils were filled with the rotting, sickening stench of cadejo.
Dread and confusion ensnared him as he set his eyes on one of the people below, and it turned out that that swarm he was looking at wasn't of people at all...but of undead humanoids. Their skin was dark and peeling, their eyes were as red as blood, and they walked in the same strange way that cadejo did.
His greatest fear had come to pass. The cadejo virus was evolving; what he was seeing was evidence enough that it had spread to humans. It had grown beyond the sickness he'd witnessed ravage an entire town two hundred years ago and was somehow turning people into the same undead monsters it was turning wolf walkers into.
He had to get back to Lord Caedis. He had to tell him about this before it was too late.
But what about Jackson? What about Wilson?
Sebastien scowled as he watched the humanoid horde move through the forest. Where was Jackson? He looked around frantically, but there was no sign of him or anyone else. He was quite sure the bear-wolf hadn't dragged him too far away from where he'd left Jackson, especially not far enough that he wouldn't be able to see him from up here.
He concentrated his senses. The only life force he could detect was at least a mile away and getting further with each second. Could that be them? He stretched out his injured wing and checked on his wound. It was still healing, but he was sure he could fly now. So, he extended both his wings, and as he pushed himself off his perch, he curved his body upwards and began gliding towards the sky.
Once he broke through the treetops, he followed the life force he'd locked onto, but the chorus of painful groans and gurgles sent a chill down his spine. He looked down at the horde; there had to be hundreds of them. Where did they all come from? How long had the virus been affecting more than just wolf walkers?
Something else cut through the sound of the swarm. Helicopter blades rumbled through the clouds, and when Sebastien stared in the sound's direction, he spotted a trio of Venaticus birds. Someone called for backup, which had to mean Jackson was in trouble.
Sebastien flapped his wings harder, picking up his pace. But when he saw the helicopters stop, he watched two of them drop troops and the other lowering its cargo hooks. In a matter of moments, the helicopter lifted the battered, upside-down Venaticus van, and started heading back the way the birds had come. The life force Sebastien was following moved with the chopper, so he felt it was safe to assume that Jackson was inside.
Since Jackson was on his way back to base, Sebastien would make himself useful. He descended and landed beneath the troop helicopters, and joined the soldiers who were trying to destroy the swarm of infected humanoids and cadejo.
He spat blue flames and cut down as many of the corpses as he could, assisting the Venaticus troops.
"It's Officer Huxley!" one of the soldiers called.
The commander hurried over to Sebastien. "Sir, we're here to extract you."
But somebody then screamed painfully, and Sebastien turned his head and set his eyes on one of the soldiers. A humanoid corpse had sunk its teeth into his arm and tore away a huge chunk of his flesh. One of his comrades shot the creature's head and then plunged his bayonet into its chest, freeing the bitten man, who fell to his knees, gripping his bleeding arm.
"We need a medic!" the other guy called.
But if these humanoids were infected with the cadejo virus as Sebastien suspected, then no medic was going to be able to do anything.
Sebastien sliced the corpse in front of him in half and then hurried over to the wounded soldier. Before the medic could try to tend to his wound, Sebastien mercilessly forced his wing carpal into the bitten man's chest and tore out his heart.
"What the bloody hell did you do that for!?" the medic yelled.
"We don't know what the fuck these things are," Sebastien called, "and the last thing I'm going to do is risk something spreading back in Silverlake!"
Every soldier who heard him stopped shooting and started glancing at the humanoid creatures.
"Whatever infected them could infect others," Sebastien called. "We need to get the hell out of here and get this news back to Lord Caedis."
"On me!" the commander called, and then he began slowly retreating towards the helicopter ropes.
Sebastien took out the corpses which lunged and tried to attack the troops, and once all the soldiers were safely off the ground, Sebastien took off and flew up into one of the helicopters.
The moment he morphed into his human form, Sebastien made his way over to the commander. "Did Jackson get out?" he asked desperately.
"Yes, sir. His pack and the target were extracted when we arrived. They're headed back to base now, perhaps fifteen minutes ahead of us."
"Good, good. I'm sorry about your man. We can't risk something like that getting back to the city," he said, looking out through the window at what was left of the humanoid swarm in the forest below.
"What were those things, sir?" one of the other soldiers asked.
Sebastien glanced back at him. "I'm not entirely sure, but from what I saw, they looked like they were infected with the same virus that's been infecting wolf walkers. Before now, all this virus did to people was make them sick and die, but now it looks like all of that is changing." He looked around at the soldiers. "Did any of you get a close look at them? Did you notice anything that might tell us who they were or where they came from?"
No one spoke up. They all shook their heads and looked utterly horrified.
"So...if we get bit, we'll turn into one of those...things?" one of them asked.
"We don't know for sure," the commander said before Sebastien could speak. "The best thing to do is get back to base and inform Lord Caedis."
"Well, of course you'd say that," the medic said, glaring at the commander. "You're a demon. You don't have to worry like the rest of us little humans."
"Hey!" Sebastien snapped before things could escalate. "Like he just said, we don't know anything yet. The only thing we do know is that we need to relay this information. You're all going to be debriefed, so sit there and make sure you're ready for that. And you," he said, looking at the medic, "demon or human, you're Venaticus. Lord Caedis and the Zenith will do whatever they can to protect all of us. Our greatest strength right now is the fact that we're united. Let's not lose that, all right?"
Although the medic looked disgruntled, he nodded and calmed down.
"You got a radio? I need to speak to the wolf walkers," Sebastien asked the commander.
The man nodded and handed him a radio.
Sebastien held it to his face. "Jackson?" he asked. "Are you there?"
The radio beeped and cracked. "Sebastien?" came Jackson's voice.
Relief flooded through him. "Thank fucking God. Is everyone okay?"
"Y-yeah—well, no. Damon's hurt; he's paralyzed—"
"Paralyzed?"
"W-we don't know if he's gonna make it back to base," Jackson replied, his voice breaking.
Sebastien's heart beat a little faster. They needed Damon for all of this to work out. But the guy was an Alpha—a Prime. He'd make it...right? He sighed and tried to keep himself from freaking out. "What about Wilson? Did you get him?"
"I...yeah, Damon got him."
"Good. I'll see you back at base." He handed the radio back to the commander. "Thanks."
"What do we do about those corpses, sir?" the man asked, nodding out the helicopter window.
"Nothing as of yet. Lord Caedis will tell us what to do when we relay the information. Silverlake's defences are in place if anything comes so much as five miles in range."
The commander nodded. "Yes, sir."
"I need to sit my ass down and rest. I'll be over there if you need me," he said, gesturing to an empty seat. Then, he headed over to it and sat down.
What he'd seen tonight reminded him of the time he'd first ever laid eyes on a creature infected with the cadejo virus. Up until now, he'd been sure that the virus didn't turn humans, and if he was wrong about that, then what else was going to change? Would it evolve to infect demons? Would it soon become unstoppable? Would it become something that even Lord Caedis and the Zenith couldn't deal with?
He shook his head. No. He'd seen those two men conquer much worse than a virus. But...what if the virus mutated into something that could affect even them?
There had to be a cure, though. There had to be a way to stop it. They had Wilson now, the guy who was supposed to know where the laboratory was. The entirety of Ascela was riding on him.
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