True Monsters
by Tyloric

Henry's fingers worked over the keyboard at lightning speed, stopping only when they started to cramp. He'd been at this all day; trying to figure out why the EM filed was going haywire. There were strange fluctuations all over the Sanctuary, but he couldn't find a source.

His body froze as a yawn overtook him. He roughly shook his head, pushing the exhaustion to the back of his mind. There were more important things to deal with.

The monitor to his right started beeping out a warning: massive energy surge at the main gate. The entire EM field flickered on and off for a brief moment before the backup kicked in to compensate. Two mouse clicks later Henry was viewing the security camera for that section. He switched the views between normal and infrared, rewinding to just before the surge. There was nothing to account for it. He groaned in frustration.

He clicked over to the backup generators; they were running at maximum output. This was going from annoying to worrisome.

The lights flickered.

"Oh, that can't be good," he mumbled.

The chirp of his cell phone ringing grabbed his attention. "Hello?"

"Henry?" Helen asked.

"Hey, doc, just about to call you."

"Henry, what was that?"

He hesitated. "I don't know. I'm getting weird power fluctuations all over the grid and I've had to start dipping into the reserve power to keep up the EM field."

"Any idea what's causing it?" Henry had always admired her ability to stay calm under pressure.

"Sensors aren't picking up anything out of the ordinary." He tapped a few keys. "But whatever it is seems to be focused on the front gate." He stopped for a moment, wondering if he should ask his next question. After a moment's hesitation, "Could it be John?"

Silence on the other end of the line, as if she was contemplating the question. "No, I don't think so. John wouldn't be causing that kind of power output. I'll have Ashley check the front gate; I want you and Will to go down to the SHU and make sure all of our guests are accounted for."

Henry grimaced; he didn't like visiting the SHU. But, orders were orders. "Gotcha. Talk to you in a few."

"Be careful."

"Always." He disconnected the call. Henry stood up and stretched his stiff limbs; he'd been sitting longer than he'd thought. Tapping a few more keys to security lock the console, he grabbed his mobile pad and went off to the elevator.

He was two steps out of the tech room when he was hit with a sudden wave of nausea, one so powerful he had to lean against the side of the wall to keep from toppling over. His vision blurred slightly and his stomach felt like it was doing flips in his gut. He clenched his jaw and slapped a hand over his mouth to try to keep from vomiting.

His thoughts became muddled and distant, like they weren't his own. He literally couldn't think of anything other than the nausea that roiled his stomach.

And in an instant, it was gone as quickly as it had come. Henry blinked a few times until his vision cleared, and stood back up experimentally. Instinctively he began examining himself, starting with his torso, then moving to sweep his vision over his arms and legs. Everything seemed like it was okay. He pressed his hand firmly against his forehead. Didn't feel feverish, either.

He shook his head violently, shaking loose the residual feeling the sudden sickness had caused until his head was clear and focused. He didn't know what had just happened, and didn't know if he should even be concerned.

As he stalked off to the elevator while simultaneously dialing Will's number on his phone, he was too distracted to notice that the wolf inside him had become alert and extraordinarily agitated.

Henry pressed the phone against his ear but remembered quickly that that wasn't a good idea. Ever since the wolf had begun making itself known, his senses, hearing and smelling particularly, had grown acutely more sensitive. The monotone ringing the phone produced when making a call made his ear ring, so he held it about half an inch away, still able to hear with the utmost clarity.

"Hello?" Will's crisp voice sounded after a couple of rings.

"Will! You and I have been ordered to go over the guest list down in the SHU."

Will could sound very businesslike when he wanted to. "We got trouble?"

"Dunno yet." Deciding, for some reason, to not mention his recent bout. There was a small pang of guilt that made his heart thrum a bit faster, but he chose to blatantly ignore it.

There were a few seconds of silence on the other line, and Henry thought he might have lost the call until Will gave an exasperated sigh. "Okay… I'll be right there."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just with a patient."

Ah. "Don't worry about it then, I can handle it alone."

The surprise in Will's voice was evident. "You sure?"

"Um, yes," he said in a playfully condescending way. "I got this. Not like I'm gonna go fight a naga."

His attempt at humor seemed to have failed. "I don't know, Henry…"

"I do! Talk to ya later, doc." He disconnected the call before Will could say anymore. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and slipped the stylus out for the mobile pad and with a few taps of the screen had a check list of the SHU up and waiting. He arrived at the elevator just a moment later.

He stepped inside as the doors slid open, hitting B-3. The security clearance request popped in a window on the mobile pad and he inputted his security code. The elevator lurched to life. He could have just used his elevator key, but he thought that using the pad was more fun.

When the doors slipped open again he was hit with a familiar feeling of uneasiness. This section of the Sanctuary had always been a strange place to be. The reinforced concrete walls with eight inch bullet proof Plexiglas windows. It looked and felt like a prison, which he supposed in a sense it was. The creatures down here were too dangerous to live amongst the rest of the Sanctuary, and as such needed to be kept in seclusion, though they were each given their own habitats, so maybe it was more of a zoo from Hell. Either way, he'd always found it creepy. Henry took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator.

And immediately knew that something was wrong. The air felt different; it was heavy and smelled of sulfur. It was hot, hotter than it should be. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and an eerie chill swept down his spine.

This time, he felt the wolf stir.

Henry stood still, looking around for something that wasn't supposed to be there. Something that could account for the strange scent in the air. He tuned in on his hyper-sensitive hearing, listening for anything out of the ordinary. Something abnormal.

And there it was, a foreign sound. Like someone sliding a cloth across the ground. It was faint, he could barely hear it, but he could still tell that it was close. Too close.

He started to walk backwards to the elevator which should have only been three steps away. But after taking at least a dozen steps and still not having felt anything, Henry was inclined to turn around. He gaped: the elevator was on the other side of the room, at least twelve feet away. He turned back around and shook his head in confusion. He was on the other side of the room. When did that happen?

Something growled next to his right ear, causing him to jump away from it, adrenaline shooting into his veins in a fight or flight reaction. The air next to him was empty. He was breathing heavily now.

"Who's there?!" he called out stupidly, eyes darting around the room.

He went to look back at the elevator--

Only to find himself nose to Plexiglas. He stumbled backwards, falling on his butt. He twisted around to find that he had ended up even further away from the elevator.

He reached into his pocket for his phone, pulled it out, and dialed Helen's number.

"Henry?" came the immediate response.

"Hey, doc. Uh, problem."

"What is it?" The urgency in her tone was oddly comforting.

"There's something down here. I, uh, think. I'm not sure." Another growl right next to his left ear made him jump to his feet and back away; there was nothing there. "Waahhhoooookay. Yeah, something's definitely down here, doc."

He could hear the clack of her heels against the floor even on the phone. "Can you get out?" he heard a gun cock.

He considered. "I…dunno." He looked around wildly, only to find he'd moved to the opposite wall from where he'd been standing. He looked at it dumbly. "Doubt it."

"We'll be down in one minute. Stay where you are."

"Right…" The call disconnected. He spied the mobile pad lying face down in front of the elevator, though he couldn't recall having dropped it.

The wolf stirred, and began trying to break loose. Henry double over in pain, his mind reeling. "Ergh… not now…" he moaned pathetically.

A growl, this time in front of him. He looked up, scrunched in discomfort, and his terror was joined by confusion when he couldn't come to process what he was looking at.

Only a few feet away from him was a… shadow. See-through and everything, the outline of a figure that shouldn't be there. It slid across the ground, a faint sound , moving towards him. It had no legs to speak of; it just seemed to melt into the concrete. He tried to back away from it as it slid towards him, but he couldn't find the will or strength to as he tried to stop his body from contorting into something else.

The elevator dinged. Whatever it was evaporated into thin air before his eyes. Henry had doubled over now, his bones crunching underneath his flesh.

"Henry!" He heard Ashley's voice from somewhere far away. He heard her footsteps attempt to approach him—

"Stay back!" he shouted in warning, and he felt the snout jut forward out of his face. His mind was going into overdrive, trying to find a solution to the pain, but kept coming up empty. He could feel the hair sprout of pores, covering in a thick layer of fur.

He heard the back of his shirt rip apart at the seams, and his legs and feet felt like they were going to be crushed by his jeans and shoes. Fingernails were replaced by sharp-tipped claws.

Why was this happening? Why was this happening now? It had never been this hard to control before.

His mind began to slip away from him, losing the battle for dominance. His thoughts became clouded by something more aggressive, something feral. He was scared, terrified, and his fear began projecting themselves.

What if he hurt something? Someone? What if he couldn't stop? What if—?

Two tranquilizer darts implanted themselves in his neck, and his throat let out a part-human, part-wolf howl, before he lost all ties to the world and darkness covered his mind like a thick blanket.

***

It watched the events unfold before it with curiosity. It watched as the human began shifting and contorting, watched as his clothes ripped apart. It found it fascinating.

It was also mildly surprised, though it supposed it should have expected it in a place like this. There was a wolf here. It cursed itself for not anticipating this, but at the same time couldn't stop itself from feeling a little bit of excitement.

This was going to be a bit more difficult.

Fun, but difficult.

[tbc]