Chapter Nineteen
Kull
“I don’t think she was happy about being left behind,” I said.
Typhon grunted. “We’ll make it up to her later. I just hope we can trust Vali.”
“I didn’t smell deceit on him.”
“No, but if we return to find they’ve taken Ambrosia or that anything has happened to her…” he didn’t bother to finish the sentence. I was in full agreement and nodded towards him with silent understanding in my eyes.
“You know that we shouldn’t feel guilty for this.”
Typhon glared at me. “Shouldn’t we? We are going against the interests of the pack.”
“And the pack has been going against our interests our entire lives. If Vance had been honest with us, then we might know what secrets he’s keeping. We deserve to know what’s going on here and just finding out the truth isn’t betraying the pack.”
“I’m not sure about that, but I’m here, aren’t I? You don’t have to keep going on about it.”
“I thought it was interesting what Ambrosia was saying about our driving force. It makes sense. It has always been the same with you. Everything you’ve ever done has been to impress them and you’ve always fallen short.”
“It’s not as though you haven’t wanted to stand tall in the eyes of the pack. Are you telling me you wouldn’t welcome praise from Vance?”
“I’m not saying that exactly but it’s not my driving force.”
“Then what is?”
I paused for a moment. “I want a family. I want to know what it’s like to have all the things that other people have. Don’t you ever feel like there’s been something missing from our lives?”
“A family?” Typhon asked, cocking a skeptical eyebrow.
“Yes. We don’t know what it was like to have parents. The people who raised us never cared about us more than their duty required and as soon as it was clear that we weren’t what they expected they cast us out without a second thought. I’d like to make up for that. I’d like to bring a wolf into the world that has a different upbringing to the one that we endured.”
“I’m not sure bringing a wolf into the world is a good idea at the moment. Everything is shifting. We don’t know what the state of the world is going to be and any offspring of ours is going to be tainted by our blood. They won’t have the luxury of having a different upbringing because it’ll just be the same.”
“We’ll see,” I replied, clenching my jaw. I tried to be positive when I thought about the future. Ambrosia’s presence had brought many things to my life, including a sense of purpose. With her I could imagine certain things. I hadn’t shared these thoughts with Typhon yet, or with Ambrosia herself. They were still tangled in my mind, and I needed to figure out a way to untangle them, but they were there all the same. There was something about the way she looked at me and the way I felt in her presence. It was uplifting and inspiring, and it made me feel wanted. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to enjoy that closeness and bring something new into the world. I had always watched with envy as other wolves paired up and mated, life swelling between them until it burst into the world with a loud cry. Frankly, I was surprised that Hana had not borne Vance’s child yet. There had been a time when she whispered that she would bear mine but that had all been designed to mock me. The right to create life was something that I didn’t think we should be denied. It seemed illogical for them to bring us into this world and then limit the things we could achieve.
But there were other times to think about this and our discussion was cut short as we approached the outpost.
“Look like we’re meant to be here,” Typhon said. He squared his shoulders and moved with intent. I mirrored him. We reached the entrance and hammered on the gate. It was made of wood and rattled under the impact of our fists.
“Who’s there?” a cry emerged from the other side of the gate.
“Vance sent us,” Typhon said.
“What for? We’re not due to give a report for another week yet.”
“You know what Vance is like. He wants it now, especially as things get closer. He’s eager to get this war underway.”
I was impressed by Typhon’s ability to think on his feet. There was some muttering on the other side of the gate, before we heard a bolt being drawn back. The gate opened and it was swiftly closed behind us. The wolf eyed us suspiciously.
“I don’t recognize you. Vance usually comes to us himself,” he said.
“He’s busy with preparations. He wants to make sure that nothing goes wrong when we finally begin this war. Of course, if you’d like to take it up with him then you can return with us and tell him why you’ve wasted so much time,” Typhon’s voice lowered to a growl. I stepped forward and wore a mean look on my face. The other wolf grimaced and shook his head, but he relented. It was clear that he was well-acquainted with Vance’s moods.
“Very well, come with me,” he said.
As we moved towards the entrance of the cave, I noticed a few wolves moving around the outpost. There were about five of them. They didn’t seem perturbed by our presence. Now that we were closer, I could see that the buildings were for habitation, which seemed strange to me. What could Vance be doing here that required these people? It was a most curious situation indeed.
“The Alpha will be pleased to learn that everything is on schedule. We have made the tweaks that we spoke about last time and there haven’t been any side effects yet. Of course, as I have told him again and again there’s a lot we won’t know until they are activated but all the signs are positive. There’s no reason to think that this won’t be successful.”
“That will please him. This war is important to us all. It’s time for us to take back what is rightfully ours. We have been forced into hiding for too long,” Typhon said. He was so convincing that I could almost believe he meant it.
We were led into the cave. The light dimmed immediately, and it took a moment for our eyes to adjust. The walls of the cave were lined with torches, which provided intermittent light. The wolf led us through a wide tunnel, which seemed at a slight incline. The temperature was cool and there was a damp smell lingering in the air.
“It’s my hope that we are going to be the first ones ready,” the wolf leading us said. “We have been working hard. We’ve barely had any rest at all. I’m sure that you’ll be able to take good news back to Vance.”
The tunnel opened out into a wide chamber. There was a proud smile on this wolf’s face as he led us to a terminal. It was behind a wall of glass. He pressed a few buttons and lights began flicking on, illuminating the chamber. There was a screen with readings. They looked familiar, although I couldn’t place them at first. But then the horror was revealed. I felt as though I had been punched in the gut, because the lights revealed an army bred for a singular purpose. They were standing motionless in rows, wires coiled around them, eyes closed. They were being fed through tubes and drugs were being pumped into them.
The experiment hadn’t ended with us at all. They had changed it, continued it, farmed it out to these remote outposts.
“As you can see, they are fine specimens. We were able to screen out any inferior samples before they reached maturation, so our consistency is our main quality. I have been made aware of some of the results in the other outposts and I can assure you that our attention to detail remains unequalled. These soldiers are going to be the finest in Vance’s army. They’re not going to let him down,” the wolf said proudly.
I wanted to throttle him. I wanted to pin him to the wall and tear his throat out for what he had done. As I looked at all of these soldiers, I saw myself and Typhon in them. All of the pain and humiliation that had plagued us for our entire lives came rushing back. Everyone had always looked at us with disdain and yet they still bred more to use. They still brought more of us into the world and why? Just to throw us all away?
“They are impressive,” Typhon said in a strangled voice.
“Yes, they are. I just can’t wait to see them in action.”
I blinked and breathed deeply, trying to compose myself even though my mind was swimming.
“Forgive me but Vance still has his concerns. He doesn’t want the same mistake to happen again. How can we be sure that these wolves are going to be any different to the ones that were bred before?” I asked. The wolf to which we were speaking did not realize that I was talking about myself.
“Oh, that’s never going to happen. We do learn from our mistakes,” he chuckled. “We’ve watched the readings closely and any one of these specimens that deviates from our expectations are terminated. We’ve also made sure to breed out any genetic quirks and as much individuality as we can. These specimens are going to be strength personified. They’re not going to be tainted with real personalities. They are going to be focused on one thing and one thing only, violence. If you like I can probably activate a couple of them early and give you a demonstration of their skills. It’s not going to be an exact display of their capabilities, but it will give you some idea of their prowess.”
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I believe that this is exactly what Vance wanted to see,” Typhon said.
“Good! Then we look forward to being given the call to arms. After all of our hard work I’m eager to finally let these soldiers loose into the wild. I want to show Vance what they can do. It’s funny really,” he turned to look at the soldiers. They all had blank expressions on their faces, as though they weren’t really alive at all, just little dolls ready to be manipulated and used. “In a way they’re like my children. I’ll be a little sad to see them leave, especially when most of them are going to die but at least they will serve their pack well and they will do what they have been designed to do.”
“I’m sure Vance will recognize your contributions,” I said.
The wolf then pressed another button, and the lights began to wink out one by one until the chamber was bathed in darkness once again, and the soldiers were hidden from view. But I couldn’t think of them as soldiers. They might have felt like children to this scientist, but they were something else entirely to me.
They were brothers.
We were led back out into daylight. I felt sick inside. I found it hard to walk. I wanted to charge into these buildings and drag all the wolves outside and make them pay for what they were doing. This was sickening.
“Would you like to stay for any food?” the wolf offered.
“I don’t think that will be necessary. We should be getting back to the pack. As I said, Vance is anxious for updates.”
“We will try our best to ensure that we’re ready before schedule but of course we can’t promise anything. The process takes as much time as it takes, and we wouldn’t want to risk any aberrations again. We wouldn’t want all our hard work ruined like last time,” he laughed once again. I bristled at the sound and felt my hand clenching into my fist. It was happening almost without intention, as though I couldn’t control myself. Typhon noticed, however and gripped my forearm tightly.
“Your efforts are most appreciated, and I’ll make sure that Vance knows the lengths you have gone to in order to make this project a success. Soon enough we will all rejoice, and a big part of it is because of you,” Typhon said. Then, he practically dragged me away as the gate opened up for us and we left the outpost.