Werewulf part 18
#18 of Werewulf
Ok so here we go, long anticipated right? well...umm...i apoligize again. please dont strike me down with unholy fury.
Chapter 18.
Duke had never driven so fast before in his life; he easily tripled the small town speed limits and let loose entirely when he got to the throughway. Only police remained at the game, which was postponed, the ambulance that would have carried the sole victim of a school shooting was gone already, they had left for the hospital in the city over.
Duke had scoured that game for a face he remembered; none of the officials would know one kid from the local high school by name, all they knew was he was a male student. But most of the kids were gone, their parents evacuating them, or even just evacuating themselves, not many people wanted to stand beyond police tape to watch them try and find bullet casings or anything. All they knew was the name of the shooter.
Finn Sykes. Duke cursed under his breath, how he despised that kid and his apparent act of passion, Duke smiled a bit evilly when he pictured himself punching Finn's face in with the same title. Act of passion, it was pretty damn epic if he did say so himself, much more noble than just a brawl too.
But for now he was speeding over asphalt to reach a hospital, acts of passion would have to wait. He beat the wheel under his fingers, "Damn it truck, FASTER!" he roared as if it would comply, but in truth, light speed wouldn't get him to Kyle in adequate time, he needed to be there now.
~~~~
Kyle came too in the ambulance, two figures standing over him yelling back and forth. The next thing he perceived was pain, his chest and back were in agony, and in a sick way he couldn't compare any of his life experience too, so were his insides. He let out a muffled howl, only then realizing there was a plastic apparatus over his mouth, his screams were muffled, but he soon realized the thing was breathing for him when he tried to pant and couldn't do it on his own.
Kyle panicked, it made him panic even more when he couldn't panic on his own power. His breathing was controlled, he couldn't flail his arms (Whatever good that would do), he couldn't even look down at his wounds.
There was also noise, terribly awful noise. It first came to him in low rumbles, than it amplified into thunderous booms and shrills, and after what felt like hours of auditory torture muffle voices entered and the roar of noise died down, if only a little. Still, nothing disrupted his pain.
The figures mumbled and moved him around like a rag doll. Then, he felt sleepy again, thankfully slipped back down into unconsciousness.
~~~~
Kyle awoke again with bright lights in his eyes, only for a minute, an agonizing minute of blunt sensation. His vision spun around the white room, bright lights shone down on his mercifully numb body. The air smelled sickeningly sterile, like he was inhaling cleaner fluid into his lungs. It made him vomit, he felt the action, his stomach numb but obviously not well. His involuntary reaction threw booming sound after booming sound into his ear drums. Kyle thought he might be sick again from the taste of vomit in his mouth, but he wasn't, or at least he didn't notice if he did, him mind was elsewhere.
Alice's face hung in his mind, her beauty, her smile...but it vanished. He saw the stranger, his face twisted with such sadistic pleasure he wondered how he ever faced such a beast. The image changed still to Duke, his bare chest visible in the crescent moon of that first night. It was a dizzying dream, ending in Scott's face, his mother's close by. Then the darkness in his peripherals swallowed his vision, and the rest of his senses with it.
~~~~
Duke would have burst through the hospitals front door, but the spinning mechanism made that impossible. He settled for storming to the receptionist in a quick fury, slamming his hands down on her counter with a frightful boom. "Where is Kyle Lane?" he demanded, her feeble fingers only now setting down her book like she had all the time in the world. In such an elevated state Duke could hardly keep the beast in, his senses were on red alert, time seemed to slow.
His fingers already tapped impatiently at the desk, while hers went to the keyboard and...hovered. "What was the name?"
Duke rolled his eyes, "Kyle Lane," he snapped, his face contorting in disgust as he smelled the demented mix of death, disease and chemical cover up. "L-a-n-e," he spelled out, acknowledging he sounded rude, but it was too late to correct that. Technically this was a confirmation, Duke still only thought it was Kyle, but he was nearly one hundred percent sure, so he wouldn't be surprised if the name came up. Still, his heart longed for the search to be blank.
The perky receptionist's black curls bounced a little as she typed her shirt a bit revealing for a place of recovery and old people. She couldn't be more than twenty...strange what he noticed in his adrenaline rush.
But his heart and mind were primarily on Kyle. His face, his rare smile, his voice, they all resonated in his head with painfully realistic memories. Kyle couldn't be really hurt. It was impossible; Duke had been there mostly, Duke was going to keep him safe. Duke didn't fail. Duke was an Alpha!
He couldn't contain his quick snarl at the young hospital worker who gave him a concerned look. And swallowed, the scent of legitimate fear in the air, "I-I'm sorry sir..."
Duke was too high on his own adrenaline to contain himself, he interrupted in a snap, "Don't give me that, tell me where he is!"
She swallowed, "O-only family can go to the surgical wing, Mr Lane is mid surgery at the moment..." she managed to squeak out, Duke's pheromones apparently doing quite the number on her. Duke took a deep breath, mentally trying to calm down, which was a lot more difficult then he thought, but he finally managed to stop continuously letting out mind crushing scents.
Kyle was hurt and Duke hadn't even been there to try and stop it...
"Where is the surgical wing?" Duke asked calmly, not meeting her eyes with his own. He had broken a long kept promise twice now for this boy, he had made people make choices. He had taken away a human beings free will, it was sickening, it made him feel like more a beast then when he was full wolf.
"Third floor..." he heard, and he was off, the stairs his only option seeing as he might go completely insane in a cramped, slow little elevator. He couldn't keep his mind off his boy, Kyle's condition, what ass he would have to beat to exact revenge...this attack would not go unanswered for.
The third floor was all white with an intensity that made it just a little uncomfortable to stare. The bright lights above his head made it worse; the yellow arrows on the ground and the green signs were like little blessings to Duke's eyes.
Finally he saw the tall lithe figure of Mrs Lane entering a doorway up ahead. He continued to run, not quite sure if she would be okay, to be honest if Kyle was in surgery and Duke couldn't be in the room with him, Mrs Lane came first. Duke already heard her talking, all of his senses not quite in control. Really he heard quite a few conversations, not many very interesting so he chose to focus in on the little voice of Kyle's mother.
"Sweetie I'm so sorry," she started, Duke's heart skipping a beat. Could the receptionist have been misinformed? Could Kyle's surgery already be done? His heart skipped another beat, were these her final goodbyes? No no no no no...that couldn't be possible, Kyle couldn't die, he wasn't allowed to...he couldn't...
"I'm so sorry it turned out this way." Duke felt his jaw snap as pointed canines started to spurt from his gums, his mouth elongating. He tried all he could to reverse the process, but he was near tears. "How did this even happen?" She whined, now only feet away, Duke sprung into the room, his eyes wide with panic, his breath irregular and hasty.
He turned just in time to see Scott smack Mrs Lane in the face, her little form falling from the bed. "Damn it Vikki I'm not dead! I was never dead! I was kidnapped by a monster God dammit!" He growled, his form still cut up, two other nurses immediately restraining the large man after the strike, a kindly nurse carrying Kyle's mother away from her beast of a husband. "Why doesn't anyone believe me!?" Scott cried, struggling with the other two men from his seated position, "Get off! It's still out there! It talks! It knows things!" Scott raved.
Duke fell to his knees in the door of the room, the nurse escorting Kyle's mom giving him a curious, if annoyed look. "Excuse me what are you doing on this floor? Are you family?" The Asian woman snapped. Duke could hardly care less. Kyle wasn't there, he was still in surgery. Getting a grip on himself he stood up and ran down the hall again, ripping past other rooms, the Asian nurse calling after him.
The halls all looked the same, bright and in painfully sharp focus. He turned more corners, cursing the size of the hospital and wondering who put such a large place in such an out of touch area. He could hear himself huffing like a madman, but finally he got something, Quinn was standing with who Duke could only assume were her parents outside a window.
Duke made his way over, and with those few steps he would never be the same. The window was a viewing platform for students; the hospital had to be part of some learning this or that. Many doctors and nurses fumbled around below, green garbed ants against the pure as snow background.
And red. Blood red. Duke felt himself lose control of his legs, not that it mattered, the entire wall was glass. He fell to Quinn's feet, his eyes locked from run to fall on the patient. Kyle lay motionless on table belly down, tube down his throat, his head cocked to the side, back red, and instruments cutting into him. Duke never realized how evil a heart rate monitor was until the cold statistic was the only sign another living being was even on this earth anymore.
"Duke?" Quinn managed to squeak, dropping to her own knees and pulling his form into a hug, "Oh my God don't look," she cried into him, her hands pulling his face away from the sight. She would never un-see this.
Duke didn't even try and his neck stayed firm, his eyes locked on Kyle's form. "What the hell is going on?" he asked in a voice much weaker than he anticipated. He sounded like a confused and lost puppy, a small child hat thought an explanation would make the event less terrible.
"Finn shot Kyle twice in the back...you were right I'm so..." Quinn started, but burst into tears, crying hysterically, her parents picking her from the ground and pulling her into a hug, obviously they had done it only minutes before. "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" she cried again, the two adults dragging her away for a while for a breather.
The larger, conscious boy sat in front of the window, watching step by step as others did things for Kyle he couldn't. He watched in terrible agony as Kyle danced along the line of life and death.
Duke hadn't felt so useless since he turned. There was a kind of power that came with being a wolf that solved most problems, a respect he received that prevented many, and senses he possessed that made most laughable. But this...Duke was no doctor. Duke was useless again...he was weak. Other people were helping his...potential mate, because he couldn't. Strangers were carving into him with blades that would heal, not destroy.
Like a child at a zoo he placed both hands on the glass, just looking down from a very prone position. If anyone noted how ridiculous he looked he wouldn't even have the strength to look away from the mess below and kick their ass. It was a hypnotic horror that kept his gaze.
"Tragic." A familiar voice stated casually behind Duke, terrifyingly close to his ear. "Shame something like that should happen to such an innocent kid huh?" Duke's eyes widened, an arm wrapping around his belly and a form pressing close behind him, "Guess who puppy."
Duke swallowed hard, his eyes never leaving Kyle, but his mind everywhere, "Danny?" he asked in a hushed voice, "Danny from Pennsylvania?"
A little laugh rang out in his ears, "You remembered!" A little hug occurred and the voice went on, "I'm so happy you remember me baby, you seem to be doing a lot of playing around," he noted with a hint of venom, "But I forgive you."
"Danny what are you doing here?" Duke asked his mind too frazzled to try and make sense of anything.
"I'm here to get you back of course, remember? I'm all yours and you're all mine...Forever and ever." The boy behind him whispered, licking his cheek. Duke flinched and Danny laughed again, "So uptight Hun, you need to relax."
It only then clicked in Duke's head that Danny could have had anything to do with anything that had happened recently. The last time Danny was ever a factor was in Ohio when Duke found and tossed away a shirt that belonged to the boy before Duke accidently packed it away with his things. A growl rose in Duke's chest, "Danny what did you do?" he asked with flat rage.
The boy caressing him from behind waited a moment before answering, "I took care of your new toy." He replied with an equally flat voice, though the hate wasn't there. "I know you like your play things, but this one's broken now, so why not use me instead?" Danny's grip tightened. "I'm stronger now Duke, I got an upgrade."
Duke's head was spinning, he wanted to just beat Danny's face in, run away from him, and scream at him at the same time. "But...Finn shot him. You couldn't be involved," he protested, scared of having to deal with Danny again, frightened by his past mistakes.
Danny shifted, "I told you, I got an upgrade," he stated, revealing a bite mark on his right arm. Duke gasped and finally broke eye contact with Kyle's limp form.
"How..."
"You," Danny answered casually, "And I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm yours forever Duke, you changed me. In turn you gave me power, power over Finn...Power to get you back and destroy everything that stands in my way."
Duke shook his head, there was no way, he was so careful, that would never happen, "I didn't do that Danny, there's no way I did that," he breathed, second guessing himself. He didn't do that; he couldn't have done that to Kyle so inadvertently...so he wouldn't have done it to Danny, "No way. Get off of me."
Danny held tighter, "But I finally have you back..."
"Get. Off." Duke stated, "And get out. You're lucky I don't beat your fucking skull in right now!" Danny let go, Duke turned to face the boy, the inner beast having made him bigger than Duke remembered, "Run away and hope I never find you, because I will end you Danny. This is war. Ever touch my Mate again and I'll end the war so fast it'll make your head spin in hell," Duke promised. Duke was actually surprised he managed a threat and didn't just slaughter Danny on instinct. But it was a very sad fact he regretted, Danny meant so little to Duke, but everyone Duke played around with made Duke mean so much to them.
Danny backed off; obviously taking the hint, "Fine," he said coldly, "Just know I'll be waiting for you when you grow tired of this one."
"I won't ever be," Duke stated, looking back to Kyle.
"You won't be saying that when you see how damaged he is," Danny promised, "Just you wait, damaged merchandise will mean nothing to you!"
"I wouldn't count on it."
Danny stayed a moment longer, and then strolled out of the hospital. Duke knew he would have to face Danny in the end, but not now. Now it would just be about Kyle.
~~~~
Kyle started to come too again but it was hazier than before. The room wasn't as bright though, so that was an improvement. Again, his senses came in waves, first sight, then the sounds of a steady beeping, the scent of cleaning solution, the warm feeling of a soft bed, and the gross taste of your dry mouth after a night of sleeping with your mouth open.
Kyle groaned a little as he took a sharp breath, realizing only then that his entire chest and stomach ached. It was a dull pain, much less intense than before, but all too present. His back was in no better shape.
Carefully he tried to sit up, not really paying attention to his surroundings; a hand gently grabbed his and helped him sit up, "You can't get up for a few days at least." A deep voice boomed in Kyle's ears. Although even in the roar of semi-consciousness Kyle still swore it was Duke and it comforted him.
"Duke?" Kyle asked anyway, "Where am I? What...what hap..."
"Shhh...relax Kyle, your safe, we're at the hospital. You're recovering from two gunshot wounds and my name is Mathew, I'm a nurse here." The voice explained, the figure too far out of Kyle's field of focus, the figure was in a giant blur. "The doctor will be in momentarily to explain everything."
And just like that Kyle was alone with a slightly more rapid beep to keep him company. He had been shot?! By who? For what? How long was he out? Where was Alice, or Duke or Quinn? His mom had to be on her way at least.
It was only then that Duke snuck in before the door closed, slipping in up to the bed. Kyle tried to focus on his friend, his vision slowly but surely clearing up, "Now you are most definitely Duke," he said with a weak smile, "What's happened man, is everyone okay?"
Duke just stared down at Kyle, a solemn look on his face which was pale as Kyle had ever seen anyone. "Are you okay?" Kyle asked, still not getting words. "Duke if you aren't a hallucination then say something please."
The tall boy fell to his knees and to Kyle's great shock, started bawling his eyes out like a child. "Kyle I'm so sorry..." he said in hysterics, heaving from the effort.
Kyle sat there a bit more shocked if that was possible, "Duke...dude calm down what's wrong? You didn't shoot me so don't apologize."
Duke let out another childish wail of sorrow and rage, slamming his form down on Kyle's legs under the blankets. It took Kyle a moment, it truly did, but it hit him like a ton of bricks. He sat there watching Duke cry into his legs, but he only felt the warmth of the covers at his fingertips and chest.
"Duke..." Kyle asked in a very weak voice, his lip quivering, "Duke...why can't I feel my legs?"