If we take what we learned from the meeting. That means that the pack has been changing people for a while now. How many people did they change? Do the Hunters know about it? How many were killed- I felt Hector shook me, “Earth to Chester responds.”

I pushed him away, “Hector what the hell!”

“I kept asking you about Elliot and you haven’t responded once.” We were both halfway to my cabin to pick up Elliot, “I have very important questions that need answering Chester.”

“Please, I know what you’re going to ask. He is 26, I don’t know if he is cute, I don’t know his hobbies or what he does, and I don’t know about his sexuality” Honestly that is all he cares about, “I was just thinking about-”

“Don’t,” Hector interrupted, “if it’s about what happened at the meeting stop thinking about it.”

“But-”

Hector held his hand up, “Listen, I know it's a lot to take in, but you shouldn’t think about it too hard. Dillion and Doc are still getting as much info as they can. The last thing you should do is jump to whatever dark conclusions you can think up and present it as fact.” 

Hector put his hand on my shoulder but I brushed it off, “I wasn't going to have dark conclusions.”

Hector looked me straight in the eye, “Chester, I have raised you for ten years, and the first thing I learned is how transparent you are when you are worried about something and you jump to the worse scenario you can think of with provocation. You need to keep calm and not let your pessimistic thoughts take control.”

I turned away from Hector, “let’s just get Elliot.” Hector can tell I just wanted to end the conversation and just let it slide. I just didn’t want to talk anymore, but he’s right. Jumping to conclusions is only going to make me feel worse. We’ll figure things out later. As we approached my cabin, we heard a noise coming from it, “Huh? What’s going on?”

“You gave him back his phone right?” 

I nodded. 

“then he’s probably playing something on it.” Hector continues to approach the cabin.

I kept focusing on the sound. Snarls? Did he transform? Is he messing with my toys? Wait, why would he transform after a full moon. “Hector wait!”

Hector opened the door to the cabin “what the-” Something collided with Hector and knocking onto the ground. I knew in a second it was Elliot. Hector screamed as Elliot bit into his arm. “Chester. Help me!” 

I froze while Elliot attacked him. Move, Move. I stared helplessly as the attack continued, my body not responding. Elliot tore into Hector’s arm. Blood covered his muzzle. What Elliot was doing isn't like the fight around the camp, he was trying to kill Hector. “Elliot stop!”

Elliot yipped, releasing Hector’s arm from his maw. “Get off him,” Tayler ran up to Elliot and kicked him. Elliot backed off and tried to run, “Claude!”

“I got him,” Claude ran out of the bushes and fired at Elliot. The tranquilizer hit its mark and Elliot goes down. “How’s Hector?”

“I’m fine,” Hector responded, “besides the huge bite mark, I’m peachy!” the site of the gash made me nauseous, his entire arm was red with blood. Tayler handed Hector one of his tranquilizers to use as a painkiller. “Thanks for the help.”

Claude got close to me, “Why didn’t you help him? He was in danger!”

“Claude, it wasn't his fault,” Hector yelled. Tayler helped Hector on his feet, “ Chester, check on Elliot.”

I ran to Elliot, who has now transformed back into a human. Two tranquilizers pierced his skin, one in his side the other on his leg. “He unconscious.”

“Good, help me bring to the cages. Claude, can you help me stitch my arm up?”

###

My head felt foggy. What happened? I pushed myself off the ground, my body felt sluggish. I tried to get up but my body hit something. Huh? I slumped back down and fell forward, again hitting something. What? After a few seconds, my mind cleared,” a cage?” my fingers slipped through the bars. I reached up and felt more bars. Why am I in a cage? I shook the cage, “what’s going on?”

“Finally awake sleeping beauty,” a voice said. On my left was a portly man with a beard, his body covered in hair, reading some book. He reminded me of a gay bear.

I try to back away, but forgetting that I was in a cage, didn’t get far. “You won’t get far,” another voice said. Behind me was another person. He had a military haircut and tan skin.

“Who are you, where am I,” I struggled to get out.

“Calm down,” the portly man said, “you are just in time out.”

“Time out! You don’t put people in cages for time out!”

“We do for werewolves,” the military man said. Werewolves? They must be members of this Pack.

“What did I do? You have no reason to put me in here!”

“You sure about that,” the portly man approached my cage and crouched down. He showed me his arm, a nasty gash covered his entire forearm, along with stitches.

My stomach turned with my head at the site, “oh my god what happened?” 

“You honestly don’t remember?” He asked.

“Remember what?” I ask.

“I see,” the portly man covered his arm with a towel, “we’ll let you out in a few minutes. So just sit tight.”

“But why am I in a cage? You didn’t answer my question.”

Both of them glanced at each other for a second. The military man spoke first, “can you not think for yourself? You caused that gash.”

I felt offended, “What? Why would I do that?”

“That's what we want to know. You attacked him for no reason.”

The portly man placed his hand on the other man, “Look, I doubt he did it on purpose. What was the last thing you can remember?”

I tried to think back, “the last thing I remember was being in the cabin, I read a text from my boss then,” I remembered, “I got fired.”

“So you transformed to relieve stress?” I didn’t answer, “hello?”

“I was fired from my job, then” I grasped my head, “I turned into that thing.”

The portly man squatted down, “hey Elliot, do you know how to transform?” 

I shook my head.

“So you changed without meaning to?” 

I nodded. 

“So it was an involuntary transformation.”

“That can happen outside of full moons?” the military man ask.

“It does, but very rarely,” the portly man opened my cage. I didn’t move. “It’s not a good sign.”

“I’ll go tell the Alpha,” the military man left the room. Leaving me and the portly man alone.

The portly man bends over me, “So, you hungry?” 

I haven’t eaten anything all day, so I nodded.

“Well, I just got some brunch while we were waiting for you to wake up. You can have the rest of it if you come out.”

“Aren't I dangerous or something?” 

“You seem in control to me,” he offered his hand to me.  

I turned my head down, to avoid his gaze, then hit with a familiar scene. Shit again. I cover my junk with my legs. 

The portly man laughed, “so you finally noticed. Relax, being semi-nude is common around here. Hell, I walk around in the nude all the time when I'm here.”

I looked at him,” you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you don’t seem naked.”

“Had important business to handle and clothing was mandatory. I do plan to go full nude in a bit.”

“But aren’t kids around here?”

“Yeah, but I know which cabins have them and the times they get up, so I can sneak around without giving them a look at my tools,” he chuckled while he placed a hand on his junk. “Besides, it’s only the adults here now so we can be a nude as we want.” He laughed.

“Don’t you have any shame?”

“Well, you aren’t in better condition. Didn’t you run around the camp pantless in full view of the kids though?”

“Shut it,” I can feel my face turn red from embarrassment. I mean kids might have seen it. OMG, I CAN END UP IN JAIL!

“So, do you plan to get out of the cage today? If you get out now I can also offer a free pair of pants, underwear included.” 

The idea of wearing pants again got me out of my cage. I may be hungry, but I need the pants more. 

The portly man handed me the pants, “the names Hector.”

“Elliot,” I took the pants without a word. “So you said there was food,” Hector pointed at the table he was sitting in. On it was some sausage and a biscuit. I put on the pants and started to eat what was left.

“So, tell me about yourself Elliot.”

“What is there to say,” I answer with a mouthful of sausage.

“Lots of things: hobbies, dreams, your favorite people to take into your bed, favorite foods.” 

I choked on the food, he handed me a water bottle. I drank from it, “why do you need to know that?”

“Your favorite food?”

“Not that, The one before it?”

“Your sexual preference?” 

I nodded. 

“Oh just seeing if I have a shot with you.”

“‘A shot at me’ what do you plan to do?” Hector made a small circle with two of his thumb and index fingers then slide in fingers from the other hand in the circle. All while grinning like an idiot. OMG, he a complete pervert.

“We can do this however you want.”

“How about never?”

Hector shrugged, “well okay then.” He picked up the book he was reading before and continued it. 

I looked around the room. There were multiple cages in here, “so do you put people in here?”

“Werewolves who cause trouble,” Hector didn’t look up from his book. 

Silence filled the room. “So what are you reading?”

“Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an ancient Chinese novel.” 

The name sounded familiar but I couldn't place where I heard it before, “is it any good?”

“It’s okay, there are a lot of historical inaccuracies in this thing, but I'm enjoying it.” Silence filled the room again.

Might as well get it over with. “So what’s going to happen to me?”

Hector turned away from his book, “In what way?”

There’s more than one? “Like, generally speaking.”

“Well,” Hector closed his book and looked at me, “for now we just need preparing for your Joining.”

“Joining?”

“Yeah, you’re joining the pack. For your own good.”

“For my own good for what? Don’t I have a say in the matter?”

Hector sighed, “in a normal situation, yes; but your case is far from normal. For one you are unlicensed. There is no record of how you turned into a werewolf or who turned you into one. Another thing is that the circumstances surrounding your transforming, specifically the Pack itself.”

“Pack? What Pack?”

“The Pack that changed you, or who we think changed you. The Pack was charged with mauling humans and sentenced to death by the Hunters. The warrant called for all members of that pack, which means you too.”

“what, why? What are the Hunters?”

“Hunter are hunters of everything that goes bump in the night. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, and werewolves. If it is something people are afraid of, they have killed it before.” Hector’s shoulders slumped, his body seemed tense, “Hunters aren't some ragtag group you see on T.V. they are organized, professional, and most importantly effective. There are few stories of any prey getting away from them. Once you are marked by them, death comes after you. There is no escape.”

Despair started to fill me. Just the feeling causes me to shut down, “why?”

“As I said because of the Pack-”

I slammed my fist down on the table, “but why, I’m a victim in this! I didn’t even know all this was going on. That’s bull-” a sharp pain formed in my chest. It quickly spread to the rest of my body. I know this feeling. I felt it last night before I transformed. That thing clawing out of me. I screamed in pain as I fell to the floor. I reached for Hector, “Help, help me, please.”

“Shit,” Hector cursed. The last thing I felt was something pinching me before the world went dark.

###

We ran into the holding room when we heard the screams, “What's going on?”

Hector was crouching over Elliot, a needle in his hand, “He was about to transform again.” Elliot continued to transform into a wolf even while unconscious.

I look around the room, “where’s Claude?”

“He went to the Alpha,” Hector put the needle on the table, “Elliot is in no control as a wolf.”

“We know that,” Tayler retorted.

“No, he has no control period. He transforms unconsciously and without warning. Elliot is in danger of becoming a Feral.”

Feral, those who can no longer turn back into humans, and Elliot could turn into one. “So what should we do?” Taylor asked.

Hector sighed, “just tell Doc and the Alpha. We’re going to need a plan if we really want to save him. Also, tell them his trigger is stress.” Tayler left the room, “Chester help me put him back into the cage.”

We carefully placed him back into the cage, “Hector, can we save him?”

Hector placed his arm around me, “of course we can.”