Haken: A Capacity for Violence Part 16

This story features forge master Haken and takes place between the events of 'Werewolves: Haven Rising' and 'Werewolves 3: Evolution's End.' 

[If you haven't read part 15, click on the Collections tab and select 'Werewolves' to find the previous chapter of this story.]

The hallway between cell blocks was painted in slashes of dark red and decorated with broken, mangled bodies wrapped in tattered green uniforms. It stank of coppery blood so badly that Haken had to cover his nose with his free hand while he held Dr. Lim in the other. The alarm klaxon had been wailing for so long that he could barely hear it anymore and the flickering emergency lights were starting to make him feel nauseous. Each cell they passed had been empty. Here and there he could see dents and pry marks showing where the invaders had forced their way in. More often than not, their crowbars and battering rams littered the same room as their owners' eviscerated corpses.

A deathly howl torn from some unfortunate's lungs echoed through the lifeless corridors from somewhere far away, bombarding Haken's already overwhelmed senses. Lim whimpered in his arms; she'd been nearly catatonic for the last few minutes and he'd had to waste precious time re-wrapping her wounds before continuing on, searching for a safe place to hunker down. He'd all-but given up on that by this point–all he wanted now was to find the other werewolves, hopefully alive and well. He hadn't seen any of their bodies among the dead–every corpse so far had been wearing the same paramilitary uniform–but he didn't have time to examine every one of them to be absolutely sure.

"Alice wouldn't let this rabble kill her," he muttered to himself as he kicked a dead militiaman's body away from the door leading toward the next cluster of cells. The corpse slumped to the side, revealing a gaping wound that had been neatly sliced into its neck. He knelt down to give it a closer look. "This isn't the work of a werewolf." He ran the tip of his claw over the incision. It was almost surgically precise, no ragged edge whatsoever. Interesting.

Haken straightened up again and walked through the doorway into the central hall. The screaming had stopped at some point while he was examining the body. Whoever had been causing the commotion was probably just as dead as this poor idiot by now. He felt no sympathy for the humans at all, not even the natural revulsion he might have experienced in a simpler time when he hadn't yet become jaded by war and death. He knew that this chaos and bloodshed should stir something within his spirit. That he should feel…something…but the years had taken their toll on him. He grunted. Haken the cold. The unmoved. 

The doctor choked out a sharp cough and jerked in his arms for a moment, nearly startling him into dropping her on top of the corpses. He shifted his grip to make sure she couldn't roll to the side before speaking to her.

"You still with me, Lim?"

She took in a ragged breath. "Where are we? Are we safe?"

"No," he said. "All the cells I've seen have been broken into, so far." 

She coughed again and a fine mist of blood flecked her lips. "Are the wolves okay?"

He was quiet for a moment before replying. It was strange hearing a human act so concerned about a group of werewolves that she kept under lock and key. She hadn't asked after her fellow doctors or even the facility staff–her first concern had been for his kin. Certainly, she valued them as experiments, but this felt more personal than a simple concern over property or datapoints. She actually saw werewolves as people. It seemed like he made the right call when he decided not to strangle her to death at his first opportunity. 

"I haven't seen any dead wolves, yet," he replied. "At least I don't think so. Most of the bodies I've seen were wearing those green uniforms, and I haven't seen any dead women."

"Thank god," Lim managed to say before she was taken by yet another round of gut-wrenching coughing. "Let me down," she said. He was halfway through the hall to the next cell block and showing no signs of stopping. She tried to hammer a fist into his arm but she was weak as a kitten. "If you don't put me down, I'll die."  

"Damn it all," Haken said. "Why'd you have to go and say that?" He set her down as gently as he could and leaned her against the wall. "I've still got that med kit you asked me to pick up. What do you need me to do?" He opened the metal box, revealing a varied assortment of bandages, disinfectant, a pair of scissors, and, curiously, a scalpel and tongs. 

"We'll get to that in a second," Lim said. Her hand fumbled into her pants pocket and emerged holding a thin cylindrical tube. She popped the top open with her thumbnail and handed it to him. "There's a needle in here," she said. "Inject me with it."

Haken upended the tube and gave the syringe a close look. He couldn't tell the difference between it and any other needle he'd ever encountered. "What is it?"

"I…" she coughed again. "I don't have time to answer questions. Just stick me with the damn thing! Upper left arm."

He took in a deep breath. It was hard to be irritated with her; if he were in her position he probably wouldn't want to bother explaining himself, either. He pulled the protective plastic off the needle and positioned it against her arm where she indicated, then depressed the plunger to inject her with gods-knew-what. The doctor let out an immediate sigh of relief. 

"Excellent," she muttered. "Now open that package and use the wipe to disinfect the wound." She waited for him to comply. "Pick up those forceps." She rolled her eyes at his hesitation. "The ones with the tongs. You need to get this bullet out of my chest."

Haken looked at the tongs and then over at the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around Lim's torso. "I don't have any medical experience. I might kill you."

Lim sniffed. "Then I'll die. But it's nice to know that you care enough to tell me the truth. Do your best and I promise not to haunt you if you screw it up. The shot you gave me will help, trust me."

The forceps felt delicate in his large werewolf paws, but he was able to manipulate them well enough. The claws weren't clumsy-per se–it was just that they weren't shaped properly for handling human tools. He placed his left paw on her chest to hold her steady and positioned the tongs by the entry wound. "Last chance to back out."

"Damn it, Haken!" Lim gasped. "Get it over with! This drug doesn't last forever!"

He pulled open the edges of the wound with the claws of his left paw and dug in with the forceps. He expected her to cry out or at least hiss with pain, but she watched him work without so much as a whimper. What had been in that syringe?

"Higher," she said. "I can feel the bullet moving; you're nudging it from below."

He re-positioned the tongs and went back in. This time he could feel the difference in response as spongy, wet flesh made way for the embedded bullet. He clamped down on it and tugged gently, encountering some resistance. He looked up at the doctor and she gave him a nod. She was definitely feeling the pain now, because her teeth were clenched and she didn't have anything smart to say. That was good; lack of pain response could get a person in a lot of trouble–he'd learned that during his early warrior days when he was young, stupid, and thought nothing could harm him. 

A few more small tugs and the bullet came free. He let it fall to the floor where it landed with a clink and rolled several inches before coming to a stop, painting a miniature red arc with Lim's blood. He wiped the tongs off on a dead militiaman's uniform and placed them back in the med kit, then re-wrapped the bandages to keep her from bleeding out.

"Thank you," she said. "I owe you my life."

"We're not out of it yet," Haken grunted. "Think I can pick you up again? We shouldn't stay here for much longer. Have to keep moving and find Alice."

"And the others."

"Yes," Haken added. "The others, too."