Haken: A Capacity for Violence Part 6

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 5, click on the Collections tab and select 'Werewolves' to find the previous installment of this story.]

There was a hiss of air and a door opened in the gleaming metal wall to Haken's left. He was momentarily disappointed when a woman stepped through–he'd been hoping to show the scientist a piece of his mind–but he quickly changed perspective when he actually took the time to look. His guest approached him slowly on long, slender legs. Her deep red hair framed a warm, slightly-rounded face, and she smiled when she noticed him eyeing her. She held out her hand, and, not knowing what else to do, Haken reached out to grasp it.

The woman laughed. Her voice was surprisingly deep, but not unpleasant. "I came for the papers," she said.

"What?"

"The test." She pointed toward the abandoned exam on the table where Haken had discarded it as soon as he'd finished. 

"Oh." He dropped his hand, feeling foolish. All this talk of sex had awoken instincts in his mind that he'd almost forgotten he had. He was starting to wonder if it was on purpose. These humans knew he'd been on the run and at war; violence may serve his base desires, but there were other instincts he'd left buried that were getting more difficult to repress as they were taunted. If the inner beast couldn't kill someone, there were other ways to feed the fire–these humans were playing a dangerous game. "Who are you?" he asked. "Are you one of the scientists?" He doubted it. She wasn't dressed like the others had been, but looks could be deceiving. 

"I'm Alice," the woman said. "I'm part of the program. If you impress Dr. Emmerich, we'll probably be seeing a lot more of each other."

"Emmerich?"

"The man you've been giving the middle finger to since you woke up. He's really quite cross over that, I'll have you know."

Haken gave a snort of satisfaction. These people were weak. "I don't think he likes me very much." 

"You're right," Alice said. "But he doesn't need to like you in order to pass you into the program."

"Suits me just fine." He reached back and grabbed the papers. "I didn't do all that well." She'd taken a step closer to him while his back was turned. There was something odd about her that he couldn't quite put a finger on. His nostrils flared as he took a deep sniff. "You smell…wrong."

She let out an offended huff. "You certainly don't know how to speak to a woman. You're lucky you're–"

Her words cut off with a squeak of fear as Haken lunged toward her, springing off the plastic seat and wrapping his arm around her in barely more than a second. He held the stubby pencil to her delicate neck. It was dull, but he'd killed with lesser tools when he needed to.

"What are you?" he snarled. 

Alice struggled to break free, but Haken's grip was iron. "I'm…I'm a werewolf!"

"You aren't human," he said. "I'll give you that. But you don't smell like any wolf I've ever met."

"Does that really surprise you?" she replied, quickly regaining her cool. "They've experimented on all of us. My beast was altered, but I'm still a wolf!"

It took about thirty seconds for a trio of armed guards to burst through the door and surround the two of them. That was quick, but the response time was good information to have on-hand.

"They won't let you leave," Alice said. She'd become eerily calm. "None of us ever leave this place." She looked over at the guards. "Don't shoot. I can handle this."

Haken rested the pencil tip against her neck. "You're in over your head," he growled. "They dropped you in here to see how I'd react. You were a sacrificial lamb."

"Well," Alice said. "You're half right." Her elbow smashed into Haken's nose, catching him completely off guard. He reacted by reflex, driving his makeshift weapon toward her, but she moved quicker than he could track, slipping out of his choke hold like an eel. He tried to crouch in a defensive position, but his human form was too slow and he was still recovering from the sedatives. Stars fleshed in his vision as the woman slammed a bony fist into his jaw and sent him reeling.

"What…the fuck…" Haken muttered as he wiped blood away from his nose. 

Alice leaned over him, completely unafraid. "Your instincts are on point. You noticed I wasn't human as soon as I got close enough for you to sense it. You're quick and ruthless, even in human form. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were actually willing to kill me."

Haken groaned. "A month ago I'd never raised a hand against a woman. But war changes a wolf."

She offered him a hand. "As it should," she said. "I was a pacifist once, years ago before they took me. It feels like another life."

He watched her warily and the soldiers did an awkward shuffle as he considered his options. Clearly they expected him to go berserk and he could smell their nervousness. Still, though, he could tell the difference between men unaccustomed to fighting werewolves and those who had seen his kind in battle. These men were clearly the latter and he didn't like his odds, especially if Alice was inclined to come after him again. She may be a wolf as she claimed be, but she very clearly wasn't on his side. 

"I won't hurt you unless you force me," she said. "Trust me, you don't want to make more enemies here than you have to. I used to lash out like that, myself, but as you can see, it got me nowhere." She held her hand out again and this time he took it. She pulled him to his feet. "I know what you're thinking," she said. "You think you can just wait for the right moment and then claw your way out of here, but that isn't going to happen."

Haken gritted his teeth. "What makes you think I'm thinking that? Dr. Lim told me about the breeding program. Don't you think I'd stay for that?"

 "Maybe some wolves would," she said. "I've read your file. You're tempted, but you're a follower of the old ways. Your 'Great Spirit' expects you to adhere to a certain set of moral principals. Sooner or later you'd come to the inevitable conclusion that the only moral option is to escape and take as many of us with you as you can." She eyed him. "In fact, I'm willing to bet you already had that on your mind, didn't you? Did you plan to be my hero, Haken?"

"Why?" he grunted as he limped over to his bed and collapsed. "Why are you working with them if they keep you a prisoner?"

Alice waived the soldiers out of the room, and he was surprised when they complied without a word of complaint. She joined him on the bed, sitting mere inches away from him. "I was tired," she said. "Tired of being helpless and afraid. Our kind lost the war and hundreds of thousands of humans and wolves died for our sins. There were never many of us to begin with, but we've been on the brink of extinction ever since. When Dr. Lim came here and told me that she planned to save our species, it gave me hope that I thought I'd lost forever. So I cooperated. They treat me with respect down here and give me a certain amount of freedom."

"But you can't leave."

She shook her head. "No. No I can't. But it's better than being restrained for the rest of my life. Better than rotting in a cell or being subjected to the experiments other facilities are doing. Trust me, I know a thing or two about that, and it's not pretty."

"They weren't kind to us at Haven, either," Haken said.

Alice traced a finger lightly over his arm. "They cut…here…" she moved to trace a familiar line over his chest. "And they cut here, too."

He shivered. "Yeah," he said. "They had their favorite places. How can you know that? It was in wolf form and I healed the scars."

"There are standardized procedures," Alice said. "Haven wasn't the only colony, you know. The earlier years were the same for most of us. I know what you've been through because I've lived through it, myself."

"You're trying to get me to trust you." 

"Is it working?"

Haken shrugged. "Trust is hard to come by these days." He lowered his voice. Ashamed. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for trying to stab you in the neck with a pencil."

Alice laughed, and Haken was surprised by how genuine it sounded. "You have no idea how nice it is to be talking with a werewolf who remembers what it's like to be a wolf rather than a domesticated dog. And yes, I suppose I'm counting myself."

"That sounds dangerously close to a compliment." 

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Alice said. "You're rough, brutish, and rude. Even a quick look at your exam suggests a lack of education."

Haken felt his ego deflate almost as quickly as she'd built it up. "And here I was starting to think you were buttering me up." He felt like he was getting whiplash from the alternating flurry of compliments and cheap shots.

Alice patted his leg. "It's not meant to be an insult. We're all products of our experiences. If your life has molded you into the form of a brute, I could hardly blame you for adapting to the environment you were forced into."

"I think we're done, here." Haken stood up and walked over to the desk. He wasn't sure where he was going–there weren't all that many options–but he didn't trust his emotions around this woman. It felt like she was winding him up just to see what would happen, and he didn't want to be humiliated again. He needed time to think, but ever since he'd awoken in his new cell he'd been barraged by hidden voices and unexpected guests. He had to make a plan, and he couldn't do that while being toyed with by a wolf who seemed to have embraced her captors. "Am I allowed to have privacy?" he asked.

"Once you've proven yourself trustworthy," Alice said as she got up from the bed. "You haven't exactly ingratiated yourself to the humans, yet."

"Not what I meant," he replied. "I'm sure they'll be watching no matter what they think of me. I just need some time to figure this all out. If you really are a prisoner here, you'll understand that."

"Of course," she said as she bent down to pick up the test papers from where they fell when Haken assaulted her. "I hadn't intended to have a heart-to-heart yet, but since you were so intent on bonding right off the bat, I figured I owed you an explanation. I'll tell Dr. Emmerich to give you the rest of the day off to get your bearings. Does that work for you?"

He nodded. Gods–he'd been up for less than half an hour and he was already exhausted. The doctors weren't kidding when they said they'd loaded him with an unusual amount of sedatives. He hoped he could sleep them off, soon. Still, though, he had one other need that seemed to be vying for attention with the desire for sleep.

"Food," he said. "Do I get to eat?"

"Of course," Alice replied. "They're actually pretty good about that, here. They want us healthy."

Haken grunted. "General Rivera used to like to taunt me with food. She damn near let me starve."

Alice reached the door and gave it two sharp knocks. It slid open, revealing the human soldiers on the other side, rifles ready in case he made any trouble. "I know you don't want to believe it," she said, "but this place isn't the same just because it's run by the government. Departments are run by individual people, and all people have different motivations. The food in here isn't exactly gourmet, but it's a lot better than the average prison food. Plenty of protein to cater to our diets, too."

That perked him up. "Meat?" Other than the skewers Lapu had given him when he escaped from Rivera's holding cells, Haken hadn't seen proper meat in weeks. Vegetables and prison mush just didn't cut it for a werewolf of his size and appetite.  

Alice laughed. "More often than you might expect. I'll see what they can cook up for you. Meal time is in about two hours." She stepped out with the soldiers. "Enjoy your nap."

The door slid closed.