Cruel and Unusual - serialised novel EXCLUSIVE to Steemit Part 46

For the full list of episodes, please see this post: Episode List
And Then, 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
43 44 45

Images below from Google and Pixabay

Please read the start of the story using the links above. I promise, it’s well-worth the time to check it all out. At least then, this excerpt will make more sense

“Why do you suspect Throwback and do you have anyone in mind, except for David York?”

“David York is not the Throwback, but I do think he knows the Throwback. I think it is trying to lure a Wolf to it. I also suspect that it had something to do with Almyra and Marcellus’s disappearances. You knew Almyra, didn’t you, Alex?”

Alex nodded that he did and his face was grim at the loss of her.

“So, the plan I have in mind is for separate groups, led by each of us four, but only my own group shall be made known to the Elders.”

“What are the Elders?” Ralski asked.

“They are a group of Wolves, not quite Ancients, who have gained the trust of Anton. They have Anton’s ear when it comes to Wolf politics and they seem to have the best interests of us all at heart. I do not know them as well as Anton does, but from what I have seen, they are loyal to him and give sound advice. They do not seem to be self-serving and nor does any have a hidden agenda that I have detected. For the most part, it would seem that they genuinely want the best for Wolf-kind and are just as concerned about this as the rest of us.”

“It seems odd to me.” Ralski said.

“Yes and it did to me also – at first, but I have spoken at great length with them all and they are supportive of Sentinels being brought in to find this Throwback.”

“You have told them of your suspicions?”

“Yes. They held a meeting and invited me to speak to them and a number of their guests.”

“You made this knowledge public and still they did not object to Sentinels arriving in their city?” Ralski was incredulous.

“I have and they welcomed my proposal, although I did not elaborate on the numbers of Sentinels available to me. Wolves in general believe that Sentinels are few and far between, that our role in our society is limited and that we have no need for large numbers. That belief soothes them and I saw no need to disabuse them of that notion.”

“Hence the assumption that you have drafted in but a quarter of our actual number.”

Hazel nodded. “Now, we need to make plans on how to capture the Throwback.”

“You wish to capture it? Why not just execute it when we find it?”

“Because Anton wishes to experiment upon it.”

“If I were that Throwback, I think that I should rather be executed.” The last of their group spoke.

“As would I, Kirsty, as would I.”

Jack hardly slept in the next two weeks. His work at the hospital suffered, as did his volunteer work in the infirmaries. His studies were neglected completely. The only thing on his mind was the construction of his new work space and the experimentations that he could perform there.

It had cost a great deal of his cash in order to purchase, move and erect the equipment in the exact place of his choosing. He had to pay almost as much in bribery as the entire project cost. At last, he was satisfied that his new laboratory was complete and working as he wanted it.

All of a sudden, everything was going to his plans and even his hopes. A young man had died under suspicious circumstances in the Workhouse and Jack had been asked to autopsy the body on the quiet. He had been offered a bribe but had refused, whilst giving assurances to the Workhouse Matron that her husband’s heavy-handedness would not be brought up at any inquest.

Jack’s autopsy ‘found’ that the young man had died when an old wound on his skull was aggravated after a fall where he hit his head. The collaboration between the three ensured that any inquest would find the death was caused by accident.

Jack did the autopsy and pocketed the Adrenal glands from the young man’s body. They seemed to be tender morsels and an unexplainable curiosity overcame him and he felt a compulsion to take them.

Perhaps it was the Full Moon calling to his Wolf psyche, perhaps it was the smells and sounds whilst he was performing the autopsy, perhaps it was his own instincts striving for release, or perhaps it was a madness overtaking his mind, driving him to perform unthinkable acts.

Mayhap it was a combination of all those factors and Jack cannot be blamed for being what he was – a forbidden product of an alliance, and one which should have been, if not prevented, then at least aborted.

The descent into insanity accelerated as the moon rose above the rooftops. Jack made his way to his new laboratory and surveyed the equipment.

He seemed to have forgotten the morsels that he had procured during the afternoon, until he put his hand into his overcoat pocket and found the parcel.

He brought out the brown paper-wrapped meat and took it to a table where he carefully un-wrapped it, bemused at what it was and how it had gotten into his pocket. He viewed the lumps of meat with suspicion until he recalled the circumstances.

Without thinking twice, he popped the first one into his mouth and moved it around with his tongue, savouring the taste and texture of the gland.

He waited until it had acquired a similar temperature to his before biting down upon it. His teeth at first squashed the gland until at last, the pressure became too great and they ruptured the outer skin, allowing the blood and other juices to burst into his mouth.

Jack’s taste buds were swamped by the exquisite flavours and his eyes half-closed in apparent ecstasy.

A dribble of juice and saliva oozed down his chin and, loath to lose any, he wiped it and sucked the drool from his finger.