There was so much swimming in my head upon that reveal. My mind briefly flashed to the memory of old Mr. Thompson’s body being wheeled from his house.
“And what does it take to survive?” My voice was small, afraid.
Matt slowly approached me before he seemed to take note how I unintentionally leaned away from him as he did. He paused before looking away, his expression unreadable. “Something you are not ready for.”
Neither of us said a word. He didn’t look my direction, and I couldn’t look in his. This was becoming too much for me to comprehend. There was a question in my mind, one that I strangely felt he would be honest in answering. “Are you going to kill me to keep me quiet?”
This caught his attention again. Matt stiffened before looking at me. “You think I’ll hurt you?”
No, I really didn’t. I feared what Matt was, but I didn’t necessarily fear him. Although the same couldn’t be said about our coworkers. Cale didn’t seem to like me that much; I didn’t feel he held qualms over harming me.
“It seems to be a conflict of interest,” I explained to my shoes while unable to meet his eye. “You guys can’t really keep me alive when there’s the possibility that I could tell someone what you are.” I didn’t dare mention that Simon was in the loop of things. That would complicate things more than they already were.
“See, I don’t think you’ll say anything,” said Matt with confidence. “You could have gone to the police after the party.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not a liability.”
At my words, Matt released a dark chuckle. “It’s as though you want me to say that we’re going to off you or something.”
“If you were in my shoes, you’d be thinking the same thing.”
It was very quiet after that. He couldn’t argue my point, and we both knew it. Matt seemed to be debating how much to say to me or, rather, how to phrase what he wanted to say to me. “You didn’t read the small print of the contract you signed before entering this department.”
My head snapped up to stare at him. “What?”
“There’s a confidentiality clause on every contract someone signs before they can enter the department,” said Matt in amusement. “It’s quite minor, and frankly, a piece of paper isn’t going to stop anyone from talking if they want to, but it’s a legal way for Perry to keep someone quiet.”
I was stunned. There had been a lot of small print at the bottom of the forms I signed when I first transferred. It was full of legal and technical terms. After a few weeks in the department, I was figuring Perry had me sign it so I couldn’t sue for sexual harassment given all my coworkers’ borderline massive inappropriateness on a day-by-day basis. I racked my brain as I thought of a single sentence on the contract that had caught my eye. But I never gave it much thought or asked for an explanation as to what it meant. “I signed away my rights to revealing personal information that I could hear in this department,” I recalled slowly.
Matt nodded. “We usually have trouble hiring people based upon our ridiculous hours and an all-over-the-place schedule. Occasionally, a person will want to transfer or join set up. But then they’ll automatically leave once they see the small print at the bottom of the contract. Surprisingly, you didn’t.”
I was stunned. I had read the small print, but I hadn’t really taken note of it. I merely figured that was ordinary in any contract. My voice was small when I finally spoke. “So basically, I’ll be sued by Perry if I tell anyone what you are?”
Matt gave me a halfhearted shrug. “We’ve never had anyone come out and reveal us, so I can’t be sure, but that’s my best guess as his last resort.”
My head was spinning. “So, Perry knows what you all are? Is he one, too?”
Matt laughed. “Yes, he’s one, too. Although he was transformed later in life, less than four years ago. His grandfather was one. That’s how he’s in the loop of things.”
I could only stare at him after that. Even though I suspected as much about Perry, it was utterly bizarre hearing it anyway. I had a million questions wanting to fly out of my mouth at once.
“How?”
Matt was quiet for a moment as he watched the ugly carpeted floor of the room. “Perry’s grandfather and I met in the military.”
That was something else I wasn’t prepared to hear. But Matt didn’t allow me to digest this information before he was speaking once more.
“The night we came home from a tour, we were ambushed. George and I were bit by…” Matt waved his hand as if for me to guess the rest of the story without him having to give too much graphic detail.
“A few of us had gone out to a hole-in-the-wall bar in the countryside. Our friend Victor left a tad earlier. Ten minutes after he left, George and I were stumbling to our cars, out of our minds drunk.” Matt stopped talking for a moment, pausing as if contemplating if he should continue. Seeing that I was still watching him seemed to encourage him to continue.
“We saw Victor was being attacked by a large animal, but we couldn’t see what it was. George and I tried to stop him from getting pulled away to no avail. Victor was dragged into the woods out of view, screaming. There was no one else out there except us and the two bartenders inside. But they couldn’t hear his gurgled screams like we could.” Matt paused once more to let the story sit. He was quiet.
“Even while intoxicated, I knew it was too late for Victor. No one could survive that much blood loss. Whatever it was that was killing him didn’t believe in a quick, painless death. A dark red trail led all the way to the forest.” Matt paused again to watch me. I must not have been showing fear, for he nodded before continuing.
“Even though Victor was clearly about to die, if he wasn’t already dead, George was adamant we needed to do something.” A dark chuckle escaped him. Matt looked amused at the memory of George on that fateful night. “We shouldn’t have pursued the creature on a rational day,” he said, shaking his head at what was clearly a bad memory.
“Our being intoxicated made a bad situation worse. We shot at what we saw. It was something that was very tall and furry, almost resembling a human while not really.”
All I could do was sit and listen to Matt speak. I believed his story wholeheartedly. Even the best of actors wouldn’t be able to pull off the emotion he was displaying. His expression was deeply pained, his eyes haunted by the memory that probably replayed in his head quite often.
“The thing that grabbed Victor was too fast for us. Hitting its leg with a bullet did nothing. It bit off George’s hand,” explained Matt before he unbuttoned his polo and brought it to showcase the left of his collar bone. There was a very large white scar highlighting his skin. It specifically looked like a large set of jaws had been locked on him. I could only stare.
“Bit me as well.” Matt looked away. He buttoned his polo back up and then avoided eye contact. He was no longer looking at me. His eyes were staring into space, his brows slightly furrowing as he seemed to lose himself in his haunted tale.
“Life rolls on,” he continued. “George was already married before the war. He and Dorothy already had a single son. They didn’t have more children after that. And then that son had another son.”