“Number 5857B, Please prepare to exit your cell for daily exercise,” the happy robot voice said. Sydney knew some of the messages were pre-recorded, but sometimes when the voice spoke it still sounded robotic, but sentient. She wondered if it was artificial intelligence or if someone typed into the machine what it should say.
It wasn’t as if she exercised out there. She mainly just tried to stay out of everyone else’s way until it was time to come back inside. The glass door slid open.
“Please follow the glowing arrows to the exercise yard, and remember to play nice with your friends.”
She was pushed aside by several therians racing to get outside under the full moon, so she was the last out. She missed the frenzied shifting. By the time she reached the yard it was like a zoo. Cheetahs, panthers, wolves, bears. There wasn’t yard big enough for the insanity.
Sydney looked up. The moon was red. Aunt Greta once told her about the blood moon and how powerfully strong it was for therians. Great. Just what she didn’t need.
She tried to disappear next to a nearby wall as the shapeshifters ran and started fights and burned excess energy under the moon. A wolf leaped at her, but a second wolf body slammed him away from her and started to snarl and snap at him. The wolf that had come at her was bleeding now and slunk off to lick his wounds.
The smell of therian blood got to the other two vampires and they joined in the fray to try to get a taste of the blood being spilled left and right in the fighting. The blood was getting to Sydney, too, but she knew if she listened to that urge she wouldn’t come out of it alive. The other vampires could hold their own out there.
The robotic voice chirped happily over the loud speakers. “I think that’s enough excitement for today, please make your way back to the building.”
It was extremely short for an exercise period, and Sydney knew why. The blood moon had been more than they’d anticipated. There were more guards than last night, but it still wasn’t enough to contain it all.
As they moved back inside away from the influence of the moon, therians began shifting back to their human forms, and Sydney found herself surrounded by a bunch of naked people who still seemed way too keyed up to be in an enclosed space with. A hand latched onto her arm.
She turned to find a very naked 5856 looking at her with an intensity that unnerved her.
“We have to get out of here, Sydney.” He’d used her name. He’d remembered her name. Why had he just used her name? The other night he’d made it perfectly clear that she was an identifying number—a cog in the machine—and nothing more.
He dragged her down a secondary hallway, not the one with the arrows, another, darker hallway with more glass cubes. But this area wasn’t used; the lights were out. Sydney could barely see here, but she knew the wolf could see just fine in the dark. His eyes were glowing an eerie yellow.
All kinds of fucked-up thoughts went through her head. She tried to pull free, and then a guard appeared and helped her get out of his grasp, but the wolf let out a savage growl and snapped the guard’s neck. 5856 dragged Sydney down a couple more side hallways. One of them was dimly lit with flickering lights that hissed. They ran right into the lady in the lab coat who’d given Sydney her test results. The wolf grabbed her like he might kill her too, but then he let her go.
“Don’t make me regret it, Kristen.”
She shook her head and ran in the opposite direction.
At the end of the hallway was a steel elevator.
“Thumbprint required for entry,” a recorded voice said out of the box next to the elevator.
He shifted partially and used his claw to rip open the box. He tore out a few wires and pressed a bunch of buttons on the keypad in quick succession.
“Thank you,” the computer said as the doors slid open.
“Come on,” he snarled, dragging her into the enclosed space with him.
Sydney moved into the back corner of the elevator as if she could go invisible. He was obviously attempting to break out of here, and he’d get her killed doing it. Why had he brought her with him? Was she a hostage?
The elevator went down what felt like thousands of floors but was probably only about thirty-five. The wolf was still naked, his clothing lying somewhere out in the exercise yard with all the others. She shrank back when he turned to her.
“I don’t know the whole layout of this place, but my guess is the security bug is throughout the building. At least I hope it is if we need to go through anymore thumbprint scanners. When we get outside, I’ll shift again under the moon. I can’t stop it. Whatever you do, follow me, and when we get to the edge of the city, run for the desert and do not stop. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Why—”
But the door opened on the ground level, and he grabbed her arm again.
The happy robotic voice said, “5856 and 5857B are out of their rooms, please stop them and bring them to the courtesy desk if you see them. Thank you.”
Sydney froze in the face of the melee. There were too many people in lab coats running toward them. Some had weapons. The wolf’s eyes darted around as if he were doing math equations in his head, then he grabbed her and tossed her in a big laundry bin nearby. She landed on a soft pile of freshly laundered white clothes and peeked out to see him shift again. He moved faster than she could track, dodging bursts of light that came out of the weapons. He ripped out throat after throat until dead bodies covered the floor with little room to walk.
“Unit B, please report to the lobby,” the voice said. Sydney wasn’t sure if she imagined the voice sounding somehow less cheerful and upbeat this time.
The wolf shifted back to his human form, ran for her and lifted her out of the bin. He carried her, running to the doors. “Remember what I said.”
Outside he set her down and immediately shifted, then he began to run. Sydney ran behind him. She didn’t have the kind of stamina he did, and she’d had bagged blood. She was going to lose him, but she pushed and ran even though her lungs burned, because if she didn’t they’d kill her tonight. There was no way they’d bother with her any further when she’d proven to be so much trouble. She’d seen action movies, ancient and outdated though they were.
The lights of the city were practically blinding. Loudspeakers were everywhere and the same cheery robotic voice she’d heard every day inside the building was speaking, only this speech was intended for a very different audience.
“Everyone likes a good citizen. If you see something strange, please report it to one of the officers so that we can help keep everyone safe. Please stay far away from the perimeter. We can’t protect you out there. There is no need to fear the wilderness. Only bad people go there. You’re a good person. You would never do anything wrong.”
Sydney saw the perimeter and ran. There was a giant red sign that read Turn back, wilderness less than 500 feet. She ran straight for it, and a few seconds later crossed into the open space outside the boundary of the city. She turned back to see the wolf bounce off an invisible barrier. Why had she gone through but he bounced off?
Because you’re not a real vampire.
Except this time, for once, it might have saved her life. The wolf began to dig, and she kept running.
When she reached the desert, she stopped short at the sight of a wall of vampires and werewolves all in their wolf form. The wolves growled.