Fighting the Inevitable by J C Gordon

meant no
harm. He didn’t come any further into the room, merely rested
against the door.
    “ My name is
Jared Hanlon,” he said quietly. “Can you tell me your
name?”
    It seemed such a silly
question to Rafe. Why would the man think he wouldn’t know his own
name? “Rafe Armand,” he answered carefully, his eyes intent on the
man.
    “ Pleased to
meet you, Rafe,” Jared said with a slight curve of his lips as if
he were pleased about something. “I know you’re probably feeling
pretty confused right now. You must be wondering why you’re here in
this room. It’s for your own protection. You’re going through
some...changes at the moment. The changes can be pretty violent at
times so the padding is to ensure you don’t hurt yourself too
much.”
    “ What kind of
changes?” Rafe growled. “And why am I naked? I want some clothes.”
He looked up at the video camera in the corner above the door. They
were watching him, and he didn’t like the fact he was naked for
anyone to see.
    “ You’ll only
destroy the clothes we give you,” Jared replied, his tone patient.
He’d had this exact same conversation too often in the last six
months. Finding the rogue was starting to become a real
issue.
    The man before him was
the fifth forced turning so far and the first that looked like it
might reach a suitable conclusion. The other three men and one
woman had gone insane and died. Rafe must have a strong character
to be able to converse intelligently with him. He must have a very
strong desire to live.
    “ I want
clothes,” Rafe persisted. “You want to spy on me with your camera?
You’re not getting any sick pleasure out of my nakedness!” He could
feel his temper bubbling under the surface, a need to rip out the
throat of the man before him. The thought stunned him as soon as he
had it and he blinked slowly.
    “ What have
you done to me?” he whispered horrified. “There’s something inside
me, something evil that wants to take over me! What have you done?”
He literally screamed the last words at the man and saw him tense,
his gaze becoming even more wary.
    “ Be calm,
Rafe,” Jared said firmly, using his Command tone and hoping it
would register with the furious man before him. He watched him
blink again and frown slightly as the command washed over him, but
he seemed to settle slightly.
    “ We haven’t
done anything to you, Rafe,” he said calmly raising his hands again
to help ease the man down a bit further. “You’re right about
something being done to you, however it wasn’t us. You were bitten
while you were camping. We found you and brought you here to try to
help you.”
    The moment Jared
mentioned being bitten Rafe’s memory flooded back, and he groaned
in fear and shrank further into the corner. He’d gotten up to pee.
The night had been well lit due to the large full moon in the sky
but he’d taken a flashlight anyway. He’d finished relieving himself
and was about to go back to camp when a wild animal had flown at
him, knocking him down.
    The memories crashed
within him, the gut wrenching fear, the excruciating pain. Knowing
he was weakening and about to die. The last thing he remembered was
seeing Rhianna’s face before him and whispering her name. He knew
it would break her heart when he died. Then there was only
blackness until he first woke up in this white room.
    “ Annie,” he
whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he turned to look at the
man called Jared. “How long have I been here? Does Annie know I’m
okay?”
    Jared frowned and stifled
down a deep sigh. This was going to make things more difficult.
Rafe obviously had someone he cared about in the outside world.
“Rafe, I need you to listen very carefully to me,” he said. “The
wolf that attacked you was no ordinary wolf. He was what you would
most probably call a werewolf. He is part man, part wolf. When he
bit you, he passed the infection onto you, changing you. You are
what we call a forced turning.