The Cannibal Cure Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One - Vision

  Chapter Two - Problem in the Underground

  Chapter Three - Wake up call

  Chapter Four - Politics Changes Everything

  Chapter Five - Second Circle

  Chapter Six - Home and Office

  Chapter Seven - Dinner with Kat

  Chapter Eight - Start of a new day

  Chapter Nine - Missing Assistant

  Chapter Ten - Thorn

  Chapter Eleven - Missing

  Chapter Twelve - New Day

  Chapter Thirteen - House Call

  Chapter Fourteen - Subject 35

  Chapter Fifteen - Continuing the hunt

  Chapter Sixteen - Inside Man?

  Chapter Seventeen - Search for an Oracle

  Chapter Eighteen - Gone?

  Chapter Nineteen - Hunt for a Dryad

  Chapter Twenty - Taking Flight

  Chapter Twenty-One - Thorn Technologies

  Chapter Twenty-Two - Windigo's Den

  Chapter Twenty-Three - Debrief

  Chapter Twenty-Four - Watching Hammer

  Chapter Twenty-Five - Interviews

  Chapter Twenty-Six - House in the woods

  Chapter Twenty-Seven - Tracks in the lab

  Chapter Twenty-Eight - More than words

  Chapter Twenty-Nine - Deals

  Chapter Thirty - Investigation

  Chapter Thirty-One - Vision of Humans Transformed

  Chapter Thirty-Two - Raid

  Chapter Thirty-Three - Time Off

  Dear Reader

  Notes

  THE CANNIBAL CURE

  The Protectors Book 2

  Jeff D. Ellis

  THE CANNIBAL CURE

  Copyright © 2020 Jeff D. Ellis

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Dragon Sight Publishing

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  This is a work of fiction.

  Any resemblance it bears to reality is entirely coincidental.

  First Edition: June 2020

  For my best friend, Jeff Row who has supported my writing efforts for many years. I couldn’t have done it without you.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Vision

  THE ROOM LOOKED sterile and white, like an operating room at a large hospital. A stainless-steel table in the center of the room held a naked man strapped down on it. Tubes and wires connected him to an IV, and a machine monitored his vital signs. Hair messy and a full unkept beard, the man looked like he had seen hard times. The weathering of his face must have made him look old beyond his years. His eyes darted around the room, terrified. “Hello? Is anyone out there? I really want to go!”

  Abby could see in his eyes when he gave up all hope that anyone was coming to help. He gave up yelling. A masked man in surgical scrubs entered the room, and the door closed behind him with a hiss of air. He pushed a tray of surgical tools next to the table.

  “Hello? I need some help. I want to leave!”

  The masked man grabbed a syringe off the tray, and injected it into the IV. “It’s time for your medicine. How are you feeling today?”

  “Help me! I don’t want to be here. I want to go. I’m hungry!”

  “Now, now. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you leave yet. Your treatment is not over.”

  “I’m not sick. I want food! I want to leave!”

  “Calm down. It’ll be all right, in the end. You’re helping make medical history. It will all be over soon.”

  “I can leave soon? I really want to leave.”

  “Soon it will all be over. The drugs should have taken effect by now. How do you feel? Are you in pain?”

  “I’m extremely hungry; I don’t feel anything else at all.”

  The surgeon grabbed a scalpel off the tray and started to cut open the man’s chest. He wiped off the blood from the incision. “Do you feel pain?”

  The man’s eyes glazed over; he moaned out, “Noooo pain.”

  After moving the overhead light, the surgeon leaned in to get a better look at the area he had cut. He grabbed a voice recorder off the tray.

  “Subject thirty-two, test sample fourteen. Subject is experiencing the hunger, but tissue is not showing signs of cellular regeneration.”

  Grabbing a different syringe off the table, he injected it into the IV.

  “Don’t worry; your hunger will end in a moment.”

  The man’s eyes clouded over and the machine showing his vitals changed to a flat line.

  “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you, but that’s how research goes at times. Don’t worry, you won’t go to waste.”

  The surgeon shook his head and smiled.

  “I really must stop talking to my food.”

  Abby woke up in a panic. It took her a moment to realize where she was, in bed with David sleeping next to her.

  She pushed at him. “David! Wake up! I just had another vision.”

  “Huh? Abby? Everything okay?”

  “I had a vision of what looked a homeless man being experimented on, in a lab somewhere. The guy doing the experiment killed him when things didn’t go the way he wanted, and said the homeless man was his food. It was really sick.”

  David shook the sleep from his head. “Were there any clues to indicate where this was happening?”

  “Everything was so stark and sterile. I didn’t see anything that would help. It could be anywhere.”

  David took Abby into his arms and comforted her. “It’s okay. I’ll help you research this at the office in the morning. Maybe one of the team has heard of something like this before. Let’s try and get some more sleep.”

  David held her close, rocking her, and after a while they both got back to a dreamless sleep.

  ***

  The next day stood in stark contrast to the vision that had haunted Abby’s sleep; it was a clear and sunny. They drove into work at the U.S. Marshals office in Seattle. In the light of day, the vision seemed to lose some of its meaning. As usual, they were the last to make it in. Gwen and Perry were already hard at work. Gwen had on a bubblegum-pink top and jeans, her signature look. She was five-foot-four with blond hair, green eyes and such an infectiously happy attitude. Unlike Perry Crow, who was a nice guy but could be very serious at times when he got absorbed in his research. He was five-foot-eleven with brown eyes and dark hair. Perry was born into the Crow tribe in Montana. Gwen and Perry were a great team and balanced each other out.

  Their desks were in a large bullpen area that contained eight desks in pairs of two that sat back-to-back. Abby’s desk was backed up to David’s, and Gwen and Perry were in the next set of two. The other four desks were unused. Abby’s desk had a perch for Ember, her raven familiar. Their boss, Station Chief Deputy Marshal, Scott Knight ran the Seattle location. His office looked out on the bullpen.

  After setting her stuff down at her desk, Abby went over to talk to Gwen and Perry. “Good morning, guys. I had a vision last night and wondered if it rang any bells in the archives.”

  Abby told them the details from last night as best as she could remember.

  Gwen frowned. “We haven’t heard about that exactly, but it does bring some things to mind. There have been reports of homeless people in Seattle going missing. Some have later turned up eaten. Maybe that ties into the test subject you observed. It also explains the references to hunger and him being food. Or it could be unrelated.”

  “My visions always have some
meaning. Maybe there is a connection we should look into. Where were the bodies found? Is there any pattern there?”

  “They’ve been found all over the Pioneer Square area, but they were all found in the Underground. There are miles of what the city calls areaways there. Most of it has been closed off to the public since the military closed it down in World War II.”

  Abby frowned. “I went on the Underground Tour a few years ago. It was interesting to see, but a bit spooky. I think some of the areas are haunted. If people are being killed there, it might have even more ghosts now.”

  “The tour only covers a small part, the part the city thought safe from collapse, but that doesn’t stop people from doing things down there illegally.”

  “Gwen, if eaten bodies have shown up, why haven’t we looked into this before? It seems like a case for us.”

  “The last time was before you were part of our group, and we could only monitor the situation. Now that you’re here, I expect the Chief will want you on this.”

  “Thanks for the help, guys. Guess we should go see the Chief.”

  As usual, the door to the Chief’s office was open. The Chief was in his sixties. He had short gray hair and blue eyes that seemed to see deep into all he looked at. He was wearing his normal charcoal gray suit and a dark tie. As station chief, he needed to dress the part; one look at him instilled a sense of ex-military.

  Abby and David briefed the Chief and he gave his approval to spend a few days looking into it.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Problem in the Underground

  ABBY FOUND A good place to park at one of the access points into the Underground, near where the last body had been found. From street level, they took a stairway down. There was still a police seal on the door, so this must be the place. David pulled out a knife and cut the seal. The door was locked. David retrieved a set of lock picks and unlocked the door. Not long ago, he would’ve no idea how to do such things. On opening the door, they both went in.

  Only the light coming in from the prisms in the sidewalk above, pierced the gloom creating a wealth of dark shadows. The air smelled of dust and decay in this passageway running under the sidewalk. One wall was made of old bricks laid around the end of 1889. In the center of the passage was an old boardwalk. They followed the direction of disturbed dust. As they walked under an arch, the area started to change. Now the brick wall had openings into storage areas, long abandoned by the shops above.

  David took a quick look inside. He looked back at Abby and nodded. His mind connected with hers.

  Nothing here, let’s keep going forward.

  They finally came to where the body had been found. They ducked under the police tape and entered the area. This was much like where they had come in. The boardwalk went through the center of the space and continued past an arch on the far side. There was no storage in this area. Other than some blood stains in the center of the room, the area was empty. David shifted into Coyote form to get a better sense of the area.

  Abby, something was just here. It wasn’t human or animal. Be ready for anything!

  Follow the scent.

  David took off running with Abby following close behind. The scent got stronger as he followed the tunnel. It was soon joined by the scent of death.

  Be careful! We’re getting close and something is dead.

  David slowed his pace. Up ahead, a lanky gray figure was hunched over a body. The creature stood as they entered. It must have been eight feet tall. It turned. Blood and flesh dripped from its sharp teeth. It roared. David could see the pulsing of its heart from inside its emaciated chest.

  Abby yelled, “Don’t let it bite you!”

  She pulled her gun and fired. The sound echoed off the walls. The creature shook from the bullets hitting its chest. David shifted from Coyote to Jaguar and leaped at the creature, knocking it on its back. They rolled together on the ground. The creature tossed David back as if he was a rag doll and regained its feet.

  David landed on his feet and charged again. He slashed at the creature’s legs but was kicked away. David circled. The creature turned and exposed its back to Abby. Her gun roared out. Bullets hit the creature in the head, causing it to stagger.

  David leaped onto its gray chest, knocking it down. His teeth flashed in the dim light as he bit into its neck, crushing the monster’s spine. David released when he felt it go slack. Drawing her tomahawk, Abby swiftly chopped its head off.

  David shifted back to human form.

  He spit. “Yuck! I’m not sure I’ll ever get that taste out of my mouth. Abby, why did you chop its head off?”

  “I think that thing was a Windigo! If I’m right, they are hard to kill and can come back from the dead very easily. Having the head away from its body should help, but we need to cremate it very quickly to make sure. I’m calling this in.”

  Abby called the office and had them send out a clean-up crew.

  “David, you’re bleeding. I thought shifting would’ve healed you.”

  Looking down, David saw blood dripping from a cut on his arm. Nothing else seemed to be bleeding. Normally a cut this small would have healed like nothing had happened. Even major injuries should have healed better than this.

  Abby looked closely at his arm. “Let me try some healing on it.”

  Holding her hands over the cut, Abby used her magic. David could see magic flowing into the cut, but nothing seemed to be happening.

  Abby looked into his eyes. “David, I’m worried. Between your natural healing and my magic, that cut should be gone. I don’t want to see you turn into that monster. A Windigo bite turns its victim into one of them. We should consult with Grandfather.”

  “Let’s just bandage it up and get on with things. We can visit Grandfather soon.”

  Abby pulled out the first aid kit and bandaged up his cut. The clean-up team showed up and took over the crime scene. Abby instructed them on how to handle the body, and went over to sit next to David.

  David touched her knee. “Abby, let’s get back to the office and brief the Chief.”

  The last thing he heard before everything went black was: “David, you’re looking a little pale …”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Wake up call

  “DAVID! WAKE UP!”

  “Huh? Where am I? What happened?”

  Abby leaned over him. “David, you passed out. You’re safe now. What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “Let me think … We were in the Underground and you were telling the clean-up team something.”

  “Very good. We’re in an exam room back at the office. Why don’t you try sitting up? Slowly!”

  David sat up with Abby’s help. “I’m fine. Really. I’m embarrassed to have passed out.”

  “It’s okay. Don’t worry about them. The Chief is getting a special doctor to meet us here.”

  David made it to his feet. “Why? I’m fine now.”

  “David, sit back down. You aren’t fine until the doctor says so.”

  He sat and looked around the room; it was sterile-looking, all white, chrome, and antiseptic. It was well lit and had an exam chair in its center that could be made to lay flat. There were a couple of other chairs and a small work surface. A slim woman with long black hair in a white lab coat entered the room. She was about five-nine and looked to be in her early thirties.

  The doctor’s gray eyes looked like they could see right through David. “Hello, I’m Dr. Ashleigh Mackie. You can call me Ash. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I’ve read your files and the routine lab work from when you joined the service. I’m sorry for not giving you a general exam before now. David, please take a seat here. Abby, why don’t you take one of the chairs.”

  David sat in the exam chair. “Sorry to waste your time, Dr. Mackie. I’m fine now, really.”

  “Please, you can both call me Ash.” She grabbed some blunt scissors and cut away the bandaging on David’s arm. “Abby, you did a great job on the bandage. Do you have medical training?
”

  Abby smiled. “Thank you. I’m being trained by a tribal Shaman as a healer.”

  Ash poked around at the wound. “It looks like it’s healing up nicely, but for a Shapeshifter, it should be completely healed.”

  David grimaced as she poked at the spot. “You’ve examined other Shapeshifters?”

  “Actually, I was your parents’ doctor.”

  “You must have been a child. You don’t look old enough.”

  “I’m older than I look. I’m what some would call a Dryad, and as long as I get back to nature every so often, I don’t age like others. I need to run some tests. Let’s get started.”

  After testing his blood pressure, she took a blood sample. “I’ll also test the blood on the bandages. David, you can get down now and go back to your desk. Abby, it’s your turn.”

  “It’s okay, David. I’ll see you soon.” Abby waited for him to leave. “How is he really? This isn’t like him.”

  “Let me ask you a few questions first. Do you know what bit him?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but I think it was a Windigo. It matches the description from tribal lore.”

  “It’s good that David isn’t human. In the history of the Marshals, no one has been hurt by a Windigo and lived. I think his unique healing abilities are fighting the Windigo virus. I wish I had blood and DNA from before he was infected. I will rush the lab work and see if I can tell anything. It would help if I had a good sample of Windigo DNA to compare it to. I’ll see if I can get samples before the body is cremated. I can compare the lab work with David’s dad, but I understand David’s abilities are not quite the same as his dad’s.”

  “What will happen to David?”