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Red Moon: Revolution Chapter 17

The seizures came and went for the next hour. Each time, Trevor experienced flashes of being a werewolf, a little bit after the warehouse became more clear, but not much. Time became much more urgent so once the last seizure subsided, the three loaded into the car and hit the road immediately, leaving the city behind.

The road out was tense. The National Guard had been called in and they had a strong presence for several miles outside the city. Any one of the soldiers could have been Inquisition agents. It was known that they had a strong hold in the military, piggybacking off of the Pentagon for much of their surveillance which would have ramped up tremendously.

Rommel was still trying to figure out who else was attacking the Inquisition. It was both a relief and alarming to have another faction fighting against the Inquisition. It was a relief since that meant the Inquisition would need to split its resources to fight this new threat, but it was alarming because there was no telling if they were friend or foe. Most likely foe though. From Dmitri's accounts from when he was inside the airport, the two groups appeared to know each other and were talking when one side fired on the other. He couldn't recall what the conversation was about though.

Was it a splinter group, much like how Brennan had pulled away from the Inquisition. If so, why did they not contact Brennan? Did they have different goals? There was no telling why they were fighting against the Inquisition.

Rommel put the thoughts on the side for now. He needed to focus on getting to San Francisco without incident. It was just over a half day's drive, short, but still had the potential to turn bad if the Inquisition posted watches along the I-5.

The flight didn't leave until the following week, but he wanted to get a feel for the city, to get an idea of how much Inquisition activity he should expect. If there was too much, he may be forced to botch the plane and find another way to Berlin. If he had to drive across the country, then he would. Staying in America, away from the support of the pack and Brennan was too risky to test for any extended duration.

Rommel drove while Dmitri watched over Trevor in the back. The man was quiet, only answering questions with short replies that caused Dmitri to worry too much. The Russian ended up coddling Trevor to the point where it made Rommel a little sick to see this normally hard and stubborn wolf turn into a den mother like this was almost comical. Trevor took little notice, he was obviously thinking about his memories.

Rommel heard of what happened, but only vaguely. It was a touchy subject that he had to get out of the Alpha when neither Sergei or Dmitri were around. He heard about how Trevor had been kidnapped by two well meaning Inquisition agents who thought they could stop Trevor's first transformation through a silver injection. He had heard that such a thing could in fact stop the transformation dead in its tracks and could cure lycanthropy if done early on. Trevor was not cured, he had a violent reaction to the treatment that caused it to cascade out of control and the result was a werewolf much larger and more vicious than normal. Trevor, not himself, but consumed by a feral beast, killed the two agents. He had luckily ran into the woods and killed deer instead of rampaging across the nearby city where he would have been hunted down by the Russian military.

He had been sent to retrieve Trevor for this matter. Trevor was strong, much stronger than any other known werewolf and for that, he was a valuable weapon, but too unstable. Trevor did mention a desire to be able to control himself, but even then, Trevor was no fighter. Rommel's small amount of time with Trevor showed the man to be timid and easily cowed into situations such as this one. It was a quality that back during the war would have him removed from the division and put to some menial task. Rommel didn't have that luxury, he was no longer rolling across Africa, he had to work with what he got which meant that in order to use Trevor he had to convince him to fight or not...

Feral wolves knew friend from foe at times and according to the Alpha, Trevor did not attack Dmitri, rather he ignored him. There was the possibility that they didn't need to convince Trevor of anything. If he could be transformed, perhaps he could destroy whatever threat faced him while ignoring allies. Then again, that would go against what the man would want, he wants to control the beast, to prevent another warehouse.

Could he bring himself to use the man to win the war even if it meant unleashing the monster without consent? Or would he risk losing the weapon and help him control it since he saw little chance of getting Trevor to fight, the man was not a fighter. It was a question to answer for another day.

The drive was smooth for several hours. The seizures did not return, but a man as large as Dmitri required sustenance and they didn't pack anything.

There were plenty of stops along the way and without picking anyone in particular, they ended up in the city of Eugene, Oregon.

Due to the unique dietary needs of those affected by lycanthropy, fast food was out of the question. They stopped at a locally owned steakhouse since Dmitri wouldn't stop complaining about not eating any real meat in the past several days. He hated the Pacific Northwest, claimed that it was too friendly to vegans to be worth living in. That prompted a slightly hushed conversation about various packs that held territory in the area as they waited for their orders.

There were non-European werewolves in America. They originated from local Native American tribes who at some times, worshipped them. Other tribes treated them as simply another, but gifted tribesmen. Werewolves were never a major thing in the Americas. During the relocation of tribes by westerners, it was actually considered to use werewolves to reclaim territory, but the Inquisition had foresight. They used their limited presence to subdue any possible uprising. How history would have been different if settlers had to face a two hundred plus pound wolf that couldn't simply be shot and killed.

Dmitri argued that not much would have changed. He believed that even with werewolves, the government or settlers wanted the land enough that they would have eagerly paid a hefty price. Werewolves were not invincible, far from it. While they were hard to kill, shoot a wolf enough, it will still die and the settlers did have weapons. News of man killing wolves would only have spurred them to go out and hunt them down themselves. The Inquisition only sped thing along with their expertise in how to kill werewolves.

Rommel was actually shocked that Dmitri would think like that. He expected him to have more faith in a pack's ability to handle some yokels with guns.

"You're experienced and know something's about war." Dmitri said. "But, I've been around since the days of Napoleon. I've seen and experienced more than you ever will. I know how people act. If someone wants something bad enough, they will sacrifice a lot to get it. Napoleon knew that he was going to lose a lot when invading Russia. Of course he didn't expect to lose."

The food came in, several steaks for each of them, except for Trevor who didn't have much of an appetite. The massive order turned some heads as they began to casually cut into their meals.

"I see where you are coming from, but you fail to realize that this same principle can also be applied to the packs as well." Rommel spoke between bites of the rare steak. He hated how much seasoning was put onto his slabs of meat and so did Dmitri. They preferred it as close to raw as possible. Trevor on the other hand had his sirloin medium.

Trevor took staunch notice of how different he was from the others. He liked his meat cooked, they didn't. He ate moderate portions, they ate portions that would have been too much for a family of four. He wondered what Dmitri saw in him. It was heartwarming to have the big lug coddle him, if a bit demeaning as well, but it confused him. He was no one special, other than being a werewolf, but there had to have been something to draw him to him before even that happened. Dmitri hardly seemed like the guy to fall head over heals for some American; he had been around for quite a while and hadn't found a mate before then. What made him so special?

"You going to eat that?" Dmitri nudged Trevor in the side, looking down at his food which had only been prodded.

"Don't take his food." Rommel rolled his eyes. "He needs his strength."

"If he even eats it." Dmitri laughed. "He's right though, Trevor."

"Not really hungry." The food smelled delicious, but the small amount of blood that was seeping from the steak was putting him off. If he could go a day without seeing blood, that would be great.

"Then we'll get a box." Rommel checked his watch and gave a slight frown. "We should get moving here soon if we want to get into the city before midnight." He waved down the waiter.

Trevor found it easier to eat while watching to shifting landscape. Much of Oregon was the same as Washington, but as they crossed into California and started heading more south, it changed. It was still green, the desert wasn't for a long while, they probably wouldn't see it, but the humidity went down. The forest took on a less rainforest look and more dry and less thick. The trees were more spaced apart and the mountains were slowly fading, sinking back into the earth. This let him focus on something else as he ate his food which did make him feel much better. The headache that was always there, but not severe, was almost gone by the time they pulled into a small gas station that was meant to service people just coming in from the north and heading down south.

Other than one other car with two men chatting over the hood. One was wearing too many layers, topped with a tan jacket and the other was in more appropriate clothes, a shirt and jeans.

Rommel pulled up next to one of the pumps. "I need to stretch my legs." He unbuckled his seat and stepped out of the car before poking his head into the open window. "You two should as well. The sign says we're nearing a town named Redding which I believe is over two hundred miles out." He then began to fill the car from the dreadfully slow pump that had analog readings.

Trevor needed to throw out his to-go box which Dmitri had stolen half of the fries from without him noticing. He got out and walked towards the building where there was a mostly full trash can that had some other litter around its base. He walked by the other two people who didn't pay him any attention.

Now that he was by the front door, looking in at all of the snacks and drinks, he was feeling a bit parched and still hungry, the bit of food he had gotten into him had stirred his appetite. He walked into the store where there was a tired looking man with a blading issue reading a newspaper behind the counter. He looked up when the small bell hanging above the door chimed and then back down.

Trevor scanned the room and walked towards the back where there were chips, jerky and soda.

The door chimed behind him and the two people from outside stepped in.

"You never smoked before." One of them said. Trevor couldn't see them from behind the shelves, but he definitely could hear them. With the acute hearing that came with being a werewolf, eavesdropping was no longer optional.

"Well, things have gotten a bit stressful as of late." The the other replied and then asked for two packs of Malboros.

"You know I can't stand the smell of those things, not anymore." He coughed. "Too pungent."

Trevor tried his best to ignore them as he looked over the large array of snacks. He was feeling like jerky, the potato chips were all fried and way too oily for his liking. He grabbed a bag of dry jerky, thought about Dmitri and then grabbed two more, a liter of water and then walked to the front where the two men were. One had the packs of cigarettes and was paying for them, digging his wallet out of his pocket.

"I'll smoke them only when we stop, but I really do need one right now." He pulled a twenty out of the wallet and handed it to the cashier who grunted and gave back the change. "The blood moon, your condition, my father and now Seattle, it's a lot for a man to handle. I bet you would smoke too, if y'know." He gave a half glance back to Trevor who was waiting patiently for his turn. "You could." He stuffed the money into his pocket and left, closely followed by his companion, the first cigarette was in his mouth before the door closed behind him.

Trevor paid for his own things and headed outside where he could smell the cigarette. He wrinkled his nose and saw that the man was actually at the far edge of the parking lot, away from everyone else.

"It really does stink." Trevor said to himself and went over to where Rommel was putting the cap back onto the car. Dmitri was leaning against the vehicle with his eyes closed. The wind was blowing away, so none of the smoke came over to them.

"Beautiful country here." Dmitri said when he sensed Trevor nearby. He took the offering of jerky and by the way he looked, Trevor couldn't help but imagine him as some dog with his tail wagging behind him.

"Too bad we're in a rush to get away." Rommel commented before hurrying off to go pay for the fuel.

Trevor chuckled and got into the car. Dmitri bit into his first piece and got in as well. As soon as Rommel came back, they were off again.