Denver, Colorado - Thursday, 9:03am

Chris Larabee walked down the long white tiled corridor of the Denver SPI Headquarters towards the conference room. He ignored the scientific photos that lined the wall, none of them held any interest for him. He knew nothing about science, he didn't need to. Science wasn't the reason he had taken the position he was now in. He liked the excitement of the chase, the unnatural events they investigated, proving the existence of other life forms, the closing of the case. But sometimes the cases weren't officially closed. An answer hadn't been found for the paranormal event. For him it was frustrating, he didn't like leaving a case that hadn't been completed. Neither did his men. There were seven in all. Outside the team they were known as 'The Magnificent Seven' but within the team there was an in house joke. They referred to themselves as 'SPIT7'; Scientific Paranormal Investigations - Team Seven.

The file of a new case was held in his left hand, a hot cup of coffee was carried in his right. He had quickly read the case file and knew that his men were going to enjoy this one. It was a first for all of them. He knew JD Dunne was going to be excited. At the age of twenty three he was the youngest member of the team. The youngster was still full of enthusiasm and enjoyed the sort of things that a younger child would. Things like monsters and ghosts. He was going to love this case but then again he loved every case they had.

He stepped through the door into the room and headed to the chair at the front of the long table. He whacked Buck Wilmington on the back of the head with the file on the way past and enjoyed the profanity that resulted from the playful blow. Chris had known Buck for ten years. The mustached man had help him through the traumatic years of mourning after his wife and son were murdered. The killers had never been found and the man who constantly dressed in black was still desperate for revenge, it ate away at his soul until there was nothing left. But after joining SPIT7 he found a new family, people who were able to bring the life back into his body and mind.

"Hey pard," Vin Tanner welcomed his leader and friend to the table, "I see your in a good mood this morning."

"New case." Chris smiled and his blue eyes sparkled in anticipation of the case.

He sat down in the chair next to his security man. He and Vin had made a connection when they met, it was equal to the relationship of twins. They knew what each other were thinking or feeling without the use of words. They instantly knew when the other was in trouble. Chris had worried at first that Buck might not take to his connection with Vin but the electronics expert had been fine with it. Wilmington was glad that Chris had made new friends, that he had a new family. Buck had no problem about the fact that he had to share his long time friend.

"So what is it this time? Aliens? Ghosts?" An excited JD asked.

Chris looked over at the youngster and watched as he wiped the shoulder length brown hair from his face. He hesitated in answering the question until JD began to shift impatiently in his chair. "Werewolf." JD's mouth fell open and his large brown eyes widened even more.

"A Werewolf?" Josiah Sanchez laughed. "You have to be joking, there is no such thing."

Nathan Jackson turned to look at the ex-preacher. "You can say that after everything we've seen."

"Nothing exists until you see it with your own eyes." The larger man retaliated with humor.

"Tell that to JD, he still believes in Santa Claus." Buck informed the group.

"I do not!" JD quickly defended himself.

"Do too, and the tooth fairy." Buck continued to aggravate the man he thought of as a younger brother, they even shared an apartment together.

"Buck, leave him be." Chris ordered him.

"Ezra. What do you think?" Chris glanced at the Southern man who had so far, stayed quiet. The intelligent green eyes looked back at him.

"Josiah is right. Werewolfs only exist in a person's imagination." Ezra told him.

"That's it?" Nathan questioned him. "That's all you got to say on the subject." The dark man shook his head at him.

"What else do you want me to say?" Ezra raised his left eyebrow at the man across the table.

Chris also shook his head. Ezra Standish was an enigma. The man had been the last recruitment to the team. Larabee had found Standish on the wrong side of the law. Apparently it hadn't been the first time that he'd used the traits that his mother had taught him. It was these skills that caused Larabee to convince the ex-con to join the team. Standish hadn't had a choice, it was either SPIT7 or jail, he chose the former. Chris' eyes quickly darted away when Standish looked at him with a questioning look on his handsome countenance.

Chris looked at the rest of his men, he could see that Buck was still hassling JD. He coughed to get their attention, usually he would just yell at them but he was still in his good mood. They all turned to him. "We haven't got a lot of information."

"And what do we have?" Vin asked him. His light blue eyes were smiling but his expression was serious.

"Last night. One death. Male, approximately forty five years of age. Mortimor Johnson had his throat torn out. Autopsy found animal hair in the wound, they say it could be a wolf, they're not sure about the teeth marks. Think they could be human or animal, they're still doing tests. They found saliva in the wound, their guess is that it's human. There was one witness, his wife. Gertrude Johnson, forty three years of age. She claimed to have seen a wolf like creature walking on it's hind legs so everyone started crying Werewolf." He threw the file into the middle of the table in case one of the team wanted to read it. "Travis wants us to investigate."

"You don't think that maybe an animal did it and a human took advantage of the road kill." Buck asked.

"Gross Buck!" JD screwed his face up in mock disgust.

"We're going to find out Buck." Chris replied.

"Where are we headed and when?" Vin couldn't help but smile when JD went through the motions of vomiting all over Buck's lap.

"Lufkin, Texas. One hour." Chris announced.

Lufkin, Texas - Thursday, 12:49pm

Seven very different personalities shared a table in the Lufkin Hotel's restaurant. Chris, Vin and Josiah sat on one side while Nathan, Buck and JD sat on the other. Ezra sat at the head of the table, his back to the wall, his intense green eyes facing the front and back doors. Ezra always requested that particular position. Chris knew it was a trait that carried over from his former life of crime. He needed to see who was coming or going. Each man checked over the menus they had been handed by the pretty brunette that now waited behind the counter, she would return when she knew they were ready to order.

"I'm starving." JD announced to the group, as though they cared.

"Your always hungry." Buck elbowed his young friend's side then winked at the waitress.

"So are you, but at least I'm only hungry for food." JD argued.

"What do you mean by that?" Buck asked.

"As if you didn't know." JD rolled his eyes.

"I don't." Buck fiend his innocence.

Ezra was getting irritated by the conversation so he decided to end it. "He means that all you want is sex, you eat it, you sleep it and you live it, for some reason you want to take every woman you meet to bed."

"I knew what he meant Ezra, you don't have to rub it in." Buck growled back at the Southerner.

"You said you didn't know and I certainly have no intention of rubbing it in." Ezra retorted.

"What the hell is your problem anyway?" Buck demanded to know.

Chris saw that Ezra was about to loose his temper. He knew his fuse wasn't this short, it usually took a lot more than this to cause his fuse to burn out and his temper to explode. "That's enough! Both of you!"

"Well, I know what I'm having." Josiah stopped the retort that he knew was going to escape from Ezra's mouth. The young man had a way of speaking before thinking. It always got him into a lot of trouble and he had the scars to prove it. The ex-preacher had taken an instant liking to the Southerner and had taken him under his wing. Ezra had of course pushed the large wing out of his way. Josiah had tried to continue looking out for him without the younger man knowing it. It was the hardest job he had ever undertaken. Ezra was able to read people in a way he had never seen before, it didn't matter how hard you tried to hide it, he could always see it. Josiah knew that this was one of the reasons Chris demanded that Travis allow him to hire the once successful criminal.

"I'll have what your having." Nathan knew Josiah always made a good choice.

"We already know what Buck and JD will have." Vin joined the conversation that was being created to distract Ezra.

"Think I'll just have the salad roll." Chris added.

"Me too." Vin agreed. "What are you having Ezra?"

Ezra threw the menu back onto the table. "Coffee." Was the grunted reply.

Josiah motioned to the waitress to indicate they were ready to order. She wrote down his requests then stuck the pencil back behind her ear. She winked at Buck then turned away. Buck nudged JD's shoulder and winked at him. Everyone knew what the body language meant. Buck assumed he would get a date and then something else afterwards. Chris put an end to his happiness.

"Not a chance Buck. We'll be working tonight." Chris smiled at him. "Werewolf remember, hairy things with pointy teeth, only comes out when the moon is full."

Buck shifted uncomfortably and wiped his moustache with his right hand. JD couldn't help but break out into laughter at the expression on his friend's face. The others smiled but Ezra's handsome features didn't. Chris' turned into a frown. He looked sideways at Vin who shrugged back at him. Vin didn't know what was going on with Ezra either.

The group ate in silence while Ezra sipped at his coffee. Each man stole a glance at him when they thought he would not be aware of their scrutiny. But Ezra didn't have to see, he read their faces easily when they weren't looking at him. He knew they were concerned but he wasn't the type to accept that concern. It would only prove what his mother had always told him.

"If you allow people to get close to you, you can't con them. Never make a friend Ezra, only associates and keep them at an arms length away from you."

That was one of her many sayings.

"If you show your emotions people will see how weak you really are."

Ezra Standish shut out his mother's voice and tried to concentrate on his movements. He knew if he allowed it, his hands would start shaking and the memories of their last case would come back to haunt him like they did in his dreams. He had been scared but didn't show it, he wouldn't allow the others to see the weakness that his mother claimed he'd had since he was a small child. He made the mistake of going against her teachings once, he wasn't going to do it again.

As part of his duties within SPIT7 he was required, on occasions, to go undercover to gain inside information. When Larabee had looked at his police record he had found that Ezra ran different types of cons. This had required him to take on different personalities, another trait that Larabee wanted to abuse. Chris had joked that Ezra would have made a commendable undercover police officer. Ezra had laughed. He didn't tell him that he had tried to enter the FBI, he would have succeeded but his mother had put a stop to it. She was always able to out con her only child, she'd had one of her many associates make false police records for one Ezra P. Standish.

Ezra hadn't bothered to claim they were false, his mother was too good at her trade. She had always called it a trade instead of what it really was, which was criminal activities. It was after this failure on his mother's part that he had taken up a life of crime. There wasn't anything else that he could do. He had the intelligence and ability but he knew his mother only wanted one thing for him, and that was to follow in her footsteps. She would continue to make him fail at anything else. So far she hadn't succeeded with SPIT7 but she was still trying.

During the times he had been undercover he had seen things that the others didn't, things that were meant to scare him and they did. He had told Chris when it first happened. His boss had shown concern and understanding. The rest of Team Seven managed to find out and they mirrored Larabee's emotions. These emotions had scared Ezra more than the events that happened while he was undercover. He refused to open up about the things that happened since. He was afraid that his mother's spoken words would be proven to be true.

Emotions were something that Ezra Standish was unfamiliar with, especially when they came form somebody else. His mother never showed any emotions and refused to allow her son to show them. She had tried to bring him up as a cold and uncaring person but it wasn't in Ezra's nature to be like that. He was a kind and caring person, he just hadn't been taught how to show that side of his personality.

"Ezra?" Josiah nudged the man who seemed to have moved to another planet. They had spoken to him but he hadn't answered them. "You okay?"

"Fine. Just thinking about the case." The Southerner lied.

"Speaking of the case." Chris watched Ezra for a moment then continued on. "Nathan, I want you to go to the coroner's office. Talk to the coroner and go over the report, get a copy if you can." The medical scientist nodded. "Vin, I want you to speak to the police officer in charge of the case. Go over his initial report, then see what he personally thinks." Vin also nodded in agreement. "The rest of us will go to the victim's home. That's were the crime accured. JD, Buck I want you to set up the usual stuff around the area, motion detectors, video cameras, you know what we'll need. Josiah, Ezra and I will talk to the victim's wife. Nathan and Vin can meet us at the murder scene when they're done."

Chris pulled out the money required for the bill and a generous tip. He placed the money on the table then stood up. The others followed his lead and walked out of the restaurant. Chris was the last to leave and couldn't help but notice the pout on the waitress' face. She looked very disappointed. Chris knew she wasn't the only one. Buck was going to be complaining tonight.

Lufkin Morgue - Thursday, 2:15pm

Nathan Jackson; ex-medic and scientist sat in a cold hard chair that faced an ugly desk in an even uglier room. He tried to ignore the mess that filled the small area and look out the window but he scowled at the scenery. There was nothing but a brown wall that almost matched his skin colour. This man's job would have to be hell Nathan thought. He had been told that the pathologist would be with him in fifteen minutes; that had been twenty five minutes ago. He was about to stand up to ask the assistant to get him and get him quickly when the door opened.

A smallish man that was bent over prematurely stepped into the room carrying two files. Nathan stood up to shake the man's hand, it disappeared within his own. The scientist smiled and sat back down. He watched as the other man made his way to his own chair. He was still wearing his lab coat. The glasses that sat on his nose rested at an angle. Nathan noticed the black eyebrows and wondered why no one had suggested that he get them trimmed.

"Mr Jackson wasn't it." When Nathan nodded the man continued. "May I see some identification?"

Nathan pulled out his wallet and show the Doctor his ID. When the man was satisfied he handed him two files. "Those are copies, I don't trust anyone with the originals."

"There's two files here Doctor Morgan. I'm only interested in the initial examination report on Mortimor Johnson." Nathan went to hand back the other one.

"You'll want to see the other Mr Jackson. Two years ago SPI were here investigating a death. His throat had been torn out, a witness claimed to have seen a wolf running away from the scene. He then claimed that it changed to human form before it reached the trees. No one believed him but SPI came down anyway. Far as I know they didn't find anything to prove a Werewolf existed here."

"Is there just the two that you know of?" Nathan asked. If it had happened before, it could have been more than once.

"No. When this one came in I had my assistant check the files for anything similar. She went back twenty years. Nothing."

"So what do you think?"

"I don't think anything. It's all in the reports. The report on Johnson is on the preliminary examintation. I will be doing the autopsy on Johnson tomorrow at four, if you wish to join me let me know. Now if you'll excuse me I have an autopsy to do on a twelve year old hit and run victim."

Nathan nodded. One hell of job. "Thanks for your help." Nathan shook his hand again and left quietly.

Once he was out of the room he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Vin's number. He opened the second file while he waited for the security man to answer his call. It took long enough for Nathan to glance over the file.

"Tanner." The steady voice echoed in Nathan's ear.

"Vin, it's Nathan. I've got something for you." Nathan couldn't help but smile at the picture in the file. "Doctor Morgan gave me a second file. Seems the same thing happened two years ago. One of our teams investigated but found nothing."

"Victim's name?" Vin asked.

Nathan looked down at the man who was the spitting image of Don Knotts. "Curly Joe."

"You've got to be kidding me. You are aren't you?"

"Wait until you see the picture." Nathan hung up the phone and walked out of the Lufkin Morgue with two unsolved cases under his arm instead of one.

Home of Gertrude Johnson - Thursday, 3:37pm

Chris Larabee turned off the main road onto the two mile dirt track that would lead them to the victim's home and widow. His mind drifted from the mourning that he knew would be accuring within the home. It would have been a traumatic event for the victim's wife to witness. Chris knew what she would be going through. He had watched his own wife and son die in a fire that was meant for him. Friends had told him that they would have been overcome by the smoke, they tried to convince him that they didn't feel anything in their last moments on this world, that they weren't burnt alive. Chris wanted to believe that but it was hard. For a year after their deaths he found it hard to close his eyes because all he could see were their burning bodies, all he could hear were their screams of agony.

He tore his mind from the image that began to play once again in his mind. It was a repeat memory that had been played a million times over. He heard a cough in the back and glanced in the mirror. Ezra was sitting in the back, the steel rimmed sunglasses hid his eyes from him. The expression was calm, showing nothing of what might have been going on inside the man that worried Larabee more than the rest of his men. But then his men didn't take the kind of risks that Standish took.

"You okay Ezra?"

"Fine thank you." Ezra replied then turned his head to look out the window. His unseeing gaze watched the scenery go by. He blinked when he saw the police tape around the murder scene. This is where Buck and JD would be stopping.

"Your not coming down with something are you?" Josiah twisted himself around in his seat so he could look at the younger man that sat behind him.

"No."

"I was only wondering because you didn't eat any lunch." Josiah tried to read the ex-criminal's face but couldn't. He didn't know how Ezra did it. He would give nothing away unless you forced him too.

"I didn't eat lunch because I wasn't hungry." Ezra explained. It was the truth, he hadn't been hungry. He felt sick in the stomach still. A slight headache teased him continuously. He knew it was a result of what had happened during their last case.

He closed his eyes but they flew open again as an image flashed in his mind. His was grateful for the sunglasses. Josiah was still looking at him, the glasses hid the fear that had creeped into his eyes. "Did you want something else Josiah?"

"No." Josiah sighed. The man was as stubborn as Larabee. He closed himself off to everything and every one. He allowed no one to get close to him, to be his friend. Josiah couldn't understand why and didn't think that he ever would. He was just going to have to accept the fact that they may not be able to change Ezra's ways. But they sure as hell were going to keep trying.

Josiah had never married, never had children. He didn't know what it was like to have a child and never would. His profession stopped him from committing to a woman; he had specialised in exorcisms. Now that he was no longer a priest he could find the right woman if he wanted to. But that wasn't a priority in his life, he wasn't like Buck, he could do without one. He had thought that maybe Ezra could give him an idea what it would be like to have a child, a child that was now an adult. He had never realised it could be so difficult. He tried to talk to Chris about it once but saw that it still hurt the man to talk about his son so he had refrained from continuing the subject. He would have to learn on his own, Ezra was no help at all.

"We're here." Chris announced as he eased the car to a stop in the short gravel driveway. "Who wants to do the talking?" Chris looked at Josiah, the man looked away from him. He turned to Ezra who was still looking out the window at something only he could see. Probably a card game Chris smiled. If there was one thing Ezra enjoyed in life it was a game of poker. And he was damn good at it. Each member of the team had learnt not to play with him the day after pay day. "Okay, I suppose I'll have to do it as usual."

"You like meeting people Chris." Ezra spoke from the back.

"Both of you are coming with me." Chris got out out his car and shut the door behind him.

"After you Josiah." Ezra grinned.

Josiah and Ezra followed Chris up to the front door of the small wooden cottage. Each man quickly scanned the area that was within their sight. Josiah nudged Ezra's side and pointed out the pink flamingos that were standing behind a water fountain. Ezra rolled his eyes at the vision that lay next to them. A row of six white ducks.

"Good Lord." Ezra muttered.

"Amen to that brother." Josiah smiled at Ezra and was treated to a smile that showed the younger man's dimples.

The door opened revealing the widow of Mortimer Johnson. Ezra forced his mouth not to drop open. Josiah coughed into his hand to hide the chuckle that nearly escaped. Chris, as always, kept his cool.

"Mrs Johnson?" Chris asked. She nodded as she looked over his shoulder at Ezra. "I'm Chris Larabee. Scientific Paranormal Investigations. This is Josiah Sanchez," Chris nodded towards him but Mrs Johnson didn't follow his movement, "and this is Ezra Standish."

"Ezra huh? What a sweet name." Gertrude Johnson winked at Ezra Standish and ran her tongue over her lower lip.

Ezra blushed, more in embarrassment than anything else. Gertrude Johnson was not his type of woman. He didn't think that she was even Buck's type of woman. "Um . . . thank you Mrs Johnson."

"Call me Gertrude Ezra." She made sure the Southerner's name rolled off her tongue. "And such a sexy accent. What is it? French?"

"Southern." Ezra coughed and looked at Chris who had turned to look at him. Ezra wanted to wipe the smile off his face.

"Mrs Johnson . . . Gertrude. May we come in and ask you some questions about your husband's death." Chris asked her.

She scowled back at him. "I don't remember telling you to call me Gertrude."

"Sorry. Can we come in Mrs Johnson?" Chris repeated his request. He was going to love this. Ezra was never going to hear the end of it. French, ha!

Gertrude reached out with her hand. Ezra just stared at it and before he knew it the overly large woman grab his hand and pulled him forward over the threshold and into her house.

"I think our young friend may need protecting." Josiah smirked at Chris, he too was going to enjoy this. He knew Ezra needed a distraction even though he knew the Southerner wasn't going to enjoy it.

"Like hell." Chris chuckled. "He's on his own. I have a feeling that if we try to interfere, Gertrude would bite our heads off."

"I'll agree with you on that point. Shall we join the two love birds?" He used his arm to motion Chris forward.

Chris and Josiah followed Ezra and his abductor into the house. They couldn't help but stare at the porcelain objects that lined the walls and bookcases. It seemed that Mrs Johnson was an avid collector of pigs. They were everywhere. Mouths dropped open as they moved into the living area of the Johnson's home. The large sofa was pink. Cushions that were designed like pigs lined the ugly uncomfortable looking sofa. And right in the middle of it sat Ezra Standish. The pleading expression on his face was priceless.

"Would you like a cup of coffee Ezra? Piece of cheesecake perhaps? Biscuit maybe?" Gertrude waved Chris and Josiah towards the two empty chairs that sat opposite the couch.

"No thank you. I'm not that hungry. Really. We had lunch before we came here." Ezra shifted away from her but she moved quickly to close the gap.

"You didn't eat, remember Ezra." Chris felt Josiah hit him but he didn't care. He was enjoying himself too much.

"I'll make you something to eat sweetie." She ran her finger down Ezra's right cheek. "Your too thin, we need to fatten you up a bit."

"No really. I'm, um, not hungry. Thank you, any, um, way." Ezra stuttered and tried to move further away from the woman.

She moved closer. "Perhaps tonight," she sucked on her finger, "you could come back for some home made cooking."

"We'll be working." Ezra moved and came up against the arm of the sofa.

He was trapped, he couldn't go any further. He made to get up but a beefy hand pulled him back down again. Gertrude shifted herself sideways, the sofa screamed in protest. She just managed to cross her right leg over her left and made sure that it rubbed against Ezra's legs. She lifted her breasts then hitched her short skirt up even higher. This movement revealed something that Chris and Josiah did not want to see.

"Ah, Mrs Johnson." Chris called to her while diverting his gaze. "Mrs Johnson!"

"What?!" She growled back.

"We would like to ask you some questions about your husband's death." Chris noticed that Ezra was actually beginning to shake within the vixen's grip.

"What do you want to know?" Gertrude began to play with Ezra's hair. She ignored his attempts of escape.

"We would like to know what happened." Chris told her.

"Mortimer took the dog for a walk in the woods, he usually goes a mile or so then comes back. He didn't come back at his usual time. I waited a bit longer then got the torch and went out looking for him. It didn't take me long to find him, I was about to turn back. I don't like walking much." She smiled at Ezra. "I prefer the horizontal position mostly." Ezra went pale. "Mortimer was lying on the ground and this thing was chewing on his throat. It was a wolf but it wasn't. It stood up and walked away, didn't run, just walked. It wasn't human I know that." She snuggled closer to Ezra hoping that he would at least put his arm around her.

"Did you see a face, anything that may have looked familiar to you?" Josiah asked her.

"No, the face was dark, like it was covered in hair, it was like his whole body was covered in hair."

"He wasn't wearing anything?" Chris continued with the questions.

"No." She fluttered her eyes at Ezra. "You have beautiful eyes Ezra. They're so green."

"Um, thank you." Ezra muttered and tried to smile. He couldn't, he was too embarrassed.

"Did you hear or see anything before or after?"

"Such as?"

"Strangers? Someone hanging around watching the place? Anyone apart from the sheriff or us questioning you about it? Anything that may have been out of the ordinary?" Chris asked.

"No." She put her hand on Ezra's thigh. He removed it. "Is there anything else?"

"If you think of anything that could help us please let us know." Chris stood up and Josiah followed his movements with his own.

"Certainly." She leaned into Ezra and began to whisper in his ear.

Ezra's eyes widened in horror. He physically pushed himself off the couch and out of her grip. Chris hadn't seen the smaller man move so fast in his life.

Josiah lent down towards her to offer her a card with a contact number. She swiped it away. She hadn't finished admiring the retreating Southerner's buttocks.

Ezra pushed the door open and stormed towards the car. He knew Chris and Josiah were going to hassle him about this. He would have to come up with a plan to divert their attention to something else. He heard the door open again.

"Good bye sweetie." Gertrude cooed.

Ezra waved his hand over his head then pulled his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. He got into the car and slammed the door shut. He smiled as he pictured Chris wincing at the sound; he didn't like the doors of his dodge being slammed shut. He closed his eyes, in this moment of time, life sucked big time.

His countanence had never been a problem before. Women admired his features, they often stared at him from a distance, some even had the courage to ask him out. But never had he been hit upon in such a way as he had just been by Gertrude Johnson. She had too much confidence and not enough common sense.

Chris made an obvious attempt to glare at Ezra then his car door but he couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Ezra's face. The Southerner was too shaken up by his experience to remember his famous poker face.

"You okay back there Ezra." Josiah didn't look at him, his own face was covered in amusement. His expression would only make the man angry.

"I would rather go up against a seven foot axe wielding maniac with my hands tied behind my back than deal with that . . . that . . . that . . . woman!" Ezra spat out. "I swear, if either of you tell anyone about this I will make sure you regret it until the day you die. And you of all people should know that I am quite capable of committing such an act!"

"Uh huh. Whatever you say sweetie." Chris goaded him.

"Aw hell!" Ezra groaned from the back seat. Chris grunted in surprise when Ezra's booted foot slammed into the back of his seat.

"Take it easy Ezra. You'll burst a blood vessel. What's Gertrude going to do then?" Josiah began to laugh, he couldn't help it. Chris joined him. It was a full five minutes before Chris was able to drive away from the home of Gertrude Johnson.

Lufkin Woods, one mile from the Johnson home - Thursday, 4:58pm

Chris parked the car next to the SPI equipment van. He saw that Buck and JD were already going over the murder scene. JD was taking photos while Buck was making notes. Their eyes were glued to the area around them. It took them a few minutes to realise that they had company.

Josiah stepped forward to look at the scene. The most obvious thing was the amount of blood that had soaked into the ground. The earth was dry, it must have drunk the blood greedily as it drained out of Mortimor Johnson's torn body. The area was darkened by the tree branches that hung over the area.

Buck looked up and nodded to Chris. "How did you go with Mrs Johnson?" he asked as he made his way to the new arrivals.

"Gave a description of a wolf. Said it walked away from the scene on two legs." Chris told him.

"Gertrude." Ezra said it with loving tenderness. "An amazing woman."

"Really?" Buck's interest in the woman was instantly sparked.

Josiah and Chris looked at each other in amazement. Ezra continued to elude their understanding of him.

"An amazing woman." Chris decided to play along to find out what Ezra was up to.

"Really?" Buck repeated but in a different tone. He was already beginning to work out a plan to visit the widow.

"She isn't a widow in mourning that's for sure." Josiah was also going to follow Chris' lead.

Ezra let out the breath he was holding. "Full bossomed, short skirt, very short. Red hair and a flawless complexion."

"And very friendly. Wasn't she Ezra?." Chris watched as Ezra managed to keep his poker face in place.

"Uh yeah." Ezra coughed. "Very friendly."

Chris Larabee looked at his friends. He was grateful to be a part of this group of men. They would never replace his true family but they helped to fill the hole that had been torn apart within his soul. The men who made up SPIT7 cared about each other - even Ezra, although he refused to show it - they would give their lives for each other. If one of them was in trouble the others would go to hell and back to help them. Buck and JD were like brothers. Nathan and Josiah were respected friends. Chris and Vin were like twins who had been separated at birth. Ezra was the wayward son, the black sheep of the family. Each man had grabbed hold of the ex-criminal and were struggling to pull him into the family. The Southerner fought with everything he had to stop them from succeeding but they weren't willing to give up on him. Together, the seven men made a family.

"So what have you guys found." Chris changed the subject as he ducked under the police tape.

"The only interesting thing is the footsteps that lead into the woods. Bare feet and they're human." Buck pointed to his right. "They head in the direction of the Johnson place."

"Really." Ezra mimicked Buck's tone. "Maybe someone should be there tonight to protect the fair maiden."

"You volunteering Ezra?" Chris raised an eyebrow at him.

"Good Lord! No!" Ezra realised his mistake. "I mean . . . "

"I'll go." Buck rescued Ezra without knowing it. Even if it was only for a short period of time.

"God help you when he meets her." Josiah leaned over and muttered in Ezra's ear.

"Buck will stay with Mrs Johnson tonight then. The rest of us will stake out this area. Full moon tonight. Whoever it was might come back."

Several pairs of eyes stared out from within the oncoming darkness that was beginning to spread throughout the area. Huge trees were slowly filtering out the remaining sunlight. The red eyes sparkled with interest and hunger. Nostrils sniffed at the smell of human sweat and the remaining blood of their previous victim. The hunters of the night sat still and quiet, watching as their prey moved around with the awkwardness of the human form that they now lacked. Their ears were alert to any other predators that may enter their domain. Any that trespassed their home died quickly and painfully. Noises were made that only others of their own kind could know the meaning of the sounds. Heads lifted as their leader called for their attention. They moved silently and gathered around their leader. Their bodies trembled in anticipation of the kill.

"The young man next to the older one with grey hair. Bring him to me tonight. Do not harm him. If you do, you will die a slow painful death." Her eyes stared at the man who had his back to her. "Do you understand me?"

The small group who were no longer human nodded in understanding.

"Do what you want with the others, make sure their bodies will not be found." She hissed at them.

SPI Equipment Van - Thursday, 5:32pm

Ezra Standish pinched the area between his eyes with his right thumb and forefinger. It had, so far, not been a good day and he knew tomorrow was going to be even worse. Buck was going to head up to Gertrude Johnson's home later and once he found out what an 'amazing' woman she really was Buck was going to kill him. He didn't really mind the idea of death. His headache and dreams would finally end. Why in the hell did he take this job in the first place. Jail would have been preferable. No ghosts, aliens or monsters - and he didn't mean the kind in horror movies - there were plenty of monsters out there who were human. It was the kind of things they did to people that made them monsters.

He looked around the small group of men. Chris Larabee, was the leader of SPIT7. His rugged features made him look like a man who'd had a hard life. As far as Ezra knew, the man's life had been good, it was only after the death of his family that things had gone bad. He didn't know much about what had happened that day or since, only what Buck had told him and the others. Buck felt an explanation was required for the leader's mood swings, especially around the holidays. Chris always dressed in black, the man was still mourning his families death.

Vin Tanner. Now there was a man that was hard to understand. The light blue eyes were full of wisdom, something that was unusual for a man of twenty seven. He didn't talk a lot, kept quiet most of the time, he only spoke when he needed to. But when he did talk his words were worth listening too. Out of the six men Vin was probably the only one who had a chance of understanding him. Both grew up without parents. Vin was fostered out to other families and even though he himself had a mother, she didn't raise him. He spent his time at expensive boarding schools or the homes of relatives who didn't want him there.

"You okay Ezra?" Nathan spoke to him from his left side.

"Just a bit of a headache." Ezra admitted then added to himself, I had a terrible experience this afternoon, an experience that I never want to go through again.

"You want something for it?"

"No, it's not that bad." Ezra smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Sure."

Nathan Jackson was a person who lived his ancestor's past. Ezra was born in the South, the part of the country that deal with slave trading before the civil war. For some reason Nathan had allowed that to judge him when they first met. The fact that he was an ex-criminal didn't help. The dark man always questioned his intentions. Nathan believed him to be selfish, greedy and self serving. He couldn't be anymore wrong. But Ezra continued to show the side of his personality that his mother created. More to protect himself than anything else.

He looked away to find Josiah staring at him. The older man wanted their relationship to be different from the others. He felt that he needed someone to guide him onto the true path of life. Ezra already walked it. Josiah's idea of the true path was different to Ezra's. Life wasn't easy, it was full of obstacles that had to be dealt with. Ezra had learnt this the hard way.

He looked away from Josiah when he heard Buck and JD laugh at one of the younger man's jokes. They were like brothers. Two men who acted like they had known each other all their lives. Buck protected JD with a passion. It was an obsession that drove JD crazy, he had to constantly remind Buck that he wasn't a child, that he was quite capable of taking care of himself. JD admired everyone in the group, including Ezra, who couldn't understand why. He wasn't the type of person that people would normally look up to. Ezra was grateful for the trust and admiration the younger man gave him and he returned it with a vigor. He would never lie to JD or treat him like a child, he always listened to him and gave him help or advice when it was requested.

He knew why he had taken the job, it wasn't because of the threat Larabee had given him. It was a chance of redeeming himself, to have the opportunity to change into the man he wanted to be. After spending time with the group he also realised they had something that he wanted and needed. A Family. They were a family and treated each other as such. They were also firm friends. Both were something that he'd never had. But now he had a chance and was willing to do everything to keep it. He just had to learn how to be a friend, a member of a family. He knew they wanted to help him but he had to do it in his own time in his own way. Otherwise it wouldn't work, if they tried to force it onto him, he would turn and run. He just needed time. He had to learn to trust them so he could reveal the side of himself that he was afraid to show. He had to know that they wouldn't also turn away from him once they got to know the real Ezra Standish. That was what he feared most. He didn't want to loose them, he knew if he did it would be because of the person he was or could be.

"Nathan. What did you find out?" Chris' powerful tone pulled Ezra from his thoughts.

Nathan opened the Johnson file and began to read the report. "This is the report on the initial examination of Johnson. Cause of death, he bled to death. His throat had been torn open, the jugular vein looks like it's been bitten right through. They're sending it to the lab along with the saliva and tissue samples. Won't have the results for a couple of weeks which is too long for us to wait." He took out another folder. This surprised everyone but Vin. "This is the autopsy on Curly Joe."

"Curly Joe?" Buck chuckled.

"Yes that's his real name." Nathan held up a photo. "Also bled to death. Throat torn out, jugular vein bitten right through. Bite marks were made by an animal, more than likely a wolf. Saliva though was human. Cause of death is the same for both men and the results of Johnson's autopsy would no doubt be the same."

"Two cases the same?" Chris asked.

"This one happened two years ago. August fourteen. Full moon that night." Nathan read from the report. "Dr Morgan had his assistant check for any other similar cases over the past seven years. There weren't anymore. Apparently a team from SPI investigated but came up with nothing."

"Think it might be a serial killer." JD leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees.

"If the attacker is human, maybe." Chris told the youngster. "JD I want you to check the SPI case file, see if they've got anything that might help us." Chris turned to Vin. "What about you Vin?"

"The witness report confirms what Gertrude Johnson told you. Husband took the dog for a walk, didn't come back so she went looking for him. Found him out there being eaten by what she claimed to be a walking wolf. Sheriff doesn't believe her."

"Did he mention the other case?" Josiah looked towards the second folder that Vin was holding.

"No but Nathan did. The Curly Joe case is still open, the killer hasn't been found. The murder was being committed when a hitchhiker surprised the culprit. It ran off into the woods on two legs but he claimed it was a wolf. The murder scene is one mile South of here. It was raining that night, it washed any evidence away from the scene."

"One mile South." Josiah frowned. "That particular position isn't far from the Johnson place."

"Coincidence." Buck wondered out loud.

"Good question, you can ask her if she remembers anything about it when you see her tonight." Chris smiled at him. Buck nodded in agreement. "Why don't we go get something to eat then come back and set up the equipment."

"I'm starving." JD announced.

Home of Gertrude Johnson - Thursday, 7:33pm

Buck licked his fingers then wiped his mustache, he spat on his hands and flattened his brown wavy hair. He straightened his jacket and undid one more button on his shirt. He placed his winning smile onto his features then rung the doorbell. He could hear the footsteps heading towards him, the sound stop. It was a few more seconds before the door was opened.

"Ezra! You came . . . " Gertrude stopped in mid sentence. She didn't even try to hide the disappointment on her face. "Who the hell are you?"

Buck closed his mouth. He had to, the woman expected him to speak. But the ladies man was speechless. It was something that didn't usually happen when he spoke to a woman. The full bosom was practically falling out of the tight fitting white see through top that she was wearing. The red hair was not natural, the dark roots were showing through. Buck swallowed the saliva that filled his mouth. His eyes drifted downwards towards the short skirt. Short was an understatement. But the worst of it was that she wasn't wearing stockings. The large legs were pale and dimpled with fatty deposits.

Ezra Standish! You are a dead man! And Chris and Josiah will be right behind you. Buck promised himself.

"Buck Wilmington. SPI." He flashed his ID at her. "Chris Larabee sent me here. Thought you might need someone to stay with you in case the person who killed your husband came back."

"Why didn't he send Ezra?" She wined.

"Ezra had another job to do. He'll come by tomorrow. I promise you." Buck smiled at the thought of revenge.

"Isn't Ezra sweet!" Gertrude's attitude changed. "Won't you come in."

Buck didn't want to go in but he didn't have a choice. "He won't be smelling so sweet when I'm finished with him!" Buck growled.

SPI Equipment Van, Lufkin Woods - Thursday, 11:18pm

Vin Tanner couldn't help but smile at JD's enthusiasm. He himself had lost that youthful feeling, and instead, gained the wisdom of age. He welcomed it but sometimes mourned the loss of his youth. It was at times like these that the mourning occurred. When he joined SPIT7 he knew he had found what he had lacked all his life and he had welcomed it with open arms. He was now a part of a family. The group of men were like brothers, even if one of them refused to become a part of it. But he knew that given time, Ezra Standish would also accept this close knit family as his own.

Vin glanced at the Southerner quickly. He knew if he lingered in his scrutiny of the smaller man that Ezra would be aware of his light blue eyes staring at him. Vin knew something was wrong with Ezra. He was being trouble by something and as always he refused to talk about it with the others. His intense green eyes sometimes gave away the fact that his mind was lingering on an unpleasant memory. Perhaps it had something to do with one of their previous cases. Vin had gotten the impression that Ezra had seen things when he worked undercover that the others did not. He decided that when this case was over he was going to get the ex-criminal alone and discuss what was troubling him. Even if he had to get him drunk to do it. But then again he did have access to certain drugs that could get the man to talk.

"Did you know that you had to burn a Werewolf instead of burying it because if you bury it the Werewolf will rise from it's grave as a Vampire." JD read the information off the Internet out loud.

"Just what we need." Ezra commented. "Abbott and Costello will be showing up next."

"Legend says that if you eat the brains or roasted flesh of a wolf you become a Werewolf."

"Didn't you have that for lunch Chris." Vin nudged him with his elbow.

Chris smiled and continued to read the Joe file that JD had downloaded for him. "There's not much here, nothing that will help us anyway."

"To kill a Werewolf you need a silver bullet or knife made from the silver of a melted crucifix." JD continued.

"Taken care of." Josiah told him seriously as he patted his shoulder holster.

Everyone fell silent when the motion detector alerted them to someone or something's presence. JD leaned closer to the monitor as the singular form moved closer to the van.

"It's three hundred metres South coming towards us and it's large enough to be a man." JD reported.

"Let's go." Chris motioned to his men to follow.

Vin, Nathan and Josiah followed Chris towards the door. There was no need to check their portable equipment or weapons. They had done it numerous times since they started monitoring the woods. They were prepared to go up against man or beast.

"JD, keep us informed. If they start heading towards the Johnson place notify Buck then head up there to give him a hand." Chris ordered him.

"Will do." JD sounded slightly disappointed that he had to stay in the Van.

Ezra waited for the men to leave then closed and locked the door behind them. He had a bad feeling about what was going on. Something was going to happen and he knew it wasn't going to be good.

Lufkin Woods - Friday, 12:06am

Chris Larabee listened to the natural noises of the night that were not there to be heard. The woods had fallen into a deathly silence. This only happened when something unnatural or dangerous was nearby. His blue eyes looked down at the motion detector, the possible enemy was now only three hundred metres away. The movement suddenly stopped. It was as though it was waiting. Waiting for it's prey to come closer.

"Josiah, Nathan, head that way," Chris nodded towards his left, "about one hundred yards. We'll go this way. See if we can get on either side of it."

"It's moving again." Josiah informed Chris. "It's heading away from us."

"There's another one." Chris turned towards the van. Fifty metres."

"Shit." Josiah swore. "There's a third to our left. Fifty eight metres."

"They're circling us." Chris knew what was happening, he was about to do the same thing. The enemy was quicker.

"Then it's a trap." Vin told him even though Chris and the others already knew.

"Aw hell!" Chris started to run towards the van.

"Chris your headed straight for them!" Vin yelled then ran after him.

"JD and Ezra, there's at least another five headed towards the van." Chris informed them as he ran.

"How many are there?" Nathan asked Josiah.

"Too many!" Josiah ran after Vin and Chris.

Nathan jumped in surprise as something ran past his vision. It was took dark to get a good look at it but he saw enough to know it wasn't human even though it ran on two legs. "This is not good!" he shouted. He stopped hesitating and ran after the others.

Chris forced himself to stop when he saw a pair of red eyes staring at him. The snarl echoed in his ears making the silence that surrounded him even deadlier. The sound of the others running after him reached his ears but he knew they wouldn't get there in time. He watched as the animal moved closer. He held his breath when he saw the creature's features were more human than animal. It stood up onto it's hind legs and began to run towards him. Chris lifted the gun that he held in his hand. He aimed to kill, the gun fired and the animal howled as the bullet stopped it's heart beating. Chris didn't stop to look at the fallen animal, he turned to the sound of another creature that was preparing to attack.

JD Dunne watched the monitors and saw what was happening, his young brown eyes quickly switched to the video monitors. There were four mounted in various positions outside the van. He looked at Ezra and saw that he was concentrating on what was happening with the other team members. He could see the handsome features creasing in fear and worry. He knew what Ezra was about to do. Even though the Southerner gave the appearance of not caring about the others they all knew he did and that he wouldn't hesitate in giving his life to save one of theirs. They would all do the same for each other, even Ezra.

"Ezra! They're surrounding the van." JD warned him.

"And the others." Ezra added.

His quick mind was trying to come up with a plan. His eyes searched the equipment for something that he could use. His steady gaze stopped at the switches that controlled the lights outside the equipment van. He then remembered the emergency exit that led to the roof.

"JD. When I tell you to switch on the outside lights." Ezra collected two handguns and extra ammunition.

"I'm coming with you." JD stood up.

"No! You need to let the others in when the coast is clear." Ezra tucked the guns into the waistband of his loose fitting jeans. "When you get a chance, let Buck know what's happening."

"Be careful Ezra. Those things can bite." JD tried not to worry about the elusive con man.

Ezra engaged the lock and opened the emergency door. He used his arms to pull himself through. He looked back down and saw JD staring back at him. He could see the concern in the youngster's eyes and ignored it. "How are the others doing JD?"

"I'd say they would only have seventy five seconds." he replied.

"Hit the lights when they have forty." Ezra closed the door without waiting for a reply. He knew JD would do as he was told. He was young but he was intelligent and loyal to the team and his friends, he would do what needed to be done to keep the others from being harmed.

Chris Larabee screamed in anger as he fired three rounds into the animal that was now heading towards him in midair. The creature, even though it looked more human than animal, had leaped out at him from the bushes. If it wasn't for the leader's quick reflexes he would have been a dead man. His anger was aimed at himself, he thought he had it under control, he was wrong. He heard more movements behind him, he spun around with his gun at the ready but lowered it when he saw a clothed figure coming towards him. Vin joined him as he stared down at the body of the creature who had come close to killing him.

"We better keep going." Chris began to run again, they weren't far from the van now.

"Nathan and Josiah are right behind us." Vin told him as he ran.

Chris stopped, he knew the van was within shouting distance, he just wasn't able to see it clearly through the trees and the dark. The moon was full but at the moment it wasn't any help, it was hidden behind a small group of clouds. More footsteps were heard coming towards them. Both men turned to find Josiah and Nathan breathing deeply.

"There's a few of them in front of us. They seem to be just waiting." Chris looked around, something caught his eye but before he could focus on it, it was gone. "We've got to get to Ezra and JD."

"How?" Vin asked him. "According to the motion detector, we're surrounded and the van's surrounded."

"We need a plan." Chris didn't realise that Ezra had already come up with one.

The four men stood back to back ready to defend each other against the monstrosities that were preparing to attack. Vin opened fire when one moved towards him. While he was distracted dealing with it another ran at him. The animal jumped just as the security man saw him. The force of the animal knocked him backwards, he fell to the ground taking Chris with him. He had to drop his gun to grab the animal's throat before the large teeth tore his throat open. He heard a gunshot and felt the hot breath of the bullet as it passed his ear. He lost his grip on the animal as the force of the bullet threw it backwards.

"Thanks Chris." Vin picked up his gun. He was ready for the next attack but it didn't come.

Bright lights caught them all off guard, a split second later the men were firing at the creatures that were now visible to the human eye.

Ezra had begun counting backwards from forty so he would know exactly when JD was going to turn the lights on. He hoped the distraction they were about to make and his own gunfire would distract the creatures long enough for the others to make it back to the van. Once inside they would be safe. None of them would be out of danger but at least they would no longer be separated. He had only counted ten seconds when gunfire erupted from the woods. He could see the flashes that went with the sound. He silently wished that time would hurry. He continued to count. Only five seconds to go. Everything went silent.

"Shit!" Ezra swore. "Damn you Standish if your too late."

The lights went on and Ezra stood up. He quickly glanced around at the creatures that surrounded the van and stood at the edge of the tree outline. He began to fire at them. He didn't care at the moment if he wounded them, killed them or just missed. He needed a clear path for the others so they could hightail it the van. JD would be ready to let them in and all he had to do was to climb back into the van. Then they would need another plan.

The creatures scattered. Some ran behind the van while the others made for the trees. He managed to force two of them off their feet. Ezra ignored the human features and concentrated on what he was doing. He turned around constantly so they couldn't sneak up on him. He saw movement in the trees. It was the others. Ezra heard a noise behind him. He turned just in time to see one of the creatures coming at him.

His only thought was, where the hell did that come from. He pulled the trigger and heard the creature cry out in pain but it didn't stop it's forward momentum. Ezra expected to die. The creature's hand gripped his throat as it pulled the gun from his hand. Ezra could smell the feted breath, he tried to turn his head away and lift the other hand that held a second gun but before he could use it against his assailant, he was thrown from the roof of the van.

The ex-criminal hit the base of a tree with a solid force. The breath had been forced from his lungs. A ringing sounded in his ears and his vision blurred. He felt the pain erupt in his side as he tried to move. A new noise overtook his senses, the breathing of an angry animal. He lifted his head and stared into the dark eyes of what people in Lufkin had begun to call a Werewolf. He saw the large claw as it came towards him. It slammed against the side of his head knocking him into unconsciousness. He didn't feel the branches or stones as they tore at him while he was being dragged to an unknown destination.

"Thank you Ezra." Chris muttered as he fired at the creatures that had managed to surround them. He could hear the gunfire that came from the van. He knew it had to be Ezra because the Southerner wouldn't allow JD to take such risks. The man didn't seem to care about risking his own life but he had a problem allowing others to risk theirs. It was as though he didn't think his life was as important as everyone else's.

"There's nothing in front of us!" Josiah yelled.

"Then let's get going before those lights go out." Chris ordered them.

Four men ran towards the van that was illuminated by bright lights. They could see the human like animals standing back. Their growls of anger reached the ears of the humans causing the hairs on the back of their necks to rise. As they got closer to safety the animals moved towards them. Chris opened fire hoping to get them to move back to a safe distance. They didn't, the so-called Werewolfs continued to move closer. Chris started to believe they weren't going to make it. Just as the lights had appeared without warning so did the music.

Chris always complained about JD's taste in music but he was willing to hear it now. The humans that looked more like animals screeched in horror as the noise nearly burst their sensitive eardrums. JD's favorite band 'The Offspring' had never sounded so good. The heavy guitar and drum sound echoed around the van. Chris ran even faster than he thought he could. The others were right behind him. The door to the van opened in front of him. He didn't stop, he entered the van then made room for the others. Once everyone had made it inside the door was closed and locked.

"JD! Turn that god damn music off!" Vin yelled at him then smiled in gratitude.

"Now that was close." Josiah muttered after the music faded away.

"It's not over yet." Chris told him. "JD, where's Ezra?"

"He's on the roof." JD looked up. He'd been worried about Ezra. The gunfire from the top of the van had stopped, he'd heard nothing since. "But he hasn't made any noise for a couple of minutes."

Chris frowned and allowed Vin to rush to the emergency exit in the roof. He helped the lighter man up onto the roof then heard a groan and a curse erupt from the security man.

"He's not here." Vin poked his head down into the opening and handed Chris the gun he found on the roof. Vin followed it inside.

"SHIT!" Chris yelled at no one in particular. "That stubborn bastard is going to get himself killed taking risks like this." he began to pace the small area. "Damn it! JD, let Buck know what's happening, he was bound to hear the gunfire. Tell him to stay put. Then we start looking for Ezra."

"What if he's close by?" Vin asked him. "We have to look for him now."

"If we go out there now Vin, we'll all be dead within minutes. There is too many of them."

"Where did they all come from. And if there are so many how come only one of them has been seen?" Nathan asked the silence that now filled the van.

"I don't know but we're going to find out after we find Ezra." Chris growled.

"Chris." JD waited until the man he respected turned around. "Ezra was just trying to help you guys get back without being hurt."

"I know JD. I just wish . . . aw hell JD I know that. I just don't want him to give his life away so easily. His worth more than he thinks he is. Why he thinks he should die instead of one of us I don't know." Chris patted his shoulder. "Go and call Buck."

"He's not dead." JD told him.

"I know JD." But Chris didn't. Why would they allow Ezra to live. There was no reason. He knew they would be looking for a dead Southerner.

Buck had wanted to charge down the long driveway towards the sound of gunshots. If he'd only heard one or two then he knew things were okay. But there had been more than a dozen shots fired. That meant trouble. It meant that one of the others may be hurt or even dead. He knew he couldn't leave Gertrude alone. He hoped that Ezra was fine because he was going to make the ex-criminal a dead man. He was looking forward to getting Ezra and Gertrude alone. Photos would be taken and pinned up on the notice board at the office and posted on the Internet for all the other SPI members to see.

He waited while Gertrude baked. The silence that came from the outside would was deafening. He hated this waiting part of the job. He was an electronics expert. He should be in the van with the others, not here baby sitting . . . godzilla in a short skirt. He had nothing against overweight woman. He loved all woman, well he thought he did until he met Gertrude. It was her personality that was ugly. Buck didn't judge woman on their looks, he judged them by their personality. He'd learnt by experience but the woman who had taught him that had died when she tried to protect him. She had given her life for him.

He shook the memory from his mind. He had more important things to think about. He checked his gun again then held it in his hand instead of putting it away. The mobile in his jacket pocket began to ring. He answered and listened to JD's voice. He sighed in relief, at least he knew JD was alright. He swore when he heard the news about Ezra.

"Thanks for letting me know JD . . . yeah I'll stay here . . . let me know if you find Ezra," he paused, "dead or alive." he hung up and put the phone back into his jacket pocket.

"NOT EZRA!" Gertrude screamed. "Don't tell me something's happened to my Ezra!"

Buck tried to ignore her as he made his way to the front door to check the outside area. A small part of him hoped that he would see Ezra walking towards the front door. She followed him.

"Tell me Ezra's okay." Gertrude was actually crying over a man she'd met once for about ten minutes. "He can't be dead. Not my Ezra!" she wailed.

"I'm sure he's okay." Buck attempted to calm her down.

"But the man on the radio said he was gone." She openly wept for the Southerner.

"He'll be fine. Ezra always is."

"I want to find Ezra." she pulled at Buck's jacket.

"You can't Mrs Johnson. It's too dangerous out there at night. We might have to wait till daylight."

"Humf! You just don't want me to find him. Your jealous because I love Ezra and not you."

Buck groaned. He was dealing with a fifteen year old that was suffering from her first true love. "What if he comes here to you and your not here?"

"You think he might come here to me?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm staying right here to wait for him." Gertrude walked back into her living room.

For a brief moment he actually felt sorry for Ezra. But the feeling only lasted a moment. Worry took control of his mind. He didn't think that Ezra was going to be okay. How could he be? But then again if the others survived . . . no the others had been in a group, they were able to protect each other. JD said Ezra had been alone on the roof of the van. The crazy Southerner took too many risks. They were going to have to do something about that if he was still alive. He had to be. He was only just beginning to accept the others as family. They couldn't lose him now. His eyes continued to scan the woods. He saw movement and held his breath. It was a wolf, it stood on it's four legs staring at the house. Buck frowned, it was as though it was watching them. He let go of the breath he was holding when the wolf turned around and began to walk back towards the trees. He swore when it stood up on it's hind legs and continued to walk until it disappeared from his sight.

"How long are we going to wait?" Josiah demanded to know. "What if he's hurt?"

"I told you, if we go out there now, then someone else will get hurt. I won't allow that to happen." Chris told him. He wanted more than anything to open the door and step out into the night to look for the seventh member of his team. But he knew it would be futile. They would have to wait till daylight.

"We could at least go onto the roof with a torch and look around the immediate area." Vin grabbed a torch without waiting for an answer.

"I'm coming with you." Josiah took another torch and followed his friend up onto the roof.

Chris didn't argue, he was about to do the same thing himself.

"What if one of them bit him?" JD asked from his seat in the corner.

"What are you talking about JD?" Nathan asked him.

"What if they are Werewolfs. You know the folklore. If you get bitten by one and you live, then you become one of them." JD explained.

"I don't believe that." Chris turned away from them. "This is reality. They can be killed and Ezra won't become one of them. If he's alive we'll get him back. Ezra has my word on that."

"If we can find him." JD spoke the words that had filled them with dread.

What if they couldn't find him? If he was still alive then what was he going through. Was he hiding somewhere or was he being kept a prisoner? Was he in pain? Were they causing him pain? No one wanted to have these thoughts but they couldn't help it. They were worried sick about the ex-criminal who had become part of their small family whether he knew it or not.

Gertrude Johnson, widow and pastry cook waited in her kitchen for news on Ezra Standish. She had overheard that he had been taken by the creatures that roamed the woodland around her home. She had been baking all afternoon in anticipation of his arrival. Pumpkin pies, blue berry pies, chocolate cakes and chocolate chip muffins lined the counters of the large spacious kitchen. Her blue eyes moved towards the back door when she heard a noise. She looked over her shoulder and wondered if the SPI man had heard it. When he didn't come running through the door she knew he hadn't.

She silently moved to the back door and opened it. Nothing jumped out at her, the night was still and silent. She smiled and stepped out into the back yard. Her feet were bare and she reveled in the feel of the grass under her feet. There was movement beside her and she turned quickly towards it, quicker than someone would think she was capable of doing. A creature stood before her. It bowed then waited for her instructions.

"I understand you have him." Gertrude spoke with authority. The animal nodded in agreement. "Is he hurt?" The creature bowed again instead of answering her question. "Answer me!" The animal nodded again. "Go back to him, look after him until I get there." She turned around again to find another standing before her.

"What the hell are you?" Buck Wilmington stood poised ready to fire at what he thought was a human that may turn out to be something else.

"Take him!" It was an order given to the creatures she knew would be there to protect her.

Buck heard the two words and began to pull the trigger but something slamming into his side and knocking him to the ground stopped the gun from firing. It fell from his hand when he hit the hard earth beneath him. He reached for the fallen gun but a clawed hand grabbed his and turned him over onto his back. Buck stared up at a wolf like face, the fangs were large and stained.

"Don't kill him! I can use him to convince Ezra to accept his fate." Gertrude smiled. "He has a mobile phone, get rid of it then take him home. I will be there shortly."

Buck was lifted up to his feet, he was search roughly and when the phone was discovered it was broken beneath a clawed foot. He was then pulled towards the woods. He struggled within the strong grips but he couldn't free himself. His only thought was that Ezra was still alive but hurt. At least the Southerner will no longer be alone. Maybe together they would be able to find a way to escape.

A Cave in Lufkin Woods - Friday, 2:16am

The memory of what happened flashed through his mind. He wanted to shut them out but they wouldn't leave him alone, they mixed with the memories of their previous case. He could hear ragged breathing and movement around him. He refused to open his eyes to see what it was because he already knew. It hadn't killed him, it had taken him somewhere. He thought life had sucked before but now he had been sucked down the drain into the sewer. He was starting to have second thoughts about this job.

Something hit his shoulder and he cried out in pain. He had to, the pain was too much. He knew his left shoulder was dislocated. It always seemed to happen. These days he only had to bump it and the shoulder joint would pop out. He was going to suffer a lot of pain when he reached old age. If he reached old age. Whatever hit him the first time, hit him again but on a different part of his body. It was as though it didn't want to hurt him again. It grunted at him. He could sense the anger the animal was emitting. He had no choice. He opened his eyes and flinched back from the sight before him.

The animal was on it's haunches facing it's captive. The teeth were sharp and dirty. The head was that of a wolf but the body was more human. The fur that covered it's face was matted with dry blood. The eyes that stared at him were a pale blue. They were the eyes of a human. The body was bare in patches, the pale skin around the lower abdomen showed an appendix scar. A clawed hand reached forward, it still wore a ring on it's left index finger. It had once been human.

"So much for only existing in a person's imagination." Ezra muttered to himself.

It pushed him. Ezra tried to move away from it but the pain in his side and shoulder kept him from going to far. It pushed him again. Ezra didn't know what it wanted. He didn't move the second time, it pushed him harder. He looked over his shoulder to see where it wanted him to go. He gagged as his eyes drifted over the flesh covered bones that sat in a corner of the cave he now knew he was in. It pushed him again, this time an angry growl accompanied it.

"What!" Ezra Standish growled back. "What the hell do you want me to do?"

It nodded towards the back of the cave and pointed. Ezra followed the clawed hand. His eyes stared at the ring and he wondered who this person once was, what sort of life they led and if there were any family members that were looking for him or her. He looked down. Him. It grunted. Ezra looked in the direction it was pointing. There was bedding against the rock wall, also a bowl. It wanted him to go to it. He didn't, he could smell it from here.

"No." Ezra told it. He waited for the physical blow that would try and convince him to do as he was told. It didn't come, instead the animal grunted again. For some reason Ezra was sure it was calling him a stubborn bastard. It moved away from him and sat at the entrance of the opening that led into the small cave. He could see the darkness that was present outside the entrance but he knew the blackness was created by rock walls, he was in a cavern, there must have been dozens of small caves here. It must be were the creatures are hiding, it explained why they were never found.

Now that he was being left alone, Ezra took the time to check his injuries. There was nothing he could do about his shoulder or injured ribs. In fact there was nothing he could do. He knew he also had a head injury but didn't think it was that bad, his body took most of the impact when he had been thrown from the van. He had been grateful he didn't hit the tree head first, now as he looked around at his prison he wasn't so sure that death would be better than this.

There were rotting corpses of small animals lying around the dirt floor of the cave. He suddenly wondered if he was being saved for dinner. He tried to swallow but his mouth had suddenly gone dry. He had to find a way to get away. There was only one guarding him, he had to escape before more came. He tried to sit up but the pain caused him to fall back down again. Escaping was going to be harder than he thought. Maybe someone would come to his rescue. He didn't believe that. These creatures hadn't been found yet, he didn't think they would be found now just because they had him. Even with the SPI equipment that was available to Chris and the others it would take too long to find him and by the time they did, he would be part of the bone collection in the corner.

He closed his eyes and tried to hide the images that were scattered around the cave. If he survived this he was going to have a few nightmares. He'd rather have nightmares than become their dinner. He didn't want to lie in the middle of their left overs. There was a clear area to his left, he wanted to go there so he could lean against the wall and bring his knees up to his chest, he couldn't though, it would hurt too much. He would also be able to watch the caves opening without becoming suspicious. He didn't know how much intelligence the creatures had but he wasn't willing to take a chance to find out.

He knew he was incapable of sitting up, he would have to crawl to his destination. He pulled with his right arm and pushed with his legs. They were the only parts of his body that didn't hurt. It took him a while but he managed it. He laid down on his right side, his left shoulder hung at an awkward angle. His ribs hurt and his head hurt. What he needed was a pain killer, not that he could get one here. He could see that the creature had watched his movements, it seemed to be laughing at him. It looked away when it heard a sound in the distance. Ezra hadn't heard anything. It was another fifteen minutes before he saw what the creature had heard. Buck Wilmington was pushed onto the floor of the cave in front of his feet.

"Glad you could join me Buck." The relief he felt sounded in his voice.

"And I'm glad to join you Ezra." Buck smiled but his features became full of concern at the sight of Ezra's appearance. "You okay?"

"Parts of me are and other parts aren't." Ezra didn't make any effort to sit up.

Buck did, he moved to sit next to Ezra. "Where does it hurt?"

"My left side where I hit the tree." Ezra grimaced at the thought.

"You hit a tree?"

"It threw me at a tree, I couldn't avoid the collision." Ezra replied.

"Oh by the way, that amazing woman you told me about," Buck reminded him, "she's a lot worse than you thought."

"Try him again." Chris ordered JD.

JD's concerned brown eyes turned back to his mobile, he'd been trying to contact Buck for thirty minutes without a satisfying result. The electronics expert still failed to answer. JD shook his head at Chris who was beginning to tear his hair out in aggravation. If Chris hadn't seen Gertrude Johnson himself he would think that Buck was doing something that he shouldn't be doing.

"That's two." Vin commented.

He and Josiah had spent an hour on the roof of the van looking for Ezra. They didn't want to come down until they were sure he wasn't within their reach. They had even contemplated going out on foot to search for him because during the hour their strong torches searched the area they hadn't seen any of the creatures they knew had taken him and now possibly Buck.

"Are we going up there?" JD asked.

"Yes." Chris hung his head in defeat. "Ezra isn't here anymore. We find out what's happened to Buck, if he's in the same predicament as Ezra then we start looking for them at dawn. We'll contact the sheriff and get a search party started."

Chris motioned to Josiah to drive the van up to the Johnson place. His heart was heavy, he couldn't loose one of his friends, let alone two. He didn't know how he would cope if they found them dead or didn't find them at all. He wasn't sure if one of the surviving members would be able to help him recover from the emotional trauma as Buck had done after his wife and son's deaths.

It only took them a couple of minutes to drive to the home of Gertrude Johnson. JD stayed with the equipment to alert them of anyone or anything coming towards the home. He silently hoped that if the monitors did alert him of something that it would be their missing friends. He'd only lost one person to death so far in his life. His mother had died two years ago of Breast Cancer. It hadn't been pleasant for either of them but he hadn't allowed his mother to see how devastated he'd been feeling until after she died. He had to be strong for her, to help her through her time of need. The only thing he was grateful for was the opportunity to spend time with her and tell her how much he loved her and that he would never stop loving her. He didn't say good bye because he knew she hadn't left him, she was still in his heart and his memory. He thought about her everyday.

Chris motioned for Nathan and Josiah to go around the back and to be careful. He didn't want to lose anymore men. He was finding it hard to work knowing that two were already missing, one of them he had known for ten years. He and Vin went through the front door. The house was silent. Chris moved through to the living room, Vin followed closely. They stopped when they heard a door open. They moved silently towards the sound.

They knew it would be Josiah and Nathan but experience told them not to take any risks, they had to make sure first before they made themselves visible to the maker of the sound. Vin glanced quickly around the door frame. He relaxed his stance and the body movement told Chris that it was okay.

"We found this." Josiah lowered his gun when Vin and Chris made themselves known to them.

"Buck's gun." Chris nodded as he took it from him. "Where was it?"

"Outside, close to the back door. No sign of Buck though." Nathan told him.

"You find anything?" Josiah asked Chris. He could see the worry that was already beginning to show on their leader's face.

"Not yet." Chris turned away from them, he had every intention of searching the rest of the house.

"Any sign of Mrs Johnson?" Vin asked Josiah.

"Gertrude? No."

"Maybe she's gone to find a new decorator." Vin grunted at the sight of the furniture in the living room.

"How can she be any worse Buck." Ezra growled at him.

"She's the leader of this pack." Buck enlightened Ezra to the bad news.

"She's what?!" Ezra looked at the creature that was guarding them when it growled and moved towards him.

"Don't make it angry Ezra." Buck warned him.

Ezra shifted his position and groaned when the pain tore through him. He suddenly felt Buck's hands on him as he lifted him up into a sitting position. He didn't protest or physically try and stop him when he opened up his mid thigh length black leather jacket, but he did grit his teeth together when Buck's fingers pressed against his ribs.

"I'm no Doctor Ezra but I think you might have some busted ribs there."

"I'm no Doctor either and I could have told you that without causing myself extra pain." Ezra retorted.

He felt his head being pulled forward as fingers probed his skull for any breakages in the skin.

"Ouch!" Ezra spat out when Buck pushed against the large lump on the side of his skull. Two fingers appeared in front of his face.

"How many do you see?" Buck asked him as he lifted Ezra's chin up.

"Two. I'm fine Buck, it just hurts that's all."

"Well I'm tellin' you this now Ezra, if we get out of here, your a dead man." Buck growled at him.

"What did I do?" Ezra knew but he had to pretend he was innocent.

"For introducing me to that amazing woman of yours."

"I think you'll find that's the other way around Mr Wilmington." Gertrude spoke as she entered the cave. "You see, Ezra here," she knelt down in front of him, "is mine do with what I please."

"I'm dinner aren't I?" Ezra stared into the face that had become his nightmare.

"You wish. He's dinner." She smiled and nodded towards Buck.

"Then he's dessert?" Buck asked.

"If he's lucky." Gertrude answered.

"Lucky?" Ezra managed to raise an eyebrow, he was being quite brave considering the circumstances. He was injured and was being held in a cave with Buck Wilmington by creatures that were supposed to be Werewolfs and he was going to be dessert if he was lucky. "And if I'm not?"

"Then you'll be my mate." she informed him.

Ezra looked at Buck. Buck looked at Ezra. "I have enough mates already thank you." Ezra hoped she was referring to the Australian term for friendship.

"I don't mean friend." The smile dropped from her face.

Both men were grateful for small mercies. "Then what do you mean?" Ezra didn't really want to know.

"You are going to be the father of my children." The smile returned. Both men grimaced at the sight.

"I'm sterile." Ezra blurted out.

Gertrude looked from the handsome face of Ezra Standish to Buck Wilmington then back again. Both men were good looking but she considered Ezra to have something more. Maybe it was the intense green eyes, or the dimples that filled his cheeks when he smiled, it could be the different facial expressions that he was capable of producing. She looked towards Buck once more. Maybe she just didn't like facial hair.

"Is he always like this?" she asked Buck.

"'Fraid so. He wouldn't make a very good husband." Buck tried to smile, he wasn't being as stupid as Ezra. For some reason the man just had to push his enemy as far as he could. He knew it would end with Ezra getting hurt again.

"I'm gay." Ezra added. He had to come up with something to change her mind. He'd rather be dessert.

"I'm glad it makes you happy Ezra." She returned the sarcasm. "Now that we have that sorted out, when would you like to start?"

Ezra was dumbfounded and horror shocked. He also hoped he was speechless. "I've had a vasectomy."

"You don't want to piss her off Ezra!" Buck warned him.

"So you don't want to do this?" Gertrude was calm.

"No."

Gertrude pounced on her victim, she took Buck's left arm and without any effort she broke both bones in his forearm. His scream of agony echoed in Ezra's mind. It was over in a split second, Ezra hadn't seen anything move so fast before. Gertrude sat back on her heels, Ezra was glad she had changed into a pair of trousers. His green eyes turned to look at Buck. His features were contorted in pain. Ezra felt a hand grip his chin and turned his head away from his friend.

"There are two hundred and four bones left unharmed. I can continue breaking them until you agree to your fate." The smile she gave Ezra was an evil glare.

"I guess I don't have a choice." Ezra glared back at her but his angry expression didn't hold up against hers.

"Good, we can start tomorrow night."

"You'll have to do all the work. I'm afraid I have a couple of broken ribs." Ezra explained.

Gertrude released his chin and Ezra immediately turned back to Buck. "Stupid question but are you okay?"

"Sure, just a broken arm, could be worse, I could have broken a finger nail." Buck scowled at him.

"How bad are you hurt?" Gertrude now ignored Buck.

"You broke my arm." Buck told her.

She clenched her hand and struck Buck across the jaw. He collapsed to the ground and didn't get up. She had sent him into oblivion. "I wasn't talking to you."

Tomorrow night, it meant they had some time to come up with a plan, maybe she may even wait until his broken bones healed.

"Well?"

"Broken ribs, dislocated shoulder and a bump on the head." Ezra listed his injuries, he hoped she didn't add to them.

"Which shoulder?"

"Left sho . . ." Ezra also screamed as the pain tore through him. Gertrude had easily manipulated the shoulder back into place before he realised what was happening.

"Sorry I can't do much about your ribs." Gertrude placed her hand against Ezra's face and gripped it painfully when he tried to move away from her. "Where does your head hurt sweetie?"

"I'm not your sweetie and it hurts all over."

She kissed his forehead. Ezra tried to moved away again, it wasn't as easy as it had been the day before in the Johnson home. Her thumb nail drew blood as she squeezed harder. He had no choice, he couldn't move his head. Gertrude followed Ezra's hair line until she reached the swollen area on the side of his skull. She enjoyed the gasp of pain that was released from her soon to be lover.

"I'll be back in a moment Ezra, there is something I must do." she released her hold on him.

"Don't plan on going anywhere just yet." Ezra grimaced at her.

She slapped his good arm. "My, you do have a sense of humor don't you sweetie."

"I try my best." Ezra agreed with her.

"Yeah you do don't you. Why don't I take care of my business here and you can watch." Gertrude stood up. "It might slow your mouth down a bit."

Gertrude turned and move stealthily towards the creature that was still guarding the cave opening. "Bring me the one who did this to him." The creature obeyed without hesitation.

Ezra began to feel the fear that started at the pit of his stomach and worked it's way up to his chest. It tightened within itself making it harder for him to breath. He looked at Buck. He didn't want to be the only one to see what was about to happen. He knew Gertrude was going to do something and it wasn't going to be nice. Even she would know that it would take a lot to slow his mouth down. Even with a gun pointed at his head he would say something that would anger the gun holder. He didn't know why he was still alive. He nudged Buck with his good arm. If someone else saw the vision then he may be able to talk about it with them instead of keeping to himself as he always seemed to do. If someone else witnessed it then they would find it easier to force him to talk about it. It would be one less nightmare that he would have to suffer. As it was, there were too many to count.

Ezra turned quickly at the sound of terrified screeching. It sounded like an animal in pain. Idiot, of course it's an animal in pain he told himself. It seemed like minutes had passed it had only been seconds when the creature was dragged into the cave. Two other creatures were holding an arm each, well what Ezra thought were arms. Somehow Ezra recognised it as being the one that threw him off the roof of the van. He wanted to turn away when the animal's bladder let go of the urine it was been retaining. But his eyes continued to stare at the scene before him. He wanted to vomit when the stench reached him.

Gertrude stood over the animal after it had been forced to it's knees. Whimpering sounds escaped the cowering creature. Gertrude didn't speak to it. Ezra watched as she held up her right hand, the fear grew within him as the hand changed to a claw. The rest of the body remained as Gertrude Johnson but the hand now belonged to a wolf. The nails were no longer human, they were long and sharp. The claw moved quick as it slashed open the throat of the animal that had been begging for it's life. Ezra knew if he had blinked he would have missed it, that's how quickly she had killed it. The creature was lying on the ground. Gertrude sat down on her heels and leaned forward. She began to drink the blood and eat the flesh of the still warm creature. Ezra did vomit this time, he leaned to his left away from Buck and emptied his stomach. He'd seen death before but this was different. It wasn't human. He wiped his mouth as he looked back at the vivid scene before him. He didn't want to but he couldn't stop himself.

Gertrude stood up and walked back to Ezra. She sat down in front of him. Her eyes drifted towards the vomit that sat in a small pile next to him. She leaned over him and began to eat it. Ezra tore his face away. He had seen dogs do this, eat their own vomit, he didn't expect Gertrude to eat his own but then again she'd just fed on the animal she'd killed. What could be so different between the two meals. Maybe his vomit was dessert. All of sudden he was grateful that Buck hadn't witnessed it. It was worse than unpleasant.

"Your mouth slowed down has it?" She asked him after she'd finished. She licked the leftovers off her lips.

Ezra could see the fanged teeth that were now covered in blood. "Uh . . . yeah."

Gertrude smiled. "Get some rest Ezra, your gonna need it tomorrow night. I have quite an appetite you know."

Ezra refused to say anything or make any movement. His green eyes followed her as she stood up and walked away from him. He sighed in relief when she disappeared from his sight. He looked down at Buck who still hadn't moved. Ezra leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He needed to think, he had to plan a way to get out of here before Buck became dinner and he became a father. He shuddered at the thought.

Ezra ran as fast as his exhausted legs would carry him, he had to get away, if he didn't he would die, he knew it. He didn't dare look back over his shoulder, if he did he would fall over just like they did in the movies. He knew they were watching him, he wasn't sure if they could hurt him or not but he knew the people chasing him could. They had done that already. They had also played with his mind, that's why he could see them. He continued to run as the sweat trickled down his face. He could feel his heart pounding in fear. He was beginning to have second thoughts about his job.

Ezra stopped when he saw one of them in front of him. The child would have been about nine years old, he had no idea what his age would be now if he'd lived. The child only wore his trousers and boots, the deep cuts that lined his chest and stomach still bled. Ezra pulled his gaze up to the angelic face that was pale from blood loss, he turned when he heard the voices behind him. He had to keep going. He wasn't going to run towards the dead child so he changed direction. Another one stood before him. This one was a girl. Her blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail. The white dress that she wore was stained with her blood. It continued to drip from the hemline onto her pretty shoes.

He'd never believed in ghosts, as far as he was concerned they didn't exist. It was the potion they had made him drink that was causing him to see the murder victims of the people that chased him. Human monsters that took the lives of innocent children. He had gone undercover to infiltrate the cult, he had found more than was expected. They were meant to only rescue a child of an important government official. Ezra had uncovered a cult that sacrificed children. But the children weren't their own, they kidnap ones that they thought would please their God.

Ezra had seen the kidnap child arrive, he knew what was going to happen to the eight year old girl. He wouldn't allow it. He'd helped her escape, he was going to follow her but he'd been caught. He they figured the best way to punish him would be to make him see the children they had murdered. He was wrong, the potion was going to kill him unless he seeked medical attention. He didn't realise the children were there to help him.

The victims must have known Ezra's fear. They didn't point in the direction that he should go, they feared that he would ignore him and go the other way so they stood in his way knowing he would turn away from them. This way they knew he would soon meet the friends that were looking for him and the chance of an antidote for the poison he had been given by the leader of the occult. Ezra ran. He did what he feared most, he tripped over a protruding branch. He yelled out when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

The touch tore him from his nightmare into a nightmare of reality. He groaned and looked at the reason for his awakening. Buck still sat next to him, his left arm was cradled in his lap. The pain that he was feeling was written all over his face. But the concern he felt for his Southern friend was showing through the pain. No words were spoken. There was nothing to say, each were suffering their own pain and torment. They could see it in each others faces.

Buck looked around his prison trying to find some means of escape, his brown eyes rested on the fresh kill that now lay in the corner of the cave. "What's that?"

"Breakfast." Ezra answered without looking at it.

"Is that how I'm going to end up if we don't get out of here?" Buck wondered out loud.

"I'll swap places with you." Ezra suggested.

"Rather be dinner." Buck grunted. "Think you could run if we managed to get out of here?"

Ezra remembered his dream. "Nothing wrong with my legs. Do you have a plan?"

"Working on it." Buck told him.

"Perhaps you could work a bit faster." He turned to Buck. "Do you know how to find your way out of here?"

"Think so." Buck smiled at him.

"Well then I suggest you work on remembering how to get out of here and I'll work on the plan." Ezra retorted.

Buck continued to watch Ezra after his gaze moved away from him. He had seen something in his friend's eyes. Fear. He had never seen it before. "Did you see it happen?"

"See what?"

"Breakfast."

"No." Ezra lied.

He had hoped before that Buck could watch with him, then he could talk about it afterwards if they survived but Buck didn't see it. Only he did. He knew that being the only witness would cause him to lie about it, refuse to talk about it. It was his way. It was the way his mother had taught him. He loved his mother in his own way, he just wished she had brought him up the same way that normal mothers brought up their children.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"What's been bothering you lately." Buck reminded him.

"It would be futile to talk about anything now. Remember our fate. We should be thinking of a way to get out of here. There isn't time to talk about my problems."

"So there is a problem then. Well if we manage to get out of here alive, we can talk about it while we're recuperating." Buck had won that point. He was quite pleased with himself.

"I will be requesting separate rooms." Ezra told him.

The statement didn't deflate Buck's ego. It wasn't often that you could win when you played against Ezra. If they survived he would also be telling the others about his victory. And he still had to repay him for Gertrude. If they survived.

SPI Equipment Van - Friday, 6:08am

The van was filled with a heavy silence. Each man sat with his own thoughts and fears. They hoped to find their two missing friends but reality told them they wouldn't. But if they did they would find two bodies that had been ripped apart. Their blood would have flowed from their arteries and soaked into the ground in the same way that Mortimor Johnson's had. The bodies would then be transferred to the coroner's office, their friends would be cut open even though they knew what had killed them. The bodies would be accompanied back to Denver where a small funeral would be held. Ezra's mother would have to be contacted. None of them would want to deal with her. She would blame Chris for her son's death. He was the man responsible for recruiting him into the team. He didn't need her to blame him, he would do that himself.

"Let's go!" Chris ordered the remaining members of SPIT7.

They were going to split up into two groups. Chris and Vin would work their way from the van where Ezra disappeared. Nathan, Josiah and JD were going to make their way to the Johnson home and start out from the area where they found Buck's gun. The rest of the search party wasn't going to arrive until nine but the friends of the two missing men weren't willing to wait. If a miracle was to occur and the two men were still alive, they wanted to find them before that miracle was shattered. Each SPI member carried a motion detector, heat scanner, radio and mobile phone. They also carried water but no food, they weren't hungry. Nathan carried a first aid kit, he hoped he would need it, if he did then they would still be alive.

Chris led them from the van out into the fading darkness. There was no indication of the attack they had suffered the night before where one of his men had been taken. The woods echoed the sound of birds chirping which was a complete contradiction to the silence of the night before. He stopped at the back of the van where Vin joined him. They both nodded to the other three men who returned the acknowledgement. They weren't returning until they either found Buck, Ezra and Gertrude or when the darkness of night began to fall. Chris wouldn't risk losing another friend.

Vin walked silently beside his close friend. He held the heat monitor because he knew Chris was carrying the motion detector. Anything that moved would be investigated. Each time their hope was going to grow until they discovered that it wasn't what they were looking for. They had accepted Buck and Ezra's fate. They were dead, they were sure of that but they couldn't understand why they had taken the bodies. Neither man wanted to think of why the bodies were kept. They were reminded of dogs and how they would bury their food then come back for it at another time.

Chris watched the monitor as the other three members of his team disappeared from the motion detector. He was finding it hard to concentrate. All he could think of was Buck and Ezra. Even though he knew they were dead he hoped otherwise. The thought of their deaths continued to torment him. Had they died in pain like his wife and son or was it quick and painless? He silently prayed for the latter. He didn't think he could cope if their lives ended with so much pain. No one should leave this world in such a way.

The two continued to move forward side by side. Vin wanted to talk to his friend but he didn't know what to say. He knew their leader would already be mourning the deaths of Ezra and Buck. He wondered if he was going to cope the same way that he did when his family died. He'd need help to get through it again but this time it would be a lot harder to bring him back from the brink of death. He also knew that JD was going take Buck's death hard, they were like brothers. Vin wondered if SPIT7 would break up and go their own way now that two of it's members were now permanently missing.

Vin pushed the thoughts aside, he no longer wanted to struggle against the thought that his two friends were dead. He had gotten on well with Buck from the beginning. The ladies man was easy going, quick to laugh and constantly pulled pranks on the other members of the team with his partner in crime; JD Dunne. He was yet to pay them back for the naked pictures of himself that had been sent to all the woman who worked with SPI. Vin knew that it wasn't his body but it had been a very good resemblance although the likeness had deteriorated where it mattered.

Ezra though, was a different matter altogether. He was hard to approach, he seemed unfriendly and kept to himself most of the time. Vin and the others soon broke through the information that had hindered their investigation into why the Southerner pushed them away. It was to protect himself against harm, both physically and emotionally. They had accepted that and treated him normally as though he had been a friend they had known for years. Ezra hadn't liked it but they could see the friendship they gave him begin to chip away at his protective coating.

"Got something." Chris pulled him from his thoughts.

"Already?" Vin looked at his watch and was surprised to find that four hours had passed. "Where?" he corrected his question.

"Two hundred metres in front of us."

Vin aimed the heat monitor in the direction Chris had motioned to with the detector he was using to find his missing friends. "There's a heat source."

"We move forward slowly." Chris ordered him but he knew Vin was already aware of the need to be careful. But he needed to hear their own voices. It kept him calm and in control. He removed his gun from his shoulder holster. He hadn't bothered replacing the bullets with silver ones. When he shot the creatures that had attacked him they had fallen then stayed down. They hadn't gotten back up. He knew they were no longer there, their fellow creatures had taken them away; no doubt to have them for dinner.

"One fifty, it hasn't moved much. Surprised I'm still picking it up."

"Heat source is still strong." Vin wanted to ask him if he thought it might be Buck or Ezra. Maybe it was Gertrude Johnson. But he didn't. Chris' hope would have already started to grow, he didn't want to add to it. He had a hard enough time keeping his own hope down to a minimal amount.

Chris no longer spoke, he used his left hand to indicate that they were now one hundred metres from the source of movement. He then pointed to his nose and a direction which would lead them away from the moving form. Vin understood. Chris wanted to get down wind of the figure and approach it that way. They couldn't take the chance in case it was a Werewolf. He hated using that term but what else could they be. Some of them looked more human than animal. But if they were out of folklore then they would be human during the day and will be continuing with their normal lives. If that was the case then they wouldn't have to worry about running into them. They couldn't take the chance. They had to be prepared for them and stay prepared.

They changed direction and began to move through the trees to what they hoped would be Ezra or Buck. Even Gertrude Johnson would be a welcome sight. She might be able to lead them to Buck or Ezra, that was if she was still alive. But she would have to be, there was a heat source. Unless her heat had changed to the coldness of death. That would mean the heat could be coming from either on of their friends or one of the creatures.

Chris indicated fifty metres and pointed to a group of trees close to them. The fact the source of movement was still there meant that it wasn't aware of it's trackers. Vin put his equipment away and instead pointed his weapon in the direction of the hunted. He began to lead the way. He stepped over branches without looking down at the ground. He would take a breath, hold it for as long as he could then let it out slowly.

He held his hand up, waited for Chris to stop next to him then crouched down onto his heels. Whatever it was, was right in front of them in the bushes. Neither man was stupid enough to go rushing in, they weren't willing to commit suicide. They would wait until whatever it was to make themselves known to them. Each of them hoped the wind didn't change direction.

It was only a few minutes before the hidden figure showed itself. It was one of the creatures, a Werewolf. Blood covered it's jaw. It had been feeding, the question was; what was it feeding on? They didn't want to know but they had to find out. The creature began to move away from them. They followed. Chris decided he would be the one to check the corpse, he didn't want Vin to suffer the same nightmares if it did turn out to be one of their missing friends.

He walked in front of Vin with his gun at the ready. He reached the thick bush but didn't go into it. He could smell the fresh odor of death. He held his breath and his eyes search for what he didn't want to see. Then it was there in front of him, a body but the corpse didn't belong to one of the two men they were looking for. He was grateful but at the same time he felt sympathy for the man's family. He turned and shook his head at Vin. He holstered his gun and placed the motion detector back into his shaking hand. He took a deep breath then took the lead while Vin protected his back.

He was dreaming again, he knew it but he couldn't wake himself up to end the nightmare and even if he did there was another nightmare waiting for him. But at least he wasn't alone this time, there was someone else suffering with him. He was still running from people who wanted to kill him, Buck was beside him. There was something else different this time. There was a new horror in the woods, he could sense it. A nightmare within a nightmare. He didn't think he could cope if he kept suffering from these. Maybe he should go and see a professional about it. What the hell was he thinking, he couldn't go outside SPI, no one would believe him. If he saw the SPI shrink then Chris Larabee would find out about it. Why was he even thinking about that when he was in the middle of a dream. He realised he must be a sick man. He groaned as the image appeared before him. This time it wasn't the children the occult had murdered, it was a Werewolf. Ezra stopped but he wasn't quick enough to stop Buck from getting closer to the creature. He yelled at him to stop but for some reason he didn't listen to him.

Buck continued on until the claws of the Werewolf stopped him. The sharp nails slashed through his throat while another opened his stomach. Ezra watched as Buck turned to him, his friend's life was flowing from his body. He opened his mouth to scream but he was grabbed from behind and spun around to face Gertrude Johnson. Ezra knew that he was no longer dreaming. He had died and was now in hell. He began to fight for his life, as meaningless as it was, so he thought. A scream pulled him from his horror, he'd thought it was his own but it reoccurred and he recognised the voice as Bucks.

"Buck! Buck!" Ezra jerked himself awake and ignored his own pain as it erupted in his side and shoulder.

"What!?" Buck was almost yelling at him.

"You okay?" Ezra could see the pain etched into his features.

"I would be if you stopped hitting my arm." he growled at him. He knew it wasn't Ezra's fault but he needed to be angry. If he wasn't angry then he would be scared. He was now but the anger held it back and allowed him to think.

"I'm not hitting you." Ezra retorted.

"How would you know, you were asleep and having a nightmare. You must have a concussion if you keep blacking out." Buck informed him. "Who were you fighting anyway?"

"The Gillian twins." Ezra smiled as he lied. Lying was the easiest thing in the world for him to do. He had been taught to lie from the day he was born.

"I didn't have to fight them to sleep with me." Buck gloated.

"You probably paid them." Ezra told him.

"I wish." Buck sighed. Humor wasn't going to help them, all they were trying to do was distract each other from the inevitable. "Have you thought of a way to get us out of here yet?"

"I've been sleeping. Have you remembered the way out of here?"

"I've been suffering an enormous amount of pain due to your physical infliction upon my person." Buck replied calmly in a very bad Southern accent.

Ezra raised an eyebrow at him. "That's my line."

"A person can learn a lot hanging around you." Buck paid Ezra a compliment.

"Was that an insult?" Ezra's tone was serious.

Buck rolled his eyes and turned away from him. He looked down at the ground beside his legs. He had looked around while Ezra had been asleep and had seen some of the things the ex-criminal had seen. He knew the body that now lay in the corner with the other bones had been freshly killed. There was a small pool of blood at the entrance of the cavern. Buck had wondered if Ezra had witnessed the kill, something in the pit of his stomach told him the younger man had. He looked up when he heard a growl. Gertrude Johnson walked into the small cavern. She carried a bowl and a small plate of food. She knelt down in front of Ezra and ignored the only other human in the cave.

"I've brought you some water and food sweetie."

"I don't want anything from you."

Buck groaned, he hoped this didn't result in another broken bone. He nudged the Southerner with his elbow to let him know about his concern. Ezra understood.

"I'm not hungry, I still feel sick from before." Ezra muttered.

"I'm sorry about that Ezra but you needed to see it so you could learn your lesson. You talk to much sometimes and I don't like to be insulted." Gertrude's voice held a threatening tone, she wanted Ezra to retaliate with words so she could hurt his friend again. Maybe she would do it anyway. She enjoyed inflicting pain.

Buck kept his mouth shut while he waited for Ezra to say something. This was always the time that his mouth worked overtime, when the rest of him was in serious danger. But Ezra didn't say anything. Buck realised it was because his life wasn't the only one in danger this time. Ezra wasn't going to give the bitch a chance to hurt Buck again. The electronics expert was grateful.

Ezra bit his lip and waited for her to leave before he spoke the words that had jumped from his brain to his mouth. "Where's a seven foot axe wielding maniac when you need one." "What does an axe wielding maniac have to do with any of this?" Buck turned his confused expression towards his friend.

"I'd rather go up against one than her." Ezra muttered.

"Uh huh." Buck nodded in understanding. He gritted his teeth against the pain as it pounded once again through his arm up to his brain. Each time this happened it got worse. He was beginning to feel nauseas. He concentrated on trying to remember the way out of this hell hole. He looked sideways at Ezra, the man was asleep again. He must have hit the tree pretty hard Buck thought. He may have to come up with a plan to get out as well. He no longer thought Ezra was up to it. He thought the dreams he was suffering from and the hell he was going through was causing him to be very scared. If he was then Ezra would also have to be. Buck hoped his own death was going to be quick but he didn't think Ezra was going to be so lucky. His death was going to be long and painful.

He had to think of a way out but the enemy wasn't like anything they had dealt with before. They were predators, quick and deadly. They found it easy to kill and they would win any fight they were engaged in. He had a broken arm and Ezra's ribs were probably broken and it didn't help that his shoulder was dislocated. They couldn't physically force their way out of here. They had no weapons to defend themselves with. They had to fight Ezra's way, they had to cheat. Buck didn't really know how to, he would have to ask Ezra when he woke up.

Buck no longer had an idea what time it was. The small cavern was filled with a light that came from somewhere, maybe it was a way out. Time was either passing slowly or quickly. They could come for him or Ezra at any time. Maybe he could distract them while Ezra found his way out. He knew Ezra wouldn't allow that, for some reason the Southerner preferred to take all the risks, he didn't know why, it was as though he had a death wish. He had no idea why the younger man disregarded his own life so much. He thought he wasn't worth anything, that everyone else was more important than him. Unless that person was a bad guy.

He turned quickly when he heard Ezra moan, he was doing that a lot in his sleep. He wanted to know what the younger man was dreaming about. It obviously wasn't pleasant whatever it was. No names were mentioned, no places so he wasn't able to decipher the dream himself. But the dream wasn't important now, their lives were. He would worry about Ezra's nightmares if they managed to survive this hell. He was going to make sure they did.

The electronics expert and ladies man - well he thought he was - pushed himself up into a standing position. There was no longer a creature within sight but he knew one would be close by. He was going to find out how close. He used his left hand to undo one of his shirt buttons and placed his wrist into his shirt to support his arm. Buck looked down at Ezra and hoped it wasn't the last time he would see him. But then again if he died then they would have nothing to force Ezra to cooperate. They wouldn't be able to threaten him to get to Ezra. He smiled at the thought, Ezra's mouth would say what he thought and hopefully bring him a quick death which would be caused by Gertrude's anger.

Buck took one step forward and when there was no retaliation to the movement he took another step, then another. He moved slowly and quietly. His mind's voice asking that Ezra didn't wake up, the Southerner might say something to give his plan away. He glanced back at Ezra, he smiled, the last glance he took at the sleeping man wasn't the last. He continued to move forward until he reached the cavern entrance. A deep breath filled his lungs, he almost gagged at the smell but managed to hold the breath in. He glanced around the visible area beyond his reach. Nothing. He took another step forward. A quick glance to the left and right revealed nothing. No creatures guarded the prisoners. His first thought was that it was a trap. He didn't care. He moved as quickly as he could back to his friend.

"Ezra." his voice was low to begin with then he raised it slightly when Ezra didn't wake. "Ezra." He shook the smaller man until he elicited a groan of pain from him. The man's eyelids fluttered open.

"What . . . ?" Ezra murmured.

"We're getting out of here Ezra. Let's go." Buck used his good arm to pull Ezra towards him.

"But." Ezra started.

"But nothing Ezra, there aren't any creatures near by so we're going to make a break for it." Buck told him.

Ezra felt a surge of hope. He stood up and followed Buck out of their prison. He was glad to be rid of the sights he had witnessed in the cavern. He hesitated before moving after his friend. He needed to know where they were. They wouldn't have just left them. Gertrude wouldn't leave him to escape. "Do you know which way to go?" Ezra whispered.

"Of course I do." Buck lied.

Buck led the way through the tunnel that was surrounded by rock, it was a natural formation and not man made. They had to walk quietly so their footsteps on the stone beneath their feet didn't echo through the taverns. The creatures would easily pick up the sound. He looked at the walls of rock as he passed by them hoping to see something that was familiar, he thought the outcrop of stone in front of him was familiar. He followed it around to the right. He heard a shuffling sound and stopped. His hand went out behind him to stop Ezra from walking into him.

Ezra saw the hand before he felt it. He wasn't sure where the sound they had heard came from. They waited but the noise didn't sound a second time. The Southerner took another step when Buck moved forward again. He kept expecting to run into one of the creatures that was going to devour Buck Wilmington for dinner. If that was the case he would have to do something that would anger them enough to kill him as well. He wouldn't be able to cope if he had to witness Buck's death and then be forced to watch them eat him. No one could cope with that.

"Ezra." Buck whispered.

Ezra realised he'd stopped moving, he knew it was fear. It hadn't left him since he listened to Gertrude's order to bring the creature that had harmed him to her. It had also grown with each nightmare he had suffered from since his injury. The fear wasn't aimed towards himself though, he was afraid for Buck. His own death didn't worry him, he expected it to happen at any time. He'd made some enemies in his life of crime and threats had been made against his life. There had been two attempts already. He started moving again.

Both men stopped when they heard a chuckle. They knew what it meant. It had been a trap, they were playing with them. The laughter became louder. Ezra recognised it as Gerturde's laugh. He watched as Buck desperately searched for a way out. It was futile. Creatures appeared in front of them and behind them.

"Trying to escape were we?" Gertrude asked as the creatures parted for her arrival.

"Only because you let us." Ezra retorted.

A clawed fist raised itself to strike him but a feral growl stopped the creature from inflicting the blow. Gertrude moved forward and nodded her head towards Buck. The fist finally came down.

"No!" Ezra yelled.

There was nothing he could do. He watched as Buck turned to protect himself against the blow. The claw struck his back instead of his chest. The nails tore through his flesh and scraped against bone. Ezra closed his eyes to the sound of Buck's cry of pain.

"If you kill him I will never do what you want." Ezra's accent had become thicker as he yelled his threat to the leader of the pack.

"Fine." Gertrude shrugged her shoulders. "Take them." She moved away and began muttering to herself. "We were only having fun anyway. But it seems Ezra doesn't have a sense of humor. Maybe he will later when we do kill his friend. I'll think I'll wait until after I have my fun with Ezra then I'll kill his friend in front of him. Better than making pumpkin pie any day."

"She is one sick woman." Ezra retorted. He didn't hear her ramblings.

Ezra leant down to help Buck but he was pulled away from him. He was pulled back towards the prison they thought they had escaped from. He struggled but their grip was firm. They had refused to touch his left arm, they knew it was damaged and touching it would inflict pain. They feared their master too much to risk that. He tried to turn his head to see what was happening to Buck. He couldn't be sure that Gertrude hadn't lied to him. He heard a grunt of pain and the sound of what he thought was dragging feet. He was roughly turned around and he was aware of different surroundings. He wasn't being taken back to the small cavern that he had originally been held in.

"What about Buck? Where are you taking Buck?" Ezra demanded to know.

He didn't receive an answer. They continued to drag him further into the cave. How was he going to know whether Buck was alive or dead if they were now separated. He was pushed into a larger cavern. He tried to get back out but he was pushed further into the cave. He gave up, what else could he do against them. He looked around at his new prison, it was cleaner than the last one. No bones littered the room. There was no bedding that smelt of stale urine. He moved to the wall and sat down. He grimaced as his ribs protested. The worry that he felt for Buck took control of his fear. He knew that it would soon turn to anger at his hopeless situation. He would have to do something at some point or he would end up regretting it. He had to think of a way to get back to Buck and help him to get out even if he didn't make it himself.

The creature stopped, hesitated then entered what looked like a small cave. The opening was at the base of a large hill that was covered by small trees. It was well hidden from view. An odor crept out from the animal's cave, it was the smell of death. The stench may have stopped people from getting too close, that may be the reason they had never been found.

"If Buck and Ezra are anywhere, it's in there." Chris stood close to Vin so he didn't need to raise his voice. "Phone the others, let them know where we are and which direction to come."

"Sure." Vin just hoped they wouldn't be wasting their time or their lives if they went in there to look for the two men.

"We need a plan." Chris told him when he hung up the mobile. "Give me that." Chris took the phone from Vin and hit the redial button. "Go to the van first, I want you to get something for me."

Vin smiled as the plan that had grown in Chris' mind revealed itself to him. "That'll work."

"Yeah, but we have to get them out of there first." Chris answered him. He was sure it was going to be the only way to make sure the creatures were either dead or not coming out again.

Buck woke to feel the pain that tore at his back. He moaned as the memory of what happened came back to him. He could feel the claw as it ripped open his back. It had torn through his buckskin jacket and shirt. Both objects were now ruined. They would be soaked with his blood. He twisted onto his side so he could look for Ezra. He had become concerned when he didn't hear his voice. He expected the Southerner to make some sort of comment when he woke up.

"Ezra?" He couldn't see him. He forced himself to sit up. "Ezra?" His brown eyes searched the small cavern. Ezra wasn't with him. He was alone which meant that Ezra was also alone. That's if he wasn't dead. "Oh god." He hoped that Gertrude didn't have him. He was unaware of how long he'd been unconscious for. He laid back down on his right side, the wound was to his left shoulder. There was nothing he could do about the wound. His only hope was that it had stopped bleeding. If it continued to bleed then he would die without medical intervention.

He realised he had been returned to the same cave he had escaped from. A quick glance to the opening told him that there was a creature guarding him once more. There was no hope to escape, he wasn't willing to leave Ezra behind. The thought caused his mind to drift towards Ezra. He wanted to be with Ezra, to help him through this traumatic time, they would be able to help each other. He also began to think about his friends. He wondered if he would ever see them again. His worse fear about death was dying before he could say good bye to Chris, JD and the others. He knew JD would take his death hard, Chris also but he knew that they had Vin, Nathan and Josiah to help them get through it. He should have said good bye to Ezra when he had the chance. Now he was going to die alone, so would Ezra. He didn't hold any hope that the others would find them and if they did they wouldn't be able to get past the creatures. And they didn't know about Gertrude. If they met her first then they would probably die before he and Ezra did.

He silently wished that Chris had accepted their deaths and not come after them. He knew the effort to emancipate them would only result in their deaths. He didn't want the entire team to die. Buck felt his blood run cold when he heard a scream. He knew it was human but the distortion caused by the rock walls made it hard for him to decide if it was Ezra's scream or not. He felt the cold fear as it gripped his heart. If it wasn't Ezra then it could be one of the others. He curled himself up into a ball and stared at the entrance to his prison. If it was one of the others then they would be joining him shortly. Either alive or dead. If it was Ezra, he hoped his death had been quick.

Ezra wanted to get up and pace the larger prison but he didn't dare move from the position he was now in. He had a clear view of the entrance to the cavern and the creature that guarded it. He forced himself not to think of Buck and what might be happening to him. He could have been dinner by now for all he knew. But he didn't know and that was the worse part. He had begun to like Buck and the others, they had a way of growing on you, like a weed but even some weeds are nice. He had tried to push them away from the start because he didn't think he was going to last. Either his mother would see to that or Chris would decide he wasn't worth keeping around. It had happened before and will happen again but he'd been with the team for six months now. He decided that if he was going to be kicked out it would have been by now. Maybe they were going to allow him to stay. Sometimes their efforts to get close to him were quite funny to watch.

He pushed himself closer to the wall and welcomed the pain it caused in his shoulder and side, it was the one thing that was able to slow down the terrifying images that entered his mind. A camera flashed, displaying an image that he didn't want to see. Buck was dying, his throat had been slashed and the blood that helped to sustain his life poured from his body. Ezra could hear his friend's heartbeat pounding in his own ears, he could sense the fear and his fear began to build when he heard the heartbeat slow down. The sound of Buck's heart beat continued to slow until it came to a complete stop.

Ezra bit down the fear that threatened to leave him verbally. He wanted to cut out the fear and replace it with control. If he was in control then he would be able to think of a way out of this hell hole. He would have to look for Buck, he would need to know if he was dead or alive. Either way he would take him with him. If he was dead then he would need a decent burial, if he was alive then he would need medical attention. He closed his eyes and did his best to ignore the images that flashed in his mind. Ezra began to breath deeply as he decided to take control of his situation. Gertrude Johnson was not going to get the better of Ezra Standish. He felt himself begin to calm down, the fear took a backward seat as his mind began to tick over. Now he just needed to come up with a plan.

Buck knew he needed to do something about his back. The flow of blood had eased but he could still feel the warm liquid trickling down his back. It was soaking his shirt and the band of his jeans. The smell of his own blood mixed with the other odors in the cavern. At least he could afford to worry about himself. He knew Ezra would still be alive. His fate wasn't to die, well not yet anyway. But if the Southerner's mouth worked overtime then Gertrude might change her mind. Ezra could die just as quickly as himself.

He wanted to press his back against the wall or floor to stop the remaining blood from leaving his body but he feared the filth that covered the cavern. He knew it was stupid to worry about an infection but he wasn't dead yet. He was going to fight although it would be a hopeless effort. He had no chance against the claws that held him prisoner. He needed a plan, something good, something sneaky and backhanded; he needed Ezra. Hell! What would Ezra do? He really had no idea. What would Buck Wilmington do if he was being held prisoner by a handful of faithful husbands who wanted to exact revenge on the man who caused their wives to become unfaithful. He still had no idea. So far he'd been to good to get caught but good enough for the women to want to see him more than once. He had been happy to oblige them

A Werewolf guarded his prison. He wondered if it was still dark outside. When he was a kid he use to watch the horror movies at the local theatre and in all the Werewolf films the creature always turned back to human form during the day. He began to shift himself into a better position but froze when he heard the sound of gunshots. He prepared himself for a fight to save his life.

Gertrude Johnson stepped into the cave and watched the sleeping SPI agent. She knew about concussion and the handsome man before her was suffering from it. Maybe she should wait another day. She turned away to leave her prisoner to sleep but turned back when she sensed that he had woken and was now staring at her back. She turned back to him. His intense green eyes stared at her with hatred. She knew if he had the chance he would kill her without hesitation. She also knew with confidence that he wouldn't be quick enough. She would slice his throat open before he could lift his arm.

"It's not that time already is it?" Ezra asked. He hadn't been given enough time to come up with a plan.

"I've decided to give you an extra day." She saw the frown crease his face, it only seemed to make him appear more handsome. "Your concussion, I thought you might need an extra day to get over it."

"What about Buck?"

"What about him."

"Does he get an extra day too?"

"I don't remember him getting a concussion or having the same fate as you Ezra." she smiled down at him.

"No but you broke his arm and had one of your goon's rip open his back." Ezra's eyes followed Gertrude's movements as she sat down in front of him and crossed her legs.

"Goon's?" she laughed at him. "There not goons sweetie."

"Werewolfs then!" Ezra growled back at her lack of answers regarding Buck.

"Where do you get your ideas from?" she stopped laughing when she remembered that she was the one who had cried Werewolf. "They're not Werewolfs Ezra."

"Then what are they?" Ezra didn't know if he should believe her or not. If they weren't Werewolfs then what else could they be.

"They are my children." she watched as Ezra's mouth dropped open in shock. He closed it, opened it again to say something then shut it quickly. "I see you need me to explain." she patted her large thigh. "Why don't you get comfortable."

Ezra wanted to speak but couldn't find the words. Children. Then they must have had an ugly father like their mother. "Yes and no." was the only retort he could come up with under the circumstances.

"You'll change your mind later, if you don't, I'll change it for you."

It was a threat, he knew it but he didn't care, he preferred to die. He would have to stall for time first. He needed to find Buck then get the hell out of this prison before the she bitch decided she didn't want to wait any longer.

"I'm a witch, well I started out as a witch, I'm now a shape changer." she explained to him.

"Shape changer?" the term sounded familiar to him.

"I have the ability to change shape." she was taking the opportunity to gloat. It wasn't often that she told other humans about her abilities.

"In to what?" Ezra regretted the question as soon as the smile grew on her face.

The scream was out of his mouth before he could stop it. He hoped that if Buck was still alive that he hadn't heard it. The terrifying sound may cause him to think that he was now dead, he might end up doing something that could result in the older man's death. Ezra didn't want that to happen. He wanted Buck to get out of this situation alive. Ezra knew how close Buck was to Chris and JD, the two men would be devastated by his death. His own didn't matter, he knew they could easily live without him. His death wouldn't upset them like Buck's would.

"AW HELL!" Ezra yelled at his frustration as he pushed himself further into the rock wall behind him. He shouldn't be showing her his fear, she would enjoy the sight and know she had him were she wanted him.

"Like it?" she growled softly through the wolf like jaw that now filled the former human face. Her eyes were glowing, they were like burning torches. Smooth hair covered her face and the areas of her body that were not covered by clothes. The sight actually eased some of Ezra's fear. She was still wearing her clothes, they hadn't disappeared like in the movies. Her hands were claws, the nails long and sharp. The small human ears had turned into something else, they were like that of a wolf. Gertrude still sat cross legged but she began to stand up to her full height. Ezra's fear returned. Even still fully dressed she was a terrifying sight. He watched as she changed back to human form.

"What the . . . ?" Ezra began but he shut his mouth very quickly.

"I'm a witch." she explained. "What would you say if I told you I was one hundred and twenty two years old?"

"I would say you don't look a day over one hundred and twenty three." Ezra grimaced. He didn't believe her.

"You'll wait." Gertrude growled at him. "I was a witch, used to repeat a spell to make myself change, did it so often that after a while I could do it by just thinking it."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"You asked, remember."

Gun shots echoed through the caves causing Ezra to jerk in surprise and Gertrude to lean down and grab his injured arm. He cried out in pain as he was dragged out into the tunnel that lead further into the caves. Ezra struggled and he fought hard against her grip, he even used his feet to try and get away from her. The sound of guns being fired meant that his fellow SPI agents were trying to rescue him and Buck.

Gertrude tired of Ezra's fight against her, she stopped and pulled him to face her. A clawed hand quickly wrapped itself around the Southerner's throat. She squeezed, the nails of her claws touched each other at the back of her victim's neck. She smiled as Ezra gasped for the air that wasn't allowed to enter his lungs. His face began to change colour as the lack of oxygen took it's toll on him. She held her grip when his legs began to buckle then picked him up when he collapsed into unconsciousness. Gertrude then began to move deeper into the cave.

Chris continued to look down at the motion detector he held in his hand. He knew the figures that showed on it were the other three members of SPIT7 and the backup that he had requested. They had waited too long, he knew it wasn't anyone's fault, they were too far from the equipment van. The two of them couldn't go in on their own. With more men there was a better chance of survival, they needed to search for Buck and Ezra. After they rescued their friends they would then destroy the cave and hopefully every creature that hid in it.

None had come out while they waited and none had gone in. They continued to hope that things went their way. Chris was becoming impatient and agitated. He wanted to go in now but knew it would only result in two more deaths. He turned to face the area behind him, he saw movement and held his gun at the ready just in case. It wasn't necessary.

"Glad you could make it." Chris spoke quietly.

"Glad you invited us." Josiah replied as he knelt down next to his friend.

"You think they're in there?" JD asked after Vin pulled him down to the ground.

"Yes and that's were we are going." Chris informed them. "Vin let the sheriff know what we're doing then we'll go in." Vin nodded and moved away from them. "JD, I want you to place the explosives at the entrance of the cave and every fifty metres in. It has to be a big area inside to hold so many. Then come out, when you see us get out you set it off. Okay?"

"Yeah Chris." JD nodded.

"If you see those creatures first," Chris hesitated, he knew he was asking a lot of JD, the young man shouldn't have this sort of responsibility but he wasn't going to allow him to die either, "set if off." JD nodded again, he understood. Chris slapped him on the back then stood up when Vin returned.

"They know what they have to do. I told them what we were going up against but he doesn't believe me." Vin told him.

"Are they reliable?" Chris eyed the sheriff who was walking towards him.

"I don't know." Vin shrugged his shoulders.

"sheriff." Chris shook his hand.

"Larabee isn't it?" The sheriff was near retiring age, he looked like a man that was just passing time. The type who wants to sit behind a desk all day to protect himself against the elements outside. He feared that a bullet would reach him before his last day at work.

"Yeah. Listen, what we're up against, it's not human. I know you find it hard to believe but I need to know that you and your men aren't going to run out on us when you see them." Chris stood with his hands on his hips and stared into the man's brown eyes. If he saw any sort of hesitation then he wouldn't allow him or his men to go with them.

"There animals. If they try to kill us then we'll defend ourselves. We won't run."

Chris saw only truth in the answer. "We're going in to look for two of our men and Gertrude Johnson, we need you to back us up and to protect our backs. Once we have them we get out. One of my men is going to set explosives and blow the place when we do. Got that?"

"Got it."

"Lets go then."

Chris led the way, the others followed. His gun was held in front of him as he moved closer to the opening. He looked behind him at the men who were going to risk their lives to find people that may already be dead. But it was their job, they knew they would have to take risks like this when they were sworn in. He nodded to Vin who stood beside him. He stepped into what he thought would be darkness, he was prepared to use a torch but there was a source of light, something that made it easier for him to see where he was going. He continued to walk as he heard the footsteps that followed him.

He stopped when he saw a flash of movement in front of him. He waited until it was in full view of his sights. Chris heard the growl before the figure showed itself. He opened fired when enough of the creature became a target. Another creature showed itself. He heard Vin's gun open fire. It had started. Now their only hope was to find their friends and to get out alive. The gunshots reverberated throughout the caverns as Buck struggled to stand up. If the creature guarding him had any sense he would come into the prison and kill him without a second thought and would then search for the source of the gunshots. He used his good hand and the wall behind him to get to his feet. He couldn't hide, all he could do was to stand against the wall and await his fate. He would die or his friends would find him. Buck knew they were the reason for the gunshots. Their friends hadn't given up on them.

Buck held his breath when the creature turned to him. This is it, life or death. He was ready to die, he knew it would happen one day. Maybe sooner because of the job he did everyday. He had gone face to face with things that weren't human and things that were. Sometimes the humans were more dangerous to deal with. He had actually come close to death when he was trying to help Chris Larabee deal with the death of his family. It was hard for his friend to accept and deal with their deaths, he had needed help to cope with it. Buck had to be hard and sometimes mean to his friend to get him through it. Chris had pulled a gun on him and fired it, the bullet had passed close enough to Buck's face for him to feel it's breath. That had been the turning point for Chris.

He pushed himself against the wall, he had forgotten his back. He yelled out in pain and the creature growled at him. He watched as it moved closer to him. Buck took a step towards it, he wasn't going to die without a fight. He growled back at the creature knowing it would do no good but he had to do something. He hoped that it would end like a clichè in the movies; just as the Werewolf was about to kill him his friends would arrive and shoot it dead and he would be left alive. Buck knew Chris and the others were in the caves looking for him, the gunshots proved that, but would they find him in time. He didn't know.

Vin and Chris were leading the way into the cave, it did go further like Chris had said. Three creatures had shown themselves but were quickly disposed of by Vin and Chris' guns. The long tunnel became silent but Vin knew there were still more. They reached a branch in the tunnel, it verged of to the left and right. They were going to have to split up. Vin didn't like the idea but he knew they wouldn't have a choice.

"I'll go left." Chris told him. "Josiah. Your with me. Nathan you go to the right with Vin. Sheriff, you split up your men. Half of you will come with me, the other with Vin."

Vin looked at Chris, he knew what the man was thinking. None of us leave until we find them. Vin didn't really agree with that. Yes he wanted to find his two missing friends but not at the cost of other lives. If it came down to it, he would drag Chris out of there and deal with the consequences later. He knew Chris would rather die than live with the deaths of two friends. He nodded even though he knew his body language was a lie.

He only hesitated a moment before moving into the right tunnel with Nathan by his side. Six police officers followed them. Vin had every intention of getting each of them out alive. He stopped as gunfire erupted in the tunnel that had led to the left. He began to move again and as he did a creature jumped out in front of him from an area to his left. He shot it before it could manage to kill him. He looked sideways at Nathan and took a deep breath to steady himself. He started moving again.

Vin could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead in anticipation of the next creature showing itself. Something in his gut told him he was getting closer and so far no human lives had been lost so he was prepared to keep going. They walked for what seemed like an eternity before they found an opening that led to a group of caverns. He knew they were going to check each one. The first one was empty but Vin knew it had once been occupied, there was a foul odor that indicated that something had died in there.

He stopped outside the next opening. He counted silently to three knowing that Nathan understood what he was doing and would also prepared himself to cover him when he went in. Vin went in sideways to make himself a smaller target and spun to his left when he heard the growl. A gun fired behind him and the creature went down. Another gun fired from behind him and took out the creature that was coming towards him from the right. Vin nodded his thanks to Nathan and the sheriff's deputy.

After scanning the small cave with his eyes he was satisfied that neither Buck or Ezra were there. There was also no sign of Gertrude Johnson. Vin nodded towards the next dark cavern. As he moved slowly towards it his stomach began to turn in expectation. He stopped and took a breath to calm himself down. He watched as Nathan stepped past him and stood on the other side of the cavern. Nathan nodded, he was going to go in.

Vin motioned to him with his hand in agreement. He followed Nathan in and over his shoulder he saw Buck Wilmington standing against the wall. A look of fear then relief filled his eyes as he stared at the creature in front of him and the men behind it. Nathan didn't wait for it to turn around. He would never shoot a person in the back and neither would any of the other members of SPIT7 but this was different. If Nathan had given it the chance to defend itself then it could have cost someone their lives. Nathan's bullet enter the back of the creature's skull, it then collapsed to the floor.

"Just like in the movies." Buck muttered as Vin and Nathan grabbed him before he could fall down.

"Where's Ezra?" Nathan asked him.

"I don't know. Gertrude took him somewhere." Buck informed them then gritted his teeth when Nathan pressed something against his back.

"Gertrude?" Vin questioned him.

"She's the leader of this lot, she's one of them." Buck growled.

"We have to get him out of here." Nathan ordered Vin. He wanted to continue looking for Ezra, he had to be close but Buck was injured and still losing blood. His friend needed medical attention. If Chris and Josiah came out without Ezra then they would go back in after him.

"Not without Ezra!" Buck growled at them. "I'm not leaving without Ezra!"

"Yes you are Buck. Chris and Josiah will find Ezra and bring him out." Vin told him. He didn't tell Buck that he wasn't confident that they would find him and their lives were more at risk now that Gertrude Johnson was the enemy.

"But Ezra needs me." Buck informed them.

"He needs all of us Buck." Nathan told him. "Chris will find him."

Chris had already taken out more creatures than he wanted to. He needed to see an end to it. He wanted to contact Vin to find out if they had had any success but they hadn't brought any communication devices with them. They wouldn't work with the interference that surrounded them. He was willing to die trying to find his friends but he didn't expect Josiah or the others with him to do the same. He would send them back and go on alone if their hope of finding their friends faded into the distance.

He stopped when he came to the end of the tunnel, there were no more turnoffs and no Ezra or Buck. Chris turned around to go back and he saw it. A small opening in the darkness to his right. Josiah came to stand next to him to see what Chris was looking at. He could feel the smile on his leader's face. This was where they had to be, unless Vin and Nathan had found them. Chris moved forward, he had to squeeze through the opening. Josiah was only just able to get through. A couple of deputies couldn't, they were sent back out.

The smaller group of men walked down the long tunnel, the taller men had to bend over slightly because the rock ceiling was too low. They had to walk in a row, the width of the tunnel was also small. It had become darker, their vision became poor. Chris knew they should turn back but he couldn't, he needed to find them. He wouldn't be able to go on without them. Too many people in his life had already suffered violent deaths.

Ezra awoke to a tightness in his chest, he was having difficulty breathing. His throat was sure and he found it hard to swallow. He felt a hot breath against the side of his face. He knew who it was. It also meant that he wasn't dead yet but he somehow knew that Buck was. He refused to open his eyes. He couldn't stop the pain from showing on his face though. Something tried to push through his thoughts, he knew it was important so he didn't try to stop it. His eyes sprung opened when he remembered the gunshots he'd heard. His mind was a field of darkness after that.

"Make a noise and your dead Ezra." Gertrude warned him as she pressed down harder on his chest to try and keep him still.

Ezra believed her, he wasn't going to make a sound. Her claw would be quick and deadly. He didn't have any hope that his 'friends' would find him. He thought that once they found Buck they wouldn't put a lot of effort into finding him. He was going to be left to his fate. At least Buck would get a decent funeral.

"Do you understand me!" Her voice was a low growl but he understood what she was saying. He nodded that he did. "Good. Must be your friends out there come to rescue you but they won't find you, not here."

Again Ezra believed her, there was not reason not too. He didn't want them to risk their lives trying to find him. He made a decision, he wasn't going to let her win.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!" Ezra yelled at her. He felt the hot pain in his throat as she grabbed him again. Her nails dug in and broke the skin that covered his flesh. Ezra could feel the warm blood as it began to trickle down his throat. "Get off . . . me." he began to kick with his legs and struggle under her grip. He ignored the pain that his body was feeling. He wanted a quick death and not the slow one that she had planned for him.

"Shut up!" she growled as she slapped his face hard.

Ezra grimaced at the pain on the side of his face. He knew she'd scratched his cheek open. This wasn't good, she didn't kill him quickly. His fate was still in her hands.

"NO!" Ezra retorted.

The hand around his throat began to tighten like it had before. This time he wasn't sure if he was going to wake up. He tried to push her away but he couldn't. She was practically sitting on his chest. His broken ribs were rubbing together, sending bolts of pain to his brain. He wanted to scream but wouldn't give her the satisfaction. His mind finally registered the lack of gunfire. Either his associates were dead or they had stopped looking for him. He hoped for the latter but he was wrong. Lights began to dance in front of his eyes. His lungs fought for the air that would keep him alive but his throat was being forcefully constricted. Ezra felt the darkness coming for him, it was finally over.

Chris took off at a run when he heard Ezra's voice. He was alive and that also mean that Buck could be with him. Both men were not yet dead and he was going to make sure it stayed that way. He knew Josiah was right behind him. He wanted to move faster but the confinement of the small tunnel made it difficult. He finally came to the end where it broke out into a large cave. The sight before him scared him. The wolf like creature was hovering over Ezra. His friend wasn't moving, he was bleeding from the face and throat.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Chris yelled as he opened fire.

Gertrude had been too focused on trying to shut up her prisoner that she hadn't notice someone enter her domain. It was a mistake she had never made before or would make again. Her survival instincts should have told her they were close. She should have smelt them, heard their footsteps but the handsome man before her controlled her mind. She had wanted him more than any other man in her life and now he was going to be the cause of her death. She felt the first bullet enter her back. She howled in pain but the bullet that entered her brain ended her torment and Ezra's.

Josiah moved forward and dragged the wolf off Ezra. He knelt down next to his friend and put a hand to his throat. Josiah had expected the soft skin to be torn open but it wasn't, it was still intact. He felt for the pulse he hoped was still there. It was. Instead of saying anything he lifted Ezra up into his arms and began to move towards the tunnel.

Chris stopped him and placed his palm against Ezra's forehead, he felt the heat of a fever, it told him that he was still breathing. He nodded to Josiah and led the way out of the hell hole that had been Ezra's prison. He silently prayed that Vin and Nathan had found Buck and were also on their way out.

Josiah had to hand Ezra over to Chris. He couldn't move easily through the opening that had led them to Ezra. Chris was grateful, he needed to know that Ezra was still breathing even though he wasn't moving. Chris stopped when he heard gunfire. Josiah grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. They didn't have time to worry about Vin and Nathan and the others that were helping them. They had to get out before JD blew the opening to the caverns stopping anything from leaving.

JD had done as he was told and he now waited a short distance from the entrance to the cave. The explosives were ready go, he just had to wait until someone or something came out. He looked down at his watch, twenty minutes had passed. When he had heard the first bout of gunfire he knew Chris and the others had run into trouble. But then the sound had ceased. He was afraid that the reason for that was the creatures. They had killed his friends. There had been gunfire since. He hated waiting. JD wanted to be in there with his friends. He wanted to be standing by them, protecting them as they looked for Buck and Ezra.

He had his gun in his right hand the device to blow the explosives in his left. The gun was there to kill any creatures that came through. He was only going to push the button to blow up the cave when the last breath was leaving his body. He was going to give the others every chance to get out of there. He lifted the gun when he heard something approaching and let out the breath he was holding when he saw Vin running through the false light to the outside world. Nathan was right behind him, his arm wrapped around Buck's waist. Some of the sheriff's deputies were right behind them.

He let out a whoop of enjoyment but held off running to his friend. He knew he had to wait for them to come out. He could see his friend was alive. That was enough for him. He looked over their shoulders to see if Chris and Josiah were following them with Ezra. They weren't.

"Where are the others?" JD asked them as they fell to his side. He was able to change the direction of his concentration. The deputies were now watching the opening.

"Still in there." Vin looked over his shoulder at the cave opening.

"They'll come out just like you did." JD knew it. They had to come out.

"Vin call the medics, have them come up here. I don't want Buck walking or being carried back there." Nathan had forced Buck to lie down on the ground. His healing hands checked him for any injuries that he couldn't see. Without warning he pulled Buck's forearm and manipulated the bones back into place.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Buck grimaced against the pain.

"Needed to be done Buck." He laid the arm flat on the ground. "Don't move it. Vin get me something thick that I can use for splints." Vin hung up his mobile and began to look for what Nathan wanted. "JD give me your shirt." Nathan took it from him and folded it up into a thick bundle. He placed on Buck's back and pressed down hard. Buck moved under him but the movements soon stopped. "Buck?"

"I'm not talking to you." Buck growled at him.

"Bout time. You never shut up." JD smiled at his friend as he put his coat back on to protect himself against the chill in the air.

"Unless I was with a lady, now then I would . . . ow! Nathan what are you doing to me?"

"Nothin' you don't deserve." he told him.

"Have they come out yet?" Buck changed the subject that he was using to distract himself; just like he had done earlier in the cave with Ezra. If they didn't find Ezra alive he wasn't going to forgive himself. It would be his fault that he hadn't survived. Hell, I sound just like Chris.

"They'll come." JD assured him. "We just have to keep waiting."

Nathan wrapped Buck's arm in the splints while he waited. He continued to feel his face knowing that an infection had already set in. The wound on his back was dirty and he had nothing to clean it with. But he wasn't too worried. Once he made it to the emergency room they would start giving him antibiotics to clear up the infection. He was going to be fine. But he needed to know about Ezra and the others.

"How is Ezra Buck?" Nathan sat down next to him so he could look at his face.

"Concussion, and broken ribs the last time I saw him. We got separated." Buck answered him.

The sound of footsteps caused them all to look up, even Buck. They didn't see Chris or the others. More deputies came running out. They moved to the group of men that were by the entrance to the cave.

"What happened?" Vin demanded to know as he stood up.

"They went through a small opening, we couldn't fit so Larabee sent us out." a dark man told him. He looked down at his stomach to explain why they couldn't follow the others.

"Okay." He waited until they moved away. "I'm going in after them."

"No your not." Nathan told him. "What if you miss them, then someone else would have to go in after you. No, you wait like we have to wait."

Vin gave in and began to pace. He knew Nathan was right, if he went in there, he could end up running around in circles looking for Chris and the others. His eyes kept moving from Buck to the cave's opening. He didn't like the way Buck looked. The paramedics should be here any minute now and they would take Buck away. He hoped that the others got out so Ezra could go with them. He didn't know how badly he was hurt or if he was able to wait for more medical help. He looked down at his watch. It had been almost ten minutes since the deputies came out.

"Where the hell are they?" Vin saw something move just inside the entrance of the cave. He removed his gun from his holster and stepped closer to it. Nathan followed him. They held their guns at the ready just in case. Three creatures jumped out of the filtered darkness. Their quick reflexes caused the guns that they held to fire. Bullets struck the creatures but they kept coming. The humans had to take a step backwards as they continued to fire at their attackers. The creatures finally fell to the ground but something else was coming towards them.

"Don't fire!" Vin yelled and held his hand up.

What he saw wasn't more Werewolfs but Chris and the others. Josiah was leading them out of the cave. Chris was behind him and was carrying Ezra in his arms. "He doesn't look so good." Vin muttered to himself.

"There's more behind us!" Josiah yelled at him as he ran passed him.

"JD blow the bastards up. NOW!" Chris ordered him.

JD didn't hesitate. He lowered his finger onto the button and pressed it down. He then fell across Buck to protect him as the noise of the explosion sounded in his ears. Debris began to fall around them. It was only a matter of seconds before the dust began to settle.

"You okay Buck?" JD asked him.

"Yeah JD, I'm fine." Buck smiled through the pain. "Thanks."

JD got up and looked for the others, he wanted to make sure they were alright. Nathan and Vin were getting to their feet and moving towards Ezra who lay underneath Josiah and Chris. They had used their bodies to protect him from any further physical harm. JD waited with Buck for news on Ezra's condition.

"Chris, Josiah. You okay?" Nathan asked them as he helped Josiah to his feet.

"Yeah, fine. Ezra?" Chris knelt back down.

"Give me a minute to check him Chris." Nathan rolled Ezra onto his back and began to examine him. "Broken ribs." he felt his head for the injury that would have caused the concussion that Buck had mentioned. He found it behind Ezra's left ear. "Possible concussion. Puncture wounds to his throat but they aren't deep, some pretty bad bruising though, don't know it there's been any damage done. Deep scratch marks to his left cheek. They're deep, they'll need stitching." He looked over Ezra's still form for a couple of more minutes. "Can't see anything else."

"The medics are on their way." Vin informed Chris. "Should be here any minute."

Chris nodded. "We didn't find Gertrude Johnson."

"You didn't have to, she was one of them." Vin looked down at Ezra. The ex-criminal's face was pale and sweating. At least he was alive.

"Why aren't I surprised." Chris smiled. "How's Buck?"

"He's okay. Deep scratches on his back, an infection has already started and his arm is broken." Nathan answered him. "Go and see him, I'll stay here with Ezra."

Chris nodded and moved away from the unconscious Southerner. He sat down when he reached Buck. "Buck. Glad to see you again."

"Me too. What time is it?"

"Nearly five. Why?" Chris asked him.

"You interrupted dinner." Buck smiled. Just like the movies, saved in the nick of time.

He struggled against the hands, no they were claws, that held him down. He wanted to scream at the sight of Buck lying beside him. It wasn't just his throat that had been torn open. His heart lay on his chest along side his lungs. The sight terrified him. the ghosts of the dead children surrounded them. If he got away from Gertrude they would be waiting for him. He didn't know what to do. Maybe the ghost won't hurt him, they didn't before. He pushed himself away from the creature that was trying to kill him. He managed to escape and began to run.

Ezra didn't get far, the ghosts caused him to go in only one direction, they were pushing him to go somewhere he didn't want to go. He felt a huge relief when he saw Chris and the others standing a short distance from him. They were waving at him to hurry. He pushed himself to run faster but his legs froze when he saw the creatures come up behind his friends. He yelled a warning at them and they turned. They couldn't get away, the creatures attacked. There was nothing Ezra could do but to watch his friends die. He screamed.

"NO!"

"Ezra!" Chris jumped up from the chair and used his strong arms to hold the Southerner down so he couldn't hurt himself. It was a few minutes before Ezra's struggles eased. "It's okay Ezra." he hoped his voice got through to his friend and calmed his troubled mind. He took the damp cloth from the bowl of water that sat on top of the set of drawers next to the hospital bed. He wiped the sweat from Ezra's face then sat back down again.

"He was having those when we were in that cave. I think that's what was troubling him before we took this case." Buck explained from his bed. His left arm was in plaster and strapped to his chest. A heavy bandage was wrapped around the wound on his back. His face was still flushed with a the fever that filled his body but he refused to rest until Ezra had woken up.

"Did he tell you about them?" Chris asked him and then saw the expression on Buck's face. "Of course he didn't."

"You think your going to have any?" Nathan asked him.

"Yeah I reckon but I think Ezra saw some worse shit than I did in there." Buck answered.

"Buck?" Ezra grimaced against the pain he was feeling in his body. The voice of his friend had broken into the scary void he was in. He was now glad to be out of it.

"I'm over here Ezra." Buck smiled at Chris.

"Do I smell hospital sheets?"

"You do Ezra." Chris told him.

Ezra opened his eyes at the sound of Chris' voice. He saw the blue eyes of his leader looking down at him. "You found us?"

"We found you and Buck." Chris nodded.

"Chris."

"Yeah Ezra?"

"I quit."

"Me too." Buck agreed with him.

Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Your both joking right, I mean you wouldn't leave after everything we've been through would you?"

"Till death do we part." Ezra smiled.

"We aren't married." Chris told him.

"Shame." Buck shrugged his good shoulder. "I could get a lot more women if I was married."

"Did you get them?" Ezra closed his eyes again. He was out of that hell hole but he knew his mind was still in there.

"We got them Ezra." JD told him.

"Is everyone here?"

"Everyone's here." Chris leaned forward. "You want to talk about it Ezra, what happened before this and what happened in there."

Ezra opened his eyes and green met blue. "No."

"You don't have to talk to me, you can talk to anyone of us or even someone else." Chris explained. Ezra looked across at Buck, he had gone through it with him. "You want to talk to Buck?"

Ezra nodded, he had to talk to someone, he couldn't keep it all inside. He had to trust Buck and hope that he wasn't going to be disappointed in him or think he was weak for what his mind had been going through. He had to make a change and ignore his mother's lessons on life.

Buck watched as the others left them alone. He didn't want to push Ezra to talk so he thought the best thing to do was to wait. He had to wait a while before Ezra began to speak.

"I dream about the dead children that the cult murdered. They're in the woods chasing me. Making me go in a certain direction." Ezra told him.

"If we didn't find you where and when we did Ezra, you would have died. Maybe they were helping you." Buck suggested.

"How?"

"They led you to us."

Ezra frowned, he didn't realise Buck was this intelligent when it came to this sort of thing.

"I dated a psychologist once." Buck explained. "If they wanted to harm you they would have made sure you weren't found."

"I suppose I can think of it that way."

"I can arrange for you to see her if you like. She's really good and the others don't have to know about."

"Thanks, I think I'll take you up on that." Ezra looked at him then looked away. "I'm not good at this sort of stuff Buck, I don't trust people enough with my feelings."

"You can trust us Ezra." Buck smiled at the door. "So what when on in the cave when I was out or not there."

"I'm starting to believe that Buck." Ezra told him.

"You still want to quit?"

"For a couple of weeks at least." Ezra closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Two Weeks Later

Ezra Standish continued to have nightmares for another week after he was freed from his abductor. His wounds were healing quicker than his mind. He did go and see a Psychologist. What was discussed was kept within the room. He returned to work four weeks later.

Buck Wilmington had his own nightmares to contend with. He got over them after a week. He hadn't seen as much as Ezra Standish had. He returned to work six weeks later.

Three months after the investigation a death was reported in Lordsburg, New Mexico. A witness stated they had a seen a wolf like creature walking on it's hind legs near the murder scene.

The End

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Ezra Standish Fan Fiction