Hushed voices, soft and barely comprehensible, began to sift through the haze. Horrible dreams had plagued a feverish sleep. Cara couldn't remember now what the dreams had been, but they had terrified her, scared her so bad she had desperately fought her way back to consciousness. However the waking world is often crueler than dreams and heavy sorrow beat down on her with thoughts of the previous night.

The voices were coming clearer now.

" – should call the police."

"No, there's no telling what they'll do with her."

"That's not our concern. We don't know what was going on last night. She could be dangerous." The last word came out as a hiss. The woman's voice sounded familiar.

"Please, I need you to trust me. We have to protect her." A man's voice.

"Then let's at least call her an ambulance. She nearly bleed out, all over the good rug too." Cara wondered where she was.

"I don't want to do anything until she tells us what's going on. Besides, she seems stable now, and the bleeding has stopped. Please, Meredith, trust me." The Johnsons. Somehow she had ended up at their place. Cara opened her weary eyes a crack to the highly polished faux rustic cottage. She was in a living room with lovely hardwood floors and a table to match sitting atop a lavish white fur rug, now stained dark crimson in numerous large splotches. A gas fireplace was ablaze against one wall with a large flat screen set in the corner opposite. Cara was lying on a large couch of dark brown leather, with many towels piled around her head and neck, and a soft blanket overtop of her. A matching chair sat on the opposite side of the coffee table, just in front of the large bay windows and screen doors. The curtains were drawn tight, but Cara could see early morning light peeking in.

As she looked around, she felt the intense strain at the side of her neck, over her left shoulder. She moved her other arm up to feel. There was a thick layer of bandages roughly taped down over the area. Cara peeled them back with a grimace and felt the wound underneath. It wasn't bleeding anymore. Quite the opposite. It now had the quality of an old scar. The bite hadn't killed her, but the unnatural wound brought home the dark realization. The next full moon, the change would begin. And the next after that...the wolf would take control.

But Cara was able to push all that aside for the time being. She would have to survive that long to worry about it.

"You're awake," Ted Johnson's soft voice said from the corner of the room. Cara pushed herself up a bit to look at him better. He was wearing a night-robe and pyjamas, both with some damp spots and blood splatters on it. Meredith hustled over next to him at this. She looked much the same, though far more frazzled.

"How did I get here?" Cara asked, voice cracking in her throat. She needed water.

"I couldn't sleep well last night, heard all that commotion in the forest. Sounded like they were hunting out there. Or something like that." Cara saw the steady, knowing look on Ted's face as he said this. "I was watching out our window, though didn't see much, until someone washed up on our shore. I woke Meredith and we went down to check. When we saw it was you, we brought you inside. You were in rough shape, we weren't sure if you were going to make it at first, but you steadied as the night went on."

"And you didn't call anyone?" Cara asked, a little shocked.

"You see!" Meredith jumped in. "Even she's wondering why you didn't call the cops. I'll go call them now."

"No, please don't!" Cara said, more panicked than she had intended. Meredith turned back, eyeing her.

"You better start talking then, missy. I want to know what the hell is going on, and why you were bleeding all over my good carpet. Otherwise I'm getting the police down here right now!"

"Meredith, please," Ted said firmly, stiffening up. "Please, just fix the poor girl some tea. Meredith seemed ready to argue more, but there was something in Ted's calm look that made her stop. She walked away toward the kitchen. When she was gone, Ted gestured to the end of the couch. "May I sit?" Cara nodded and pulled herself into more of a seated position so her feet were out of the way.

"Thank you for not calling them. It's all very hard to explain." Ted nodded.

"Don't thank me. It's my fault they came after you. I was so afraid, of what that thing would do, what it would do to Meredith."

"What thing?" Cara asked, though a throbbing in her chest told her what it was.

"It called itself, Watcher. It came every night, asking about you and your dad and a wolf. A wolf...it was your boyfriend they were hunting wasn't it?" Cara nodded. "Did they kill him?"

"They took him."

"And your father?"

"Him they killed." Cara saw the remorse twist in Ted. He bent and put his face in his hand. It would have been easy for Cara to put the blame on Ted, but she knew it wasn't his fault. Demons, the Imperial Cult, there were no limits to what they would do to bend people to their wills.

Meredith walked back over with a cup of tea, which she handed to Cara.

"I'm sorry about your father, I can't imagine what you're feeling right now." Meredith clearly overheard, perhaps intentionally.

"Thank you," Cara said, taking a tentative sip of the piping hot tea.

"Who were they?" Meredith asked, taking a seat on the coffee table to face the both of them.

"I'm not exactly sure. Probably mercenaries, army trained, heavily funded. They may be working with the local police force too, hard to say."

"None of that makes sense, this sounds like some conspiracy theory nonsense."

"Meredith," Ted said, once more adopting a stern voice. "Please, if you trust me, trust her." He looked back at Cara. "What can we do to help you?" Cara thought for a moment, weighing her options. She needed to get a few towns over for starters, and she needed to get in touch with Bethany. There was likely still a fraction of the military unit searching the area for her, and at the very least there would be cops in the streets nearby to keep the locals at bay while the bodies were being cleaned up. She wondered with a sad pang of guilt, who would claim Logan's once she ran. 

The unfortunate fact was that she wasn't going to get out of town on her own, and Ted Johnson was her best chance.

They took off shortly after, once Cara had ditched the military uniform and thrown on some bottom of the shelf clothes that Meredith gave to her. Meredith had wanted to come along as well but Ted had been very clear that he was doing this on his own. If he was caught and charged, he figured he may not be alive long enough to face them, and Meredith could simply claim ignorance to the whole ordeal.

So Ted had Cara tuck into the backseat of his car and piled numerous blankets on top of her. Cara heard a muffled goodbye exchanged between Ted and Meredith and then they were off.

Their two cottages were technically on the same street, but on far opposite ends, and Ted went out the far side to avoid driving past the cottage that had been home to Cara for a short few months. They weren't off the street though before Ted was slowing to a stop and rolling down his window.

"Morning, Officer."

"Morning. What brings you out so early today?"

"Got an appointment at the hospital, some fresh tests today. Figured I'd get an early start since it can be a bit of a lengthy drive." Cara was impressed by how smoothly Ted spoke to the cop, not a hint of hesitation or stutter. Though the eyes could give away a lot. Cara kept herself ridged and took very slight breaths.

"And no one is going with you?" the cop asked, digging.

"Not today, prefer to take care of these things on my own. My wife comes with me for the results, those are the harder days."

"Can I see your driver's license, sir?" It was silent as the card was exchanged. Then after a moment, "Alright sir, you have a good day."

"Thank you very much, you as well."

Once the car was moving again and they were well down the road, Cara and Ted both let out deep sighs of relief. There were no more stops from there. Ted suggested Cara could sit up now, but she didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. She laid in the dark, thinking of what she would say to Bethany to explain all of this. She wondered if she would ever forgive her.