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Red Moon:

Wolves of Stalingrad

Part 4

The Alpha, a surprisingly slim man of an olive complexion and standing at 5' 11" looked at the unconscious body of Franz which had been brought before him during the night to avoid having the German sniper whisked away by humans to a POW camp. Though the werewolves were fighting with the humans in the war, they were still cautious around them. Stalin had proved that he was willing to go to great lengths to remove threats and if he discovered that there were powerful beasts within his borders it would not go well, whether he tried to recruit them or exterminate them.

"You should really be more careful." The Alpha commented about Vasili's wounds without taking his eyes off the German who was lying on a cot that was set up in his office for nights when he had too much work for one day. The Alpha worked as an intelligence officer about half way up the military command chain. It was high enough that he could keep a watch on both the German army and the Russian army to put his pack members where he needed them, but not too high that he would be under tons of scrutiny by his human colleagues. It was tricky business that had kept him at his office that was located in the Red October Factory's administrative building for most of the siege. He had been planning on bringing over more of his pack from other parts of the country since he was helping with the plans for Operation Uranus, the planned assault to retake Stalingrad while destroying the German 6th army.

Vasili rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. He stood at the corner of the room next to Dmitri. "Whatever." He had been hearing nothing but that from the other pack members they had come across when they snuck the German back.

The Alpha tolerated the improper response, war made tensions between everyone tight. "Now let's take a closer look." The Alpha got up from his desk and walked over to the German and looked under his dirty clothes to get a look at the wounds that were slowly closing up. It was going much slower than normal. "What's going on here?" He asked and poked at a large gash that was closing up, but still leaking blood.

"We think that the German doctors tried to cut away the affected parts." Dmitri put his hands in his pockets and leaned up against the door frame. Outside was two people, werewolves, making sure that no one came in and saw what was going on inside.

"That'll add a few days to the process..." He looked up at his son. "If I decide to let him live." He let go of the piece of clothing and it fell back down, covering the wounds.

"Why not?" Dmitri asked. He wasn't going to argue hard for the life of a person who was supposed to be his sworn enemy, but he did believe that the man did deserve some sort of token defense. Vasili on the other hand didn't share the sentiment.

"I say we just put a bullet to his head." He spat. "Damn Nazi."

"We don't know that." Dmitri pointed out. "He's not SS, probably just some soldier."

"Soldier?" Vasili sneered. "Even if he isn't a Nazi, he's still the one that was sniping some five people every day. He's a killer."

"And you aren't?" It was the Alpha who spoke up and that silenced the two in front of him. "You've probably killed more than he has and yet he still managed to beat you off, nearly killed you as well." The Alpha chuckled and Vasili turned red in angry embarrassment.

"Hey, they don't carry around pointy sticks like they did back in your day." Vasili retorted. Age jokes was one of the few things that Vasili had to defend himself from the Alpha's scrutiny. "Guns are getting more deadly each year, especially with the war going on just outside."

The Alpha thought about this for a moment. He was indeed old enough to remember when swords were the dominant choice of weapon on the battlefield. "Fine, you have a point." He said and then changed the subject back to the German. "He has proven to be strong." The Alpha pulled a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out. He offered the pack to Dmitri who refused. Vasili took one.

"His body is handling the change quite well." Dmitri stated. Most humans who became werewolves were chosen due to the potential help they would bring to the pack. Accidents like this one were very rare since werewolves often didn't leave their prey alive.

"Yes." The Alpha nodded. "I think we'll keep him around for the time being."

"A German!?" Vasili moaned. "He's the enemy. A fascist." His complaining was getting on the nerves of the Alpha. "Why not just give him back to the German pack if you're not going to kill him."

"Remember your place pup." The Alpha growled and took a menacing step towards his subordinate. They stared each other down for a long second until Vasili backed down. "I said we were going to watch him. See what he has to offer and need I remind you that even though we have an agreement with the German pack that keeps them out of Russia and us out of Germany, we will not do anything that will make them stronger." He took a breath and looked back down at the German who was now beginning to steadily breathe, his chest rising up and down slowly. He was so frail, the only thing keeping him alive was his new, slowly developing body that worked overtime to heal the wounds.

"I'll watch over him father." Dmitri offered. Technically that was supposed to have been Vasili's job since he had caused the change in the first place, but it was very clear that Vasili wouldn't do that.

Vasili didn't object, he looked away from the both of them, concentrating on the small amount of traffic he could hear and smell just outside of the closed door to the office.

"Fine." The Alpha waved a hand. "Take him back to Siberia where he'll be safe and out of the way. I'll do what I can to make sure you aren't hindered by the humans along the way." He opened and reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a slip of paper which he wrote orders on that were for the shipment of a prisoner. "This will get you past any guards and since it isn't uncommon for prisoners to disappear, there won't be any issues when he never shows up at a camp."

Dmitri took the slip of paper and with the help of one of the other werewolves that was outside the door, they took the German and left, leaving Vasili and the Alpha alone in the room.

"What about me?" Vasili asked as he closed the door behind Dmitri. He knew that he had gotten on the nerve of the Alpha and was wondering if he was going to be punished for being uncompliant.

"There's another German sniper that has popped up to take the place of our little friend." The Alpha chose to sit down at his desk and look over the reports. "Just go out and take care of it." He didn't feel like scolding the dog, for a werewolf, Vasili was still quite young and that meant he was very stubborn.

Sighing a breath of relief at a simple set of orders, Vasili left.

The sudden blow of a train whistle jerked Franz awake. It had been the first thing he had heard in real life for what seemed like an eternity. His dreams had been filled with eerie and disturbing images from Stalingrad. The death, pain and suffering had hit him hard and his thoughts went to the wolf that walked in on him. Though he had been depressed about how horrible things had become and that he believed that he was going to die in that city had didn't want to lie down and die, that was not the way a soldier went. He fought the wolf and now he was waking up on a train which confused.

Opening his eyes slowly Franz peered around the train cabin he was in. It was of poor quality, nothing better than what a peasant would afford back in Germany, but miles better than what he himself had ridden in while traveling around during the war. Troop transports were just box cars that would be stuffed with soldier until no one could fit in any more. He himself was laid down on a bench with a green itchy blanket thrown over him that smelt of horse. Across from him, on the other side of him was, unmistakably, a Russian soldier who looked at him while holding onto his rifle and had a nasty scar on his face.

"You're awake." The Russian spoke in a rough German that was heavily accented with Russian.

That surprised Franz that the Russian would know his language. Then again, they would have someone who could escorting him... were they escorting him? He didn't know so Franz kept his mouth shut as he tried to move his hands. He couldn't, a slight jingle of metal confirmed that he was shackled under the blanket.

Dmitri watched the German like he had been doing for the past week and a half. A bad early winter storm had made the already long trip to Siberia even longer so he was stuck on the train for several more days, but it wasn't so bad anymore now that the German was awake. He had many questions that he had thought of over the past several days.

Dmitri's eyes scanned over the German whose own eyes just stared right back. He was scared and confused, Dmitri expected this, but he was healthy as well. The wounds that once covered every inch of the German's body had closed up, leaving small pink scars in their wake. Dmitri also had to job of force feeding him to keep him alive and even changing him, much to the amusement of the other soldiers who only knew that Dmitri had official orders to transport the German alive and well.

"You must be wondering what's going on, am I correct?" Dmitri asked, making sure he wasn't aiming the rifle at him since he didn't need to cause a panic. The other Russians on the train wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in the German and were just looking for an excuse.

Franz heard the question clearly and nodded. He looked down at the rifle and then back up to the Russian. He wasn't why he was still alive. He didn't have access to any information that would help them, he was only a self-proclaimed sniper, hell he was expecting to be shot at any moment.

"I can't tell you everything right now." Dmitri said as a guard walked by their cabin, carrying a rather large submachine gun on his shoulder. "But I can tell you that you are officially a prisoner of war. You are being brought to Siberia..."

Franz's eyes widened at the "S" word. He had heard the rumors of what went on in the unforgiving wastes of the Russian wilderness. Both political and war prisoners forced into death camps where they would be forced to work until they died by exposure of exhaustion. He scooted up right in the chair immediately and the thought of trying to escape crossed his mind. It could be impossible, the train was chugging along the railroad, already a thousand miles from the nearest town which would do him no good since he didn't speak a lick of Russian. If he even got out alive.

"Calm down." Dmitri said softly. He didn't move a muscle even when the German's body tensed, ready to make a dash for it. There was nothing he would be able to do. The guards would hear the struggle that would ensue and even though Dmitri would have been able to subdue the German, werewolf strength or not, the humans would execute him. Franz didn't know it, but his life was entirely in his own hands.

Straining against his shackles slightly that were now visible since his blanket fell off of him, Franz weighed his chances of escape. The Russian who was watching him seemed unusually calm and collected. He gave a quick glance out of the window and saw nothing but white, snow covered forests. There was no escape, but if he was killed in an attempt, then at least he would die fighting. He didn't want to die though, his fight with the wolf was proof of that. His shoulders slumped and he accepted whatever was going to happen.

"Never thought that I would end dying in some frozen shithole." Franz whispered out and lightly banged his head on the window that had a layer of frost around the edges. The train wasn't heated and the cold was beginning to seep into Franz's bones, but it never got bad enough for him to shiver.

Poking his head out into the hall, Dmitri made sure there we no guards nearby. "You're not going to the work camps." Franz snorted at that, he just thought it was just some ploy to get his hope up, a way for the Russian to get a laugh before arriving.

"I'm telling the truth." Dmitri insisted and pulled a single cigarette he had in his pocket and offered it to the German as a sort of peace offering.

Franz regarded the cheap, bent cigarette with suspicion. Normally he would have snatched it up, Russian or not, he had been addicted for years, but the urge was nothing more than a small irritating itch. He took it anyways with hands that were weighted by the shackles. A light came after and soon his nose was filled with the smell of sawdust and cheap, poor quality tobacco. The smell was much stronger than he remembered and he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and went into a coughing fit.

"The hell you put into these things." Franz hacked out between coughs.

As he came over the coughing, the train lurched as it began to slow. They were arriving at a nondescript location. The person running the train was told to stop in what was the middle of nowhere. He didn't question the orders, he was only slightly annoyed since it took time to stop and then get the train going. There was a schedule to keep up.

"This is our stop." Dmitri stood up and slung his rifle onto his shoulder.

"Why?" Franz weazed. He looked outside again, thinking that there would be some sort of station or camp filled with prisoners, but it was just more woods. "There's nothing here."

"Just shut up and get up." Dmitri grabbed one of his arms and hoisted him up without any effort. He then pulled out a key and undid the shackled around his ankle's leaving just the ones on the wrists. "Follow me and stick close." Dmitri stepped into the hall and Franz had no choice but to listen.

Soon, they were left alone, next to the track that used to have a train on it. Dmitri had his own cigarette, hanging unlit from his lips while he undid the rest of the shackles. They weren't needed anymore, they were simply there to keep the humans in line.

"What now?" Franz rubbed his wrists as they were set free. Again, the thought of making a break for it crossed his mind. It was just him and the Russian and the Russian looked oddly relaxed and unprepared. That worried him though, the Russian was confident and entirely unconcerned that he had set his prisoner free from all restraints.

"I'll need to bring you up to speed on what's going on." Dmitri said, the cigarette wobbling up and down with each word.

"I'm a prisoner, what else is there to tell me." Franz hugged his chest against the freezing wind though he didn't feel cold in the slightest. He actually felt better than he had ever felt before, or at least since the war had begun.

"There's more going on than you know." Dmitri stuffed his hands into his pockets and slowly walked into the woods.

Franz stood there for a moment. He watched as the Russian sauntered off into the wilderness. He could run, follow the tracks and hope for the best since he had no food, no water, only the clothes on his back that he believed must have been made of some new material since the cold was no more than a cool breeze to him. He walked after the Russian, as much as he didn't like following an enemy, the choice wasn't really his.

Dmitri smiled as he heard the crunching of snow behind him as the German ran up next to him. He had been watching just how healthy the German was and was pleased with the results. The cold wasn't affecting him and he bound through the knee deep snow with little difficulty, the change was mostly complete, the cigarette had been cast away in disgust like expected and smaller things could be tested later, but he needed to know it the change was fully successful before he brought the German to the rest of the pack. They would kill the German if he wasn't a werewolf, they couldn't risk anyone getting away.

Without warning, Dmitri unslung his weapon and leapt away from the German who nearly fell over.

"What the hell." Franz yelled out and fell to a knee at the surprise move only to see a rifle pointed at him. He stuck his hands up into the air only to be shot in the shoulder. Pain flared up his side and he clenched the wound tightly. The bullet passed cleanly through, going through the meaty part of his armpit. He cried out in pain and in rage. He felt a certain sense of betrayal. He was just being marched out to be executed. A fogginess came over his mind as his body reacted in a way it had never done before when the fight or flight instinct kicked in. It needed a better way to defend itself and now it did have one.

Dmitri watched in amusement as clothes ripped and fur sprouted. A snarl erupted from the German who now hunched over onto all fours. His fur took on a deep grey with black hugging its undersides. Before the change could take full effect though and the German became a real threat, he pulled a small syringe out of his pocket and pulled off the protective plastic top. He took his time making sure there was no air in the needle, the first transformation as always the slowest and took several minutes. He walked over to the snarling beast that held no resemblance to the man it once was and stuck the needle right into its neck and injected the elephant tranquilizer.

Two minutes later, Dmitri was dragging a tranquilized werewolf through the woods.