Daniel pushed the end call button and frowned. "Well, that puts a spanner in the works."

He peered out the window and surveyed the immediate area. The area was a hive of activity as people gravitated to and from the sky bridge that connected the parking garage to the hospital.

"We don't have enough time to steal a funeral services van and get back here in time."

Daniel checked his watch. According to Parker, they had less than an hour before the CDC turned up to claim the bodies. While visiting a live patient in a hospital wasn't unusual, removing a dead one from a morgue was. Especially when they didn't have the cloak of darkness to hide under.

"Any bright ideas?" he asked Murphy.

"None that comes to mind."

Daniel opened the car door. "We'd better find out just how much of a problem we have."

After a lifetime of not being in a hospital, he'd managed to visit two in one day.

Based on Parker's investigation they had positively identified one of the victims as a Werewolf. The others, due to their transient lives and unknown backgrounds, were a little harder to pinpoint. With no conclusive proof either way, they'd need to narrow it down in some other way.

Daniel and Murphy strode across the sky bridge and into the main hospital building. As with the one in Des Moines, it was a flurry of activity and had the same stench about it.

"What do you think the council will say once that video hits mainstream media?" Murphy asked as they entered the empty lift.

Daniel pushed the sub-basement button. In addition to informing them of the limited time they had to get the bodies out of the hospital morgue, Parker had also stumbled on at least three YouTube videos that had gone viral and was about to be picked up by a network affiliated news station. Someone had managed to get footage of the Lycan's on their phone. Their only consolation was that it was grainy and unfocused. Even better, it had been uploaded as 'Bigfoot Returns'. However, with the news channel treating it as a story, it was giving the image credibility. Something that could spell trouble.

As expected, once they reached the lower basement, the number of people diminished exponentially. The morgue, tucked away in the bowels of the hospital was usually bereft of visitors. Today was no different, and they managed to reach it without being stopped. Even if they had, their F.B.I credentials would have given them ample passage if the nurse at St Luke's was anything to go by.

Once they were in, the room looked like any of its kind. A stainless steel bank of thick refrigerator doors lined one of the walls. The body fridges were three high and at least twelve long. Hospitals were rare for him, however, morgues were a different story.

"What numbers did she say?" asked Murphy.

Daniel checked his phone "John Casey is in 212. Parker's confirmed he's one of us."

Murphy scanned the plaques on the front of the doors, opened one and pulled out a long draw. A body draped in a white sheet took up the majority of the tray which could have passed for an oversized commercial baking dish. Resting on top of the body was a large paper bag which contained the dead man's personal effects. Murphy pulled back the sheet and unzipped the gray body bag.

As soon as it was open, Murphy's face scrunched in distaste. "The poor sod."

The body had already started to decompose. This, coupled with the odor from the poison laden open wounds made by the Lycan, made the morgue feel a little too claustrophobic.

Daniel read out the other numbers, and they pulled out the rest of the bodies and opened the bags to reveal the person hidden within. After inspecting the bodies, they were none the wiser. They could be Werewolf or human. The damage to each was so extensive that it was hard to determine if they'd had any recent injury that might indicate slow healing, thereby identifying the man as human.

Daniel scratched the back of his neck. "Any ideas?"

Murphy wandered across the room to the body furthest from them. Studying it, he rubbed his jaw and frowned. After a moment's silence, he said, "Actually, I might."

He then pried the man's jaws open and peered inside. "We can work out if any of them were born a Were."

Daniel made his way to Murphy. "Have you acquired a superpower I'm unaware of?"

"No, I've live among humans more than you and am aware of things about them you wouldn't." Murphy opened the man's mouth and pointed. "Werewolf teeth don't decay; humans do. If any of our Vics have no dental work, odds are it's a Were."

"Couldn't it just be a very healthy human?"

Murphy raised an eyebrow. "You do remember what country we live in?"

After Murphy instructed Daniel what to look for he made his way to candidate number two, an older craggy looking man. He pried open the man's jaws and inspected his teeth. At first, he couldn't determine whether the odd color on the surface of the teeth was due to dental work or not. It didn't match the silver metallic filling that Murphy had shown him with the first candidate. In order to see better, Daniel used his thumbs on the man's upper and lower teeth to pry his jaw further apart.

Daniel let out a surprised yelp. "What the fuck?"

The man's teeth had ejected from his mouth and flown across the room before touching down with a light skid across the linoleum floor.

There was a moment's silence before Murphy burst out in laughter. He retrieved the teeth and handed it back to Daniel. "If he's got dentures, he's definitely not Were."

Daniel scowled. "Thanks for the heads up."

While Murphy checked the other two bodies, he looked at the upper and lower set of dentures. "I don't believe I'm doing this," he mumbled before he shoved them back where they belonged.

"Found one," Murphy said. He then pointed to candidate five. "That one's arm is intact. I can see a vaccine mark. He's human."

Once they were through, they zipped up the humans and pushed them back into their personal fridges. Daniel's phone beeped. "Shit," he said after checking the message. They were running out of time. "We need to get out of here."

The question was, how were they going to get two bodies out of here without being seen? The lack of a plan was coming home to roost, and they were about to be caught trying to steal dead bodies from a hospital morgue.

Daniel quickly improvised. "Let's get them into an unused spare room. I'll stand guard while you acquire a funeral service vehicle. Parker can dummy up the paperwork, and we can get them out of here."

Murphy shook his head. "Too risky. Once the CDC realize they are two bodies short, they will search the entire hospital."

"There must be a way to get them out of here without raising suspicion," said Daniel. He sifted through the possibilities.

"I have an idea," said Murphy as he raced over to the bank of body fridges.

Within a minute he had opened every fridge and rifled through the personal effects, throwing items on the floor as he went. Once he was done, he scooped them up and tossed them on the table nearest Daniel. "Dress them," he said, indicating their two dead Werewolves. "I'll be right back,"

Not sure what he was up to, Daniel was about to pose the question when Murphy disappeared out the door. By the time he'd returned, one body was dressed, and the other was half done. Putting clothes on a dead weight was harder than it looked.

Murphy pushed two wheelchairs into the room and deposited them by each of the dead men.

Daniel groaned aloud when he realized the idiotic plan Murphy had hobbled together. "You can't be serious?"

From Murphy's determined expression he was not only serious, he expected them to get away with it.

A few minutes later they were wheeling two dead Werewolves towards the lift bay. Each body was strapped to the back of the chair to keep them upright. A blanket draped over their shoulder and upper torso hid any of the tell-tale signs that something was amiss, and each sported a hat pushed low on their forehead, obscuring their face.

Where Murphy had found the hats was anyone's guess. However, Daniel hoped they didn't bump into the owners before they cleared the building.

Daniel stabbed the lift button to the floor that would lead them back to the sky bridge. "This has got to be the worst plan—ever; and I have seen my fair share of bad plans in my time," said Daniel.

Murphy said nothing and watched the floor level display like a hawk. Not having any other alternative Daniel gripped onto the wheelchair and listened to the bland tune from the hidden speakers. Whoever said elevator music was soothing had at least a dozen screws missing. There was nothing calm about this situation.

After what seemed like hours, but was only minutes, they were in sight of the sky bridge. Daniel's shoulders relaxed, and he quickened his pace with his passenger whose smell had begun to churn his stomach. The sooner they got these two disposed of, the better.

"Hey! You two."

Both Daniel and Murphy swung their heads around at the same time. One of the hospital's security staff was rushing towards them.

Daniel tightened his fingers around the handles of the wheelchair and picked up speed. "Run!"

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📎A/N. Nuts! And here I was thinking they'd gotten away without being caught.

Till next time take care and don't forget to vote.

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