Were-WHAT?, Chapter 2
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Were-WHAT?
Chapter 2
When I stepped off the bus the first thing I noticed was the heat, you couldn't NOT notice it, it was an intense dry heat that hit you like a flood of not-quite liquid fire. The next was the brightness, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and even with dark glasses I had to shield my sensitive eyes with a hand. The Greyhound bus took off in a belch of exhaust fumes, and I was alone. I was already missing its less than adequate AC; and at least in the bus it had been fairly dim. Two weather beaten signs vied for my attention; one read 'Welcome to Hidalgo, Pop. 234', the other read 'No Hunting'. The 'No Hunting' one was full of bullet holes, which made it pretty clear what the locals thought about that.
When I'd signaled for the bus to stop the driver had looked at me like I had sun stroke, and had asked,
"You sure you want to get off here, buddy?"
Seeing as the only thing in sight was a dilapidated looking bench with an awning over it and a 'Bus Stop' sign, I replied,
"Where the heck is the town?"
"About another mile down that gravel road," the driver said, "they closed the bus depot there a few years ago, and this is as close as we go now. Hope you got somebody meeting you."
"Yeah, me too." I said, and waited while he got my bag out of the luggage compartment, sweat already staining my armpits. God it was HOT!
As the bus dwindled into heat mirages rising off the highway I walked towards the bus stop; the soles of my shoes sticking to the asphalt with 'scriiiik'ing sounds. The angle of the sun was such that the weather-beaten bench wasn't in the shade, so I moved off to one side and stood what scant shade there was, which wasn't much. At least my head and shoulders were; the rest of me roasted. As I waited for my 'contact' I thought about the recent developments that had resulted in my present location. Had a patrol of the French Foreign Legion come marching by I wouldn't have been terribly surprised.
My 'job' as an agent; my title was 'Detective Inspector', for the 'Human Liaison Division, North America arm of the Council had resulted in my traveling to some very unusual places, but this topped the list for desolation at least. There was nothing I could see except dead or dying trees and bushes. Everything was burnt to a crisp under that blazing sun filling the sky. I'd been really surprised with my boss, Max the Dragon Wyrm, had told me where I was going. So far as I knew there are only about ten agents for the whole of North America, so I was kept fairly busy, but this was ridiculous. It was odd to be called out of the state though, at least THIS far out. But since it involved possible magicals they needed my nose and expertise. Wererats are the best as far as that's concerned. But my nose let me down this time, I was so busy trying not to pass out in the heat that I never even heard; or smelled, my contact, until a voice said,
"Howdy, welcome to Texas. I assume you're the 'specialist' the council sent?"
With a squeak of surprise I jumped about three feet in the air, and spun around to find a slim figure leaning against one of the bus stop awning's poles, a big grin on her face.
"Sorry there bud," she said, "didn't mean to scare you like that, you kind of looked out of it though."
"Aw, jeez!" I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you pull up! I was just thinking about stuff. Tell me, is it always this hot?"
"Naw," she replied, "it's usually hotter; it's not too bad today. And I didn't drive, we're hoofing it."
"You're kidding, right?" I said.
"Nope." She said, and pointed down the road. "Town's that way."
While we were talking we'd both been checking each other out in other ways then just sight, via our sense of smell and a kind of 'feel' we had for fellow magicals. I knew she was female of course, her sweat soaked shirt left no doubt about that, and also that she was a Were. A coyote from her scent. Kind of like a Werewolf, but smaller and not quite as strong. But pound for pound just as mean. But I'd been expecting that, Max had told me a coyote would be meeting me. The fact it was a bitch was just a nice bonus. Of course she knew I was 'scoping' her out, and with a confused smile she cocked her head, and said,
"You're a Were, but I'm not sure what kind...?"
I gave a sigh, and said, "I'm a Wererat."
She straightened up, her nostrils flaring as she took another sniff, and said, "No shit!? I've never met one of you before! Wow, where are you from?"
At least no cheese jokes, I thought, that was usually what came next though. "I'm from Maryland originally, but ended up in New York. I'm a sanitation engineer, this is just a kind of, er, sideline."
"You mean working for the Council?" She asked.
"Yeah, I got 'drafted' because of my nose. But anyway, why did you call for an agent?"
"Well, let's get out of the heat, it's a fair hike to town." She replied, "I'll get your bag."
"Thanks", I said, "but I can carry it. Just lead the way."
"Names Sophia by the way, Sophia Gonzalez." she said as we walked down the gravel road.
"Names Benjamin Fowler, Ben for short." I replied, "Nice to meet you."
"Ben, huh?" She said, "You ever see that old movie about a rat named Ben, and..."
"Yeah," I said; cutting her off a little rudely, "with the crazy guy named Willard who had his little furry friends tear up anyone he didn't like. And no, I wasn't an extra!"
"Sooorrryyy." she said.
"Look", I said, "I'm sorry too, it's just...that, well, I get tired of everyone bringing up that stupid movie. It's...demeaning."
"OK", she said, "I can understand that, just don't make any references to 'The Howling', and we'll get along fine."
I gave a chuckle, and said, "Fair enough, no stupid movie questions or jokes."
We hadn't gone too far before I could barely keep up. God it was hot! I had sweat pouring off of me like I'd just gotten out of the shower. I noticed her looking at me out of the corner of her eye, and said,
"Sorry to be dragging, I'm not used to this heat! Don't get me wrong, it's gets hot in the tunnels sometimes, but nothing like this! That sun is brutal."
"Well, we've been having a drought for the last few years", she replied, "so it's even drier the normal. Um, do you always dress like that?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. I'd worn khaki cargo shorts, a large t-shirt, and 'safari cap' with one of those flaps down the back. I thought it would be good for a hot climate.
"Well, no offense, but your getup yell's 'tourist'," she said, "and you'll burn up in those shorts and short sleeves. I hope you don't get sunburn. And that hat has got to be the goofiest looking thing I've ever seen!"
I looked at what she was wearing, and could see what she meant. She had on long jeans and was wearing combat boots, a lightweight long sleeve cotton shirt, and was wearing an old straw cowboy hat that looked like something had taken a bite out of the brim. She was sweating; I could smell it, but looked a lot more comfortable then I felt.
"Sorry," I said a little defensively, "but I'm usually not out traipsing down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and my Hopalong Cassidy outfit was at the cleaners."
"Hopalong who??" She asked, giggling.
"Hopalong Cassidy," I said, "Old cowboy actor from way back when. Wore white ten gallon hat, chaps, and used a six-shooter. I think he was married to his horse too."
"Sorry, before my time!" She laughed, "And no chaps around here unless you're at a working cowhand; or at the rodeo, and the bandito's carry Uzi's now. By the way, you packing?"
I sniffed, me, packing? "I should say not!" I said, "I don't need a gun." My own 'natural' weapons were more than enough, so far as I was concerned. Guns, hmph! No self respecting Were carried one.
"Well," she said, "you might want to think about getting one. There is some weird shit going on around here, and no idea what the Hell it is. Even the local Were's and other magicals are arming themselves."
I stopped, and said, "You're kidding??" Normally a Were can more then take care of themselves, unless it was against a stronger Were or magical. We take it as a matter of pride that we don't have to resort to firearms very often. They're not that effective against a lot of magicals anyway. Still, getting shot hurts like a MF, take my word for it.
"Nope," she replied, "wish I wasn't, but we don't know what else to do."
We'd been so busy talking I hadn't noticed that we'd reached the edge of the town, so it was something of a shock when I looked up and there it was. By the standards of what I was used too it was a dump, but a quiet peaceful looking dump. I'd been smelling humans, dogs, and other signs of 'civilization' of course, but it wasn't as concentrated here. I liked that.
"Home sweet home." Sophia said. "Come on, we can cool off at Rosa's Café and have a talk. The family that own the place are Were's too, so don't worry about what you say in front of them."
As we walked through town I felt like I'd gone back in time. It looked like a blend of old Mexico, a wild west boomtown, and any other small US town. About half the streets were paved, the rest were gravel or cliché. Lots of the downtown businesses were empty, boarded up or with faded 'For Rent' signs in the windows. There was very little traffic; vehicle or foot, and even the dogs stayed in the shade when they bothered to bark at us.
"Don't worry about them," she said, "the local mutts know whose boss around here."
That was good; I thought, dogs instinctively fear and hate Were's, and can be a pain in the butt with their damn yapping and barking. But if they were in a pack's territory they usually knew better then to annoy the top predators.
Thank you, God; I thought as we entered the sanctuary of Rosa's Café. It was about forty degrees cooler inside, and I almost gave a shiver. The local banks sign had said '112', and it was only around 80 inside the café, heaven!
"Hola Rosa. ¡Té escarchado para mi amigo y mí, gracias!" Sophia said to the older woman behind the counter.
OK, apuesta." The woman replied.
Even in the café I kept my glasses on, my eyes are more sensitive than most other Were's; being more adapted for dark environments, and even in here it was still too damn bright. But I took off my 'goofy' looking cap. As the rather portly woman arrived with two large glasses of iced tea, she sniffed, and said,
"¿Huele cómico, qué es?"
"Es una rata y está atento, no habla español." Sophia said.
"Oh, Si, sorry." The woman said, "A rat, really? I never seen one before. Say, you ever see that old movie with Roddy McDowell?"
I rested my head in my hands, and groaning, said, "Actually it was with Bruce Davison."
"Oh, oh si, yes, you are correct!" The woman said, "Ayiee, all those rats! Ugh, it gave me such a fright, such nasty things!"
"Rosa!! Silencio!" Sophia said in horror.
"Oh, oh, ¡perdóneme el senor!" the woman said, "I'd didn't meant it like that! Oh, my big mouth, por favor perdóneme!"
"Sorry about that," Sophia said as Rosa went back to the kitchen.
"It's OK," I said, "I get that a lot, I'm used to it. I know she didn't mean anything personal." I took a long drink of tea, and added, "This is good tea."
"Si, I mean yes", Sophia said, "Rosa puts a little mint in it, helps mellow the bitterness."
"Good idea", I said, "Now, could you give me a run down on what's been going on, why you called the Council? They must have taken it pretty seriously, to send me all this way. Seriously thought, I don't know how much help I can be, I'm a city slicker."
"Started about six months ago." Sophia said, "Nothing big at first, some livestock going missing, or turning up dead. That happens around here fairly often, the real coyotes or wild dogs are usually responsible. And that's another thing, the real coyotes and dogs have cleared out, gone without a trace. Even the domesticated dogs are worked up, barking a lot more at night. And the cats, poof, ¡para no ser visto, desapareció! All gone."
I frowned, and said, "What about the local Were's, and other magicals. Surely you know what's going on in your own territory?"
"That's just it!" Sophia said earnestly, "We don't! Whatever's doing it is avoiding us, and the only traces we find are some nasty scents and weird tracks. We can't even find where this thing; or things, is holed up!"
"What do you mean by 'thing'?" I said, "I mean, that sounds kind of odd coming from one of us, usually we're the 'thing' people are talking about."
"I-It's all...mal, extraño," Sophia said, "I'm sorry, I mean wrong, weird! It's not any kind of Were or magical I've run into before, at least I don't think so. It doesn't smell right, it's all...wrong! And when we find the dead animals there's very little blood, they've been drained!"
"Sounds like it might be vampires," I said with distaste; anytime vampires are involved it's always bad news. "Some of them feed on animals to keep a lower profile. Maybe it's some young vamp that's broken off from a family, wants to make it on its own?"
"No", Sophia said, "I know what vampires smell like, know how they work. This is...different. And we checked with the local patriarch over in El Paso, he says it's not one of his. He even sent out a soldier to sniff around, and he couldn't find anything either and left after a couple of days. Whatever it is, it's good at staying out of sight, we've never seen SEEN it. And we've been looking too."
I frowned, it was unusual when a pack couldn't run down something. A Were's combination of animal senses and human intelligence is pretty impressive, even the more 'civilized' ones are superb trackers. "What have you done so far?"
"We called in all the local Were's," she said, "including a pack of ferals who live in an old mine, and we couldn't find zilch. Spent two days running the territory, but other than finding some more dead animals...nothing. The borders not far from here, and it could be crossing over from Mexico at night."
"Ferals?" I asked. Ferals could be trouble too.
"Not the bad kind", Sophia added quickly, "It's just Pancho, his mate, and immediate family, they like living in the wild; and make some money by being coyote's."
"What?" I asked, blinking.
"I mean the kind of coyote's that help illegal's cross the border." Sophia said. "And that's another thing, Pancho says the illegals have dried up, they're too scared to cross in this area. This used to be a major thoroughfare for that, but lately...nothing. The Border Patrol says it's because of increased security, but that's not it. Some would still get through, and it's a kind of local closet industry."
"Do you have any eyes in the sky?" I asked, meaning avian Were's or other flying magicals.
"Nope", Sophia said, "Other then we coyote's there's not that many other magicals in this area, too isolated even for them. There are some on the other side of the border, but they keep to themselves."
"Well", I asked, "any idea as to where to start looking? I mean, I need a starting point, something to go on."
"The last animal attacks were at an isolated ranch run by a local character named 'Crazy Scotty'," Sophia said, "he's a kind of hermit. Kept trying get rich schemes like raising Emu's, and now it's Alpaca's. He called in and complained to the Constable that something was killing his animals the other day."
"Constable?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's our only law enforcement locally." Sophia said, "The County doesn't have a Sheriff's Dept. office here; and we're about an hour away, so the local city council voted a budget for a Constable. If he can't handle something he can call the Sheriff and they'll send some deputies. He's a good man, retired Marine, and he knows what we are. We'll go to his office next and see if he's got anything new for us."
We finished our excellent tea, after two refills on my part, and as we were leaving Sophia grabbed an old grey felt cowboy hat off a peg, and said,
"Here, try this on."
I wrinkled my nose a little at the smell, the hat was well worn and sweat soaked, but not too bad. I tried it on, and it fit pretty well.
"Good", Sophia said, "Now you don't look so much like a, um, er..."
"Goofy tourist?" I finished for her, with a smile.
"You said it, not me." She replied, smiling back.
"What about the owner?" I said, "I mean, I don't want some three hundred pound cowboy tapping me on the shoulder, and saying 'Hey, that there's my hat, pardner!'."
"Don't worry", she said, "its part of Rosa's 'hat collection', got left here years ago by who knows who. Anybody who wants one is welcome to take one, but I didn't think you'd go for the ballcap with 'I Like Big Tits' on it, and it's the only other one about your size."
"But I do." I said.
"Do what?" Sophia asked.
"Like big tits." I replied with a perfectly straight face.
"Ha!" Sophia laughed, but it sounded more like a bark, "Come on Cowboy Ben, time for us to meet the local long arm of the law."
The Constable's office was a short walk from Rosa's Café, and as it turned out was just an office in the back of the Constable's house. When Sophia knocked on the door it a loud voice said, "Come! It's open."
"So", the short compact little man behind the desk said, "You're one of those were-critters too?"
"Yes sir, Constable." I replied. The man was Hispanic like Sophia, but I got the impression he had more Indian in him. The nametag on his khaki shirt said "Darkhorse". He looked like your typical Marine, mean. Until he smiled.
"Well, good." Constable Darkhorse said, standing up so I could shake his hand easier; Hell of a grip, "We need all the help we can get. And you can call me Dan; just don't call me Chief because I'm not one. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on; its one big circle jerk. I've got dead and missing animals all over the place, the locals are scared shitless, and Scotty is driving me nuts. Keeps calling in every five minutes and yelling about 'monsters' with glowing eyes. He called this morning. Says he shot one, but it just got up and ran off. I was about to head out to his place and snoop around. You're welcome to come along, I could use some backup. That pissant of a sheriff has gotten tired of sending his precious deputies out here on 'wild goose chases'. Gets their boots dusty. Ever since the illegal's dried up they don't even make regular patrols out here anymore."
"Fine by me", I said, "be glad to help anyway I can."
"You packing?" Darkhorse asked me.
"Nope," I said, "I flew down here, and the airlines have something against firearms, I have no idea why. I had to leave my howitzer at home."
"Hmph", the Constable said, "Well, we'll just have to fix you up, but this is just a loaner."
I raised my eyebrow as he handed me a holstered revolver on a leather ammo belt, like something out of Gunsmoke.
"Fourth generation Colt .45 single action." Dan said, "You have to cock it each time you fire, but if you it hit something it should stay down. Packs one Hell of a wallop. You know how to use it?"
"Yeah," I said, "I joined a local NRA gun club awhile back, but most of my shooting has been done on a range." It's required of HLDNA agents to be familiar with firearms.
"Well, at least you know what end the bullet comes out of", he replied, "so that's a start, hopefully you won't blow a toe off. We'll stop at Sophia's place so she can pick up her own weapon." Sophia's weapon of choice was an old Ruger 30-30 carbine with a banana clip. I was impressed.
"Well, sheriff", I drawled as we got back in his jeep, "reckon we'all'd better mosey on over to the Okey-Dokey corral and saloon and see if Bad Bob is in town."
"What the Hell is he talking about?" Constable Darkhorse asked Sophia, "And who the Hell is Bad Bob?"
She laughed, and said, "I have no idea."
On the way out to Scotty's ranch I found out a few things about Constable Darkhorse. His full name was Daniel Webster Darkhorse, and he was a half blooded Mescalero Apache; his mom was pureblood, but he wasn't sure who his father was, so just claimed halfblood. He joined the Marines when he was seventeen to get away from reservation life, did his twenty, and got out. Worked for the Border Patrol for awhile, then as a Deputy Sheriff, and finally ended up in Hidalgo, of all places. Saw the ad for a Constable, liked the town, and stayed. The pay sucked, but he got to run his own show. He was pretty lenient on some stuff, but NO drugs in his town. Period. The locals respected that.
"Ah, here we are, Hacienda Scotty!" Dan said after a half hour long drive down a very rutted, very dusty, so-called road. I'd been holding on for dear life, and felt like I'd been inside a washing machine on spin cycle.
If anything it was even hotter as we exited his jeep. It had no AC; or he hadn't turned it on, but at least with the windows down there had been a breeze of sorts. A hot dusty one.
"Hola, Scotty!" Dan shouted, "You home compadre? It's the Constable, and some friends!" Then he said to me, "Best to let him know we're here, he's a kind of shoot first and ask questions later kind of guy. You know, paranoid. Just stick close to me."
"You bet, like a tick." I said.
'Hacienda Scotty' was a conglomeration of building that looked half finished, or half falling down. We tried the main house first; an adobe affair that had been added to haphazardly over the years, but nobody was home.
"That's weird", Dan said, "Scotty has a half dozen dogs; big mean ones more wolf then dog, that are usually penned up in the yard. No sign of them."
I already knew that; I could smell them, but there was another smell too. Faint, but there. I could tell Sophia had picked up on it too. It was a kind of...greasy smell, almost like tar.
"We'll try the main barn next, that's where he keeps his animals." Dan said.
As we approached the barn I could smell blood, and it was fresh, and we saw several still forms lying in one of the pens.
"Ben..." Sophia started to say.
"Yeah, I know", I broke in, "something's dead."
We stood and looked at the dead Alpaca's in the pen; there were half a dozen of them, all big adults. They looked more like they were sleeping, there was no sign of any rips or tears, no sign they'd been fed on. But they were most definitely dead, and looked emaciated.
"Damn," I said, "didn't he feed his animals; they look like they starved to death."
"Scotty was weird", Dan said, "but he always took good care of his animals. I was out here two days ago, and they were fat and happy." He entered the pen, and squatting down looked at one of the animals. A second later, he said, "Come here and look at this."
I squatted down next to him, and he flattened the Alpaca's fur on its neck so I could see a fairly large puncture wound, but there was hardly any blood. A wound like that should have bled like crazy; I thought, a shiver running down my spine. Then he lifted one of the dead animals legs and pointed at another wound, only this time there were three holes in the shape of a triangle, and again very little blood.
"Same thing with the rest." Dan said, and I've seen the same wounds on other animals, sometimes just one hole, or three, or both with the bigger one in the center.
"Jeez." I muttered; when he showed me the first I'd thought, 'yep, vampire', but the three hole one threw me. Vampires usually cause two wounds; and sometimes just one, but three?? Weird.
"Look at this." Dan said, and pulling a humungous bowie knife out of a boot sheath he slit the Alpaca from its rectum to ribcage, and pulled the wound open. No blood, and no internal organs except for some intestines. "Bet you it's the same with the others. But I've never seen so many animals killed all at the same time, usually it's just single attacks, or one missing animal. And where the Hell are their guts? Those holes aren't big enough to pull them through."
"What about Scotty?" Sophia asked, scanning the quiet buildings, nostrils flared.
"Man, I don't like this at all." Dan said, "I really ought to call for backup, but it will take those deputy doofuses an hour or longer to get here, IF I can get them on the radio. This far out reception is lousy. You two stay by the Jeep, I'll take another look around, and then we'll get the Hell out of Dodge and call the cavalry."
"Uh-uh", Sophia said, "no way, you'll need somebody to watch your back." I just nodded.
"OK, if you insist", Dan said with evident relief, "but you watch one another's backs too. If you see anything weird, just blow it away. And watch out for rattlers, they're all over out here."
Well, I'd been watching Sophia's rather impressive backside already, but I knew what he meant, and just nodded again. And snakes; just great, I have a natural aversion to snakes of any kind. I hate them, all rodents do. I have nightmares about being eaten alive by a giant one while I squeaked helplessly, and it would have to be pretty damn big to swallow me.
As we entered the main barn we spread out a little more; I kept my glasses on as my eyes adjusted to the dim interior almost instantly, one of the advantages of being what I was , so did Sophia's. We waited for Dan to take off his own sunglasses though.
"Ben, you go right, I'll go left, and we'll let Sophia bring up the rear since she has the heavy artillery." Dan said, "We stay in sight of one another at all times, got it? You see anything you sing out."
We just nodded, and slowly moved deeper into the large rambling building. It was a maze of stalls and pens, some with poles, others with planks. Visibility was crap. And it was fucking HOT despite the shade. Finally I took my glasses off so I could wipe the sweat off my face easier. And Sophia and I could smell it instantly, more dead animals, and that tar smell was stronger.
"Got more dead Alpaca's." Dan said, confirming what my nose had already told me. "And I think we've found Scotty's dogs."
We had, and there had been one Hell of a fight. The dogs were all dead, and they'd been torn to pieces. But it hadn't been one sided, there was some blood that wasn't from the dogs, and one had a piece of hide or something in its jaws. And the tar smell was rank and thick. It made my eyes water, it was foul. I've smelled plenty of truly amazing stinks thanks to my job, but this was something different.
"Well", Dan said, "these old boys went down hard. Now, the only question is; where the Hell is Scotty?"
"Look." Sophia said, holding up an old Winchester lever action in one hand, shell casings in the other. "Whatever it was, he emptied his rifle into it."
"Scotty was a dead shot", Darkhorse said, "No way he missed with all those rounds. And that ain't no plinker, it's an old 44-40."
"Then where is it?" I asked, "Between him and the dogs there shouldn't be anything left." But other than the one piece of hide; which Sophia put in a plastic bag, and the strange black blood, that was it.
Then we all froze a loud banging came from deeper in the barn, and a strange moaning/growling sound.
"I think," Dan said, "It may still be here, probably wounded."
The moan came again, and then we clearly heard someone say, "Damn things! Gdfrkingmf!" Then the weird moaning sound came again.
"That", Dan said, "sounds like Scotty, he must be hurt! Come on."
We followed the sounds of banging; and moans, to a large door covered in galvanized metal.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Cooler", Dan said, "Scotty keeps game he bags in here. But I don't hear the cooling pump, the generator must have run out of fuel. He must have gone in here for safety, the walls are concrete, and the door is over a foot thick and covered in metal. It bolts from the inside as well as outside. Now you two stay back." Then he banged on the door, and said, "Scotty, you in there? It's Constable Darkhorse and friends! What happened here? You need help!?"
The noises stopped, and I backed up when a voice said, "Go away!! I-I'm sick!" followed by a very strange hissing/growling noise. And the strange smell was stronger.
"Scotty!" Dan yelled, "Is it in there with you? What was that!?! Is it one of the dogs?? Scotty, I'm coming in!"
I started to say "Wait!", but Dan had already opened the heavy door. The room inside had no lights on, and at first all I could see was carcasses of deer and a side of beef hanging from hooks, but I heard that weird hiss/growl again, and saw something crouched next to the side of beef. It turned its head towards us, and I saw glowing red eyes."
"Jesus!" Dan said as the thing gave a blood curdling screech and charged, and then Sophia knocked me aside as she flashed by me; already changing, and met the thing in mid leap. I had started changing too, and as they rolled on the floor I threw myself into the fray with a loud squeal, and we rolled around in a ball of snarling, hissing, squeaking mayhem.
The first thing I noticed was the things smell, it reeked, it smelled like tar or burnt rubber, and when I sank my fangs into one of its arms I almost vomited as a horrible vile taste filled my mouth. I heard Sophia gagging, so she must have drawn blood too. And it was hard to say who was winning, it was incredibly strong, and kept throwing one of us off. I was surprised to find it was wearing clothes, as once I came away with a torn shirt in my claws when it threw me against the wall. But finally I heard a gunshot, and the thing went limp with a loud hissing squeal.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" I heard Dan say, and looking up I saw him standing there, the smoking barrel of an old Colt. 45 M1911 in my face.
"Don't shoot!" I squeaked, "I'm one of the good guys, remember!?"
"Oh, oh, sorry." He said, and lowered the pistol. "Did I kill it, is it dead??"
I helped Sophia up, she'd been pinned under the thing, and we all stood in a circle and looked at it, Dan's eyes switching from the thing back to us. It was hard to say which sight was the stranger. The thing, or two creatures more animal then human, one canine, the other a giant rat, all covered in blood, with more dripping from our claws and staining our muzzles. It was not a sight for the squeamish or faint at heart. Bending over I spit and coughed, God that tasted terrible!! It must be what crude oil full of rancid grease tasted like. Nasty!
"Jesus." Dan muttered again, "I'll never get used to this kind of shit." Knowing what we were; but then seeing us in one of our nonhuman forms, were two different things. We can be pretty...terrifying. Humans have a built in fear of anything 'not normal', and it can be hard for them to accept it, or cope with it. The Hollywood movies and legends don't help either, even if a lot of them are more or less true. We ARE monsters, but Sophia and I were benign ones.
Sophia returned to her human form, but I kept my anthro form for a little longer as I inspected the thing on the floor. And I was totally confused. "Jesus." I squeaked softly; I couldn't think of anything else to say.
The thing was definitely not human, but not quite. It had a tough greenish colored hide with fine scales with a pebbled texture, and nasty claws. The head was lizard like with long nasty fangs, but it was wearing pants and cowboy boots! And sticking through the toes of the boots were more claws. But the head was misshapen; one side of the snout more developed then the other, and it had hair; or what was left of it, long blond hair tied in a pigtail down the back. There were short black spines on its back, and it stank to high heaven. The smell was making my eyes water, and I had to hold a paw over my nose.
"Oh, holy crap", Dan said, "T-That's Scotty, or what's left of him! What the Hell happened to him!?"
"I think it's still happening!" Sophia said, "look!"
As we watched a large bump on the rear of the things pants suddenly ripped open, and a vestigial tail flopped out, twitching.
"It's not dead?!?" Dan said, "But I shot it in the head!"
"Just grazed it, or him." I said, "And I think it's waking up!"
"OUT!" Everybody OUT, NOW!" Dan said, and we hastened to obey. I did NOT want to go a second round with that thing, whatever it was.
There was a bolt with a hasp for a padlock on the outside of the door, and Dan stuck a large iron nail that looked like a railroad spike through it, and a short time later the door suddenly shuddered as something slammed into it on the other side.
"Let me out!!" The thing hissed, "It hurts, let me out!!! Ssssssss! T-They're calling me!! Ssssssshhhh!! Let me OUT!!"
"Scotty, what happened?" Dan said.
"Dan, that you?" The voice hissed.
"Yeah, Scotty." Dan replied, "Look, I'm sorry I had to shoot you, but y-you're fucked up! What happened?!"
"I-I, they came in the night!! I heard them killing my stock!!" The voice slobbered and hissed, "Me and the dogs, we tried to stop them!! I kept shooting them!! It didn't do no good! T-They killed my puppies, but they held them off until I could reach the cooler. I got bit, God i-it hurts!! Grrrwwwllll. I'm sick, my head hurts!! Let me OUUTTTT! SSSSS! I have to...go...to..." And the door shuddered again.
"Scotty, we can't!" Dan said, "There's something wrong with you, y-you're sick buddy!! Stay here, we'll be back with help!"
The only response was another screeching/hissing howl, and the assault on the door resumed, the heavy door shaking.
"Um", Sophia said, "am I the only one, or do the rest of you think we should get the FUCK out of here?!"
"I agree wholeheartedly." I said. "Yeah, fuck this shit!" Dan said, "I need to call the Sheriff and state troopers, Hell, I need to call the Marines!"
As we neared the entrance to the barn I resumed my most human form. Since we'd only taken on anthro form our clothes had survived fairly intact, but we'd lost our shoes or boots, plus our clothes were the worse for wear, having tears in them, and they were also stained with the nasty smelling black blood. And I'd lost my sunglasses. Dan watched me change back, an inscrutable look on his face.
"Damn it." I said, shielding my eyes from the sun as we went back to his jeep. My eyes weren't made for that kind of intense bright light, and I could hardly see I was squinting so hard, my eyes watering like I was crying.
"Here," Sophia said, "take mine. My eyes aren't as sensitive as yours."
"Thank you", I said wholeheartedly, "I might as well have been blind."
As we drove back to the town; much too fast as far as I was concerned as Dan just barely kept control of the wildly weaving jeep as we careened down the road, we didn't say much at first. Then all of a sudden everyone started trying to talk at the same time.
"Did you...?" "What the FUCK just happened?" "What was wrong with that guy?" "I know!" "I don't know!" "Madre de Dios!" "What do we do?!"
Finally Sophia gave a loud yell more like a howl, and said, "ONE AT A TIME ALREADY! Ben, you got ANY idea what happened back there?"
Truthfully, I didn't have a clue. And I said so. "I have no idea. I've never seen anything like that!"
"But you...people, you change all the time! I've seen it!" Dan said.
"Not like that, we don't." I said, "When a Were changes its fast and doesn't hurt at all once you get...used to it. That was more like an...infection or something, he was still changing, but very slowly."
"A disease?" Sophia ventured.
I thought hard for a minute, and then said, "No, more like a...Hell, I'm not sure! Almost like something was taking over his body, from the inside out. There are some demonic beings that can do that, but it's not my area of expertise. I usually deal with other Were's, or normal magicals. THAT wasn't normal!"
"NONE of this is normal!" Dan, said. "You people, that THING, none of it! Demons??? Holy crap!"
"Mellow out, Dan." Sophia said, "You know we're pretty much harmless, not like that poor bastard back there. Speaking of which, we need get him some help, fast! If it is some sort of infectious disease he needs antibiotics, and who knows what all."
"I can get old Dr. Preston", Dan said, "He's a pretty good doctor, retired from some big hospital in the city."
"No," I said, "that would be a bad idea Dan, remember what we are. And I very seriously doubt he's ever seen anything like that in an Emergency Room. Same goes for the Sheriff's department, they'd just get in the way. We have our own ways of dealing with a situation like this."
"Well, Hell!" Dan said, "We can't just leave him like that! What if those things come back?"
"If they do," Sophia said, "I don't think we want to be there. I know a veterinarian I can get a dart gun and some tranquilizer darts from. We can dart Scotty, and then bring him into town and keep him secured until some help arrives. That's all I can think of."
"That might work", Dan said, "We can use the old Border Service detention center to lock him up. They abandoned it after they built the new one; only use it every now and then, but it's still in good condition. It has a maximum security cell for drug runners or other criminals. I've got keys because I use it when I have to lock up someone, and the power is still on."
"That's perfect", I said, "I'll call for some backup as soon as we get back to town. I'm sure there's someone fairly close they can send in, or at most it might take them a day to get here. I'm out of my depth on this one."
"Sounds like a plan", Dan said, "but it's too late to get back out there today, and NO way in Hell am I going out there at night. There's not even a moon for close to a week, and I have a feeling those things don't have any trouble seeing just fine in the dark."
I didn't mention that neither did I; or Sophia, but I did agree that I didn't really feel like running back out there in the middle of the night when there might be a whole pack of whatever those things were running around looking for dinner. I had a feeling even a Were wouldn't have much of a chance against more then one, and maybe not even against one. Whatever was happening to that poor bastard had made him stronger then both of us, and he was still changing.
We got back to the Constable's office, which was in the back of his house, and when I tried to give him back the six-shooter, he just shook his head, and said, 'Keep it, you might need it.' I didn't argue.
As we walked back out into the still way too warm night I said, "Sophia, is there a hotel or someplace I can stay?"
"No, afraid not." She replied, "The local one is only open during hunting season, and the only other one fairly close by is out on the highway about twenty miles from here, and it's a dump. Kind of a hangout for hookers and drug dealers. You can stay at my place, got plenty of room. But first I'm going to Rosa's for dinner, I'm starving."
"Sounds good." I said, I was starving too. The change, and the fight, had taken a lot out of me. When we change we burn up a ton of calories.
I'm not much on Mexican food, it gives me heartburn, but Sophia told Rosa to make mine 'mild', and without all the throat burning peppers and hot sauce it was pretty good. If I have to I can eat some really gross stuff, but spicy food gives even my iron 'rat' stomach problems, especially the super-hot peppers kind.
After a rather large dinner; we really were starving, we headed on over to Sophia's place. It was a rather large old adobe building that looked like Pancho Villa might live there, but inside was a surprise. It was nice and modern, and the cool air from a faintly humming AC was divine. I just stood there for a few minutes, relishing the flow of cool air from the AC vent and a slowly turning ceiling fan. Ooooh, yeah, that felt nice!
"Come here", Sophia said, "Let me take a look at those wounds, that thing really chewed us up good."
She was right too; it had gotten in a good bite on one of my arms, and had gouged and scratched me with its claws in a few places. Sophia had a nasty bite on her shoulder, and scratches as well. I took my shirt off, and she took a closer look. She frowned, and said,
"It bit you; us, what, about three hours ago?"
"About then." I said.
"Well, it's not healing right! Are rats different from other Were's when it comes to healing?"
"No, not at all." I said, "If anything we heal even faster. And it hurts too, more then it should." I examined the bite mark after she had swabbed it with alcohol and Iodine; which stung like a SOB, and it looked angry and swollen.
"Mine does too", Sophia said, "and my scratches aren't healing very well either."
I felt a shiver run down my spine, "Oh shit!" I said, "If it IS an infection, what if it's spread the same way lycanthropy is?? What if we're infected?!"
"Oh, Madre de Dios!" Sophia said, "You saw what was happening to Scotty, what if that happens to us!? He had scales, and those spines! Ugh!"
I swallowed, and just stared at her for a minute; and I could smell her own fear. If it happened to us...! "Look", I said, "I need to use your phone, mine is dead out here." She nodded, and took me to her office, and I sat down and picked up the handset, and punched in a one use number I had memorized. I had about a dozen others memorized too. I made it quick, and to the point.
"Agent 13, Level Five situation, unknown entity, possibly demonic in origin, contagious infection causing visible external physical transformation, three infected, one terminally. Requesting immediate backup." Then I hung up.
"What now?" Sophia asked.
"We wait." I said. It didn't take long. Within ten minutes the phone rang, and when I picked it up a distorted voice said,
"Message received, expect visitors, ETA sixteen hours, do you need heavies?"
"Not yet, exact situation unclear. Exact nature of threat unknown at this time." I replied.
"Understood." The voice said, and with a click the connection was broken. It would be untraceable.
That made me feel better, and I slumped back in the chair. Man, I was exhausted and felt like shit.
"Well?" Sophia asked.
"Help's on the way." I said, "Be here, oh, tomorrow afternoon at the latest. For now though, I need some sleep. This has been one Hell of a day."
"Tell me about it." Sophia said, "Well, we should have enough time to dart Scotty and get him locked up before they get here. Come on, I'll show you the guest room."
"OK, great", I said, "But first lets take a look at these wounds again, mine is hurting again."
We washed the bites and scratches out again, being very liberal with the iodine and slapped plenty of disinfectant on them, and after the squealing was over we both felt a lot better. They didn't really look any better, but didn't look much worse either. But the fact there were still there at all was scary, they were fairly minor and should have healed without a trace by now. While we treated each other we'd both taken our shirts off, and I was of course very aware how lovely and female she was, and I'm pretty sure if I'd made my interest known we'd have ended up sharing a bed, but I was just too damn tired and felt too crappy for sex. Which was another thing to worry about; normally we would have been at it by now. It's just the nature of Were's to fuck a lot, it's a way of relaxing, helping to control our bestial side.
I had a really crappy night, tossing and turning, and was bothered by really weird dreams. It was like someone; or something, was trying to talk to me in my head, but the voice was unintelligible, and it hurt. It got louder and more insistent, then suddenly I'd woken up, surprised to see I'd taken on my anthro form in my sleep, and I was covered in a greasy stinking lather. The sheets were soaked in it too, and I quickly realized the bite wound on my arm had swollen and was throbbing and burning like it was infected, and with a snarl I dug a claw into the wound; and then squealed in agony as the wound burst like a boil, nasty black goo and puss spraying all over the place. Squealing and squeaking in pain I pressed the wound until only blood was coming out, then wiped it on the sheets. The black stuff was steaming and giving off a stinking burning rubber like smell, and as I licked my arm the wound finally started to close. And I felt a LOT better. Then I thought about Sophia! Shit!
Her room was in the front part of the house, and I carefully opened her door to keep from startling her. I was still in my Anthro form; and naked as I don't wear any PJ's when I sleep; never met a Were who does, and could tell right away she was having problems too. She hadn't changed yet, and was tossing and turning, mumbling and growling in her restless sleep. I walked over to her bed, and sucked in my breath and gave a squeak of horror. Her shoulder was swollen, the wound inflamed and angry looking, pulsing as a thin stream of black goo oozed from it. The sheets were soaked in the stuff. She groaned, and kicked at the sheets which she'd already pushed off of her naked body. Normally I'd have been more interested in admiring the view, but not in this case. Grabbing her arm, I said,
"Sophia! Wake up! It's me, Ben! You need to change, right now!"
Her eyes snapped open, and she gave a deep growl that almost made me let her arm go. Suddenly she lashed out at me with her other arm, and I grabbed her wrist and held on as tight as I could. She writhed and snarled at me, hissing, her eyes cloudy from pain, no recognition in them.
"Sophia, CHANGE!" I squealed as loud as I could, and shook her.
That time I got through to her, and suddenly she went limp and shuddered, then arched as fur flowed over her body, legs changing shape with 'pops' as they took on a more digitigrades stance, her face pushing out into a narrow canine muzzle, tail fluffing out from between her legs as additional nipples formed on her lower belly. Then she yowled as the huge infected wound on her shoulder popped, spraying her; and me, with stinking black goo and puss. I was used to some pretty gross stuff because of my regular job, but this was about as bad as anything I could remember, and I added my own puke to it. It was the first time I'd thrown up since the first night I'd changed.
When it was over I pushed and squeezed the wound until as much of the stuff as possible had been forced out, and she whimpered and squealed in pain while I did it, but was too weak to struggle much. Then I picked her up, and carrying her into the shower; a nice large old fashioned one thank goodness, I turned the water on almost scalding, and started cleaning us both up. She was still out of it, and it went beyond nasty. But I could tell her wound was starting to heal naturally, at least naturally for a Were. Moaning, she just slumped against me, letting me clean her and myself.
Finally I stopped running my paws through our fur as I washed away the stink of the black ooze and corruption; which took some doing, and then I rested with my head on her shoulder as she leaned against the wall of the shower. I was totally, completely, burnt out. But when she stirred and licked one of my ears I responded in the only way I could.
I licked her ears in return, running my hands over her upper pair of still mostly human breasts, as well as her lower sets of large nipples, and she growled softly in my ear, a demanding growl, a needy growl, and by then I needed what she wanted as well. I had been touching her all over as I cleaned us, but until now there had been nothing sexual about it. That had changed now, and I had a very aroused female Were on my hands; or paws. That was just fine with me, I was a very aroused male Were, so it worked out nicely.
Our first coupling was brief and frenzied, I just lifted her up and lowered her onto my aching erection, and she yowled and snarled as I held onto her writhing form as I thrust up into her, her struggles growing more and more frantic as our release approached, and as I orgasmed I gave a shrill squeal of almost painful ecstasy, and she went rigid, her claws digging erotically into my back, her legs locked around my waist like a vise as I filled her with my seed. Then with a final shudder she relaxed, and began licking my face and snout affectionately.
"Oh, how I needed that!" Sophia said quietly as we nuzzled one another.
I didn't say anything, I didn't need to, and we cleaned one another off in the now luke warm water, and then we did our best to dry one another off. Were's do not bath very often in their non-human forms. No need to, but this had been an exception. We could have resumed our most human forms, but just didn't feel like doing it. We both still felt a little sick, and somehow I knew it was best to stay like we were for now. So first we toweled one another off; talk about a mess, and then used blow driers. We both ended up looking more like poofy plush toys then monsters, and I squeaked in amusement as she tried to groom herself. Her tail looked like a bottle brush!
"What are YOU laughing at, Rat!?" She growled, and threw a soggy towel at me. I ducked with another squeak of amusement, and said,
"That's what you get for having such long fur, mine is nice and short, and I'm already almost dry!"
"Well, then help me finish drying off!" She demanded, "And there's a comb in the bathroom drawer, we both need it."
She was right; we both needed it for sure. We had to share the only comb that was suitable for grooming 'animals' as it had metal teeth. We tried a plastic one, but the teeth kept breaking off. My fur was pretty easy; being fairly short and fine, but hers had lots of tangles and knots, so I worked on her back and tail while she alternately gave low growls of pleasure, or yelped if I pulled too hard on a tangle. But after awhile her fur was silky smooth, the comb sliding through it easily, her scent filling my nostrils. I kept combing her fur nice and slow and her growls got softer and deeper; almost more of a purring, and leaning over I buried my sensitive nose in her sweet smelling fur and set the brush down. She leaned back into me, and sighed in pleasure as I ran my hands over her body, gently caressing her breasts, her nipples hard and rigid.
I rubbed my nuzzle against the back of her neck, nibbling at her, and with a soft moan she fell forward onto all fours, and I mounted her with a squeak of pleasure. As I pushed into her she gave a yelp of approval, and when I felt the lip of my sheath press against her swollen lips I started thrusting, finding a slow steady powerful rhythm as we moved together. I rested my head on her back, gasping and grunting from the intense pleasure as her tight pussy clenched and sucked at my cock, her grunts and squeals slowly growing louder as I brought us to our climaxes. I'd mated with Werewolf bitches before, but this was different. She was smaller, leaner, and had incredible control over her vaginal muscles. As we orgasmed she gave an ear-splitting yowl of ecstasy, and I groaned as my balls tensed and strained, my cock buried in her to the hilt until it was through pulsing, then with a gasp I slowly pulled out, still hard. It had been unbelievable.
Later as we rested on a large couch; still in our anthro forms with her snuggled up next to me as I ran my claws through her fur, we finally fell asleep again. And this time it was a deep restful sleep, our dreams ones of pleasure, the soft warm body and scent of our mate comforting. Later we woke up and coupled again, slow and easy, for the most wonderfully long time.
I woke up slowly, groggily, and realized Sophia was still curled up next to me on the big old overstuffed couch. I nibbled her ear, and said,
"Buenas noches, senorita."
She stretched, and said, "You mean 'Buenos días' Gringo, its still morning. And speaking of that, I need to get over to the vets for that dart gun."
As she started to get up I pulled her back down, and nuzzled her neck. We were still in our anthro-forms, and I liked the way her fur smelled. "You smell nice." I said.
She gave my nose a lick, and said, "Thank you for last night, I had a pretty bad time of it until you helped me, and it was...nice too. Too bad you don't have a knot. Why do you think we had such a hard time healing?"
"I had a bad night too, but my wound wasn't as bad as yours." I replied; and I knew what she meant by having a knot, like most canines their Were cousins males have bulges; or 'knots', at the base of their penises, and when they mate they can get stuck inside the female for awhile. I'd always wondered what that must be like. "I think it was easier for use to fight off the infection in our Were forms, as soon as we changed the wounds burst and started draining. But look, we still have faint scars." We did too, which Were's only get from really bad wounds, or ones caused by other Were's or magicals.
Sophia looked at the faint scar on my arm, and the one on her shoulder, and said, "Whatever it is must be really nasty then, no wonder poor Scotty was so far gone. In a normal human it must spread like crazy, they have no way to fight it. I wonder if medicine would even help?"
She started to get up again, but I held onto her, and she gave a mock growl as my paws gently squeezed her upper breasts. "What's the hurry?" I asked, nibbling the back of her neck, squeaking softly.
"Oh, no hurry," she said, voice getting deeper, "always time for that!"
I leaned back and pulled her on top of me, our muzzles pressed together as we licked one another passionately, both growling softly. Suddenly she reared back and raised herself up, then with a grin on her muzzle; long tongue licking over her fangs, she reached down and took my cock, and lowering herself guided it into her eager sex.
"EEEE-EEK-EEK-EEEEEKK!" I squealed and squeaked in ecstasy as my aching hardness slipped into her slick eager sex!! "EEEEEE-EE-EE-EEEKKKK!"
She snarled and growled in pleasure as she rode me, and I reached up and rubbed her breasts, all eight of them, tweaking her large rigid rubbery nipples causing her to yelp in pleasure. Then I grabbed her around her narrow waist, and with squeaks and growls of sexual euphoria I began thrusting up to meet her as she ground down, our coupling growing increasingly feral as our human sides were drowned in waves of intense sexual ecstasy. We were so busy we didn't even hear the front door at first, that is until a voice said,
"Sophia, Ben, you home?" Then, "Jesus fucking Christ!"
We both looked up to see Constable Darkhorse standing in the door to the room, his face frozen in shock as he watched us heaving together on the couch as we mated. And we both snarled at him as we took on even more bestial forms, just one step away from our large size animal forms. Sophia gave a deep coughing sound almost like a roar, and my own hissing snarl was...intimidating to say the least. It's a good thing he had the sense to turn around and get the Hell out of Dodge; otherwise we'd probably have attacked him. You do NOT interrupt mating Were's. We're not really 'all there' mentally, and it can get nasty as the male will usually react by defending his mate, and of course the female will get in on the action too. We react more as animals then sentient beings, and the object of our displeasure usually doesn't survive.
The change brought us to almost instant; mind blowingly pleasurable, orgasms, and we both made even louder sounds as the intense ecstasy of our violent release was almost painful. Sex while changing is...well, there's no way to describe it unless you can do it. With a growl Sophia reared up so my cock slid from her still spasming pussy, and with an enraged squeal I started to get up and go in pursuit of the strange male who'd interrupted our mating; but she held onto me, and grunted through a throat not made for talking,
"Urrrr, NO, friend...urrgrrwwllll...friend!!" Then she ground her muzzle against mine in a brutal kiss, and I grabbed her and returned it just a frenziedly. We wanted to mate again, but fought down that urge.
As the aftermath of my violent orgasm and bestial anger faded I realized she was right, and shaking my head I squeaked as I took on my most human form again; and she did the same. Man, that had been close! And we had to find Darkhorse, we must have scared the crap out of him to see us like that. Hell, he was probably still running!
He wasn't in the house, but Sophia; still butt naked, found him sitting in his jeep with the windows rolled up, despite the already sweltering sun. She heard him saying to himself, "That's not right, nope, not right!" Then he jumped when she tapped on the driver's side window, and said,
"Dan, it's safe now. I'm really sorry you had to, um, see that."
"Me too." He said, as he got out of the jeep. "You sure, um, Ben isn't, um, waiting for me inside, still, um...?"
"No, I promise." Sophia said, smiling. "Next time knock Dan; at least when I've got 'company', catching Were's like that can be...dangerous. We wouldn't want to hurt you, but, well, we might not be able to get control of ourselves in time. I'd be..devastated if something happened."
"Huh, you and me both!" Dan replied, "Don't worry, next time I'll bang on the door so loud half the town will hear it."
"Good idea." Sophia said, chuckling.
I was dressed by the time Sophia returned with Dan in tow; who stuck his head around the door frame and looked around before venturing inside, and seemed greatly relieved to find out that a giant white pissed-off rat wasn't waiting for him. Of course if I'd been after him, well...I'm just glad I wasn't. With a smile I handed Sophia a robe, and at first she looked a little confused, then looking down she blushed (very nicely), and quickly slipped the robe on. She hadn't even realized she was still nude, but I think Dan was too shook up to appreciate the view very much. Were's are like that when it comes to nudity, it just doesn't bother us, and we have to remember to be 'modest' when around humans and some other magicals who value modesty to various degrees. Of course even in our most human form some vestige of our beastial forms remain, in my case my genitals remain more rat like and I also have a short tail; that I keep tucked between my buttcheeks. In Sophia's case six small vestigial nipples on her belly and a small patch of fur in the middle of her back. With some others it's even more apparent, but in clothes we can pass for human easily enough.
By silent mutual agreement we 'decided' not to talk about the 'incident', much to my relief. Not that I was embarrassed; or would apologize for it. It had been perfectly natural for what Sophia and I were.
"Well, what's on the day's schedule?" I asked.
"Well, I'm going to run over to the vet's and pick up that dark gun first." Sophia said, but then Dan broke in and said,
"No need, I picked it up on the way over. If you're ready, we need to get out to Scotty's place and pick him up. I've got some rope in the jeep too, LOTS of rope. And a muzzle."
"Good idea." I said, remembering the sharp fangs in Scotty's deformed mouth, and how they'd felt tearing into my arm.
We finished getting dressed in more suitable clothes; Sophia having found some jeans for me from somewhere that actually fit. With the jeans and cowboy hat I at least fit in better, though I still had my high top sneakers and short sleeve shirt. As we went out to the Jeep Dan said,
"Come around to the back first." Then he pulled out a large gun case, and when he opened it I whistled.
"Jeez, Dan," I said, "you planning on starting WWIII?"
"Nope, only on winning it." He replied, perfectly serious. "This Injun believes in being better armed then the cavalry. Someone fucks with me, and I'll do a Little Big Horn on his ass, old school."
The case held an M-14 sniper rifle, a short stock version M-16, and an M-16 with a grenade launcher. Another box had plenty of ammo, and grenades, for them. And they were NOT semi-auto versions.
"Jeez Dan," Sophia said, "this stuff legal?"
"Nope," Dan said, "Fell off a truck at Camp LeJune a few months before I retired. Figured they might come in handy some day. I'm taking the M-16 with the thumper. Take your pick."
I took the short stock M-16, and Sophia picked up the M-14, handling it with familiarity and confidence. I guess she was a member of a gun club too. I left mine on the semi-auto setting though. I'd never fired a full-auto weapon, so figured that was best. Didn't want to end up spraying the whole countryside if we ran into trouble.
When we pulled up at Scotty's we sat in the jeep for a few minutes, despite the horrendous heat, and Dan said,
"Sophia, you go around and cover the back of the barn, if anything makes a break for it, shoot first and worry about it later. Ben and I will make a sweep through the barn."
"Shit." Dan said; as we stood looking at the door to the cooler. It was hanging on one hinge, and had a huge hole in the lower part.
"Shit." I agreed, it was as good a response as I could think of.
Dan took out his radio, keyed it, and said, "Come on in Sophia, the coast is clear."
"Shit." Sophia said as she joined us in the hot dimness of the barn. "They must have come back and got him during the night, I knew we shouldn't have just left him."
"Don't think so," I said, "this hole was made from the inside out. It looks like he chewed and clawed his way through it."
"But that door's covered in metal on both sides, and over a foot thick!" Sophia said in disbelief.
"Ben's right," Dan said, "and look, there are scraps of cloth stuck to the edges. Whatever poor old Scotty is now is running around naked.
"I'm going to 'sniff' around a little bit," I said as I bent over to take off my shoes and socks. "Um Dan, I'm going to change part way, you might not want to look."
"Oh, I'll be OK." Dan said, "I'm starting to get used to this weird shit."
I shrugged, and taking my shirt off I draped it over the side of a stall, closed my eyes and willed the change, and took on my anthro form. I went inside the cooler; which was really starting to stink as the meat was going bad, but bad as that smell was the one Scotty; or whatever he was now, had left behind was even worse. It made my eyes water. I followed the trail out of the cooler, through the barn, and out back to where it disappeared into thick scrub and cactus. NO way was I going in there, not this city rat. Going back in the barn I resumed my most human form, and put my clothes on.
"Well," I said, "looks like Scotty was alone last night when he broke out. I can still smell the others, but their scent is a couple of days old now, Scott's is much fresher of course. He headed South West, towards the border. I didn't want to try and follow him in all that underbrush though."
"It opens up into broken country after a few miles," Sophia said, "but less brush and cactus. It's still hard to travel through though, no roads. It's the back of beyond. Only folks living out there are Pancho's pack."
"Do you think we could have a talk with him?" I asked.
"Don't see why not," Sophia said, "as long as I'm along to vouch for you he shouldn't have any problem with that. He's not anti-social, just doesn't come into town much."
"He's also crazier then a snake in a frying pan." Dan said.
"Dan, he IS not!" Sophia scolded, "He just values his privacy."
As we walked back to the jeep Dan pointed at the side of his head and made loopy motions. Great, I thought, looks like I get to meet Wily E. Coyote in person. Beep beep.
The End
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