No Chance, Ch 13
No Chance Chapter 13 copyright 2013 comidacomida
Despite the lack of windows or time pieces in the office, Courtney would have bet that it couldn't have been later than nine. Having no clock within immediate sight, she was still willing to call it morning-- she hadn't been physically able to sleep in since her college days. Stretching out on the sofa Courtney wasn't surprised to find herself alone; even before the 'incident' Daryl's job took him away from her hours before she would normally awaken. She smiled however when she noticed the note left on the end table next to the couch.
Although there were distinct differences in the penmanship Courtney could still identify the writing as Daryl's. She smiled, realizing that she probably would have had a hard time adjusting to writing if her hands had changed as much as his. Reflecting on it, strangely, didn't bring the same amount of apprehension and fear as it had as recently as the prior day. There was apparently a lot to be said for intimacy, and she smiled at the thought.
The note was simple and direct with Daryl's brand of easily-missed dry humor, "Cafeteria. Lunch time. I'm buying." Followed with a very direct, "I love you." and his trademark, stylized "D" signature. Out of the entire note it was the signature that was most recognizable, practically a photo copy-- one more thing about him that was the same... that, and apparently his commitment to keeping the written word alive.
Daryl had always been a fan of notes; she often found them waiting for her by their bed, in the kitchen next to the coffee maker, and taped to the inside of the front door. She blushed a little, remembering that his marriage proposal had also been a note, and, as she read it, thinking he'd left for the day, he stepped out from around the hallway corner and into the kitchen with the ring.
They were engaged, she reminded herself. Courtney held the note in her right hand so she could look to her engagement ring and, for a moment, she was flooded with emotion. She didn't have a chance to be overcome however, as a knock at the door pulled her back to the present.
"Hi, Courtney!" Rex barked from outside the door, the knocking did not stop, rather, it slowly transitioned into an incessant scratching, "Good morning!" the dog announced on the other side of the closed portal, "Hi, Courtney!" he repeated his first statement, "I heard you get up! You're up right?" he continued talking and scratching, "Can I come in? Hi, Courtney!"
"Good morning, Rex... yea, I'm up." she acknowledged, her body fighting between gruff displeasure at being interrupted and good-natured humor at the dog's antics. It was strange, she realized, how Rex could be so human despite being so dog-like... or was it that she was surprised how dog-like he could be despite seeming so human? "Come in." she offered.
The golden lab gingerly opened the door with one paw, the other cocked at an angle perpendicular to the ground carrying a tray at shoulder-height. Even from across the office Courtney could tell that it was loaded down with, "Breakfast!" Rex announced happily, tail wagging in a wide circular motion behind him.
"Um..." Courtney sat up a little straighter, pulling the throw blanket around her body as she realized she was still naked, "...wow."
"Yea, wow!" He grinned, setting the tray down on the end table, "Eggs... bacon... toast..." the dog motioned to each in turn as he licked his muzzle, "Oh! And milk and juices." he motioned to the three glasses, "I like apple juice." he announced, then paused, "but not orange juice... but Daryl said that you like both so I brought both."
"Daryl made breakfast?" she asked, holding the blanket close and reaching out to take a piece of buttered rye off of the tray with her other hand.
"Nope!" Rex's wag intensified, "I did!"
Courtney paused, her smile widening at the dog's enthusiasm. She then paused again, and, tucking the blanket under her armpits to free her other hand, reached up and pulled an errant strand of golden fur off of the buttered toast, "When did you learn how to cook?" she asked.
"Abe taught me how to make eggs and toast..." Rex sat down on the ground in front of her, looking in all ways like a four legged dog hoping he'd be thrown a treat, "And the bacon was already cooked... Daryl said I just had to put it in the microwave and press the bottom right button and it would heat up and sizzle and smell good and taste even better." he licked his muzzle as he spoke.
Courtney eyed the dog, "Did you eat already?"
"Oh yes!" he nodded vigorously, "Daryl said that I should make breakfast for me too and eat it before I bring you yours."
The woman took another bite of her toast, a little more self conscious as the dog's eyes remained focused entirely on her, "So..." she paused.
"So?" Rex's ears raised and his tail began beating faster.
"You're..." she swallowed a mouthful of bread, "just gonna watch me eat, huh?"
"I like watching people eat." the dog confirmed, his tongue falling out the side of his muzzle as he panted happily.
Courtney sighed and settled down to focus more on her food than the dog. She even did remarkably well keeping her attention on breakfast, her resolve breaking only once, which resulted in Rex being gifted a piece of bacon. Thankfully, when it was offered the dog accepted it by gingerly plucking it off of her plate rather than going for it with his muzzle-- though Courtney DID see that he had been about to before he corrected himself.
Things continued quite casually until breakfast was finished and Rex DID lick the plate clean before putting it back on the serving tray. It was at that moment that the dog turned things awkward once again in his innocent way, "I'm glad that you and Daryl finally had a chance to mate." his smile was accentuated with a pleasant wag.
The comment came out just as Courtney was finishing off the last of her orange juice and she had to fight to keep from coughing it up. "Rex--"
"Oh wait..." the Labrador's face scrunched up in consideration, "Daryl said that's not polite to talk about." and his tail tucked slightly at that, "Sorry, Courtney... I didn't mean to be a bad dog."
She wasn't just surprised by the comment, but more so because Daryl would think to discuss their private business with Rex, "Why would he even MENTION that?" she asked, feeling her entire body blush as she pulled the blanket tighter. For a reason she couldn't explain it felt as though she were a teenager again having to explain her private life to her parents. It hadn't gone over well back then, and she wasn't really interested in a repeat performance... especially not over a decade later.
"Oh... he didn't." Rex noted, raising his head and ears slightly, causing Courtney's thoughts to screech to a halt, "I smelled it on him first... and then here in the room." he sniffed the air tentatively then let out a little growling giggle, "Wow..."
The single word made Courtney blush even more, "Alright, Rex... I know they call spying with your eyes voyeurism and I have no idea what they call it when you do it with your nose, but I think we'd better change the topic of the discussion and the venue for it." she slowly stood up, wrapping the throw blanket around herself.
"Venue?" the dog inquired, standing up as well.
"Where we're having it." Courtney clarified.
"Oh!" Rex acknowledged, "Like what you drive on-- a venue."
It took a moment for Courtney to understand what he meant, then it clicked. "That's avenue." she clarified.
"Yep! A Venue!" and Rex marched right out the door with the breakfast tray in-paw. "I'll go put away the dishes then I'll come back and get you so we can go visit Abe."
The first thing that came to mind for the woman was a few minutes of peace and quiet to get dressed and put-together, "Deal."
* * * * * *
The laboratory was much the way Courtney remembered it up to and including the white-furred fox seated on a stool with his face poking up against the microscope. For the second time in as many days Courtney had to suppress a laugh as she realized that Abe's muzzle was almost as long as the microscope, meaning he quite literally had his nose in his work. The fox looked up as the two approached and the woman did not miss the way Abe's nose was sniffing at the air.
"Yes." she declared with severity, "And don't even start."
With little more on the topic to discuss, the teenage fox thankfully let her leave it at that. Rex quickly stepped in to work as an assistant, gathering everything Abe asked for with eagerness and a wag. Virtually forgotten, Courtney took the opportunity to excuse herself so she could look around; she'd been at the base for more days than she could have counted without a calendar and she still hadn't had any chance to explore the labs.
She did recall David mention something about not being sure it was safe to go below sub-level 4 and, although she considered herself a naturally curious person, she thought it wise to listen to the ferret. Starting out on her 'grand adventure' around the few thousand square foot run of hallways and labs, Courtney was careful to watch the signs and markers so she wouldn't get lost; it wasn't a huge building but the twists and turns in the corridors called for attention to where she was going. That attention, however, was disturbed by the sound of a heavy *thunk* on a door just ahead of her down the hall.
Stopping where she stood, Courtney froze mid step, slowly setting her foot back down as she strained her eyes and ears, focusing on the door where the sound had emanated. "Hello?" she called tentatively, taking another step forward, "Daryl?... David?..." she paused as the door shuddered again with a heavy impact, "....Fred?" She recalled that the bear had difficulty with fine motor control when it came to his fingers; for a moment she wondered if he'd somehow trapped himself in the side room. It was a silly thought, she realized, since the door probably wasn't large enough for him to squeeze through.
"Hello?" she heard distinctly from beyond the door. The bleat was muffled but the meaning was still quite obvious.
"Are you alright?" she inquired, moving up beside the entrance to the room. For some reason she couldn't explain her heart still hadn't stopped racing, and she reached a shaky hand out for the door knob.
"Help!" the bugled call from beyond the door was blatantly seeking assistance and Courtney closed her fingers around the knob. She gave it an exploratory twist and was surprised that it wasn't locked.
"The door isn't--" she began, but he words were interrupted by a shout from behind her.
"Courtney! STOP!" Rex ran down the hall toward her with Abe close behind; the dog was shouting. The woman reflexively let go of the door handle... but not before whatever was on the other side threw its weight against it one more time, knocking it wide open and hurling the woman away. Courtney's breath stuck in her lungs as she stumbled, backpedaling as a large, four-legged deer rebounded off of the corridor's wall and turned to face her; she didn't miss the fact he it had the remnants of a tattered lab coat clinging to its body, but her attention was more focused on the large antlers crowning his head
"Doctor Singh!" Abe slid to a halt; the movement drew the deer's attention off of Courtney and she quickly stepped back toward the fox and the dog. The buck's wild gaze turned back toward her and he jabbed a forehoof into the floor, lowering his antlers, "Dr Si--" the fox called again, but his words turned into a yip of fear as the deer came barreling down the hallway.
"I'll kill all of you!" the buck bugled, lashing his head back and forth, brandishing his antlers. Somewhere in the back of her head Courtney couldn't help but compare the motion to a killer in a Grade B slasher flick wildly swinging a cleaver. She was knocked free from her musing as Rex collided with her, slamming her between himself and the wall as he bowled her out of the crazed deer's path.
"Dr. Singh!" Abe called again, turning to regard the deer, who continued sliding down the hallway's smooth floor, "Please stop! I know you're not a violent man!" the fox moved to the middle of the hall to interpose himself between the buck and the others. The deer finally managed to come to a stop and about-faced, beating at the floor with his front hoof again.
"That's... a--" Courtney paused as Rex took his weight off of her, "...a man?"
"I'm free." the deer bleated, "You won't stop me."
"Dr. Singh... please." Abe held his paws up in a non-threatening manner, "It's me... Abe."
"Abe?" the buck rotated his head slightly, ears alternating between aggressively back and cautiously up, "Abraham?"
"Abraham Christensen..." the fox nodded, "Yea... I'm the intern... remember?"
"You're helping them..." Courtney didn't know deer could growl, but she was unable to equate the buck's tone with anything else. A split second later he charged.
Abe yelped again, backpedaling as he kept his eyes on the former doctor who hurtled down the hallway toward the three of them. Courtney heard her own scream echo in the suddenly too-small corridor, and felt Rex go to pull her to the side again, but suddenly the world turned into pure chaos as a roar overpowered the buck's war cry... and an enormous wall of brown fur exploded out of an adjoining hall and collided with Dr. Singh from the side.
Fred let out fresh roar as the two bounced off of the wall. The buck was stunned from the impact but the grizzly didn't even pause. Rising up onto his hind legs, Fred issued a rapid one-two strike, hitting the deer first with his right claw and then his left. Dr. Singh fell back against the wall as blood flew freely, but he recovered quickly and lunged, his antlers aiming straight for the bear's abdomen. The sound of an explosion silenced everything and, for a split second, the entirety of the world seemed to go into slow motion as a large blossom of red spouted from the buck's chest, and he fell to the ground as time picked back up at its normal pace.
"Ms. Porter..." David called to her as he put his handgun back into its holster, "I will assume that we have done you an injustice by forgetting to ask you to not snoop around this sub-level."
"I--" she had a hard time generating a response, let alone getting her mouth to speak it. The deer had been a human, and he had attacked, and David shot him.
"You lucky son of a bitch." Fred growled out, turning to face the ferret, "At least you can still hold a gun." In Courtney's stunned state it barely even registered that she understood what the grizzly was saying.
"It's a good thing you came along when you did, Fred." Abe offered.
"Are you alright, Courtney?" Rex asked, gingerly touching a spot on her forehead; she realized then that she had hit her head on the wall when the dog had hurled her out of the way of the charging buck. The Labrador whimpered softly, "You're bleeding."
"-- SHE'S fucking lucky that I heard Abe shout when I did or you'd have to explain to Daryl why his fiance earned herself a few new holes." Fred continued his rant, growling and gnashing at David, who remained off to the side, seeming to ignore the bear completely. Courtney's attention remained transfixed on the ferret-- the one person in the hallway that didn't seem hysterical or heated about the event.
"David-- I..." Courtney began, finally somehow finding a way to get her voice to work.
"This is where we get the sob story about how she didn't know better." the bear hrumphed.
The calloused remark broke what little remained of Courtney's resolve, "I DIDN'T know better!" she shouted at the bear.
Fred snorted, "Well don't yell at ME because y--" and the snarl disappeared from his face, replaced with surprise and confusion, "Do..." his voice lowered significantly in volume, "You understand me?"
The realization finally struck Courtney and, despite the insanity of the situation things got even more complicated, "I... understand you."
"Well... isn't that... interesting." David remarked. In unison Courtney and the bear, who had been looking at one another glanced to the ferret. At first the woman thought that he was taking stock of the observation that Courtney understood Fred but when her eyes settled on him she realized that David was actually looking past them. The grizzly must have reached the same conclusion because, as one, they turned to follow the ferret's gaze.
The buck's lifeless body twitched and fidgeted on the ground. Courtney covered her mouth in surprise and disgust as the cervidae form snapped and twisted, rippled and compacted. As if staring at a horrible car wreck, the woman was unable to look away as its antlers fell off and its fur all shed. Courtney felt the bile begin to rise in her stomach as the buck's features shifted and altered, slowly changing to resemble something much more human.
Abe knelt down to slowly fold Dr. Singh's torn lab coat around his naked body. Courtney stood and stared at the man, or rather, the corpse, a dark skinned, fairly tall corpse of medium build with two jagged claw marks on his shoulders and a bullet wound in his chest. The fox sniffled faintly, shaking slightly as he fingered a name tag still attached to the coat. Courtney could clearly see the name 'Rajij Singh'.
"Courtney..." Rex spoke softly, his paws gently taking hold of her arms, "You look really white... you aren't going to fall asleep again... are you?"
She opened her mouth to respond but instead of words, breakfast came out.