Love and Lycanthropy - Chapter 13
It was still fairly early in the evening when I hit the road in
the stolen van with the three wolves in the back. It would take
some time for whatever government spooks these people were to fully mobilize
against us again, and I knew they would probably be able to locate the van
easily and even track everywhere it had been from the point that we'd
stolen it. I needed to get the wolves out of the city so I could
drop them in the woods, then take the van someplace to dispose of it.
I'd need to find another vehicle and make my way back to the
wolves to pick them up again.I'd
already
decided that our best bet would be to get out of the country as quickly
as we could, but that would take a lot of preparation. I decided
heading south into Central America would be best. We could make
our way through Mexico and try to find a sufficiently remote location
we could live in for a while until we decide our ultimate future.
I'd briefly considered going north across the border into Canada
which was much closer and offered the massive Rocky Mountains along the
border between BC and Alberta in which to hide the wolves, but as I'd
told Grace before, I'm not a big fan of the cold and the jungles of
Central America seemed like a better fit for me and it just seemed like
it would be easier to hide down there.Since
our eventual direction would be southward, I would drive through town
and head
out the northeast side to dispose of the van instead, on a major
highway heading towards Idaho.
That would lend more weight to the idea that we might be
planning to hide out
in the Rocky Mountains. The spooks wouldn't know about my huge
hoard of
bitcoin so they wouldn't know I had the means for us to live anywhere
we wanted to. They would likely realize the mountains would be
the best place to try to hide the wolves, and the Bitterroot range
along the border between Idaho and Montana would be the closest if we
weren't heading into Canada. Anything we could do to
throw them off our real trail would help, so I hoped sending them in
the
wrong direction would be a good start.There would be a short
window of time when it should be safe to use the van, and there were a
couple of things I needed to get done before we left the city. I
stopped at a major tech store first. I figured it would be safe
to use
my credit card just once. They could track it, but it wouldn't
really tell them anything since we're still in the city. In fact,
since the store was at the opposite end of the city at the north end it
would be a good beginning trail for them to follow in the wrong
direction.I
needed
to get us Internet access so I could get at my bitcoin wallets and use
the money to get everything else we would need from then on. I
bought
several burner phones that had data included and I activated them all.
I programmed each one with all of the numbers from the other
phones and kept one for myself and put the others in the backpack.
I also bought a small laptop that I took out of its box and
tucked away in the duffel bag with the clothes. I could tether
the laptop to a phone and use it to get onto the TOR network. In
no time I was back in the van and pulling out onto the street again.The
next stop would be for cash. Once whoever it was that's after
Cole gets properly organized they would likely put watches on all of my
accounts so that they could track any attempt to access them, but it
was still early enough that it should be safe for the moment.
Most of my money that I hadn't
yet converted to bitcoin was in investments, but I always kept a small
amount in a plain savings account for easy access in case of a
household emergency. My bank has a couple of branches
that stay open late so I stopped at one and closed out my savings
account. It amounted to just over eight thousand dollars. It should be enough cash to get an old used
vehicle with no questions asked with plenty of money left over for us
to use for fuel, food, clothing and anything else we might need along
the way until I could start siphoning the bitcoins into cash.Back
at the van I transferred everything from the backpack into the duffel
bag and then I put the cash and one of the stolen service pistols into
the backpack. I hit the road again heading out the north side of
the city.Just as I was about to get onto the highway I saw a
diner. I wasn't
particularly hungry, but something caught my eye. There was a
motorhome
parked outside the restaurant near the corner on one side where it was
dark. In my state,
standard license plates have dark blue lettering on a very light blue
background. Motorhomes, on the other hand, have special plates
that have
a solid yellow background with dark blue lettering. If I was
going to
buy a motorhome I needed plates for it that wouldn't draw attention.
They had to be the right type or the difference in color would
stand out to any highway patrolman with half a brain.
Fortunately, fleet vehicles have
almost exactly the same plates with the blue on yellow and that's what
the stolen van has, and that was what I'd intended to use on the RV.
Police might eventually be on the lookout for these particular
plates though as whatever agency was after us would give them the
number, so
it would be better to switch them out. The parking area was dark
and quiet enough that it wasn't much of a risk. With any luck,
the
owner of the RV wouldn't notice he had the wrong plates on since most
people don't actually look at their own license plates and at a
glance they look the same so the slight difference wouldn't catch his
eye, so hopefully he wouldn't report them stolen.I pulled into the diner's parking lot
and parked next to the RV. I quickly got out and used a coin to take the screws off the plates and pulled them off
the van and went over to the RV and swapped the plates. I put the RV's plates on the van and then I hit the road again.With
all of that done we were off to a good start and I headed north out of
the city on the main highway. As we drove along through the dark night I
prayed that Elias would get over the effects of the tranquilizer soon.
I needed all three wolves to be on their feet and able to run.It
turned out I didn't have to wait long. The tranq dosage must have
been for a regular sized wolf since they knew they were after Cole and
he wouldn't be much bigger than a normal wolf, and they wouldn't want to risk killing him with
an overdose. It wasn't enough to last very long on Elias given his
massive size. It wasn't long before I heard rustling and a rough
sounding whine come from behind me in the van. I looked back there and saw Elias moving to sit up, and Cole and Grace were
wagging their tails and nuzzling him and trying to help him get up.His
big front paws slipped a couple of times as he tried to sit
up and he finally managed it. He shook his big wolf head and
groggily looked over at the massive
white wolf next to him and his ears went back and he started to growl.
He wouldn't remember anything after he'd started to black out
from his change and the world was likely still spinning for him from
the effects of the sedative so he must be pretty confused right now."Relax, Elias. That's Grace," I said.I
saw his wolf eyes go wide and his head cocked to the side. Grace
barked once at him and he looked her up and down, then looked over
towards the front of the van at me and whined with a sound that almost
seemed like he was saying "Huh?"I continued to drive down the
highway as I quickly explained the situation to him. "The man who
was holding Grace tranquilized you when you started to change so you
couldn't hurt him. We didn't know it, but Cole was hiding in the
entryway behind us. When the change hit him and he started to
come back as the raging wolf he rushed into the kitchen to defend us and all hell
broke loose. The man managed to shoot Cole with his service pistol just as the wolf was
taking him down by the throat. The guy's dead. The bullet
went through Cole and hit Grace. It was covered in Cole's blood and
he wasn't done changing yet so it got in her bloodstream and she
changed."Elias whined again and turned towards Cole and started sniffing at him from head to toe as if checking him over for wounds."Cole
wasn't quite finished changing so the bullet wound
healed up completely by the time he was done. The fact that he
was still in the middle of the change is what saved Grace, too.
She probably would have died from blood loss if she hadn't
started to change almost immediately when Cole's blood got in her.
We have a
new wolf in the family now. She looks awesome, don't you think?"Elias
turned back towards Grace and he
sniffed at the massive white wolf and he barked and wagged his tail.
Grace barked back at him again, tail still wagging, and she moved
her face in and nuzzled him again. Elias nuzzled her back and
then continued to sniff at her from head to toe as he'd done with Cole,
but this time it was likely to thoroughly ingrain her scent into the
wolf's memory to solidify her status as family."We're on the run now," I continued to explain to him, "I
stole that van we saw parked beside the house but I'm pretty sure
they'll be able to track it, so I need to ditch it. I was hoping you'd come around soon.
I need you three to be able to move. I'm gonna stop briefly
up ahead somewhere, just long enough to let you all out. I need to find us a vehicle
and then come back to get you. It shouldn't take me more
than an hour or so. I need you all to stick to the trees
but stay close to the road so I can find you easily when I come back."Cole
whined. I wasn't sure exactly what was bothering him but he was
probably worried about me going off without them. There was no
other way to do this, though. We had no choice."Everything
will be fine, Cole. Don't worry. I need to keep going north
for a bit before I dump this van so they'll be completely on the wrong
track when they finally get more boots on the ground and come after us.
There's a big town up ahead with a used RV lot that I know of.
I'm sure they'll take a bit of extra cash to keep their mouths
shut. I'll drop hints that I'm heading to the mountains just in
case they're questioned. As soon as I have something we can use
I'll come back here to get you all and we'll start driving south.
The plan is to go to Mexico. Once I have time I can get on
the Internet to use my bitcoins to get some new identities off the dark
web. We should have no problem getting fake passports and other
ID. Once we're in Mexico we'll figure out what to do next."I
saw a curve in the highway ahead with deep forest on either side close
to the road. It was a good spot to drop them off. It would
be easy to find again."Are
you guys ready? I'm gonna stop
the van but I need you to jump out and run for the trees so I can get
moving again right away. Grace, I need you to carry that duffel
bag. There's clothes in there for all of you and three phones.
My phone number is the top one on the contact lists. If we
get separated for some reason, or I can't get back to you before you
change back, at least you'll have clothes and you'll be able to contact
me."I
looked back and saw Grace and
Cole already getting up to face the back doors and Elias was struggling
to turn around. I pulled over to the
side and jumped out and ran to the back to open the doors. I had
to help Elias to the ground. He was still a bit groggy but once
he was on his feet he was able to slowly walk off towards the trees,
though he was weaving side to side a bit. Cole jumped down next
and ran up to Elias to stand against him and try to keep him steady.
Grace had the duffel hanging by the handle in her mouth and I
took it from her and held it while she jumped down. I handed the
bag back to her. It was a large duffel but it looked very small
in her mouth. It was still a bit shocking to see how big she was.
She was easily as big as the direwolves from the television show
Game of Thrones and she even looked a bit like Ghost, Jon Snow's wolf.
She was huge and Elias was even bigger than her.My
mind briefly went back to what the man had said over the phone when
we'd been listening in to them talking at Grace's house. He'd
warned the other man that if I was changed too they'd be dealing with a
nearly unstoppable monster. If the final size of the wolf was
really nearly double the size of the person as it appeared to be, he
was likely right. I'd be over five hundred pounds of lean,
powerful wolf and I'd be absolutely massive, dwarfing even Elias.Grace
turned and ran to join the other wolves as they made their way across
the short field to the tree line and I grabbed the backpack from the
back of the van and slammed the door shut. I
ran around back to the cab and took off again.I
kept driving until I saw
the lights of the town ahead. The RV sales lot was a couple more
miles further
down the highway on the other side of town, but I didn't want to lead
the spooks right to it. I had to try to keep them guessing at
least a bit in order to slow them down and give us more time to put
some distance between us. I saw a dark side road just ahead
and slowed and turned onto it. I drove a little further along and
then pulled off the road and shut the van off. I took the stolen
RV
plates off the van and put them in the backpack.I ran back to
the highway and started jogging the rest of the way to town. Each
time I heard a vehicle coming down the road I turned and stuck my thumb
out. Several passed me by, but just as I was near town an older
man in a beat up old pickup truck slowed and stopped and I ran over to
his vehicle and opened the passenger door."Are you headed in to town or on through it?" the man asked."I'm hoping to get to the RV sales lot down the road on the other side," I replied."Sure, I know it. I can drop you there. I'm going past it. Get in."We
rode in silence and before long we arrived at the sales lot and the man
let me out. I thanked him and headed towards the office.A
short, stout man emerged from the office before I got there. He
must have heard the vehicle and realized he might have a customer.
I told him I was looking for something as cheap as possible.
It didn't matter if it was old. It just needed to be
running. He took me around and showed me a few, but most just
weren't very well laid out. I started to wonder if an RV
was the right approach. It would be comfortable for us in human
form, but the wolves wouldn't have much room to move around or lay
down. We might have to go with a large van similar to the one
we'd stolen. It would be more spacious for three large wolves,
but it wouldn't do us very well for the long trip south. It would
be a lot easier if we had a working stove, fridge and toilet and enough
room for all of us to sleep so we wouldn't even have to stop at any
motels or restaurants or anything if we didn't want to.I
spotted a really huge motorhome off to the side by itself that had no
price marked on it. It looked pretty old and had a few rust spots
here and there, but seemed to be in usable shape on
the outside at least. "How about that one?""That one's
not for sale yet. There was a cigarette fire in it and there was
a fair bit of damage. We're still renovating it. It's
mostly done. We got the paneling replaced and the toilet and
stove and sink are all good, but we haven't replaced the seating yet
and there's no tables.""Could I have a look inside?""I suppose so, if you want."He
went back to the office and came back out with the keys. He
unlocked it and we went in. There was a new carpet inside and the
wall on one side looked new, but just like he said, there was no
seating
and no bed or table so most of the space up front near the cab and
across from the kitchenette was wide open. The cabinets looked OK
and the kitchen appliances seemed to be intact. The back end of
the massive RV was the bathroom with a toilet, tub and shower combo,
vanity and linen closet. The driver and
passenger seats at the front were leatherette so they probably didn't
get any serious smoke
damage and only needed to be cleaned. The seating at the back
would have been cheap fabric upholstery
and probably all of it had to go along with the old carpet."Does it run?" I asked."Yep,
she runs just great. She's old though. 1979.
Seen a lot of miles, but all of them on the highway so she's
still in great shape. Rooftop air conditioning works.
Stove, toilet,
fridge, furnace, water heater and pump are all good. There might
be a bit of rust here and
there and she could use new shocks, but the only real problem with her
was the damage to the seats and
the wall on one side, but you can see that's all been cleaned up.
I'll be putting a couch that converts to a large bed over there,
and a dinette table with corner nook seating that also converts to a
bed over here across from the kitchen, so she'll sleep four when she's
done. I'm also putting in a big lounge chair in the corner over
by the cab. The seating and tables will be slightly used of
course, salvaged from a couple of other wrecks I have, but they're in
good shape.
Once we get the seating and tables put in I could easily get six
grand for her even as old as she is."It would do perfectly for
the wolves just as it was.
Because of the missing seating and tables there was a whole lot
of open floor space for them to stretch out on. It would be less
comfortable for us in human form,
but at least we had a working stove and toilet and a fridge. We
could get a foam for the floor or something to make it a bit more
comfortable and maybe a folding table and chairs. There was
plenty of room for the wolves to thrash
around if they were forced to change in the vehicle while we were
on the road, too, so that wouldn't be a concern. We knew it was
safe for Elias and Cole to change together now even with me right
beside them. There was no reason to think it would be otherwise
for Grace now that she was a wolf and was in close quarters with us and
would have some time to learn all of our scents intimately.This
was probably the best vehicle I could hope to find tonight. Once
I had full access to all of my bitcoin wallets I could get us something
better if it turned out to be necessary, but for just getting on the
road quickly and staying out of motels and restaurants so we'd be less
visible, this would do fine."How about right now, the way it is? How much do you want for it?""I suppose I could let you have it for fifty-five hundred. I can't go lower than that.""Would you take cash? I'd like to take it right now.""Of
course!" he exclaimed, with the brightening look of a used car salesman
who just found an easy mark, "Let me go get the paperwork done and
we'll...""If it's alright, I'd rather there weren't any paperwork at all."His excitement quickly faded as he looked at me suspiciously and said, "Look, mister, if you're in some sort of trouble...""No,
I'm just in a hurry."His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing."If
I was really in trouble do you think I'd try to make my get away in a
rusted old motorhome? I just sort of had a sudden change of
situation and I'm a bit down on my luck. I want to take a break
from life and just travel for a bit and I don't want anyone, including
some that I owe a lot of money to, to be able to find me. It's a
spur of the moment type decision and I want to start moving before I
can change my mind. I'm heading northeast and going into the
mountains and I want to be able to stop anywhere I want and sleep or
eat or clean up. I'd like to get going right away. I can't
really afford anything better than this and I can't wait for you to
finish it all up."He seemed to give it some thought, but wasn't quite ready to go along."Tell you what,
I'll buy it as is, but I'll give you the six grand you thought you'd
get for it when it was done if you just hand me the keys and let me
drive off."That
seemed to get his interest and he stared at me a bit more while he
thought harder about it. Obviously I was in some sort of trouble
if I was paying cash for a vehicle and wanting to drive off with it
with no registration or title transfer. He must be trying to
determine if he felt the risk was worth the quick sale. I was
hoping, like most used car salesmen, he would be willing to do just
about anything to unload another piece of junk on someone.He
shifted slightly and relaxed as if he'd decided a buck was a buck and
he shouldn't pass up a sale. "You'll need plates."I lifted the backpack. "I've got them right here. Do we have a deal?"He
thought for one more moment, then shrugged and said, "Sure, why not.
If you have the
cash, we have a deal, but since I'm taking a risk, I want sixty-five
hundred. I'll have to report it stolen, too, but I
can give you a few days before I do that. I'll just tell them I
didn't notice it missing until I went back to finish the work on it and
I'm not sure when it was taken. If you end up doing
something bad and they trace the RV back to me since I'm still the one
holding the title, I don't want no
trouble. If I report it stolen then I'm in the clear and I can
make an insurance claim, too. They're not gonna put a hell of a
lot of effort into finding a rusted, half gutted '79 Diplomat motorhome
anyhow, and even if they do, if you're out of state by then you'll be
fine."It
would be a bit risky driving a vehicle that was reported stolen, but
really most RVs look alike and there was nothing about this one that
stuck out, and the plates were already stolen as it is. Like he
said, I'd be out of the state even before he reported it stolen so we'd
be OK if I didn't break any laws along the way that would cause highway
patrol to run the plates or anything. It should be safe enough.
I nodded and I opened the backpack
and took out the money and handed it to the man. He
counted it quickly and then handed over the keys without another word.I
got into the motorhome and started it up. It sounded a bit rough
but was running steady. The gas gauge showed it was a bit more
than a quarter full and the oil pressure and voltage indicated normal.
I turned on the lights, then got the plates out of the backpack.
I got out and walked around the vehicle to make sure all of the
lights were working as I put the plates on front and back. It
wouldn't do to get pulled over for a burned out tail light or something
in a vehicle with stolen plates and no registration. Everything
looked good so I got back into the cab and waved to the man and he
waved
back and turned to head back into the office.I headed back to
the highway and drove back towards town and stopped at a gas station
just outside it to fill the tank
with gas. As I went to get back in the RV, a really rough looking
biker on a Harley came in from the highway headed north and pulled up
to another pump and went inside. I saw the plates on his bike
were Canadian, from British Columbia. He must be heading back
home. An idea suddenly occurred to me and I pulled my credit card
from my wallet and dropped it right next to the bike where he couldn't
help but see it when he went to get back on. Hopefully he'd think
some poor sucker dropped it after paying for gas and he wouldn't be
able to resist using the card somewhere along the way on his trip
northward. If I was lucky he'd be in Washington state or even up
in Canada before he tried it. It would help to lead the spooks in
the wrong direction. I would never be able to use the card again
anyhow so he was welcome to it. I got back into the RV and drove away.I
stopped at a grocery store in town and went in to get the basic
food necessities like hot dogs and buns and condiments and bread and
jam and peanut butter and milk and so on. I picked up some paper
plates and plastic utensils and
cups and everything else I could think of so we could cook for
ourselves if needed. We could easily stop at drive throughs but
there might be long stretches in between sometimes and we needed to
have food on hand.I packed the food into the fridge and I hit the road and
drove back down the highway until I reached the long curve where I'd dropped
off the wolves.I
was feeling pretty good now. We had a suitable vehicle and plenty
of cash to hold us over for a few days while we made our way across a
couple of states to Mexico. By then I'd be able to use the laptop
and cell phone to get at my bitcoin hoard and get any additional cash
we needed and arrange some fake passports and identification. We
had plenty of food and a place to sleep wherever we stopped. We
would be able to cook for ourselves and shower and use the toilet
without ever having to stop for any significant amount of time in
public and risk getting noticed.Once again the thought crossed
my mind of how much more difficult this would be if I was a wolf too.
In human shape it was no problem taking care of all of this shit,
but if we were all wolves we'd just be on the run with no resources.
As it was we were in terrific shape and would be comfortable
enough no matter how long it took us to reach the border and cross into
Mexico.As I came around the curve and began to slow I saw a
black SUV pulling away on the opposite side of the highway after having
dropped two men off. My heart nearly jumped from my throat and
the RV swerved slightly. I got control over my initial shock and
tried to look straight ahead as the black SUV drove past me at speed
and continued on around the curve back the way I'd come from, towards
the town. As soon as it passed I looked over at the two men who'd
been dropped off and I saw they were using flash lights to follow the
trail of crushed grass the wolves had left on the way to the tree line.One
of the men turned to look back towards the highway when he heard the
sound of my engine. I quickly looked forward again and maintained
my speed and continued right past them trying to look like a
disinterested stranger. The man didn't seem to think anything of
it and turned back as they headed into the trees.Fuck!
These had to be the three men that had surrounded our house.
One of them would be the one Elias hit with the Taser at the
front door. Why the hell did I not think to disable the SUV
before we took off in the van? Why did I leave the keys in
it? I hadn't given any further thought to them. I was sure
we were safe because it would take some time to get anyone else from
their organization out here, but I'd completely forgotten about these
three. They were already here. They would have got back to
the house not long after we'd left in the van. Once they'd dealt
with the mess in the house and had time to get organized again they
were likely able to find a way to get online and track the van's
GPS. If it was like most LoJack systems it would track with
enough detail to detect that it had stopped right here on the highway
before continuing on. They must have realized I'd drop the wolves
off somewhere along the way where nobody would see them before ditching
the vehicle, and they'd seen the tracks leading to the trees right at
the point where the van had stopped. The driver must have dropped
them off and continued on to where they knew the van was sitting now to
try to catch me before I got too far. They would figure out I'd
ditched it and headed into town to find another vehicle, but for now
that's all they'd know.I prayed the wolves were hiding well and
had their heads on a swivel. If they didn't spot the two men
before they reached them they could be in deep trouble. The men
were likely still armed with tranquilizer pistols but by the sound of
what their leader had said earlier, they only needed one wolf alive and
they would likely shoot anyone or anything else that got in their way.
These three would have no clue about what had happened at the
house so they wouldn't know Grace was now a wolf. They wouldn't
really know for sure that Elias was a wolf too. Most likely they
only knew for sure about Cole.As soon as the two men disappeared
into the trees I shut off the lights and slowed to a stop. I put
it in reverse and quickly backed up to where they'd been dropped off.
I pulled over and stopped the engine. I got out of the RV
and dashed across the road and started running hard through the grass
to the point where the men had entered the trees. I still had one
of the service pistols that I'd stolen earlier tucked into the back of
my pants. I'd put the other one in the backpack with the cash.I
didn't like the thought of it, but I had no other option but to shoot
these men in the back. I couldn't risk another fucked up stand
off like the last one, and they were better trained than me and
wouldn't hesitate to take me down if they saw me coming. I was
still a bit angry at being so easily outmaneuvered by the leader at
Grace's house and I was not going to hesitate this time. I had to
take them down quickly while I had the element of surprise on my side
and still had the upper hand.As I approached the tree line I
slowed to a walking pace and quietly slipped into the trees. I
could see flashes of light well ahead of me through the trees so I made
my way as quickly and quietly as I could towards them."Should we turn off the flashlights?" I heard one of them say ahead of me."Why?
The wolf sure as hell doesn't need them to see us plain as day.
We can't see fuck all without them though. I'm keeping mine
on."I was closing in on them and I pulled out the pistol and shut the safety off as I came closer."There it is over there in the grass! See it? It's down on its side!""Let's go!"I
heard bushes snap and twigs break as the two men suddenly launched into
a run. I moved as quickly as I could to try to catch up. My
heart was racing. I had no idea what it was they were seeing.
Which of the wolves was down? Was Elias still too deeply
under the effects of the drug to get away? Where were the other
wolves?I saw a clearing in the woods ahead and the men were
cautiously approaching a wolf who was lying on his side not moving.
It was Cole! I had to try to take the two men down before
they got to him."That's the one we were after! Looks like he must have got tranquilized after all.""Then
how the hell did the chief get his throat torn out? Do you
suppose he managed to tranq the wolf just as it was going for his
throat?"The other man shrugged and said, "I don't know. I
guess that must be what happened. Whoever's been protecting him
must have dragged him into the woods to hide him here and then went
down the road to find another vehicle that we couldn't track.
They could be back here to collect him any minute. We need
to get him back to the road. Call Morgan and tell him to bring
the truck back here pronto. Our priority is to secure this one
and transport it to the lab. I'll put another dart in him to make
sure he doesn't come around."As the one man brought out his
phone to contact the driver of the SUV and the other put away his
service pistol and pulled out his tranquilizer gun I realized I had to
act fast. I emerged from the trees as quietly as I could and
moved swiftly towards them through the long grass while bringing my
pistol up to take down the guy with the tranq first. The one
who'd been pulling out his phone must have heard me coming and he
turned and dropped his phone and immediately went for his pistol when
he saw me coming. I moved to switch targets, but before I could
get a bead on him I saw a streak of white come into my peripheral
vision from the left. Even as I turned to see Grace launch
herself through the air at the man, I saw Elias come in from the other
side. He was going for the one with the tranq gun. Neither
man had noticed the two wolves coming at them from the sides. In the blink of an eye the two wolves took the men down.Elias's
jaws clamped down on the arm of the man who was about to shoot Cole
with the tranquilizer and he yelled out in surprised pain as the wolf's
momentum brought them both down. Elias rolled right over him,
still with the man's arm in his jaws. I heard a sickening crack
as the bone of the man's arm broke in a spiral fracture from being
twisted around. Elias held onto the arm as he rolled and he
whipped his head as he stood back up and a large chunk of the man's
flesh and muscle tore away from the arm. The man shrieked in pain
and grabbed for his arm with his other hand but the sound was quickly
cutoff as, without hesitation, Elias then lunged at him again and went
for his unprotected throat. In a heartbeat he crushed it and held
on as the man started to convulse.I heard panicked yelling and
shouts of pain and looked back over to where Grace was dealing with the
man who'd been going for his pistol. She had dragged him further
away from Cole. She had completely lost control over herself and
was whipping him around like a rag doll. Pieces of his flesh and
clothing were flying as they tore loose from the force of her pulling
him around. She'd yank at him and shake him with such force that
a part of him would tear loose in her jaws, then she'd whip her head to
send the meat flying and then lunge at the man again in a frenzy,
trying to finish him off. He was doing his best to use his arms
to protect his throat so she'd been tearing at is arms, his legs, his
back when he tried to scramble away, and she'd shake and yank at
whatever she was gripping with her jaws, flinging the man around until
the flesh gave way, then she'd move back in again.She finally
turned her attention to his soft belly and bit into him and began
shaking her head from side to side like an enraged rabid dog. Her
blood-covered muzzle came up again as she pulled her head back and I
nearly became sick as I saw the man's intestines in her mouth and she
pulled to rip them from his body. It was like she was in a blind
frenzy and she was not going to stop as long as he was still moving.
These men were threatening her pup and she was not going to give
them another chance to harm him.The man was getting weak quite
rapidly and he moaned in agony as he saw his guts being pulled from his
body. He feebly reached down as if to try to get hold of them and
keep them in and as soon as his hands were away from his throat, Grace
dropped his entrails and lunged in and tore his throat from his body.
She whipped the torn flesh aside and as he flopped on the ground
in his death throes she snarled and went back in to grab him by the
neck again and began to spin him as if trying to sever his head from
his body.This was not Grace. It couldn't be. She
wouldn't be this brutal. The wolf was completely in control of
its body now and it was seriously enraged and wanted to take it all out
on this man. I began to wonder about my own safety.Grace
must be trapped inside, watching the horrific mauling and trying to get
control back, but not experienced enough yet at controlling the wolf to
end this. The shock and horror of it must be so powerful that
she'd turned away inside and was hiding in some corner of this
creature's head, which only served to give it even more power to do as
it willed."He's dead! Grace, you have to get it under
control!" I shouted, as the wolf continued to whip the man's body this
way and that.It heard me shout and dropped the man immediately,
but not because Grace had got back control. She turned to face me
and her hackles immediately went up and she snarled. The wolf was
still in a rage and it didn't know me well enough yet and had likely
pushed Grace so far to the back that it was getting no cues from her
about me. I looked too much like these other threats and the wolf
was not going to waste time before taking me down too.I realized
my mistake immediately. I should have stayed quiet and backed
away into the woods until Grace got the wolf back under control.
I crouched a bit to bring myself lower and started to back away
to remove myself as a threat to the wolf."Grace, please.
You have to get it back under control. You have to try," I
pleaded, while trying to keep my eyes down and not do anything that
would cause the wolf to lunge at me.Out of the corner of my eye
I saw Cole stand up and start barking desperately at her. He must
have been playing dead to be the bait for the men so the other wolves
could come at them from behind and catch them off guard. He must
realize what was happening as he'd lost control of the wolf too when
he'd killed the hunter the day before. He knew Grace was lost
inside the wolf and he was trying to snap her out of it.The huge
white wolf looked briefly back at the one she'd been protecting, but
seeing him there only reminded her exactly why she couldn't let me
live. I was another threat to her pup just like the others.
She looked back at me and her ears went down and back against her
head and a low and menacing growl vibrated from deep within her chest
as she bared her incredibly long and sharp teeth that still had shreds
of flesh hanging from them and she began to move towards me. I could feel my bowels start to loosen in fear as I realized the
predicament I was suddenly in. This wasn't Grace and I was about to
get torn apart and strewn all over the clearing like the other guy had
been, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.Elias
suddenly ran in front of me and turned to face her and his hackles went
up and he bared his teeth as he began to snarl and threaten the white
wolf back. She snarled back at him and barked once and he
immediately went into a rage and began to bark and spit and snarl in a
rage as he advanced on her.The white wolf's animal instincts
kicked in again and she realized she was no match for the much larger
male wolf and she immediately went down on the ground as he came up to
her. She went into full submissive mode to the one she saw as the
alpha and she flattened herself on the ground, then rolled onto her
side to bare her belly and whined.Almost immediately as she
submitted Elias calmed down from his rage and he simply growled low and
long to let her know she'd better not try anything. I could see
the white wolf suddenly shake its head and look over at me. It
was like Grace was suddenly driving again. She must have
regained control as soon as the wolf submitted and retreated into her
mind.She stood and her tail went between her legs as she whined and approached me with about as much chagrin as a wolf could show.I
relaxed and smiled when I saw she was back in control. "Don't
worry about it, Grace. You haven't had much practice yet. I
somehow managed to keep my underwear clean so it's all good."Her ears came forward and she whined and began to wag her tail."Just remind me never to piss you off in future," I joked.She barked and stood up straighter and then growled while her tail still wagged.Cole ran up to her and nuzzled her blood-covered furry face and she nuzzled him back."That
was too close," I said, "We need to get out of here. There's
still another man in the SUV. I should have thought to slash the
tires on the thing or at least take the keys with me before we took the
van. It was stupid of me."Elias whined and came up and rubbed his face against me as if to say it was OK."The
other guy will be at the abandoned van by now and will know I hoofed it
the rest of the way to town. Hopefully he won't go beyond there
to find the RV lot. He'd have no reason too, really. He
would assume I'd be looking for a vehicle in town. He wouldn't
have much hope of finding me so he'd probably turn around and head back
to join up with these two again. We need to go right now. I
got us a motorhome. They still won't have any idea what type of
vehicle they're looking for. We should still be able to get away
clean if we get moving but we'll have to get off the main highway.
He could still chase us down once he figures out I got back to
you guys and his partners are dead and we're in the wind again.
Let's get going."I led the way back through the trees and
Elias suddenly veered off to the side. He stuck his head into
some thick brush and pulled it back with the big duffel bag hanging
from his mouth. We ran across the road to the big RV and I opened
the side door. The wolves piled in and I followed them.
There was enough room for all three big wolves to lie down and I
threaded past them to the cab and got in the driver's seat and started
the engine.I started driving south again, but I tried to use secondary highways wherever I could. I
bypassed the city and continued on southeastward. The rough plan
I had for now was to drive down into Nevada and right through into Arizona. There was no
need to rush. I needed a bit of time to arrange fake IDs and
passports and that would take several days to a week. I could arrange to pick them up in Arizona or New
Mexico, or even Texas if necessary, and then cross the border into
Mexico. I wasn't exactly sure yet where in Mexico we might
settle, but I sort of had my heart set on someplace on the Yucatan
peninsula. A nice, remote, rainforest-like jungle would be a nice
place to live for a while. We could also go further south into
Belize or Guatemala. We could just play it by ear and see what
looked best. It would be cheap to live down there and there would
be lots of jungle for the wolves to run around in where nobody could ever see them.The
wolves
quickly faded and fell asleep from the bouncing and rocking motion of
the RV on it's old, creaky, soft suspension along with the hoarse
but rhythmic thrum of its engine and the steady hum of the tires on the
highway. I wasn't
the least bit tired yet. I was still vibrating from the intensity
of the events of the night. I decided to drive for at least a few
hours before I started looking for a place for us to park for the
night.It would still be a couple more nights before the full moon, so the
moon wouldn't set until near dawn and the wolves could sleep until then. I doubted I could safely drive
all night without becoming too sleepy but I should be good for a few
hours. Grace would be well rested and could take a shift in the
morning to keep putting more distance between us and the immediate threat while I got some more sleep.As
I drove along I pondered the predicament we were in. It wasn't
quite as desperate as it seemed. Their best chance to catch us
was back there in the woods, but we managed to get away. It was
only my carelessness that even got them that close. Now they had
no idea exactly where we were or where we might be headed. They
didn't know what sort of vehicle we were in so they couldn't tell the
highway patrol what to be on the lookout for. They had no choice
but to set traps on my accounts and wait for a hit, which with any luck
the biker with my credit card would provide for them as he continued on
his way north, sending them off in the wrong direction entirely.Once
we had our fake ID we would be a married couple with their two boys on
vacation heading into Mexico and nothing more. We should be
completely in the clear now if we did nothing to draw attention to
ourselves.I drove for several hours and as soon as I felt drowsiness encroaching I started looking
for a roadside turnout. I spotted a sign for one that was just
eight miles ahead and when I reached it I turned off and found a place
to park.I got out of the cab and went back to join the wolves.
Cole was lying on his side behind the passenger seat of the RV
and Grace had snuggled up behind him, stretched out against her pup.
Elias was off by himself so I stripped down completely and
spooned in behind him as I love to do. The floor was a bit hard,
but it was carpeted and comfortable enough and the night was warm
enough that I wouldn't need any blankets. I was exhausted and
fell asleep almost immediately with my arm wrapped around Elias and the
full length of my body pressed against his thick, warm fur.I
woke many hours later to a commotion and as I sat up in shock and
looked around in the grey light of pre-dawn I realized the wolves had
just finished up their change back to human form, and Grace had let out
a shriek when she realized she was stark naked on the floor in the
middle of a pile of three naked males. She had bolted into the
cab and was peering over the back of the passenger seat with a red face.She
looked over at me and saw me sitting there nude and she said, "We were
wolves with no clothes on, what the hell is your excuse? Why are
you naked, Jake?"I chuckled as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes
and said, "Sorry, Grace. I was so bagged by the time I pulled
over I just wanted to get to sleep. I should have thought about
the change back. I'm so used to sleeping this way on top of the
covers with Elias and Cole, I guess I forgot about you. It
didn't occur to me that we'd all be naked together in the morning.
Try not to be so shy. Elias and I are gay and we're not
interested in you in that way. Cole obviously isn't either.
If we all drop our shyness these close quarters will be a lot
easier to take. We might be living together in this motorhome for
weeks or even months yet, so it's best if you get used to it quickly.
You don't need to hide behind the seat. Come on out.
We can all be part time naturalists now.""Screw that!
I'm a lady and I'm not gonna hang around naked with all you naked
men surrounding me. Give me my clothes and look the other way!
Keep your own junk covered up, too!"While I reached for my
underwear to cover up the worst of my nudity, Elias stood and stretched
and chuckled at her, showing all of himself to her with absolutely no
self-consciousness. "You'll get used to us eventually, Grace.
We'll get used to you, too, if you just relax and let us see it
all. You're a wolf now and you should realize that nudity is the
most natural and most comfortable state to be in. You were
running around naked all night last night. How is this any
different? Try to relax into it. You're gonna be a lot more
toned and fit now than you were before so you have no need to be
ashamed of anything. I bet you've got the body of a supermodel
now. Let us see how you look. I promise I won't take
pictures or anything. Come on out and get your clothes yourself."She
just shook her head and looked down at the floor behind the passenger
seat and said, "Cole, honey, help mommy out and get my clothes, OK?"Cole
was still on the floor and hadn't said a peep. He was so used to
changing with me in our bed now that he'd simply rolled over and
started to fall back to sleep immediately. He groaned and said,
"I'm still really tired, Mom. I just want to sleep a bit longer.""Jake? My clothes, pretty please?" she begged.I chuckled and said, "Fine, I'll get them."I
spotted the duffel near the back wall and went to open it up. I
rummaged around and brought out the clothes I'd put in it for Grace.
I handed them to her and she said, "Thanks, now turn around, both
of you."I turned and went back to join Elias, and he turned
around too. I could hear Grace rustling around and then I heard
her gasp."Is everything OK, Grace?" I asked."Umm, yes, I'll need a new bra though. This one doesn't fit anymore. I can't hook it up."I
heard more rustling and then she said, "Holy crap! I've never
been in this good a shape before. These are my skinny jeans
and they're loose! My boobs are huge and perky, too. I
doubt I could pinch an inch of skin anywhere on my body I'm so tight!
I think there are definitely some upsides to this werewolf thing."Elias
chuckled and said, "Yup, every woman you pass from now on is gonna be
jealous of you and every single dude's gonna want you. You'll
need to get used to that. Your skin will always be perfect and
smooth as a baby. You'll have perfect fingernails and toenails
and teeth. You'll always be fit and toned and perfectly shaped
with no extra fat. Your whole body was just freshly grown without
all the effects of chemicals and environment and aging and poor diet
that people are exposed to for their whole lives. Your body's
absolutely pristine as if it had never been used before and it will be
that way every day from now on no matter what you do with it.""My
God, this is incredible! Cheesecake Factory, here I come!" She
laughed, "I've never felt this good in my life! Now I really get
what Cole was saying about never feeling better than just after the
change. The pain was horrible, but it's so brief it wasn't nearly
as hard to take as I thought it would be, and I was out for most of it
and don't even remember much. I blacked out just as the pain was
ramping up to the worst level and by the time I came back the pain was
fading back down. I guess this isn't such a bad thing after all."Her
mention of Cole suddenly reminded me of another aspect of the change.
"There's one other thing I think might be important. When
Cole first changed back he got his foreskin back...""Oh, shit!" Grace exclaimed before I could finish.I
chuckled and said, "Yeah, I think from a physical perspective you're
probably a virgin again. Your hymen would grow back immaculate
and untouched."She thought about it and laughed and said, "Wow!
Every guy I might ever be with from now on will think he's my
first! I could definitely have some fun with that."I
laughed and said, "I love your attitude. I told you you'd
probably make a terrific wolf. Most of the changes are good ones."She said, "You can turn around now."I
turned and Grace was standing up fully clothed. I'd grabbed a
pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt from her dresser along with socks and
panties and a bra. She said they were her skinny jeans, but now
they hung a bit baggily off her well formed, curved and tight hips.
Conversely, her t-shirt was the opposite of loose now. It
was stretched tight across her chest. Her breasts had become
large and pert and they stood out firm and proud. She filled her
t-shirt completely. It caused the shirt to pull up slightly,
revealing her slim, firm waistline. She looked amazingly healthy
and fit with a tightly toned body from head to toe. She looked
like a hard training athlete, just like Elias and Cole. She would
indeed be turning a lot of heads from now on. Even her hair
seemed to flow in natural, full, soft waves that hung down past her
shoulders. It must be the lack of decades of abuse with dryers
and curlers and chemicals and soaps and conditioners that made it look
better than any woman's hair I'd ever seen before.I thought of
the tired, stooped over, disheveled, baggy-eyed, world-weary mother I'd seen shuffling towards us from the bus stop on the first day we'd
met her. She'd seemed so beaten down and much older than her
years with the weight of the world on her shoulders then. It
seemed hard to believe this robust, healthy, buxom, radiant young
goddess before us was the same woman."Holy crap, Grace, you look amazing!" I exclaimed, "I wonder if it's too late for me to switch sides."Elias looked her up and down, grinning, and he nodded, "You look fantastic."She
smiled and blushed and looked down at herself again and she even turned
and tried to get a better look at her own butt and she turned back and
said, "Thanks, guys. I feel great. Suddenly I'm really glad
you decided we're going to settle in Mexico. I have this sudden
urge to go shopping for bathing suits."I chuckled and Elias laughed."I
guess we should make a detour to do some shopping as soon as possible,"
I said, "It never occurred to me that your clothes wouldn't fit you
right anymore. I've got plenty of cash left after buying the RV.
We can't use the credit card anymore so I tossed it, but it won't
take me long to get organized with the bitcoins and trade them in for
more cash. We won't be near a major center for a couple of days,
though. Will you be comfortable enough until then? If not
we can go a bit more out of our way to make a special trip to finish
getting outfitted sooner if you want."She shook her head and
said, "No, I'll be fine like this if it's only for a couple of days.
Did you get enough sleep? Do you need me to drive for a
while?""I'll need more sleep I think, yes. I'd appreciate
if you would drive for at least a few more hours before we stop for
breakfast. It's best if we keep moving for a while and eat up
some miles. We just need to keep heading down the highway in a
generally southerly direction."She stretched and went over to
the duffel bag to rummage around in it until she found her shoes.
"Do you mind if I take a short walk first? I'd like to
stretch my new body out for a bit before I get behind the wheel."I
smiled and nodded and she put on her shoes and went outside. The
sun was just starting to come up over the horizon and she said, "It's
beautiful out here! You should see this sunrise!"Elias
went and opened the door wide to look and I heard Grace say, "Close the
door, you goof! You're still buck naked! There's other
campers around here."Elias laughed and said, "Sorry, I forgot. Hey, knock before you come back in, OK?"She
chuckled and said, "OK, I'll try not to be back for half an hour or so.
I'll wait until it's done rockin before I come knockin.""Thanks," he said, and he closed the door and turned to me and grinned."She's
so awesome. I'm glad it happened. I know she might not have
wanted it, but I think it's for the best. Cole gets to have her
with him for the rest of his life now."I nodded, "Yeah, it might
seem like it's for the best and I'm sure Cole will be a lot happier now
knowing he won't have to watch her grow old, but I'm not sure how
she'll feel when it all catches up to her.""What do you mean?""She
told me just yesterday how lonely she's been feeling. She needs
real, intimate love, Elias, like you and me and Cole have with each other.
How the hell is she gonna get that now?"He shrugged and
said, "I somehow found it, didn't I? You're not a werewolf, yet
here we are, completely in love. Who says she can't find someone
like you? Someone who'll except her as she is and fall in love
with her regardless. Hell, maybe he'll even let her turn him and
they can be together forever, just like eventually I'll turn you and
we'll be together forever. I think she'll be fine.""I guess you're right.
She told me she'd make a crappy wolf but last night she
definitely showed she could handle herself in a crisis no problem."Elias
shook his head and said, "Last night was a bit of a mess, but I think
it's just because she got put in that position when it was just her
first time as a wolf. I don't think she's had the chance to
really think about it yet but I'm pretty sure it will affect her when
she remembers it all and has time to think about it. She really
lost it. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stop her wolf from
killing you. We need to try to stay out of trouble long enough
for her to really get used to being in control of a giant wolf's body."I
nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's good that she was able
to take that guy down, but the overkill was a bit unsettling. I
felt real fear for a minute there and I thought I might be a goner.
It's a good thing the wolf's instinct brought it back under
control when you threatened it. You're the alpha of the pack and
as long as you're around you'll probably be able to control her if she
loses it again."He chuckled and said, "It's weird to think of
myself as an alpha. To me you're the real alpha. Can you
imagine what you'll be like when you're a wolf, Jake? That's
gonna be awesome! I get the shivers just thinking about what a
massive he-wolf you're gonna be. I can't wait to see it and find
out what it's like having you tied to me."I smiled and said, "I
was thinking about that just last night when I saw how big Grace was.
It seems like the wolf is almost double the weight of the person,
so I'm gonna be pretty huge by wolf standards."Elias smiled and
nodded and he came over to me and wrapped his arms around me.
"You really pulled us out of the fire again last night.
Things could have really gone badly with those guys at Grace's
house. I can't believe those assholes almost got Cole. I
never want to see this family broken up. If anyone tries to touch
him again they'll end up like the one Grace worked over last night.
I'll make sure of that myself. We need to stick together
like glue from now on. Who knows when those people might pop out
again.""Don't worry about it, Elias. There's not much
chance they'll ever find us again if we're careful. Like you
said, if they do, they won't like what happens to them."He nodded and said, "Lie down, Grace only gave us half an hour."I
smiled and lay down on the floor and Elias wasted no time yanking my
briefs down and off, and then he turned himself around and straddled my
head and settled down into a sixty-nine. He was already hard as a
rock and I eagerly slurped his stiff tool into my mouth and greedily
sucked at it. He moaned and started to suck on my balls as he
reached a hand under my butt and started to finger my asshole.I
could feel my cock begin to inflate rapidly as it always does when we
start to get busy. I heard some shuffling and then Elias started
moaning harder. I opened my eyes and looked up between his legs
and saw Cole's chin. He was tonguing Elias's tight hole and
fondling his balls.Elias suddenly pulled his cock from my mouth
and turned sideways on the floor and pulled his crotch a bit away from
my face. "Lie on your side Jake. Cole, suck me and Jake can
suck you."Cole grinned and moved over on the floor to lie on his
side and I rolled onto my side too. We repositioned a little and in
no time Elias sucked my raging hardon into his mouth and Cole put his
mouth on Elias's cock. Elias was lying on his left side so he
moved his right leg up a bit and put his foot down behind his left knee
so Cole could have full, easy access to his package. I did the
same and then Cole did it too and I happily sucked his firm young tool
into my mouth.The three of us became lost in what we were doing
as we sucked and moaned and groaned in a triangle on the floor of the
motorhome, each drooling from the pleasure of sucking the beautiful
tool that was presented to us.I became more and more into it as
I alternated between sucking Cole's hard cock, and then sucking his
balls, and then putting my right hand behind the knee of his raised leg
and pulling to move his asshole into range so I could eagerly work his
tight, tasty hole for a bit with my tongue. He loved when I
rimmed him and the sensation quickly drove him over the edge. I
could feel his asshole begin to pulse so I released his knee to let his
leg go back and bring his cock back into range and I slurped it back in
and began to suck him hard, pulling my head back and plunging it
forward again to take his full length in. I worked my left hand
between his legs and started to finger his little asshole and fondle
balls while my right hand moved over his body and caressed him and
pinched at his nipples and he began to moan loudly.Elias had
been treating me much the same way and I could feel my orgasm rapidly
boiling up as he started to work my thick cock to the point where he
was slamming it hungrily right to the back of his throat and pushing
until the head went right into his throat. He'd pull off and moan
and plunge his head back down again, over and over.I could hear
Cole moaning and slurping and sucking as he worked at Elias's crotch
and we all fell into a rhythm of moaning and bucking against each
other's faces as we came closer and closer to the peak.Elias
plunged his face onto my cock and pushed my cock head into his throat
and swallowed again to squeeze it and I could take no more and I
groaned as my nuts began to tighten and the ball of electricity that
had begun building between my legs expanded at an incredible rate and
shot out to every corner of my body and I convulsed as my powerful
orgasm crashed into me. I began to buck against Elias's face,
shooting pulse after pulse of thick cum down his throat and he moaned
and I felt him jerk hard as his orgasm hit him and he shot his big load
into Cole's mouth.Cole began to buck fast and hard against my
face as the urgency of his need overcame him and his orgasm rapidly
began to build to a crescendo. I could feel his ballsack tighten
up under my fingers as I continued to work it and he suddenly tensed up
completely and filled my mouth with a long spurt of his seed. He
pulled back and slammed into my mouth again and another volley of cum
shot across my tongue. I moaned and sucked down every drop as I
continued to buck my hips and pump the last of my load into Elias's
mouth and he did the same to Cole.We moaned out the last of our
orgasms as our bucking slowed and eventually stopped, and we all held
our positions and sucked out the last few drops from each other.Finally we all pulled away and rolled onto our backs and sighed our contentment.Cole
turned around and crawled up in front of me and stretched out against
me and kissed me and sleepily said, "I love you so much."I smiled at him and said, "I love you too, Cole."Elias
turned and crawled up to join us, putting Cole between us and he said,
"I love you both. Life will never be better than this. I
can't believe how lucky I am.""We're all lucky. We're safe and healthy and happy and we're all still together."Cole asked, "Do you think they'll find us again, Jake?""No,
buddy. I think we got away for real. There's no way for
them to track us anymore. We just need to stay off the radar from
now on.""Good," he said, as he yawned and snuggled in closer to go back to sleep.Elias draped his arm over Cole and he snuggled in close too.I
was fairly certain what I'd told Cole was the truth. I couldn't
think of any way they could find us now if we were careful.We'd
be a lot safer once I had fake ID for all of us. We were in
danger right now if we got pulled over for some reason. It might
be best for me to burn every bit of ID I had on me. It would be
better to be caught with no driver's license and no ID at all than to
be caught with my current license. No doubt the agency that was
after us would be watching closely and my name would trip alarms that
would have them swooping down on us in no time. Once we had new
identities, if they were good ones, we'd just be Mr and Mrs Nobody and
we'd even be in the system under our new names. If we were pulled
over for a routine violation on the road it wouldn't be a problem at
all, but right now we had to be extra careful. I lay my arm
across both boys and pulled them closer in to me to feel their
reassuring warmth. We lay together on the carpeted floor and
before long the afterglow of our orgasms began to drag us all back down
towards sleep.