|
Elena Michaels
Stonehaven, Bear Valley
1549 hours local
After Sarah phoned Bird Dog, I started teaching her some of the basics of being a werewolf. She could Change, but not very
well, so we started with that. All Pack members have to be able to Change on demand. There are a lot of reasons why, but the
big one is this: most werewolves need to Change at least once a week, or they risk their body forcing one on themselves. Being
able to Change on demand and actively doing it allows us to ignore the weekly cycle completely.
We went back out into the forest, and Sarah went into a bush to undress herself. We’d have to work on that to, removing
her modesty. When we Change, we always end up naked one way or another.
Well, first things first. I waited outside the bush, telling her hints on how I deal with the incoming pain. After about 20
minutes of this, I wished I brought something to read. It must have been a fluke of some kind when we hunted. Either that,
or she managed to learn how to Change, but didn’t remember it. When it did come, I thought Sarah had been attacked by
something like a snake. I went to look alarmed, then pulled back sharply as I saw black fur spreading across her body.
Once she was finished, she stepped out of the bush and gave me a ‘now what?’ look.
“Can you understand me, Sarah?” I asked.
She hesitated, and then nodded. Good, even though she was a little slow understanding human speech, she still could. That
was normal.
“Do you know how to Change now?”
She hesitated again, then nodded.
“Okay well then, tomorrow we’re going to do more a few things similar to this, but in the meantime, Change back
and go rest up.” She gave me a look that was clear annoyance, then turned around and went back into the bush.
When she was dressed again, she came out and we walked back to Stonehaven.
Sarah ‘Tomboy’ Nakano
Stonehaven, Bear Valley
1835 hours local
When we got back inside, I really wished I had something in my wardrobe other then my uniform. I had been taken here in it,
and now I was pretty much stuck with it. Elena offered for me to share some of her stuff, but I politely declined. Her stuff
wouldn’t fit me very well if at all.
So, we decided to go to the local mall. Of course, a person walking around in a military uniform would attract attention,
as well as stick out very easily, but I didn’t care.
The standard issue Soviet Union military uniform is more designed for practical purposes then anything else. It’s semi-bullet
proof, among other things. It’s also pretty good stuff to wear at night. But I digress, anyways, we got into Elena’s
car (a nearly-dead Porsche) and drove off.
“Hey Sarah,” Elena said as we drove towards the town. “I’ve heard from a few people at that military
base that your nickname is ‘Tomboy’. Is that right? Where did that come from?”
“Yeah, ‘Tomboy’ is my callsign. I got it from my days at War College. When I first joined in the year 2000,
the Erusian Air Force was only then allowing women to join. I guess the pilots there decided that I was a tomboy for wanting
to join. I’m not to sure exactly. That’s the way first callsigns are: nobody knows where the come from, but for
the most part, they stick with you for the rest of your military career.”
Before we went into the mall however, we went to the bank so that I could get share bank accounts with Jeremy. I protested,
insisting that I didn’t need it, but Elena said that every Pack member had this too in case of an emergency. I reluctantly
agreed, and was soon given a bank card to the Pack account.
Once that was taken care of, we went cloths shopping. Now, I’m not one of those women who spend most of their time crawling
around malls. In fact, I try to avoid them, going only when necessary, and spending as little time there as possible. Especially
now. Little kids where sticking close by to their parents, although sometimes, one wandered off to look at something. My instincts
flared, and Elena grabbed my arm, snapping me out of it. We hurried after I almost lost control near the food court. The scent
of meat, oil, and a myriad of other things almost took me over, Almost.
Elena realized her choice of a shortcut was a bad one, and pulled me towards the bookstore. The smell of the books brought
up a memory that comforted me: being inside the National Library where my brother worked. That quickly calmed me down, and
before long, I was in total control over myself again. We decided to finish our shopping as quickly as possible after that.
We got into Elena’s car, but it broke down about half-way back, so we got out, and had to carry everything back to Stonehaven
as neither of us had our cell phone on us so we could call a tow truck.
I asked her why she hadn’t got her car repaired before we went, but she said that if she did that, she’d have
to hand it over to Jeremy, and that might mean it coming back bright pink.
Once we got back, I went back into my room, I got dressed in my new clothes, and tried again to think of how to explain this
to my family. I didn’t bother asking anybody else, even making it seem like a hypothetical question. They wouldn’t
help me. They would have probably made some noise to Jeremy, and I wouldn’t be able to leave even if I wanted to.
Captain’ Bird Dog’ Roy
Bear Valley, USA
1934 hours local
I had gotten partial clearance to fly. What does that mean? It means that I COULD fly from one place to another, but I COULD
NOT dogfight, or enter the RAG. So I simply decided to show up at Stonehaven, and surprise Sarah.
I called a taxi cab, and told him where to go. I expected him to start asking me questions, but he didn’t, which was
a relief. I wasn’t particularly fond of talking about myself. Not that I WON’T mind you, it’s just that
I’ve been in a few situations that I’d rather not share but if you get me going, and if I know you well enough,
then I’ll talk.
I arrived at Stonehaven at around 7:56 PM, and went inside. I was greeted with glares from Clayton, but I pretended not to
notice, and went upstairs.
I smelled the air, and got Sarah’s room. I approached, being very careful so as not to alert her that I was their and
opened her door. She jumped when she saw me, then ran up close, tried to hug me, but I pulled back.
“Sorry, I would but, my shoulder…”
“Oh… yeah, sorry about that.” she said when she remembered the attack in the Mess Hall.
I waved my hand, dismissing the comment. “It’s okay, I deserved it anyways. Plus, you where still in shock about
the transformation and that always makes bitten werewolves a little nuts. Believe me; I went through the same thing.”
“So, what are you doing here?”
“I was SUPPOSED to go into the RAG for all that lost time I spent here, but I’m still not medically fit for it,
so I thought I’d come by and stay for a while.”
She nodded, and we changed the topic to something a little more fun, well for us anyways: discussing Air Combat manoeuvring
and how to make the most out of certain positions. For most pilots, this is review stuff, but Sarah and I liked to try and
invent new manoeuvres to give the other guy a run for his money.
Eventually, I asked: “Hey Sarah, I know you had your first hunt, but what about your first run? Changing and then run
as a wolf in the forest?”
She shook her head.
“Would you like to? It’s actually pretty fun, especially if you have someone with you. And besides, I haven’t
Changed since I bit you, and that was about six days ago.”
She shrugged and said: “sure,”
We went outside and Changed in separate clearings. Once I was finished, I pushed my muzzle through into Sarah’s clearing,
and pulled back sharply as I saw that she was still Changing. I blocked out the sounds of her Change with the sounds that
forests make.
I waited for a few minutes, and then I was suddenly tackled to the ground. I yelped, more from shock then anything else, and
then I got up, and saw Sarah with a canine smile across her face.
We started to playfully wrestle around, then she suddenly took off. I decided to give her a 15 second head-start, and I waited
until I couldn’t restrain the wolf’s instants to run any longer, which was about 14 seconds.
I managed to catch up to her a few times, but she kept shaking me off. For a moment, I pictured an aerial battle, and how
everyone is always looking for that one position that equals a kill.
Then, suddenly she disappeared, and I took a quick look and sniff behind me. Damn! There she was, right behind me! I tried
to shake her off, but she managed to catch up to me, and tried bring me to the ground again.
I anticipated that, and stopped, turned, and rammed her at the best speed I could manage from a dead stop. We both fell, me
from Sarah’s superior speed, and her from my slightly better weight.
I thought every tooth in my mouth was going to shake loose from that jarring impact, or that my already damaged shoulder bones
would break. Neither happened, instead I got up, shook my head, and tried to help Sarah up. It was a bit difficult, seeing
as how I’d never done that before, but I grabbed the loose skin and fur around her neck, and pulled her up.
She seemed to be as dazed as I was from that impact, but she shook it off, and we continued running, this time through in
more or less formation. We continued running until we saw a small family of rabbits. We snuck up on them and managed to get
two of them, one for each of us, but I simply pushed mine towards her. ‘If you want it, you can have it.’
She took it, and I went off to get something to eat while Sarah was busy. I was about to go off, but she looked up from her
meal and whimpered. ‘Don’t leave, please.’
I turned around, and went back to join her. She pushed the half-eaten rabbit carcass back towards me. ‘If you’re
hungry, then you can have it.’ I took it, and chowed down on it. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I was practically
starving.
After I ate, I thought I heard a growl, and I looked up. I could just see Elena, poking her head through a nearby bush. Sarah
and I got up, and I looked at Elena. I could more or less sense tell what she was thinking: ‘that’s not fair!
Clay and I spent YEARS trying to get back together, and they manage to get back together in a few days!?’
I pretended not to notice that, and Sarah and I went away, looking for some privacy, although, I knew that that was a near
impossibility. With Elena around, generally, Clay wasn’t far behind, and he never saw anything as private. Personally,
I thought he’d make a good chameleon spy, but I kept that to myself.
We got lucky though, and he either wasn’t around, or didn’t take any interest in us. The sun was now beginning
to set, and I was getting a bit tired. I made an over-exaggerated yawn, pretended to fall asleep, turned my head in the right
way, and saw the confusion in her eyes.
I repeated what I did, she got it, and we went off to find a place to sleep. A perfect end to a pretty miserable day, just
what I needed.
Chapter Eleven
|
