Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“Order,” Stealth says. “It’s a full moon.”
He says that like it matters. There’s a brief moment in which Order is silent and all I can hear are Justice and Sally saying smug parent things to one another.
“Nobody turns on their first full moon. We have at least a month to find a cure,” Order says.
“Find a cure for lycanthropy, a disease that has stalked the human species since it made the bargain that turned some wolves to dogs? I don’t think so, Order. What is happening to her is irreversible. That means it can’t be changed.”
“Yes. Stealth. I am familiar with what irreversible means. Thank you.”
That’s the last thing I hear before darkness and pain overwhelm me again.
10
I wake up in pain. Not the kind of pain I experienced after my surgery for the gunshots. That pain was like a picnic on a tropical beach compared to this agony. I feel like every part of my body is on fire and being crushed at the same time.
Last time I woke up in a hospital. I am definitely not in hospital now. It is the dead of night, and there is a bright moon shining through old, warped barn planks. I am alone. I am alive. I am free?
I am definitely not in the vault anymore. I have been placed outside it while unconscious. I don’t feel like I am wounded anymore. I feel like I am suffering something much worse than plain injury.
I emit a sob. It is the only sound I can make besides a whine. I am not myself. I may never be myself again. When I try to move, I find that my body is no longer in the configuration I am familiar with. My hands are gone, replaced with paws. My human mouth and tongue have been replaced with a snout and an organ with no powers of speech. I open and close my mouth a few times, feeling much more powerful jaws.
I remember the conversation they had about me. So this is why I am no longer in the vault. They can’t trust me. Order must have put me up here. To do what? To set me free? To abandon me? None of the powerful creatures who swore to protect me as a human are here anymore, but I am not alone. I feel something small, something old, and something loyal.
Obigor sniffs me, pressing very close to my body. He seems to know it is still me inside this strange form. He might be the only ally I’ve ever had. Obigor’s love is pure. He asks for absolutely nothing besides my presence. I nuzzle him with my muzzle, and he licks underneath my chin. I feel a welling of warmth toward him, and for the first time I am able to lick him back without it being gross at all.
He closes his eyes almost all the way, lifts his head, and sits perfectly still as I clean him, the action soothing us both. We stay like that for some time until we are calm and Obigor is asleep.
I get up, quietly. I need to move. I need to stretch. As I get up for the first time on four limbs, I realize my leg doesn’t hurt anymore. There’s no pain, no grinding, no limitation in movement. I try a few steps and find that my new body is absolutely replete with power. I am lithe and I am strong. As a human, I have felt distinctly average almost every day of my life for as long as I can remember. As this wolf, I feel brand new. I feel strong. I feel…
Before I know it, I am running. I have not been able to run since I was shot, but now I bound through moonlit fields, full of a particular joy I never thought I’d experience again. I am free. Completely free. I am not a woman. I am not a human. I am not anything besides what I am. I run for hours, covering vast distances, stopping to drink from rivers and to hunt small prey.
I am careful not to go too far, in case Obigor needs me. I know where my pack is, but there is a great deal of territory to explore in his radius, and I intend to cover it all.
It is so much easier to be an animal. I have nearly no concerns. I’m not worried about work or rent or money. The concept of money now seems funny and pointless to me. Why did I spend so much time trying to gather bits of paper when food and shelter was all around me completely free? I could have gone to the wilds and survived there. Why didn’t I do that? Why did I stay locked to a world of people who didn’t care about me anyway? Why did I make so many efforts to fit into a world that never wanted me?