On the Road
#9 of Cats and Wolves
September 3rd
I had to leave last night. I'm sitting at the boarder to Nebraska. All I can say is thank god I'm alive. They had armed guards escort me out. I swear one of them was itching so bad to just shoot me. He had his shotgun, he didn't have a pistol like the rest of them, pointed at me the whole time. He had a freaking shotgun aimed at me, and was like... a foot away the entire time. I don't know where else I'm going to go. Tonight I think I'll just sleep where the guards can't see me. They're a few at the boarder, watching me. I don't know how they're going to keep me out of Nebraska itself. I just know that I probably shouldn't go back. At least I managed to grab a lot of my stuff. Got a suitcase of clothes, pocket of cash, cell phone and charger... notebook too, which is why I‘m even writing this. Grabbed about $1000. As much as I could get on short notice from the bank... Just great, I still have half of it in there. Hopefully I can get some more out of an ATM somewhere. Still don't know where I'm going to go. Brandon won't answer his phone, I think he's scared of me. Dad told me that Brandon saw me change. He also said he'd seen it. God, I wonder what happened. I remember falling down in pain, but... I don't remember anything afterwards until I woke up in that cell. God... Did I really kill seven people last night?
September 4th
I had an idea last night before I went to sleep. I'm going to go visit Jessica. It's a long distance, but I don't have anywhere else to go. I called a cab today, made it across most of Wyoming using a lot of my money. Five separate cabs actually. Spending the night in a motel tonight. Don't have much money left already. Man I really was poor. Probably doesn't help that I got a ton of food today. Ate every time I got out of a cab. Staying at some cheesy motel tonight. At least they don't ask questions. At least they don't know I'm that freak kid that turned into a wolf. It's all over the news. At least I'm still in feline territory. I'm going to be getting into dog, fox, and wolf territory tomorrow. Don't know how I'm going to get over the mountains... Or through, or however I get by them. I need to get through Idaho, and then Washington. I just hope news hasn't spread about me to the dog states. God... living with dogs. Ick, vile creatures. Well, maybe not. Jessi's a fox and she's real nice, we had tons of fun talking and stuff. Though I don't know how she'll take me showing up on her front door. I'll call her tomorrow morning.
September 5th
Oh my god! I turned into a wolf! I got pissed at a cab driver for him charging me considerably more than the meter, and, I couldn't help it. One second I was sitting there in the back seat as a feline arguing with him, the next I was a full wolf, growling at him. I changed back quickly, but the guy had already ran out of the cab. Apparently I can shift between the two forms at will, or at least, when I get angry. Heh, now that I think about it, I Hulk out... just, as a wolf instead of that big green thing. That movie was so great. Kinda makes me sad that the humans died out. They made such great classics. So I got a free cab ride through the rest of Wyoming and into a little bit of Idaho. Nifty. Hopefully the guy wont remember my face or anything. In a different cheesy motel tonight. I keep trying Brandon but he won't pick up. I wish he would. I want to hear a familiar voice. I tried dad too tonight. He wasn't home, or wasn't picking up. Talked to Jessica though. She's ecstatic that I'm headed over, but I haven't told her any details as to why, or when I'll be there. I don't even know when I'll get there. Also practiced turning into a wolf and back. Wow, I can do this at will, and it's really easy.
Alex shut the notebook he kept with him and stuffed it back into his small suitcase. He yawned and pulled what little cash he had in his pocket out. "Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, hundred, hundred ten, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. Hundred and seventeen left... Out of two thousand I started with. Jesus frikkin' Christ." He muttered under his breath. Not even taking out the rest of his money from his account had helped. He'd pulled it out before he came to dog country. He slipped the bills back into his pocket and laid back on the bed, taking out his phone and trying Brandon's number again. One ring, two rings, three rings, four, and leave a message. Alex sighed and shut the phone, sitting up again. He was hungry, yet again.
So he slid off the bed and walked to the door, making sure he had his key, phone, and money before he stepped foot out of the room and made sure the door was shut and locked behind him. He didn't trust this cheap place to keep his few belongings safe. For a small bit of extra caution he'd stuffed the suitcase into the closet, hopefully nobody would check there if they went in. He doubted it though. Seemed like the place to put valuables for "safekeeping."
Alexander ended up at a cheap Mexican fast food place, and got a big meal to go for himself, seven tacos. Two things he'd learned over the past few days was that he ate a lot more than normal people, and normal people tended to stare when you were as slim as he was and eating a meal for at least two people with large appetites. So he walked for a while and ended up at a mostly empty park, aside from a couple on the swings who paid him no attention. He sighed heavily and tried Brandon's phone once more, but there was still no answer. He was beginning to think he should leave a message. He didn't like to, but maybe he would have to. He put his phone back in his pocket and started eating his tacos, rushing a little bit. He didn't want to be gone from the motel for too long. He didn't trust staying away from it for too long.
"Hey, did you hear about that one fel that went all wolf and killed a bunch of them?" The guy in the couple said suddenly to his girl in a whisper.
"What?" She asked, apparently not having heard of it.
"Some fel like, turned into a wolf. Like full wolf, not like your buddy DJ. He went around nuts-like and killed a bunch of other fels. It was on the news like a day ago. Rumor is he‘s still alive somewhere." He said in his hushed whisper. It was a conversation meant only for the two of them, though Alex heard every word of it. It seemed like he could hear better ever since the change. It seemed like lots of things changed ever since then. He could hear better, smell better, see better, he constantly wanted meat, and of course there was the wolf-Hulking out thing too.
"Oh my god. Really?" The girl asked, a little quieter now.
"Yeah. Probably why that guy is out here. There's probably a bunch of them running away from their own area to get away from that thing." The male dog said, casting his eyes over to Alex briefly.
"Oh... The poor thing, leaving his home from fear." She said quietly, also looking to Alex.
Alex stared glumly at the two of them, sighing.
"Poor guy, traveling all alone. He should've brought his sweetheart with him." The girl said.
"For your information, he couldn't come." Alex said, standing up and leaving. He had so much else to say to the two, but fear of being discovered as that particular feline kept his mouth shut. He'd finished most of the tacos. Two were still left.
"Sorry." The girl called after him.
"Faggot." The guy said under his breath.
"Honey. Shut up. God, you of all people. Your own brother is gay." The girl said.
"So? He‘s just another fag too." The male said. Alex heard a slapping sound, and anything afterwards he didn't hear, having moved out of range.
Upon arrival back to his motel, Alex had a rather uneventful night, watching TV and trying Brandon's number a few more times. He figured if there was no answer tonight, he'd leave a message tomorrow. He eventually dozed off in the middle of watching TV and didn't wake until about ten the next morning.
When morning came he groaned and sat up, feeling pretty well rested. He hopped in the shower and went through the daily routine there. Soak, lather, rinse, relax, ignore the stench of wet dog. Dogs, ugh, why did they smell so bad when they were wet? Alex couldn't fathom why at all. He only knew that they did, and that he didn't like it. He slipped out of the shower and dried off, getting dressed and grabbing his small suitcase of now mostly dirty clothes. He checked out and called a cab again, waiting at the curb for it to appear. It only took a few minutes.
"Where yah headed to today sir?" The cab driver asked, he looked like a sheep dog, his shaggy fur going everywhere, even over his eyes. Alex was a little surprised that he could even see anything.
"West." Alex answered. "As far as you can go west."
"Well... How much do you have?" The cab driver asked, looking back at him. At least, Alex thought he was looking back at him. His head was facing towards Alex.
Alex looked down. "Only a hundred." He said
"Won't get'cha far." The cabbie spoke, but started driving, turning his head back to the road.
"Don't care, just as long as you get me out further." Alex said.
"Running away? Getting out of that town with the wolf beast thing?"
"Yes." Alex answered glumly, his eyes narrowing at the back of the cabbie's head slightly.
"I tell you, you‘ve got good reason. That thing sounds scary as hell. You heard about it? They finally got a picture out here to us."
Alex scowled silently for a moment. "Yes, I've heard of it." He said.
"What's the matter? Did it kill one of your friends or something?"
"I..." Alex paused, his anger almost getting the best of him. "It was a friend. Very good friend." He lied.
"Girlfriend?"
"Yeah." Alex lied again.
"Sorry to hear it bud."
Alex didn't respond, and the cabbie finally got the hint that he didn't want to talk. The two stayed silent for most of the rest of the trip.
"Well, it's drawing up on a hundred right now. I'm going to have to let you out soon." The cabbie said quietly to Alex.
Alex on the other hand, had different ideas for what the cabbie would be doing. He looked up at the back of the cabbie's head and then back down again. "Sorry." Alex said quietly.
"Sorry what kid?" The cabbie said, pulling to a stop on the side of the road. "You don't have enough cash or somethin'? I'm gunna skin you alive and wear your fur for winter if you don't have the cash for it." the cab driver threatened.
"No." Alex said quietly, quivering a little bit as he drew up his legs. "I've got the cash." He groaned. "I'm... borrowing... the... car." He managed to say, his voice becoming a deep growl as his body rapidly shifted forms. The cabbie looked back at him, and quickly unbuckled and got out of the car, stepping away from it. Alex, now entirely in his wolf form, slipped into the front seat and stood on the driver's side seat, growling at the cabbie.
"Jesus Christ! You‘re the freak wolf thing." The cabbie exclaimed, stepping away and raising his hands, as if it would shield him from the wolf.
Alex stepped out and followed after the cab driver, who progressively stepped back away from him. Alex was in control of himself this time. He kept up the tough act, the driver eventually reaching a distance that Alex felt was good enough. He turned around and dashed back to the car, pulling the door shut with his teeth and awkwardly locking it with his paw before he sat in the driver's seat and shifted back to his normal self, sitting naked in the driver's seat. The cabbie hadn't come back yet, and Alex reached back for his clothes. He quickly threw them mostly on, checked the fuel and keys, then put the taxi in drive and left its real owner on the road. He was in serious trouble now if the cabbie ever identified him. Though he was a one in a few person, not a one in a million. He was, for all people knew, absolutely average. Brown fur, average height, average build, blue eyes, blue collar, blue jeans, a tshirt. He was far too common to be fingered definitively as the wolf beast.