A Tigers Stripes Never Change

Chapter 3

Her

I can’t say it was a restful sleep. I was really cold. My clothes had ripped even worse during my time in the forest between being chased and jumping in and out of trees. I had really weird dreams where I dreamt I was an animal chasing prey. I thought I had heard a growl and it woke me up. But when I listened closely, I found that it was me that was growling. I had been having a nightmare of a man in the shadows. He was tall, but he was crouched down. His eyes reflected the moonlight like lasers. Before I could move or yell, he leapt onto me. My neck burned and that’s when I woke up growling. I touched my neck gingerly. It didn’t hurt but I felt a little raised up mark where it had burned in my dream.  

“Drugged,” the voice whispered.

Drugged? So does that mean my dream really happened? The crouched man with the laser eyes stuck me in the neck with something. And not only did it knock me out but it wiped my memory?

A growl ripped from my chest again. I’m so pissed!  My lips curl up over my teeth in a sneer and an immense pressure rushed up from the inside-pushing out. I felt my teeth elongate and watched as my hands began to curl and my nails turn into claws; thick white fur peeked through my skin and grew longer. The sight shocked me and I let out a screech. I closed my eyes tight and pushed against the pressure in my body, stuffing it back down inside. After a few seconds with my eyes still closed, I licked my teeth. They felt normal. I opened my eyes a bit and peeked at my hands. My fingers were straight and the nails back to a normal shape and color. I wiggled them to make sure they were real. The fur had gone away too.

“What the f**k was that?” I uttered. My voice was small and weak sounding from lack of use.

But the voice didn’t respond.

“What am I?” My voice was barely a whisper.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps running and someone gasping for breath. I peered out through the leaves toward the sound. I couldn’t see much from my little spot. I slowly turned my body towards the branch and laid down flat upon it. I used my boots to wiggle closer to the tip of the branch, careful to stay hidden in the leaves. The footsteps stopped but I could still hear heavy breathing. I peeked out again and saw a man with sandy hair bent over by a tree across from mine. He was huffing and puffing; looking over his shoulder. His clothes were filthier than mine with some rips. His eyes were wild with fear and he jumped at the sound of the branch creaking beneath me. He looked all around him again.

A scent wafted towards me, it was mixed with sweat and dirt but there was something different. Something oddly delicious mixed with something equally repulsive. I pulled myself closer to the end of the branch to get a better look….or sniff. The branch creaked again. The man faced me this time and stared. He was searching the branches. I held on tightly to my branch and I froze when his eyes met mine. He stared, taking in what he was seeing then his face brightened up like he won a prize.

“Hey! Hey you! Can you help me?” The man called. “I see you there in the tree! Hey!”

I was still frozen. I couldn’t move or speak. What do I do? What’s he doing here? What’s he running from?

“Don’t worry I’m not gonna hurt you!” He called sensing my concerns. “I…I just woke up here. And I don’t know where I am…..I don’t even know who I am….do I know you?”

I looked through the leaves of the branch, confronting him face to face and I stared at him again. His eyes brows knitted together in confusion as he appeared to try to think of something. That must’ve been how I looked when I tried to do that. He looked back at me again and I shook my head to answer his question.  His head dropped. “Who are you then? Where are we?”

“I…” it came out as squeak. I cleared my throat some and called out to him again. “I don’t know. I can’t remember anything either.”

He looked relieved when I responded. I wanted to hurry down the tree as fast as I could and hug him because I was so happy to see someone else in my predicament, someone who could understand. But something about him made me uneasy. I couldn’t quite put a finger on it but I wanted to get closer.

Ever so slowly I eased out of the branches, he watched me with wonderment as I agilely climbed down until I was at the last branch and took a seat. I peeked at him again. He walked slowly over to me, a smile on his face, a sweet boy next door expression. But his eyes were too bright and excited. They looked at me greedily. Maybe he was just really scared and thought he’d never see another person alive again? He seemed to have been running from something. Maybe he saw what it was? A chill tickled down by spine.

“What were you running from?” I asked.

He gulped and looked behind him again. His eyes were big with fear and he shuffled his feet nervously. “I don’t really know, it was big. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“Yeah I kinda had that experience too. Did you see it though? I was too scared to turn around when it was chasing me. But then it just disappeared as fast it showed up.”

The man shook his head and hung it sadly. “I was too scared to look too.”

I scooted off my branch and landed on my feet without a stumble. The man smiled at me as if impressed.

“Do you remember anything?” I asked.

“No, I woke up in this forest all dirty. I tried to call out but nobody seemed to be around. I guess that was the wrong thing to do because next thing I know I heard a crash and thundering footsteps coming at me. So I ran and kept running and now here I am.”

“Did you see where it went?”

“No, when I slowed down I realized I couldn’t hear it anymore. I heard the branch snap in the tree and I thought I was done for,” he stared at me for a second….fear in his eyes. “Wait how long have you been here? How did you get in that tree?”

“Don’t worry it wasn’t me chasing you. I woke up in the forest yesterday. I got chased by I think the same thing as you did. And just like you it just stopped. It was getting dark at that point so I chose to stay in the trees because it seemed safer.”

The man looked up at the tree and back to me in wonderment. He surveyed me then looked back at the tree, up to the branch where he had seen me, then back to me. He nodded appreciatively and said “impressive. So what’s your name?”

“What’s yours?” I asked dryly and raised an eyebrow at him. He blinked for a second before understanding washed over him and he chuckled with a nod.

“Good point,” he said. “Well, what should I call you then?”

I thought about it. What name suited me? The images of my fingers curling and nails growing flashed in front of me. I ran my tongue over my teeth to make sure they weren’t growing.

“Cat?” I uttered. He smiled at me warmly and held out his hand.

“Hey Cat,” he said “I’m….uh…hm…this is harder than you made it look. What do I look like to you?”

I looked the man up and down. He seemed to enjoy my appraising glances. His scent wafted towards me again and I leaned into it a little. It smelled so good for a few seconds then it tinged with a sour sick smell like it was tainted. I kept my face smooth of a reaction as I didn’t want to offend him. I looked back up towards his sandy blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Sandy,” I said and he made a face. “No? Well your hair is kind of a sandy blonde.” I shrugged.

“How about Andy? Little more masculine than sandy I think,” he replied with a smile.

“Uh, okay, sure. Hi Andy, nice to meet you I’m Cat,” I shook his hand and he beamed at me again. Man was he chipper for the current circumstances. I’m happy to see someone here too but I don’t know…something feels weird. But the voice hasn’t spoken up about him. Maybe it will be okay?

“So what do we do now?” He asked still grinning toothily.

“Well my original plan was to get out of here and find out who I am,” I said. “Guess that’s still a good start as any?”

“Okay, which way do we go?” He asked and turned around looking for a direction.

I scanned the forest along with him. I felt like I was back at square one though. I should’ve been better at marking my path but there’s nothing I can do about it now.  I looked back at the river.

“Before I was chased I was following the river. I hoped it would bring me somewhere where there’s people,” I explained. “I guess we could try that. Maybe there will be strength in numbers.”

“Lead the way,” Andy replied happily.

Jack

My whole body felt heavy. I couldn’t breathe deeply and there’s this awful metallic taste in my mouth. I don’t really want to eat the meat in the Tupperware but I’m so hungry. I knew it had something wrong with it. I could smell it the second the psycho dropped it in the door. I didn’t give in at first. I don’t know how long I’ve been here though and it’s been over an hour of just sitting here and smelling it, the call of the blood got to me.

I crawl across the floor of my tiny cell. It must’ve taken a good ten minutes. Moving is hard. It’s like I can’t get any energy. I sleep but wake up still feeling drained. Sometimes I just sit and stare because that’s all I can do. I tried to escape but the more energy I used the more tired I became. I tried to shift but I can’t. It’s like my animal is tied up somewhere. I can’t hear him anymore.

I reach the Tupperware container of tainted meat. The smell burns my nose and I try to pick at places with the least amount of discoloration but whatever the poison is, it has seeped into every piece. I nibbled a few pieces focusing on the blood and trying to ignore the burning metal taste. I gag a few times before giving up on it. I was already feeling sleepy again.

What the hell is going on...

Andy

I followed behind Cat letting her lead the way. We walked quietly; she seemed lost in thought. I was bursting to ask her so many questions but I needed to keep my cool. There would be plenty of time for questions and answers later; she doesn’t even realize she’s a shifter. I tried reign in my excitement though.

“So what do you think happened to us?” I asked out of curiosity. “Why do you think we are here?”

Cat stopped walking as she thought. She turned to me with a thoughtful expression but her eyes were guarded like she wasn’t sure if she should say something. Her eyes searched my face and she absentmindedly touched her neck where I had injected her.

“I’m not sure honestly,” Cat replied quietly. “I’m really curious as to why I’m dressed like a spy.”

She looked down at her tattered clothing. They were filthy and torn in many places, exposing areas of soft, supple skin. Her hoodie was tied around her waist and she glistened beautifully with perspiration. I inhaled her scent and it was sweet and fruity; with a hint of something wild too. It was intoxicating. I looked down at my own self when she looked up.

“What about you,” she asked. “Why do you think we are here?”

I shrugged; not really sure how to answer. “I wish I knew. I wish I knew who I was.”

Cat nodded in agreement as she turned to continue our walk. She stayed ahead of me a few paces. I wasn’t worried about her running away; she seemed guarded with me but trusted me some at least. I was surprised when she decided to follow the river.  She was right to follow it thinking she’d find people. Well at least one person. This river runs through to the back of my cabin property. We should be arriving within an hour if we keep this pace up.

This has worked better than I hoped. I was ready to just knock her out and drag her back to the cabin like a caveman. I had hoped her caring nature would take pity on a fellow lost like her. Not that she really has a choice. I took a gamble with her drug wearing off, but I’m pretty sure the large dose would last longer on her than it did with the shifter in my lab since I had calibrated it for his size and weight. She was easily a hundred pounds lighter than him. At least it didn’t kill her.

I let her walk a little further ahead of me so I could watch her. She was tall for a girl, definitely over 5’5, I liked that. Her hair bounced in a ponytail as she moved through the forest; sunlight catching it and reflecting blonde highlights. Her body was slender, but lean and muscular in a subtle way. I thought about her legs wrapped around my waist as we had wild, animalistic s*x with each other. My c**k twitches in my pants as I watched her hips sway. My animal pushed against me as if trying to get closer to her. Easy my friend. We don’t want to scare her off too soon. We still aren’t as strong as we need to be. My hand slid into the back of my pants and touched the syringe. It was a last resort if trickery failed before I could get her into the cabin.