No Choice

by Mel Todd

  Well I know I react to movement, and I think I read cats have good night vision, but definitely not for distance work, I can’t see much more than twenty or thirty feet clearly.

  All the information got filed, and she went back to her nose, having saved that one for last, as she already knew it was hyper sensitive. McKenna took a deep breath in through her nose and was flooded with smells and information. It was the information that confused her. She had no idea what worry smelled like. The sharp spice of the cumin and tomatoes made sense as did the urine smell from down the hall.

  I swear if JD doesn’t stop splattering outside my bowl, I’m going to make him go outside.

  She put a mental note to clean the bathroom when she shifted back.

  More than ever she wanted to be outside, to take in the smells. Even an open window right now would have been nice, but she’d closed everything up in preparation for this.

  Sense check. Not going to worry about taste or touch, but I need to look at these new weapons. What I can do will have to wait until I’m outside.

  With another internal sigh, remembering the pictures of the man she had eviscerated, she flopped on her side and pulled her paw towards her. Somehow, she knew how to extend her claws, it was a natural action to have them extend from her paws. They were almost an inch long, a dull yellowish color to her cat eyes. without conscious thought her tongue darted out and linked along the length of her thumb claw, and instantly she tasted blood.

  Ow, how the hell do cats do that. Why in the hell did I do that?

  She swallowed down the blood; the gash hadn’t been deep, and the blood had stopped welling almost instantly. But it proved how sharp her claws where.

  But what else can they do?

  That went down as another thing to check on in the mountains. Just how much damage could she do with these claws?

  Turning in a way that her mind screamed should hurt her back she arched to look at her hind paws, the claws extended. She realized she could wiggle them, but they didn’t retract completely, and long-ago biology information snapped back into her brain. Hind claws on cats didn’t retract fully like the front claws.

  I guess this is something else to research. Great.

  Her tail lashed, and she startled, flying up from the ground in a single move and stared at her tail.

  Well I guess I know why cats startle.

  She lashed it experimentally a few times and nodded as she thought.

  Okay, lots of experimenting and figuring out how much I want to share with the world, cause they aren’t going to let me be a private person anymore, and anything I can do to help stop some of the hate I’m seeing just in what I’ve been exposed to will be a good thing. Maybe Monday I can see this team and what we will need to do. Wonder if they are anyone I know?

  McKenna shook her head, which felt decidedly different as a cat than as a human. She did it again, feeling her ears waggle a bit. Amusing.

  Right now she didn’t have anything else to do, so with a mental effort she shifted. This time it did feel like yoga, assuming a position, slow deep stretch but right somehow.

  Standing in her bra and nothing else she rolled her eyes at her own silliness. Picking up her discarded clothes, she tossed them in a hamper and dug for something else to wear. A pair of denim shorts and a tank top with a built-in bra sounded good right now.

  Pulling on the shorts, which were way shorter than anything she would ever wear in public, she paused as she zipped them up, easily. These had always been snug but now they were buttoning with no effort, a full inch of space between her and her waist.

  McKenna blinked as she thought, and pulled her tank off, looking at her breasts in the mirror. They seemed firmer, higher, just different. She didn’t spend a lot of time staring at her body, usually she avoided mirrors with a passion. Why get reminded of your flaws? But this time she looked. Then she went and got her phone, and after stripping again, she took a snapshot of her standing there naked from all the angles she could pull off. Another minute to lock it away in an app, she got dressed and headed back out to the kitchen. Dinner had started to smell good, but it still had a ways to go.

  Grabbing salsa and chips, she sat down in front of her laptop and started to research, eating as she went. She couldn’t afford to not know anything at this point. And it looked like she had a kilt to order.

  Chapter 12 - Mountain Time

  All hunting has been suspended in the US per federal mandate and in conjunction with all states. At this time anyone found shooting an animal will be charged with murder. Until all animals have been identified there will be no hunting permits or licenses offered. All animals larger than a dog have the possibility of being human. This ruling will be updated as more information is discovered. ~ Notice from US Fish and Wildlife Service

  McKenna heard him before he knocked, and she paused for a minute thinking, trying to remember if she had ever heard him before this. The answer came back as a resounding no. Giving an experimental she identified a smell she’d never consciously been aware of before, but one she associated with JD.

  She undid the locks and pulled the door open before he could knock.

  “Morning, JD.”

  “Hey, Kenna. Ready to go play as animals?” He beamed at her, dressed in a kilt, sandals and a t-shirt proudly exclaiming his ability to ‘bench press your honor student’.

  She rolled her eyes at his shirt. “You know those t-shirts of yours might be part of the reason you can’t get a date.”

  JD glanced down at this shirt and shrugged. “If a woman hates my t-shirts and my kilts, she probably isn’t the one for me anyhow.”

  “Oh, so that is your litmus test?” She grabbed a small bag packed with water, jerky, dried fruits, and protein bars. Passing out from hunger ranked up there with things she didn’t want to do again.

  “Works for me.” JD shrugged as they headed back down the stairs.

  “Except it isn’t working,” McKenna pointed out giving him an arch look. “You aren’t dating anyone.”

  “Hey, pot, watch out who you are bashing on. And I might not be dating, but at least I’m not dating the wrong woman.”

  A roll of her eyes mixed with a snort and McKenna climbed up into the beast of a vehicle though after the last few days her liking for it had increased greatly.

  “So you let your friend know we are coming?”

  “Yep. He told me where the keys are hidden. It’s pretty isolated, and this is the wrong time of the year for hunting, so we should be fine to play and explore.”

  “Good. JD, have you noticed your normal, well your human senses to be sharper?”

  He started up the car and pulled out before he answered. “Maybe. I notice some things are sharper now, and a few foods I never minded I can’t stand because of the smell, balsamic vinegar is way up there. But I don’t know about the rest. But, I did notice I think I’ve lost fat. Not muscle, but fat.”

  “Yeah, my clothes are definitely looser, I don’t know if I’m more toned, but I feel healthier, if that makes any sense.”

  We drove for a minute in silence and she could all but hear the gears turning in his head. JD thought more than McKenna, and that made them good partners.

  “It might make sense, I’ve got an idea or two, but sheer speculation at this point. Nothing I want to even voice until I’ve got more evidence.” The streets were quiet, normal for a Sunday morning, and he opened up the gas guzzler as they got out of town. McKenna rolled down her window and let the breeze, laden with scents, blow across her face.

  “So, remember the mom from the bank?”

  JD cast a lighting fast glance at her, then back to the road.

  “The one that became the big black cat?”

  “Jaguar, but yes, her.”

  “I’m pretty sure the events of that day have been engraved into my memory for all time.”

  McKenna rolled her eyes at him. “A yes would have sufficed.”

  “No, I’m pretty serious. I don’t think I�
��m ever going to forget anything that happened that day, it is almost like it is in Technicolor in my brain.”

  McKenna then thought back and realized he was correct. Every moment was clear as crystal, except for the change itself, that never seemed to stick.

  “Hmm, you’re right.” Nothing else in her memories even came close. But this from the minutes before the change, about the time she started feeling the heat waves until she changed back were all as if she sat in a theater watching it. “I’m not sure what that means or doesn’t mean.”

  “Me neither, but it is an interesting effect.”

  “Yeah.” She fell silent replaying the day in her mind again. It took her a second to realize JD was talking to her.

  “..about the mom at the bank?”

  “Oh, yeah. Both her kids changed as well. And she seems kinda cool. Her husband was a cop.”

  “Was?”

  “Killed, line of duty. Jeffery Diaz?”

  “Oh shit, that was his wife? I’d never met her except at the funeral, and no one looks normal then. He was a nice guy. Damn. You saw her again?”

  “Yeah, Sam’s. We chatted for a few, exchanged numbers. But she totally saved my ass in parking lot. Or at least saved me a hell of a lot of paperwork.” McKenna’s voice was wry as she went back over that memory. It didn’t have the sharpness of the first time, but it still seemed more movie like than her previous memories.

  “What happened?”

  McKenna told him about the idiots and the video, and Toni’s action.

  JD chuckled. “She sounds amazing. You like her?”

  “Umm, not like that. I do prefer dicks, regardless of the talk behind my back.” McKenna retorted with a snort, rolling her eyes as JD blushed and looked away. “But yeah. She seems cool.”

  And lonely. I should know, I recognize that all alone vibe.

  “Besides, kinda nice to have someone else to talk to this stuff about. Someone that is both a woman and a cat.” McKenna shrugged not sure what or why she felt the kinship with the woman, but she wasn’t going to argue.

  “Makes sense. So, let’s invite her.” JD said, his tone neutral, which set McKenna on edge.

  “Maybe later. I’m not jumping into anything, even a friendship. Let’s try this and see what we can learn before we get in any deeper. Monday all hell is going to break loose. We need to know what we are dealing with before we get blindsided.”

  “Agreed. We should be there in another ten minutes. Any idea as to exactly what you want to do out there.”

  “Yes, actually.” McKenna rolled her eyes at his sideways glance. “I’ve been thinking about it. Just because I prefer to do instead of over analyze doesn’t mean I don’t think about stuff. I want to see the range of my abilities. How fast I can run, move, attack. I want to see what else I can see or hear and make sure I am fully in control of myself in that form. I’m still a bit weirded out by how well I seem to know how to use that body. I should be fumbling around and unable to do much more than stagger.”

  “Point. I had been more focused on the physical changes. The calorie burn and what actually happens when you change to think about that. “

  “Yeah, granted that is an issue too.” Something was tickling at the back of her mind about that, but she couldn’t pull it to the front. With a frustrated shake of her head, she moved her attention to the landscape, her mind trying to figure out how this new body would react with it. Changing in the country as opposed to the city would be different, right?

  JD turned his Hummer onto a gravel road that led up through pines. It always amazed her how quickly the landscape in California could change from rolling grasslands to mountains in the space of a few miles. He pulled to a stop at a gate across the road with what looked like a combination lock and clambered out, his bulk making the Hummer rock a bit as he emerged. A minute later, the gate propped open, he pulled through. Once in he got out to lock it again, then they proceeded up the driveway. It was a nice area, trees, but still some clearings. A simple A frame cabin stood up next to the tree line. Looking like a big isosceles triangle with a door in the middle like a mouth, it was a typical A-frame cabin design, the sharp angles of the roof preventing any snow build up, and they were easy and fast to put together.

  “Come on, let me get the key and we can change in there and then go play.” His voice had an odd note of half worry, half excitement.

  Her pulse spiked, and McKenna had to swallow past the sudden lump in her throat, but she got out of the Hummer, refusing to reveal her own conflicting emotions.

  She followed him into the neat cabin. It came across as a vacation cabin, a place to disconnect from the world. She hadn’t seen power cables or telephone cables coming in, and she checked her phone, yep only a single bar. That didn’t really break her heart right now. She wanted a chance to be the animal and see what it could do.

  “Take the bathroom, I’ll strip out here.” JD’s voice was distracted, and she glanced at him to see him staring outside, a faraway look on his face, and she knew what he meant.

  “Okay.” She headed in, leaving the door ajar so she could get back out. The importance of thumbs had never struck her until all this.

  It took short work to strip and then she let the cat come forward, and it flowed into her, fitting in a way she would never be able to explain. A good stretch to snap her mind into this new body and she headed out of the bathroom. JD stood there, well a bear stood there, the door open, he turned to look at her, chuffed, then padded out the door, his long claws ticking on the wood of the cabin floor.

  She followed then turned to pull the door mostly shut with her paws. He had continued down the steps and headed towards the tree line. He moved in a slow ponderous manner, but the power hiding there couldn’t be missed. She followed, marveling at the scents wrapping around her and the sounds. Her ears darted every which way as she caught the sounds of critters moving around them, and the birds in the trees.

  McKenna realized her feet didn’t hurt, and she took a minute to look at her paws, the thick pads softer but more than enough to protect from where she walked, but she still made a mental note to make sure to avoid anything like stickers or ant hills.

  JD stopped at a tree and reared up on his hind legs and she felt a spurt of fear as his power went from unrealized to obvious. He lifted his paws and marked the tree up as high as he could reach. She’d have to come back later and measure it, but she didn’t have any doubt it was over eight feet high.

  He dropped down on all fours and turned to look at her, she shrugged and padded past him, heading into the trees. A tumble of downed trees caught her attention and before she could make a conscious decision, she found herself bounding up them in a few expertly placed leaps and standing at the top surveying everything.

  What in the world? How did I just do that?

  McKenna’s mind spun as she processed that. Instinct? Thought equals action? Or something more. Another thing to file and think about later.

  JD stood below the mound looking up at her, and she swore saw him roll his eyes. She turned her back on him and looked around, and realized while her vision wasn’t the greatest, her ears and nose were dumping a deluge of information, most of which she didn’t understand. Smells that had meanings, but ones she didn’t know, sounds that she knew were prey she could snack on, but wasn’t worth the effort to chase right now. With a tail lash she sank her claws into the dead wood and pulled. The wood shredded beneath her paws and the tugging and stretching of the tendons attached to her claws felt so good she did it again and again, the destruction and the stretching creating a feedback loop of pleasure.

  A chuff and a shake of the trees caused her to scramble for purchase. She looked down to see JD scratching his back against the pile she stood on, shaking it with his bulk. With a snarl of annoyance she pounced.

  What the hell am I doing, he’s my friend!

  Her mental voice shrieked in panic, remembering what those claws had done to the bank robbers.

  She
landed, but her claws didn't extend, instead she launched herself off his back in a smooth move that she knew damn well she couldn't have figured out how to do, but it was effortless. McKenna landed next to him, and he gave her a look she completely got. It had that 'what are you doing' vibe to it, but she didn't have the slightest idea.

  Oh, thank you, I would have never shifted again if I had hurt him.

  Her heart and head pounded, but the stress and anxiety she expected weren't really there. Just adrenaline and excitement. Her tail lashed, and she found herself sprinting towards a tree before she had actually decided to move. She hit the tree in a smooth move and bounced off to land in front of a small bush.

  Shuffling sounds from behind her indicated JD followed though at a much more sedate pace. Giving into the urge, McKenna just ran, springing off of logs and soaring over bushes. The feel of her muscles flexing and doing these leaps amazed her. She reveled in it for a bit before enticing scents pulled her attention away.

  With a chuff of exasperation at herself, she came to a stop and lay still listening to the sounds. She held motionless, not even letting the tip of her tail move, though that took actual thought. The soft sound of JD walking she isolated and dismissed, and instead focused on nose and ears, listening to all the sounds and trying to identify them and match them with scents. but she couldn't too many that she didn't know.

  McKenna narrowed her world down to the scents and sounds in front of her, so when a paw kicked her she leapt straight up, coming down around snarling, hackles up to face a surprised JD sitting back on his haunches, blinking at her. She hissed at him before she even thought about it, the desire to get away from this bigger predator lashing at her.

  He huffed back and stood up slowly sniffing the ground where she had been sitting motionless.

  Oh, he probably didn't see me. He could smell me, I bet, but ignored that scent the way I ignored him.

  A sense of rightness flooded through her, and her blood ran cold.

  How do I know this? How do I know that is the right conclusion?

  It seemed to be a constant question lately, and she raced through her mind, trying to figure out what had made that info seem right. But all she could find were logical pieces that all fit together. With a snarl, both mentally and physically, she shook her whole body, lifting her head and raising her lips to draw in scent. An action that both seemed weird and completely natural at the same time.