No Choice

by Mel Todd

  All we can do is try, and we are doing that.

  She rose, grabbing the odd gun. Because they were going to be around kids all day, it had been decided to forgo their normal service weapons, and they would only carry tasers. It was a low risk assignment, and to make them seem more approachable even the bullet proof vests had been left behind. Not wearing one left her feeling too light, off balance almost. But it made sense, besides a day working with kids would be exhausting, adding the heavy vest would have added to it, and made her less flexible.

  Gathering up the rest of the stuff, she headed out to the bus where JD and Kala were already waiting for them. JD hadn’t managed to convince anyone to let them wear kilts, so they were all in normal patrol uniforms. The bus however was a sight to see.

  How in the world did I find myself in an episode of the Magic School Bus?

  It had been painted green with animals prowling around the base of it, images of all the shifter types that had been identified so far. And the idea was the kids would find themselves in the animals. The zoo trip was so they could see the animals they could be and learn though McKenna had kept silent about the strange symbols she kept seeing. No one else had mentioned it, and she didn’t need to lose her job because of concerns about her sanity.

  With a quick shake of her head, she shut that fear down, refusing to even acknowledge it, instead walking up and giving everyone a smile.

  “We ready to do this?”

  “Yep,” JD replied with a half nod. He had his coffee in his hand even if it was almost nine am.

  “Kala, glad you can come with us.”

  She flashed McKenna a smile, more at ease since the weekend. “Thanks. Raul got sick I guess, so this should be fun. Different at least.”

  With one last glance around, they climbed into the bus where a taciturn old man by the name of Alfred nodded at them, and started it up, and they headed to the first school.

  The first two schools were quick, picking up a total ten kids and four parents. The first one was a middle school, then two elementary schools. For now they had decided to think of something different with the high school, but no one could agree to anything else. But McKenna was looking forward to their next stop where Toni and the kids would be getting on.

  Kala was in back with the older kids, and the chatter going on back there sounded fun and lively. JD stayed mostly with the driver though his very presence encouraged good behavior. As the bus pulled up to the last school, she scanned the small group, and picked out Toni and her two kids almost immediately.

  Jessi was all but bouncing in place, her hair pulled back into a pony tail, and Jamie scuffing his feet trying to look bored, even as he darted looks at the other kids. One of them a slightly older kid stood a bit apart, white blond hair, and clothes that looked worn hard and not well cared for.

  They pulled up and McKenna stepped out to welcome everyone, her practiced speech flowing easily at this point. The forms were turned in, liability and that sort of stuff, then the last set of kids and parents climbed in and they set off towards the zoo.

  Toni dropped into the seat behind McKenna as the five kids that had boarded all streamed into the back, the twins babbling and talking about animals. The other parent, a dad, took a seat near JD and they fell into talking about something. McKenna didn’t focus enough to pay attention, but she thought it might have been sports.

  “You look exhausted,” she told Toni.

  “Well it is the middle of the night for me. And these two have been bouncing off the walls all morning. I’m surprised their teacher didn’t strangle them. I was about to. How about you? How’s this working out?”

  “We’ll see. I’m hoping to get back to patrol, but until this dies down, and I can quit being in the public eye, it isn’t going to happen.”

  “True. This will be fun though. They’ve been looking forward to it, like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “Good. I have no idea what the zoo has ready for us, but it should be educational, and fun.”

  The ride passed with the chatter of kids and adults until they arrived at the zoo. The zoo had gone all out, and one of the zookeepers even changed for them into a wolf, the other zookeeper explaining the different parts of the animal and how they matched up to human body parts. By the end McKenna was impressed and had learned a lot about her animal too. They had lost track of time after a late lunch and were running late as they finally left the zoo after four. The day had been quiet and there hadn’t been more than a few random comments on social media about the outing, and most of those were positive. The kids were mostly glowing, and even the twins had settled down.

  “Come on, everyone inside,” McKenna cajoled as the bus pulled up in front the doors swinging open. Kala led the way with the six younger kids, and the parents hung back still chattering about what they had learned. From the day McKenna had realized only Toni and one other parent shifted. The others were the only person in their family that did.

  She paused walking up to the bus, something catching her attention, and she didn’t know what. She stood frozen trying to figure out what was eating at her, but then shook her head and climbed up into the bus.

  “Okay, everyone is right behind us -” she broke off as she took in the scene as the door shut behind her. The six kids sat on the benches, eyes wide, faces pale, and a man she didn’t know sat in the driver’s seat, and another stood behind Kala, a wide smile on his face and a gun to her head. A third sat on one of the seats to the side, behind Jessi and Jamie. The door closed behind her, and pounding started on it almost immediately. But she didn’t pay any attention, all her focus on the men in the bus.

  “This should work.” The smiling one said. “Drug them, get rid of the pretty one. We’ll keep the famous one.” He said all this with a calm voice as he held a gun at Kala’s head.

  The one holding the gun to Jessi’s face waggled it, and Jessi’s wide green eyes locked on McKenna’s fear clear in her face. The cat snarled and wanted to come up, but she held it in check, the risks right now were too great. She shifted her attention to the man who had the gun to Kala, her face leeched of all color, but her eyes were steady as she looked at McKenna.

  A needle pierced her skin, and she turned snarling at the driver who had just injected her. She felt something in her body start to respond, but it was sluggish and undirected.

  “Now, now. Don’t get all furry on me, or some of these sweet little things might not make it off this bus alive.” The cat snarled at the drug flowing through her system, but there was no option she could see to take them all. If she went for one, Jessi died. If she went for the other Kala died if she went for the third they would kill them both. Stymied, she sat back and fought to ignore the drug, the cat, and her rage, which was quickly fading as the drugs crept up over her.

  “Good, kitty. Nice to know you can be taught. And they say cats aren’t trainable.” He motioned her over to the seat nearest the driver. Legs weighted with anger and fear she moved to the seat, stumbling a bit as she turned to sit.

  He walked Kala to the door where JD, the parents and the other kids, were all outside. JD was on his radio, Toni, her face locked into a mask of calm, had the other kids well away from the bus and behind concrete flower pots.

  Her vision started to go gray at the sides, but she fought to stay conscious, waiting for the right moment. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a man giving the kids shots, as tears ran down their faces and they sobbed, but most were so scared they didn’t fight. But the look on Jessi’s face scared her to death. Anger and resentment as she stared at the man that had Kala at the steps.

  “Here, this should keep you all busy.” His voice calm as he pushed Kala down the steps. She tumbled out of the bus, trying to catch herself, but she couldn’t stop the fall. The smiling man raised his gun and fired twice. From her vantage point McKenna could see the dark bloom of blood spreading across Kala’s back as she slumped and fell forward.

  The sound of her own scream, the cries
of the kids, JD’s hoarse bellow that shifted deeper than humanly possible, and the gunning of the bus engine created a cacophony that dragged her down into darkness.

  Chapter 31 - Sit Rep

  The recent decision of the US Supreme Court granting all shifters the same rights as everyone else, was met with mostly approval through the US, but there has been serious backlash from other nations. There is a motion in front of the UN right now to declare anyone who can turn into an animal, an animal, with no rights or protection. Plus, for the few extinct animals that people have shifted into, there is a demand for them to stay in animal form and breed to replenish this species. Most insiders expect this to fail badly, especially since there are at least three UN ambassadors with shifters in their immediate family. Iraq has declared all shifters to be ‘anathema’ and killed on site. And in a policy reversal from North Korea, all shifters have now been declared ‘classified’ and they are required to report to the nearest military installation. A few of the smaller African countries seem to have gone the opposite direction with the shifters becoming the ruling class. For the most part however, this seems to have become the new topic of choice at the water cooler. Who could, who couldn’t, would you date one, would you employ one, would you do X with one? The world for the most part seems to be waiting to see if it really matters in the long run. ~ TNN Anchor

  A low whimper, a tugging sensation from her scalp, and wetness on her shirt all combined to pull her up from the darkness. McKenna lay quietly for a moment, trying to get her brain to jump start, to figure out everything.

  Images, memories of what had happened flowed back into her mind and she locked her jaw to keep from making a sound as the image of Kala and the blood flashed before her eyes.

  That has happened, you can’t change it. Deal with the now.

  She cracked her eyes open the tiniest bit, trying to see if anyone was around, while listening more carefully than she’d ever bothered before. She could hear soft whimpers, a sob, and rustling. But there was no scent of gun oil or powder, but she did smell fresh blood. Opening her eyes fully she glanced around, taking in the large room, with mats on the floor, bunk beds, and a bunch of scared kids.

  “Miss Largo?” She turned to the voice and saw Jessi there holding Jamie who still looked to be unconscious. The other kids were starting to wake up, eyes large, and tears on their face.

  “Hey. I’m here. Let me get up and take a look, okay?”

  Jessi nodded, her lip shaking, but eyes hard as she protected her brother from the other kids. McKenna pushed herself up and stood to inspect the room. A galley kitchen, two doors on one wall, and another door on the other wall. Sleeping mats, and up in the ceiling video cameras. Her blood chilled as she calculated the angles of the camera, realizing they could see almost everything in the room. This time she accepted the knowledge of how to do that and didn’t take the time to worry about it. Other things were more important than her sanity.

  She turned and looked at the kids, running over in her mind who and what they were.

  They were all elementary school kids, none of the teenagers had gotten on the bus.

  Jamie and Jessi both seven and in first grade.

  Charley Davis, a third grader and a white wolf, had been the kid she noticed earlier. Standing to the side, his clothes worn, his blue eyes open, as he watched her and the others. But he didn’t move, taking in the situation with a wary expression. His calmness both set off warning bells and told her he might be someone she could lean on. Though she fought with the idea of trusting a nine-year-old with this level of responsibility.

  She kept looking and her eyes landed on Nam Bara another first grader. The fragile looking girl turned into a tiger, well a tiger cub. She was still unconscious, but McKenna could see her chest rising and falling with steady breaths.

  Paul Harnen, a cougar, third grade, a stocky boy with brown hair and hazel eyes. He shook his head trying to sit up.

  The sixth kid was behind her, whimpering a little. She turned to look at him, Jalmer Johan, who turned into a honey badger of all things, sat holding his leg that was bleeding sluggishly. McKenna analyzed it, painful, but not threatening, it could wait until she finished assessing the situation.

  None of the backpacks or coats had come with, just the kids in their clothes, and she’d had all of her equipment stripped. They left her in just her uniform, they’d even taken her shoes, though not the kids.

  Standing up slowly, McKenna moved over and opened one of the doors near the back. It revealed a simple bathroom, toilet, shower stall, and sink. Filing the information in her head she headed back and tried the other door. Locked, she looked again and realized the door had been nailed shut. Getting in there wouldn’t be quiet or easy. That left the last door. She walked over and looked at it. The other two had looked like regular doors, this one didn’t.

  About four feet wide and eight feet tall, it had a weight to it, and the wheel in the middle implied it was meant to be sealed. She gave an experimental tug, but it didn’t budge. Leaning up next to it, she smelled at the crack, and got nothing. Airtight.

  This is so not good.

  Increased sobs and harsh breathing pulled her attention back to the kids. Going to the bathroom she got the toilet paper and headed back over to Jalmer, the cold floor soaking through her sock covered feet.

  “Hey, let me take a look. You’re Jalmer right?”

  The boy looked up and nodded at her, tears streaking his face, but he didn’t say anything just held his leg out for her. She wiped the blood off, it looked like a cut as if his leg had gotten snagged on something sharp.

  “It’s not bad. Look it’s already quit bleeding.” McKenna finished cleaning it as best as she could with the toilet paper and a bit of water. By the time she was done, Jamie had woken, and he sat close to his sister watching everything with matching dark eyes.

  All of them were awake now except for Nam. She moved over to touch the girl gently. “Nam?”

  The girls’ eyes flew wide open, and she started to hyperventilate.

  “Nam, I’m here. Remember me?” The words didn’t make any difference as the girl began to thrash, then she started to change, stripes appearing as her body morphed into that of a large tiger cub.

  Oh shit, Nam.

  McKenna wrapped her arms around the girl, trying to hold the now squirming and snarling tiger cub. The girl, who for all her relatively small size—she couldn’t weight more than fifty pounds—was very strong and agile.

  “Nam, calm down, Nam!” McKenna inserted authority into her voice, and clamped down hard on the cat, ignoring the deep scratches the terrified girl inflected.

  “I see I selected the correct person for the job. Or should I say animal?”

  The voice came from all sides of the room, and McKenna froze, as did the kids she noticed. Even Nam in her arms stopped struggling as the cub turned trying to isolate the voice.

  McKenna focused in on the cameras and the bright green lights that seemed to stare at her little group.

  “And what job would that be?”

  Keep him talking, the more they talk, the more you learn about them. Find out everything you can.

  “Ah, to train these guards. I figure intelligent animals, with the right levels of training, will forget what it means to be human, and will be the best guards money can buy. And I will be the one selling them. Young kids are so easily molded into what you need them to be, I have faith you will be very good at it.”

  “And why would I do that? Why would I help you destroy these kids?”

  “Because otherwise, I’ll shoot them in front of you, just like I shot the other cop.”

  His calm, matter-of-fact tone sent rivulets of ice down her spine, and the cat hissed in the back of her mind.

  “And how am I supposed to do that?” She kept her voice flat, even as she petted Nam, trying to soothe the terrified girl.

  “Oh, I’ve been reading up on that. Studying actually. The Third Reich had some excellent ideas on
it. As did a number of cults. What Jim Jones did was fascinating. He managed to convince parents to kill their own children because they believe in him so much. Now I don’t think I’m that charismatic. I’m not, but I bet, with you being the only friendly face these children have, the only hope they have, they’ll do anything you ask of them.”

  McKenna hadn’t thought she could get anymore scared, but those words proved her wrong. Because he was right. These kids would do anything she asked, listen to her, follow her, because they didn’t have anyone else.

  “So, let’s get started. Have them all strip and shift into their animal forms that is what they will stay in from now on.” There was silence for a moment, then the voice came back. “And there is a first aid kit under the kitchen sink. You might want to clean up that blood.”

  A click from the speakers, and McKenna looked down at the blood dripping down her arms and on to the floor. Rage seethed under skin, but at this moment there wasn’t anything she could do. All the children depended on her, so she had to follow orders, for now.

  “Everyone, you need to shift into your animal forms for now.” Fear and worry flashed across most of the kids' faces, except for Charley, he worried her. Too calm, too still, too aware.

  Jessi and Jamie looked at each other, shrugged, stripped, and shifted revealing two black lanky cubs that cavorted around. McKenna kept petting Nam, and the cub had curled tight her arms.