by Renee George
“Yep,” Dominic said. “On me.” He scurried over the edge of the ditch and ran in a crouched position across a gravel road to the back of a nearby building.
I followed on his heels, wincing as the chunky, white gravel dug into the bottom of my feet. I missed my boots along with my coat.
The building was dark and presumably empty. Dom wiggled the door handle of the building. “Locked,” he said.
With a smug expression, I grabbed my lockpick set out of the fanny pack. “See,” I whispered. “It comes in handy.” Using a rake, the tool that looked like a tiny comb, and a torsion wrench, I was able to pick the tumbler and unlock the door. I waggled my brows at Dom.
“Impressive,” he said.
“Let’s get inside.” I cracked the door open and went in first. There were rows of wide metal shelves.
I pulled a large can off the nearest one. It was bulk-sized cream corn. I found dry beans, can beans, large plastic containers of flour, oats, cornmeal, powdered eggs, and powdered milk.
“Looks like we found the food pantry.”
Dom nodded. “This place is stocked to last a year or more. How long do they think this standoff with the humans is going to last?”
“I guess until they run out of grub and start eating each other.”
He held up a gallon-sized container of cayenne pepper. “I bet you this would pair well with filet of human.”
“Yuck.” I giggled. Stop it. “I bet they taste like chicken.”
Dominic chuckled. “Everything does.”
The room was about forty feet long and probably twenty feet wide. Daylight streamed in from small windows high on the walls. We walked up and down each aisle opening items that were unmarked or unsealed. There was nothing suspicious unless you counted the entire wall of toilet paper next to a shelf full of fiber supplements. These people were serious about regularity.
“I don’t think there’s anything other than pantry items in here,” Dom said.
“It doesn’t look like it.” There were six cases of paper towels stacked in front of a cabinet in the back. “Come help me with these. They might be hiding something on the lower shelves.” I handed Dom the boxes one by one until they path was cleared. I sneezed. “Jesus, there is a ton of dust back here.”
I peered down and stepped forward. It was mostly plastic utensils, dish soap, and industrial cleaning supplies.
“Anything?”
“Nope. I don’t think anything on this shelf has been used or moved in a long time.” As I inched closer, a slight breeze brushed my toes. I glanced down to see a quarter-inch crack in the floor. I stumbled trying to step over it, but the pad of my foot dropped down on the edge of the line. I heard a click. It must have been pressure activated switch because a two-foot by two-foot section of the floor dropped open beneath me. I squawked with surprise as I fell in. My leg twisted, catching on the floor as I tumbled through, falling ten feet to the cellar beneath.
“Nic!” Dom shouted. He dropped to his stomach and peered down at me. “Nic! Are you okay?”
“I should have stepped over the crack,” I groaned. Was it the prophecy again? Were Sunny’s predictions coming true? I didn’t want to believe it, but so far, she was two for two.
“Are you hurt?”
I tried to stand up, but the excruciating pain in my right foot, ankle, and calf made it impossible. “I think I broke my ankle. Or at least, sprained it pretty bad.”
“I’m coming down. Crawl back, so I don’t land on you.”
I scooted back using my arms and my good foot to push me. My fingers brushed over something rough, thin, and small. Dom dropped down, and with only the trickle of moonlight through the trap door, it was impossible to see much in the dank cellar, but now that my adrenaline waned and my pain receptors kicked into high gear, I could smell a sweetly scented rot in the room.
I pulled my LED thumb light from my fanny pack and turned it on. The smell in the room resembled a kill room at a chicken factory. Foul. No pun intended. “Dom, something has died down here.”
“Animal or human,” he asked as he knelt next to me. He scooped me up into his arms, cradling me against his body.
“You tell me.” A bear’s olfactory senses were sharper than a raccoon’s.
“With that much decay, it’s hard to tell. It’s probably coming up from the drain. This may be where they butcher their meat in the winter.”
I swung the light around the room. I could see a water spigot on the wall near me, and a drain trap in the center of the floor, but the light wasn’t powerful enough to get a good view of the entire place. I put the light on the object I’d discovered. It was plastic and chewed at the end.
“Hey, I think this belonged to Lloyd Evan. Remember? The other night he took one of those plastic toothpicks from his pocket and was chewing on it like it was a last meal.”
“Could be. Put it in that fanny pack of yours. We’ll see if we can test for DNA.”
Luckily, I had some tiny snack sized baggies. I stuck the pick in one and the piece of metal in another. “We need to get out of here before someone shows up, and I don’t see a door or a ladder.”
“Yeah, that’s suspect. We can’t worry about it now. You’re hurt, and the longer we stay down here, the more likely we’re going to get caught. We’ll come in here tomorrow with the warrant and accidentally find the trap door.”
“I want to do one quick sweep of the room first. This light’s not very good, and maybe we’re missing something. Besides, the smell, while gross, is fresher than that dust up there. There has to be another way in here because those boxes above haven’t been moved in a very long time.”
Dom cupped my cheek. “Okay, we’ll walk around once. If we don’t trip over anything or find any secret passage, we’re out.”
I pressed my palm against the back of his hand. “Agreed.”
As he walked the floor, we both heard a sound like plastic dropping on the concrete. “I kicked something,” he said. Dom squatted while still holding me, which I found super impressive but when he stood up, he smacked my hurt ankle against the wall.
“Ow, ow, ow.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he said with real sincerity. “It’s a broken piece of metal or something. It’s got a pattern cut into the top, and it feels rough and damaged.”
“Pocket it.” I swung the light at the walls. In the back, there was a black sheet hanging across the wall. I had “T.S.S.” sewn on in white letters, and under that, it said, “Freedom isn’t free.”
“What’s that?” I squiggled the light over the signage.
“Let’s check it out.”
He walked us over, and we pulled back the sheet. A large metal door with several bolts and slide locks, all of them engaged, was set in the wall. “There’s our out if we can get the door unlocked.”
“Or it could lead us right into the hands of the TSS. We don’t know that it goes outside the compound.”
My eyes watered as the pain in my foot worsened. I flinched but didn’t complain. “There is only one way to find out.”
“But if we go this way, the preppers will know we’ve been here. We have to close the trap door and put the boxes back. We can search it tomorrow when we come back with the warrant. Besides, you need to see the doctor.”
I wanted to argue, but the pain was excruciating now. I nodded. “Fine. Let’s go. I think I’m going to have to shift or there’s no way we’re getting out of here unnoticed. My raccoon form can function better with a hurt ankle.”
“When you shift back you’ll be naked.” He didn’t sound disappointed.
“Yeah, but you won’t see it because I’m not shifting back until you get me to Doctor Smith’s place.”
I could hear the grin in Dom’s voice. “Spoilsport.”
“Yep. Now let’s get out of here.”
Dom lifted me until I could grab the edge of the upper floor and pull myself into the pantry. When I was all the way through, I looked down at him and shined the light in his eye
s. The pain increased, so my next words were through gritted teeth. “Give me thirty seconds then come up here and grab my clothes.”
“You really are a spoilsport,” Dom teased.
I hurt too bad to laugh. “You might have to carry me to the stream, but at least I’ll be small enough that I won’t slow you down.” Tears leaked down the side of my face.
“I’d already planned on it, Nic,” Dom said. “You just get yourself ready. I’ll be up in thirty seconds.
I stripped as fast as the agony would allow, closed my eyes and pushed my beast forward. She eagerly climbed forward as fur sprout over my body and bushed out in bands of white, gray, and black. The magic that came with being a therianthrope made shifting pleasurable, and it had been too long since I’d changed without the full moon. I forgot how wonderful it felt to be in this clever, little body. I wiggled my paws, and while my foot and ankle still hurt, the pain has lessened. I tried to walk forward, but my foot dragged. Luckily, before I could do more damage, Dom scooped me up again.
“I got you, darling,” he said, holding me close. “I got you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Dom had carried me to the car then went back for our coats and shoes. My foot and ankle throbbed like crazy. It was worse than the time I’d stepped into a hole playing right field in a class softball game. I’d been the smallest person in my sixth-grade class, so the appointed team captain had stuck me in the position with the least amount of responsibility. Eldin had helped me off the field that day, and we’d become fast friends.
That’s when I’d developed a crush on him. He’d been my hero. I curled in a ball, careful of my foot, and glanced up at my determined partner as we drove us down the road. He caught my gaze and put his hand down on my head and stroked my neck.
“It’s going to be okay, Nic.”
He petted me. I wanted to be taken aback, but the gesture was sweet. Tender even. The only therian boyfriend I’d ever had was Eldin. In college, I’d only dated humans. It’s not like we could take out ads saying, “single shifter looking for same.” It was both strange and wondrous having someone touch me while I was in my animal body. I rubbed my cheek against the back of his hand.
He smiled but kept his eyes on the road. “We’re almost there. Just passed the bridge out of town.” His fingers trailed down my back. Instinctually, I licked his forearm then quickly moved my head back mortified I’d just tried to clean my partner, something raccoons did when being affectionate.
I waited for the teasing I knew would follow, but he just kept stroking my fur with one hand while gripping the wheel with the other. “Pulling into the drive now.”
When he brought the car to a stop, he scrambled out, and I could hear him pounding on the doc’s door. He didn’t stop until I heard a woman say, “I heard you! What’s is going on, Dom?”
It was Chavvah.
“We need to see Billy Bob. Nicole’s hurt.”
The next few minutes passed quickly as Dom took me from the car and carried me through the Doc’s house down a long hallway to the door that led into the clinic. He gently put me down on a patient bed in one of the rooms.
Doctor Smith curled his finger under my chin and smiled. “We’ll give you a minute to change.”
Suddenly, I didn’t want Dominic to leave. My reasoning side didn’t want to be naked and vulnerable in front of him, but my raccoon side found him comforting. He made me feel safe. I reached out with my paws and gripped Dom’s finger. He looked down at me, a question in his eyes.
“I’ll be right outside the door,” he said.
I gripped his finger tighter.
The hard worry lines at the corners of his eyes softened. “You don’t want me to leave?” I willed my fingers to open and let him go, but those crazy kids had a mind of their own. Dom looked at Doctor Smith. “I guess I’m staying.”
“If Nic is okay with you being in here then I don’t mind. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Doctor Smith exited the room. Only then did I let Dom’s finger go.
I rotated on the bed and shoved my nose under the white sheet and light coral colored blanket. Dominic helped by lifting up the edge so I could crawl under. When I got myself completely under and turned around, I closed my eyes and willed the shift from animal to human. It didn’t feel as good as turning into a raccoon, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I forgot, though, the slight disappointment I always felt when I would lose the heightened sense of touch, smell, and sight. My biped form was better than a regular human, but nowhere near as in tune as my animal. It wasn’t the same as being forced to shift on the first full moon every month. That involuntary shifting produced an animal that acted on pure instinct, and for the past nine years, I hadn’t allowed myself to shift at any other time.
Now that I had, I realized how much I missed it. It was the reason many therianthropes staying in closed communities. It was a freedom to be who we are without worrying about humans trying to kill or trap us. My animal counterpart was hunted for sport regularly in the Midwest. I can remember my father’s warnings about leaving our woods. For a moment, I understood the fears of the TSS.
Dom’s warm fingers touched my cheek, and he wiped a tear that had spilled down it. “You’re in pain. I’ll go get the doc.”
I was in pain, now that I was back in my frailer body, but that wasn’t why I cried. I grabbed Dominic’s hand again.
His brow lowered. “What’s wrong?”
I cleared my throat, my voice a little raspy from the transformation. “Thanks.” I scooched up the bed while holding the covers to my chest. “Ah!” I winced as my injured ankle turned.
Dom untucked the covers at the bottom and lifted them over my foot to free it. “Ouch,” he said. “That looks angry.”
My ankle was red and swollen to the size of a navel orange. “It feels angry.” Though not as much as it had before shifting. Therianthropes healed quicker than humans, but it was nothing like what people wrote about in fiction or in the movies. Not even turning would speed up the process.
Dom sat on the side of the bed, his hip pressed up against mine. “I don’t like you being hurt.”
I grimaced. “I don’t like it much either.”
He took my hand in between both of his. “No,” he said. “I really don’t like seeing your hurt. I know it’s just an ankle, but damn, Nic. I wanted to run all the way here to get you fixed. I had to fight myself just to go back for the stuff we’d left by the culvert. You mess my head up.”
I blushed. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“I’ve never said that to another woman, darling.”
Goose bumps raised on my arms as a flush crept into my cheeks. I remembered him calling me darling when he’d carried me to the car. I’d mortified myself by snuggling against his chest, taking comfort in his heat. “Stop,” I said quietly. “Don’t lie to me.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. When I didn’t move away, he kissed my lips. Soft and sweet. “I’ll never lie to you.”
My mouth parted as a myriad of declarations prepared to pour out. Knock, knock, knock. I closed my mouth.
Dominic gave me a lopsided grin. “Saved by the doctor.”
“No kidding,” I said with feelings of relief and disappointment.
“You ready?” asked Doctor Smith through the door.
“Yep,” I said loud enough for him to hear. I met Dom’s gaze as he took my hand. I nodded. “I’m ready.”
A COUPLE OF HOURS AND an X-ray later, I was at my parents’ home in the living room with my wrapped foot propped up on the couch. There was no break, just a bad sprain. Doc had given me some pain meds and wrapped my ankle up. He’d also given me a splint to wear that would fit in my shoe, but told me to keep off the foot for a day or two. But, as I told Dominic on the way to my folks’, there was no way in hell I was missing the search in the morning.
“So, how did you twist your ankle again?” My dad asked.
I had come up with a story about me tripping up a step, but it m
ade my gut hurt to try and say it out loud. I looked at Dominic, imploring him to be the liar, liar, pants on fire. He nodded.
“We snuck onto the TSS compound earlier, and Nic fell down through a trap door in their food pantry,” Dom said.
Dad’s eyes widened, my eyes widened, Mom gasped as she brought a bag of ice in from the kitchen, and Dom shrugged. I guess I wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with lying to Dad.
“What in the Sam Hill is he talking about, Nicole Rae?”
I groaned. When Dad used my first and middle name, it was almost worse than him calling me Puddin.
He turned to my dad. “We were in and out before anyone saw us, and the room under the pantry is pretty suspicious.”
“Yep,” I agreed. “It smelled like rotting meat down there.”
“And we found this,” Dom said. He held up the metal piece we’d found on the floor in the cellar. “Maybe a hairpin or something.” He handed it to my dad. “The end has been scraped and worn.”
My dad held the object up and examined it from all sides. Finally, he handed it back. “So, for all your trouble, all you got was a piece of trash someone dropped.”
“We also found a chewed-up plastic toothpick,” I said in our defense since Dom was no help at all. “Doctor Smith is going to help us get DNA to see if it matches any of our victims, including Lloyd Evans.” I let my shoulders fall, and my head slumped forward a little. “Of course, he said the test will probably take a couple of weeks, even with a rush put on them. However, he did say he might be able to match the marks with Evans’ teeth if it’s his.”
“And then what?” My dad clenched and unclenched his fists. “You two are the two biggest dumbasses on the planet.” Dad’s tone simmered with anger. “You contaminated a potential crime scene. Walked out with evidence that we can no longer connect to the place.” He waved his hand. “I can’t talk about this anymore with you. Judge Holt and his wife are coming by for dinner tonight. He’s bringing the warrant I dropped off at the courthouse today. You two keep your mouths shut about your little illegal adventure.”