Canis Rising

Intro

"Beat it," is the only welcome I get as I walk up to the local bar. Ignoring it, I push my way past the drunken crowd to the bar and slap down a twenty dollar bill. I catch a glimpse of the bartender as he eyes me up and down, pausing as he zones in on my neck.

"We don't serve your kind around here," he says as he turns his back to me.

"My money is just as good as anyone else's," I say pushing the twenty further onto the bar. He half glances, probably shocked to see I haven't moved to leave, grunts and walks off.

"Hey," I hear a gruff voice say from a distance. The bar gets a bit quieter now as a large man locks eyes with me and makes his way over. I grab my money and stuff it into the pocket of my hoodie, standing as he grows closer.

"We don't want you here, get out," he says raising his voice on the last two words. My stomach is screaming from hunger, and the lingering smell of alcohol on his breath is pissing me off. I'm not in the mood to deal with this today.

Two more men join his side, one of them spitting and landing it next to my feet. The normal bustle has completely gone away and I can feel all eyes fixed on us. I grab my jacket closed trying to conceal the presence of my collar.

"Look I don't want any trouble. Just wanted to get something to drink and I'll be on my way," I say in my calmest tone. The man who spat pushes a stool over and approaches me closer, his buddies close behind.

"With what money!? No one wants to hire things like you, so where did you get the money from huh," he says just inches from my face.

The stench coming from his mouth stings my nose and eyes. My stomach is erupting from lack of food making my head spin. I try to stay calm and rational but I cannot help the growl that escapes from me. It's a low warning
rumble that makes the crowd take a few steps back.

The man stalls, unmoving. He's not intimidated by me or what I am, in fact he seems, amused? A slow smile creeps across his face as he grabs my wrist.

"Do something little wolf, I dare you," he says as he pushes me, sending me and a few stools to the cold unforgiving floor. He's testing me, he knows I can't use my wolf to threaten him unless I want a death sentence. I stand up, gripping my fists into my jacket pockets in order to keep from chocking this idiot.

"This place isn't worth my time," I say as I gather myself up and walk outside. I can feel the eyes watching me, and a drink is thrown at me from nearby, it's glass bursting against the wooden doorframe.

"And stay out you damned animal," are the last words I hear as I slam the door behind me. I bundle up my jacket and finger the money in my pocket. I scoff out loud at how crap things have become. Can't even use my own money to get the things I need.

I walk off towards my usual spot, the place I've come to call home. I haven't had a real home since my parents found out I was different, that I was a shifter. Being able to change into a wolf at will isn't something celebrated here, it's feared. 

The second my dad saw me shift for the first time, I was taken away to be documented and collared along with everyone else. Most are exiled from human society and have gone off into areas designated as a "haven" for our kind. It's more like the crap humans have left behind and don't care for so we just took those places as our own.

Most of us choose to go to that haven. But me, I've known human society my whole life. No one in my family was born like me, so I stick around. I had to get used to others like me out here, and we do all we can to quietly coincide best we can.

It's these damn collars that give us away. We usually wear jackets or coats to help conceal them, they're annoyingly large, and just too small to slide off over our heads. They're permanently locked onto us and numbered, tracking us in case of an attack or murder. If one of these is pinged in the same area as an attack, whether it was actually one of us or not, this government writes us off as criminals sentenced to death.