SHIFT

Chapter 14: The Unexpected Shift

Martina Cain

Alaska

The ropes around Martina's arms rubbed her skin painfully. Her heart was thumping in her throat, and she stared down the barrel of the handgun pointed at her. She was terrified.

Martina could hear Arno panting, but she dared not move to look while Sadie had the gun pointed at her. Once she was satisfied that they had been restrained, Sadie backed off and told Kash to prepare the harness.

Martina shuffle until she could watch what was happening. Sadie eyed her but allowed it. Arno, as the large bull elephant, looked exhausted. Their head drooped and their charges no longer had Lane leaping for his life.

Lane shifted back into his human body and shouted, "You're done! You can't keep doing this."

Arno eyed Lane for a long, tense moment. Then, suddenly, they charged again. Lane had not expected such an energised charge at this time and, as he dived, Arno clipped him with their immense head, sending him flying through the air.

Lane landed hard on the ground about ten metres from Arno. He grunted as he stood, brushed himself off and limped back towards the elephant.

"Here! Watch them!" Sadie snapped at Kash, handing him her gun. She pulled out a second pistol and aimed it at Arno.

"No!" Adrienne screamed as Sadie pulled the trigger. Rather than a bullet, however, a dart landed in Arno's side. They didn't notice it as they focused on Lane's approach.

Arno took a step forward and then shuddered violently. Martina grew worried for them at they started to convulse. Lane seemed to notice the dart and turned a furious face on Sadie, "I told you not to use it! We don't fully know its effect!"

"I had to do something!" she snapped back at him.

Martina was not listening; she was just watching the huge elephant have what looked like a seizure. Then, slowly, the shift started. It looked painful, unlike any shift that Martina had ever seen. The elephant began to shrink, morphing back into Arno's human body. When they were back to themselves, they stood looking at their hands with a confused expression on their face.

Suddenly Sadie walked up behind them and hit them on the back of the head with the butt of her gun. Arno, who had not been paying attention, crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Kash helped Sadie drag Arno's unconscious body to the car before tying their arms and legs together. Lane was slowly approaching the bull mammoth, his hands outstretched. As he did this, Kash circled around.

In Kash's hand was a very large gun. As he silently stepped around the mammoth, he lined up the end of the gun with its large underbelly. Martina heard more than saw him pull the trigger. The gun made a sound like an air pistol, only much louder.

The huge mammoth trumpeted loudly and began to charge forward, but before he could take more than two steps he collapsed to the ground, a large tranquiliser dart sticking out from his underside.

The smaller mammoths shrieked but did not run away. Their herd mentality stopped them from leaving their leader. It did not take long for Lane and Kash to pin them down with large ropes and huge metal pegs that were inserted into the ground. Martina thought that if they really wanted to, the mammoths could probably escape. But their will was with their leader, and they had no wish to fight without him.

Meanwhile, Arno had woken up. Sadie repeated her threat to shoot them all in the head if anyone moved and stood guard.

Lane and Kash joined Sadie in front of the car. Lane said, "Call for the transport. Its time to get out of here."

Sadie pulled out a radio and told whoever was on the other end of their position. Then, they waited.

"I need to use the bathroom," Alec said.

Lane approached and smiled, "Go ahead." He laughed and walked towards the bull mammoth. He reached out and stroked its huge head, and in doing so gained the ability to shift into the huge animal.

About thirty minutes later, a low rumbling could be heard in the distance. It steadily grew louder and louder until Martina realised that there were three huge helicopters overhead. Three people from each helicopter jumped to the ground using ziplines and got to work putting huge harnesses around each of the mammoths. The two conscious mammoths were given what Martina assumed were sedatives.

The unconscious bull mammoth proved to be a challenged for the collectors. After several minutes of attempting to get a harness around the massive creature, Lane shifted into his very own mammoth and used his own size to help move the bull until they could get the harness onto him.

The two smaller mammoths were attached via their harnesses to two of the helicopters. They were slowly lifted, their drowsy heads lolling, into the air and away. The final helicopter continued to hover until the bull was attached.

Lane walked over to where Martina and her friends were sitting. "Its time for us to go, I don't think we need your company. Safe travels," he said before taking his large hunting knife and stabbing towards her.

Martina flinched, closing her eyes and turning away, but she didn't feel the expected pain. Instead, there was a loud pop, and she opened her eyes to see the massive hole Lane had made in the car tyre, right next to her head. Head smirked at her before moving around to the other tyres, stabbing each in turn.

Then, much to Martina's horror, Sadie approached Alec with her gun raised. She shot him with a cold expression of disinterest painted on her face. Martina was almost too scared to look, but when she did, she saw an unconscious Alec slumped over, a small dart protruding from his chest.

Next was Arno, and she shot them with the same calm disinterest that she had shot Alec with. "Stop this! You have them. You don't need to do this!" Martina yelled at them.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Martina. I know what you're all capable of, and I will make sure that you won't risk our mission at all," Sadie pointed the gun at Martina and pulled the trigger.

The dart hit Martina in the shoulder. She could feel it bury itself in the muscle with a sharp sting. She fought the drowsiness that threatened to overwhelm her. She shook her head and bit her lip, but her sight grew fuzzy, and an odd numbness spread from her shoulder.

Martina groaned as the edges of her vision darkened. She felt her body tip sideways, and she fell. The last thing she saw was Adrienne's face as it turned from concern to anger, and then formed the beak of a large bird. She heard Lane yell something about, "Get her before she flies off!" Then, blackness, with only the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears to reassure her that she was indeed still alive.