Hunt

Chapter 86: Ashes To Ashes

You need to wake up. Open your eyes, you're running out of time.

My eyes snap open as I desperately gasp for air, trying to blink the haze from my eyes. Taking a sharp breath in I begin gagging on a black acrid smoke that's flooding through the cracked open doorway. It burns my nose, almost overwhelming me as I continue to struggle to get a full breath into my lungs. Blinking tears away I try to stand, but my body feels strange, unresponsive in the ways I want it to move. In confusion I look down, right at two large paws.

Panic begins to set in as I frantically examine the rest of myself, all the while choking on a black smoke that's only growing more dense by the second. I vaguely begin to recall the events that occurred right before I woke up. Some things were crystal clear, but much of my memory remains blurry. Caught in a haze that I can't seem to break through. But considering I was solely in control of my canine body leads me to assume that David's purification worked. But just because I'm in control of my mind doesn't mean I actually know how to control my body. It feels awkward. Foreign. Even the act of walking is a frustrating mess of fumbling over my four legs and paws.

C'mon! I don't have time to relearn how to walk right now! I frantically shout in my head while growling at myself, desperately trying to get myself out of the clearly on fire house. Aside from struggling controlling my limbs I could hear clearly hear everything happening around me. All my senses felt significantly sharper than usual. I could hear the roaring of fire just on the other side of the door, there were people shouting outside somewhere and every now and then the crack of a gunshot goes off that's shockingly loud. It's clear that I need to get out of here, and fast. I didn't come this far just to die from smoke inhalation.

Tearing my eyes away from the smoking door, I look around for an alternate exit. Glancing around to the far side of the room I spot that the window had been busted out. Jagged glass lines the edges of the broken open window. Whoever jumped through would've surely hurt themselves in the process...

Wait... Blood. I smell blood...

I can instinctively recognize the metallic smell. It's no different than when I'm human, just stronger now. Much stronger. My improved nose easily picking up the small blood drops that stain some of the glass fragments. Fumbling my way to the window I attempt to get a good look at the world outside. It's dark, but it's not that much of an issue for me. My night vision is vastly improved over when I'm human. It's really a surprise us hunter's can do as well as we have while being at such a disadvantage.

There's a flash of white and a shriek from what sounded like a young girl. I'm barely able to get a glance at something dragging a struggling dark shape deeper into the tree line. The sudden commotion causes my heart to pound in my chest, the weight of the situation around me hits me hard over the head. This was the final battle, and here I am sitting in awe of how good my eyes now work. The hunters must've made their move sooner than expected, and by the looks of the chaos outside it seems something went wrong with their plan.

Dammit! I can't just sit back now! I growl. A low rumble rising through me as my frustration grows. If I could just change back to human it would fix most of my issues! I don't even remember what spurred myself to transform in the first place, and I have no idea what the first step is to reverse it. I rack my brain for any clues about how this all works. The sudden thought of Reyna pops into my head, spurring me to think back to a time where she had mentioned briefly how it worked for her. I think to how runaway emotions can make controlling yourself nearly impossible. Reyna said she had a hard time controlling her form when her emotions got out of check.

Okay... I just have to calm down. C'mon... It's easy. Just breathe Kyle...

Slowly. Ever so slowly do I begin to calm myself down. My racing heart begins to settle as I sit near the window, breathing in fresh air. With each breath I can feel the barrier between my two forms slowly present itself, like a doorway in my very soul. Once the barrier fully presents itself everything begins to make more sense. Reaching out towards it I find my body reacting in response. My gray fur rapidly recedes, bone and muscle rearranges effortlessly and painlessly despite the gut churning sounds it makes. Before I know it I've passed completely through that barrier and returned back to my familiar and normal self. Despite the off putting sight and sound of it, it felt completely natural. Like I had been doing it my whole life... Although, despite how natural I might have felt, I was now much more exposed than I'm comfortable with...