The Rescue

Short Story

I am a shapeshifter, a white bangle tiger with emerald green eyes. I'm sitting crouched low outside of a giant warehouse looking in, waiting, watching. This giant warehouse-type building belongs to hunters who are devoted to hunting shapeshifters like me. The warehouse inside was a fake jungle looking environment and this is where the hunters would keep my kind when they caught us. It's full of hunters with dart guns to keep the shifters from escaping. This is one of many buildings like this, each one designed to be a different environment made to hold shifters whose animals are native to that type of climate and surroundings.

They had someone I had just recently met, Jeremy a white tiger shifter, in there somewhere and I fully intended to get him out. I'm with 2 other shifters, one shifted to a jaguar, and the other a panther. We managed to get into the warehouse fairly easy but I knew the hard part was going to be getting out.

We went undetected until a female cougar shifter called us out to a hunter. "Snitch" I whispered to myself a little confused as to why she would do that. We made a dash for a clump of trees and vines and tried to hide, but there are only so many places a full-size tiger can hide so they found me and the other 2 shifters with me attempting to hold us down. I half shifted so that my ears, eyes, claws, and k9 teeth were tiger but the rest of me was still human. I fought them off of me and slashed them before I took off, running right into another shifter I knew that had been put in there.

I started to realize by this time they had all been brainwashed and conditioned to cooperate with the hunters and that is why most of the shifters were turning me in.

Before my friend could speak, I asked her to find Jeremy, who I came there for, and tell him to find me. The same 2 hunters I had fought off before, tried to jump me again but I got away this time. I had to stay in the area so that jer could find me easier so I kept fighting both shifters and hunters off. I had fully shifted back into my tiger at this point and everybody was backed away a few steps. Most of them were smaller shifters definitely and thankfully not as strong as my tiger form. so far I was managing to keep most of them at a distance but I wouldn't be able to forever.

My other 2 companions had now joined me and everybody was standing in a circle around us braced for a fight waiting for someone to make the first move. The hunters now had their dart guns aimed at the 3 of us in the middle of the crowded circle and so we stayed still watching and waiting for the next move.

To our surprise, the shifters slowly started to part and make a path into the small circle and then Jer walked up to me. I shifted back to full human and went to hug him only to be disappointed when he seemed brainwashed as well. He grabbed my hand roughly and dragged me through the path of the growing crowd towards some huge warehouse shelves along the walls and in rows. My companions following along hesitantly not wanting to let them separate us. When we rounded the corner he quickly told me that he was not brainwashed but that he had to act like it around the others so he wouldn't get shot.

We hugged and then we quickly started climbing up the shelves with him leading the way. We got halfway up the tall column of shelves and ran down the middle of the shelf stocked with dog food and other supplies. One of my companions accidentally knocked a bag over the edge and we all dropped flat on the floor of the shelf and froze. As the bag hit the floor below it busted open spraying dog food in every direction. Everyone was now looking for us and that had given us away. A few more bags fell and then a dart stuck in a bag near my hand. I jumped back and looked around to find the hunter. He was on the top shelf of the next row over. I half shifted and locked eyes with him letting out a snarl in his direction, then we took off in a run. Jer yelled to the other 2 to split up so we were in pairs. We were near the end of the length of the shelf and we got down flat to hide when all of the sudden there was a buzz past my ear and Jer went limp from a dart in his arm. I looked around again and saw 3 more hunters smirking and pointing another gun to me from the next row over. I got up still crouching low, fully shifted and stood over jers limp body. I looked at each of them in the eye and roared barring my teeth. I wasn't leaving Jer, not now.

There were only 2 shifters of each animal. The person with the same animal is supposed to be your soul mate. Jer was mine and at that moment every fiber in my body was going to protect him while he laid there knocked out. I snarled and bared my teeth again at the men and then looked down at jer. I licked him on the face and I felt a sting on my shoulder. I heard him shuffle below me just as everything went black.