Werehuman

Out of Control

                 

Mel didn't let us leave straight away, but packed food and water that I wasn't sure how we'd carry as wolves, but seemed important to bring anyway. Katie practically bounced with excitement as we rode in the truck.

"I'd wish you'd take my cell phone," Mel grumbled as she turned off the highway. It had been over a year since I had been here.

"How am I supposed to carry it?" I asked. "I'll be fine and you'll see me in the morning, all right?"

"Be safe, Conor," she said. "Katie, keep him out of trouble."

"I will," Katie promised.

We hopped out of the truck. Katie pulled the backpack on and took a deep breath. I started walking through the forest. We'd have to cover at least some distance before night fell; I didn't want to get stuck here tonight.

"Is it weird being back here?" Katie asked. "As a human, I mean."

"I barely recognize it," I admitted. "I'm sure it doesn't look that different, but humans see the world differently. I'm much taller, for instance."

"You are pretty tall," Katie agreed. "And so skinny. If I didn't see with my own eyes how much Mel feeds you, I would say you were starving."

"Wolves are usually thin," I noted.

"Conor, I know you're a wolf first, but I'm not sure the rest of us werewolves have all that much in common with the canines. I mean, we look the same, but we experience the world differently. You can't tell me that being a wolf now is the same as being a wolf from before, is it?"

"No," I agreed. "I'm not sure what that has to do with being thin."

"Marcus was shorter than me when we were kids," Katie explained. "When he became a werewolf, he grew a lot. When he became alpha, he got crazy strong."

"After being alpha, not before?" I inquired.

Katie nodded. "It was weird, I assume it's the same kind of weird that makes us allergic to silver and not age. Being a werewolf is hard work sometimes."

My stomach gurgled loudly in the quiet forest.

"See?" she laughed. "Who knows how tall you'd be if you'd actually eat."

Walking as a human was not nearly as fast as walking as a wolf, but we kept the path brisk and southerly. I didn't know how far my pack's territory extended nowadays, and even if I did, I had never travelled through it as a human. The sun rose higher into the sky and we at last reached the creek. Katie set the backpack down and we each took a sandwich. I was hungry enough to eat more, but I didn't know how long this journey would be.

"This is where I was bitten," I said. "Just on the other side of the creek."

"I feel like we walked for days," Katie groaned, sitting on the ground to rub her calves. "I'll be glad to be a wolf, let me tell you. What's the plan now?"

"The plan is to eat, put the rest of the food and our clothes and shoes in a tree and keep going as wolves," I said. "I'm going to need my nose for this and this human one doesn't work very well."

Katie swallowed down the rest of the sandwich and stuffed everything into the bag. I stripped down as well and then leaped up to hang the bag from a nearby tree. Katie shivered once but grinned at me.

"You ready?" she asked. "Keep up, wolf boy."

She changed into a large grey blue wolf as I did the same, though my fur was a darker shade. I smelled the air, trying to detect anything off in the wind. Katie gave a whine, but I snorted at her; I hadn't found anything yet. No surprise, we were near water. So I waded through the icy creek and bounded to the other side. Katie was right behind me and we continued to lope through the forest.