Animal Nature

Chapter 32

Mara held out her arms and closed her eyes. "I'm ready," she said.

"This is gonna be so awesome," Chester said, just before the cold liquid hit her.

She pressed her lips together when she felt droplets of paint land on her face, and kept them closed while she felt another slosh of paint hit her legs. "Wait," she said fast. "Get my back, too."

She turned around.

"I'm gonna have to put a tarp on my car seat." The paint hit her, then she heard the clank of the empty bucket setting down on the driveway.

"It'll dry soon," Mara promised, opening her eyes. She looked down at herself. "This looks awesome!"

"So, are you just going to stand out here until it's time to leave for the dance?" Chester asked.

Mara shrugged. It was a little chilly out, but her costume was fur. She'd been lucky to find it at the discount store in Oakridge. A wolf costume, like the one she assumed David would be wearing. She had a second can of paint for his costume, and another sign, just in case he wanted to join her.

"Cool. I'm gonna go inside and change."

Chester leapt up onto the porch and swung himself over the railing, even though the steps were only two feet away. "Parkour!" he shouted. Mara still couldn't decide if Chester liked parkour ironically or not.

The sky was already getting dark. It was almost five, and Chester had promised that they would go out to eat before the dance. She figured it would be takeout, since she wasn't sure how fast the paint would dry, and going to sit down in a restaurant was impossible. Never mind that Chester hardly ever had money. They'd probably end up at Burger King, eating Impossible Whoppers, since that was the only vegan fast food around.

She shivered. She hoped Chester changed fast, because she needed to wash her hands. Rather, she needed him to bring her some paper towels or wipes or something so she could wash her hands without tracking red paint into his house. She looked down, suddenly remembering her combat boots. Damn, they were splattered with red paint. She supposed they looked cool like that, but explaining that to her parents was something she'd rather not do. She walked around, trying to get the paint off the soles so she wouldn't destroy everything.

A howl rose up, then two. Two wolves! Mara grinned. Of course they were in a pack.

Despite the paint dripping from her fingertips, she glanced over at her camera bag, sitting next to her backpack on Chester's front porch steps. A photo of a wolf in the forest was one thing. It would be awesome if she could get a shot of the wolf – wolves – in a neighborhood, someone's front yard, especially with the fog rolling in.

She wiped her hands on a non-paint-covered part of her costume. She had a moment's regret that she hadn't used the white rabbit costume she'd originally bought, as the red paint didn't show as well on the gray fur. Then, when her hands were clean enough, she carefully reached for her camera.

The barking came from right behind her.

She whirled around.

The street was strangely silent. No cars. No kids playing. Not a bird chirping. Just twilight and fog rolling in.

Suddenly Mara thought about the mini mart employee who had been torn apart just two nights ago. She thought about Bart Garrison, and all the dead livestock.

Slowly, she put her camera down. Slowly, she stepped onto the porch.

She didn't want to see the wolf hunted down, but she also didn't want to be its prey.