//------------------------------// // 9 - Determination // Story: Metamorphosis // by PaintSplotch //------------------------------// All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you... but first they must catch you.” —Lord Frith — Watership Down The next morning, I woke up in a particularly bad mood. Of course, I was mostly mad at myself. Not only was a pleasant dream ruined, I still had no clue if that Princess Luna person was real or not. I could have been spending several nights arguing with a hallucination. Of course, leave it up to me to let my snark get out of of control to the point I was actually looking for arguments, real or not. It gave me a lot to think about. The idea of intergalactic space horses being the cause of all of… this… is crazy at the best. I chalked it up to going insane. That seemed to be the soundest explanation to everything. Just outright, bat shit insanity. Yup. Melissa the Insane Bug Monster. It has a good ring to it! But still, it was nice to talk to something… someone… that actually talks back. We had had woken up at dawn, as usual, and I was eager to get back on the road. It still smelled strongly of chocolate outside. Perhaps someday I could come back to 'rescue' all the chocolate. At least the walk back home would burn away all the calories that I have consumed so far in delicious sugary goodness. I may be a bug monster, but I didn't want my arteries to choke to death. If I even still had arteries. Hell, when I find people, I'm going to see if I could get an X-ray or something. On the way to Harrisburg, I took the liberty of replacing the candy in my wagon that I devoured yesterday. It gave me a good energy boost to keep walking. Yuri kept pace with me for the most part. Occasionally, he'd move a few feet away to investigate various wildlife that found themselves on the pathways. I was surprised to see more snakes out and about, basking on the roads. Yuri would give them firm looks, but they ignored him the best they could. “Yuri, leave the poor things alone,” I'd tell him every time he decided to go harass a poor woodland critter. This time it was a large snapping turtle attempting to cross the roadway. He'd listen to the most part, but would give the animals scathing looks. Yuri sometimes reminded me of a bodyguard with how protective he is sometimes. It made me laugh that he would consider turtles and millipedes detrimental to my safety. I looked off into the distance to see the unmistakable smokestacks of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. Except… there was no smoke. That puzzled me, I thought that a nuclear plant would keep running until safeguards shut it down. I squinted into the distance. Nope. There wasn't even water vapor coming out of the stacks. That actually chilled me for a second. Was there someone running around, shutting down power plants? Or… it was shut down BEFORE everyone vanished into… wherever my hallucination said they went? Smells like a conspiracy. Better get myself a tin foil hat next time we raided a store. Crossing the Susquehanna was another nerve-wracking experience, but I conquered it. I was just too tired and too fed up to pay attention to my numerous phobias. My meds helped quite a bit on that front too. Harrisburg itself was like any other city I’ve passed through. Every available trash can and dumpster was strewn all over the place. The sheer number of cars parked off on the sides of the roads made the whole town claustrophobic. I looked at all the old buildings as I navigated my way through the city. I wondered how long it would take for the whole place to just fall apart; it looked like it was falling apart already. I hate cities. I hate the lack of greenery. I hate all the concrete. I just hate them. What made it worse was the sudden appearance of a mangy street cat. It looked matted and horrible, and it glared at me with one eye. Then, suddenly, another ugly cat showed up. And then another. And another. All of them following us at a lazy pace, stopping every time we stopped. At one point, I figured we had at least twenty stray cats all following us, hissing at each other and meowing obnoxiously. Yuri, furious, would sometimes turn and chase them away a bit. They'd run, but then come creeping back. No amount of shooing or hissing would get them to go away. More and more would just join the ranks. They continually chirped and huffed at each other, as though they were having a conversation. It was creepy and disturbing. It felt like they were trying to stalk and eat us. Were they just going to follow us until we got tired, and then they'd come try to kill us? I held back my paranoia the best I could. Never underestimate the evil of a cat. We kept an even pace, not stopping to rest until we were well out of the city limits. The cats have 'escorted' us to the limits and then just sat and watched us go, still as little statues. That has to take the cake of the creepiest thing in my journey so far. Empty houses and empty beds didn't hold a candle to a collective of cats. I considered myself very lucky. I kept going, not stopping until we reached Mechanicsburg. I didn't want any cats following us or anything else. I stopped and raided a supermarket there to replenish my stock of actual food. It smelled awful, of course, with many pounds of rotting meat and frozen food. A lot of the produce had gone bad by then, but a lot of the more hardier fruits and veggies have survived. I made a quick lunch of apples, beef jerky, and carrots. I still thought it was pretty funny that I still could eat veggies with how sharp my teeth were. Yuri, however, found something I THINK is meat. It was incredibly gross and smelly and had a green tinge to it. I tried to stop him but he gobbled it up faster than I could chase him. Typical dog. Excluding rats and stray animals, I found no trace of life. There was still daylight left to travel with, so we continued following the trail until the sun started to dip below the horizon. Suburban sprawl had filled the gap between Mechanicsburg and Carlisle, which meant there were plenty of houses to choose to stay in for the night, so I picked a nice, homely, little place with a porch swing. It was nice to just sit and rock on the thing. Yuri didn't want to join me, because sometimes he is a butt. The stove inside was electric, which meant no hot meal could be cooked on it, so instead, I made a fire outside using my trusty steel wool and a 9 volt battery. A contained fire of course. I made sure to dig a little pit and line the area with stones. There, I cooked up a delicious trail meal of rice and SPAM. It truly was a meal for kings. We ate and spent the rest of the time looking up, watching the clouds move across the sky and obscuring the stars. I was excited. We were getting closer to home. The miles between us and there was now measured in the lower double digits. I almost couldn't sleep, but when I laid on the bed inside, I changed my tune. It was soft with the fluffiest pillows and blankets I could ever feel. It was so pleasant and nice we quickly fell asleep. I opened my mouth and poked at my teeth with a hoof. They wiggled and wobbled, and I had to bite back tears as I felt them fall out of my gums. One by one, they splintered. I could feel them squeak in the bones of my jaw as they cracked and fell. I ran my tongue over my toothless mouth, feeling sharp pricks as teeth began to regrow to start the whole terrible process all over again. I grasped a new tooth and pulled. It came out with a string. I pulled and pulled as miles and miles of red string kept coming out of the holes in my gums. I couldn't pull fast enough, and it hurt. The area around me faded in and out as eyeless people watched me struggle with my mouth problems. They didn't say a single world. They just watched as their empty eye sockets just stared straight ahead. I gave up trying to pull out the strings and the teeth, realizing it's a futile effort. My jaws ached so much. The strings began to wiggle, as if they were worms. I looked around my dream. I saw no flash of blue, no sound of feathers, nor any explosions of stars. I was alone. My teeth on the ground began to scream, louder and louder until I could hardly stand it. I didn't know if I was disappointed or not. I slept terribly. Weird dreams and all. There was no appearance of Little Miss Moon Butt last night. Oh well. That was probably a good thing. Man, if a shrink got a hold of me now, they'd have a field day. I packed up and we went back on the trail. I was nearly shaking with anticipation. So close! We were so close! Carlisle came and went with barely any acknowledgment from me. I felt like a toy, just marching on while my mind was elsewhere. Yuri was the one who kept his eyes and ears open for me while I thought about being hugged again. I wondered what she would look like now. We arrived in the outskirts of Shippensburg just as the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. I checked my map in the fading light, and discovered that home was a mere twelve miles away from my current location. There weren't any houses close by, but I could see the dark shadows of the buildings ahead. It was an elating thing. After all this hardship. After all this traveling and breaking into houses. We were close to home. I wanted to push through the night, but reconsidered when I saw Yuri lay down on a spare patch of grass with a tired sigh. Poor dog, this was the longest stretch we've ever been on the trail together. At least while I was training to hike, we stayed in one place for a few days. Here, we couldn't really afford to stay too still. I wanted to get home to Grandma as soon as possible. There was the possibility she vanished along with most of everyone else, but if she didn't, I don't want her to be lonely. I was her only grandchild after all, hell, I was her only family. In terms of people, we only have each other. As much I wanted to keep going, the ache in my hooves and the tired sigh of Yuri told me that making the last leg of the run while sore and exhausted would be a bad idea. I bent down to check his paw pads. They looked all right for now, but I can tell some places were beginning to rub a little raw. It was definitely time to make camp. “Come on, Yuri, let's find a house to sleep in.” Yuri wagged his tail in understanding and reluctantly got back to his paws. We made our way toward the actual town, the buildings casting huge black shadows along the grass and trees. And then, we heard it. A sharp scream punctured the air, coming from the direction of the more rural part of the town. I froze as the chill of dread washed through my body. Yuri's hackles immediately went up, his lips pulled back into a snarl. The scream rang out again, closer this time. It sounded almost like a woman screaming, but I knew it was no woman. It was something more deadly than that. My sharper ears could hear rustling coming from a far patch of woodland as it drew closer. I kept walking steadily, telling Yuri in a low voice to heel. He stuck close to my side, fur bristling and stiff legged. If it was what I thought it was, we needed to get somewhere safe without running. I couldn't stop Yuri from growling lowly at the direction of the noises. When the sounds stopped, so did my heart for a second. We were being stalked. It was so hard to keep walking steadily. Everything in my body was screaming at me to RUN. The sudden shot of adrenaline was making me tremble, and it was a conscious constant effort to keep my hooves and legs steady. Yuri was furious. He bared his sizable fangs at every patch of darkness we passed. His tail as rigid and straight out behind him in obvious distress. I could see the concrete roads and tall apartment buildings in the urban section of town with my sharp eyes. There, we could get inside and be safe. Of course shit never works out how you want it. Directly in front of us, in the shadows, a pair of eyes reflected green in the fading sunlight. Then, it began to slink forward. A fully grown mountain lion. It was easily a hundred pounds or more. Coiled muscles rippled under its sandy brown pelt. However, I could see the faint outline of ribs and spine through the fur. A heavy leather collar was fashioned around its neck. A worn piece of rope was still attached to the collar's D-ring. I could see the hungry and desperate glint in its eyes as it looked us over. Great, a hungry mountain lion who was someone’s pet. It explained the thinness and the murderous look in its eyes. Perhaps it just managed to escape after going days without food. Lucky for Yuri and I, we looked like dinner. Mountain lions were considered extinct on the East coast, but I was still taught how to handle one. Rule one: Don't run. Rule two: Intimidate it into leaving. If not, fight back and protect your neck. Rule three: Get out of there. Yuri was already telling the mountain lion that it was going to have a bad time if it got closer. Yuri was about 95 pounds of solid muscle and teeth. He wasn't a police dog or trained for any type of combat, but threatening me was a good way to get him angry and ready for it. It ignored Yuri and eyed me instead. Oh shit. I probably looked like a delicious crayfish or some other delicious shellfish. We were in some serious shit now. Something clicked deep inside, and I too bared my fangs at the advancing predator. Deep instincts I didn't realize I had bubbled to the surface. Survive, it told me. My eyes tinted yellow as the protective eye membrane dropped down, anticipating violence. A deep feral hiss rose up out of my throat and my fin on my neck flare. For only being about three foot tall, I must have been intimidating as hell. It must have worked a little, because the mountain lion stopped in mid step to stare at me. It has now become a standoff. Yuri and I versus a desperately hungry mountain lion. We stared at each other. I wanted to throw a rock or sticks, but I knew if I moved it would come for us. I had to make due with hissing and baring my fangs. The choice was removed from me as the lion screamed and leapt the distance between us, heading right for me! I jumped to the side, causing the predator to land on the broomsticks connecting me to the cart. They snapped like dry twigs, and the force of the landing made me tumble away. Yuri immediately jumped into the fray, snapping and barking as he bravely faced the lion. He took several slaps to the face from its broad paw and was knocked away, but not after landing a few vicious bites to it. I struggled to my hooves as the mountain lion sprang at me again, aiming for my back. I turned around and kicked backwards, one hoof catching it in the chest. I heard something crack deep inside of it. The momentum knocked me down and the lion, now screaming with rage and pain came at me again. It jumped on my back as I kicked and hissed, survival overriding all other thought and actions. In order to hang on, it dug its claws into my carapace and grabbed my left wing at the root. It was going to go for my neck next. I had to get it off! I bucked hard and twisted around to slam it as hard as I could into the ground. Unfortunately, I'm not very strong. It snarled. Suddenly, I felt a hard pull on my wing. With a horrible, wet stretching noise, a white hot lance of pain erupted where my wing is until something popped. I rolled away and looked back to see my wing was still in it's mouth, ripped out by the root. The wing twitched as nerves within it continued to fire off. I knew it should have hurt worse, but adrenaline and anger was dulling it. It took my WING. THE BASTARD! It spit out my wing and made to come for me again. Yuri seemed to materialize out of nowhere and seized it by the foreleg. It screamed and turned around to meet Yuri, but the dog kept jerking it in a circle so it couldn't directly attack him. Clever dog. A wave of bitter anger radiated from my heart. I was PISSED. I steeled myself and sprang at the lion, sinking my fangs deep into the shoulder until a rush of coppery blood filled my mouth. It kept screaming in a horrifying way, sounding almost like a woman being hurt as it turned and struggled to shake us off. My teeth and jaws ached from the force of it shaking, but I clung on for as long as I could, determined to put as much hurt as I could into my bite. Its desperation to survive won out, for it managed to shake us both off. Yuri yelped as he was thrown roughly off. I was flung to the side and landed on the empty pit that used to be my wing socket. Son of a BITCH! The pain was enough to take my breath away for a moment, and a moment was all it needed. It jumped into my face and began to bite and claw without discretion, trying to reach my throat. I managed to hold it off with a hoof to keep it from ripping out my throat. We exchanged wounds as we both bit and scratched each other. Pain flared in several places as deep scratches and bites marred my usually smooth chitin. I tore its nose with my fangs. My right ear throbbed in pain as it was practically shredded to pieces and I returned the favor to its own ear. My foreleg splintered as it was bitten with a force usually reserved for cracking open skulls, making me scream an unearthly wail. Its eye popped as my horn carved a line across its face. It growled at me and I growled and hissed back. I got three legs under its body and began kicking with all my might. I didn't think I could get angrier. I didn't travel over two hundred and fifty fucking miles… endure panic and paranoia, held a dying baby, and hallucinate a God Horse from Space to be stopped NOW. NOT WHEN WE WERE CLOSE TO HOME! Yuri recovered, grabbed the lion roughly by the scruff of its neck, hauled it off me, and threw it to the side. They resumed their vicious battle, fur was literally flying as they bit and tore at each other. I wearily stood up. I was losing blood. It was practically pouring out of the empty hole in my back and the deep splintered cracks in my leg. I was so tired, but I was determined. Now was not the time to lay down and give up. I wanted to LIVE! It was time to FIGHT for it! I narrowed my eyes and lowered my head until the point of my curved horn was aligned with the struggling cat. I want to live. I want to live! I WANT TO LIVE! I didn't come THIS FAR and go through THIS MUCH TO GIVE UP NOW. FUCK THAT! I charged. The mountain lion looked up for a split second, held fast by Yuri's jaws. I saw its only remaining eye and the look it gave me. It knew. I didn't stop. My horn plunged into its neck. It screamed and gurgled as my horn struck it's jugular vein. I was was sprayed by gore as it jerked wildly as it struggled to escape. It struck one last time, cutting four lines of pain across my face. Yuri held it down until it went down, gurgling as its lungs filled with blood. Then it was still. It was over. The whole fight felt like it lasted for hours, but, in reality, it was less than a few minutes. I collapsed as the adrenaline began to wear off, the sheer relief drowning it out. Everywhere hurt. Yuri shuffled over too, he was just as bad as I was. I held him as he began to try and lick my wounds. I couldn't help but to shake and cry, my tears making my various wounds sting. Sure, I've hunted before. Sure, I've killed bugs and things. I’ve caught rabbits in snares and fished. I’ve butchered my own bushmeat before.  But I've never… did this before. It looked at me, and it knew it was going to die. That alone was horrible enough. The emotional overload was making me sob as I went through anger, sadness, and pure relief. It wasn't the mountain lion’s fault. It was only doing what it was supposed to do. I looked over at its still and rapidly cooling corpse. It just wanted to live. But I wanted to live more. I think I blacked out for a little bit after the fight was over. One minute, I was sitting up and crying, and the next, I was on the ground. Blood loss and stress will do that to you. The moon had already risen, bathing the area in light. My nocturnal eyes could now see easily in the brightness of it. I was sure my left foreleg was broken. If I tried to put pressure on it, it caused me to nearly go breathless in pain. The chitin was splintered around deep bite holes. Peering through, I could make out the white of bone among all the blood. Huh, turns out I do have bones. At least most of my wounds have clotted up. Thankfully, I learned to hobble on three legs. Yuri also gingerly walked with me. We left the wagon behind; there was no way either of us were going to be able to pull it. It took a little while, but I managed to take the harness off myself despite my numerous injuries. The only thing I took with me was a bag containing my medicine and first aid kit, which I held in my sore muzzle. I went inside the first house we tried that wasn't locked. I wanted so badly to just collapse and go to sleep, but there were things that needed to be done first. Mainly cleaning wounds. I trudged to the bathroom and turned on the tap in the bathtub. I got some water out of it before the pipes emptied. Enough to wash ourselves at least. First I had to peel Yuri’s vest and bandanna off of him, so I could see if he was injured underneath them. I found more puncture wounds and scratches that have pierced through the thick material. When that was finished, I ordered him into the bath. Yuri hesitated. He hates baths, but his face was now crusting up with blood. He looked completely awful. He was missing patches of fur, and he was scratched and bit all to hell and back. He eventually climbed into the tub, grumbling all the way. I used a bar of soap and cleaned us up the best I could with one working foreleg. I had to bite down on a towel as I washed my injured leg; the pain was that bad. There were places I couldn't reach well, like the wounds on my back and the empty hole where my wing used to be. Turning my neck and head just hurt too damn badly. For that, Yuri bathed it with a patient tongue. Afterward, I had to make do with just laying gingerly on my back in the soapy water, gently roll, and pray it was enough. If it wasn't, then, well, this wasn't going to end too well. Drying off took even longer as both of us were sore and tender. Yuri whined and cried as I made sure to take as much dirt out of his cuts as I could. I cried too when it was my turn. Then I smeared us with all the antibacterial gel I had. I used the entire medkit’s stock of bandages and disinfectant taking care of the both of us. Yuri and I probably looked a little silly, being covered in white bandages. I had used a lot; I wanted to be safe than sorry. I would have to find clean ones in town later, for they were already starting to stain again with fresh blood. Searching the kitchen rewarded me with wooden spoons, which I used to splint my leg. By now, the pain was so constant it was numbing. I was so tired and sore. I chased down some aspirin I found, but it only just took the edge off. We crawled up on the bed in the master bedroom. Too tired to eat. Too tired to do much of anything. We curled up together. I used my good hoof to pet the uninjured portion of his head. “Thank you, Yuri.” I told him. “I would be dead without you.” I smiled at him and he wagged his tail back. He grumbled, sighed, and nosed his face in under mine. I held him the best I could, using pillows to prop up sections of my body so I wasn't putting pressure on the worst of my injuries. It was true that Yuri had prevented some aspects of my death, but really, it was me. I could have laid down and just let the mountain lion eat me, but well... I looked out of the window as we laid on the soft bed. The moon was up and the stars twinkled in the cloudless night. I smirked. I found it funny that it took a mauling to really be firm in my resolve to keep going. Tomorrow would be hard. We had to make sure we rested as well as could tonight. Tomorrow we were going to go home. Then we can rest.