In the Woods, Bears

Chapter 67 - Reckless

Kennedy...

Dizzy and disoriented by the drugs, Kennedy swayed. Her weight shifted forward into her shoulders. The loud ring of gun shots ripped through the surrounding air, but she remained whole. In a swirl of fire, smoke and metal, like a fever dream, she heard Red yell and bared her teeth. She wouldn't allow her imagination to distract her from ripping these men to pieces.

"NOW!" Red's voice rang out as if it was his right to command her. Swinging her heavy head, she looked for him, wasting moments. A dart hit her hard in the shoulder and numbness shot through her, deadening her right paw with a burning cold. No. She saw her man in the shadows of the tree line, beyond the fox eyed man who unsteadily held a tranquilizer gun. He roared as he burst through the bushes.

Reckless. She tried to scream for him to stop, but all that came forth was a pitiful cry as she slumped toward the earth. Kennedy struggled to lift herself back up, while Red threw his body between hers and the men spilling from the opening into the mountain. His scent washed over her, his rage and fear. When he roared, "Run!" she stumbled back a step, willing her body to fight the tranquilizer's poison.

Head dizzy, filling with fog, she tried to launch herself forward... But it was too late. Dragging her numb limb, she made it a few feet before her hips slumped and she went down. Red, ringed in a halo of light by the bright beams of the truck's headlights, lifted his gun and emptied it into the group of men running toward them from the mountain. A howl of misery ripped free of her body as his tall wiry frame jerked, hit hard by the bullets that exploded blood outward into the night toward her. He surged forward, undaunted, keeping his body between them and her as he took wounds with a determination that made her heart tear open. Guns empty, Red took down the man in the lead with his bare hands, but it wasn't the stranger's blood that soaked the ground.

...

When Kennedy woke, she found herself bound to the cold stone floor, chained and locked inside an inky blackness. "Red," she whimpered, extending her fingers. The smallest movement caused her human body to scream. The baby must have turned her while she was unconscious. In these restraints, she couldn't claim her bear shape without tearing herself apart. She listened carefully before she tried moving again. The creak of wood sounded to her left, and she cracked open one eye. The bright flash of a struck lighter blinded her.

"She is awake," Dale said as he crouched down before her, remnants of his arm bound and bandaged. Looking pale, he was careful not to get too close. His voice dripped with acid. "They can't put my arm back on." Kennedy recognized the man as his grim face came into focus. She was digesting a chunk of him, and she had no regrets. He hissed, "I won't forget the loss of my arm, no matter what the counsel decides."

"Red," she whispered. The edges of two of her teeth were sharp, broken. They sawed at the side of her tongue when she spoke.

"That your man? The one we left for dead?" He tapped her forehead with a hard fingertip. "You should know, we left him for the vultures and coyotes. By the time we've dealt with all the damage you and your other men have done, that body is going to be gone. You won't have anything left to honor with fire."

Kennedy rested her cheek on the cold granite, unwilling to let this man see her grieve.

"His life ain't going to pay the price. The baby you are carrying won't either. You are breathing borrowed air." He slid his knife from his boot. "Unless you want me to quicken things for you."

"Put that down, you idiot," Ba spoke in the darkness, clear and firm. She flipped on the lights, and Kennedy squeezed her eyes closed to avoid the painful brightness. The woman's sharp edged voice cut the air between them. "A side effect of forced change is light sensitivity. Hurts, doesn't it?"

Kennedy's stomach lurched and through tiny slits, she looked up at the stone faced woman, eyes as dark as the bottom of a well. She said nothing.

"You caused a lot of trouble, girl."

"Let us go." Kennedy tried to wet her lips, but her mouth was dry.

"Why? Are you late to update your YouTube channel? Isn't going viral once this week enough?"

Kennedy winced. "That wasn't my fault." Forcing her arms to move, she tried to sit up and failed.

"Didn't you listen to me at all? I thought you were smarter than this. I warned you."

"Please, Ba. She didn't know this would happen." David's voice snapped Kennedy's attention away from Ba toward the doorway behind her. There he stood, across the room, wringing his hands together, wearing a deep cut on his cheek, with his lip freshly busted. Was he one of them? Or still hers?

With a rawhide tough finger, Ba pointed at the young man. "The only reason you aren't bound on this floor with her is that you are kin to me. Keep your tongue in your mouth, or you will lose it."

Humbling herself, Kennedy begged Ba, "Tell me, is Terry alive? Is Jeremiah?"

"I think you deserve to worry about them a while longer." Stiff backed, the powerful woman turned to face the handful of people edging into the room. Curious lookie loos. "I want everyone out. This isn't a side show. No one is to see her, or go near her before the council gathers. I'm talking to you, Dale." She spat into the dirt. "Vengeance won't bring you peace. Don't be stupid. She is bad luck for all of us, a curse on the people." When David didn't move fast enough, she jerked his sleeve and pushed him in front of her through the door. Two guards shadowed the entrance just outside the room. "No one goes in," Ba said to them. "Not even my Joe." She paused. "Especially, Joe."

Angry, Kennedy forced herself into a seated position, ignoring the pain that lit bright spots in front of her eyes. She called out to the leader, "Bring me my man. Let me rest by his body and keep my dead company."

"You are the dead." The old woman placed one hand on the thick curtain that fell across the doorway. "Want me to bring you the arm you tore free? You can use it as a pillow."

Fury pressed the pain down. "Bring me my dead."

"They left the red head where he fell for the scavengers to drag away. More holes in him than I could count." The old woman lifted her chin imperiously. "Underestimating Townies was my mistake. Your detail should have been twice the size it was. I didn't think town boys could change." The smile she gave her was grim, false with teeth. "Too much change for my liking."

For the first time, it dawned on Kennedy that the men that had attacked them hadn't shifted into bears. They had held shape, even under assault, when their lives were at risk. Fear crept under her skin like an itch. Could they shift? Were some of them as toothless as sheep? Did they have to rely on their guns? "Why didn't your soldiers change?"

"The old woman froze in the doorway." Glaring over her shoulder, she said, "It's always been dangerous."

"Why did Terry bring me here, if your people have as little ability to control the change as the folks in town?"

"You're too young to understand why caution is prudent. In a long life, there is a time to use the body and a time to use the mind."

"Why are there hardly any children here, Ba?"

The woman's jaw worked, flexing. She snapped her face toward the guards. "If she keeps making noise, silence her. I don't care how." Shaking off Kennedy's words, she hissed, "I won't be questioned in my own home."