War Dog

Chapter 2

After that week of settling in, in my new room and experimenting out in the training field finding the new limits of my body I was moved to the training center. After the tsterile environment of the labs, stepping outside had me freezing in my tracks. The overwhelming sights scents and sounds had me on sensory overload. My nose twitched and my ears pinned back as I dropped to all fours. The scientists all stepped back giving me space to come to terms with the new stimuli i was experiencing. 

I closed my eyes to better focus on scent, breathing in deeply and slowly. Being autumn the scent of fermenting foliage was stronger than ever, the scent of that alone developing a sinus headache. Overlapping that was the scent of exhaust fumes from the vehicle traffic combined with the scents of human. Sweaty humans. People who had come into contact with millions of other scents through their workday. After a few long moments of becoming desensitised to the smells I was able to prick my ears back up and begin focusing on and assimilating hearing. The sound of people's heartbeats, pumping fast carrying their lifeblood through their bodies. Breathing, some soft and smooth, others harsh and ragged. Footsteps echoing like a second heartbeat, thump thump thump, through my ears. All sounds I had slowly adjusted to on a smaller scale inside the labs, but now amplified out in the open space of the full military facility. The sound of the wind, soft and imperceptible to humans howled through me causing my ears to twitch. The sound of the cars, each one with its own definable hitch and groans reverberating through my head like stampeding elephants. The combination of scent and noise overwhelmed me. I couldn't identify most of what I was sensing and so had no way of cataloguing it. I had to just endure and attempt to let everything wash over me. At some point during the last twenty minutes I had dropped to my stomach like a dog laying down in order to try and lessen the strain on my body. 

My heartbeat slowed and my breathing evened out as the gradual adaptation of my senses progressed to something more easily dealt with. After another ten minutes I opened my eyes, the least overwhelming sense. Everything was sharpened and clearer, the lack of colour simplifying the sense to a manageable degree. The scientists helping with the transfer stood back and away from me allowing to come to terms with the overwhelming stimuli by myself, not adding to the problem. Their expressions were vaguely concerned but not worried. The experience had been expected and I'd even been warned that the first steps outside of the calm and quiet laboratory would possibly cause a sensory meltdown. I thought I had been prepared and arrogantly brushed off the warnings. Wincing at the headache forming behind my eyes I stand back up, the pads on my hands and feet protecting my skin from the rough surface of the concrete as I loped over to the group of scientists on all fours. Standing up to my full five feet and 4 inches as I reach them they gather around me and begin asking questions quietly. "Are you ok?" "What did you experience?" "Can you identify what you saw/smelled/heard/felt."  I answered their questions, getting more and more frustrated with my inability to expand in detail when they asked follow up questions. Dr. Cooper sensing my growing frustration put a pause to the questions. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe we have exhausted Ceri's capabilities to explain in detail what she experienced and we should leave the questioning for another time. You will all have plenty of time to examine Ceri in detail when she begins her training." With the questioning cut short, my team of scientists herded me towards our waiting car and piled in. 

I sat in the back of the car between two other scientists. Despite my body shape being considerably different now that I was a hybrid, I was still the smallest person in our group. Wedged between the two men on either side me I shifted awkwardly trying to get my tail to sit right behind me. I ended up pulling my tail to align alongside my thigh easing the discomfort slightly. "Stop shifting," a growled complaint to my left. Devon. The one most easily annoyed with anything I did. "Sorry, sorry," I respond just as irritated. "I can't sit comfortably with my tail..." All I receive in response is an eyeroll.