Trial X6

Conflict

  At the lockers next to Max and Original Cindy, I saw a woman with a shirt on that said 'WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE' and had the police rendering of Joshua. I bit the inside of my cheek to stay quiet as I could already feel the growl growing deep in my chest.

  "I just want to get through my day without seeing one of those." Max commented as the woman was leaving.

  "Don't even look like him. Doggy-dog is way better looking than that." Original Cindy said as a ringing started to go off. Max closed her locker and looked through her things for her pager. Original Cindy went to her pocket. "It's me." She said, and Max got this look on her face. "Hoping it was Logan?" She asked.

  "Don't know why I would. It's over."

  "Wouldn't be so sure about that."

  "I guess...." Max picked up a package. "I kind of told him I was seeing someone.

  "What? Who?" Original Cindy looked at Max while leaning back a bit. Alec then came around the corner and went to his locker. Avoiding looking at him, I adverted my gaze.

  "Hey, ladies."

  "You gotta be kiddin'" We all picked up our backpacks and began to walk away.

  "It was the only way after what happened." Max raised a hand slightly before dropping it. "I know myself, little by little, forget about the virus, start hanging out again...." She trailed off.

  "And sooner or later, you two accidentally touch again." Original Cindy began to nod.

  "Can't risk it."

  "Does he know he's your new squeeze?" Original Cindy glanced back at Alec, and I felt as if I wasn't quite getting what was happening. Not that this was the first time nor would it be the last. I knew what squeezing was, but the context given seemed to present a different meaning to 'squeeze' that I didn't know.

  "Hell, no!" Max made a face.

  "You gonna tell him?"

  "Not if I can help it." My ear twitched, and I heard a familiar clicking metallic noise.

  "Get down, freak." I turned my head to see Normal holding a handgun toward a bald coworker. "Now."

  "What did I do?" The man had the smell of fear coming off him in waves.

  "Get down, you mutant bastard!" I felt a growl rising in my chest.

  "Mutant? Are you crazy?"

  "You've got three seconds!" Normal shouted, and the man went to his knees while raising his hands. "Get down!" I saw the look in Normal's eyes, and my body reacted. I ran to Normal in a blur, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm behind his back. Wrenching the gun from his hand, I pushed him away before flicking the gun to the side to dump out the bullets. "Hey!" He yelled while looking back at me.

  "What are you doing?" I growled. The man seemed somewhat surprised at me being the one who took his gun.

  "He's one of them! He's got a barcode." Normal was holding his arm while walking over to the coworker he had pointed the firearm at. Turning him around, Normal pulled down the man's shirt collar and rubbed the back of his neck. When he saw the ink come off on his hand, he let the man go. "Oh...." He looked back at me. "Well, he could have been one. Anybody could be. Let that be a lesson to all of you; vigilance." He went back to the bald man. "Go wash your neck. You, get in my office, now." He pointed to a man in a jacket by the cooler.

  "Alright, Crash anyone?" I heard Alec's voice from beside me, and my grip on the gun tightened. 'Why is he standing so close? Why is he even near me?' "I'm buying." He spoke to the crowd in Jam Pony and clapped his hands together. Max and Original Cindy passed behind me, but Original Cindy paused.

  "You comin'?"

  "Yeah." I glared slightly at Normal. Tossing his gun back to him, I felt like snarling, but I didn't. I hadn't filed my teeth, so they would obviously be too sharp for me to be human. I saw Normal and Sketchy exchange glances before I walked away.

~

  When I woke up the next day, I saw a sketchbook lying on the floor under the piano bench. Raising a brow, I bent down to pick it up. Opening it to the first page, I saw Annie. Every page had a picture of Annie, and the last one had her mostly drawn with dark, deep, angry scribbling over her portrait. 'Joshua must have dropped this....' I thought while sighing through my nose. Lately, he had been leaving things everywhere and had lost his interest in painting. His muse had been run off by his grief, and he had even stopped playing with the chickens.

  Closing the sketchbook, I put it in the back of the basement, leaving it on a desk. If Joshua saw this, he'd want to get rid of it. All the hours he spent pouring his affections for this woman into his drawings of her would be wasted if he were to simply toss it out.

  Scratching the back of my head as I went up the stairs to the living room, I saw Max standing there, watching Joshua paint the windows black. There was also a brown paper bag on the floor.

  Going to the kitchen, I opened up the fridge and crinkled my nose. Alec's old food sat in the far back corner, rotting and growing into some sort of creature with a life of its own. It was gross and odd how Alec ate so much and yet forgot about some of his food in the fridge.

  Pulling the trashcan over, I grabbed a broken paintbrush off the floor and used it to scoop whatever it was into the can. Dropping in the broken brush, I went back to my search for breakfast.

  Scratching my ear, I glanced over the shelves. With a sigh, I grabbed a bag and sat at the table. Dropping the bag into my lap, I wrapped my arms around it to get it to body temperature. I didn't want the meat cooked, just warm enough to imitate when it was alive.

  Opening the bag, I dropped the meat onto a plate and licked my lips. Picking up the meat, I began to eat and purr as I satisfied my hunger. My tail even slowly swayed as I ate, liking the taste of raw meat after having it cooked for so long since Alec had moved in.

  Licking my lips clean when I was done, I cleaned off my hands and plate in the sink. Going back to the basement, I got ready for work.

~

  Riding my bike next to Max, we made it to Jam Pony, and Alec was waiting outside. I averted my gaze again and went to park the bike.

  "Shadow! Hold up, hold up!" Alec called out, and I pulled the brakes on the bike. Max did the same as we looked at the male transgenic. He walked up to me and pushed my hair to the side while pulling my shirt collar down. I felt my fur bristle as his fingers lightly grazed my skin. 'What the Hell?'

  "What are you doing?" Max asked.

  "Yeah, that's what I thought. You need a little laser touch-up." He let my collar go and checked Max as well.

  "Thanks for the tip, dick." I grumbled, but the bite in my voice was weaker than usual. Goodness gracious, I needed to figure these feelings out to get back to normal. Being unable to look at the man would definitely become obvious at some point.

  "Wait, hold on, hold on." He said as I got off my bike. Scratching his chin, he looked at me. "Normal and Sketchy are all trippin' about the little stunt you pulled yesterday." I looked into Jam Pony before glancing back at Alec, and he began to talk again. "Look, go back home, and I'll meet you there later, all right?" He pulled his bag more onto his shoulder. Looking at Max, she sighed.

  "I'll go with you."

  "Go, go." Alec said while patting my shoulder. Pedaling off, I bit the inside of my cheek. 'Why am I just now realizing how close he stands to me? Why am I feeling so self-conscious?!' I mentally screamed at myself.

  "Tell Normal I'll be late today." Max said to Alec before following me.