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The cops were there. The paramedics were there. Everyone in the street gang was dead. He was safe now. Yet the police officer stared at the young man and knew that something was still wrong with him. Jerald flicked his eyes at the dead bodies and the flashing lights before he winced when a paramedic rubbed a cotton ball slightly soaked with alcohol against a laceration on his body. Jerald flexed his fingers a few times before he looked up at the detective and sniffed.

"I'm okay...I-I don't need that," said Jerald softly.

The paramedic stared at the man and dabbed his head with the cotton ball anyway. Jerald didn't so much as wince when he felt the small amount of fluids pressing against his head. He blinked twice while the detective sighed heavily and looked around the grisly scene, examining all of the blood and few body parts that were still being collected by all of the paramedics and coroners. The bearded man looked back down at Jerald before he resumed questioning him.

"So you say you heard gunshots and you came rushing?"

Jerald answered softly. "Yes."

"So all of this," said the detective, pointing to all of the destruction around him, "had happened before you got here?"

"Yes."

"Eddie, you finished yet?"

Eddie flicked his eyes at his partner and sighed. "Just hold on a second, Milo. I'm still getting the statement from the survivor."

Detective Laften turned back around and resumed questioning Jerald. "So you found Kinley Jessup over there, shot at him, took his machete, and that's when you killed him. I got that right?"

Jerald nodded slowly. "That's correct."

The detective sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "Well, that's gonna be a problem. You didn't just kill that man. You butchered him. There's no way in hell what you did to him was self-defense."

"He was...I shot at him a few times. Um, he...he got on his knees. I just...took the weapon and, I, um..."

"You murdered him."

Jerald finally looked up at the detective. "That man shot my friend. He butchered all of those anthros they've been reporting about on the news. He's responsible--"

Detective Laften held up a hand, and Jerald calmed down. "For what it's worth, I don't blame you. Assholes like him deserve worse than what you did. The only reason why I wouldn't have done the same thing is because I like my job, and I don't intend on going to prison soon."

Jerald frowned. "I...I'm going to prison?"

The officer shrugged. "Possibly. It doesn't matter that the man you killed murdered a dozen or so anthros in the past month. What matters is that you murdered a man while he was defenseless and on his knees. At best, that's manslaughter."

"Oh...I-I just...I thought--"

"Relax, okay? You were angry; you lashed out in the heat of the moment. That's all that matters. I can't guarantee you won't end up in jail--I'm not a lawyer or judge or jury. But I've seen good people get tossed in prison over picayune bullshit. So my advice to you is to find a damn good lawyer, and soon."

Jerald lowered his head slowly and went back to looking down at the ground again. He spotted a tiny insect skittering along the ground beside some of the rocks and broken glass. The man thought about saying or doing something to help explain what he did to Kinley, why he did it. But everything seemed like a blur now. He thought killing the man would solve everyone's problems--he saved Kannan, and he got rid of a human being who was slaughtering innocent people for no reason. But all his problems were accruing now, and it was all topped off with possible jail time. The truck driver wasn't sure what to do now, what he wanted. It seemed like an eternity since Jerald and Bendis were playing _Chaos Control_with each other, with the former besting the panda bear over and over again. And now the bear had been shot, and Jerald may end up in prison. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on with Kannan now; his entire life had been ruined, and he still didn't know who turned him into the weregator to begin with. Jerald felt like breaking down and sobbing. He had a dozen reasons to do so. And yet, he sat still, staring at the filthy ground.

"I'm really sorry about your friend," the detective suddenly chimed in.

Jerald looked up again and glanced at the ambulance Bendis had been placed inside. The truck driver sighed heavily and slowly shook his head.

"Me too..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He didn't want to be here, not in a place like this. But everyone else who needed to see him had, so now it was Jerald's turn. Jerald didn't like the sight of it, the area always decrypt--just another reminder that someone had died recently. Sometimes Jerald would walk into the building and catch wind of a creature whose bowels had loosened during their passing. Sometimes the whole building stank of death, even though the bodies were usually kept behind closed doors and neatly shelved beneath the building. The man rubbed his forehead and stood against the wall, shaking. He wasn't sure if he was ready yet. He didn't know why he seemed so afraid. But right now, the man wanted to go home, go back to sleep, forget the past two weeks ever happened. But he was here now--there was no point in turning back. So Jerald shut his eyes and let out a harsh breath. And then he walked up to the door and opened it up.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey buddy! Heh...how you doin'?"

Jerald smiled as he saw Bendis resting in the hospital bed. The room looked comfortable enough, with a TV placed in the top-left corner of the room, a desk with a colorful-looking plant resting on it, a few chairs for guests to sit in, a closet, and two posters showing diagrams of a typical human being and anthro's bodies. The panda bear was still in his hospital gown with IV tubes placed inside his right arm. The ECG machine was calmly beating in the background, indicating that his heart rate was still normal.

"I'm doin' great. Nice to see you're feeling better."

Jerald stared at the bear before he blinked and turned to the doctor who was examining some of Bendis' records on a clipboard.

"He is doing better, right?"

The koala bear adjusted his spectacles before he turned and faced Jerald. "Absolutely. He got very lucky--the bullet missed his heart and vital arteries. It tore through one of the bones in his ribs, but otherwise, it went right through. The hardest part was removing the projectile rattling around inside him."

"What about the stab wound?"

"Nothing stitches couldn't fix. But once he's released, you'll need to look after him very closely. That stab wound did more damage than the bullet--any deeper and it might've split his kidney open. We wouldn't want the wound to reopen and have your friend here bleed to death, right?"

Jerald nodded. "Right."

Bendis chuckled. "Hey man, this hospital's awesome! I can totally shit the bed and they'll send in this really buff anthro to give me a sponge bath! You've any idea how magnificent it feels to have a sexy terrier rub his big paws all over your ass?"

The doctor's eyes grew wide, while Jerald frowned and blinked as he looked at the panda's grin.

"He'll be fine, doctor," said Jerald flatly.

The koala bear cleared his throat awkwardly and lowered his clipboard. "Well then, I-I'll leave you two alone. You know which button to press if you need any assistance, Mr. Vernly."

"Just wait until later. I'll have another mess for that terrier to clean up!"

The doctor grimaced as he walked out the room, shutting the door and pretending that the panda never said anything. After the koala left, Jerald sat down in one of the chairs and sighed as he stared at Bendis.

"I see you're doing better."

"The hell I am. They had to bandage up my paws because I cut them so deeply. How am I supposed to tug one out now?"

Jerald closed his eyes and huffed with exasperation. Bendis saw the annoyance in his face and frowned.

"Right...sorry. I know you didn't come here to listen about all of my phallic issues. But, uh, yeah. I'm doing better. I mean, for someone who got stabbed and shot, I'm fuckin' fantastic. I should probably be dead by now."

"That's good to hear."

Bendis paused and listened to the ECG machine beep a few times. He grunted as he sat up slightly on the bed, wiggling his ears and grumbling, his head feeling bare since the hospital staff took away all his clothes, hat included.

"Did they bring Kannan in here? He's not--"

"No, he's fine, Bendis. Physically, anyway."

Bendis huffed and shook his head. "I can barely remember that day, y'know? So much shit went wrong so fast. You didn't, um...you didn't go into his house that night, did you?"

"No."

Bendis blinked and turned away. "Good. Do you know what happened to Kannan? If he's not in the hospital, where'd he go?"

Jerald shrugged. "He left. Not sure where to. Guy just ran off shortly after all that chaos happened."

"Oh," said Bendis dejectedly.

The two creatures sat in silence, not saying or looking at each other for nearly two minutes. Jerald leaned forward and twiddled with his fingers, glancing down at the floor, taking note of how pristine the floor was, how shiny the tiles were. Bendis heard the machine beeping constantly and grunted, trying to make some other noises. He scratched his left ear, his paw still coarse from all the glass and bandages, before he lowered his paw. The panda bear flicked his eyes up at the clock. Then he stared at his friend and blinked.

"Jerald..."

The man looked up. "Hmm?"

"You're being awfully quiet right now. Are you okay?"

Jerald shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. I was a little shaken up, but I'm all right."

"You sure?"

"Yeah! I'm just stressed. Work and-and all that other nonsense and stuff. It's just--it's hard to go through what we went through and then resume work a week later. Kinda like when we go on vacation for a week, and then we're out of our game--"

"Jerald," said Bendis firmly, interrupting the man's speech.

"...Yes?"

Bendis didn't say anything. He stared at Jerald for a long time, only breathing softly as the ECG machine continued to beep in the background. The two friends kept staring in the seemingly silent room for a while, with Jerald occasionally glancing down at the floor or away from Bendis. But everytime Jerald went back to Bendis, he noticed that the bear was still staring at him, only blinking once or twice. The human being was about to say he was fine again when he closed his mouth and leaned backwards in the chair. He took a few deep breaths and started to reflect on everything that happened in the past few days and swallowed. Jerald didn't even know why at first, but his eyes became cloudy, and the man found himself blinking multiple times to stop himself from crying. He looked at Bendis and frowned.

"I killed someone," he said softly.

Bendis turned away and looked down. "Yeah, I know. I did too..."

"I might go to prison, Bendis."

"What the hell for?"

"Manslaughter. I'm just..."

Jerald sniffled and folded his arms as he shook his head. Bendis didn't know what to say either and lied back down on his pillow, staring up at the ceiling as his eyes became watery. He sighed harshly as he tried not to reflect and was rudely disturbed when Jerald's cell phone began to beep. The man sniffled again and sighed as he dug into his pocket and pulled out the mobile device. He wiped his left eye and looked at the phone, swearing.

"Shit. Sasha called out again. Kyle wants to know if I can take his place."

Bendis jerked his head in Jerald's direction and watched as the man quickly stood up and began to head for the door.

"I'll come see you again tonight, buddy."

"Stay," said Bendis, his voice nearly cracking.

Jerald was about to reach the door when he sighed and turned around. "You know how Kyle is."

"Just...just an hour? Please? I'm just...it gets lonely after a while."

"I'm sure that terrier can comfort you until I come back."

Bendis huffed. "I don't know that terrier. All he does is clean my bed and give me a sponge bath, nothing else. C-can't you stay for an hour? J-just...just one hour, Jerald."

Jerald was about to grab the doorknob when he blinked and lowered his hand. He slowly turned around and headed back for the chair.

"All right. I suppose it won't hurt."

Bendis smiled almost instantly. He chuckled as he grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. And then he frowned when he noticed that another news announcement was on.

"...all massacred. It appears as though the leader of the lynch mob, Kinley Jessup, as well as his entire gang, have all either been killed or--"

"Fucking shut up already!" snarled Bendis.

The panda bear quickly changed the channel. His attitude quickly flared as he wiggled his ears and giggled.

"Hehe, look! Z Nation's on again!"

Jerald groaned as he slumped in his chair. "This shit again?"

"It's either this or the news."

Jerald suddenly sat back up and sniffed. "Okay, all right. I guess zombies being splattered by a giant bell is mildly entertaining, right?"

Bendis giggled. "That's the spirit!"

Jerald stared at the television for a while and observed all the human characters disposing of multiple zombies at once before he glanced at Bendis and saw the bear giggling and nearly bouncing up and down with joy. He felt like crying. He felt like talking to a therapist. If anything, he wanted to go to work and focus more on his job. But when Jerald saw Bendis' spirits being lifted so quickly, he couldn't help but smile too.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The African wild dog and rhino were standing in the same room, observing the news announcement as the shark rubbed his chin and growled. Fenkar took a few deep breaths before he exhaled and pointed at the TV.

"S-see? They-they didn't mention my name! They don't know anything about me!"

"But you still failed your mission, Fenkar," growled Reegar.

Fenkar glanced at the scowling rhino as he casually dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a knife. The canine swallowed as he began to back away.

"It-it's just one...one truck driver! That's all! He doesn't know anything else about us! I swear!"

Reilcuf was leaning against the wall beside one of the nightstands, grinning as Reegar gradually got closer to the canine. Fenkar shouted as he tripped over the armrest of the couch and fell on his back, with the rhino still pointing his knife at him.

"Reilcuf! Stop him!"

The shark sighed and stepped away from the wall. "Put the knife away, Reegar, before Fenkar shits himself."

The African wild dog whimpered and held up his paws in a feeble attempt to defend himself. The rhino growled and wagged his tail, complying with the shark's demand. He slid his knife back into the holster before he turned and snorted.

"Kinley and his entire gang are dead because this whiny little weasel had to run his mouth."

"Doesn't matter. His lynch mob served their purpose. If anything, we should be thanking Kannan and those two truckers--they saved us the time and effort of killing Kinley ourselves."

The rhino blinked. "I don't understand."

"Course you don't. Kinley slaughtered over a dozen anthros, had some of their murders videotaped and sent to news stations. Lotta anthros are in uproar about it. The humans have been rioting since the massacre in the woods, and I'm more than certain that the anthros will do the same thanks to Kinley."

Reilcuf shrugged. "We've had a few hiccups, sure, but everything's working out so far."

"Working out?" Reegar turned and looked around the room, holding out his arms. "How is this 'working out'? We're stuck in a hotel room until we can find a new hideout."

Reilcuf snorted. "Uh, this is a suite, one that I'm paying for, thank you very much."

Fenkar sat up. "He's right, Reilcuf. That...that bear took out most of us, Gengy included. It's just us until we find more mercs to side with us. You almost died for fuck's sake!"

"But I didn't."

"But you could have," Reegar added.

"But I didn't, so shut your mouths."

Fenkar scratched his chin. "On top of that, our client isn't happy with the way we're going along with this. If we piss him off, he's gonna sell us all out. We all know that. So let's stop toying with the guy's money and resources!"

"No," said Reilcuf firmly.

Fenkar smacked his paw against his forehead. "You fuckin' idiot."

"The last person who should be talking is you. Only reason why I'm not letting Reegar shove that big knife of his up your ass is cause we need that plump organ trapped inside your skull."

Fenkar shut his mouth. Reilcuf started to pace around the hotel suite, wagging his tail as his thick boots clomped on the floor. He started muttering to himself, trying to plan out his schemes in his mind, jotting down all the key elements mentally. The bull shark sniffed and snapped his fingers.

"Guns. We need a lot of those, right?"

"We could use more," said Reegar.

Reilcuf grinned widely. "Good. And what do the people in this city crave?"

"Pussy."

Reilcuf blinked. "Besides that."

"Drugs. He's talking about trading drugs for guns, Reegar," said Fenkar, in a condescending voice.

"There you go. Now there's a few criminals in this city who know a guy who knows another guy. Point is, he's sitting on a giant stash of weapons--arguably enough to supply a battalion of soldiers. I'm sure if we find him and, uh, 'persuade' him with some white gold, maybe some black tar and a few chemists--"

"That's perfect, Reilcuf. We'll have all the guns and soldiers right at our disposal," said Reegar.

"And just where are we going to find all these chemists? How will we get all the drugs? How will we ship 'em to this arms dealer?" asked Fenkar.

Reegar flicked his eyes at the canine and snorted. "You're the smart one. You figure it out."

"Yes, Fenkar," the shark added. "I'm sure your precious brain will be able to solve it. Unless you'd prefer if we spray your brain all over the carpet?"

Fenkar closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Sure...I'll figure it out. We all have plenty of contacts and assets who can help us. I just need a few names--"

"Good enough. Get started now."

Fenkar watched as the shark departed into the bathroom, whereas Reegar sat down on a chair near the couch and stared at the African wild dog with his arms folded. The exhausted, scruffy dog rubbed his eyes before he took out his phone and started to make a call.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New life. New home. New look. New everything. He couldn't go back to his previous life. That was all gone now. The only thing Kannan could do was make the best of his new body, his new urges and disabilities. When the weregator was thirsty, he'd drink from a grimy puddle or sip water from a drainpipe, or slurp up water from a pond if he was lucky enough to reach the national park at night. When Kannan was sleepy, he'd rest beside (sometimes inside) a dumpster, or if he was lucky, he'd find a dirty, soggy mattress with a few exposed springs. When Kannan was aroused, he'd masturbate in an alley, and pray that no one saw or heard of what he was doing. And when he needed to void himself, he'd go behind a bush or a pile of trash, as opposed to sneaking into someone's home and using their toilet. The biggest problem he had was controlling his hunger. Every now and again, he'd see a juicy human being walking outside, taking out the trash. He'd see chefs and janitors dumping rotten meat and vegetables into dumpsters, and Kannan had to physically force himself to dine on the decaying meat, as opposed to munching on a janitor's plump belly.

He was lucky tonight though. His bowels had been voided. His sexual urges subsided after masturbating and ejaculating twice in the same half-hour. He had stolen tons of meat from a butcher's shop after the store closed down. Even better, he found a condemned building that he could sleep in, and he had company. The massive weregator was sitting on another mattress, with his pile of meat resting on the floor beside him. A few fires were burning inside of barrels, providing heat for all the homeless creatures and drug addicts who needed it. Kannan snarled as he bit into a rack of lamb, sucking off all the raw meat before he started to devour the bones. The gator heard two creatures shouting; they were weasels fighting over the last syringe filled with opiates. In the process of the fight, one weasel accidentally jammed himself in the eye and fell to the floor. After that, the other weasel snarled and sat back down, pouting and shaking at his missed opportunity. Kannan sniffed the air and jerked his head to the left, where he heard a young white goat gasp. Kannan thought about snarling at him at first, until he noticed his white hoody and stained jeans. One of his horns had been ripped off and his feet looked terrible.

The only difference this time around was that the goat stank of feces, not urine. Kannan figured the creature either slept in his own waste or recently soiled himself and never bothered to change his clothes. The goat whimpered and shook as he stared at Kannan. He started to back away slowly until Kannan looked down at a very long line of sausages by his feet. He snorted and tossed the sausages at the goat, who promptly snatched the meat away and began to nibble on it as he sat down near a broken window. The weregator finished eating the rack of lamb before he swallowed hard and heard something clattering outside. Kannan snarled, his primal instincts coming about again as he stood up and headed outside. He jumped out of the building's doorway and pounced on the ground, snarling again as he sniffed the air, jerking his head around like a dog looking for a treat. Kannan snarled again and stood on his two feet, his nostrils overwhelmed by a strange, new odor. He heard a few thuds in the distance and water splashing, followed by footsteps, as if someone was running. Kannan growled in his throat as he took a few steps forward. And then he winced when something sharp pricked him in the back of the neck.

"OW, SHIT! What..."

Kannan reached back and grabbed a tiny device. He frowned. Someone just shot a dart at him.

"Not again..."

He tried to stay on his feet, but his vision was already fading. Kannan lost consciousness before he even knew he hit the ground.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Is he still...kill him?"

"Of course not! We...of him!"

"How much...that dart?"

"...goddamn elephant. He didn't so much as fart in his sleep."

"...Hey, I think he's getting up! HEY BUDDY! YOU AWAKE YET?!"

Kannan grunted as he slowly opened his eyes. He scrunched up his face when a foul stench filled his snout. And then he shouted with surprise when he noticed he was looking up at a burly Rottweiler panting in his face. The weregator quickly backed away, his hands and feet resting on a hard, rough exterior. His left hand splashed as it landed in a puddle, and Kannan started to look all around, trying to determine where he was at.

"Geez, give the guy some room to breathe, Rex. He just woke up--you don't need to knock him back out with your stinky breath."

Rex slurped and licked his lips. He ignored the other creature talking to him and walked up to Kannan anyway, waving a beefy paw at him.

"Hi!"

Kannan didn't say anything at first. He took a few breaths before looking around the area again. There was a curved railing up ahead and some stairs leading down to a lower level. The entire place smelled of mildew and wet animals. Kannan could hear faint rumbling and rocks clattering, debris falling from the ceiling. The weregator stood up, examining the cavern-like walls and listening to some of the water dripping in the background. The ground was made of clay, hard rocks and brick-like material. Kannan sniffed again and noticed metal and old fuel in the air, like a rusted machine that was no longer functioning. A small exit sign was dangling from the ceiling, right above another tiny tunnel.

"Where am I?"

"It's a tunnel, genius. What does it look like?"

Kannan looked past the dog and saw a gorilla up ahead. He didn't look as feral as Rex, but he was still unusually large, with his plump belly bulging against his trousers and his muscular legs and arms, both thick and bulging with muscles. His dark black fur was dirty and wet, his feet and hands looked rough and scarred, and his face was glued into a scowl, as if he couldn't smile even if he tried. The gorilla folded his arms as he grunted and leaned against the wall.

"It's not a tunnel, Terneek! It's an abandoned subway!" shouted Rex.

"A subway is a tunnel, genius."

Kannan flicked his eyes back at the giant Rottweiler and blinked. He was still panting heavily with drool flowing down his maw. His eyes were large and brown, and his big ears were curled downwards like most Rottweilers. But his body was humongous, just like Kannan's. He couldn't fit into a shirt of any kind, and his dark green cargo pants were ripped. His massive footpaws looked big enough to crush someone's skull if he stomped on someone's head. Kannan sniffed the air and found his face contorting. He sensed no hostility from the canine, but his body odor was very strong, and his damp fur didn't make it any better. His hot breath was fetid, and Kannan was hoping that he didn't also smell urine and garbage coming from Rex's body. Kannan was about to open his mouth to ask more questions when Rex grabbed his hand and started to haul him down a set of stairs.

"C'mon, lemme show you around the place!"

The weregator followed the weredog until they arrived at one of the platforms below. What used to be a lively train station was now an abandoned tunnel filled with rusty train cars and various puddles of oil and water. Kannan could hear faint thudding in the distance but ignored it at first, still trying to wrench his hand free from the friendly weredog.

"This here is the big, complicated, communication center...thingy! This is where the Boss Dog and all his other partners do their investigations and late-night snooping on the computers and other...stuff! And over there--"

Kannan finally jerked his arm away from Rex. "That's enough! Is-is anyone gonna tell me where I am?!"

Kannan shouted when he heard a loud thud and nearly fell down with surprise. He panted as he looked up at the top of the rusty train car Rex was pointing to, only to see an oversized fox with red and white fur on top of the vehicle. She was grinning as she looked down at Rex and Kannan, breathing softly as her dark blue eyes locked onto Kannan's body.

"Oh good. You brought another friend for us to play with," she growled.

The vixen flipped off the train and landed on the platform hard, standing up and wagging her tail. Kannan's brain nearly exploded. She was like him and Rex too: a muscular creature with giant paws and footpaws, ranging between eight and ten feet tall. She only had on a pair of black pants, and seemed perfectly fine showing off her breasts to everyone around her. She didn't seem as burly as Kannan and Rex were, but the vixen still looked very intimidating, with paws large enough to tear a human being in half, and a long muzzle with dozens of serrated teeth inside of it. Her scent was more alluring than Rex's, but the faint hint of garbage was still present, and a sickly bitter odor that reminded Kannan of stale food.

"Hey there. What's your name?"

"Kannan. I was--that's not important! Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

Kannan heard a frustrated sigh from above. He glanced at the stairs and saw Terneek walking down them slowly.

"Back away, Dog Breath. You don't need to start kissin' his ass this early!"

The black gorilla stomped in front of the trio before he pointed at the vixen next. "And you..."

The fox grinned and leaned against the train. "Yes, dear?"

"Don't go crawlin' around his britches, Sheila. I know you can't control those 'urges' but you don't gotta stick your pussy in every shaft you come across."

"Really now, that's a horrible stereotype. I was merely asking this fine gentleman his name, and you already think I'm trying to fuck him. And who the hell says 'britches' anymore?"

"Ooh! I just realized something! Britches is just the word 'bitches' with an R added to it! Hehehe, that's so funny!"

Kannan, Terneek, and Sheila all turned and faced Rex with large scowls on their faces. Rex's wide, energetic smile slowly turned upside down, and the Rottweiler found himself almost blushing.

"Should I shut up now?"

"Please," said Sheila bluntly.

Rex backed away and stood against a column, trying his best to keep quiet. Kannan growled with irritation and was about to say something else when he heard a very loud hiss. The weregator's eyes grew wide. He looked on the ground and around the platform, trying to see where the steam was coming from. But then he heard faint grunting and glanced near the tracks, where he saw a very large reptile climbing up from the tracks themselves. Kannan almost felt like shouting with frustration, indignant of the constantly changing situation. Now an oversized green cobra was walking towards him, the hood retracted. He hissed at the weregator as he approached him, his gray forked tongue slipping out his mouth. The giant snake chuckled and hissed again before he opened his mouth and spoke.

"What is this? Fresh prey for me to devour?"

Kannan was already starting to hate the snake. He growled at him when the cobra got close, and the snake responded by barring his fangs and expanding his hood, trying to intimidate the gator. Kannan could see that his stomach and chest was light yellow, unlike his green and black scales. His blue shorts--unsurprisingly--were tattered, and he wore no shoes or socks due to his enormous feet. His hands were large, but bony and had long black claws. He seemed like the weakest of the group of werebeasts he ran into--Sheila and Rex were both bulky and tall. But the cobra looked skinny, almost average to a point. He was certainly tall, but his muscles weren't anything impressive to Kannan. He wasn't fond of his scent either--while Rex smelled like he had been rolling around in garbage, the snake smelled like he decay and dried-up blood. And his breath nearly made Kannan gag; the weregator thought he was suffering from some kind of buccal-related disease, or if he recently ate a rotten corpse. The snake started to circle Kannan, hissing in his face and whispering near his earholes.

"Look at you! Such a lovely, gargantuan creature. All those muscles..."

"Back off," snarled Kannan.

The cobra hissed again and started to slyly move his tail around Kannan's legs. "Feisty one, it seems. Shame you're not a hog. I was hoping to sink my fangs into another obese boar with a paunch. And yet, I feel inclined to test the resilience of your scales."

The snake opened his mouth wide. Kannan snarled and reached forward, grabbing the skinny cobra by the throat and tightening his grip. And yet, the snake didn't panic. He only blinked and grinned widely, his slit-like pupils staring into Kannan's grayish-yellow eyes.

"I assure you, my venom will blind you long before you can break my neck."

The snake started to open his mouth again, ready to spit venom, until Rex finally stepped in-between them and shoved the snake backwards.

"That's enough, Seslark! We don't kill were-creatures unless they're hostile to us!"

Seslark hissed noisily and chuckled. "Of course! Wouldn't want to get in-between you and your little 'buddy,' Dog Breath."

"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Kannan roared.

Everyone went quiet. All Kannan could hear were his harsh breathing and the rumbling from above, as well as more water dripping from the ceiling. He looked at the four creatures around him, waiting for someone to answer before he tried to escape on his own. But Terneek finally sighed heavily as he walked into the middle of the platform.

"There's a group of people out there who stole a formula from a science lab. They're experimenting on human beings and turning you all into were-creatures with it, or whatever the fuck you wanna call yourselves."

"You can't be serious. So-so we're...we're just test subjects?"

"Something like that."

"How many more are there? I-I fought one--"

"Then you know how dire this situation is. We have no idea how many other were-creatures are out there. Some of them are like you; they're just confused or lost. But a majority of them are ravenous monsters who have no problem destroying everything in sight."

"So...there's a dog tamer out there who's intentionally letting a bunch of rabid canines out of their cages?"

Rex nodded. "Uh-huh. But that's where we come in! It's our job to stop 'em!"

"And we just, what? Fight crime? Clean up the city of these monsters?"

"Yeah, buddy! Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Except, you know...we don't have shells. Or bandannas. Or nunchucks. Or all that other cool stuff those turtles got. But hey! Still fightin' crime at night!"

Kannan huffed and rubbed his head. "So that's it? We stay down here all day in some dank tunnel, then come out at night and fight crime, like this is some-some Saturday morning cartoon?"

Sheila huffed. "When you put it like that..."

Seslark hissed. "There is no need to be ungrateful. After all, Terneek rescued you from that shithole we found you in. Is that where you would like to go? Would you like to spend the night lying on a mattress infested with bugs and mold, your only companion a few anthros and humans who abuse their bodies with narcotics?"

"C'mon, buddy! You'll love it here! We'll be one big sappy family, an' you can be the grumpy uncle!" shouted Rex.

"I didn't ask for this...I didn't want to become this...this thing you're staring at," growled Kannan.

Sheila shrugged. "You think we did? We don't know who did this to us. We don't know why. All we know is that someone out there is trying to burn this city to the ground, and they're using weres like us to do it. How long do you think it'll be before a witch hunt starts and the humans start exterminating anyone who so much as looks or sounds like us? How long do you think it'll be before they start a genocide against all anthros? Do you want this city to become a battlefield?"

Kannan slowly closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. It didn't take long before a series of gruesome images began to pop into his mind, all of which ended in either death, destruction, or the entire city being bombed to eradicate all of the "infected" human beings. He sighed and shook his head as he opened his eyes back up.

"I can't go home. I don't have a family anymore...guess I'm stuck here, like it or not."

"You're gonna like it, or we'll throw your sorry ass back out onto the streets," Terneek threatened.

Rex giggled. "Don't be silly, Kannan! We're your family now!"

Kannan thought he'd be happier once he heard the excited dog's voice, but his spirits still weren't lifted. He looked around at the three werebeasts and the heavyset gorilla and felt incongruent. And yet, Kannan didn't want to be alone again. He didn't want to spend day after day living on the street, hoping that no cops would come by and shoot him to bits just for looking so fearsome. So the weregator stared at the creatures and forced himself to half-smile.

"I...I suppose I am."

The buff Rottweiler laughed heartily before he jumped on the train tracks and gestured Kannan to follow him. "C'mon! Let me show you where we all sleep and hang out at during the day! Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and the Boss Dog will give us an assignment tonight! You wouldn't mind tagging along, would you?"

Kannan faked a smile again. "No. Of course not."

Rex laughed again as he grabbed Kannan's arm and began to drag him through the tunnels. As they left Sheila, Seslark and Terneek, Kannan's smile gradually faded into a straight face. So many tragic events had happened to him in the past several days, and the only two people he could trust would probably never see him again. Now he was stuck here, as opposed to being out enduring the life of a homeless primal anthro, evading the police and public places during the day. And now these creatures wanted him to help them fight crime at night, brawl with other were-creatures who were just as ferocious and deadly as he was. Kannan thought, after he turned into a weregator, that the rest of his life would be a hard, rough road for him to travel upon.

But now, Kannan could see that he hadn't even started the challenges that were waiting for him...