by Angela Foxxe
Winston laughed and handed Shawna his blade as he walked past her to get to the spring.
“I hope that the falcons bring us an extra one for you,” he mused. “Sharing a knife might get tiresome after a while.”
Shawna didn’t say anything, she was too busy carving into the greasy haunch of meat and stuffing bits into her face. She was absolutely famished and had no time for proper manners. Each slice of meat she took disappeared into her mouth as fast as she could slice another off.
“Don’t choke on me,” Winston said with a wink. “I’ll be right back.”
All she could do was reply with was, “Mmmf,” as Winston walked off. She relished the greasy pork taste of the pig mole as she ate. She wasn’t picky when it came to food, but she much preferred this to radcow meat.
She swallowed another mouthful as Winston came around the corner and handed her a wet water skin.
“Drink up,” he said.
“Not a problem,” Shawna said as she raised the stopper to her mouth and pulled it out with her teeth. She started drinking and was surprised at how clean and fresh the water tasted. “Wow this is the best water I’ve ever had,” she gasped between gulps. “Why do we have to leave here?” she asked as she handed the skin back to Winston.
“Because this isn’t our place and you need another tiger shifter to help deliver our baby,” Winston explained. “Especially since you went through the transformation ritual while pregnant; if the baby shifts in the womb, you’ll need a tiger midwife to get it out safely,” he explained. “Falcons don’t know how, it’s beyond them because they actually lay eggs, human, bird, whatever, they lay eggs.”
“That’s different,” Shawna replied. “Probably makes things less stressful.”
“Do you have the temperament to sit on a nest for two years?” he asked.
“Two years? No way!” Shawna gasped.
“Yep. It takes that long for a falcon anima to develop in the egg. The mates take turns but the fact of the matter is, it really takes two years for one to hatch.”
“Yeah, no, I think I’ll take my chances as a mammal,” she said as she ate another piece of meat.
“Agreed. Anyway, Freyna and Frigla will be back with supplies in a few days. We should rest up. You get your strength back and we should gather as much food as we can carry. After this, there’s a desert until we get to the shore.”
“The Glowing Desert…” Shawna whispered. “A great city once stood there, had a bridge made out of gold and everything. The bombs flattened the whole place since there was a major base there from what I was told.”
“Yes. San Francisco. It once was a glorious city, now there’s literally nothing left but a bunch of supremely radioactive craters. Only radzoms, megascorps, and wastewraiths make their home there now.”
Shawna swallowed her last bite of food. “I’m not hungry anymore; you can have the rest. I’m going back to sleep,” she said suddenly.
Winston took his knife from her and nodded sagely. “Good idea. I’ll be in after I’ve eaten,” he said as he sliced a strip of meat off of the roast.
How will they navigate such a hostile place? How far out were they from the Glowing Desert? Shawna was getting bigger by the day and they couldn’t travel for much longer, he thought to himself. Damnit, why did he have to drag her into this? He was such a damn coward, and he wanted to prove to Shawna otherwise.
Winston ate his fill and banked the fire. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, took a drink of fresh spring water, and crawled back into the stump where Shawna lay snoring softly.
He lay down next to her and watched her sleep for a few minutes before turning over onto his side. With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Winston and Shawna spent the next few days hunting and preserving their kills. Shawna was still new to her tiger body and had a few hiccups along the way. Eventually, she managed to get the hang of things.
“Steady…” she heard Winston’s voice in her head. “See that pig mole? It’s completely oblivious to us. It’s just rummaging for food while being completely unaware of our presence. That’s the one we want.”
Shawna’s ears went flat against her skull. “Can I try?”
Winston shrugged. “I don’t see why not. We have plenty of food, so if it gets away, it won’t be that big of a deal, and if we catch it, we can give most of it to the falcons in thanks for their hospitality and supplies.”
Shawna nodded and lowered herself closer to the ground to pounce.
“Now, before you jump on it, wait for it to face you, that way you can wrap your paws around it and crush its throat with your teeth, suffocating it. I’ll be behind it to make sure it doesn’t step on you,” Winston instructed.
He really didn’t feel comfortable with Shawna putting herself at risk like that, as pregnant as she was, but she was determined to try and there wasn’t much he could do to dissuade her. He had been trying to for the past two days but decided a pig mole was less dangerous than a raddeer.
Shawna’s orange and black tail twitched as she waited for the pig mole to turn around. She wanted her first kill. There was something completely irrational in the back of her mind that she wouldn’t be a full anima unless she killed as her tiger avatar.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the pig mole oriented itself toward the two waiting tigers. “Wait….” Winston cautioned. “Not yet…”
Shawna felt like an overwound clock and needed to pounce. “Stop it, I need to…”
“No, wait for the right time,” Winston instructed.
“It’s never the right time,” she growled as she sprung forth from the bushes and wrapped her paws around the thick neck of the partially-blind mammal.
The pig mole let out a loud squeal as Shawna’s fangs sunk into it’s leathery throat, crushing its windpipe. The beast staggered around trying to shake off the large cat that was suffocating it to death.
It managed to miss Shawna with it’s elephantine feet as Winston pounced on its back, clawing at its leather skin and snarling viciously.
The beast started to stagger as it ran out of oxygen and it fell on its side, sparing Shawna from being crushed beneath its bulk.
She delighted in the coppery tang of the pig mole’s blood as it filled her mouth and was loathe to let go as the poor animal expired from her death grip.
“You can let go now,” Winston said.
Shawna reluctantly removed her fangs from the animal’s throat and stood there, proud of herself for her first kill.
“It was clean, dangerous for you, but clean. Now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, let’s drag it back to butcher. The falcons will be here any hour now,” Winston said blandly.
“You’re not impressed, huh?” Shawna asked.
“You’re pregnant; hunting is dangerous. That pig mole could have stepped on you and caused you to miscarry far from any medical help,” Winston chided.
“Oh, I didn’t think about that,” she replied. “Honestly, it was just one of those unshakable drives I had, you know?” she said as she tried to figure out how to drag the carcass back to the camp site. Her belly was hanging low and there was no way she could drag it back on her own.
Winston sighed. “I’ll do it, but you’d better clean it when we get back,” he said. “Next time, let me do the hunting, at least until you’re done with the pregnancy.”
“Thanks, and yeah, I just…” Shawna couldn’t articulate the insane primal drive she had, it was completely new to her and totally out of character.
“I understand. I was the same way after my first shift. I should have warned you, but it’s too late now,” he said before he clamped down on the dead beast to drag it to camp.
Shawna followed in silence. The whole tiger thing was new to her and she wished Winston would have a bit more empathy. She wasn’t raised with him; she wasn’t prepared for any of this crap. She was told to drink a vial of goo and they hoped for the best. That
was it.
She fumed in silence while watching Winston’s magnificent white tiger body drag the ton and a half animal through the burnt out forest toward the camp. Luckily, they didn’t go far from it so they made it back in a short time.
Shawna changed back into her human form, albeit painfully, and took Winston’s knife and got to work dressing the kill. She noticed that for some reason, the massive flies that plagued the wastes were absent from the area. She didn’t mind at all, though, as she chopped up the kill for the falcons when they arrived.
It was hot and bloody work, which Shawna took frequent breaks from to take long drinks from the spring that flowed from behind the massive tree stump. The mind-numbing work helped keep her mind off of the upcoming leg of their journey.
She took a drink from the cool, bubbling spring and splashed some water on the back of her neck to relax. Shawna took a deep breath and blew it out slowly to calm her frazzled nerves.
The Glowing Desert was a huge expanse of radioactive land with nothing in it except destroyed buildings, along with many perils.
She had even heard of giant green monster men that lived there. They were behemoths that towered over normal humes and crushed them like bugs for fun. They usually stayed in the vicinity of the Glowing Desert, but Shawna heard about their raids when she was young. One night a trader collapsed at the front gate of her old settlement. His right arm was ripped out from its socket and it was a miracle he survived the journey from as far north as his settlement was.
The man was wild with fever and had massive maggots hanging from the gangrenous flesh. All he could babble about was giant green men storming his settlement. He was mad with pain and infection but Shawna’s dad got the message before taking the man out for a walk and putting the poor guy out of his misery once and for all. Even if he could overcome the infection, he wouldn’t have been right in the head.
Shawna couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding that was coming over her. There had to be another way to get to Traz. Going through the Glowing Desert would be a death sentence for both of them.
She turned around and saw the tall, golden form of Freyna standing behind her. Shawna nearly jumped out of her skin due to the shock of not being alone when she thought she was.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she said as she regained her composure.
“It’s okay,” the older woman replied. “That’s an impressive pig mole you’ve got there.”
“Thanks. I’m dressing it up for you to bring with you, as a thanks for the supplies you’re giving us and all the hospitality you’ve shown us,” Shawna explained.
“Appropriate,” Freyna replied. “Your first kill?”
“Yes,” Shawna replied.
“Even more appropriate,” Freyna replied as she took the young woman by the arm. “We need to have a little chat; come with me.”
Shawna followed the old shaman without a word, but wondered what on earth she wanted.
“You were careless with that hunt,” Freyna said, “but we were equally careless by not informing you of the mental changes that you go through when you change into an animal. For that, you have my apologies. We didn’t have time to fill you in on the whole thing and now you’re left learning on your own, somewhat.”
“Yeah, Winston wasn’t much help,” Shawna said as she rolled her eyes. “Don’t do this, do this, don’t hunt, be careful. Like, come on, give me a reason why!” she exclaimed as she kicked the dirt in frustration.
Freyna smiled at the frustrated young woman. “Well, first off, he’s right; hunting while you’re pregnant is dangerous, especially when you don’t have anyone with knowledge to help you if you get stepped on and lose the baby. You could bleed out and die.”
Shawna’s face fell. “Seriously?”
Freyna nodded. “Second, I’m here to warn you that as you travel through the Glowing Desert, the radiation will make your pregnancy progress at a much faster rate than is natural. You already seem like you’re halfway through, due to your anima blood, but for each day you’re in the desert, your pregnancy will progress one week. If that makes sense.”
Shawna nodded, feeling a bit frightened at the prospect. “So, how big is it? The desert, that is.”
“It will take you about five days to get there from here, and another five to cross it. With the ambient radiation you will have progressed at least a week, if not two in the time it would take you to get there. Then, a week for every day you’re there, so five more weeks gone biologically.”
“So I’ll be really close to giving birth,” Shawna said softly.
“Yes, the trip across the harbor to Traz will be doubly perilous for you then,” Freyna said.
“Why can’t you two carry us?” Shawna asked.
“It is not our job, it is not our journey, and you two would be way too heavy,” Freyna replied. “That and we are unable to fly over the Glowing Desert.”
“Why?” Shawna asked.
“You are like a pestersome child with your questions,” Freyna snapped. “The radiation fatigues us and we cannot fly more than a mile before stopping to rest, carrying you two would mean we would have to stop even more frequently, therefore putting us in danger of encountering the beasts within the Glowing Desert.”
“I see,” Shawna replied. “So what’s your advice for crossing it?”
“Do it at night. The only way to keep the behemoths from finding you is to cross at night. The scorpions and radzoms will find you regardless, so stay under cover as much as you can. Walk lightly, stay as a tiger because the scorpions can sense vibrations under ground and will attack anything on two legs.”
“Why two legs?” Shawna asked. She was genuinely curious.
“Well, feral humes, radzoms, and the like are easy prey for the giant scorpions of the Glowing Desert. They don’t attack the behemoths though. Sometimes the green beasts keep the scorpions as pets, guard dogs almost,” Freyna explained.
“Wow. Thanks for the warning, though. I think I need to go find Winston.”
“He’s packing the supplies we brought up for your journey. You need to remember, when you two stop to rest, you need to change into your hume body or else the child will get stuck as a tiger within you. Better yet, stop for frequent rests and change back.”
Shawna nodded. “All right. Travel at night as a tiger, take lots of breaks to shift back, got it,” she said.
“I don’t think you’re taking it seriously. If your child gets stuck as a tiger inside of you, you both might die in childbirth; the human pelvis can’t pass a baby tiger.”
“I’ll just change into a tiger then,” Shawna said.
Freyna laughed loud and long. “Good luck with that, child. By the time you go into labor, it is too late to change. Just take my advice, I’ve been alive for much longer than you have.”
“All right,” Shawna replied. “I just don’t like what goes through my head when I’m a tiger, so traveling like that, and the pain that comes with shifting, I dunno.”
“It gets better, child,” Freyna said as they rounded the massive stump. “You two need to get moving soon.”
She saw Winston put the finishing touches on the two packs that were full to the brim with food and water.
“This is all we need for the journey,” he said. “If we travel smart, we won’t run out of anything.”
“Yeah, Freyna was telling me,” Shawna said as she hefted a pack onto her back. “I think we should wait until we get to the sea before changing shape,” she said. “The less time I spend as a tiger the better, so it seems.”
Winston nodded. “Good idea.” He looked at both the falcon anima and smiled. “You have no idea how grateful we are for your help.”
“We do, and with this pig mole, we consider the debt paid,” Freyna replied.
“Good,” Winston said as he hefted his pack onto his broad shoulders. “With that, we wish you good hunting and a safe travel home. Maybe we shall meet again.”
“Maybe, maybe not, but we
’ve helped you more than we anticipated. Have a safe journey,” Freyna said as she changed shape.
The massive falcons grabbed the packages of meat in their talons and flew off to their home tree.
Shawna snorted. “Safe my ass. We’re going to the Glowing Desert. You can’t get any more unsafe than that.”
CHAPTER 12
Winston and Shawna stood on top of a hill overlooking the devastated wasteland that was the Glowing Desert. Dust devils danced in between the burnt-out husks of the once-proud buildings that had once stood. In the distance, they could see the silhouette of a twisted metal structure out in the water surrounded by a greenish-yellow mist.
Shawna looked down into the desert and saw the shapes of unwholesome creatures scurrying between the broken walls of the city. She shuddered as she watched a scorpion as large as she was in her tiger shape skitter through the streets.
“I’ve never seen those before,” she said. “I was hoping to never see them in my life, but here we are.”
“Yeah, they’re pretty intimidating,” Winston replied. “I heard not even bullets can get through their shells, and their stingers are long enough to pierce your heart in one go.”
“Yep. And their venom is even worse than stone crabs,” Shawna said, shuddering as she recalled the ordeal she had with her leg. She still walked with a limp from the injury, but it was getting better as her muscle regrew from the infection. “It kills instantly if it hits the heart, but anywhere else, you get paralyzed and you can feel it dissolving your flesh. It’s really awful.”
Winston nodded. “At least they don’t go after us if we’re tigers. We should change now.”
Shawna shook her head. “We need to go in at night because of that,” she said pointing toward a hulking green humanoid.
Winston’s eyes went wide at the sight of the giant. The behemoth was at least fifteen feet tall and towered over most of the destroyed walls. His eyes glowed in the morning dawn as he looked around for prey.
The beast let out a cry that could be heard from where they were as it grabbed a struggling black shape in its massive hand. It drew its meal up to its gaping maw and bit down on it, causing whatever it was to cease struggling.
