No Chance, Ch 5
No Chance
Chapter 5
copyright 2009 comidacomida
The outing had gone as smoothly as David had promised. Courtney had an easy enough time finding her way around Bakersfield and the two or thee times she stopped to ask for directions she received clear guidance from the locals. Although the woman had always preferred sedans, she had to admit that the SUV handled remarkably well for the kind of a car she generally referred to as "a behemoth". She found it to be even more useful to have something as sturdy as the government issued rig as she cruised into and out of the Mojave Desert.
Having left early in the morning, Courtney spent the entire day on the errands requested by David. With the sun almost completely hidden by the horizon, she found herself slowly winding her way along the unmarked road out to the secret installation. The desert was flat, which was good, but there was enough sage brush and joshua trees to keep her going slowly; in some places the dirt road all but disappeared. Just when she was beginning to grow concerned that she might have taken a wrong turn, Courtney found the familiar open ground that identified the subterranean bunker she had left that morning.
With a simple double-tap of the horn, she waited as the rolling door opened, revealing the underground parking garage. She eased the SUV down the ramp, mindful of David, who was waiting for her. He hit the button on the wall again once she was inside and the door slowly slid back into place, once again hiding the installation from the outside world. Courtney pulled into the closest parking space, wondering silently to herself why such a large parking garage was needed for such a small installation. A good number of cars were parked within the garage, but less than a third of the spots were used.
Once she put the parking break on and turned off the engine, Courtney opened the door. David was there to greet her and she tossed the keys his way. With a clean catch, the ferret pressed the button on the remote and the back hatch to the SUV opened. "Everything went alright, I assume?"
Courtney nodded her response as she walked around to the back of the vehicle, "No sign of trouble, and I wasn't followed... I kept my eyes open and watched for people like you told me."
"Good job." David offered with a smile. He began rooting around in the bags, "And you found everything on the list?"
She nodded, though he wasn't looking her direction, "Yes." she answered, half-distracted as she gazed around the underground garage, taking in the large amount of space and wondering again why there were so many places to park, ~Division Six must really be into wasting money-- I thought only government organizations overspent like this.~
"A penny for your thoughts." the ferret said beside her, having practically snuck up while she was engrossed in her own thoughts.
"Oh... I was..." she paused for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to let the ferret into her thoughts, "just wondering why there were so many parking spaces here." she finally relented to letting David see some of her idiosyncrasies. She handed him back his credit card, which he accepted with a nod and put it away in his shoulder pouch.
"You're a very astute young lady." the response wasn't what Courtney had quite expected, and smiled in response to it. She grabbed several of the bags from the back of the SUV as she followed the ferret, his own paws overloaded with bags, to the stairwell.
"It just seems odd to have so many parking spaces for such a small facility." she finally gave voice to her thoughts.
"Transportation vehicles, delivery vehicles, and off-site employees, most likely." the ferret responded, "They need specialized vehicles for transportation animals to and from the facility as well as places for visiting representatives." he managed to nudge the stairwell door open for her, "In an underground facility you build more space than you think you'll need because it isn't exactly easy to enlarge it later."
"I guess that makes sense." Courtney noted, heading up the stairs. She could hear David follow her, the rustling of the bags in his paws the only indicator; unlike Rex, the ferret's paw claws were pointed in an upward angle and did not click on the floor. At the top of the stairs, the woman pushed it open and held it for David, who offered her a simple "Thanks." before heading into what Courtney had come to identify as the meeting room.
"Why don't you go ahead and unwind-- I'll get Rex and Daryl to help me unload. Your dinner's already waiting for you in your room." the ferret offered.
"Thanks... I have to go back down for a few more bags anyway-- I have some of my own 'items' still in the car." she noted, heading to the stairs while David went for 'reinforcements'. She grabbed four select bags containing a combination of clothes, feminine supplies, and a few things for making the stay at the installation a little more bearable. She passed David, Rex, and Daryl in the stairway, and she worked hard to avoid eye contact with the panther, still not sure what to say but recognizing the still-present discomfort between them.
Courtney let out a deep breath at the top of the stairway forcing herself not to turn back around. She quickly made her way to her room. Placing her bags next to the cot, Courtney took a seat, thousands of thoughts floating through her mind. The trip to Bakersfield had been good as a distraction but, since she had returned to the base, the situation with Daryl was a fresh issue to address once again; she didn't like it occupying her thoughts.
~Why did he accept this assignment? He never goes out into the field. How could something like this happen? How could he do this to us? To me? Why?~ the more she thought about it, the harder it was to push the thoughts from her mind. No matter how hard she wrestled with her emotions, she couldn't come to an agreement with herself about any answer suitable enough to satiate her questioning mind-- she was only left with more questions.
Courtney had told Daryl on many occasions to be more spontaneous. "Life's an adventure," she would say to him. Daryl had always humored her. He would just smile patiently, and make a promise that he'd work on it. Daryl always said he wanted to make her happy, and that he would do his best. "Be more spontaneous. Do something unexpected." she recalled having told him on one occasion. She lowered her face into her hands as tears began to flow down her cheeks; being involved in a genetic experiment accident couldn't have been less expected. Courtney would have laughed at the irony if she weren't crying.
Her self-imposed anguish was not long lived, however, when it was cut short by the sound of a loud metallic crash. The heavy "thunk" brought her straight to attention, even leaping up to her feet from the sitting position on the cot. Courtney moved quickly to look out the hallway, glancing around for movement within the corridor; there was none. An audible crunch made Courtney jump again. This time she identified it as coming from down the hall to the right. Slowly leaving her room behind, Courtney crept down the hallway in the direction of the sound.
Several "clangs", a "clunk", and a handful of "thud"s kept her on track as she took another right turn then a left, stopping in front of a half-open double-door. A cold breeze flowed through the crack, making her wonder if it was a refrigeration bay of some sort. Unable to see clearly through the cracked-open doors, Courtney slowly opened them further and stuck her head into the room, gazing into the room beyond. It appeared to be a garage of some sort, or a work room. Various pieces of scrap metal and spare parts lay strewn about. The air in the room smelled of a mixture of ozone and scorched metal... scents she had not been privy to since the days when her father was alive. She recognized a welding room when she smelled one.
The sounds of metal being tossed about came from behind what almost looked like the fuselage of a small plane. Moving slowly in that direction, Courtney almost jumped when a strobe light-like effect caused the area out of her view to flash brightly. It was accompanied with an almost electrical-sounding discharge. She saw a large silhouette within the light as it hit the wall, and it made her pause.
"Hello?" she called hesitantly, and whomever was welding halted their work. She heard the welder shuffle around behind the metal frame blocking her view. "Fred, right?" she called, remembering the name of the third agent that had been with Daryl and David. She only received a gruff grunt in response.
"I heard the noise..." she said, moving around to speak with the welder, "You know, my dad used to own an auto body shop. He did a lot of spot welding for some of the guys that loved the off-road stuff-" her voice failed her as he came into view. It wasn't that Courtney was expecting a human, but she certainly wasn't expecting what stared back at her.
Seated haphazardly on the floor was a large grizzly bear. It wasn't part-human... it was a bear, through and through. Courtney stood, stunned. Her mind took its time processing the sight: the grizzly seated on its rump, hind legs splayed out for balance as its, as HIS curved back but his forepaws in range of a welding rod, which he grasped awkwardly. His other forepaw somehow managed to keep hold of a welding mask, which he held off to one side. "Rmfph..." the bear grunted.
"Oh... I..." she mumbled, her heart beating quickly. It was one thing to encounter humanoid animals... but it was something else entirely to see a bear... a REAL BEAR. ~And the bear is welding.~ she reminded herself. Sometimes she wished that she'd just shut up and not complicate things even further for herself.
"You're... welding." she spoke aloud before she could shut her mouth. ~Duh.~ she chastised herself.
"RRrrrruhg." the bear remarked, the feral sound vibrating deep and low in his chest.
"You... are you... Fred?" Courtney squeaked. She paused as she watched the animal's muzzle bob up and down. "So... you ARE Fred, and you can... you can understand me?"
The bear let out a sloppy breath, lips flapping, and Courtney swore she saw him roll his eyes. "Rngfh." the bear noted dismissively, and she watched as he raised the mask up in front of his face while he looked back to the long metal pipe he sat in front of. He leveled the welding rod and touched it to a panel of sheet metal. Courtney turned her face away, blocking the bright light with her hand. ~A bear welding a pipe... that's something you don't see every day... along with 90% of the other shit going on down here.~
She continued to watch the bear-- to watch Fred for a time. Courtney was surprised to see how well he could manage despite not having what she would normally consider usable hands. She became so amazed with his ability to cope, that she almost let out a scream when something cold and wet touched her hand. Spinning around, Courtney saw Rex crouching next to her, his muzzle right where her hand had been. "Hello." he offered with a panting smile, tail wagging.
"You could have said hello BEFORE scaring the fuck out of me." she placed a hand on her chest, as if it would help calm her quickened heartbeat.
"I'm sorry." Rex noted, ears drooping slightly, "Talking is still a little new to me... I'm used to greeting humans with my nose... most of you really like it. Does this mean you won't pat me?" he slowly stood up.
"Pat you?" Courtney asked, raising an eyebrow, "Um... why?"
"Because I like pats... and because I'm a good boy." he answered, almost matter-of-factly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. It was hard for Courtney to look past the man-creature that stood in front of her, having to remember that he was, in all reality, a dog-creature that looked human-like-- he was the exact opposite of Daryl or David.
"Oooooo-kay..." she noted after a moment's hesitation, and reached up. Rex complacently leaned down so she could easily pat his head, and he let out a squeal of approval, almost like a little kid would do when they were told they could have some ice cream. Rex's tail began wagging profusely.
"I like pats." he grinned from ear to ear, tongue languidly hanging out of the corner of his muzzle.
"Rnghf!" came a loud grunt from the bear.
"Yes, Fred?" the dog-man inquired, jogging over to the bear, who had put down the welding equipment and had rolled back over to stand on all four paws. Even in a quadruped stance, he was big, and, as he trotted closer to her and Rex, she found herself more than a little intimidated.
"Rror-ngrf." the bear-that-was-Fred grunted and growled.
"No... I think she's a good girl. I like her." the dog-man replied, tail wagging.
"Wait..." Courtney noted, pausing at the exchange, "You mean... you can understand him?"
Rex's tail wagged more and he nodded his head vigorously, "Yes. Can't you?"
"Um..." Courtney paused.
"Grarwf." Fred grunted.
"Oh... you can't?" Rex looked from Fred to Courtney, then back again, "But you can understand her, right?"
"Brrowrff." the bear commented.
Rex's tail tucked slightly and his ears went down as he took a few steps back, "Sorry... I know... I'm sorry... I'm sorry." for all his humanoid appearance, Courtney was amazed at how much Rex looked like a cowed dog at that moment. The dog-man quickly backpedaled until he was standing behind Courtney, crouched down, peeking out from behind her leg at the bear.
"What?" Courtney asked of no one in general, not exactly sure how to proceed.
Fred made another animalistic sound, followed with a snort. "Fred says that you're going to cause problems if you wander around, and that you're going to make him angry if you just show up whenever you want." Red offered, and then lowered his voice, "You shouldn't make Fred angry... David says it's not a good thing to do."
Courtney paused, mind caught in a feedback loop as it took a moment for her to process the request. "No." she responded simply.
"Urh?" the bear cocked his head to the side, an expression of surprise and disbelief clear on his muzzle. Rex whimpered slightly and crawled back further.
"Rouff..." Fred growled at her once he recovered from the surprise of her statement. Courtney felt her heartbeat start to pick up again as the bear, now no more than seven or eight feet from her rose up onto his hind legs. She gazed up and up and up as her eyes traveled the incredible height of the bear, gazing up at his feral face, which glared down disapprovingly "Rrrrnrrrr..." he growled.
"He..." squeaked Rex, "said he's not asking... he's... telling."
Courtney, completely still, glared up at him and spoke evenly, "The way I see it... you three put me in a lot of danger. You essentially kidnapped me, I'm stuck here in this fucking laboroatory without a heater, and I just spent all day shopping for things for you guys because you can't do it yourself." she planted her feet firmly on the ground, trying to avoid feeling faint as her heart beat a mile a minute; it felt as if it were stuck in her throat, but she continued, "so, before you start acting all high and mighty thinking you can order me around and that I'll just put up with all your shit, you might want to think again."
The bear snorted, and landed back on all fours, "Growf." he took a step closer.
"He said he thinks you don't value your life." Rex noted from several feet behind her.
Frozen still, her heart trying to escape through her esophagus, Courtney somehow managed to speak in a calm, even tone, "I'm just betting you value your god damn eyes. I'm not in the mood to deal with any of this shit, and I don't doubt that you could maul the hell out of me, but I swear to god that I will gouge out at least one of your fucking eyes before I die..." her voice slowly took on a faint growl of its own, "So unless you want to add being eyeless to being a bear, I think you'd better Back. The. Fuck. Off."
Fred let out a loud roar, rising up to his hind legs again as he pulled a paw back, large, vicious-looking claws glinting in the half-light of the room. Courtney grimaced, shutting her eyes, as the killing blow came lurching forward. She felt the wind blast by her as the swing came up short, and she heard his paw connect with a large piece of scrap metal that had been next to her. Her eyes slowly opening, she caught sight of the large hunk of garbage right as it slammed into the wall, a good twenty feet away. Fred returned to all fours, growled to himself like an old man mumbling about his wife. He about-faced, and lumbered his way back to the pipe and the welding equipment.
"Being a bear is one thing. You can't help it, I know..." Courtney ventured, "But you can choose whether or not you want to be an ass." unable to remain still any longer, she quickly about-faced and moved to the door as fast as she could without looking like she was running away. Her nerve had failed her, and she didn't want to push her luck any further. Gasping for breath once there was a closed door between her and the bear, she slumped to the ground, amazed that she hadn't peed herself with the fear she kept from showing.
"Are you okay?" Rex asked, kneeling down beside her.
"Just... a little shaken." she replied, letting out a long, uneven breath as she willed her heart to slow down, and to return to where it belonged in her ribcage and not strangling her uvula. ~Ugh... I don't need that imagery.~ she told herself. Her heart, of course, didn't listen... and continued beating at a fast pace. The experience left her exhausted. "I think I just need some rest." she said to the dog man."
"Okay." Rex replied, "I'll go to your room with you."
Courtney didn't bother objecting as she slowly got back to her feet. She felt dizzy for a moment, reliving the previous minutes of her life, wondering whether she had displayed courage in the face of adversity, or stupidity generated by feeling powerless of the events around her. In the end, she settled on the second one, and made a promise to herself to think first before ever antagonizing any creature capable of knocking a few hundred pounds of metal across a room with a backhand.
She moved to take a seat on her cot, rummaging through one of the shopping bags she had brought with her. Withdrawing a large comforter, Courtney let out a deep breath; her heart finally decided that it was time calm down, and the weariness hit her even more. Rex moved to sit down beside the bed, and Courtney barely noticed when he laid his muzzle on her thigh. Without even thinking, she responded to the dog-like action with a pat on his head, and rubbed him behind the ears.
"Ahh... I like that." Rex noted, and the words brought her mind back to her. She removed her hand, feeling awkward with having his head in her lap-- it just seemed... wrong.
"Um... Rex?" she inquired, "Could you..."
The dog man looked up at her from his place on the floor. He said nothing, his eyes simply focused on her face, tail wagging slightly.
"Never mind." she noted, letting him rest his head back down as she returned to patting it and scritching behind his ears. Rex had been a dog before the accident, and he still saw the world as a dog. By all accounts, everything that Courtney had seen of Rex implied that he still thought of himself as a dog, and still experienced everything from that point of view. ~If I'm going to accept that Daryl is still a human, and that David is still a human, then that means that Rex is still a dog.~
It was a strange thought, and it was hard for her to consider. As she worked hard to let that logic sink in, a different thoght slowly came unbidden to her head, ~Why is it I think of Rex as more than a dog when he started a dog but I'm having so much trouble accepting that Daryl is still Daryl?~
She slowly slid her legs up onto the cot. Courtney's mind continued to work double-speed as philosophical and psychological questions bombarded her from within her own skull. Rex's head and muzzle found its way onto her leg, resting atop the covers.
"I'm a good boy?" Rex asked quietly.
"You're a good boy." Courtney relented, stifling a yawn.
"So is Daryl... you should give him a chance." the dog offered simply, "I know he would like you to."
"I know..." Courtney answered softly, "I know."
Courtney fell asleep that night with the dog-man laying against her cot; it reminded her of life as a teenager when her Australian shepherd Lizzy would sleep at the foot of her bed. She felt much more reassured that Rex, despite everything that happened, was still a dog. She only wished that it'd be as easy to see Daryl, despite everything that happened, as Daryl.