Werefox's Dillema- Chapter 12
#12 of Werefox's Dillema
And that seems to be the end of the discussion. With that the second man leaves to go do something and a little while after that the pastor leaves to go prepare for his next sermon. Deciding that I feel well enough to leave despite their instructions once both have left I swing my feet over the side of the bed sit up more fully, making sure to take things to avoid stretching the area where my wound is. I look at where the bullet wound is and notice that even with the gestures I was making it does seem to be remaining fully closed, meaning either the replacement stitches were either made more tightly or my body has already begun sealing over the wound on its own. It'll probably be a few more days, though, before it'll have closed completely enough that I no longer need to worry about it.
I push myself forward and stand up on my overlarge feet. The moment I'm vertical my head begins to swim and the room begins to spin around my head before my bent knees give and drop me back onto the bed. I sigh, not really wanting to have to depend on the generosity of others when I have spent so much time taking care of myself. I look around more clearly since I have nothing better to do and notice that as odd as it would be for them to do so they decided to be rather accommodating for me. The bed seems to be situated in more or less the same part of the church that I would sleep when I came here in the past. Shining near me in the full light of the sun is the winged figure holding the sword, acting as a sort of guardian to me while I recover.
The next few days pass by with frustratingly little actually going on. Being bed ridden I can't explore. As much as I do not actually believe in the religion the highlight to these days are the times when the pastor would come with food and give me a private sermon while I ate in as dignified a manner as possible. I manage to hold my tongue and make no comment for as much as I hate being preached at it is far too welcome a change to having absolutely nothing to do with my time than sit and think. Each night I end up finding myself burning up in the cold induced heat yet again and when it wakes me up I notice that I have the big quilt wrapped up around me again. Each time I notice it I toss it off me completely, even going so far as to throw it as far as I can.
But as I had nothing to do over this week I had a lot of time to really put a lot of thought into what I'm going to do next. I have no defense against the humans. They are everywhere and there'd be no telling which ones are going to attack me and it's best I continue minimizing who I interact with as much as possible. At least until I can get myself back into a position where I'm human enough that I can blend in and come off as almost completely normal. There are certainly only three eventualities in my current state.
Worst case scenario is that I end up going too far and song ends up taking over my body completely, living out my life in the body of some animal. I've had talks with the pastor about this thing a few times after his sermons. With what he tells me even if I do manage my best case scenario and make it back to being human I will never be the same as I was. He had compared it to alcoholism. My body had become dependent on the transformations. And since I've slipped already there will always be a risk, even when I'm human once again that I'll slip again. But unlike an alcoholic I wouldn't be able to just say no, song would not let me. On top of that he told me that the longer I stay in a half state the weaker the mental barrier between me and song get. Eventually if I take too long to regain human form it will reach a point that we are no longer separate entities as we are multiple personalities. And finally the fate of me dying before I reach those other two.
As for that other group, I can probably smell them from a long way if they are in a half state. If they're human they'd smell no different from any other human but if I could learn their human scent then I can track that too. With that I can know the instant one of them is nearby providing they aren't too far upwind of me. That would be my best defense against them. Besides I already figured out another thing about them. Though their bodies may be better than mine in every conceivable way. They'll have to go about their normal day in human form, meaning until they change I'd have the advantage, which also means that if I can kill them before they change I'd be able to win before they have gained the strength and speed that would make such a contest impossible. On top of that from what little I remember of that night they are extremely cocky about what they're capable of. They arranged to have me captured by the police of military with the intention of breaking in and stealing me from them, meaning they think themselves immortal.
But as their tactics do not increase their intelligence then my intelligence can be pitted against their own in an equal manner and with how overconfident they are I can play that against them and gain the upper hand. They may be able to run faster than me or punch harder than I can but if I can out think them just enough I may be able to defeat them. And once they're taken care of I won't have to always look over my shoulder waiting to see at what moment do they find me again and try to finish what they had started. Once I had settled in on this particular plan of action it all became a matter of planning just how I was going to get my revenge and I had more than free time on my hands to do so. Though it is also obvious that as time went on even the song was going stir crazy as it started asking for control more and more each day, though never enough to really take control. Song in control and bed-ridden would be just as able to stretch out as I would.
After the sixth day I decide that I'm well enough and take off that night. As is my nature I don't bother telling the pastor but I'm sure he'll figure it out well enough. The streets are nice and calm, the moon rather bright and the air extremely crisp. After being stuck in such a hot and stuffy location for so long being in the nice and welcoming cold air. My abominable appendage raises up and stays up in the exhilaration of the sense of finally being free and able to stretch my muscles. Song begins singing quite loudly, trying to gain control, though more out of a sense to try and either get me to run or to let the fox run in my stead. Though I could probably do it, I don't have my stamina back yet. That is what was mainly what took me so long. The wound itself had fully closed by the end of the second day. But when of a state where you can't be given a blood transfusion and you've lost enough blood to cause serious risks to a normal human and then given a drug that if it had been allowed to do what it intended would have given me a heart attack the wound is the least of my concern. Getting my body to recover from everything took me a while. Even now I can almost feel a sense of fatigue. I can maybe make do with short sprints but anything more than twenty seconds or so would tire me out.
One thing I cannot manage is to have to deal with song and potentially lose control at a very critical moment so I decide to have a bit of a chat with the thing invading my body. Since I'm sure if song can understand me as well through thought as through voice and the fact that actually speaking is difficult and uncomfortable for me I try to think at Song as loudly as I can, hoping that it makes the transition.
"Okay, Song. Here's the deal. I've been over this plan so many times in my head that you probably have it memorized as well. But our very survival hinges on me being able to think and act quickly. Once I've fully set it in motion I need to have a clear head at all times. Which means I can't be trying to fight you off at the same time. So if you stay completely quiet for me until after I have carried it out completely then I promise that I'll let you have this body for the rest of the day without any resistance. Do we have a deal?"
I'm almost half worried that song has no means of understanding human speech as the song's intensity remains the same for a while and then it suddenly dies out, causing a small smile to cross my face. Song's game which means it's time I get started. I have much to do and for the first step of my plan I need to keep from them from finding me. So I take my time, moving slowly and conserving energy despite my body's cravings and desires to run in this cold and embrace it fully; let it consume me in motion. As much of a target it would make me and as likely it's still being watched I make my way to Elizabeth's house. But I don't go towards it directly. Instead I circle around it a mile out, making sure I'm completely downwind of the building. Having spent a month in this neighborhood I have learned the scents to every single resident.