The Den
#3 of The Den
The bear looked down at me with distain in his brown eyes. It was not surprising given the fact that I was the most out of place person among this crowd. The line behind me was long and filled with grumbling, complaining, would be patrons of The Den. One was a rather vocal tiger dressed in a black mesh shirt that showed off his muscled upper body perfectly. He had been complaining since I arrived, bitching about me mostly and asking why I was even there. The bear bouncer seemed to be unconcerned with the matter as he looked over my holo card.
Holo cards were all the rage now with the technophile crowd. They were the latest invention of AppleBM Corp and were just a simple marble shaped sphere that showed a three dimensional image of the person who the card belong to. It could also display information like a cell number, e-mail, holo number, and whatever else the person decided to enter into it. I thought they were a gimmick but then again I had never been the trendy sort, which was probably why I stood out so much in this line.
The bouncer eyed the holo card. No image showed on the 3D viewer instead just a series of green writing. I knew who wrote it and there should have been no issues getting into the club, but you never knew if these things were passed on from one bouncer to another. Troy was a good friend but often abscent -minded even for a bull. The bear was obviously reading the note Troy wrote as he kept an eye on me. He was easily over seven feet tall and had an enormous build even for an animalized bear. He must have been large even before his genes had been spliced. The black sports jacket and tight v neck t-shirt couldn't hide his large chest, over-sized gut, and massive arms. In fact it looked like his arms were going to pop out of the sleeves at any moment. His giant paw like hands handed me the tiny sphere device as his other paw undid the velvet rope guarding the revolving door of the club.
"You're in," grumbled the bear in a low, almost disappointed tone.
I gulped at the response.
"What the heck Bruce, how come he gets in?" shouted the tiger as he descended into a litany of expletives he had been yelling all night long.
The bouncer grabbed the tiger by the nape of the neck in a surprisingly quick motion given his bulk. He lifted the tiger, who clutched helplessly at his neck, trying in vain to get the bear to let him go.
"Shut your yap or I'll send you back to the end of the line!" growled the bouncer. "He's got permission to be here!"
The tiger must have known how long the line was or simply wanted to be let go, because he nodded quickly. The line easily went around a city block and I was sure the tiger would not want to loose his place now. The bear set him down and nodded for me to go in.
The Den was a rare place even in Kaldor City. It was in the far corner of the city, a district mostly populated by animalized humans. Radical gene manipulation, a bastardization of cosmetic surgery, freaks, super humans, sub humans, and a variety of other terms had been coined to describe the results of the late 21st Century genetic engineering that gave humans animalistic features. Originally, animalized humans were used by the military for secret government work, but when word got out about the experiments, there was a lot of ethical debate surrounding the whole procedure. Ultimately, animalized people were allowed to be in regular society but not without difficulties, however that was decades ago. When the first animalized humans came forth there were the religious extremists, bias and racism in some parts of the world, and not to mention the sheer outrage that it had been done on people in the first place. Over time, these feelings seemed to die down and animalized humans were accepted into society. The Den was one of a few places run by and limited to animalized people only. As far as I knew it was one of the few clubs that was exclusively geared towards animalized people, until I walked though the door.
I was the only human in the club, which opened to a large lobby area with a massive stone fireplace and leather couches. Only a few people were sitting around with drinks in their paws, talons, or whatever they had for hands. Mostly they were talking to each other until I came in. The stares were very obvious, it was not unexpected and no one made any effort to hide them. What was unexpected was the emotion behind the stares. One muscle-bound hawk seemed to eye me with suspicion even as most of the people in the lobby left into the main room.
Two large doors made out of what appeared to be solid wood and glass opened to the main dance floor and bar. I was astonished to see such a large space filled with so many animalized people. The place was an open square with tables lined around a large dance floor filled with moving, bouncing, and dancing creatures. All sorts of animal hybrids were dancing, talking, drinking at the bar to the side of the doors, and walking around the room. Above the dance floor was a square balcony where more eyes stared down at me. It seemed that everyone was staring at me for a moment before returning to their drinks or conversations. I tried not to let it bother me but I felt so out of place and began to wonder just why I was here to begin with. Looking up at the stares from the balcony, I noticed the massive trees that stretched to the ceiling that looked like the night sky beyond a few sky lights. Thundering base-filled music drove the dancers in the middle of the room on, but quickly started to give me a headache.
I made my way slowly around the edge of dance floor, aware of the gazes set upon me. I looked down to avoid them and saw the floor littered in autumn leaves of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Picking up a few I found out that they were intricately cut pieces of heavy duty paper. I looked up at the trees and noticed that they were green, though fall had arrived outdoors. At the moment I wished I had stayed outside as I briefly looked up to see more of the same. Some people were even parting to make way as I walked long an actual gray stone pathway.
"Whoa folks, it seems the Wolf Man is on the move now!" announced the DJ from the dance floor, his voice booming over the music.
I looked up just in time to see a large brown shadow jumping from tree to tree, leaves falling as its considerable mass slammed into each of them. The Wolf Man was a nickname given to a rather feral resident of the bar. From what Troy had told me he was either a fellow bouncer or maybe even the owner. Any questions I had about him Troy had dismissed or declined to answer, all I knew was that he had a celebrity status inside the club that few rivaled. The wolf had brilliant amber eyes that seemed to burn through the shadows of the dance floor. Before I knew it, the wolf hybrid was right before me on all fours. His eyes beamed at me as his black lips curled in a menacing grin. The wolf was brown almost a dark umber brown. On the top of his head near his ears, the fur tips changed to a dirty yellow, crème color that also graced the long fur on the back of his hind legs, arms, and stomach. A thick mane of fur draped down his neck and back which was now bristled in aggravation. Black claws clicked on the stone floor as he slowly approached me. Even on all fours the wolf looked large, his shoulders easily coming up to my stomach. As he got closer he reared up on his digi-grade legs, towering over me easily at over six feet tall compared to my five foot four frame. I could see his muscles tense even under the dense fur that covered his unclothed body. The wolf's lips curled and I thought he was going to snarl, but I was surprised by his deep baritone voice instead.
"And what exactly are you doing here...human?"