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Bendis and Jerald couldn't stop breathing heavily. The truck driver slowly took his hands off the steering wheel and lifted his foot off the brake.

"The fuck just happened?!"

"You hit an alligator with the truck!"

"I know that dumbass! Ju--where the fuck did he come from?!"

The panda bear grabbed the door handle. "Doesn't matter. Just hurry up and call an ambulance or something!"

Bendis hopped out of the truck, panting as he planted his footpaws on the ground. He quickly rushed over to the reptile to check and see if he was still moving. But he wasn't.

"Shit...JERALD!"

The human being got out of the truck as well, his cell phone in hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm calling them now. Just relax!"

Bendis grabbed his head and took a heavy breath. "Wh-what the fuck? What are we supposed to do?!"

"It's just some guy who jumped out in front of our truck! We'll call...Jesus. This is an alligator?"

"Does that matter?!"

"Bendis, look at him. Alligators do not get this big! He's gotta be eight or night feet tall! He's bigger than you, Bendis. What--"

Bendis and Jerald stared at the giant reptile as he rumbled quietly. Mere seconds later, his eyes shot open, and the alligator started to move. The panda bear and human being slowly backed away, watching as the reptile groaned and placed his hands on the ground. Kannan acted like he was perfectly fine and only suffered a minor injury. He gradually rose to his feet, grunting and stumbling as he tried to maintain his footing. Panting, the alligator looked at the two truckers and whimpered.

"H-help..."

"I know, I know! I'm calling an ambulance right now--"

"NO!"

Jerald yelped and backed away when the gator practically roared at him, making him stumble and nearly drop his phone. Kannan grunted and shook his head.

"No...no-no police. No...ambulance..."

"Why not?" asked Bendis.

"I--" Kanna coughed violently a few times as he felt his neck becoming scratchy and hoarse, twisting his vocal cords. The alligator snorted and shook his head before he resumed breathing heavily.

"People...trying to kill me. Something bad...happened. I can't explain in time...just help me."

Jerald rubbed his head in frustration. "So what the hell do you want us to do?! You don't want an ambulance; you don't want us to call the cops. Do you want us to drive you over to a homeless shelter or some shit?"

"Just take me away from here...need to think."

The human being sighed and shook his head while Bendis glanced at his friend and blinked. "We can put him in the back. There's enough space--"

"You're seriously considering helping some random vagrant we found on the road? What if he's some rapist or--"

Kannan snarled as he stepped closer to the human being and lowered his head. "I do not mean...t-to be rude. But if I recall...you hit me. With your truck."

Bendis glared at the human being and folded his arms. "You were driving."

"Goddammit--fuck it. Bendis, open up the back."

The panda bear nodded and quickly headed over to the back of the truck, unlocking it and pulling up the roll-up door with a loud shackling sound. He walked inside the soda truck and grunted as he pushed a few milk crates containing canned sodas aside. Jerald kept rubbing his head and breathing heavily, knowing what he was doing was bound to get him into trouble. Bendis hopped out the back and sighed, pointing a thumb to the vehicle.

"You're all set. Just try not to knock anything over when you get inside."

Kannan panted a few times as he nodded and walked towards the truck. "Thank you. Thank you both so much."

"Just shut your mouth and get in."

Jerald and Bendis watched as the massive reptile walked towards the truck and climbed inside the back. His thick tail brushed against the truck's rear bumper, and his body was so heavy that the truck groaned and shifted downwards slightly when Kannan stepped inside. Bendis made sure that every inch of the alligator was inside before he grabbed the truck's roll-up door and slowly slid it back down. The ursine locked the door back up before he hopped onto the ground and huffed.

"So what now?" asked Jerald.

"I dunno. Um...we take him to our house, I guess?"

"Our house?"

"Where else are we gonna put him, Jerald?"

"A hotel, a motel, dump him in some dark alleyway? I don't know--I don't care! This isn't our damn problem!"

"We're not just gonna leave him out here. And if he doesn't wanna be around the cops, then we can't take him to a police station. Just...we'll let him spend the night, then he can leave in the morning."

"What if he doesn't wanna leave?"

"He'll leave, okay? I'm sure he's got a family, a job--something. They'll know he's missing, maybe they'll put up fliers or call the news station or something. Then we'll tell them where he's at and there you go. Problem solved."

"He's a monstrous anthro, not some lost pet."

"You got any better ideas? Or something constructive to say at least?"

"No."

"Then shut up."

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The truck drivers arrived at their house half an hour later. All of their neighbors were either asleep in their homes or had their blinds closed, so no one was observing what they were currently doing. Jerald parked the truck near the driveway seconds before both drivers exited the vehicle. They headed over to the back of the truck and opened up the door again.

"All right, we're here! You can--"

"Bathroom," the reptile snapped.

Bendis nearly fell out the truck when Kannan almost shoved him out of the way. The giant weregator stomped on the ground, breathing heavily as he held his stomach with his left hand. Bendis quickly shut the truck's roll-up door while Jerald heard the beast's stomach grumbling noisily. Kannan took a few more deep breaths as the pain in his lower abdomen intensified.

"I need...a bathroom. Now," the reptile growled.

"Yeah, yeah, give me a few minutes. Sheesh, it's bad enough that you're staying here; now you gotta clog up our toilets?"

"That's why we have plungers, Jerald," said Bendis.

The three creatures started to walk towards the front door, with Jerald grumbling as he tried to find the right key. Kannan swore to himself as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Could you hurry, please?"

"Stop rushing me. I got like ten different keys here and you adding all this unnecessary pressure isn't helping!" shouted Jerald.

"You know which key it is," Bendis pointed out.

"Well, it's dark out here; I can't exactly see."

"Why didn't you just leave a spare under the welcome mat? That's what I always do; it saves time."

"Because I don't want someone to break into our home."

"What if you got your hands full? Or what if someone's chasing after you hell-bent on killing you? All you gotta do is flip over the mat, put the key in the keyhole, open the door, and then slam it. It's a lot more convenient that standing there wasting time flipping through all the wrong keys. And this anthro here wouldn't be on the verge of shittin' his shorts!"

Jerald turned around and noticed that Kannan wasn't there. "Uh...where'd he go?"

Bendis scratched his head. "I thought he--"

Jerald and Bendis were caught off-guard by a shrill sputtering sound, which was immediately followed by splattering and various sighs. The two truck drivers found Kannan squatting behind a bush beside their house with his tail lifted and a very relieved look on his face. Jerald scowled as he heard more splattering and turned away, while Bendis folded his arms and grinned.

"See? If that key was under the mat, this wouldn't be happening right now."

Jerald shot a stern look at Bendis. "You're cleaning that up."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jerald and Bendis took Kannan inside their home, the weregator still breathing heavily after voiding himself outside. Once the large beast walked into the living room, Jerald flipped on the main light switch and the reptile sighed.

"Feel better now?" asked Bendis.

"Yeah, it's...it's all out of my system."

"Good," said Jerald. "You two gonna be all right by yourselves?"

The panda bear blinked. "Wait, you're leaving?"

"There's a giant truck full of soda in our front yard. There's an oversized alligator in our living room. We can't leave either one alone; you stay here, watch him. I'll go finish the delivery."

"Who said I gotta watch him? Maybe I wanna be the one to deliver all the sodas while you stay here."

"No, Bendis. The last thing we need is you picking up another stray dog to bring into our house. So stay here, watch over him...we'll figure this shit out in the morning."

Jerald didn't want anything else to do with the alligator. He stormed out the house, opening and slamming the door shut before anyone managed to spot them. After he locked it, Kannan growled and started to sniff the air, taking note of his surroundings. He spotted the game console sitting on the floor, right in front of the thin television that was resting on a wooden TV stand. The table had a few crumbs on it, and the rug had a few questionably stains that Kannan wasn't sure he wanted to uncover. The couch was very long, wide, and beige-colored; the alligator figured someone of Bendis' size could sleep on it without falling off. A couple chairs were spread out in the living room as well, and the bathroom wasn't far down the hall. There were a few colorful wall decorations and some photos depicting Jerald, Bendis, and their coworkers, but the weregator didn't see many pictures of who he would've assumed would be relatives. Kannan looked at the panda bear as he scratched his big gut and listened to the truck engine starting outside. He looked out the main window and watched as Jerald drove away.

"Your friend is...is--"

"An asshole?"

Kannan blinked. "I wasn't going to say that, but...but I suppose...it'll do."

Bendis turned around as he stared at the giant beast. Kannan grabbed his throat, shutting his eyes as he emitted a scratchy, ragged sound that reminded Bendis of the time a cheetah coughed up a hairball right into his bowl of soup at a restaurant. The ursine knew something was different about this reptile, and he hoped it wasn't anything ominous.

"What's up with your voice? It sounds like English isn't your first language."

"No, it-it is. But...my throat. It must've happened back when..."

"Back when what?"

Kannan started to look at his body and began to huff. "You don't understand. I...I'm not a gator. I'm human. I was...I was walking down a dark alley. Someone came...came behind me."

Bendis grinned. "Did they make a big mess?"

Kannan blinked. "Um, no. This person...anthro; I'm not sure. He stuck me with a needle. A few minutes later, I turned into this! This...this-this giant, ugly creature!"

Bendis shrugged. "I dunno man. You kinda look cute like this. It's like you're a rugged warrior, all beaten and bruised, got scars all over your body. Very beastly and feral if you ask me!"

Kannan snorted. "This...this is serious. I...how do I change back? I can't stay like this forever! I'm...what would...I can't live in this body. Isn't there some-some way to change this?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Look, you're talking to a truck driver right now. I'm not some scientist or some professional potion brewer or some wizard. I just deliver soda for a living with my roommate. And you told us earlier not to take you to the cops. All we can do right now is let you stay for the night. I dunno; maybe this is only...temporary? Maybe you'll change back in the morning?"

Kannan looked down at the floor and growled quietly. "I hope so..."

Bendis shook his head. "What kind of drug turns human beings into anthros anyway? How the hell is that possible?!"

"I don't know...but you have to believe me. I'm...I'm human," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

"...For the sake of argument, I'll choose to believe you. Even so, there's nothing I can do right now but take you to the cops or a doctor--neither of which you wanna do. So we'll...guess we'll sleep on it, all right?"

Kannan nodded. "Okay. Um...where-where shall I rest?"

"I doubt you'll fit on anyone's bed. Take the couch for now; I'll sleep on of the recliners."

Bendis didn't bother heading into the bathroom to go take a shower. He took off his green cap and tossed it on the table beside the TV's remote control. Then he turned off the light, walked over to the recliner, and stretched out his arms, grunting as he felt something in his neck pop. Kannan looked at the couch and grumbled, feeling his stomach churning quietly. Several questions were buzzing through his mind that he couldn't stand it. He closed his eyes and groaned, aimlessly walking forward and nearly tripping over a footstool. As Bendis sat down in the recliner, Kannan sat down on the couch hard, grunting and wiggling himself around as his massive tail got in the way. He rose up slightly, grabbing his tail and moving it aside so he wasn't sitting directly on it.

"Hey, I never asked yet, but what's your name?"

"Kannan. Kannan, um...Rogers."

"All right. I'm Bendis Vernly. We'll...we'll go through introductions and all that stuff in the morning. For now, just focus on getting some rest."

Kannan nodded slowly as he began to stretch his giant body out on the couch. The weregator had a tough time adjusting to the couch at first, grumbling and grunting as he tried to find a comfortable position to lie in. But everytime he rolled himself around, he had to grasp the couch and force himself not to fall onto the floor. Eventually, the reptile huffed with frustration and slept with his head lying on one armrest, and his feet hanging off the end of the other one.

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The next morning, everything seemed normal. Jerald had finished the delivery on time and received his payment. No one questioned if anything happened with the truck. No one saw them assisting a large, feral-like creature and stuffing him inside the back of said truck. As far as anyone knew, it was a clear, sunny morning. Everyone who wasn't sleeping in or heading out to their jobs was currently making breakfast or drinking a cup of coffee to perk themselves up. Everyone except Kannan. The weregator was wide awake, having had much trouble sleeping the night before. Between falling off the couch twice and seeing disturbing images in his mind whenever he shut his eyes, the werebeast found himself breathing heavily and staring up at the ceiling. Now that morning had arrived, Kannan was grouchy, disoriented, tired, and hungry. If anything, the one emotion he was feeling was hunger, and nothing else. So many times he found himself flicking his eyes at Bendis, wondering if he should start gnawing at his stomach so he could tear away at his chunky flesh. The alligator's stomach was rumbling so loudly that Kannan felt his abdomen was in severe pain. He shut his eyes and groaned, taking a few harsh breaths as he tried to settle down.

And then the walking piece of soft, pink flesh walked out his bedroom and arrived in the living room, wearing a yellow striped shirt and khakis. He flicked his eyes over at the weregator and blinked.

"Glad to see you don't sleep in at least. Hey, Bendis! Get your fat ass up!"

The piece of flesh walked over to the recliner Bendis was sleeping on and kicked the panda bear's legs. The snoring ursine snorted and shook his head. He smacked his lips a few times and scanned the living room, wiping the trail of drool from the side of his chin. He sniffled and looked up at the piece of flesh, blinking again.

"What? We got another shipment today?"

The flesh shook his head. "No. They didn't call us in, thankfully. But we'd better head out and get some breakfast now before our company decides to start preying on the neighbors."

Bendis rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes before he planted his footpaws on the floor. "I think this neighborhood would be a lot better if Mrs. Brady Bunch down the road went 'missing' for a few...years."

"I think there are more subtle was to kill Mrs. Enjoo than by having an alligator rip her to pieces."

"Meat..."

The chunk of pink flesh flicked his eyes over at Kannan and noticed that he was standing up, his stomach growling subtly.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll fix breakfast in a minute. So after breakfast, whaddya think we should do with the gator over there?"

"He has a name, Jerald. It's Kannan. And you don't need to pretend like he's not here."

"Kind of hard to ignore his presence. The second I walked into this living room last night, it reeked of a giant alligator who needs a shower."

"Meat..."

"In a minute, Kannan," Jerald snapped.

The piece of flesh didn't turn around. If he had, he would've noticed that Kannan was standing only a few feet away from him, breathing heavily as a thin trail of drool began to descend from his mouth. Bendis noticed that the weregator was getting closer to the piece of meat and frowned.

"Just relax, Kannan. We know you're hungry. ...So going to the cops is out of the question. What about a doctor or something? Don't they have something they can use to treat...whatever this man has?"

"He's an anthro, Bendis, not a man."

"No, he is a man. He told me last night he transformed into...well, this."

"I suppose this was after you two shared a blunt?"

Bendis glared at the hunk of meat and folded his arms. "I'm serious. Something's very wrong with this gator--human...whatever! Okay, he's not...uh, Kannan?"

"Meat..."

The hunk of meat frowned when he noticed a massive shadow looming over him. The flesh turned around and shouted, backing away once he noticed that Kannan was less than foot behind him. His eyes looked more feral than ever, and his mouth was twisted into a strange grin. The meat whimpered when he noticed that Kannan was drooling uncontrollably, leaving several drops of saliva on the carpet. The weregator opened up his hands, looking like he was about to grab his prey. Then he lowered his jaw even further, longing to sink his teeth into the meal in front of him. And then Kannan shouted when he felt a sudden throbbing pain in his skull. He shut his eyes and shook his head, grunting and sucking in all the slobber coming from his mouth. The alligator blinked a few times before he looked down at the frightened human being. Then he looked at Bendis, who was breathing heavily and carrying a baseball bat.

"Is something wrong?" the weregator asked.

"I'm pretty sure you just tried to eat me!" shouted Jerald.

Kannan grunted and shook his head. "N-no! I would never do that; why-why would I eat another human being?"

"You're just...hungry, that's all," said Bendis softly as he dropped the bat.

Kannan was about to say something else when he heard his stomach churning deeply. He grunted and put a hand on his stomach, realizing how much the grumbling gut irritated him and longed for food.

"Look...m-maybe I did...get a little hungry and started drooling--"

"Just stay back, please," Jerald snapped, plugging his nose. "It's bad enough that you just tried to kill me; I don't need you suffocating me with your morning breath too."

Kannan backed away, his tail going limp as he looked at the panda bear and human being. He slowly sat down on the couch and glanced down at the floor, breathing quietly.

"I don't know what happened...I'm just..."

Kannan didn't even know what to say at this point. His confusion and pain was only intensifying, worsening as his new body continued to regress into a primal, blood-crazed state. Bendis flicked his eyes at the weregator before quickly switching back over to Jerald, who was scowling at the beast. He grabbed the human's hand and started to jerk him into the house's main hallway. Once they were out of the reptile's line of sight, Bendis let go of Jerald's hand and huffed.

"What's your problem?" asked Jerald.

"No, what's your problem?"

Jerald scoffed and folded his arms. "In case you didn't notice, that alligator in there tried to eat me only a couple minutes ago!"

"You've been acting like this ever since we picked him up off the street. This has nothing to do with what just happened."

"Well..." Jerald huffed and shook his head. "I know how this plays out. We pick up a bum, we give him food, make him feel 'loved.' Then he starts taking advantage of our kindness, eating all our food, sleeping in our beds, clogging the toilets with those titanic bowel movements of his."

"Now that's not fair. You know damn well that I'm the only one in this house who clogs the toilets."

"Dude, this is serious. What if he seriously plans on staying here permanently? We barely make enough money as it is!"

"It won't get that far. I'm sure someone will notice that he's gone missing and will make a TV announcement or something. Then we can take him to the cops--"

"That's another thing too! Why didn't he want us to call the police last night? Or even the ambulance? He-he said someone was trying to kill him. Why is that, huh? What is this gator caught up in? What have we exposed ourselves to? Did you ever consider that maybe, perhaps, this guy's a criminal, a drug lord for all we know, and that some hitmen were trying to assassinate him?"

"You've got quite the imagination, I'll give you that."

"No, I'm being serious. How many times do good people do nice things, and in the end, the nice people are the ones who end up getting fucked over?"

"Did you ever once think that Kannan is a good person, and that he was the one who got fucked over?"

"Pfft! Bullshit. No one like him--"

"Shut the fuck up," Bendis snarled. "When you first met me, all you saw me as was some, and I'm using your _direct_words, a 'fat-ass cock-sucking fag who can't stop bending over when he smells another male's musk.' But now look at us. We're best friends--roommates even. You don't see me as some 'faggot' anymore."

"What's your point?"

"You gave me the chance to show you that I'm not just some come-dumpster, that I'm more than just some bear who likes it rough and who enjoys licking another man's ass. The very least you could do is give Kannan a chance to show you that he's more than just some meat-eating predator, or some criminal you think is only here to get us in trouble."

Jerald stopped frowning. He lowered his arms and glanced into the living room, taking note of the shadow Kannan was leaving on the floor. He could understand why Bendis was being overprotective of him, especially since he knew a little more about Kannan than he did. Maybe I'm wrong, Jerald thought. Maybe I am making the same mistakes again. Jerald thought about walking into the living room and apologizing to Kannan for the way he was acting, until a sinister, deleterious thought entered his mind. The man snapped back to reality, examining all aspects of the weregator sitting on their couch. Even if everything Kannan told Bendis was true, that still didn't change the fact that the reptile seriously considered biting into Jerald's skull.

"All right...we'll give him a chance. But I'm not kidding, Bendis. The second something goes wrong, he's outta here."

The panda bear nodded. "I'm fine with that."

"All right then. We'll stop by the store, get some more food so he'll stop looking at me like I'm a walking drumstick."

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The trip to the store went by without folly, although the cashier did think it was odd how the bear and human being were buying so much meat. Jerald and Bendis did their best not to attract any attention, short of everyone constantly wondering why the two of them were purchasing so much food. No one inside the store looked suspicious--everything at the grocery market seemed normal. Elderly women complaining that there were no more green grapes, adolescent anthros and human beings buying chips and dip for their anime binge that they were taking a break from, coworkers who were stocking shelves with cans, produce and packaged meat. Bendis even spotted the same hyena who had his fur dyed white the other day. He paid no attention to Jerald or Bendis, in large part because he was busy dancing and humming to himself as he listened to his iPod. The panda bear couldn't help but grin when he walked past him, catching wind of his strong scent and staring at his shirtless body and toned rump as he danced through the store. Once the duo finished buying all the raw meat and loading it into their pickup truck, they headed back home, feeling a bit less nervous about the situation they found themselves in.

Jerald and Bendis stepped inside their home after the former unlocked the door. Kannan wasn't sitting on the couch anymore; he had decided to explore the house in his spare time. But the moment the door opened, he rushed towards the entrance like a feral dog, ecstatic that its master had finally returned home.

"Did-did you get it? Did you get it?!"

"Yeah, we got plenty--"

Kannan didn't listen. He snatched a bag straight from Jerald's hands and emptied the contents all over the floor. He saw two packs of bacon and a large ham fall onto the floor, shortly before the weregator grabbed another bag containing two immense packs of ribs inside. Kannan didn't even bother looking at the other bags; what he saw on the floor needed to go inside his mouth as soon as possible. So the gator got on his knees and grabbed one pack of bacon, tearing it open with his claws and snatching at least five raw, slimy pieces out with his bare hands. He stuffed the pork into his mouth, chewing and smacking, panting and growling as he swallowed the food in giant chunks.

"What--"

Jerald backed away when the weregator snatched another bag from his hands and started to dump out the contents. The human being and panda bear stared at each other before they set the bags down and stepped away.

"Just make sure you clean up the mess!" Jerald reminded him.

Kannan didn't nod. He responded by shoveling more raw bacon into his mouth. Nothing else seemed to matter at this point. There was a giant pile of meat in front of him, and he needed to devour it so he could finally be sated. Jerald and Bendis left the gator alone, departing to Bendis' bedroom so they could sit down and watch TV in peace. But even with the volume turned up, both of them could still hear the weregator munching on all the flesh for several minutes straight. A belch here, a snarl there, a sickening crunch as Kannan ate some of the ribs, bone, gristle and all. Jerald looked at the time on his cell phone and frowned.

"He's been out there for ten minutes now. Is he seriously gonna eat all that shit in one sitting?"

Bendis shrugged. "Maybe. Hell, I ate six of those seventy-two-ounce steaks when we were vacationing in the Backlands, remember?"

"Yes. Your ass was glued to the toilet all night, and I had to make you wear a diaper on the car trip back home. Remember that?"

Bendis scratched his chin and meekly turned away. "I don't recall..."

Jerald sighed. "He can't eat all that meat anyway--we need to save it in case he gets hungry later. We can't keep going to the store dropping over a hundred and fifty bucks on meat alone."

Jerald stood up from the chair and walked out of Bendis' room. When he arrived in the living room, he was shocked to see that most of the meat was gone. All the ribs, bacon, steaks, and hot dogs were all digesting inside the gator's stomach. The tripe and livers had been torn to pieces. There was no more veal, no more pig's feet, no more ground beef or cubed steaks. When Jerald walked in on Kannan, he saw him biting into a kidney, the flesh squishing and spraying blood all over the floor and the front door. Kannan munched on the meat quickly before he shoveled the rest of the raw organ into his maw. He swallowed hard, panting and looking for more flesh to consume. Jerald slowly approached Kannan just as gator picked up a pack of bologna off the floor.

"Hey, Kannan? You-you're gonna have to stop eating now. You don't wanna get sick, do you?"

Kannan responded by burping. Then he panted a few times and resumed chowing down on all the bologna. Irritated, Jerald snatched the container from the weregator.

"I said that's enough!"

It all happened before the man could blink. His yellow shirt was ripped by the gator's vicious claws. His skin had been torn open, the blood now oozing out and running down his abdomen. And then Kannan was on top of Jerald, slobbering and grinning widely.

"MEAT!!"

Jerald shouted, holding up his hands as he tried to grab the gator's thick neck. He tried to close the beast's slobbering mouth, but everytime his fingers got close, Kannan tried to bite them off. The weregator snarled and slurped, his thick saliva spraying all over Jerald's face, his foul, hot breath filling the man's nostrils.

"BENDIS! BENDIS!"

The human being reached backwards, grunting and whimpering as he tried to grab anything he could to fend off the gator. He took a risk of punching the werebeast in the snout, causing Kannan to snort and back away briefly. Jerald panted as he grabbed a picture frame from the table and tossed it at Kannan's head, hitting him just above his left eye. Kannan shouted and grabbed his face, giving Jerald enough time to get off the floor so he could take his cell phone out of his pocket. He started to dial 911 just when Bendis appeared in the living room--and just when Kannan recovered from his injury. The weregator snarled as he stormed over to Bendis, punching him in the nose and grabbing Jerald's right arm. The man shrieked as Kannan slammed him into the wall, pressing his massive body against Jerald's back and rear end. He tightened his grip around the man's wrist, squeezing so hard that Jerald screamed and was forced to drop his cell phone. Kannan began to open his mouth again, ready to bite down on Jerald's skull.

Then he felt a thick furry arm being wrapped around his throat. Bendis growled and snarled as he latched onto the gator's back, tightening his chokehold in hopes of making the reptile pass out. Kannan gurgled twice as he backed away from the human being. Thinking quickly, he threw himself down onto the floor, taking Bendis with him. The panda bear shouted as he was sandwiched in-between the hard floor and Kannan's rough, scaly back. He banged his head on the floor and began to feel dizzy; his grip loosened, and Kannan used the moment to elbow Bendis in the nose twice. Kannan quickly got off the floor, breathing heavily as he stared at the hunk of meat that was currently bleeding from his chest. He licked his long, yellow teeth and started to salivate.

"Meat..."

Jerald went for his cell phone again. Kannan kicked it away and got on top of Jerald again, pinning him down with his brute strength. He slurped noisily, spitting more drool all over the human being's face again. Then he opened his mouth and started to bite down on Jerald's neck. Jerald would've died right then and there, had Bendis not acquired his baseball bat and smashed it against Kannan's head. Kannan turned around and snarled viciously, only to grunt when the same bat collided with his jaw. The weregator got off of Jerald, but Bendis wasn't taking any chances. He bashed the alligator in the head three more times, only stopping when the reptile collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Bendis panted as he stared at the beast, sniffling and rubbing his bleeding nose. He saw Kannan's left leg twitch, but other than that, he wasn't moving. Bendis exhaled and let go of the metal bat, sighing as he leaned against the wall. Jerald, however, was lying on the floor, wounded and whimpering.

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He felt like a prisoner now, locked away inside the darkest pit of a correctional facility. All Kannan could do was look down at his hands as the shackles were placed around his wrists. Jerald tugged on the chains, panting and sweating, triple-checking to make sure that they were tightly wound around his wrists and secured to the floor. Kannan was wearing leg cuffs as well, the thick metal wrapped around his ankles to keep his movement limited. Jerald followed the chains over to the thick metal support post they were secured to. The alligator would still be able to move, but barely. Jerald looked around the dusty, dark basement, taking note of how filthy and barren it seemed. Besides a few bookcases containing rusty tools, a workbench, and some chairs, there was hardly anything down there.

"I'm sorry," Kannan said, so softly that Jerald almost didn't hear him.

"Shut the fuck up," Jerald snapped.

Jerald kept examining the chains and where Kannan was tied up. He was stuck to a metal support post near one of the walls of the basement. Even if Kannan managed to break through the chains or the post, at least Jerald would know that he was locked away inside the basement.

"That looks good. Bendis you...you stay here and make sure he doesn't escape. I'm gonna go to the fuckin' hospital..."

As Jerald began to walk towards the stairs, Bendis grabbed his left arm and stopped him.

"Is all this necessary?"

"Are you shitting me?! He just tried to kill me, Bendis! Look at my goddamn chest! Look at your goddamn nose!"

Bendis sniffled and held his handkerchief up to it again as he wiped away some dried-up blood.

"I know that! But...he just needs help, Jerald. He's just--"

"He's a fuckin' rabid dog. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Can't take him to the hospital, can't take him to a police station, can't even bring him outside to take a shit--after what just happened, I don't think he should be around any public places whatsoever."

"So, what, we're just gonna leave him chained up down here until we figure out what to do with him?"

"He's got a bucket to piss and shit in. He's got a mattress over there to sleep on. And we'll bring food and water down to him whenever he gets hungry or thirsty."

Bendis scoffed. "It's that simple, huh?"

Jerald grabbed his head. "This is why I didn't want to bring him home in the first fuckin' place! I fuckin' told you that something like this might happen! I fuckin' told you! Now we're stuck here takin' care of some homicidal gator who's probably got schizophrenia for all we fuckin' know and can't control himself around humans! We're stuck in this situation and now we have to deal with it! What the fuck else are we supposed to do right now?!"

"I don't fuckin' know! But anything--"

"He's right," Kannan said softly.

Jerald and Bendis looked at the weregator as he looked up at the two roommates. "I...I'm dangerous. Back...before you two picked me up...I-I killed someone. I didn't know what I was doing...but I saw his body. I'm not...I-I can't control this. I don't know how-how severe this will become. So maybe...maybe it's good that you have me chained up. Just...just leave me down here until we figure out what's wrong with me."

Jerald folded his arms and scoffed. "See? Even he agrees with me, Bendis. So stop whining. Now are you gonna be able to watch him while I'm gone or not?"

"...Sure, whatever."

"Good."

Jerald didn't stay in the basement to hear any more retorts from Bendis. He quickly stomped back upstairs and exited the basement. Bendis stared at Kannan, frowning when he saw that the weregator was looking down at the floor.

"Please...leave me alone. I just...I want to be alone right now."

The panda bear was just as exhausted as Kannan and Jerald. All three of them needed some time to themselves. So he nodded slowly and walked upstairs, making sure he left the basement light on so the reptile could see. And then he closed and locked the basement door, leaving Kannan alone so he could try to process everything that was happening to him.