Once everyone had gone to sleep, Greg slipped out of the bunker to meet the cat girl again. He dashed a few streets over to find her waiting for him, sitting on an abandoned car, swinging her legs and humming a bit. With all of Greg's work the past few nights, this area had become much safer. Any bullies he'd found had gotten the same lecture as the hyena brothers, and all the real sickos had been dealt with. The cat girl didn't feel the need to hide or sneak around anymore.
"Mighty one!" She exclaimed as she saw Greg approaching, jumping off the car and careening into his arms.
Greg let out a light oof as she did so, more out of habit than anything else. "How do you always know it's me?" Greg asked curiously. He often appeared in a different form, yet the cat girl always seemed to know when it was him.
"Your lack of scent, duh." The cat girl explained.
"Ah… neat." Greg nodded, remembering she'd mentioned that the first time they'd met, he'd brushed past it as he was too stunned by the fact she was actually intelligent at the time. He frowned as he considered what his lack of scent meant. He brought his wrist up to his nose and smelled it… nothing. Greg sighed, shaking his head again. He used to love smelling his wrist before all this… what an inconvenient ability. "Anyways, make sure we hit the worst of the worst tonight." He continued. "This is going to be my last night here, so let's make it count." Greg had always known his time in this area was limited, which was why he hadn't started his feral unification project yet. He didn't want to start something he couldn't finish.
The cat girl looked stunned. "Y-you're leaving?!? Why!?!"
"I always was?" Greg answered, confused. "I was only here to wait for a team to get through to the downtown area."
"But- but what about everything you've done? What about everything that still needs to be done!?! You- you can't just abandon us!" The cat girl pleaded, hanging off his arm, looking up at him desperately.
Greg sighed. "I'm sorry, I really am. I've done everything I can, but… this isn't where I belong."
"But- but why?!? I-I don't understand, why- how could you-" The cat girl stammered, tears brimming in her eyes.
Greg was shocked. "Hey, hey, what- why is this such a big deal? I've killed most of the really bad guys around and we have the others behaving better. It isn't like as soon as I'm gone, everything is going to suddenly get bad again. Hell, if you get a few of the stronger ones on board, I bet you can make this place even safer than I could."
The cat girl shook her head. "That isn't the point! I don't care about safety, I just- I-I don't want to be alone again…" She cried, holding tighter to his arm.
Greg's eyes widened. He hadn't realized how attached the cat girl had become to him. Thinking back, they'd spent every night together for almost a week. Greg had been more focused on the violence at the time, so he hadn't even realized how much she'd been there, listening to him, watching him, a quiet companion that supported him in everything he did. From their conversations, Greg knew that the cat girl had only been 'awake' for a few months, a year max. For her, a week was a significant period of her life. "Hey… what if…" Greg paused, wondering if what he was about to offer was actually feasible. "What if I brought you with me?"
The cat girl looked up at him, shocked. "Y-you'd do that?"
"I mean… Well, the people I travel with are unformed, but… you can talk, they can talk, I don't see much of an issue with it." Greg explained with a shrug.
The cat girl's eyes widened. "You- you travel with those violent creatures?!?" She asked in horror.
"Well… okay, that's all a big misunderstanding. See, they think you're the violent ones. They see all the assholes out there and think you're all like that. So, when you guys meet, you both think the other is going to be violent, so you get violent first and then… Well, it's a mess." Greg explained with a sigh. "Plus, they remember when this all started and apparently you all were the ones who went crazy, causing all the chaos, and they really haven't forgotten that… they're still pretty scared of you."
The cat girl's jaw dropped. "They're scared of us?!?"
Greg nodded. "Yeah? I mean, think about the types of ferals- er, that's what they call you, the types of ferals that are actually out during the day when they are. They aren't meeting the harmless, just trying to survive types like you. They're meeting the big scary mofos who like to fight."
"T-then would they even want to travel with me?" The cat girl asked nervously.
"Well, I mean, I wouldn't suggest approaching them out of nowhere, but as long as I introduce you it should be fine?" Greg supposed.
*
The next morning, after another violent night, Greg had the cat girl hide near the bunker while he slipped inside to wait for everyone else to wake up. A few hours later, Jake had them all gathered around the table, explaining their various roles for the journey. "Alright, so, our biggest concern is protecting Sarah. Carlos, that's going to be your job." Carlos groaned, making a cross sign across his chest. "Don't worry about the rest of us and just maintain a barrier around her whenever there's trouble. The rest of us will be responsible for running interference, distracting any ferals we can't hide from to let Sarah and Carlos get through, alright? We don't want any protracted battles, so just get them away and escape. Victor, you'll be in charge of scouting as usual. Any questions?"
Greg raised his hand. "Can I bring a friend?"
Jake blinked at him, frowning. "I'll take that as a no."
Greg turned to Victor. "Why does he never take me seriously?"
"How did you manage to make a friend?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "There's no people out here."
"That depends on your definition of people." Greg replied.
"Oh, shit, he made friends with a feral." Casey groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Feral is such a derogatory term… maybe we could change it to mutated people?" Greg offered.
"We don't call them feral because they mutated, we call them feral cause they're crazy!" Casey retorted.
"Oh… then I wouldn't call this one feral. Though… she probably, definitely, was… she got better though." Greg responded.
"Of course it's a girl." Tessa muttered. "How did you even meet this person? Haven't you been staying in the bunker?"
"He's been going out every night to fight while I sleep." Sarah explained.
"You've been leaving Sarah alone!?!" Tessa exclaimed, giving Greg a harsh glare.
"Only after dark! I always came back when it got light out, so there was no chance I'd miss anyone!" Greg explained.
"Hold on, did you say to fight?" Casey asked incredulously, turning to Greg. "You've been fighting?!?"
"Well, there's these ferals who like to prey on other ferals, real assholes who torture others for their own enjoyment… kinda felt like they needed to die and well… I wasn't really doing anything else, you know?" Greg answered with a shrug.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Casey stared at him blankly for a moment, before shaking her head. "Can't get him out of his room to throw a damn frisbee, but the moment electronics die he starts looking for monsters to fight!"
"I do not handle boredom well." Greg sighed.
"We've noticed." Tessa grumbled as Sarah nodded along.
"Right, so… can I bring a friend?" Greg asked again, turning to a stunned looking Jake. "I promise, she's really nice and it isn't like she's going to slow us down."
"I don't… we should at least meet her first." Jake sighed, shaking his head.
"Fair enough. Let me grab her." Greg nodded along, going to head out the door.
"Uh, Greg, what are you doing?" Tessa asked as he paused by the door, going to take his pants off.
"Tak- uh…" He pulled his pants back up, flushing. "Force of habit." He explained, before quickly rushing out the door. A few minutes later he returned, followed by the cat girl. "Alright guys, this is my friend." The cat girl hid behind him, nervously peeking over his shoulder at the crowd of beings she'd been hiding from for as long as she could remember.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, before Casey smiled and waved. "Hi, I'm Casey. What's your name?"
"N-name?" The cat girl asked in confusion.
"You know, what do people call you?" Casey elaborated.
"S-some call me the slippery one or the sneaky one…" The cat girl answered.
"Well that won't do." Casey shook her head. "You need a real name."
"I think of her as the cat girl, but… that doesn't really help." Greg shrugged.
"Then why did you say it?" Casey rolled her eyes at him.
"I like the sound of my own voice." Greg shrugged.
"I-I don't mind being called cat girl." The cat girl offered.
"Don't listen to him!" Casey snapped. "Come on, let's think of a real name."
"We could call her CAThryn." Victor commented with a grin.
"Oh, how about CLAWdia?" Carlos added with a snicker.
"JenniFUR?" Greg added one of his own.
"Guys!" Casey stomped, giving them all a glare.
"I don't mind Jennifer." The cat girl interjected.
"Oh, hey, wait, I was just joking." Greg replied, turning to her. "We can find you a better name."
"But I like it…" The cat girl responded.
Greg paused, before turning back to Casey, shrugging. "She likes it."
"I hate you." Casey growled.
*
Once they'd named Jennifer, the rest of the group introduced themselves. Seeing how nervous Jennifer was made it pretty damn obvious this wasn't some crazy beast who'd attack them at the first opportunity, so they quickly got over any reservations they had about bringing her along. Without letting any more time get wasted, they packed up and headed deeper into the city.
Victor immediately went ahead. Due to the strange nature of his ability, he could literally shout in someone's ear and they wouldn't hear him, but if they were further away, they could hear him just fine. Using this, Victor would let out a series of whistles whenever he found something that wouldn't alert the creatures around him, but would let the group know to hide or change direction. Additionally, whenever they would need to hide, Brittany would use illusions to cover them or distract the approaching ferals. It all worked so smoothly, Greg wondered why Jake had been so adamant about what to do when they ran into trouble.
"Jake always thinks something is going to go wrong. It's actually one of his strengths as a planner, and his weakness in literally everything else." Victor explained when Greg asked after they found a place to spend the night. "Despite the fact that we make this trip multiple times every month and we know the territories, he makes us act like we're going in blind every time, and honestly? It was annoying at first, but it saved our asses more than once. Things change out here, and when you get complacent, you get dead."
Before everyone went to bed, Tessa approached Greg, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him sternly in the eyes. "Greg, I want to make this clear. While we sleep, you do not leave for any reason, you understand? If there's danger, wake us up. If you hear a strange noise, wake one of us up. If you think you see a shiny rock, ignore it. Do you understand?"
Greg paused. "What if I see a monkey riding a unicycle?"
"I will stab you." Tessa growled.
"I will laugh." Greg retorted, grinning. "Though… I will need something to entertain me through the night."
"Here you go, buddy." Victor said as he tossed Greg a bundle of tiny metal balls that looked like they were stuck together somehow.
"Not your- ooh, magnets!" Greg exclaimed excitedly, pulling at the bundle to make a string of the little balls pull out. Tessa just shook her head and walked off to find a place to rest, while Greg was lost in playing with the balls, a soft clicking emanating from him constantly.
With something to pass the time, the first half of the night passed uneventfully as Greg continued to play with the magnetic balls, but eventually, as usual, the entertainment provided by the balls ran out. Greg frowned at a half finished structure in frustration. *Damnit! I need more balls!* He groaned internally, unable to finish his design. He glanced towards where Victor was sleeping, wondering if he had any more, before shaking his head. He wasn't going to wake Victor up on the off chance he'd hidden some magnetic balls.
Then, he remembered the time he'd turned into dirt, and an idea occurred to him. What if he could turn only part of himself into the little magnetic balls, like his foot or something? That'd be more than enough, wouldn't it? Greg looked around surreptitiously, as if he was doing something bad, before raising a finger and staring at it, wanting it to turn into a claw, and it did. Greg quickly checked the rest of himself and resisted the urge to burst out laughing as he saw he was still him, with just a single, solitary claw.
He grabbed a single magnetic ball, using the claw to cut open a slight wound on his stomach, shoving the ball inside before the wound closed. Turning his finger back to normal, he brought his foot up, laying it across his knee, before trying to turn it into the magnetic balls. With glee, he watched a massive ball of them drop into his hand. He put his foot down, reaching for the structure he'd previously made, when he paused, lifting his leg back up in shock. He still had a foot! He again turned it into a bunch of the magnetic balls, before more smoke flowed out of his leg to turn into another foot. Then… he did it again, and again, until finally, after he made the balls, no more smoke came out, leaving him with just half a foot.
Greg stared at the massive pile of magnetic balls in his lap, pondering the nature of his ability. At this point, it was obvious he wasn't just dealing with healing and transformation. The key was the smoke. It could turn into anything it had dissolved. At some point, it must have dissolved him, and then… he became the smoke. Even now, with the magnetic balls that weren't even a part of him anymore, he felt a connection. *What… What am I?* Greg asked himself with a frown. *Am I smoke? Am I Greg? Both? Neither? Can I just turn into smoke lik- Gah!*
Greg panicked slightly as his body dissolved into a cloud of smoke, the pile of balls and his pants falling through him, before he paused. *Huh…* Unlike when he turned into dirt, being smoke didn't seem to be all that bad. He could still see, all around him in fact, better than he could before. He also felt vaguely… weightless. He tried moving and he just floated away, like a cloud, flowing through the room, through the walls, and- *Crap, I'm not supposed to go outside.* Greg remembered, going back through the wall. Being smoke was almost like being a ghost.
Greg shook his head, or at least, he tried to, not really doing anything as he didn't currently have a head, and headed back to his seat. He was about to change back into himself, ready to scramble for his pants before anyone noticed he was naked, when another idea occurred to him. Why not just dissolve the pants and make himself new ones out of smoke? That way, he wouldn't have to worry about them ripping when he transformed! Greg sent a cloud of smoke over to cover the pants, turning it into dirt to dissolve them, before turning it back into smoke. Greg then transformed back into himself, complete with pants, before glancing at the pile of balls with a glint in his eye.
*
Tessa woke up with a yawn, stretching as she sat up, before glancing over to where Greg was and releasing an aggravated groan. "How!?!"
Greg looked up from building the Castle of the Magnetic Lord. "Oh, hey, you're up. Whaddya think?" He asked with a grin, spreading his arms to showcase the magnificent structure.
"Where did you even get all those?!?" Tessa asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Guys, no yelling in the morning." Carlos complained in a low mumble, rolling over and covering his ears.
"No yelling period!" Jake hissed. "We're in the middle of feral territory!"
"I was in the middle of a dream." Victor added with a grumble.
"You lucky bastard." Greg cursed. "I miss dreams."
"Next person who talks, burns." Casey growled threateningly from where she had curled herself up.
"Seriously, where did you get all these?" Tessa asked in a low whisper as she approached the structure, frowning in confusion.
"Smoke." Greg answered simply, waving his hand and turning them all to smoke. A wave of clicking began as the balls from Victor, suddenly without support, fell all over the place, bouncing, clacking together, and otherwise making way too much noise. Greg winced, looking around to see the entire room glaring at him. "Sor- Gah!" Greg began to apologize right before a fire ball smacked him in the face.