The first ride we went on after we finished watching the human young at play was a small whirling circular roller coaster. This one was a simple one, meant for children. It was angled at roughly forty-five degrees into the air and secured to hydraulic pumps that would raise and lower it from one side to the other, each of which went into a pool of water so that you were always going to get wet.

But you just never knew which side was going to soak you. I was quickly drenched in cool water that soaked all through my fur to the skin beneath. It wasn’t until the third dunk that I wondered, ‘Did William remember to set aside his cell phone?’

It was too late to ask as we went around and round on the rails, their clickity clackity noise alternately slowing down and then speeding up with every rotation for minute after minute, my wet fur was picked up by the swift racing air and I opened my mouth and let it blow my cheeks out to an odd little puff.

My recent experience with speed and putting my head outside the car window made this all the more enjoyable, and I didn’t mind my drenched fur in the least. William was dressed in the strange ‘swim trunks’ his people typically wore at these places, it hung down from his waist to his knees and was bound up in a tight knot against his body. He wore no shirt, and quite frankly I would say he is fairly pale.

The human body is in some ways quite remarkable, not only in its strengths, but in its weaknesses. Most species evolved their intelligence after their bodies were well adapted to their environment.

But it seems that human intelligence was the result of punctuated equilibrium. This previously unobserved evolutionary process states that when a small population is nearing extinction it may evolve much faster since trait diffusion is quicker. Humans ‘hyper-evolved’ in a relatively short time some two hundred odd thousand years ago in the extreme climate of their African continent at a time when climate change was driving their forerunners near to extinction.

Their ancestors were already wanderers, and walked the long costs consuming marine life that was excellent for brain development, and this highly social species adapted, only the most clever of their species were able to survive the harsh environment and reproduce. As such a race of predators unlike anything the world had ever seen, evolved in a burning hellscape that casually obliterated over ninety-nine percent of all other life.

But, because they were adapted to survive and learned tool use early, their bodies did not gain the near total protection from the environment that other species did. Humans get cancer from their own sun, but are daylight creatures with color vision gradients that are the envy of many other species. Their ability to survive is rooted in their wildly varying creativity and inventiveness as much as anything else. So… you end up with some imperfections that would seem daft to other intelligent species. Such as humans who burn in the very sun they need to see and to stimulate vitamin production. Because they invented ways to protect themselves before they could evolve natural protection.

When we finally left the ride, we were a soaking wet mess, my fur was drenched more than I’d ever known it to be. Water is common enough on my world that everybody has it, but Earth is positively drowning in water. So much so that many of their mythologies revolve around great floods.

As dangerous as water is, it is not only necessary, but so beloved by most humans to the point where fear of it is considered irrational, and given the unique experience I just had, I agreed. How could anyone not like this?

From there we went to the water slide. A water slide is a very strange invention, it consists of a long angled tube on which you lay your human, and in this pipe is a substantial amount of water, not quite enough to float, but enough to make it slippery. Your human, like the water, is then dragged down by gravity through the tube, usually screaming in the shadows until they are flung out into daylight and into a large open pool.

I did not scream. But I did howl. A few of my furs got caught in the segments of tubing and yanked out, but after the first wince it was just… thrilling. I howled like I was a pup again and when I hit the water, I bounced along the surface until my momentum let me sink. I didn’t wait for William, I locked my arms and began to swim in what I would later learn is called a ‘dog paddle’ splashing my way to the side, I saw William out of the corner of my eye coming down the slide after me, but with all three of my hearts racing and pumping blood through my veins I just couldn’t bear to wait. I ran on all fours back to the thankfully short line and didn’t even realize I’d done that until the guide did a double take at me.

When I stood up, he simply said, “Oh, the alien, go ahead!” Then pointed up the ladder for me to go again.

And again.

And again.

To this day I don’t know how many times I went up and down that slide.

I did that until I saw William wave me over from off to one side of the pool. The crowd was still thin and for a long and lingering moment I greedily eyed the other attractions, but I trotted over to where he stood and gave myself a thorough shake, scattering water every which way while he waited until I was done.

“Fauve texted me a few minutes ago, she was taking a ride share over here from work after changing clothes. I’m going to talk to management and get that complaint for my wife out of the way. Just meet her at the entrance and bring her back here when she arrives then we’ll meet up and have a bite to eat before hitting some more rides. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” I said, I was panting when I said it, as hard as I panted when Fauve finished throwing that ball. In just two days… two days, and I felt at home.

Perhaps that is why I reacted the way I did.

William and I parted ways and I headed back to the entrance, we quickly lost sight of each other, but I wasn’t worried. He was right, the Sunday crowd was light and neither noise nor smells were overbearing.

In fact it was so light that I picked up Fauve’s smell before I rounded the corner to the entrance.

But something was wrong. Her smell was wrong.

And another smell was worse.

I didn’t know quite way, but I picked up my pace, not running, but I definitely went up to a speed walk, and heard a familiar voice. I will relay it as follows with the inflection as best the written word allows.

“Wiff a true alpha male like me, a girl can always count on being treated like a prinfess. You shee, I’m,” the voice went a little lower, “a werewolf, that’s why I don’t shower, it washes off my natural mushk. You’re pretty, and you need a true nishe guy like me, a gentleman to treat you right. You’re not like those other girlsh, they only go for jocks and bad boysh. You’re lucky you met me now, before you become shom kind of evil shlut.”

“I’m fourteen. And I’m not interested. Now get out of the way I have to find my dad and Bailey!” Fauve’s response was very clear, and I began to move faster.

But when I heard her say, “Let go of me!” I locked my front arms, dropped to all fours, and raced forward.

“Jusht one hug from a real lycan and you’ll she-” I heard his words but didn’t register them. It all felt wrong. I didn’t really know as much as I thought about humans or how they related to one another, they were frankly confusing… but I knew their inflections well enough that I knew her voice sounded off and his voice wasn’t as nice as he presented it to be.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I rounded the corner to find Fauve with her back to the wall and the neckbeard looming over her with his hand holding her arm and trying to tug her away from where they were. She was dressed in a single red form fitting one piece suit that reflected common human standards of modesty, leaving arms and legs bare and providing freedom of movement for someone wanting to swim, and she appeared even smaller than before thanks to her lack of shoes.

My eyes locked on his grip and then went to her face. I didn’t think her eyes registered contentment, or happiness, I saw that at the dinner table or when throwing that ball. I also knew that Fauve was a very direct girl, and I had no doubt she meant what she said.

Neither one of them saw me yet, but I saw that she shook her arm in a clear attempt to dislodge the stranger. “Let go! That hurts! I don’t want to go anywhere with you!” She snapped and tugged her arm, trying to dislodge his grip. I could see the depression in her arm where his fingers tightened. “I said let go!” She raised her voice, and passersby finally turned their eyes toward their dispute.

Evidently disliking her refusal, he stepped closer to her so that his shadow was looming over her, hiding her from view behind his copious girth. “Just come with me, I promise I’m a gentleman. I’ll treat you like a princess, don’t be a tease.”

“No!” She said, and though I couldn’t see her face, I knew from her voice she wanted out of there.

He tried to ‘convince’ her further, and he got as far as, “Come on, I’m a nyshe guy, ish the leasht you can do is give me one hug if you’re gonna-”

Before I was in the air with my jaws open. The pair had enough time to see me, but not enough time to react before my jaw closed over his arm and his high pitched shriek filled the air. His entire body went stiff for a moment after he let go of Fauve’s arm.

Dlamisa are predators too, and our ancestors rose to the top of the food chain due to our bite strength and powerful necks. Our method of slaughter when catching our prey was to grab our target and then wrench our necks back and forth, tearing through the flesh of our food and making injuries far, far worse. Even today when we fight, it is our jaws that do most of the work, not our hands. I wrenched my neck, rotated my hips, and flung him free.

He tasted foul. Absolutely foul, like meat that was rotted to the inside. He bounced and rolled away from my human, wailing as he came to a halt, not because he ran out of momentum, but because I was already on him, his golf hat bounced and rolled away, coming to a stop with a wobble like a spinning coin losing energy, his hands came up to try to grab me as he squealed like a stuck pig. I half expected him to shift form, but all that happened was that my fingers wrapped into his soft and flabby porcine wrists and slammed them down into the concrete.

I didn’t hear the screaming of the people nearby, though I should have, why was I so angry? Why did I respond the way I did? I’m not a violent dlamisa. I’m not aggressive. I was never in our military. But the moment I saw that his hand was on Fauve’s arm and he was acting in a way I thought was aggressive, I reacted.

My human was in danger, and that could not stand.

So my jaws closed down, going for the neck, perhaps it is for the best that his oversized belly got in the way and his sweat slick shirt didn’t provide much purchase, so when my jaw came down, I grabbed onto his shoulder instead. I tasted blood again.

Human blood tastes like copper, and his was mixed with both sweat and the bacteria responsible for human body odor. It was the most unpleasant ‘meal’ I have ever had in my life. But all I wanted was one more bite. His blood dripped from my curved sharp teeth and spattered down on to his pasty face, the bits of spatter rolled into the wisps of dark beard where they were stopped by a combination of his acne and the patchy scraps of beard. I scratched and clawed and do not know how many times my jaws closed over the self styled ‘lycan’. I just could not stop, not with my human in danger.

All three of my hearts were pounding in my chest and I lost the power of speech, my ears were back and tail bristled and stiff as a board, I was ready to try for his neck again when I heard Fauve’s voice in my ear, but she wasn’t yelling at me.

“Stop!” She was shouting, I’m sure she shouted it more than once, but never in my direction, she was ahead of us, her arms and legs out, blocking the way. I raised my head and saw blue clad security guards with gold badges on their chests, they had weapons drawn and were trying to point at me.

“Bailey, relax! Let him up. Let him up slow.” She said, looking back over her shoulder at me while she said it but remaining in between me and the security guards, she gave me a little nod when I didn’t move. “I’m fine, it’s over.”

I could see the hesitation of the security team, they were clearly young themselves, a fresh faced young man and woman in button down shirts and tan shorts. Their hair was cut short, the woman’s a trifle shorter, it stuck out a little beneath her headcovering, a small baseball cap that shielded her eyes from the sun.

Their eyes were wide, but their hands were surprisingly steady, perhaps frozen by surprise. I never got to ask.

The only noise was that of the bits of spatter dripping from my maw as I moved at a glacial pace, inching my hands away from his now bruised and bleeding wrists. My jaw didn’t shut, so as I rose to stand erect, the bloody evidence of the wounds I inflicted, continued to drip down over his wolf shirt like tiny bloody footprints until they landed on his pants.

I was breathing hard, all three air sacks were hard at work and I admit I must have appeared feral in the eyes of the human onlookers. Perhaps it wasn’t my finest moment, I glared down at the lump of meat, but he didn’t meet my eyes. He curled up screaming like an infant and clutching his arm.

“Someone call a doctor!” I didn’t know who shouted, but I couldn’t miss the fact that there were a lot of phones out. Humans filmed things a lot, and the scream brought more attention than I expected. Strangely enough, humans seem to be drawn toward danger. Most of the time when there are screams, species flee, humans are one of only a handful who will openly run toward potential danger. Sure it is true that some will run away at once or run when they see what the danger is, but it is a curious testament to human uniqueness that they seldom can resist the urge to go to where the danger lies.

In this case, that danger seemed to be ‘me’. My red and black fur did a fair job of hiding the fact that I had a lot more blood on me than I would have liked to admit, but my dripping jaw was proof enough, as was my huffing and puffing that continued while I stepped back.

“Put those away!” Fauve shouted, “Arrest him!” She pointed to the obese human, “He grabbed me and tried to make me go with him! He wouldn’t let me go! Bailey was just helping me!”

I expected an argument.

I expected denial.

I expected the humans to at once support one of their own, especially since humans can be so tribal and the male on the ground was someone who worked at the park, just like the security team.

But recall what I said about human socialization?

Humans who display antisocial characteristics such as an excess of arrogance without talents to justify their ego, humans who are rude, pushy, malicious, brutally honest out of malice… humans might not always speak up about what they dislike. But they definitely remember.

“Put it away.” The woman security guard said and slid her taser back into its holster. Her male colleague hesitated, but a swift glare from his counterpart prompted his reaction.

“Just step back Mr. Alien. I’m just going to treat him.” The woman said, taking ponderous but long steps forward with her hands up and open, with the palms facing me.

“He’s not ‘Mr. Alien. His name is Bailey.” Fauve insisted, she was stepping aside, out of the way of the security officer, but if she was heard or not, I don’t know.

The nameless lump of human that lay at my feet redoubled his shrieking and had thrown in words, “Shoot the dog! Shoot the dog! Shoot the dog!” He had other things to say as well, mostly rude words and cursing thrown in, his tear filled eyes were cast around looking left and right while he tried, shaking and trembling, to move away from me.

I suppose I should have been grateful I wasn’t shot, I was still soaking wet from the rides and I can’t imagine what I must have looked like. The lump of human still hadn’t transformed, all he did was wiggle. ‘So he’s not a werewolf after all.’ I felt oddly dispassionate despite my pounding hearts and air sacks, but when I felt Fauve’s hand come up to my equivalent of a bicep and my upper back, I started to calm the rest of me.

“Thanks, Bailey.” She said, I only had a moment to look her way before I heard William’s voice, it wasn’t that close, but it was close enough.

“I was making a report and the intercom said that a dogman was attacking an employee! What the hell happened?!” His arms were pumping and he leaned into a dead sprint that was much faster than I thought he could have moved, his eyes were wide and almost wild, and behind him a middle aged, overweight male waddled and puffed, not quite keeping up, but no less desperate to get there.

‘This won’t be easy to explain…’ I thought to myself while the sound of sirens pierced the air in the distance, and the crowd grew ever larger.

All I wanted to do was flee, but with my human’s hand at my back, I felt I had no choice but to stand and wait for whatever happened next, while on the ground the lump of human kept howling, “Will someone shoot that dog!” and the female guard continued to try to treat the screeching meat.