---=Chapter 4: I'm going to get shot.---=

The paralyzing weight had vanished, and I was back in the car. The fever dream of a moment ago—the webs of light, the sinking feeling of despair—all of it was gone.

I looked around, trying to orient myself. Jon and Nia were also gone. Not gone like Titus, at least I hoped not, just not in the car with me. I wanted to believe I'd just been dreaming, and Jon was fine, Nia and Titus too. Though, I didn't think Titus was coming back—not unless I'd dreamt the whole day. At the moment, all I knew was that I was fine, which meant Jon and Nia could also be alright. We'd been in an accident, and I lost consciousness. It would make sense if everything after that was just an intense dream or something.

Climbing out of the car felt like Déjà vu, except my movements felt weak and my muscles rubbery. I felt off, almost delirious, as I pulled myself out of the car; I had to shut my eyes to stop the world from spinning. Stepping out of the car, I looked around; it was foggy, just like in the dream, except the fog was now tinted both blue and green. Also, I was alone.

It was quiet, and I stared at the vortex wall I'd just watched so many cars drive into and shook my head at the thought of the lives just lost. They'd raced ignorantly to a quick and painless death. It was probably one of the better ways to go, but it seemed so… wrong. They died while being both incredibly stupid and incredibly unaware of the fact. It was almost unforgivable.

I didn't see Jon. He'd probably taken Nia into the hospital. I couldn't see the hospital in the fog, but it should be hard to miss if I got closer. I began to walk that way and raised my hand to my mouth to call Jon's name.

No sound came out.

I pulled up short and tried again, but no words or even rasping came out. Rather than shouting, I cleared my throat and tried to talk at a normal volume, thinking I might have strained my throat at some point. It didn't help.

I could hear—there were honking cars in the distance if nothing else—but I couldn't speak.

Well, shit. I thought. What was happening? I'd blacked out in the car, Watched a glowing wire pierce Jon's skull, which was hopefully a fever dream. Then I'd woken up alone, and now I had no voice.

If the fever dream wasn't a dream, it would mean I'd survived somehow and decided to climb back into the car. Then, I'd climbed back over the center console for some reason, apparently intent on passing out inches from the deadly vortex wall. I had no memory of any of that; More importantly, in the real world, light didn't form webs that floated through the air, killing people. Then again, I would have been equally skeptical about the giant green vortex walls not so long ago.

I looked around for Jon, trying to decide what to do. Our window to escape the vortex was well and truly passed. The vortex wall was down, and a blue-green haze had blanketed the world. It wasn't just foggy; the view also wavered and shimmered like a mirage, further obscuring my vision.

I walked back to the car. Likely Jon was inside the hospital with Nia. Nia had family inside, and if Titus really was gone, she was probably distraught, even if she wasn't injured. I could see Jon taking her inside quickly before returning with help and a stretcher to get my unconscious self.

I could just head to the hospital, but I worried I'd walk right past Jon in the dense fog. The green haze was a soup that made it impossible to see more than a meter or two away. If Jon got to the car and I was gone, he'd probably just head back inside. On the other hand, it was a pretty large hospital; we could easily miss each other even searching indoors.

I was half tempted to just leave a note and walk home. I'd passed out but felt fine, so I didn't need a hospital. Jon would probably want to make sure Nia was with her family and tell them what happened, but then he'd probably head home too. He'd be annoyed that I went home without him, though, and I'd rather make sure they were both really okay anyway. The sizzling hiss of the light whips piercing their skulls had been visceral; I wouldn't mind reassurance that it wasn't real.

I'd come back to the car while making up my mind, partly because it's where help would come looking but also because I had a backpack full of road-trip supplies. Some of it might be useful, namely books and snacks. The rest of our bags were in the trunk of the car—most of which was inside the vortex wall—but this one I'd put at my feet, and it had survived intact.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

As I reached for the car door, my eyes twigged to a reflection in the window.

It was a glowing blue furry creature with its arm outstretched.

Jerking in surprise, I spun around to find the danger.

There was nothing there. I was alone.

What the fuck was that? I asked myself, heart pounding and eyes searching the fog for shadows or movement.

A glowing blue arm had reached out. Reached out like I had been reaching out for the door. My heartbeat thundering in my ears, I held out my arm.

My arm was blue.

It was blue, and it was glowing, and it was furry. It was also very not-human, ending in something as much a paw as a hand.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before checking again.

My arm wasn't mine.

Looking down at the rest of me, I saw nothing familiar—nothing that felt like me. My torso was more blue fur. Not just patches either; I was full-on Chewbacca-ing. Well, maybe not that bad, but bad enough that I hadn't realized I had balls until I started patting myself. This wasn't exactly the gender-affirming care I'd ever imagined.

My heart thudded in my chest as I raised clawed and padded hand-paws to eye level. I still had five fingers, except the back side had short fur, but the palms and front of my fingers were almost normal, except they were black as coal, darker. Light didn't reflect off my skin; my palms looked almost flat—like there was a void instead of flesh.

Feeling my face, I had a snout. It angled down from my eyes but was still visible now that I was paying attention, like when you notice you can always see your nose. I also had pointed teeth and a flat tongue.

Things clicked into place as signals I'd been ignoring lined up with the mental picture I was forming. I had a tail.

This was a nightmare; what was even happening? This wasn't me. I wasn't some werewolf thing. I squeezed my eyes shut against the clenching in my heart. Why could nothing ever, ever be easy. What the shit was even going on?

Taking a deep breath, I decided it didn't matter, not really. Not immediately. It wasn't a problem I could solve, which meant it wasn't my problem. It couldn't be; I had no solution and couldn't imagine where to begin looking for one. But, just because there wasn't anything I could do about it, that didn't mean it wouldn't create problems for me. I'd been planning on going into the hospital, but I'd probably scare the crap out of people if I went in looking like this.

I was a blue monster, and it didn't matter, except that I couldn't go into the hospital to check on my friend. Of course, that didn't matter because we'd all be dead in a month anyway. So it didn't matter that I was a blue monster who couldn't even make sure my friend was okay and hadn't been killed by a glowing web. A luminescent web whose glow wasn't so different from mine, come to think of it—except that it had been green instead of blue.

Yeah. No way those things are related.

Were Nia and Jon turned into glowing cryptids like I was? The thought wasn't especially comforting.

That would mean that the fever dream of their 'deaths' was real, and the lights were some kind of conversion process or something. I wasn't sure Jon could handle being a monster; he had always been self-conscious about his appearance. On the other hand, I was not at all surprised that I hadn't noticed my body had changed.

I was getting ahead of myself. So far, all I knew was… well, it was hard to know what I knew yet, and that was the point. I needed more information.

Something else occurred to me. Maybe the world wasn't weirdly foggy after all. Getting in the car, I took a breath and adjusted the mirror to see what I looked like.

It honestly wasn't as bad as I feared. I looked more dog-like than wolf-like. I had more human-looking eyes and expressive eyebrows. I was definitely not human, but I could maybe make myself look harmless if people got scared. With a bit of playfulness and puppy-dog eyes, I would just be a giant blue were-dog with glowing fur and sad eyes. I wouldn't look like a man-eating danger from a B-movie with a penchant for CGI. Definitely not.

I'm going to get shot.

I sighed at my reflection. What would be, would be. In the meantime, I had to focus on what I could control. My face was glowing blue, reflecting off the fog and blinding me. At least, I hoped that was the case.

I had a throw blanket rolled up in my backpack and took it out, thinking. I could cut a strip off, poke holes for my eyes, and use it as a cloth mask to block some of the glow. Hopefully, it would make it easier to see. I also had the idea to tie the rest of the blanket around my neck like a cape. I could cosplay around as some kind of superhero. A glowing blue monster is scary, but dress it like a superhero? It would be something almost familiar, maybe. Something to make people hesitate to shoot on sight, at least.

It wasn't even that original of a superhero origin story; I just had to sell it.

I tore a strip of cloth from the blanket. I had a pocket knife in my pocket when I'd left the apartment, but, however I ended up this way, the stuff I had on me didn't make it. My hands were dexterous, though, and after creating a tear in the cloth with my teeth, I carefully tore off a strip long enough to tie around my head. I then used my semi-sharp fingernail to rip the eye holes. I absolutely didn't try to do this while wearing the mask and poke myself in the eye—anyone who says differently is a liar.

The mask ended up being about the width of my hand, and once I put it on, I could immediately tell the difference. It was like I'd put on glasses; most of the fog and fuzziness disappeared. It was still there, and the air still shimmered like a heat haze, but I could at least see the entrance to the hospital that Jon had probably used.

I tied the rest of the blanket around my neck; I could wish it looked more like a long cape, but I was too hulking, so the throw-banket was barely a short cape on me.

It would have to do.

I could admit the costume was a bit silly, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. With all the superhero movies out there, superheroes and capes were linked. At the very least, no creature dressed as a superhero was likely to be some feral beast ready to go on a rampage.

I supposed I could still be seen as a villain or some rich dude's pet cryptid or something, but the goal was to avoid reflex murder. I would take a wary response over an instinctive kill-on-sight reaction.

With my cape tied, I grabbed my bag and hesitated. The backpack would detract from my new costume. I'd have to carry it instead of wearing it. At least it would be easier to ditch the dead weight if I needed to run.

As ready as I could be, I started walking toward the hospital.

--=

-=-