Jeff feels his back hit a huge tree, the teen’s eyes wide as he stares into the brown-golden eyes of a large Coyote, the animal’s fur standing on end, its head low, its ears flat and growling threatingly.
The teen gulps, knowing one wrong move and he’d be a goner, ‘think Jeff, think,’ he thinks to himself, fear raising in him at the huge canine, ‘I can’t out run it, the best thing I can do is to stay still and hope that it will just leave. However, I can’t see that happening, the other option would be… weird, but it would be my best chance to get away with my life: I could use the App on him… or her… give the animal human intelligence, or at least the knowledge and understanding of the human language’.
So, Jeff slowly takes out his phone and opens the App, activating the scanner without taking his eyes from the animal.
Jeff lowers his eyes a little, enough to see his screen and to still be able to see the large canine, who looks to be around 25’’ shoulder height and 39’’ in length, on all fours, the animal’s height is just above Jeff’s knees, if it would stand up straight, it’s eyes would be level with Jeff’s, maybe a few inches above Jeff’s eyes.
The teen activates the scanner and soon the animal is scanned, Jeff quickly opens the file and sees that the Coyote is a young but full grown male of three years, Jeff quickly edits the animal’s intelligence from “animal” to “human”, and also give it the ability to talk and understand the human language, he then quickly confirms the changes. Jeff looks up to see what will happen, praying that the App really works.
At first nothing seems to happen, the large Coyote is still standing in front of Jeff, not changing its aggressive pose, Jeff wonders why the animal has not yet attacked him, maybe because he, Jeff, is remaining motionless?
Then Jeff notices the animal shake itself and blink a couple of times, it even seems to get a confused expression on its face, before seeming to shrug it off and return to its original stance, “for the last time, human,” it suddenly growls in human language, “what are you… wait… am I actually speaking the human language?! What the fuck is going on,” it asks, then with a threatening scowl, the Coyote looks at Jeff, “something tells me, human, YOU have something to do with… this! You better start explaining what the fuck is going on, before I MAKE you!”
Jeff gulps heavily, his eyes wide in shock, fear AND surprise, “it… it actually works,” he asks in disbelief, staring down at his phone.
“What “worked”,” the Coyote growls, “you better start explaining… I don’t really have a lot of patience!”
Jeff flinches at the aggressive growl, “okay, okay,” he says, “just… please d-don’t… um kill me! I’ll explain everything!”
The Coyote snorts, not changing its stance, “I don’t kill, ONLY if I get threatened,” he says, its voice deep and rich, causing Jeff’s body to actually vibrate, “but if you don’t explain to me what is going on…,” it says warningly.
Jeff nods, “um… well, you see, I got a new… um… “game” called “The Chronivac”. I… I wanted to try it out, but before I was able to, my friend Dean called me and asked if I wanted to go on a hunting-camping-trip with him and his family. So, I decided to transfer the game onto my phone,” he says, holding up his phone.
“That doesn’t explain why I am suddenly able to think, talk like a human and understand human language,” the Coyote says with a growl, “AND it doesn’t explain why I suddenly feel so much smarter than before!”
“W-well… this “game” supposedly is able to change the reality,” Jeff says, “like… um… changing someone’s or something’s personality, intelligence! It even is supposedly able to transform anyone and anything it scanned into various things, like… animals, objects, other humans… even transform animals into humans or at least give animals a more human-like appearance!”
The Coyote huffs and tilts its head, then to Jeff’s surprise it relaxes its stance, but keeps its distance to Jeff.
After a moment of silence Jeff risks speaking up, “so… um… yeah,” he says, “th-that is how it happened”.
“And WHY did you do it,” the animal asks.
“I… um,” Jeff rubs the back of his head, “I… I was terrified and didn’t know what to do. I knew if I’d run, you’d probably would have chased me down and probably killed me. So, that option was a big “nope”, the second option would have been, which I am actually currently doing, is to stay motionless and look as non-threatening as possible, in the hopes you’ll get bored and just leave”.
The Coyote snorts, “and here I thought humans were dumb,” he says, “but it seems you might be one of the few humans who actually use their brains”.
Jeff nods, “well, I know a little about animals, and I know that Coyotes don’t really get “bored”, soooo…,” he says.
The Coyote seems to understand, “so, you thought it would be a good idea to make me intelligent like a human and give me the ability to talk and understand your language, I assume to… I guess… “reason” with me?”
“Well… yeah,” Jeff says, “for example: why are you… were you… threatening me,” he asks, “I kind of THINK I know why, but I’m not sure”.
“Oh,” the Coyote says, “then tell me: what is the reason you think I was threatening you?”
“Um… I’ve entered your territory,” Jeff carefully asks.
The Coyote’s eyes widen in surprise, “not bad, human,” it says, “yes, that was the reason. So, if you knew the reason: why didn’t you… fuck off… I guess is what you humans say?”
“Um… be-because I wasn’t sure how you’d respond,” Jeff says, “I mean, like I said before: if I would have run, you’d chase me, and I heard that to NEVER turn my back to a wild animal. So… yeah”.
The Coyote tilts its head, “that… actually makes sense,” it says, it then lets out a huff and finally sits down on its haunches, just looking at Jeff.
“So… um… now what,” Jeff asks.
“Well, you are still in my territory,” the Coyote says, “BUT since you gave me the intelligence of a human, I understand that you haven’t done it intentionally, that you simply didn’t know. So, I guess I have no means to continue to threaten you, and your scent even tells me that you pose no threat towards me”.
Hearing this causes Jeff to relax a little himself, the teen even smiles a little, “thanks, but I assume this doesn’t mean you trust me?”
“Correct, I DON’T trust you,” the animal says, “BUT, you made me curious. I’d like to know more about you and your… game. Being an animal isn’t THAT exciting, if you get my drift”.
Jeff looks a little confused, “um… y-you want to be a human?”
The Coyote snorts, “nah,” it says, “BUT, you said that the… “game”… is supposedly able to make my body appear more… human-like?”
Jeff nods, “y-yeah,” he says.
“In what way?”
“Um…, I honestly don’t know,” Jeff says, “I guess something similar to Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry, which are so called “Anthro” or anthropomorphic animals. Which MEANS that they are animals who are able to walk on two legs instead of four. Some “Anthros” have human-like legs and feet, which makes them unable to walk on all fours, but some have animal-like legs, which allows them to walk on all fours”.
“Hm…,” the Coyote says and Jeff can sense that the “wheels” in the animal’s brain are turning.
‘I wonder what he’s thinking about,’ the teen thinks to himself as he waits for the animal to speak up.