When I left for the training program that would allow me to return as an officer for Columbia Falls things had been fairly quiet. Beauregard hadn't done much, but I figured that if he knew I had been accepted he was expecting me to leave either with or without Molly if I failed. Which if that was true, because upon rereading the guarantee that I had been accepted into the training program for the state of Montana I found that the classes was in the capitol, Helena. If he did something to Molly while I was there, there was no way I could respond to anything he did in time to really help her. It made me glad that Dave had agreed to help me out by being helpful to Molly.
The meeting in Kalispell wasn't much more then a formal welcome to police academy with an orientation procedure as well as formal instruction on what the training procedure would go through. And according to the letter, the overall training would last at least a month, and could go as long as twelve weeks. The acceptance letter that I had received also seemed to indicate that I had applied for nearly everything from basic law enforcement to gang busting to drug enforcement to detective work. It meant I would need to do a lot of studying to earn the badge, but I was willing to do it. With that level of work, it would also allow me to enter into the department at a higher pay raise, as some of those classes would have been more for a specialist officer. And from what I had learned from Officer Howard, the rank I was entering in as was a basic law enforcement officer.
Although I also had to remember that the town of Columbia Falls was fairly small. And while Columbia Falls may not have all the problems of a bigger cities might, it might have them to some degree and that because of its small size it couldn't afford a large number of specialized officers. Which would mean that the officer I was replacing wasn't an average officer, but one who had risen through the ranks. Officer Harold would then replace that position with an officer who had been on the "force" for awhile and had worked his way up the ladder. And I would then enter again at the bottom of the ladder.
"Good luck, George," Molly said to me as I moved back to my truck outside of Bandhavgarh Cabin, "Do well."
"You too," I replied, "the cabin should have basic phone service now, and I should get reception on my cell... so call me when you can... or I'll call you."
"I will," Molly answered, "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," I smiled and got into the truck, "Remember that Dave will do anything he can to help... or at least he should."
Molly nodded, "I've thought about talking with Michael York too, see what it would cost to get some guys to build a garage."
"That'll have to wait," I said, "this academy may be paying for my room and board while I'm there... but we still have a lot of stuff to pay off that they won't be covering."
"Meat, college, and stuff," Molly sighed, "as well as the tags you bought for me to hunt..."
"And I hope you do well," I told her.
"Me too," Molly gave a short smile, "but I've seen lots of tracks around here. Mostly white tails and mule deer, but Mike says there are elk out here too."
"Good luck, Molly," I told her and pulled and and was soon on my way to undergo the training that would give Molly and I a permanent future in Columbia Falls.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Welcome to your Pre-Service Program introductions," a uniformed officer spoke as I sat quietly among about six other young men and women waiting to join some police unit, "you are here today because you are either seeking employment with various law enforcement agencies of the state of Montana or have been hired and are awaiting formal training. We take great pride in our state, and it will be expected that ALL of you will excel in all things, from classroom study, to the safe handling of your firearm, and to physical fitness in addition to understanding the laws that you will be responsible to enforce."
I followed the man's every word.
"The training will last twelve weeks, plan on it lasting twelve weeks," the man continued, "some may graduate sooner... but remember, they may not be applying to go as far as others... or some may simply leave sooner because they are incapable of going as far as others... but, when you graduate, you will have the honor and privilege of serving and protecting the citizens of Montana."
The man paused for a moment to pick up a stack of papers.
"Please come forward when your name is read to receive your course list and training schedule," the man then spoke in a firm voice.
He then began reading off a list of names, and each potential officer went forward and accepted the class list from him. When my turn came I took it quietly as all the others had before me. Part of me wondered what my dad would say to this in terms of whether or not he would be proud. I hoped he would be. Once everyone had what they needed, the officer returned everyone to attention.
"Thank you for making your commitment to defending the citizens and people of Montana," the officer finished, "you will be expected to report to your first classes at MLEA at their respective times on the first expected day, September 11, 2011. Those that have additional professional training, that will not commence until after you have completed your basic program requirements."
I inwardly cringed at that. It would mean more time apart from Molly, but it would be for a good cause in the long run. I looked at the list of courses I was expected to complete: Law, Human Behavior, Police Function, Patrol Operations, Investigation, Traffic Enforcement, and Police Proficiencies. Though part of me was slightly relieved as I would get about a month's time to spend with Molly before the training began in earnest. I might even get to watch her hunt.
++++++++++++++++++++
Molly practically jumped out of her dress when saw that I had returned.
"GEORGE!?" her voiced echoed in surprise.
"Surprise," I said weakly, "it appeared that all today was an introduction. The courses I'm scheduled for don't start for another month."
"So you'll be here for hunting season?" Molly asked.
"I can be," I told her.
She said nothing, but pulled me into a firm hug. I hugged her back.
++++++++++++++++++++++
By that time, the regular school year was starting and Molly was kept busy with work during the weak. And unlike a lot of people who seemed to take time off to go hunting, Molly preferred to complete her work weak before trying her hand at it. It won her a lot of support from Mrs. Fitzpatrick and I wasn't going to complain about it either. And as the days counted down to the start of hunting season, Molly slowly went through with her plans for it.
"I still don't like this," I commented.
"I know you don't, George," Molly sighed, "but it feels more natural this way... besides, my fingers are too big for a gun."
I sighed and nodded, "So what's your idea?"
"Mike is letting us hunt on his ranch in the more mountainous areas away from his cattle, but that isn't twenty square miles," Molly commented.
"His whole ranch isn't twenty square miles," I commented.
"I'm sure, but there are still plenty of deer, and with all the forested areas in the mountains and with modern technology we can lure them to ambush points," Molly answered, "trees, bushes and so forth. Hopefully I can be quiet enough to get close."
I only sighed, "Okay. Let's go scout out a spot."
"Hold on a moment," Molly spoke.
I turned to see Molly removing her clothing and standing there in nothing but her fur.
"You're going like that?" I asked, trying to keep my eyes off of her breasts.
"My dresses won't hide me and wouldn't be of much use in grabbing a deer," Molly answered, "and besides, it's not like we'll be going to where anyone will see us."
"We don't know who else Mike is letting hunt on his land," I pointed out.
"Most of them won't be hunting where we'll be," Molly said confidently and headed out the door in front of me and proceeded to head south, easily hurdling the fences Michael York had erected to keep his cattle from wandering into the cabin area. I noticed that she had also dropped into a more quadrupedal stance as well.
In doing so, she seemed to diaper more into the grass and bush. It actually made me worry that some other hunter would accidentally shoot Molly not knowing she was there. I preyed that that didn't happen. She slowly wandered along the hills, looking for signs of deer as she went, and followed behind. Occasionally I tried to double check what she was looking at or for... but I could never be sure. But Molly went with a lot confidence, which lead me to believe that she had done some research on animal tracking and doing everything possible to allow her to use her instincts to their best advantage. I guessed it was part of her acceptance of what she was now.
After an hour or so, I saw her crouched on top of a large rock and peering over it. I came up slowly and trying to stay down as well.
"What is it?" I asked quietly.
"There's a small group headed our way and the wind is coming toward us," Molly answered as softly as she could, "They haven't seen me yet."
"So do we need the scent bait?" I whispered to her.
"Not for this attempt," Molly whispered back and kept herself low to watch over the rock.
I sat down to stay out of sight and to let her hunt as she wished. I watched as the tip of her striped tail twitched with every moment. After a few moments, she slowly scuffled down the rock to try and hide herself more, or to blend in to the spruce branches that was around the rock that Molly was crouched on. I tried not to look up too much, as with her present naked state, her vagina, framed by the white fur that coated her belly and inner thighs, was clearly visible... and I was still no pervert.
Then she sprung as I started to hear the sound of footsteps coming toward us. As she went over the rock, I heard what sounded like a sneeze and then something that sounded like sheep bleating with a heavy struggle on the ground. As I looked out I saw three deer bounding away, their tails raised in alarm. I could still hear what sounded like a sheep crying out as well though and I peered out around the rock.
I found Molly semi-crouched on the head of a young male deer. The buck had to be only a yearling, just reached adulthood, and as I looked back to where I had seen the other deer, I realized they didn't look any older or more mature then this buck. They probably weren't "smart" enough to know how to avoid predators, though the tiger didn't naturally range into North America. Molly's right hand was on the top of the buck's head, claws extended, with one claw and finger actually penetrating the buck's eye. Its sheep-like cries didn't help it in that regard.
Molly's left hand was holding down the leg that was closest to the ground, and her jaws were clamped around the deer's throat. Though I also noticed one bite on the buck's lower jaw and on it's chest, and it was bleeding from those wounds, as well as from the eye that one of Molly's claws had punctured.
And with that I breathed a sigh of relief. The hunt had been short and brief, and we had been very lucky. From what I had studied, even tigers that had tons of success were only successful one in every ten tries. Molly had no hunting experience as either a human or as a tiger, and had been successful on her first try, which was lucky. The rest of it was the fact that her kill, while an adult, was just as experienced as Molly was at the "laws of the jungle". Now, I guessed that Molly had the advantage of having a human mind combined with a tiger's instinct, but I still found our expedition to be a lucky event.
"That was brief," I said to Molly as the deer slowly stopped struggling.
"Yeah," Molly shrugged, "a very good confidence builder."
"I guess so," I shrugged, "of course now we need to butcher and gut that."
"Bet we could sell the hide to someone," Molly quipped.
I didn't know how to answer that.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the hunting season went fairly well and Molly built up her experience. Using the scent lure, we were successful in drawing deer and even an elk once to the spot Molly wanted to ambush them. She preferred spots where the slope wasn't bad and had plenty of tree cover. But still, Molly wasn't successful all the time. She managed to bring down at least three more bucks, which was actually the number of tags we had left, but at least eleven got away. In the course of that hunting season, Molly had brought down three white tail bucks and one mule deer buck. The elk our scent lure attracted got away.
That left us with the difficulty of butchering the meat. There was a professional, but he quickly betrayed himself as a R.A.M. member when he portrayed a sign that read "we reserve the right to refuse service". Michael York gave a quick tutorial to both of us on how to adequately butcher deer to preserve the best of the meat. Though he looked surprised when Molly asked about the meat in the neck of the deer, but we all managed. So by September tenth, we had filled up our deep freeze with some of the meat we had bought, and several self butchered pieces of venison. Michael York bought the hides for some purpose.
"Well, here goes the real departure day," I commented as we reached the day before my courses at the MLEA started.
"Are you sure," Molly asked with a smirk.
"Pretty sure," I nodded.
Again I received a friendly lick.
"Thanks for helping with my hunting," Molly smiled.
I nodded to her, "I'll get the week of thanksgiving off. I'll try to see if I can come back then."
"Okay," Molly hugged me, "good luck."
"And the same to you," I nodded and went out the door.
An hour later, I was on the road to Helena. I'd be in for a lot of work and perspiration, but if it gave Molly and I a good future, I was more then willing.