I staggered out of Wolfie's Den in a state of confusion, holding a pawlike hand to my head. What had
happened? All I'd done was get that tail transplanted onto me, I didn't go for all of this... how...
I glance down at my other hand - it's filthy, covered in meat scraps and sauce. Ugh. Probably the rest of me
is too. Ears twitch. I hear things so much clearer now, so much more intensely. I hear birds flapping in the
night sky above, I hear the distant sounds of laughter and hooves against cobblestone. I hear... running
water. That way.
And I am off like a shot, heading for the stream. It's my only driving thought. Get to the water. Need the
water. I'm thirsty and I'm dirty and I need water. Through the forest, through the trees. God, it feels
good to run through the woods. The scent of the pine trees. The feeling of crushed needles beneath my paw
pads. I could do this all night.
Finally, I get to the stream, tearing off my shirt as I fall to my hands and knees and begin lapping at the
water, drinking it no differently than... well, than a wolf. It's the best water I've ever tasted. My God,
what have I been missing my whole life? I go at it greedily, not even pausing my lapping as I reach in with
my hands to wash up.
"There you are, man!" I hear from behind me, and it causes me to lift my head up and turn around.
There they are, the three guys I was hanging out with in the Den. They're all just as changed as me, though
more brownish grey in color.
"We figured you had something important with how fast you took off!" another one says. I realize I don't know
their names, but it doesn't matter.
"Yeah, sorry, I was just... really thirsty."
"Yeah, we can tell," one said, and they started laughing. "Naw, man, we get it. It's the need to be outside,
we all feel it."
"Yeah, that too," I answer, and I realize I hadn't even thought of it. But as I changed further back then, I
felt more and more suffocated by being indoors.
"So anyway," the bigger of the three said with a nod of his head, "we were thinking of goin' and finding
ourselves some bitches. You in?"