Susan had to grit her teeth and ignore a lot of pain, but she had the strength for a pushup. Hard to say if it was enough for what she needed to
do next, but it was promising. Under normal circumstances, she would never consider the risk, but the one thing that had kept her sane and
maintained that glimmer of hope was knowing that she'd have her own body back when this was over. Sure, that bastard had taken an eye,
broken her legs, snapped her fingers, and inflicted dozens of other injuries to get his sick thrills, but if she could get out of this hole, that
would all go away.
She tried standing, and almost immediately collapsed. The breaks in her legs had had time to heal up a bit, but they'd set wrong. If she put too
much pressure on them, she'd end up even worse off than when that damn Wolverine first attacked. She repeated her mantra. Pain is freedom.
Light is salvation. It sounded a little too religious for her taste, but then if this didn't work, it might be time to try embracing some faith
anyway.
She still couldn't believe she'd gotten into this. She'd opted to attend the park as a bear to get some rest. The pressure at work was really
getting to her, and she couldn't relax at home with the kids bothering her. Just a nice relaxing stretch as a bear, resting lazily in a cave, at the
time it sounded perfect. It was too, right up until that maniac had smashed her up and forced her through that narrow crack...
She'd lost weight since then. He was only feeding her enough to keep her alive. Not so great when it came to retaining muscle mass, but the
trip back out wouldn't be nearly as tight a squeeze. Her arms would matter more than her legs for this. All she needed her legs for was
reaching the crack. She tried standing again. Wobbly, but if she was careful, she could manage. She felt along to ceiling, trying to find the lip in
the dark. There it was. She let herself rest some more. Higher than she'd hoped. She'd have to leap a little to get a good grip. That was going to
hurt. She had to ready herself for that, make sure she didn't lose her grip from the pain. She rubbed her shoulder for luck. She was pretty sure
her arms were up for this. One had been dislocated not long ago, but she could push herself off the floor, and they were still stronger than
what she had as a human...
She ran through the whole plan one more time. She'd leap to the hole, and catch a handhold. That would be it for her legs, and it would be up
to her arms. She'd have to pull herself up, at least to the waist. From there she could rest a little, just enough to get her strength back. A bit
more crawling and she'd be in the main part of the cave. She had to have been missing long enough to be missed. They'd be combing the hills,
wouldn't they? If she could just get outside, be seen, it would all be over. Even if he came back early, from up there she could scream. The
acoustics would carry it, right?
One last time, she carefully pulled herself up. She confirmed her target, crouched down, and leapt...
++++++++++
Katie was eager to go looking for Harry, but this needed dealing with first. As she saw how many does were approaching the Stags camp, she
shook her head in disbelief. Which one was Chad? Not one had the same arrogant stride in her step. That one she was half tempted to just let
pass, but her reputation was at stake here. What on earth would possess people to put themselves in this position anyway? "I wouldn't go this
way if I were you," she said.
"Back off bitch! There's a backstabbing loser in that clearing who's getting a piece of my mind!"
Well, that answered that. "Let me spell this out for you, because clearly, it hasn't sunk in. Behind me, there is a large number of bucks, hopped
up on extra testosterone and adrenaline. They have been spending their whole morning trying to impress what few does they can find, and as
your little incident caused them to break things off early, they have a lot of pent up energy I am sure they are hoping to burn off somehow.
'Your mind' is not what you are going to end up 'giving a piece of' to any of them. Are you getting the picture here?"
Katie was a little shocked to see how they reacted. She'd expected cringing, but this was more squirming. One or two were even licking their
lips, not that they seemed consciously aware of it. Even so...
"Today has been enough of a fiasco without that on my conscience. If you want to come back here tomorrow where there's enough of us
around to keep an eye on things, that's your business, but for now, you've only got three options. You can head back that way, where the new
TGs tend to gather, and get some lessons you all clearly need. You can head that way, get to know the rest of the deer in the park, maybe
apologize for how you've been treating them. Or, if you really want to have a safe evening, you can follow me back to the station, and we can
find you all a chaperone to keep you from getting yourselves in any trouble. Pick one, and let's go!"
There was a bit of hesitation, but eventually the does began to disperse. If any objected to her authority, they certainly were keeping quiet
about it.
++++++++++
Max headed up higher into the hills. Rarely did any of the guests come up here. Maybe if goats were a more popular choice they might, but as
it stood, he had things largely to himself. The wind blew downward here. It would carry his scent to whoever was after him, but that was
alright. Clearly he was leaving today anyway. He might have to leave his toy alive, but if he had a little fun with one of the huskies, the rest
would be too busy dealing with the mess to notice when he climbed over the wall. He had a perfectly clear view of anyone approaching from up
this way, and a fun surprise or two ready to set off for just this situation.
++++++++++
Goldie returned to base, hoping to find Zack or Harry to give her new orders, but instead finding only the twins. After making sure they'd been
informed of the circumstances under which the security detail had been cut short for the day, she stood at attention, asking if she could be of
any further use.
The twins sighed, in unison of course. "Look Goldie. Harry's been busy all day. First there was a phone call from Naomi checking in on things,
and then someone from management called him in for a meeting about something, so he's going to be busy for a while."
"And Zack's busy with something else today, with plans to meet up with us later tonight. Things seem to pretty much be under control today,
so you may as well take a break."
Goldie was a bit disappointed. She was already feeling a bit guilty that she had let herself get distracted when there was a disruption before.
"Ma'ams, I'd be happy to volunteer for any extra duties you might be able to think of, ma'ams!"
The twins rolled their eyes. "You realize there's such a thing as being too helpful, don't you?" Goldie gave a worried look. "You're relieved of
duty for the rest of the day." Her tail curled between her legs with a bit of a whimper." "OK how about this? We order you to go relax. Now
shoo."
Goldie wandered away, feeling rejected and trying to work out what she'd done wrong, to find Sam waiting outside.
"Hi again! Busy?"
"No! Not at all. Is there a problem somewhere?"
Sam chuckled. "Nothing like that. I just thought we could take a walk. Come on."
Goldie's tail started to wag. He wanted to take her out on patrol? Eagerly, she trotted over, to follow where ever he went. Wait, why was it she
cared so much about Sam's approval? She was having such a hard time focusing... and wait, he was putting an arm around her shoulder? Did
she look so down she needed cheering up? Was he upset? Had he hurt his leg? She wrapped an arm back around him in case he needed the
extra support, but no, he was walking fine... why was it so hard to stay focused today? She had no reason to be so nervous... and there was
something she'd wanted to talk to him about. Combat training? She pictured him wrestling her to the ground and... no no! She had to clear up
that whole thing about him being attracted to her, that was it. "Sam?" she asked...
++++++++++
Wally wasn't focusing very well either. This Katerina here was a lot closer to how she'd expected to find Terry. Calm and confident, confronting
her like this. Not that... sex-crazed monster. If he'd found Terry like this, he might even have to try things out like this. Especially if she was
doing what Katerina was doing now. Running her finger down her body, and reaching up to stroke his ear. You know what? He thought. He
ought to do it. If there were anything left of Terry in there, and she saw him cheating on her, maybe that would snap her out of this. Before he
even realized what he was doing, he had his arms around Katerina, her back pressed up to the nearest tree. But could he really do this? Would
he just get sucked into all this like her? Well... he was a man at the moment. They didn't want to stick around afterwards, wasn't that the old
joke? Just once to see what it's like, then he'd march back out, back to normal, and... get a court order or something.
++++++++++
Agent Sherman pulled the car up to the park. This wasn't exactly the sort of place she'd ever expected to come. A bunch of freaks and deviants
as far as she was concerned. Her partner Johnson had seemed excited to come. She had to wonder about him sometimes.
"So how do you this is going to play out? We going to be walking out of here with a fox in handcuffs or something like that?"
"Something like that. Look, it's fine by me if you want to come back here the next time you're on vacation, but for now can you handle yourself
like a professional? This guy tortured five people to death in Tennessee, evaded arrest with and dropped off everyone's radar for a year before
we tracked him here, and that was before getting a new face. We aren't going to get more than one shot at bringing him in, and somehow this
place has worked out a deal that bans state law enforcement from the grounds. We're going to be dealing with an incredibly dangerous
suspect, in what is essentially a stretch of open wilderness, with no armed backup. And that's not even getting into the problem of everyone
inside being one of those transformed freaks."
"Better get that out of your system now. I doubt they're going to want to cooperate if you don't think of something else to call them."
++++++++++
Zack was onto the scent now, tracking Max high up into the hills. He was having to navigate by scent thanks to the angle of the sun, but at
least he had the wind on his side. He'd been hoping this would be simple, but now he was really wishing he'd brought some backup. Still, it was
just one guy. Wolverine or not he'd be able to handle him in a straight-up fight if it really came to it.
That was when he heard the rockslide.