The Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters

Written By:FantasyIcefeather

Chapter 1: Realization

Blizzard walked down the muddy sidewalk. She pulled her hood over her head. Of all things she had to face while going to the store, why rain? She went in through the automatic sliding doors. That's when she saw her.

It was another girl. She was burning holes through Blizzard with her eyes. The odd person continued walking and bumped into Blizzard, stumbled, and kept walking. Blizzard continued to walk through the store, filling up her cart. As she made her way to the checkout isle, a burly, dark skinned man stopped her.

“I need to scan you, miss.” said the large man. He took out something that looked like a price gun and scanned Blizzard with it.

“We have a code 21-14, I repeat, code 21-14.” he said into his walkie talkie. He attempted to tackle Blizzard, but just barely missed and skimmed by her waist length silver hair. The odd girl from before ran and jumped on the man, smacking him in a neck pressure point. She grabbed Blizzard's hand and pulled her out of the store and down the street.

“Where are we going?” shouted Blizzard. The girl continued to silently run. They finally ducked into an abandoned house.

“Great.” said the girl. “Now I need to move and get a new name. What are you doing, showing your face like that in front of hunters? Are you nuts?” asked the girl, combing through a knot in her black hair with a few fingers.

“What are you talking about? I'm not a shifter.” said Blizzard defiantly. The other girl just shook her head.

“My name's Melissa. And yours?” asked the girl. Blizzard gulped.

“I'm Blizzard.” The other girl gave a small smile. “Nice to meet ya, Blizzy.” she got up. “I have to get going. I need to hide in the forest. If you need me, I'll show myself.” she turned into a mockingbird and flew off. Blizzard was stunned. Melissa was a shifter? She got up and walked outside, skulking in the shadows.

She stopped when she saw a woman with an odd device scanning people. The machine bleeped as it went over someone. “Clear.” she whispered to herself. She walked up to Blizzard.

“I need to scan you.” she pressed a button and the machine beeped twice. “21-15.” she said into her walkie talkie. She took out a tazer and before Blizzard could react, she was on the ground, paralyed and drooling in pain. The same burly man came up.

“Not this one again. Nice work, Tanya.” he said to the woman. He rubbed his neck slightly. Blizzard had surprisingly already gotten over the paralysis, but she faked that she was still in pain. The man took out a gun and pointed it at her. She felt a surge of immense anger, and her bright blue eyes snapped open. Suddenly, she felt herself morph into a big, white wolf. She growled and pounced on the burly man, knocking him down. He yelped and shot her in the left foreleg. Realizing that she was not herself, and that she was bleeding heavily, she ran off towards the forest. She stopped next to the lake, panting.

“Heyo, Blizzy.” said a mockingbird in a teasing tone. Blizzard scowled.

“Not funny. And I'm in a dilemma here.” she showed her leg to the bird. Melissa looked at it like it was a scraped knee.

“How fast can you heal a cut?” asked the bird. Blizzard shrugged.

“It takes an hour.” said the wolf confidently. What was Melissa getting at? The bird turned back into a human instantly.

“That should take a day to heal.” she said, flashing a smile.

Blizzard growled. “I have a bullet in it.” Melissa laughed.

“No you don't, silly.” She pointed at the bullet that had popped out of her leg and now was on the leaf-strewn ground. Blizzard sat down slowly.

“How do I turn back into a human?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Do you want to?”

“Yes.”

“Think about it real hard.” Blizzard closed her eyes and thought about being human. She felt herself transform into a human, then it just stopped, so soon. Opening her eyes, she looked at her paws. But they were no longer paws. They were human hands! She stood up to thank Melissa, but the girl had already vanished. Blizzard began to search for a place she could stay for the night.

Morphing into a wolf, she sniffed around. It would be good to find somewhere near the lake, so she could have water. Suddenly, her nose tingled on a scent. What is that smell? It's...delicious smelling. She thought to herself. Her ears pricked at a scuffling noise. She had scented a mouse. Blizzard sighed quietly. How on earth would she catch a mouse? She got into a hunting position, or at least what she thought was one. Her eyes pinpointed the mouse. It was burying a seed in the soft moss near a tree. Blizzard jumped and caught the mouse in her paws. A thought occurred to her. She had the mouse, but how could she kill it? Lowering her head, she bit the mouse's neck. It instantly stopped writhing and lay dead. Smiling, she took a small bite. It's not half bad. She thought. After hungrily gulping down the prey, she continued on her search for a home. Finally, she found a large, abandoned fox den. She spent some time expanding it, then fell asleep in the middle of her work.

Blizzard awoke to the sound of men talking. There was moss over the entrance of the den that muffled the sound, but she could make out a few words like 'Wolf', 'White', and 'Alligator.' God forbid they step on the entrance cover. She hoped they wouldn't, and to her happiness, they didn't.

Her wolf senses once again picked up on something. It was...hopping around and squeaking. Blizzard smiled. More food. She stepped outside and her foot landed on something slippery. It was a box of Chips Ahoy! Cookies. It had a little post-it attatched reading “From Melissa.” Laughing, she shoved them inside the den. Once again, she got into pouncing position. But this rabbit seemed deliberate, and by some odd feeling, she realized that this little brown bunny was a shifter.