The Beast, she is angry–very angry. I know not how long I suffered at the hands of the dark man. He took great advantage of my ability to heal; I did not know I would heal so quickly!. His touch–burning agony! He took great pleasure in touching me with his acid fingers, caressing me lovingly, intimately, leaving raw pain and raw flesh behind, only to leave me alone with my nerves in screaming fire. Minutes or hours later, he would return to do it again, touching me everywhere, but most especially those areas most sensitive to a man’s caress. In this way, he made love to me… and tortured me. Hanging by chains in the center of the stone-walled cell, I could not fight back. I could not resist him. I went mad.
The Beast, somehow she broke through the shackles that bound her and in so doing, freed me from the pain. I remember holding my breath; running through a thick fog of grey rock to burst free into the open air of a forest. Taking a deep breath as we emerged, we ran as one, only one thing on our minds–home. By day the Beast ran, paws sore as we wove through woods or dashed across fields, headed ever southwards. By night I slept, naked, under deadfalls or in culverts, always wakened by the slightest change in sound, always afraid the dark man would touch me while I slept. The Beast fears him as much as I, but she expresses that fear with her desire to destroy him; to make him feel our pain when we meet again.
We arrived in the Yards shortly after the middle of the night. She was hungry and immediately began her hunt. No mere rabbit or raccoon would be enough for her tonight, she wanted something bigger. Padding along, a rank scent came to her nose–a scent she was familiar with, but which she normally avoided. This time she sought it out, knowing her prey capable of fighting back but not strong enough to best her.
There! Concealed by a tall wooden fence and guarded by another of woven wire over three meters high, two of them, both aware of her and growling deep in their throats. Long, tapered muzzles; coats of brown and black so short as to look like skin in the bright moonlight; tails docked short and plastered to their haunches. Doberman Pinschers. I sensed the Beast’s glee as she picked her fight, leaping into the dogs’s run, snapping, snarling and swiping with her claws as their teeth seem to nip harmlessly at her hide. One went down, safe to ignore as the other battled bravely on, refusing to sacrifice his life to the Beast; perfect meat. Her jaws closed around his neck and with a great shrug of her shoulders and a shake of her head, the Doberman’s back is broken.
Light! The house nearby glared with at least two bright beams aimed at the run. A voice shouted out, followed by the double-blast of a shotgun. No! You will not take my prey! I swung out with a paw, batting the man away. I leaped over the fence and ran, taking my prey with me. I am the Beast–for now. I had food and I had a lair. Now was the time to feed and rest.
I awakened to the sound of voices–men approaching the building where I hid. I couldn’t let them find me, not naked like this. Rising to my feet, I slipped almost soundlessly into a dark corner, wondering how I should escape. Two men pushed through the half-open steel door the beast had used to enter. The light was dim, coming through dirty windows almost three stories above. Their voices are held low, but one of them points to a roll-up shipping door with a voice of command. The other complied, pulling on the loop of chain, slowly rolling up the door and letting in more light. No! They couldn’t miss seeing the remains of the dog. Cracked bones and the nearly intact head lay right in the shaft of light admitted by the door. If they didn’t know the Beast was here before, they did now. Both men drew guns from beneath their jackets and one spoke softly but urgently into a headset clipped to his ear. I had to escape!
Pressing against the block wall, I sense the Beast awaken, her desire to flee as great as mine. Without thought, I gave her what she wanted and before I knew it, we were outside and leaping towards an alley across the street. Too late, I sensed a car coming and sprang away, amazed that we were not touched, though there was no chance it could have missed us. The squall of rubber and the crash of metal against brick resounded through my ears as we fled down the alley.
