I saw a tail whip around a corner at the far end of the alley and cringed in distaste. I hate rodents. But more than rodents, I hate cats. Furry little vermin can't tell the difference between a were-rat and the real thing. At least the real rats know to avoid me.
I leaped up onto the edge of a dumpster and hissed down at the thing chasing me. The creature tried to jump up and I slapped it back to the street. Only a cat would be stupid enough to go after a rodent as large as he is.
If I had a partner he could have cornered the thing, but the last partner I had took the form of a doberman and got himself locked up in the pound. I laughed for a week over that one, and no one wanted to partner with me after that.
The shape of a rat--even a very large rat--is safe. But man, I hate rodents, and when I come back I stink like one.
Have you ever smelled a rat? They smell even worse than humans. And that's on a good day.
I shifted back to human just long enough to let the cat get a good look. It ran like hell, following the vanished tail of that other rat.
Someone screamed. Great.
My head swiveled, trying to identify the problem. No point in making a fuss if it was just some television show, but a woman stood at the head of the alley staring at me.
I really didn't want to change back to the rat form, not with her screaming like that, but a naked human going through dumpsters in this town would be more than a curiosity. I shifted shape and slipped off the edge, burrowing into a week's worth of garbage. Man that stinks.
Her screams grated, they hurt. Then they stopped and high, excited voices raced down the alley. I didn't know the language--some dialect or other, just enough to obscure the meaning. They talked, raced around like the idiots they were.
I don't have a very high opinion of humans. When they were gone I shifted back to human shape and pushed at the lid.
Latched, from the outside. Fantastic.
Episode 2
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