Dedicated
To a Friend That Convinced Me to Write this Down...
And then not Throw it Away.
©
2003 Provolvere.
Chapter
1: The Visitor
This
morning was like any other morning: it was time
to start another day of work. I was usually the
first person in, so was always the one to begin
the morning routine of unlocking the door of our
office, turning on the lights, and starting the
coffee. I didn't mind though, since I appreciated
the quiet before things began to get busy around
here: the calm before the storm, as I thought of
it.
I put my briefcase down on my desk and checked if
I had any messages on my phone. There was one message
from Facilities reminding me to begin packing. My
department was in the middle of a move, as our area
was about to go under construction to update the
floor plan. Facilities was going to be in later
that day to start looking at what would have to
be removed in order for them to start. Luckily,
I had thought ahead and already gotten some oversized
packing boxes to try and fit all my paperwork in,
and I had them standing next to my desk.
My mind was elsewhere as I started making the morning's
coffee and sat down at my computer, which was still
happily going through its start-up sequence. "Come
on, come on you stupid thing," I mumbled to myself.
Finally the log-in screen came up. I entered my
username "tbeeble" and my default password "newuser",
which I should really change, but never remember
to do it.
As my computer was taking it's good time in logging
me in and loading my operating system, I opened
up my briefcase and took out my daily planner to
see what my day would entail. I closed the briefcase
and reached down to put it below my desk, but it
stopped and didn't go in all the way.
A chill went down my back. I would have looked to
see why my briefcase was going in all the way, but
a soft, repetitive gust of air was being breathed
onto my hand. I had felt breezes under my desk before,
but this didn't feel like any ordinary breeze. It
felt like a warm, wet breath.
"Maybe I just needed some coffee to wake myself
up," I thought to myself. I tried to dismiss it
as a warm gust of air, but I was frozen with my
hand still on the handle of the briefcase. The warm
air pneumatically breathed onto my hand and the
intervals were decreasing. I felt it again and again,
faster and faster. A cold sweat showered my body
as my attempt to try and convince myself nothing
was there was rapidly failing. I shifted one foot
forward and hoped it would hit the wall. But instead
my foot was met with a soft thump and a muffled
whimper.
"AGH!!!" My chair fell over as I pushed myself backwards
away from my desk. My head was met with a loud thud
as I tumbled to the ground. I nearly blacked out
for a moment, but I quickly rolled out of my toppled
chair and prepared myself for a confrontation with
whoever or whatever was there. Even though it only
took a second for my eyes to focus on what was under
my desk, it took me a moment longer to figure out
what I was looking at. And then another moment…
Under my desk sat an unclothed young woman. She
was curled up and trying to cover her body, but
not doing a very good job of it. If her being nude
wasn't startling enough, what surprised me even
more was the fact that… she looked human, but I
could not be certain. There were two problems that
were throwing me off, one of which stemmed from
the fact that she wasn't truly naked because her
body was covered from head to toe with short white
and gray fur. Gray fur covered most of her head
and face, gently flowing down her neck and gradually
widening over her shoulders. White fur fought back
the gray fur from covering her white chest and limbs,
but the gray fur still succeeded to cover most of
her back and splash onto her soft sides, firm buttocks,
and her trembling tail.
Yes, her tail. That was the other problem. Not only
was most of her body covered with this gray and
white fur, but her body also included a number of
canine features. She was trying to hide her face
between her legs, but from what I could see, she
had a long, slender snout that was capped with a
wet, black nose and whiskers at the end her face.
There were no signs of human hair atop her head,
but they were instead replaced with her oversized
triangular ears, dropping forward close to her cheeks.
I noticed how she had her arms clenched around her
buxom chest, and her round, compact paws clasped
her sides. The feet on this creature were similar
to her hands, just larger, but her legs were the
most noticeable deformity. Her legs were shaped
differently than human legs, as if they had another
whole section altogether. The ankle had become more
like a hock joint, which her foot extended to where
only the front part of her foot was the rounded
paw. Combined with her fur, these physical abnormalities
gave this beautiful beast a very distinctive look.
The look of a smooth fox terrier.
She was probably looking at me as frightened as
I was looking at her. I couldn't help it, though,
because it seemed like I was trapped as I gazed
into her rather deep-set, dark brown eyes. They
were full of fire, life, intelligence, and an intense
fear. I could feel my heart pumping, my adrenaline
rushing, and my mind speeding as I tried to decide
if I hit my head too hard when I had fallen. I noticed
I was breathing very hard and was holding… well,
a pen to defend myself. I looked at the pen, it
looked back at me, and I realized that this probably
would not be a very effective weapon if this person…
or animal… tried attacking me. But my fear was rapidly
being replaced by an intense curiosity of what I
was looking at. Questions began replacing my fear
and flooding my thoughts. Was this a costume she
was wearing? Could this be for real? Who was she
and why was she under my desk?
Stuttering, I managed, "Who-hoo-hoo are ya-you?
Wha-wha-what are ya-you?" I had no idea my chest
was shaking as much as it was until I began speaking.
I could barely get my own words out of my mouth.
For what might have been a few seconds seemed like
an eternity as I waited for her to answer. She never
took her eyes off me, but after a moment she ducked
her face further into her legs and let out a pathetic
whimper.
"Ca-an you speak?" Again, I waited but was still
met with silence. I was finally calming down a bit
and my body was loosening up. I released my grip
on my poor pen and put it down on the floor next
to me before taking a deep breath, crouching down,
and trying to take a step closer…
"Please don't hurt me… whimper."
Immediately I stopped in my tracks, my mouth hanging
wide open in surprise. I guess I wasn't expecting
her to be able to talk, especially not in such a
soft voice that was surprisingly clear despite the
fact she was talking with her face in between her
legs. My heart started pounding again and I took
another deep breath.
"I'm not here to hurt ya-you. You startled me, I
wasn't expecting…well… anyone under my desk. May
I ask who you are, please?" I watched her to see
if I could get a response. She looked back at me
and finally lifted her face from in between her
legs. Her long, slender snout was now clearly noticeable.
She was quietly panting with her mouth hanging open
enough to reveal her sharp canine teeth and long
pink tongue. If this was a gag, someone had gone
to great efforts to make her look like this.
"Please don't hurt me, sir. I am hiding from them…
I need to get away, I need to escape," she said
before letting out another pathetic whimper.
"Who's them? Who are you trying to escape from?"
"Please sir, just don't let them find me. I will
tell you everything if you just help me get out
of here… whimper…"
I had to catch my breath for a moment while I attempted
to swallow what this stranger was telling me to
do. "I can't do that, I don't even know who you
are!"
"Please…"
"Listen, I'm going to call security and I'll make
sure they will take care of you. I promise I won't
let 'them' or anyone else harm you…" Although awe-struck
by this woman's appearance, I knew there was no
way I was going to be willing to help her. My curiosity
was quickly replaced with concern. I did not know
anything about this creature; she could be a criminal
or something, and helping her could mean I could
get in trouble or risk my own safety. I knew the
best thing was for me to get some help while I still
had the chance to do so. All I had to do was get
to my phone, which was only a foot or two away from
me on the desk. Dialing three numbers, 311, would
get security up there immediately. It didn't look
like she was going to offer me much of a fight sitting
in the fetal position, so I reached for the phone.
I picked the phone up and put the receiver up to
my ear. She didn't budge, but instead began shaking
more. After listening for a dial tone, I pressed
the 3, then the 1… but then I stopped. I couldn't
help but notice how scared she looked. Tears began
swelling up in her eyes and running down her face.
Whoever she was hiding from had shaken her up really
bad. In addition, it probably didn't help how I
probably scared her to death the way I jumped back
and got ready to attack her with my pen. Perhaps
I was being too hasty. I knew I was going to regret
it, but I put down the phone and leaned down close
to her.
"Come on, calm down. Listen, I'm sorry I scared
you like that. Please come out from under there
and let's talk."
She lifted her head and looked at me with a confused
face. As I sat there crouched down beside her, I
was further taken back by how… well… how real her
appearance looked. I was searching for some sort
of inconsistency like a zipper or anything to try
and prove to myself she wasn't for real.
"Come on, I'm not going to hurt you, but it's not
going to be easy talking to you under this desk,"
I said as I did something I shouldn't have done,
but I did… I put my hand on her shoulder. It was
an innocent touch, but it took my breath away as
I felt her soft silky fur on my bare hand.
"Even if I were to go to heaven," I thought to myself,
" I doubt I would ever feel something as soft or
smooth as your fur again." She shifted her head
as if she could hear my thoughts, so I quickly removed
my hand and tried to focus on the matter at hand.
"Please, let's talk. I can hardly have a conversation
with you if you hide yourself under there."
"Okay," she said softly.
Surprised that I finally got her to agree with me,
I stood up and backed up so she could get out from
under the desk. As she rose, the bright light of
the room seemed to illuminate her and make her fur
shine bright. Her stance was somewhat awkward because
of her canine-like legs she was standing upright
on, but otherwise she stood normal. Her whole body
was revealed, including two furry bumps that sat
on her chest right below her breasts and two more
on her stomach. I could feel myself blush as realized
that the bumps were also breasts. When she saw the
blood rush to my cheeks and my embarrassed look,
she quickly crossed her arms in front of her body
to cover herself.
"I'm sorry, let me help you," I said. I didn't want
to be rude to her, but it was very hard not to notice
certain… things… when somebody is standing in front
of you naked. I made a silent promise that I would
try to keep my eyes where they belonged. With that,
I tucked one arm in my shirt and then the other
arm. I'd seen girls take off their bras under their
shirts before, so I was sure I could take my undershirt
off the same way. I realized an undershirt wasn't
going to do much to cover her, but I figured it
was a good start. "Here you go," I said as I pulled
it out from my shirt and pulled my arms back through
my sleeves. "It's not much, but it's something."
"Thank you." She said as she took it from me. Watching
her try to put it on almost made me snicker because
she was apparently having difficulty trying to figure
out how to so with her stubby paws. She clumsily
fiddled with it for a few seconds, but backed away
from me when I tried to help her. She finally to
get her arms and head through, and then carefully
slid the shirt down her body. It really didn't do
much help to cover her, but at least I could try
and concentrate a little better.
"So please, tell me who you are and where you came
from."
"Only if you promise to help me escape from them…"
"That's not fair, I can't do that…"
"Please just promise."
I could tell she wasn't going to give this to me
easy. At least she looked a little bit more comfortable
now. The shaking had died down a bit, but she kept
looking around like she was watching out for someone.
I was biting my lip on this one, but decided to
take a giant leap on insanity since I had gotten
this far…
"Alright, I will try and help you. If you start
telling me what's going on."
She took a nervous little side step and looked behind
her again before looking back at me.
"Listen, I'm part of a secret experiment. They take
us in and give us food and shelter. In exchange
they do experiments on us to make us look like…
this. It has something to do with some sort of genetic
research, and them needing human test patients.
I guess they normally aren't allowed to test on
humans or something. I don't know all the details."
She paused. " I've been with them for a long time,
but now it's getting out of hand, they are going
too far, and I had to escape before it was too late…"
"Hold on," I interrupted. "I am having a hard time
trying to swallow your story, it just didn't make
sense. Alright, I will admit that you look quite…
different… but what you are telling me just didn't
add up. Why would they use human subjects? For what?
And who's doing this? The government? Terrorists?"
"I don't know…"
"Oh come on, you have to be able to tell me more
than that. What the heck are you doing in an office
building? This isn't exactly some sort of scientific
laboratory or something."
"They hide us in buildings like these where nobody
would expect to look… there are secret rooms where
nobody could expect them to be…"
"I don't buy that. I've worked in this building
for years and I haven't noticed. I know this building
like the back of my hand. Where exactly are…" All
of a sudden she ducked down, scooting back under
my desk. Before I could even react, my friend Dan's
face popped into the doorway.
"Hey Tom! Up and at 'em early like usual, huh? Ready
for today's 2 o'clock meeting?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her gray and
white tail disappear under my desk. Dan didn't seem
to notice because he hadn't reacted. My eyes were
wide open and I think my heart stopped for just
about a second. Coming back to my senses, I decided
I better respond to Dan, who was intently looking
for me to answer.
"Yeah, uh, the 2 o'clock. The one with the, uh,
consultants we're bringing in for the, uh, Heidison
project. I almost forgot about that, I was just,
uh, going to check my daily schedule now."
Dan glanced over at the coffee and then back at
me before completely stepping in the room.
"You okay Tom? You seem like you've had too much
caffeine this morning. And why is your chair is
on the floor?"
I followed Dan's gaze towards my chair and realized
I hadn't had a chance to right it yet. I bent down
to pick it up, trying not to glance over at the
girl as I lifted it.
"No, Dan, not exactly," I said in between deep breaths.
"I just had a little accident this morning when
I fell backwards in my chair."
"Ow, that must have been a sight to see. Why do
interesting things always happen when I'm not around."
If only he knew how true that statement was. "You
okay though? Hey, you dropped your pen here, let
me pick it up for you…"
"NO!!!!" I nearly knocked him over as I almost dived
towards the pen. "I've got it!!"
"Whoa there, Tom! You are definitely acting way
too strange today, and it's only about eight in
the morning! You usually don't get like this until
at least three," he joked.
"If it wasn't you that said that, I'd resent that
remark, Dan." I cracked a smile. "But anyway, I'm
sorry, I'm just a little bit tense with this move
and everything that needs to get done. I'm just
having one of those days."
"Alright, man, but you better settle down real quick.
Sarah's coming in right behind me, and you know
she's not going to care what type of mood you're
in."
"Yeah, I know." I plopped back down in my chair
as he walked to the center of the room to get his
cup of coffee.
There were four desks in this office, one in each
corner, with me in the left corner next to the door,
Tom in the right corner on the other side of the
door, Sarah in the corner behind me, and Carl in
the last corner, but he was on vacation. The coffee
machine sat on a small table in the middle of the
room that separated Sarah and Carl's work areas.
As I turned my chair towards my desk, I again reminded
myself of my guest hiding under there. Sarah was
going to be in there any moment and the chances
of her not spotting the girl were slim. Sarah always
watched what I was doing, so I needed to think fast.
The boxes next to my desk were the first items to
attract my attention; they were still flat since
I had not begun packing yet. I hurriedly grabbed
them from beside my desk and slid them underneath
in front of… the dog girl. I could tell Dan was
probably giving me another strange look, but I didn't
care. No sooner had I sat up, Sarah flew through
the doorway.
Chapter 2: Back To Work
"Busy
day people, time to get to work." Sarah walked over
to her desk and put down her bag. She glanced at
me and gave me a look, but she didn't seem to notice
the girl. Instead she noticed my screen had a blue
error message on it, and she scowled at me like
was my fault somehow. She probably thought I wasn't
doing any work, which today she would have been
right about.
While waiting for my computer to restart, I tried
to ignore Sarah's glare as I finally opened up my
daily planner. One reason I always made sure to
get in early was so I would be settled down and
working before the time she got in. That's just
one of the many disadvantages to having a supervisor
in the same room as you, especially sitting behind
you. I could swear that every time it looked like
I wasn't busy, Sarah would think that I was not
doing work.
Sitting there, I tried to calm myself down and get
back in a working mode. Ignoring the person hiding
under my desk was not going to be an easy task.
I scrolled through the day's tasks: report due by
10:30am, meeting with Greg at 11am until 12pm, and
2pm meeting with the consultants about the Heidison
project.
"Great, a fully loaded day and I was somehow supposed
to concentrate," I thought. Taking a deep breath,
I tried starting my report that was due by 10:30am.
I added necessary changes to the report that I had
jotted down in my notebook the day before. It wasn't
long before I found myself staring at the screen.
All I kept hearing in my head was what the girl
had said to me about he experiments, the secret
rooms… it all seemed like it was out of some strange
science fiction movie. How could any of that be
true? Is her disfigured body enough to prove her
story to me? Could I really trust her?
The girl herself was causing me much inner turmoil.
Although she didn't know it, her mere appearance
caused mixed feelings that tore me apart from the
inside out. She was beautiful, and somehow her canine
appearance made her seem more special. But I felt
so guilty thinking about her this way. She reminded
me of her being like somebody's pet, and thinking
of her as being attractive made me feel uneasy.
I just hoped that the reason why I decided to help
this girl was out of pity and not lust.
I finished my report late, but I didn't care. At
least I had gotten it done. I decided I had better
get going for my 11am meeting. I was unsure if I
should leave the room with the girl under my desk.
I didn't want her to think I was abandoning her
or running off and I didn't want anyone finding
her while I was gone. However, I didn't have much
choice. Besides, there was no reason why anyone
would be going under my desk. Dan and Sarah were
both busy with work in the morning, and even if
they decided to start packing, they should have
enough boxes of their own.
Before getting up to leave, I whispered, "Don't
worry, I will be back soon, don't go any where."
"I don't think your computer is going anywhere,
Tom," Dan snickered.
I noticed I had whispered too loudly, and quickly
retorted, "I don't know Tom, with the morning I've
been having it doesn't hurt reminding it." Dan chuckled,
but I didn't have to look behind me to know that
Sarah was glaring at me again. I got up out of my
chair and headed to Greg's office down the hall.
At first I couldn't even remember what I was meeting
with him about, and even if I had, I wouldn't have
cared. I sat down as he started going on about us
needing to successfully complete the data migration
in order for our new software tool to access some
database. I found myself paying him as much attention
as I had my report earlier that morning.
Watching every second tick by on my watch, I began
to grow antsy as it approached 12pm. I had been
completely ignoring Greg so that I could think about
what I was going to do to get the girl out of the
building. I had an idea, but in order to even attempt
it, I was going to have to away from Greg soon.
When it seemed like he was going to go on all day,
I told him I had another meeting and left in the
middle of him still talking.
I casually walked down the hallway, but my pace
quickened as I approached my office. There were
two men with hard-hats walking down the hallway
in the direction towards me, but I took little notice
of them until they turned into my office.
"Oh no," I thought, "I forgot that Facilities is
taking a look at the room this afternoon!" To avoid
filling up our work cafeteria, our company has the
Facilities workers eat at 11am, so they probably
thought it would be a good idea to check the rooms
while we were all at lunch at 12pm. I silently cursed
to myself and followed the men in.
I quickly walked by the two men and sat down at
my desk. Besides us, the room was empty, which meant
Sarah and Dan were at lunch. I hoped that the two
men would do what they needed to do and leave soon.
Since they were probably the ones that would be
taking my boxes out for me later, I didn't want
to have to be rude and tell them to leave. I sat
facing my computer, trying to make myself look like
I was busy, while actually paying close attention
to what they were doing in the office.
They looked around the room counting out loud how
many chairs and desks there were, and trying to
decide what was going to be the best way to get
everything out for the move. Then one man stooped
down to look under Dan's desk to see where his electricity
and the Ethernet outlet were located. Next they
looked under Carl's desk, and then I really started
to sweat when they looked under Sarah's desk. I
knew what was coming next. I was thinking, "Please
don't come over here, please don't come over here,
just please don't…"
"Excuse me, sir," the one man said as he came over.
I tried to pretend I hadn't heard him, but that
didn't deter him. He tried again. This time a little
louder and more impatiently, he said, "Excuse me,
sir. We are going to need to ask you to move for
just a second."
"For what?" I tried asking politely. I was frantically
trying to decide what I could do. I could just refuse
to move, but they might find it peculiar and I'd
get in even more trouble when they would find her
under my desk.
"We need to check under your desk to see where your
outlet is, sir."
"Wouldn't my outlet be in the same spot as the other
outlets in the office?" I could tell that trying
to be difficult wasn't helping and only succeeding
in making them more annoyed.
"Whoever put together this area to begin with wasn't
consistent, which is why I have Ned here with me.
He's the one that is going to be re-wiring the place
once we get everything out of here. We just need
to glance at where your outlet is for a moment and
then we'll be out of your way."
I knew I couldn't do this all day. Getting up, I
said, "That's quite alright," and I got up out of
my chair and out of the way. I clenched my teeth
and closed my eyes as Ned crouched under my desk
and pulled down the boxes I had put up to hide the
girl. I held my breath and waited for him to gasp
in surprise.
I had no idea how I was going to play off the fact
that there was a naked canine girl hiding underneath
my desk. Maybe I could just try and pretend that
I didn't know she was there. Or maybe I could say
she was threatening to attack me. Or… maybe I could
just tell them the truth… yeah right. I squeezed
my hands into nervous fists as I awaited their imminent
reaction.
Chapter
3: The Great Escape
Every
second Ned sat crouched down peering under my desk,
it felt like an hour had passed. Incredibly, his
facial expression remained mute as he sat there
examining whatever he was looking at. He put the
boxes back as they were and stood back up.
"It's in the same spot as the desk in the opposite
corner," he said to his friend, "but not like either
of the other corners. Man, whoever put this room
together wasn't really using their head." He looked
back at me, nodded, and said "Thanks for your time,
sir" before walking out of the door with his buddy,
leaving me there standing wide-eyed and in a dazed
state of confusion.
I wasted no time dropping to my knees and pulling
the boxes out from under there. To my surprise,
all that was staring back at me was an outlet! Where
was the girl?!? Had she left while I was gone? Perhaps,
but I didn't think so. I tried to calm down and
think about where she might have gone. I glanced
back to make sure nobody was behind me, but noticed
something moving in the shadows underneath Sarah's
desk.
The way the office was set up, there was my desk
area and a table on the wall adjoining my desk that
I used to put my papers on that stretched from my
side over to Sarah's. While I was trying to divert
the two men from looking under my desk, I must have
distracted them long enough for her to crawl to
the other side. "Good girl," I mumbled to myself
as I took in a deep sigh or relief.
"Hey there, I'm sorry about that, I tried keeping
them from finding you as long as I could. I'm glad
to see that neither of us was caught. I was afraid
you might have run off." I watched as she slowly
peeked her head out from under the table. I found
that I was happy to see her strange face again.
"I have to find a way out of here soon. They know
that I'm missing," she said.
"How do you know?"
"Those men…"
"They were just guys from Facilities… they were
here because we are getting ready to move out of
this office and they needed to…"
"Check your outlets?"
"Yeah, I guess, I don't know what they need to do.
I got a call from them before I found you this morning,
I just forgot they were coming…"
"I escaped last night. They are obviously looking
around for me. I recognized those men, they are
a part of them."
"That's impossible…"
"If you think I'm lying, look around your room.
Do you really believe that the outlets are in different
spots?"
"What do you mean? Of course they are. Why would
they lie?"
"Look for yourself, then."
I walked towards Sarah's desk and looked underneath.
Then I looked back at mine. Her outlets were in
the same place as mine were. Then I walked across
the room and checked the outlets over there. All
were positioned in the same place on the wall. I
couldn't believe it; those men fooled me to look
under my desk. But why would they lie to me? What
the hell was going on here?
"Now do you believe me?" For the first time all
day I noticed a grin finding its way onto her face.
"I don't know what I believe right now, but I am
going to help you. I have an idea," I said glancing
at my watch, "but we are going to have to hurry
before Sarah, the woman that sits behind me, comes
back."
I reached under my desk and grabbed one of the boxes
and began putting it together. Once I was done,
I looked at her and then looked at the box. It was
a tight fit, but it would have to work. I was glad
that I had at least picked up some over-sized boxes
so that I could pack up more stuff into one box.
Who knew I was going to be packing a person.
My company let me either pack boxes to take to our
new office or home. The only problem is if I am
taking the box home, they tend to check boxes to
make sure I'm not trying to run away with any office
goodies. I wasn't sure this was going to work, but
what else was I going to do?
After reinforcing the box with some extra tape,
I motioned for her to get in. She knew what I was
going to try and do. She sat down and curled up
inside the box lying on her side. It looked rather
uncomfortable, but I knew she wouldn't be in there
for long.
"You are going to be a little cramped for a few
minutes while I take you outside to my vehicle.
I'm going to rest these papers on top of you in
case someone asks to look inside."
She tried to nod to agree, but the box was too cramped.
I immediately began emptying a few random binders
of mine and rested the papers on top of her, just
enough to cover her. I folded the box shut and walked
down the hall to see if I could find a flatbed.
I spotted one outside of Greg's doorway and walked
over to get it. I chuckled to myself as I heard
him still talking about data migration and I had
to wonder if he ever noticed me leave.
I hurriedly wheeled the flatbed into the room and
went to pick up the box to put it on. It was much
heavier than I had anticipated, but eventually I
heaved it on. I could have called Facilities to
do this, but after being misled by those last two
Facilities guys earlier, I didn't think I could
trust them.
It was 12:30pm already and I knew I had to get out
of there before Sarah came in, because she would
want to thoroughly check what was in that box; I
had a better chance with security. The problem was
I needed a 'Special Materials' pass to take the
box out of the building, but only Sarah could sign
for it. I made a quick search of her desk drawers
and found the pass I needed. I looked on her desk
to find a different form she already had already
signed so I could copy her signature. It wasn't
the most moral thing to do, but this situation called
for it. With that done, I quickly headed out of
the office with the flatbed and towards the exit.
As I was going down the hallway, I passed some people
I knew and politely nodded. This was no time for
conversation. Once I got to the main gate, I held
my breath and hoped I would get through. A man inside
the security room looked at my pass and had me open
the one flap of the box. When he saw all of the
papers, he let me close it back up. Luckily he didn't
need to see any more. They were concerned more about
things coming in than out.
As I closed the box, I felt a huge weight lift off
my shoulders. I had been afraid that they would
have wanted to look through the box more and would
have seen a paw or ear sticking out. I did find
it odd that the security guard was armed. I had
never noticed security having weapons before, but
I guessed it was something I had never realized
before. I had never done anything like this where
I had to worry about getting caught.
One guard that was sitting inside offered to come
with me and help me put the box in my vehicle. Realizing
how much trouble I had earlier just lifting the
box to put onto the flatbed, I decided to accept
his help.
I stopped as we approached my truck. It was an old,
big and boxy '84 Isuzu Trooper painted with two
lovely shades of brown. I could have probably bought
a new vehicle, but I could never seem to find the
time in my busy schedule to even think about that.
My SUV might not have been pretty to look at, but
I liked it because it had a heck of a lot of cargo
space, which I was especially appreciative of having
then. I opened up the back and we eased the box
up and slid it in.
"Awfully heavy there, mister. That's a lot of papers
to be taking home."
"Yeah, I know, tell me about it," I tried saying
with a smile, "thanks for the help." He stood there
for a moment inspecting the box with his eyes before
walking away.
Chapter
4: Talking to Lucet
While
watching the security guard as he disappeared around
a corner, I tried to shake off my nervousness. Without
any more hesitation, I made quick work of opening
up the box. It was already warm inside, which made
me work faster to clear the papers off of her.
"Are you okay?" I asked, with obvious concern in
my voice.
She sat up with her mouth hanging wide open, panting
hard. I located a bottle of water in my car and
gave it to her. I glanced around the parking deck
to make sure nobody was watching us and then looked
back at her drinking down the water. I realized
that I did not know this strange girl's name yet.
I had been working so hard to help her, but I didn't
know what I should call her. When she finished the
last of the water, I gave her another minute before
decided to ask.
"So would you mind if I were to ask you what your
name is?"
She paused and looked at me. "My name is Lucet."
"Lucet? That's an awfully strange name."
She seemed to take offense. "It means to shine.
I like to think of myself as shining above the rest
and being different."
"You definitely are," I said with a hint of admiration
in my voice. "What's your last name?"
"I don't have one. I am just Lucet."
"You don't have a last name?"
"No. When I joined them I lost my identity. They
gave me my new name and my new life. I don't really
remember my past…"
"That's awful!"
"Not really. I've enjoyed being with them. They
treat us well, but now they want to try new experiments.
I knew I had to escape."
"Wait, you said 'us', there's more like you?"
"Of course. Experiments like these have been going
on like this for years. I live with two other friends
like me, but I've seen many come and go… I don't
know where they all go. But that's why I needed
to get out. Before they go too far. I want to help
my friends before it is too late."
"It looks and sounds like 'they' might have gone
too far already," I said.
Had anyone else been telling this sort of story,
I would have probably broken down in laughter. There's
no way I could believe she was serious. But her
obviously abnormal appearance reminded me that it
wouldn't be easy to argue against what she was telling
me. I didn't know what to think, but I just felt
compelled to help her, whether or not "they" and
these "scientific experiments" really existed.
"Alright, I'm going to go back to my office now
and try to get out early so I can figure out where
to take you, Lucet, and so I can get out of work
early. You stay here. Try to stay low and… not to
be seen." She nodded her head at me before I closed
the back door. I went around to the side and opened
up the windows a crack before walking away, just
to make sure the truck wouldn't get too warm. I
shut the doors and began walking away. "Don't worry,
I'll be back soon," I said to myself as I took a
final look back at her.
Chapter
5: Asking a Favor
When
I walked back into my office, Sarah and Dan were
already busily typing away at their computers.
"Lunch is only supposed to be 40 minutes, Tom. Not
an hour or however much time you decided to take
this afternoon," Sarah said as I came in.
I was tempted on making a smart comment back, but
figured that wouldn't help the situation. Getting
Sarah angrier than she already was would only be
more trouble than she was worth. If Lucet had tried
convincing me that Sarah was one of 'them', I would
have gladly believed her.
Sitting down at my computer, I pushed Sarah out
of my mind and tried focusing on the issue at hand.
I knew I needed to figure out how was I going to
get out of work early. Skipping my 2:00pm meeting
was not an option because Sarah and Dan were both
going to be there. Staring at my computer, I thought
for a minute. "Hmm, it is already 1:15pm; I better
come up with something quick," I thought to myself.
I decided my best shot was to try sending an email
to Dan about what I would be doing.
"Dan, I need a favor. I think when I fell this morning
I hit my head too hard. I'm really not feeling too
hot and don't think I'm going to be able to make
it to the 2:00 meeting. I'm going to go home and
lay down for a bit. Can you cover for me on the
Heidison project? I'm attaching my part of what
we need to present today so I wouldn't be leaving
you guys stranded."
After pressing 'Send', I nervously waited for a
response.
A minute later, he responded, "Hey Tom, getting
lazy are we? Have to email me when I sit across
the room, do you?" I looked over at him and saw
a smile on his face. Reading on, he said, "I don't
remember you ever leaving early, or even missing
a day, so you must really feel bad. You think Sarah's
going to like that though?"
I wrote back, "It should serve as a testament to
how bad I really feel right now. As far as Sarah,
that's the real part of the favor. If she asks where
I am, tell her… well, I guess just tell her I'm
sick. She's not going to be happy no matter what
you tell her."
I pressed send and this time watched for his facial
expression to see if he would signal yes or no.
After he finished reading it, I heard him sigh and
saw him close his eyes and nod his head yes.
"Thank goodness," I thought to myself. He might
be a pain sometimes, but he was a good friend when
it came down to it. With that done, I tried to inconspicuously
pack my briefcase like I had to go to another meeting
or something. Once I threw some random papers inside
and shut my briefcase, I got up and quickly made
my way towards the door.
"Where are you going, Tom?" Sarah called, "Don't
forget about the 2 o' clock meeting with…"
I didn't dare stop and turn around to acknowledge
her; she would have never let me out of there alive.
I briskly made my way down the hallway and towards
the main gate. My heart was racing, as I guessed
it was catching up with my disbelief that I was
actually doing this. I hadn't gotten very far, though,
when I noticed two familiar men walking down the
hall in my direction. They were the Facilities guys
who had fooled me earlier! Before they noticed me,
I quickly turned into Greg's office. I hid behind
the doorway and waited for the men to pass. Greg
was talking to himself and didn't seem to notice
that I had come in, so I stood there with my back
towards the doorway and pretended I was busy listening
to him while the too men walked by. They were busy
in a conversation of their own and didn't seem to
notice me. I took a big sigh of relief and headed
towards the door.
"So what do you think?" Greg looked up from his
computer and said. His question startled me and
I almost jumped out of my pants.
"Uhm, what do you mean?"
"About the data migration?" He had to be joking;
there was no way he was still talking about that.
"Uhm, well, I'd say just do it, and if anything
goes wrong we'll work on smoothing out the problems
from there…"
"Sounds good, thanks Tom." I didn't even know if
what I said made sense, but it seemed to make him
happy. I decided he was either one of 'them' or
he was just a nut. Or maybe I was just a nut.
"Oh well, I have more important things to worry
about right now," I thought to myself. "I can worry
about my sanity level later." I peeked out the doorway
to make sure the two Facilities men weren't around
and left Greg to his own little world while I was
about to embark on my new one.
Chapter
6: Last Chance to Turn Back
As
I approached the main gate, I wiped a drop of cold
sweat off my already drenched forehead. I politely
smiled and nodded at the guard that helped me earlier,
but he just sent me a cold stare back. "How friendly,"
I thought.
Ignoring the guard's stare, I swiped my security
card through the reader, waited for the machine
to beep, and then walked through the main gate.
I didn't chance looking back and focused on getting
to my truck. I was worried that the guard might
have noticed me acting suspicious, or that Lucet
might have been found.
My Isuzu slowly came into sight, but I didn't notice
anybody around it. There were no guards standing
around it or officers peering into my car as I had
envisioned. I was about 20 feet short of reaching
my truck when I stopped.
"This is my last chance to back out," I quietly
muttered to myself. Past this point there would
be no turning back. I could still turn around and
get security. I could pretend like I found her in
my vehicle, or that she had forced me to hide her
in there.
"If I turn around now, I could turn her in and start
my day tomorrow like nothing ever happened. Start
another dog-gone day." I realized the irony of what
I just had said to myself. This was the most exciting
thing that I could remember happening to me. Going
as far as I had gone, it would be difficult to forgive
myself if I backed out now
Could I turn her in? No, I knew I couldn't do that.
I promised I would help her and that's what I was
going to do. All I had to do was get her out of
here, and then I would never have to see her again.
A sad thought, but at least I could feel better
knowing that I had helped her. I knew I was never
going to be able to forget her face.
"Alright, let's do this thing." I walked up to the
side of my truck and casually opened the door. Without
looking back, I sat in the driver's seat and buckled
my safety belt. I shut my door and locked it as
I put the key in the ignition.
Taking a deep breath, I tried calming down and then
calling back to Lucet. "You alright back there?"
No answer.
I could hear her rustling in the back seat behind
me, but she wasn't saying anything. Maybe she had
fallen asleep back there or had something over her
head and couldn't hear me. I looked in my rear-view
mirror to try and spot her as I called out to her
again. "Lucet, are you alright back…"
Chapter
7: New Friends
My
body was frozen and my mouth hung wide open.
There was a set of eyes staring back at me, but
they were not Lucet's eyes. The more I stared, the
more I began to notice the hair around the eyes,
similar to dog hair around Lucet's, but a different
color. Either way, I definitely did not know the
person with those eyes.
Slowly, I turned my head to look behind me to see
a woman that clearly shared canine traits that were
similar to Lucet. I could clearly tell she was a
Dachshund, though. She had a long snout with a wet
black nose, but what helped me identify her as a
Dachshund was the silky black hair that covered
her face with a brown patch that stretched under
her nose, around her mouth, and under her chin.
Other than her brown paws and brown, short hair
that covered her rather noticeable chest, the rest
of her body was covered with the short black hair.
I soon began to realize that she was not the only
stranger behind me. To her right I noticed another
girl staring at me, this one a Dalmatian. She too
had a long snout with a black wet nose at the end
of her face. Her big floppy ears were mostly black
and her white hair-covered body was freckled with
large black spots.
Before I gave myself a heart attack, I caught a
glimpse of Lucet in the corner of my eye. She was
sitting left of the Dachsund girl I initially made
eye contact with and noticed she had apparently
taken off the shirt I had given her early. She was
very much naked again, much like her companions
were. My look of pure fear combined with dazed state
of confusion must have been amusing, as all three
had already begun to burst into laughter.
"Uhm, would somebody like to let me know what the
heck is going on here?!?"
"Don't worry Tom," Lucet responded, "these are my
two friends I told you about earlier, Valide," she
said pointing to the Dachshund girl.
"Hello," Valide said with a smile on her face.
"And Volentia," Lucet said pointing to the Dalmatian
girl who was still snickering. "They escaped too
and were able to find me!"
"But, but how…" I said with my mouth still wide
open.
The Dachshund girl, Valide, interrupted, "I can
explain that one. Before Lucet escaped, she unlocked
our cages and told us that we could escape if we
wanted to, but she ran off before we could even
fully wake up. When they saw Lucet's cage empty,
they began looking all over the place. They were
so busy looking for her that they didn't even notice
our cages were unlocked. We were able to slip out
a back door and then sniff out Lucet. Then we found
her here and she told us how you were going to help
free us," she said in an exuberant voice, seeming
talking more to her friends than to me.
I was still trying to get over the shock of how
there was not only one, but three dogs… or women…
in the back of my truck. This was starting to become
way too much for me to handle at once; I couldn't
see my body being able to take this much stress
for much longer.
"We need a place to stay," the Dalmatian girl, Volentia,
said, "and Lucet says you're a friend that can help
us. We really do appreciate it, mister. You're a
great guy."
"Now hold on, I told Lucet that I was going to get
her out of here, I didn't say anything about her
or anybody else staying with me. You three can't
stay at my house, there's just no way!"
Valide grabbed my collar with her paw and pulled
my face up to hers. "Listen, Lucet might be all
nice and not be willing to bite your ears off to
get you to help, but I am," she said in a much more
ominous voice than before, "and if we need help,
you are going to help us. Either you are willingly
going to let us stay with you until we can figure
out where to go next, or we are going to have to
force you."
Her warm dog-breath filled my nostrils as fear began
to flow through my veins. My sweat glands started
working overtime as I stared her in the eyes.
"Hey," I finally managed, "I've been very lenient
today and could have reported Lucet earlier, but
didn't. Now you show up and have the nerve to start
threatening me?"
She lifted her lip to reveal her sharp fangs. "I
don't make threats," she said in a raspy growl,
"start driving."
Finally she let go of me and I turned forward into
the driver seat. I didn't like being threatened,
but I realized that didn't want to be pummeled.
She obviously wasn't fooling around, and considering
how sharp her teeth and claws were; I understood
that I would be quite vulnerable to an attack if
I angered the beast behind me anymore.
I turned the keys in the ignition and started the
motor. I was still shaking and tried taking a moment
to compose myself before I shifted into reverse
and backed out of the space. In my rear-view mirror,
I spotted them duck down in the back to avoid being
seen by any one. Pulling out of the parking deck
and onto the street, I was half-paying attention
to the road while my mind was preoccupied trying
to decide what I was going to do next.
Chapter
8: Home Sweet Home
My
car might have only been going the speed limit,
but my mind was going a mile a second. I was trying
to pay attention to the road, but my focus was obviously
elsewhere. Much had happened this morning, and it
seemed like it was only getting more complicated.
First I agreed to help one girl get out, now there
were three girls that I was taking home. And that's
ignoring the fact they are all half dogs. With one
surprise after the next, I didn't want to think
about what could happen next.
I was still pretty well shaken up with my encounter
with the Dachshund girl, Valide. She reminded me
that I had more to worry about than getting caught:
I had to worry about my own physical safety. These
girls might resemble humans, but these were still
animals I was dealing with.
I especially didn't like being scared into doing
something like this… but at the same time I couldn't
but help to think that maybe I enjoyed the rush.
Before today, my life had become an endless cycle
of continuous work. Every morning I woke up and
came to work to do my little job. Other than surfing
the Internet at home or occasionally hanging out
with friends on weekends, every ounce of excitement
had been drained out of my life by my job. I didn't
like being threatened by Valide, but it really didn't
feel any worse than dealing with my supervisor,
Sarah, on a daily basis.
As I drove towards home, I concluded that I was
still going to try and help Lucet and her friends.
I had contemplated parking in front of a police
station, but that just didn't seem like what I wanted
to do. These three were all desperate to be free,
and Valide probably just panicked when she thought
I might just drop them off in the middle of nowhere.
Considering the circumstances, I would have probably
been pretty upset too if in the same situation.
Though I could hardly imagine ever being in the
same situation as them. Three naked women that looked
like dogs (or three dogs that looked like naked
women, depending how you look at it) would be sure
to attract attention rather quickly. Dropping them
off in the middle of nowhere just so I wouldn't
have to deal with them any more hardly seemed fair.
I lived alone and had an extra room, so there was
no reason why they couldn't stay with me until they
figured out where they could go next.
My house was only a couple miles from where I worked,
but it seemed like it took forever to get there.
I wondered how Dan was coordinating the meeting
I was supposed to be at. One thing I knew I could
be certain about was Sarah was probably fuming about
my absence. I had turned off my cell phone to avoid
getting bombarded with voice messages from her wanting
to know exactly where I was. She would probably
be really on my case tomorrow, but I didn't care.
I needed to set these three girls up first before
I could figure out how to put my life back in a
semi-normal groove again.
I pulled up to my small house and parked in my garage.
My house wasn't really much to look at, since the
olive drab paint was beginning to fade and peel
and some of the roof shingles were starting to fall
off. It was a sturdy old one-story house and was
big enough for me to live in. I had once envisioned
starting a family in this house, but after ten years
of work and heartaches, my efforts to maintain that
false hope and this old house had long since fallen
to the wayside. I closed the automatic garage door
and then got out to help the three girls out of
the truck.
One by one I helped them out the back of the truck,
holding each one's soft, hairless paw pad as they
hopped out. I opened the door to the house to let
them in and then followed in behind.
The house had a fairly simple layout. When we first
walked in from the garage, the laundry room was
to the right and a coat closet on the left. A window
looked out into the backyard and there was plenty
of counter space with the usual appliances and the
kitchen table against the left hand wall. The dining
room was straight ahead when you walked into the
kitchen. There was a dining room table in the center
of the room, rarely used except for the assorted
junk I dumped on there every now and then. Once
in the dining room, a doorway on the left led into
the den. A long wall separated the kitchen from
the den, which was in the front of the house. The
outside front wall of the den had a large picture
window covered with an equally large curtain, and
the front door was on the far right. The room wasn't
huge, but it was spacious enough to fit my sofa,
recliner, TV, and a few end tables where the lamps
stood.
Stepping into the den from the dining room, there
was a hallway located on the right. Down the hall,
the first door on the right was the bathroom. A
door farther down on the left lead to the spare
bedroom, which I generally used for to store any
other junk that I didn't have anywhere else to put
and was too lazy to clear out. The room had a large
window and various types of furniture scattered
about the room, including the computer desk, an
old computer, and plenty of bookshelves full of
outdated programming books. My own bedroom door
was across from a spare room I never used, which
was on the right side of the hall. My bedroom had
a large window, a night table on each side of the
bed, and a door leading to a small bathroom. The
house wasn't decorated wonderfully and it was a
mess, but it was what I called home. It was comfortable
and cozy, and I liked it how it was.
"Alright, you girls are going to have to hang out
here in the den until I can clear some of the junk
from the spare bedroom," I announced as we entered
the den. Lucet ran into the room on all fours and
sat in my reclining chair. The other two did the
same but scurried over to and hopped up onto the
couch to sit. The way they had their legs curled
up under them and their arms resting in front of
them as they sat on my furniture, they looked more
like dogs than they did women. Really hot dogs…
"How awful to think that," I thought. I waved away
that last thought as I tried to get them settled
in.
"Let me get you girls some water. Uhm… do you girls
use cups or bowls?"
"Bowls!" they all yapped.
I walked in the kitchen, found some bowls, and filled
them with water. As I brought the water into the
room, the girls hopped out of their seats and stood
on all fours. Their hindquarters up in the air and
their tails waved ferociously back and forth in
excitement. After putting down the bowls, I decided
to leave the room and try to find them some food
before I got a little bit too excited myself.
There wasn't much in my fridge since I only ever
had time to eat out or order out. There were some
leftovers and some ham that I used for making sandwiches,
but that wasn't really going to work. I would have
to make a grocery run to pick up whatever food that
they might eat.
When I came back into the den to ask them what they
like to eat, they were playfully wrestling with
each other on the floor. Lucet kept jumping on Valide,
and then Volentia jumped on Lucet, and so forth.
I couldn't but help to think how I'd love to be
in the middle of their fun, but I was somehow to
restrain myself. It had been years since I had been
in a solid relationship, and here sat three women
that apparently felt comfortable enough with me
to be rolling around my floor naked.
"Are you girls getting hungry? What type of food
do you eat?"
"Doesn't matter. We'll eat anything," Lucet paused
for a moment to say before resuming her wrestling
match.
"Don't worry, we won't know it's not bacon," Volentia,
the Dalmation, managed to say with the other two
on top of her before all three burst into laughter.
I thought I recognized that phrase as a slogan for
some dog food company or something, so I assumed
that was the joke.
"So you eat, uhm, dog food?"
Valide looked up. "Yeah, we usually eat any sort
of dog food. What do you have?"
"Nothing; I need pick up something from the store,
which is why I was asking." They all stopped and
looked at me. "Don't worry, if I wanted to turn
you in or anything like that, I could have done
that already. Nobody ever comes to my house, so
you shouldn't have to worry about anybody looking
in. I'll be back soon, just stay put."
Seemingly undaunted by my departure, the three of
them resumed their playing. I went into the garage,
opened the garage door, and sat in my truck. Before
starting the engine, I looked back in my mirror
half expecting to see someone else's face looking
back at me like before. Instead it was my own face
staring back at me. I took a moment to examine myself
in the mirror; I was really a mess. I fixed my mussed
hair, wiped the sweat off my brow, and straightened
up my shirt and was ready to go.
Looking behind me to back up, I felt pretty confident
that nobody had followed me to my house. Still,I
worried about leaving the girls home alone and hoped
they'd be safe while I was gone. I was only going
to be out for about an hour at the most, and then
I could come back and figure out what to do next.
I couldn't keep them at the house for long, could
I? If nobody had noticed taking them out of the
office building, surely nobody was going to notice
them living in my house. Other than a few friends
that popped in once in awhile, nobody ever bothered
me at home, and I could find ways to meet up with
my friends at places so they didn't have to stop
here first.
Maybe things could work out; I'd have to wait and
see.
Chapter
9: A Quick Trip
J-Mart
was a short drive away, and I liked it because I
could do all my shopping in one trip. They would
have everything that I would need and then I could
get right back to the house.
I pulled my truck up to the front of the store and
parked, putting on my four-way flashers. I wasn't
going to be long and didn't want to waste time trying
to find a spot. The automatic doors barely opened
in time as I almost ran through them.
I stopped as I entered the store to try and decide
what I needed. Textiles were on the left and groceries
were on the right. I got a cart and immediately
looked for the "Pets" section. There were so many
different brand names of both dried and canned food,
I just grabbed anything that had a bright color
or said something about building strong bones.
As I was heading towards the registers, I realized
I was going to have to get some sort of clothing
for them to wear; otherwise they would be running
around naked the whole day. But what were they supposed
to wear? They might look silly in regular clothing,
but something was better than nothing, I figured.
When I wheeled cart over to the women's clothing
section, I immediately knew I was in trouble. There
were bras, bras, and more bras of every shape, color,
and size. The only thing I knew is they have very
big, well, they had fairly sizeable chests. I grabbed
three bras that looked to be about the right size
and moved on to the panty section.
There were panties everywhere; I could not understand
why girls needed this many undergarments. When I
went into a store for my underwear, I could never
remember it being this complicated. I picked up
some silk panties and got out of the women's section.
That was enough shopping for one day.
The shopping cart came to an abrupt stop as I pulled
into the checkout. I could tell the cashier was
giving me a strange look, but I didn't know why.
I looked into the cart and realized all I was buying
was dog food and women's undergarments. Perhaps
that was the reason. I ignored her stare as I put
them up on the conveyer belt and smiled while she
started ringing up each item.
I glanced at my watch and noticed it was almost
five o'clock. Traffic was going to start getting
bad. I knew because normally I'd be coming home
from work right now, but having a half-a-day felt
nice, too. It also felt strange because normally
I didn't have someone to go home to. It wasn't a
feeling I could ever really remember having, but
I didn't think it was a bad one at all.
Once the woman at the register finally finished
ringing up everything, I paid her and rushed out
of the store.
Chapter
10: Getting Cozy
I
turned into my driveway and pulled into the garage.
I jumped out of my truck, got the bags out of the
back, and wasted no time making my way into the
house. The whole time I was out, I couldn't help
but thinking that something had happened to them
while I was gone. I rushed into the den, half-expecting
them to be gone when I came in.
Staring at me with wide eyes as I ran in, they were
all relaxing on the couch. They hadn't gone anywhere,
but were apparently tired of wrestling each other.
I took a deep sigh of relief as I proceeded to the
center of the room.
"I didn't know exactly what to get you girls to
eat so I got a little bit of everything. I also
picked up some clothing for you girls to put on
so you don't have to walk around naked all night,"
I said as I put down the bag of clothing.
"But we're dogs and have fur all over our bodies.
Why do we need clothing?" Volentia asked in a confused
voice.
"Yes, but, you look enough like humans where seems
a little bit inappropriate for you not to wear anything
at all."
"Why," Valide said in a provocative voice, "do we
make you nervous?" She turned on her back and spread
her legs to reveal her fur-covered private area.
I blushed and looked away before I saw anything
else. "If you are going to do things like that,
then yes." I walked out of the den, leaving the
clothing bag and bringing the bag of food with me
into the kitchen.
"Oh come on, Tom, I'm just fooling with you," I
could hea |