A Change (of heart)

Familiar Faces For Unfamiliar Places

Wha-? Where am I... Goodness, I must have slept for a long time, I have no idea how I've ended up here, in a hammock, where looks like, THE BACK OF SHELL'S HOUSE! No! I shouldn't be here! Why am I here? Of all places?
I struggle to get out of the hammock but once I do I struggle to keep my footing, the hammock really messed up my head.
As I make my way out the front and onto the street, I realise that it's daytime, everyone's going to see me. I was about to duck to the nearest shade but then I saw who was in it. How?
"James!"
But he wasn't himself anymore.
"Wever, what happened to you?"
"Did you really think you'd be able to get away like that?"
"I did"
"Then you were wrong!"
"No! You are wrong! Who thought it was a good idea to run stupid secret tests on innocent lives? Who thought 'it doesn't matter what their lives are like. Only our results'? Who, was the monster that was only guided by his self interests? TELL ME WHO THE REAL ANIMAL IS AROUND HERE!"
"James! Enough! You're coming back now!"
"No," I'm embarrassed to say that I was heading towards tears here, "not with everything I've lost. NO WAY AM I GOING BACK WITH YOU! WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!"
"James"
"Now go! Before I make sure you're dead. For good"
And then he stepped out of the shadow, revealing what he was now, a fox/human, not an anthro, not a hybrid, more like a mutation. He made me feel small. I ran. Into a tree, and then another. It started to rain, and I just kept running for my life, because that's about all I had left.
I took one more look behind me and regretted it immediately, because I once again hit another tree, which knocked me unconscious.
______________________________________
"James!"
"Wha-"
"Stop!"
I froze, I'm not sure how, considering the state I was in (tired state), but I did.
I was stopped for only thirty seconds but it fealt way longer, until a familiar face met mine and gave me a big hug. It was Chelsea.
"Ja-ja-ja-james! Oh! Do-don't do that ag-gain!" I hardly understood her because she had her worried face planted on my chest.
"Do what?"
"You we-were slee-sleepwa-walking! Yo-you nearly ju-jumped off the e-edge of the bo-boat!"
And then all of my surroundings became known to me, like my Minecraft render distance went from 2 to 32 (now there's a game I miss). We were on a boat, a tanker of a boat. I remember now. Finding contact with my friends, becoming organised, meeting up with Chelsea, if I remember correctly, we should be going past Sydney today.
"James?"
"Wha-Yea-Sorry"
I think I saw a smile among all that sad and worried "I tho-thought I wa-was the st-st-stutterer"
"Hehe... So what were you saying, sorry?"
"I was sa-saying that we-we should he-head insi-side, it-t is ra-raining aft-ter all!"
"Yeah"
...

Once in our cabbin, we rested on the beds, feeling the sway of the boat try to rock us to sleep.
"Ja-james"
"Yeah?"
"What wa-was yo-your d-dream about?"
"Nothing"
"You sure?"
"Yep"
There was some awkward scilence after that. I didn't mind it though.
"So-so you're like ca-capt-tain am-merica now?"
"For the last time no."
She was talking about the extra info that I had gained access to through my watch. Turns out they monitored enough of me to summarise all my differences from humans and wolves, in different sections.
"I have a forty seven point seven three times faster healing capacity from external wounds, and a fifteen times faster healing capacity from internal. And my immune system is four times as efficient. But that's all!"
"Se-seems pretty OP to me"
I couldn't describe the face I gave her then, but if I was to, it would be something like this: -_-
"That does explain how I healed from those bullet wounds so quickly"
"You've be-been shot!?"
"Yes! You were there!"
"Oh! I thought you meant with a gun!"
"I was... wasn't I?"
"You, m-my fr-friend, were shot at with a t-t-tazer gun"
"Oh, this whole time I thought it was an actual gun. I thought I was cool!"
"Yo-you st-still are cool. I think so anyway"
"Thanks"
We went back to sleep after that, at least, I think we did, if there was more conversation I don't remember it.
Two days later we made it back to Victoria, we weren't exactly sure where we were when we got off, northern easterly sorta area. But I was happy to get off. Living on that ship, but trying to stay in the shadows was to be honest, not very fun. Once off I told Chelsea to get on my back so she was basically riding me, and we had made it roughly halfway by the end of the day.
"Alright. Here. Is where. We're going to. Camp. For the night." I said, a little bit out of breath. "That means. You can get. Off me. Now."
"Oh! So-sorry!"
"No problem. Hey Chelsea, thanks"
"Fo-for what?"
"You know, coming to find me, helping me come back and all..."
"Oh, o-okay, James you do-don't need to say th-that each and every da-day"
"Yeah, but I want to, you don't understand how much it means to me, to have someone to fully trust"
At this moment Chelsea rapidly developed a bright red blush on her cheeks.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I-I mean, yo-you're we-welcome"
"It's getting dark, what's the plan for tonight?"
"U-up to yo-you; just sleep or fi-fire? You alread-dy said st-stop here for ca-camp"
"A fire's too risky, someone might see us. I think we'll just sleep, I need my rest if we want to make it back by the end of tomorrow"
It was a cold night that night, and we didn't have any of the luxuries that we had on the boat or at home so we had to keep each other warm. Snuggling up to each other was both unnerving and comforting, something I'd never thought about in the past but was long overdue. But to be honest, having her by my side for the whole night, made my sleep ten times better, and my trip back all the more bearable.