Horizon

Chapter 6

           

"Blue," I muttered. "Why am I blue?"

            Thomas chuckled a little, and replied, "I have no idea. I mean, my colors stay true to rats and their fur color, but yours? Well...I've never seen a blue hyena before."

            "There are a lot of things that factor in when it comes to fur patterns, and color." Al explained while staring at different parts of my body. "And relax. The rest of your body is gray, anyway. Plus the blue rib-looking stripes look pretty cool."

            "How do you feel? Thomas asked excitedly. "How's your shoulder?"

            Suddenly, I remembered that I had been shot in the shoulder. I ran over to the mirror, and turned around to get a look at the wound. I was confused, however, when I found nothing on my back. I moved my shoulder around, noticing that it felt quite normal.

            Thomas came up behind me, and said, "First lesson: If you're ever injured in human form, you can instantly heal yourself by changing into your anthro form...unless you're suffering major trauma. Our bodies have naturally regenerative qualities. We can handle more than humans can."

            "Major trauma? What do you mean by that?" I questioned.

            Thomas gladly explained. "For example; if you were to, say...get impaled...then it would be foolish to change, because in whatever form you take, you're still going to be impaled. It's the same thing with bullet wounds. The bullet will still be inside of you whether or not you change, so take the bullet out first. Injuries to the brain, and heart, will be the same no matter what form you take."

            "Whoa," I stammered. "But what would happen if I decided to change back into my human form. Would my healed injuries come back?"

            Thomas shook his head. "No. Once you get more control of your transformations, then you'll be able to heal yourself while maintaining human form. You can quickly shift in, and out, of form without causing a scene. That being said, if you are injured while in anthro form...then turning back into a human could be fatal. What seems like a minor injury to an anthro could be permanently damaging to a human. If you're ever injured as an anthro, you should never turn back into a human until you've fully healed. Trust me...I learned that lesson the hard way."

            "Good to know," I said while stretching my new limbs. "This is...a lot to take in."

            "Oh, this is just the beginning. You have a lot to learn," said Thomas with a sigh.

            "What about the way you said you were going to heal me? Was that all just a ploy to get me to fully transform?" I asked, pointing at Thomas.

            Thomas smiled. "Well, yeah. We were trying to get you to transform. We do have a way to heal anthro injuries, though. It's a serum that goes into the wounded area, helping to quicken the healing process. Anthros only, though. Give that to a man, and he's dead in minutes."

            "How do you know all of this?" I asked, eyeing Thomas curiously.

            "Al loves his tests," he answered casually.

            I jumped a few times, realizing that my paw-pads were bouncier than I thought they would be. I could also jump a lot higher. My body was much more nimble, and agile, than before. I felt like I had a limitless amount of energy. It seemed, to me, that I wouldn't have any problem with injuries, if I were in this form.

            Al turned to me, and said, "Now, I know you're probably going to have more questions. We will answer as many of them as we can, as time passes. Your next step is to get in control of that new body of yours. Master it. Make it your own. Does that make sense?"