Tuesday Morning October 17th, 2025. Eveheart Farmland, Cattlecove, WI.

  The Fevering took Andre and held him for days. Three days. He couldn’t remember much beyond the heat in his skull, the stretch of his gums and the vibration of his shifting bones. It was hell. And then he woke up.

  The morning sun beamed through the window— white and without warmth as storm clouds shifted and spun across the sky. The day felt colorless. At least from what he could see. But his nose told an opposing story. He could smell the trees. The berries and beasts beyond. He could hear streams and birds and semi-trucks rushing down faraway streets. Coyotes barked and bit at the bears carcass he left in the woods.

  “You will survive the fever. I swear it.” He remembered his moms words.

  After being in bed for days, he suddenly had the strongest urge to get up. So, he did. His movements were stiff, his bones creaked so aggressively, he thought he was a machine made of rusty old parts.

  But, slowly, the creaking faded. Some of the pain went with it, but that distant groggy feeling persisted as he stepped into the bathroom.

  “The….. hell?”

  The person in the mirror was not anyone he was familiar with.

  Andre was expecting … well… Andre. The same six foot tall brown skinned teen with a buzzed head and bare unmarked skin. He had a thick nose, high cheekbones and full lips. His jawline was soft— still boyish.

  Things had changed. Now he was at least six and half feet tall and about forty pounds heavier. His hair was long, hanging down to his shoulders in dark heavy curls. A nasty bite scar occupied his shoulder and upper arm and the faintest outline of leopard-like spots dotted his chest.

  He raised his arms, watching the muscles flex and push at his skin.

  “….insane..” As he spoke, he noticed his canines were pronounced more than the human average.

  His stomach growled suddenly. It hit him with so much force, he fell over with his face in the sink.

  The twist of his stomach came in another agonizing wave that rippled out of his throat in a growl. He grabbed the side of the counter-top with so much force that it broke.

  Suddenly something plopped into the sink right in front of him. Bright red and wet. Fresh. Blood. Meat.

  Andre snatched the slab of meat out of the sink and ate it in seconds.

  Slowly, the pains faded and his vision normalized.

  “First lesson.” Cora said from the doorway. “Ailourans are hypercarnivores. We only eat meat. The hungrier you are, the greater your instincts become. It’s a survival mechanism. But if you start to starve, your human mind will go dormant and you’ll exist only as a beast until satisfied and safe. So, stay well fed, stay in control. Understood?”

  Andre nodded as he wiped the blood off his lips.

  Cora looked him up and down as he stood.

  “I look like I was asleep for three years.” Andre huffed.

  Cora nodded, “Ailourans mature faster than humans. You had catching up to do. Now come help me finish up packing.”

  Cora left the doorway and Andre’s room.

  He was left dumfounded for a moment, “Packing?! Packing what!?”

  Andre followed after his mom, rushing through his room— only just realizing much of it was packed up, leaving only the bed and dresser.

  He raced down the stairs on new legs and met his mom in the livingroom where she flipped through packed bags and set aside carboard boxes that filled the space. The sight made his stomach turn.

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  “What’s going on, mom?” Andre asked.

  “We have to get moving.” Cora said as she seemingly found what she was looking for in a bag and picked it up to begin walking outside.

  “Mom..?MOM!” Andre yelled, but it sounded more like a roar.

  Cora spun around and watched him with cat eyes.

  “I’m like you now, remember? Fill me in.” Andre said.

  Cora looked down to her left.

  The table they built was the only piece of furniture left. On it’s polished wooden surface, a newspaper laid bare. The headline didn’t seem so serious at first glance, then Andre remembered his new reality.

  “SPOOKY SEASON IN SESSION! Strange animal sounds heard within the Evehart Farmland Forest. Possible Coy-Wolf/Wolf-Dog on the lose? Hunters informed!.”

  “Mom….. come on, it’s sensationalized bs. Just a sign that nothing happens here.” Andre said quietly.

  “That’s very possible. But we can’t afford to take any risks. Especially with you just turning. If anyone comes, they’ll smell you right away.”

  ”They… as in other Ailourans?” Andre asked.

  Cora nodded.

  “Would they…? Would they come here?” Andre asked.

  “I don’t gamble.” Cora replied. “Now move that box.”

  Andre took a deep breath and followed her lead.

  For the first time in his life, he was moving.

  They worked in silence for an hour, loading boxes and bags into an unmarked moving truck that smelled like old paint, rust and rain.

  Once again, Andre hauled a big bag of supplies into the back of the truck. His mother stood beside him, finishing hauling another box. Her curly dark hair was frizzy from the light fog in the air.

  “How are you doing?” She asked with the same serious face as always.

  Andre shrugged, “Uhh…well— underwhelmed. In the movies, when the guy gets powers he usually tests them in cooler situations.”

  Cora squinted at him.

  “You know? Like they test out their new powers fighting bad guys. Or running from killer robots with samurai swords…… or skateboarding. I’m learning that I can move a couch by myself with no sweat. That’s just kind of lame I guess…” Andre said.

  Cora nodded, “Hmm…. that is lame. How are your legs?”

  “..Fine?” Andre said.

  Cora took off.

  Andre followed before even really deciding to.

  They bolted across the lawn and into the forest in a blur.

  “Mom!? I don’t think now is a good time for an eight miler.” Andre said as he ran after her.

  Cora stopped suddenly, hidding behind a tree.

  Andre stopped beside her, completely unbothered by the october evening weather in his t shirt and jeans.

  Cora held a finger to her mouth, then pointed to her ears.

  Andre got the gesture and listened.

  The nearby city was loud. Cars on highways sending metallic screams echoing across the sky. Planes above the grey clouds. Horns blaring. Much closer, leaves crunched under the hooves of something. Something that snorted as it smelled and bit at the bushes in the forest.

  His senses sharpened.

  He could smell it’s musky odor. He could hear it’s hearbeat.

  The waves of pain in his stomach came again— now known as hunger. Hunger pushing his instincts into overdrive.

  A hand fell on his shoulder and he opened his eyes to find his mother looking at him. Her skin took on a dark grey hue. Her hairline lowered as jagged lines of fur crept down her forehead. She filled out her shirt a bit more as well.

  She flicked her head to the left and Andre took off after the sound

  He changed more than expected, now sporting raised heels that made his feet take up less space and make less noise as he galloped through the forest.

  The waves of stomach pain hit harder the closer they came and his instincts took over.

  Eventually, he was close enough to see the buck with his own eyes. Near a stream eating berries from a bush.

  Quickly— soundlessly, he leapt twenty feet into the air and climbed a tree. He waited. He listened as a faint rustling came from the bushes behind the buck facing him.

  The buck’s head shot up. It’s massive rack of antlers tore up the bushes as it looked around to find the source of the sound.

  Silence fell.

  Unnatural silence. Or, maybe the most natural silence. A silence ordained by the predator. An element they could control at will. No birds, no squirrels, no wind. It was like magic.

  A dark shape burst out of the bush behind the buck with a snarl.

  Cora. She moved with a terrifying explosiveness, slashing at the buck’s hindquarters, slowing the creature before it could even start running.

  She didn’t give chase as it took off.

  Andre’s slitted eyes zeroed in on the running deer. As it ran underneath him, he turned on the branch he crouched on fifty feet up.

  In a blur, he leapt from the tree, landing on the body of another at an angle. He jumped to the next, guiding his fall at speeds too fast to follow by human eyes. After jumping from tree to tree, he pounced on the back of the buck with so much force, he felt it’s spine shatter.

  They hit the ground and rolled, ending with Andre sinking his fangs into its neck and holding the beast until it’s blood ran cold.

  As he unhooked his fangs from the bucks neck, an overwhelming wave of both euphoria and disgust washed over him.

  In the distance, Cora stepped out of the shadows of the forest. Human once again. “The first kill is always…… a lot.”

  “It’s not like when we used to go hunting..” Andre commented as he crouched over the deer.

  “It is. Different means, but its all the same. Life, death and survival.”

  “Now what?” Andre asked.

  “You know what.” Cora said. “Keep following your instincts.”

  Andre shut his eyes as shuddered as his transformed further, “Got it.”

  Cora turned away as Andre tore into the deer.

  The full moon hovered overhead, casting pale light between the trees.