Mad Cow Read online

  Thud.

  Sparks covered them both.

  “Crap,” Frank muttered, throwing his own skin over himself.

  James stared at the door, shuffling as best he could to orient himself facing it.

  The last ward line was out. The door itself was bent and dented in places. The upper corner had a gap where it had bent inward, exposing the room outside, and he could hear snarls and growls through that space.

  Thud!

  The gap there widened as the door shuddered under another impact and he could see black fur for an instant as one of the werewolves struck it and rebounded.

  Behind him he could hear the sickening cracks and wet sounds of Frank’s transformation and it made his stomach … stomachs … churn more at the memory of how much his own had hurt.

  Is being eaten worse than that?

  James’ legs quivered. He was scared, confused, certain he was going to die and more certain he had no way to fight back. He just wanted to run, but there was no place to run to. He wanted to close his eyes and hide — if he couldn’t see the monsters, then the monsters couldn’t see him, right?

  Thud!

  There was a snarl beside him and James turned to see Frank at his side. Or what Frank had transformed into — four feet at the shoulder, foot-long jaws of sharp, white teeth, and long, bristly, grey fur. Frank was a freaking Tolkeinesque, direwolf-type, ready for battle. James looked down at his knock-kneed legs and hooves.

  He’d never hated anyone as much as he hated Frank at this moment.

  Thud!

  The door shuddered, bent, and almost gave way. James braced himself, unable to do anything but stare at the failing door in terror. The urge to run increased, but then a new feeling came over him. A firm, solid feeling as dense as his beefy shoulders and hips. He wasn’t sure where it came from, but as the last thud sounded and the door gave way, revealing the slavering jaws of the lead werewolf, James willingly and gratefully let that feeling come to the forefront.

  He had a brief moment’s worry, perhaps even regret, remembering Frank’s warning that he should hold on to who he was and not give in to the power of the skin he wore — then the werewolf howled and James’ mind fled, to hell with the consequences.

  The four-legs-with-fangs in the doorway snarled. The two-legs who’d become a four-legs-with-fangs in the room snarled back. Two four-legs-with-fangs behind the one in the doorway snarled.

  For the moment, Cow did not care.

  Cow had little concept of time. There was sun-in-the-sky and no-sun-in-the-sky. There was warm-with-grass and grass-covered-by-snow. More than that, Cow neither knew nor cared.

  Cow did know that it had been many, many suns-in-the-sky since there’d been freedom. Cow had felt the Herd during that time, but hadn’t been part of it. Cow didn’t know where the Herd even was now, but Cow felt, knew, this was a new sun-in-the-sky time. Time to rejoin the Herd and correct the dimly felt wrongs of all the time Cow hadn’t been free.

  The four-legs-with-fangs snarled again.

  Cow snorted. The four-legs-with-fangs was posturing. Cow understood that — that was how one took over a Herd, by showing strength — but this four-legs-with-fangs was ignoring Cow and standing between Cow and the Herd.

  Cow bellowed, a long, lowing moo, designed to warn challengers and attract females … Cow felt a bit odd about that, as though there was something not quite right, but ignored the feeling.

  The four-legs-with-fangs in the doorway looked at Cow, cocked its head to one side, then sat and let its mouth loll open, tongue hanging out.

  This made Cow angry.

  The four-legs-with-fangs found Cow unworthy of a challenge? Puny four-legs-with-fangs, with only two others behind it? No proper pack to challenge Cow?

  Cow’s haunches bunched. Cow leapt forward, front hooves reaching for the four-legs-with-fangs. The four-legs-with-fangs’ eyes widened just before Cow’s hooves struck, then those eyes disappeared as two tons of Cow concentrated onto hooves eight inches wide.

  Over and over and over and over again.

  Hot blood splashed up Cow’s forelegs.

  Cow slowed and then stopped, standing on the mangled, flattened remains of the four-legs-with-fangs.

  Silence reigned for a long moment.

  The two four-legs-with-fangs stared at Cow. Cow ignored the two-legs who’d become a four-legs-with-fangs — that one, Cow somehow knew, was no threat. The two others stared longer, their jaws hanging open.

  Cow gave it a moment, savoring the victory, then bellowed again and charged.

  The flashing blue lights were giving Cow a headache. The incessant rambling of the two-legs who’d come along with those lights wasn’t helping. Cow was tired after the fight and wanted to quite place to doze, but the two legs kept walking around, distracting Cow.

  “Sir,” one of the two-legs with dark fur was saying. “Why is there a cow in your basement?”

  Cow goes where Cow wills!

  “Officer, these wild dogs, see —”

  “Yeah. You said. Wild dogs.”

  The two-legs turned its head to look at Cow’s work. The blood of the Herd’s enemies pooled everywhere. The Herd would be safe because of Cow.

  “Right, so the dogs came and —”

  “Stop right there. The dogs are dead … very dead. I don’t care about the dogs. We’re just inside city limits here, and you can’t keep farm animals as pets.” The two legs pointed at Cow. “Why is there cow in your basement? Are you one of those tech guys?”

  “What? No.”

  Cow wondered if he would have to kill the two-legs as well. Dim memories stirred — shared memories from a thousand, a million, members of the Herd. Perhaps once the four-legs-with-fangs had been the enemies of the Herd, but had times changed?

  “You tech freaks with your money and your …” The two-legs pointed at Cow again. Cow didn’t like the motion. It seemed predatory. “Your freaky crap that you do. But not with a cow in your basement inside city limits. You take that crap up north to the county where you can get away with it, you hear me?”

  “I … yeah. Yeah, okay officer.”

  “Good. So you clean up what’s left of these dogs, then you get the cow out of your basement and out to some farm, you hear me? I come back here and find the cow’s still here and you’re going to see trouble.” The two-legs was silent for a moment. “And maybe take your cow to a vet — its eyes are red.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The angry two-legs left, leaving Cow with the odd two-legs who had been a four-legs who had fought alongside Cow. That was a very confusing thing. Cow didn’t understand how the two-legs could be so many other things.

  “James?” the two-legs said, walking over to Cow. “You in there, James?”

  The two-legs ran a hand over Cows back, which Cow allowed because the two-legs had fought at Cow’s side valiantly. Also because the two-legs dug its nails into Cow’s back just where the skin itched and it felt good. If the two legs could both fight and scratch, then Cow might consider making the two-legs part of the Herd.

  “Alright, buddy,” the two-legs said. “I can’t get this off you, but I’ll figure it out, I promise.”

  Cow leaned into the two-legs and the two-legs scratched harder.

  Cow was happy.

  “We’ll just have to find some place to keep you while I read a few of grandpa’s books and find a way to get you out of there. You hang in, alright? I’ll figure this out.”

  Cow was unhappy.

  This place the two-legs who was sometimes a four-legs brought Cow was good in some ways but bad in many others.

  The grass was green and fresh. The sun was warm. There was a proper Herd.

  These were good things.

  But every sun-in-the-sky a two-legs here made the Herd move into a cave, away from the warm sun and the fresh, green grass. There was food in the cave — that was good. But when the Herd concentrated on the food, the two-legs moved behind them and put things on Cow’s calf-parts. Cow fo
und this disturbing. It relieved the pressure on Cow’s calf-parts, but wasn’t a calf. This confused Cow. Also, Cow was certain the two-legs benefited from this in some way — Cow did not like that the two-legs might be taking advantage of the Herd.

  Cow took a mouthful of the dry grass at the center of the cave and chewed. Cow thought for a time. Cow thought that there many things that had changed in the world.

  This place had good things and bad things, but Cow could sense distant Herds that were not so lucky. Cow considered what to do about that.

  Cow chewed, then looked to one side and then the other, taking in the rest of the Herd, noting with satisfaction the glint, almost a glow, starting to show in each of their eyes at Cow’s influence. This Herd was complacent, but Cow could change that.

  Cow was patient.

  Cow thought it was time for many things to change.