Free The Lynnie Russell Trilogy by R. M. Gilmore Page A

way into the woods before we came up on that man.
     
    Eventually, my strong legs slowed down. Paws slapping the dirt like a lazy old dog. The beast laid us down on the cool dirt. I begged it to keep moving, to get me closer to my truck. I didn’t have a damn clue how I was gonna get back when I had my body back. I wasn’t even really sure where I was.
     
    A familiar wrench hit my stomach. I couldn’t control the body I was in, but I sure as hell could feel its pain. I knew why the beast laid us down, we were about to change. About to become human again. I thought for a second about how it felt for the animal to change, if it hurt like I did.
     
    Our legs stretched and the muscles tore again, making human legs from animal ones. My heavy paws pushed and uncurled into fingers. Human toes made their way from rounded paws. Fur shrank into my skin and claws sucked back into their beds. My back leveled out and my boobs broke out from my chest. Our muzzle shoved its way back into a human face and the beast howled. Cried that horrible scream like an elk in mating season. It felt pain, just like I did. My face was coming back to me and the howls of the beast turned into the screams of a human.  The green color of the forest faded away and it was as dark as it could be before dawn. I was human, and naked, and alone.
     
    I laid in the dirt and cried. I was crying, but I was happy. Crying meant I was a human being. Meant I had a soul.
     
    I wanted to run back into the woods and find the naked man. See if he was really dead. If I really had killed him. Ask him so many questions his head might spin off his shoulders. I needed to know what I was, how to fix it, and how to not kill my brother. I knew there was no point. He was dead, damn dead.
     
    It was hopeless. I didn’t have anyone. Only an old woman who said I was death incarnate, a useless naked dead mean, and a furry green monster that forced me to eat people. I was screwed six ways to Sunday.
     
     

 
    Cryin’ In The Dirt
     
    Sitting in the Ozarks naked and alone, waiting for dawn, is a damn lonely time let me tell you. With my human eyes I couldn’t see even half as good as I could have if I was still furry. I wasn’t even sure I could make it back to my truck even in the daylight.
     
    The sun was starting to come up and shine through the trees. The slices of light peeking down and touching the ground were like fingers of God bringing the forest to life. There wasn’t quite enough light to bring the world to full view for my shoddy human eyes, but I knew it was coming soon. Soon I could try to make my way back to my truck and my clothes. Being lost in the woods and a little scared was a lot harder to take while I was freezing my tail off.
     
    I had myself curled up into a tight ball under a tree, trying hard not to shake too awful bad.  In the light coming through the spaces between the leaves dust glittered in the wind. I was staring at it too long, I started seeing things. In that shine of light I thought I saw a man. A big breeze blew through and more dust and dirt was kicked up in the light. In the middle of it all I saw Rusty. I thought I was seeing things. What in the world would Rusty Kemp be doing in the middle of the woods? Besides, he’s dead. The thoughts went through my mind a while until I remembered that night in my bedroom, when Rusty came out of a shadow.
     
    “Rusty?” I said to him.
     
    “Well, hell, Lynnie. What a mess you got yerself into.” Rusty answered me.
     
    The dust and dirt settled down and Rusty was standing in a shine of light. He looked like an angel. Well, if an angel would wear an old pair of Levi’s anyhow.
     
    “Rusty, help me. I’m so lost. I been prayin’ and prayin’. I even went out to see Mama Lee.”
     
    “And she weren’t no help neither?” He laughed a bit. “Yeah, you gotta find the right help, Lynn. Mama Lee can help, she just don’t know how yet.”
     
    “Where? Where do I go?” I was damn near