It's Friday afternoon. Mac was getting back from Cherry on the bus, and I was kinda hoping he'd be bringing something back with him. Cherry ain't a very nice place, but the stuff you can find there is pretty nifty. Like garbage people throw out is always fun. They freak when we get into their trashcans but I guess that's us mutts for ya. Always looking for something interesting.

     I hear tell some of those stiffs are putting mouse-traps in their garbage to catch us in the act. Bastards. They'll start chucking out really interesting stuff soon too so we'll get caught more. Oh well. Plenty of garbage around here, I guess, but it's nowhere near as interesting... anyway, where was I?

     Friday afternoon, the bus pulls into the main drag. Mac gets off the bus in the company of some sexy piece of tail. He smiles. "Lookit what I found me in the school hall, Joe," he smiles.

     I look her up and down. "Hi, sweetie," I smiled, bunging the hick act on as hard as I could. "Whut's yurrr name?" She looked disgusted for a second, which made me laugh. "Ah, it's okay," I said, breaking the air, "I might talk like a yokel but it don't mean I'm some lady-rapin' scum. Y'all try to relax, 'kay? You're in Barken now, ya know." I smiled. "Name's Joe, friends call me Joe."

     She nodded. She was still incredibly nervous, and looking around it seemed like she wanted to pedal her Cherry-tied butt back to its tether. "Hi Joe, I'm Catherine."

     "And a pleasure it is to meet ya, Cath'rine." I took her hand and gently kneeled over to kiss it. She pulled it away, and I shrugged. "Can't blame me for tryin' now, can ya?" I felt sullen, and I knew she could see it.

     Mac gestured to Catherine for her to follow him. "Cammawn, I wanna show ya 'round. This here's a small town but there's a lot to see." Catherine followed him vaguely, with a 'so, this is the place I've been warned about' look on her face. I could tell she was still nervous. She would have heard a lot about us mutts, that's for sure. How we were the spawn of the devil and all. But Mac probably pulled his 'Look, I want to show you that we're not all we're made out to be Cherry-side' speech. It usually does the trick.

     "Catherine? Can I ask y'all a question before you go sightseeing?"

     Catherine looked shocked to hear my voice and spun around, a little nervous. "Okay," she exhaled, expecting me to grow fangs and kill her.

     "Have you ever hugged a dawg?" I asked, straight-faced.

     She shook her head, nervously. "N-no, I haven't."

     "Damn, are you in the wrong place at the wrong time.." I chuckled. Mac stifled a growl. He knew I was a joker, but he seemed a little anxious.

     I followed them around for a bit dropping comments while Mac went through the history of Barken. Mac had been born in Barken, and he'd never been anywhere else. He recounted the history of how Barken had been razed to the ground throughout its history - mostly by marauding bands from Cherry - how people kept coming back and building it up again, and he introduced Cathy to one of the sentries, Bill.

     "Hey, Bill, cammere! Want ya to meet someone!" Mac cried out to attract his attention. Bill jogged over and smiled.

     "Oh, you brought something home from Cherry, how sweet," Bill joked.

     "Now, Bill, be nice. This is Catherine - Cathy, this is Bill Budd, one of our sentries." Cathy looked visibly shaken. Sentries were, of course, responsible for the deaths of some of the more psychotic and mobile members of Cherry's number who'd come through Barken, guns-a-blazing.

     "Hi, Bill," Cathy said, still nervous as all heck.

     "Pshaw, honey. You look like you're in a museum or somethin'. Relax, Cath. It's Barken on Friday night, not fuckin' Cherry on Sunday morning."

     "I'm just.." Cathy started to break down a bit into sniffles.

     "Aw, now Cathy, I know you're still having some trouble getting your head around that last part. It's okay.." Mac held her close and let her bury her head in his chest.

     "Last part?" Bill asked, bewildered.

     "You know, them.. uh.. dawgs.." I said, tentatively and quietly to Bill.

     "Oh, you mean 'us' dawgs?" Bill said, a little too loudly. Mac shot Bill a silent snarl, as if to scream 'shut your fuckin' mouth' with one piercing look. I punched Bill in the arm a little, and he looked forlorn.

     "Cathy, it's okay," Mac said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "We ain't gunna hurt you. It might scare ya that you're in a town, an' it'll be dark soon, and all the townies are gunna start gittin' furry, but believe me, one night is all you need and then you're over it. Cross muh heart."

     "What about me? What'll happen?" she said. "Am I gonna, you know, change?"

     "Haw, don't you worry 'bout that, Miss Catherine," I said. "If you do, we won't be expectin' it. Y'all woulda set a record for speediness there if ya did." I smiled disarmingly. "Now, let's get a move on; that sun ain't gunna wait for us."

     "Where are we going?" Catherine asked, a little relieved.

     "Oh, jus' a place I know, a mile or so south out of town down 45," Mac said. "We can sit in the back of the truck and watch the sun set and stuff."

     "Oh, yeh, an' thin we can eat Cath'rine, huh?"

     "Yes sir, Joseph. We kin eat her." Catherine now shot Mac the same look that he'd shot Bill a few minutes before. "Sorry, Cathy. Just kiddin' around. I'll get the truck."

     Mac got his truck and met us in the centre of Barken with some supplies and some blankets. Damned if the desert didn't get colder than Alaska at night, or seemed to. I rode in the back, while Cathy and Mac rode in the cab. We had the window down so we could talk.

     "So, umm.. Joe?" Cathy called to me.

     "Yaw?" I said, craning my head back.

     "Do you do this often, I mean.. coming out here with someone from Cherry like me?"

     "Naw, this is the first time," I grinned. "How 'bout you? You go out into the desert with mutts much?"

     "No, first time for me too," Catherine said, trailing off the conversation. She'd at least relaxed a bit since she'd arrived. I noticed though that her scent wasn't right. Something about her suggested that she was covering something up. She really didn't want to be here, and yet she was. Why? I guessed I'd found out. I felt the itch of the night start to come over my belly, but I didn't fight it.

     "We there yet, Mac?" I called, my voice coarsening.

     "Awlmost.. hey, you stable back there?" Stable meant 'was I in the middle of changing or whut?'. If you've been in Barken long enough, it's easy to spot someone going furry. Their voice is the first thing to go funny. Then they get all dizzy for a while. Then some things like hands and feet change.. the fur is usually the last thing. It's kinda embarrassing to have it happen when you're not lookin' for it, but teenagers around Barken get that a lot.

     "Naw, I'm a little bouncy. I'll try and keep a lid on it, 'kay?" I could tell Catherine was getting agitated just by smelling her scent again. Oh yeh, she wasn't very happy to be around.

     "'Kay, Joe. Just you keep a lid on it.. how long it been since you last went through anyhow?"

     "Too long, ah think. I can't hold this shit back too much longer. How far to this place, Mac?" I got to feelin' my fingers go limp. That's not usually a good sign if y're plannin' on entertainin' that night.

     "Like how long?" Mac's voice started to take on some stern tone which I knew meant he was gunna get pissed at me real soon now.

     "I dun-no, Mac. Stop talkin' about it - hackin' on me 'bout it ain't gunna make it go away." I started to pant while my tail bone started to twist. I knew then that it'd be a rough ride from now on. See, the tail bein' one of the more important aspects of what divides a dawg and a human, it's hard to get rid of once you got it. And it did not want to just git up and go.

     "Joe, what's going on?" Catherine called out.

     "Nothin', Cathy, just got a little problem. See, if I bottle stuff up for too long, it gets hard to keep under my skin, you know what I'm sayin'? And it musta been a few weeks since I last let the dog out for a walk, so chances are you're gunna git to see what y'all Cherry townfolk are so anxious about."

     Cathy's smell changed from fear to terror. She started sobbing.

     "I won't let him hurt you, honey," Mac said, freeing one arm to put it around her. Suddenly, she screamed. The car ground to a halt, throwing me against the cab.

     Catherine ran out onto the road, stopping when she was over the other side. I craned my head back to look at Mac, and chuckled to myself. "You callin' me a bottler and you ain't even skinned, dude."

     Mac's arms had gotten all furry and his hands had got to be paws without him even noticing they were. His face was alright though. He looked up at me. I'd held pretty much everything back so far, 'cepting that my fingers had got a little puffy. I stood up in the trailer and looked around.

     "This here'll do nicely, Mac. Let's get the supplies out." Mac lurched the car forward off the road, drove for a little, and stopped. The red brake-lights faded off, and it was just me, Mac, and Catherine.

     Catherine stayed over her side of the road for a while. She wasn't so keen on sharing food and beer with us, but damned if she wasn't a bit cold-lookin' by the time the sun had fully set and the stars were startin' to peep.

     Mac had completely lost his form and was what us Barkenfolk call 'in-betweenin'' - that's to say that he was bits and pieces from dog and human. I'd kept myself together, mostly.

     "Git over there and talk to 'er for me," Mac grumbled. "At least git her a blanket or somethin'." Mac was still in the cab, almost completely shadowed. I could tell though from the shadow that he was in no shape to be talkin' to Catherine right now.

     "Okay, but she might not wan' it, Mac." I got her blanket ready in my hand, then I jumped down onto the road. My shoes started to feel a little tight at the toes. Dog feet don't go in shoes.

     "Here, Cathy," I said, offering her the blanket. She looked a little shocked that I'd come near her. I sat down by her and draped the blanket over her shoulders. She took it gently in her hands and pulled it over her like a grey shawl.

     "Now go," she said.

     "I beg y'r pardon, ma'am?" I said.

     "I said for you to leave me alone. Go back to your car, you freak!" She screamed the word 'freak' at me with all that trademark Cherry poison, and it just made me sit down across from her, crossed legs.

     "Now, Cathy, we are what we are. Whither that makes us freaks don't matter. But you are our guest, and it ain't polite to be callin' your host a freak, y'hear?" I sighed and watched her bow her head, reciting some prayer or other. I heard 'demon' and 'devil' and 'shepherd' and all. I went back to the truck for some food, and decided to take some back to her. Mac was still swigging beer. He was on his fourth.

     "Mac, you better be sober by dawn," I said, bein' pissed at him for the future.

     Mac barked at me, and I took a closer look. "Hell, Mac. I only been here a year or two and I can rope it in better'n you can." Mac's head was all dogged. There wasn't much of Mac the man left. Just Mac the mutt. I could tell though - he'd been here so long, the magic was stronger in 'im. "I'm sorry, Mac," I apologised, helping myself to some chips and taking the packet with me. I walked back across the road. Mac started barking. "Jeeze, Louise, Mac. I'll save you some damn chips." The barking stopped.

     I turned to Catherine. "He c'n get a little emotional as a dawg. Don't worry, though; it's still Mac." I offered her the packet. She shied for a minute, then reached her hand in and took a chip out, placing it in her mouth. I bent over to crouch down in front of her and I really felt the stub of my darn tail up against my pants. I yelped a little and decided lyin' down on my back would be the best idea.

     I pushed the chips toward her again. She wasn't so shy next time.

     "You still want me to go 'way, Miss Cathy?" I jibed.

     "No, and I want to say I'm sorry for saying all that stuff to you before, Joe. I'm.. just not sure how to handle this."

     "Go with it, I guess," I shrugged. "Ah d'no." I leaned back again and my stomach started to growl.

     "Is it safe for me to be here?" Cathy began again. "I mean.. you guys aren't wolves or anything I know, but I heard that-"

     "Ah, don't worry. A lot of that is jus' made-up stuff. We may not have a church, and we may not be the perfect town that Cherry is, but we sure don't bite until we're bitten. That goes for me, and Mac over there." Mac barked again.

     "Okay, right.." Cathy was still unsure.

     Finally, I snapped. "Would it be easier for you to believe me if uh showed you?" I asked her. "Cuz I'd like to show you if it'll calm y'all down."

     Cathy nodded slowly. "Okay. Show me, Joe."

     "Okay.." I took my shirt off, and the cold started to dance all around my skin. "Now, y'all might wanna run away while it happens, but it's okay. I'm told that I'm real friendly when ah'm a dawg." I smiled and unbuckled my belt, then I took my pants off. There weren't nothin' on me but underwear and that was only cuz I didn't want Cathy to see that I was kinda hard. It was embarrassin' enough for me.

     "Mac over there is what we call a Shep - that's short for German Shepherd. Me though, I'm.. well, you'll get to see, ah guess." I flexed my toes a little bit, then I got all shut up about it. I knew she was watchin' and she expected a show of it. I felt real uncomfortable right then, and it was only when she stood up and looked at me that it loosened.

     "You don't have to show me right now, Joe. We have all night," she said, walking over to Mac.

     "There's.. some other stuff in the cab if y're hungry, Catherine. I don't think we're gunna be out here for too much lawnger then we hafta be." I started to feel that itch coming again, startin' at my belly. My tailbone started moving around again. "Shit, it's startin' on me again."

     Catherine looked around at me, and even though my back was turned I heard her comin' over to me to see my front-side. Already I could feel my underwear startin' to get loose around my thighs. Not too long 'fore it'd be droppin' down my legs.

     Catherine looked scared for a sec, then she looked at me around the face. "Can I feel it?" she said, touching her hand on my belly. I started to feel the underwear stretch at the front too, though I'm not sure if she noticed or not since she was pretty interested in what was happenin' to me above the waist. I gulped when I felt her fingers start rufflin' through the short fur on my belly, which was gettin' thinner. She started makin' me all warm by rubbin' there. I kept thinkin' to myself that if she kept rubbin' that exact same spot for a few more minutes, I'd be a real happy dawg.

     I started gettin' to the dizzy part where the idea is to get on your hands and feet before you fall over. "Catherine, I gotta lie down 'fore I fall over and hurt muhself," I said, walkin' over to the truck and haulin' my dizzy ass over into the trailer. Cathy followed me, cuz she wanted to see what'd happen next. Mac was too busy attending to food to care.

     I lied back and whined. Some parts of the change hurt a little, like the paws. I held up my hand for her to see, then let the change spread into my arms. Muh elbows got pointy and started to bend along my body like a dawg's will, and muh fingers started to clump together and the bones cracked. Cathy held one of my oversized paws in her hand, and couldn't believe it had been a hand not ten seconds ago. By now, my tail was well and truly out, still not finished growin' yet.

     "Cathy, could ya take my pants off, please?" I said, and I noticed my voice was all growly. Not too much longer 'fore neither me or Mac could talk. I could already feel the places above my yapper where my whiskers were waitin' to push through. Cathy looked at me funny when I asked her that. "It's so they don't tear, I promise." I held my legs up and she pulled them off my changin' back legs slowly. My paws were all goin' in the air on the end of mostly dawg legs by now.

     Cathy looked down between my legs, and looked embarrassed again. I blushed too, cuz I could feel the tip wavin' around in the air some. I could feel it goin' dry, too. Havin' a dry pet ain't no fun, but I didn't lick it in case she really freaked. My face was startin' to change now, and I could feel my nose twistin' and reshapin'. Cathy started to back away some more - up 'till then, see, my face had been mostly human. But once you lose that part, the rest is pretty quick to foller. I tried muh best to look pathetic and started to wag my tail. It didn't help matters none. She kept her distance all the same. My top lip started to split and tear into black up into my snout. I could feel muh ears start changin' too - goin' all floppy an' lawng. It was nearly over.

     Very slowly, I got to my feet and watched her, still waggin' muh tail. I could see she wasn't too happy that one moment, there'd been a naked guy, and the next there was a black Labrador dawg starin' at her, but I tried to be understandin'. I got closer and licked her gently on the cheek. She squirmed a little, then she reached up to rub her hand through what was very real fur on my dawg'd neck.

     The next bit I don't remember so well, cuz she hit the deck and there was a crash an' a bang and 'fore I knew it I was head-over-tail into the cab. I think the girl passed out or some'n. I looked back at Mac as if I was sayin', "Should we leave'er and hid back f'r help?" and Mac looked back like, "Th'r's bacon an' cheese dip here if you wan' it."

     Dawg's gotta have his pri-orities after all.

     Me an' Mac finished off what was left of the food, and then we tried twistin' our dawgy asses back to some reasonable approximation of humanity. No such luck. Mac was stuck as a Shep and my Labrador butt wasn't budgin' - folks, ya gotta meter this stuff out; don't bottle it up cuz it'll come an' bite your ass red raw like it did to me an' Mac that night. Stuck out in the middle o' noplace with an unconscious Catholic might sound like a purdy i-dea for some of you, but to us it was a dilemma we had t'fix fast. Real fast. So 'ventually, we decided that it'd be a good time t'catch forty winks and hope the Grand Ol' Dawg would be kind to us and help us find a way back to humanity. I curled up on my own, and Mac decided he'd be the gentleman and lay his furry body next to the sleepin' girl. Guess it was kinda past her bedtime anyhow.

     When we woke up, it was real dark. Damn dark. Pitch dark. At one edge of the sky, the dawnlight was coming up. It was also colder than Hell frozen over. I fumbled 'round to find myself in-betweenin', but Mac decided that dawg would suit him just fine for the time bein'. It was also evident that Cathy wasn't unhappy about this idea either, as she was huggin' and snuggin' that lucky dawg in her sleep like it was a toy. I laughed a little then heard something which made my neck snap.

     Gunshot. And it came from the north, back home.

     I nudged against Mac. "Hey, Mac, I think I heard a gun."

     "Wut? You heard a whut?" he grumbled, much to my surprise. He was a quick changer

     "A gun, you know, bang bang."

     "Close?"

     "Naw, Mac. Back in Barken." Then I heard about six shots fired quick, one after the other. The sentries carry six-shooters, so I knew something was up. "Did you hear that?"

     "I heard that alright," Mac said, getting up and waking Catherine. "I hope it's not what I think it is."

     Catherine stirred. "What is it, Mac?"

     "Damn stiffs are pointin' thar fuckin' boom sticks at Barken again. Let's get back into town." Mac quickly dressed himself and jumped in the cab.

     "I think I know who it might be, too," Catherine said, a tinge of guilt on her face. "I told my daddy I'd be down here-"

     Mac hung his head before he started the car. "Shit, an' now he's come lookin' for ya." He twisted the key in the car. "I don't know how y'all in Cherry got to be so fucked up." The engine roared to life. "I just don't know, Cathy." The car lurched and reversed back out onto 45, then Mac slammed it into first and floored the gas pedal.

     "Mac, I'm sorry.." Cathy began.

     "Cathy, you don't have to be sorry," I said, but my muzzle made it hard for me to talk. Cathy looked at me; she couldn't see much from the light in the cab, but it was enough once her eyes got used to it.

     "You guys aren't the scheming devils from the South that Cherry makes you out to be; that's for sure." She sat on that thought, then leaned over and kissed me on the tip of my nose. If she coulda seen me blushin', she woulda. Things being as they were, my tail just started waggin'. It was enough for her.

     We were at least another few minutes away from Barken, but I could tell that it wasn't gunna be pretty once we got back. Something deep in my gut told me to stay down.

     "Where is she!?" came the yell. That was the first thing I understood as we drove into sight of a shiny Mercedes car. "Where the fuck is my Catherine Louise?" He fired his shotgun into the air.

     It was almost dawn-time. Everyone had been woken by the screamin' and shotgun-firin' though, so not a soul was left sleepin'. They were all up, outside. Some dawgs, some in-betweens, but mostly human. Looked like there'd been some casualties yet, but nothin' serious.

     Catherine's father looked up at the car as it approached. He didn't see Cathy behind the cab, but he fired on us anyway. The screech of brakes and the rattle of buckshot riddlin' the engine was all I heard from back in the trailer.

     "Daddy?" came Catherine's voice. "Don't hurt anyone, daddy, I'm okay."

     "Catherine? Is that you?" Her dad's voice went from angry to really scared for her little girl. Not that she was in any danger, not with me an' Mac. Mac stepped out of the cab, looking slightly annoyed.

     "I'm no mechanic, sir, but I'd say you jus' fucked my truck right up with that there boom stick of yours. Now, your daughter is safe, so why don't you just put that thing down and this'll all be done, real soon now, and we can all get some sleep." Mac went to the man slowly.

     "Where did you take her?" the man said, startin' to get pissed again.

     "Out of town to watch the sun set. Please, put down your gun."

     The man raised the barrel to Mac's chest. One pull of the trigger and Mac would be chopped meat. "Did you fuck her?"

     "No sir, I-" Mac started to back away.

     "DID YOU?!" the man screamed, spittin' his words like they were acid from a cobra.

     "No!" Cathy screamed, piping up from the back of the van. Now, either the gun jus' went off or whatnot because that would have been the last thing Mac woulda heard 'fore his head got turned to meat sauce. I heard lots of small chunks hit the cab, and stray buckshot go into the engine again. Cathy didn't take it so well.

     "Daddy!" she screamed. "You killed him!"

     "Yah, I killed him, sweetheart. He was a demon, a devil! He would have killed you if it weren't for me!" The man raised his voice. "Just like the rest of the folk in this town; they're all the work of Satan. You're all beasts, perversions of God's form. I should destroy you all!" He started to reload his shotgun.

     "Daddy, no!" Catherine screamed.

     "I have to.. protect you, everyone in Cherry knows what you all are, you evil creatures! Bastard spawn of man and beast!"

     "No, daddy, you don't know what you're talking about!" Catherine pleaded with him. "Just go home, daddy."

     "I know damn well what I'm talking about, you stupid little bitch! You obviously don't or you'd be back at home, in bed, where you belong, instead of running around the desert conducting naked orgies with animal-people! You're no better than they are, you whore!" He sighed sadly. "My own daughter - lost to lust."

     Suddenly, I couldn't stand it any more. I'd lost my best friend to some psycho gun-totin' maniac and it was nearly dawn and I really wanted to get into bed and forget this entire damn incident. "Is this what everyone in Cherry is like? Fucked-up old farts with nothin' better to do than terrorise us folk? And you call us monsters? Fuck you!"

     The man froze. It was risky, but I think I got him on that one.

     "What makes us so evil when we're not the ones runnin' around blowin' folks' heads off? Dammit, we mind our own business at least." I was pissed at this guy. Really pissed. I hoped he could see it. I could definitely feel it.

     "I think I'd better get out of here, Joe." Catherine turned to me. "I'm sorry about this whole thing. If I had've known..."

     "Cathy, you didn't know. We both lost some'un very special to us tonight, and we're both real damn sorry. But life goes on regardless, honey." I held her hand out of sight for a second. "You don't have to apologise for your fucked-up species least of all." I looked down at Catherine's daddy, leanin' over his car for support.

     Catherine jumped off the truck, and started to walk toward her father, quickly-like. He was kinda stunned by what I'd said. She soon had the shotgun off him. Not so long after that, they were both off up highway 45, leaving us Barken folk to clean up the mess. I wasn't too pleased that the bastard got away with what he did, but I heard that he was makin' plans to leave Cherry soon as he could. I don't know how he got away with what he did. Sometimes the law turns a blind eye down here, but I guess it's always been like that.

     Later that day, Mac's truck was towed to that spot we were at and left there to remind us of that mornin'. I think o'Cathy sometimes. I wonder what she's doin' an' if she's ever plannin' to come back. Maybe she might one day, but if her memories of Barken are as painful as my memories of her time in Barken - fallin' in love, then watching another love blow that first love's head clean off - than I'd be reluctant to come back too.

     I hope one day, everyone in Cherry will be like Catherine. Fat chance, but I can dream on, can't I?

		Barken Index