When leaving Frank’s, Nick opted for the back road that ran behind the truck stop. After a few twists and turns, he came close to his destination. He parked his bike behind a tree, removed his helmet, and hung it on a mirror. After getting off the bike, he pulled a couple of the flash bangs out of his bag and put them in his pocket.

  Nick dug in his bag to produce a night vision rangefinder. He then checked the general area and stayed to the outskirts of the old playground.

  “Hmmm, doesn’t look like anyone’s home.” Nick tucked the rangefinder back in his bag and walked to the swings, checking the jungle gym and slide. *Hiding spaces are limited,* he thought to himself.

  Then he walked back to the swings and sat down. Straightening his legs, he leaned back, pulled out his pack of smokes, and thumped a cig out of the case which he put to his mouth. He checked his watch, 19:50. “Well, guess I’m earlier than expected.” Patting his pockets, he found his lighter and lit his cigarette.

  Looking up at the night sky, he closes his eyes and takes a long drag.

  “Nice evening, isn’t it?” said a cheery female voice.

  Nick tries to stay calm and not jump out of his skin while looking to his left where the voice came from, and there she was, the woman of the evening sitting in the swing right next to him. He takes a brief moment to collect himself.

  “So it really was you from the party…” he said calmly, taking a long drag off his smoke. “Well, I’m here and on time. I certainly hope you have something for me besides things leading to more questions.”

  She tried to stifle a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand. The only sound that broke the silence was the rhythmic *creak, creak, creak* of the swing as she swayed back and forth.

  “Oh! You swapped brands. No wonder your smell was a bit different tonight,” she mused, gesturing to his still-lit cigarette. “So, I take it you’ve gotten the package?” she asked in a cheery, melodic voice.

  *Man, this girl is way too upbeat—wait, I smell different? Boy, something is really off about this girl*, Nick thought to himself.

  “That’s the whole reason I'm here, and as for the Luckies instead of the Reds--you can probably blame your package for that. I couldn’t focus all day and I forgot mine at work, which meant I had to buy another pack. Also, they were out of my brand at the store. Now I’m hoping, after all this drama, to get some answers to all the questions you’ve left me with.”

  “For one: who are you? Two: how’d you get Tommy’s wallet? Three: are you working with that wolf creature? Four: Probably a few more, but I can’t think of them right now.”

  “Awww,” she said with a pouty face, then kicked her feet out mid-swing and jumped off with a hop, standing in front of Nick. “Now why would I wanna tell you any of that?” She leaned towards him, poked him on the nose lightly, and said, “Boop!” when she did it.

  Tonight she was just wearing a baggy sweatsuit, sandals, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail that went down to her very plump rump. “So then why am I even here then?!?"

  "You may have the answers you seek by the end of the night, maybe even more depending on how you do,” she said, grinning. “But that solely depends on you, your willpower, and your abilities.”

  *Depending on how I do? I’m not liking the sound of this*, Nick thought to himself.

  “So now what?”

  “You, fine sir, need to best me in combat, fight me like your life depends on it, because I assure you, it absolutely does! Defeat me in and claim your prize!”

  She hopped back a bit to put some distance between the two. Nick stood up, took a last inhale from his cig before flicking it to the side, then tossed his bag to the side by the slide.

  “Look, I don't want to fight a girl! Come on, I just want some god damned answers!”

  The only response he got back was a high-pitched, ghoulish howl emanating from the small woman that turned Nick's blood to ice—a sound of nightmares only glimpsed in the darkest of horror movies, freezing him instantly. Tiffany arched her back with her arms held back.

  Nick just stood there, paralyzed as something started happening to her. Everything about her changed; her height slowly almost double, growing from 5'1" to an imposing 8'5".

  Her feet morphed into three-toed giant paws, each toe sprouting six-inch claws that shredded the sandals she was wearing. Her joints popped and cracked, each leg contorting unnaturally as the bones twisted and realigned. With a grotesque final snap, her legs reversed below the knee joints, giving her an eerie, predatory stance reminiscent of an upright dog.

  Her once baggy sweatpants turned skin-tight, packed with muscle and short red fur. A long, fluffy tail crept out above her already taxed waistband hanging behind her, swishing back and forth.

  The same followed with her previous baggy matching sweatshirt that turned into a half tank top. It was mesmerizing watching her shirt lift up to show off her now rippling midsection, but the part that really was an attention-getter were the massive orbs that pulled at the front of her shirt, lifting it up and out, which led to a hefty amount of underboob that slowy crept out.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Her face stretched and pulled into a long snout full of long, sharp teeth, while her ears grew long and pointy. Her long, red flowing hair, with those piercing green eyes peering out, turned into a bushy mane like a lion’s that fluffed out on her head and tied into the back length of her hair that still ran pretty close to stopping at her very plump rear.

  She opened and closed her elongated fingers, accentuating her six-inch claws as they sheathed and unsheathed with a soft, menacing *Shleek*. Tiffany, glaring at Nick, tilted her head to the side, one ear twitching in a disconcerting spasm.

  With her eyes locked onto her prey, she crouched low on her haunches, her thigh muscles coiling like springs ready to unleash. Nick stared, transfixed, as dread crept through him.

  As the realization hit him like a runaway train, the color drained from his face as he pieced it together—the cute redhead girl from the party and the creature from the ride home were... one and the same.

  "Hey, stupid! Snap out of it before you get yourself killed!" his inner voice screamed at him, shaking his focus back to reality. He jerked his head side to side, forcing his mind and body to shift into survival mode.

  *Here we go,* he thinks to himself, watching her intently.

  Her lower claws clench and dig into the dirt. In one sweeping movement, she lunges towards her target, upper claws raised above her head. *Shling*—claws come down just missing him; the swing set wasn’t so lucky. Nick manages to duck and roll out of the way while unholstering his gun. He spins around on one knee, takes aim, and squeezes off three rounds. One round hits her left butt cheek, and he is rewarded with a yelp.

  “That stung, you asshole!” she roared at him. His eyes widen at what he’s seeing in the background as the swing set falls to the ground, cut in two.

  He fired off two more rounds. Like lightning, she sidestepped both and bolted toward him in a blur. Then—she was gone. He tried to get a bead on her, but she kept moving, faster than he could track. She’d disappear, then reappear, zigzagging closer and closer.

  He tried to squeeze off another round but stopped short as the wind was knocked out of him. She reappeared right in front of him, landing a hind paw squarely in his rib cage—like a star athlete punting a small child.

  Nick flies back and bounces, one, two…three…times. She made him look like a flat rock skipping across a pond. Nick rolls a couple of times to rest flat on his back, gasping for air. Before he can catch it, Tiffany's standing over him with one of her large three-toed padded paws pressing on his rib cage.

  “You have been a pain in my ass this whole evening! Literally!” she said, rubbing her left butt cheek.

  “You started this mess,” he coughed back, half expecting a piece of lung to come out from the kick.

  While Tiffany was airing her grievances of the evening, Nick got his senses back and pulled a small cylinder from his pocket, flipped the top, and pressed the lock button.

  When she seemed to notice that his attention was elsewhere, it was too late. He flicked the cylinder at her. *Phiiisshbang!* A bright white light was all she could see, her large ears rendered useless, only hearing a high-pitched ringing that didn't seem to ever end. The flash bang did the trick. She teetered back, fell down on a knee, clutching her ears and howling in pain.

  “You son of a… aaaacckkk!”

  Nick used the opening to get behind her and wrap his arm around her thick neck to put her in a sleeper hold. As he started to squeeze her, the stun was starting to wear off because she started to get up with him still holding on for dear life. She bucked and shifted on all fours, trying to toss him.

  Nick proceeded to keep putting pressure on her even as she attempted to shake him off. Like riding a rodeo bull, he held on and kept the pressure on until she started to teeter from side to side. The rage seemed to taper down, but something seemed a bit....off.

  “Harder...daddy,” she managed to growl out with a smirk. Nick obliged, readjusting his hold unintentionally, brushing her ears with his fingertips as he squeezed harder, locking down with the croock of his arm on her windpipe.

  She swayed, then became rigid. Her back arched, legs spasming before she slumped to her knees and fell backward. Nick clung to her mane. As she collapsed, he flipped onto her front to avoid being crushed.

  While Tiffany lay unconscious, Nick sat atop her massive chest, gasping for breath. As the adrenaline drained from his system, he paused to collect himself.

  “What’s that smell?” he muttered, his nose wrinkling. "I know it…but I can’t quite place it."

  He paused, his thoughts swirling as he looked down, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. The potent musk mixed with wet dog smell suddenly made sense as his gaze landed on her lower area. Nick's mind raced, piecing together why her back had arched and her legs had spasmed when he had her in a sleeper hold.

  “Really??? During all of this??? You really are a strange creature.”