Day 5 Who: Ben Where: Echo-4 When: Day 5, early morning
After his meeting with the highly unwelcoming woman on his first day in this place, Ben had made his way back to the place that had been allocated to him, his sense of direction not letting him down. He'd gone in and shut the door, and decided not to move from there for the rest of the day and night.
He'd stuck to his decision.
He HAD intended on going out and investigating the place further on his second day, and having slept well and awaking refreshed he thought he'd keep to that plan, but he changed his mind once he was showered and dressed. There were a few reasons for this:
He'd read the vague yet highly disquieting message on his computer, regarding somebody he'd never heard of.
The weather was actually rather lovely, once the rain had definitely stopped around midday, but by that time the urge to go out had waned.
More disturbing, however, was the fact that Ben seemed to be assaulted from all sides by an almost intolerable array of scents. He thought at first that there must be an overactive room fragrance plug-in somewhere, but searching the entire property proved fruitless. Not only that, but the smells seemed to change slightly as he moved around, with the same basic ingredients, but in shifting quantities.
He HAD got as far as opening the door to go out, but was almost knocked on his back by the concentration of aromas. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it was extremely powerful and he'd retreated behind the closed door again and stayed there. Consequently, he'd met nobody. He would remedy it, he told himself, but not just yet. Besides, he could always communicate via his computer if he needed to, it seemed.
By evening, he'd still not become completely accustomed to the strength of the local smells but, bored and restless because of his inactivity, and with what felt like mild neuralgia in his jaw, he'd got himself ready for bed.
He'd slept poorly, tossing and turning for a couple of hours.
Then the pain had hit.
Dear God... Ben hadn't even been able to cry out. The pain was so intense that it took his breath away. The second pain DID elicit a vocal response and the third had him falling out of his bed to the floor, where he rolled in agony for a short while, screaming for help and not giving a damn that he was far from being his reassured self. He had no idea how he managed to refrain from vomiting at the cracks and snaps which announced his fingers breaking, but then he wasn't thinking too coherently at this stage.
His spine popped at it began to restructure itself and, for a second, Ben felt as though it was being dragged downwards, out of his body. It was only when he caught a sense of movement in his peripheral vision that he dimly noticed a tail thrashing. A white tail...
... at least it seemed to be white. It was hard to tell because now he could only see in black and white and... SHIT, his jaw...
He screamed again, the noise no longer sounding even remotely human as it shifted smoothly and effortlessly into a howl of agony and rage. The only good thing was the pain from the change in his jaw and mouth and nose masked the pain of his legs shortening, his knee now right up against his side, his feet longer and much thinner, his toes visibly shortening and narrowing and his nails breaking off as large, curved, sharp claws forced their way through the beds.
He got to his feet and staggered. The pain still hadn't gone, but it seemed to be abating slightly. He panted in short, sharp breaths, showing his agitation.
He was... wrong. Walking was wrong. He walked like a newborn pup.
He needed to find the forest. His nose raised and sniffed the air, and he growled low in his throat. The stink of Human was strong here.
He moved quietly around the place, his eyes occasionally catching the moonlight which gave it an almost unearthly glow. He found no Human, but could still smell...
He was hungry. The door was near. He remembered that. He made his way to it but it was closed. He growled again, all the pain gone now, and lifted himself onto his back feet, pawing at the door with his front paws and claws. The door stayed closed.
Ben backed away a little, then suddenly SNARLED and threw himself at the thing that stopped him from being Outside. It didn't move. He was trapped.
That was when he went mad.
By the time he'd calmed down again, Ben had destroyed everything he could find that smelled of Human. And he hurt again. His blood was on the walls and on the floors, and on the door that kept him locked in. Ben would make the Human pay who had locked him in here. The sky was already starting to lighten a little and Ben was tired from his exertions in destroying what he could of the Human.
He went back to the room he'd awoken in, jumped on the bed and curled up, licking his paw which had bled when he'd broken a claw.
He SNARLED once more, then whined, put his head down on the cover and closed his eyes.