Feral, Chapter 1

        I woke up to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.  I opened my eyes, and for a moment wasn't sure where I was.  I was surrounded by rock, except for the ceiling of my little alcove which was made up of wooden planks.  I stood up (on all fours, of course) and padded over to the hole behind me.  The wooden ceiling continued towards the ocean just beyond, with two sets of wooden pillars, making a road through the sand below to the sea.
        Right, I slept under the pier last night.
        I'd had bad luck scavenging.  Eventually I had gotten hungry enough to swipe a bag of chips from a convenience store a few blocks away.  The store owner doesn't like it when store goods are stolen by a six foot long quadruped.  I don't like stealing either.  I don't have any money on me and...well, I used to remember how debit cards worked.  I know I payed for some things with them in the past, anyways.  Doesn't matter right now.  I fled with my stolen goods to the dock, curled up in the nook, and ate.  Sometime after I was done eating, I fell asleep.
        Back to the present.  I curled my neck around, looking left then right.  Ahh, there it is.  The chip bag was flattened, empty on the ground.  I poked it with my nose to be sure: I was rewarded with a crinkling noise, but no more chips.  Today would be a busier day than usual, I had to get back to my home as well as my usual 'scavenging for food' and 'avoiding things bigger than me or armed'.
        I shouldn't waste any more time then.  I trotted out of the hole and to the side of the dock, pausing to bask in the warmth of the sun for a moment.  Then I darted over to a nearby bush and started making my way back towards the city.

                                                                          ***

        The city centre is a dangerous place.  It's my home, too, but that doesn't stop it from being dangerous.  Lots of people around there, which means plenty of places people don't want me to be and I'm more likely to be spotted if I have to move through any of them.  At least that's how it is in the day time.  Night isn't much better, once all the people leave other scavengers come out.  My favourite times are early morning and early evening.  Just enough people to scare things off, but not enough to really make it dangerous.  Plus the colour almost matches my dull-orange hide, making it easier for me to conceal myself.
        But no, now is not the time for that.  First I need to get home, get safe.  I can ponder strategy all I want after I get there, and maybe after a meal.  I should at least wait for the sun to start going down before I wander around any more.
        The journey home was about as uneventful as it could be, given the circumstances, and I was able to stick to the less busy streets and hide in bushes or under cars whenever I was spotted.  A couple times while crossing roads I nearly got hit by a car.  In one of the back alleys I went through I startled a person going the opposite direction, but I managed to dart up a fire escape before she could recover.  I waited until a few minutes after she left before coming back down off the roof, just to be safe.  Very uneventful for daylight hours.
        After about an hour of sprinting and hiding as I was, I finally made it to the edge of downtown and the abandoned building where I lived.  Though it was obvious the building was abandoned, The exterior was in fairly good shape.  It was covered in grime, and plants were beginning to climb up the walls, though for the most part the brick of the walls was still a vibrant red.  Most of the windows were boarded up, save a few where the board had been broken open.  I headed toward one such window, and after a quick look around to make sure nothing was watching I put my front paws on the sill then vaulted into the room beyond.
        Inside the building showed the lack of maintenance much more than on the exterior.  The floor was covered in debris, most of which was either garbage (well it was by now anyways) or pieces of the walls, though in this particular room there the junk was placed a little more purposefully.  When I'd first decided to live in this room, I'd spent a couple days making it more comfortable.  I'd gathered up some tables and chairs from the rest of the building and wedged them in front of the door.  By now the door itself was no longer intact, but the piled furniture still made an effective barrier against intruders for the most part.  In the corner next to the furniture barrier, there were a couple discarded blankets piled into a makeshift bed.  Lastly, in the opposite corner just under the hole in the window, was a small box.
        The box contained a flashlight, a couple pieces of chalk, an unopened box of bandages, a crumpled five-dollar bill, a small calender a couple years out of date and a laminated piece of paper I'd found with the multiplication table from 1 to 12 on it.  The last was something I made sure to look at and review once every couple days.  I don't exactly remember why, I vaguely remember it had something to do with keeping myself human, but it was important and for the time being that was enough.  Everything was something I thought would be useful at some point.
        A snap from outside the room interrupted my train of thought.  I spun my head toward the hole to the outside and froze, listening.  Another snap, closer this time and now I could make out the direction.  It was from inside the building.  I climbed on top of the pile blocking the doorway and peered out into the hall through a hole that had been punched through the door itself.
        The hall wasn't any better than my room, in fact the few times I'd been in there it seemed worse.  My room at least now had a bare minimum of organization, the biggest pieces of debris were piled up and being marginally helpful....I shook my head, I needed to pay attention.
        Ahh crap, it's her again.  Out in the room beyond, another feral was searching the area.  She was  the same species as I was, with the same conical head, the same long, slender tail and the same canine body, all covered in lizard-like scales.  Different colours though, she was bright green with yellow stripes running from her head to her tail, which was much worse camouflage than my own red brown in the city.  On the other hand, I could see she was covered in scars, even from this distance.  She'd been in many more fights than I had, and survived.
        She'd moved into the area a couple days ago and had been trying to claim the whole building as her territory.  I didn't need the whole building, but apparently she did.  She hadn't figured out that the only way into my room for something our size was from outside the building, and so when not out hunting she was searching for me.
        I ducked down from the hole before she had a chance to look my direction.  Today was something of an ordeal, and I didn't want to fight the other feral on a good day anyways.  I was more tired than hungry, so I jumped softly down to the blanket pile then lay down, ignoring the light still streaming in the hole of the boarded up window and falling asleep minutes later.

                                                                          ***

        I woke up in darkness.  Not quite pitch black, some light poured in from a streetlight, but enough to make it hard for me to others and for others to see me.  I yawned, stretched and got out of my makeshift bed slowly.  It would be some time before the sun started to rise, so I had some time to kill.  I spent a few minutes listening, then on hearing nothing but the usual creaks of the building and a little wind I climbed the debris wall and peered out into the hall again.  I couldn't see the female, but I also couldn't see the opposite wall due to the lack of light.  Still, no noises other than me moving around, she was either asleep or out scavenging.
        A little voice inside me told me it would be safer to wait until early sunup, but I hadn't eaten since yesterday and hunger currently outweighed my other thoughts, I walked to the far wall and jumped through the hole in the wall.
        The easiest place to get a quick meal was the dumpster in the parking lot a couple buildings down, this was where I headed first.  I was able to move fairly quickly, being nighttime (early morning?  I don't have a sense of time anymore) the only things likely to spot me were other scavengers so hiding wasn't really necessary as long as I kept my distance.  I arrived at the dumpster without incident, and after a quick look around I jumped up on the side of the dumpster and stuck my head in.  I started sniffing around, getting some of a number of smells that I remember used to make me gag.  You get used to it after a while though, the smells don't bother me anymore.  After a few minutes couldn't find anything that smelled even remotely edible so I gave up.  A good rule of thumb is the easiest places to find food are also the least likely to have any and this time was no exception.  I moved on.
        I poked my head in another dumpster about a block down, this time there was something.  However as I went to jump in I caught another smell, that made me remember why I preferred less popular times.  I smelled some animal, someone had beaten me to this one.  I was still for a moment as I idly wondered what was in the dumpster when a hiss from underneath some bags inside the dumpster.  I started to search for it when a brown blur lunged at my face.  I recoiled just in time to avoid getting scratched.  The cat hissed again, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble and moved on once more.
        I checked several more dumpsters, all of which had been claimed by the time I got to them.  I found a couple pieces of pizza crust taken from a trashcan I looked in on a whim, which I wolfed down immediately on finding them.  Inspired by the success, I checked a couple more garbage cans, finding and eating an apple core in one before discovering something so putrid even I found it unpalatable, in another.  I decided now would be a good time to get to sleep.  The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.  I usually went to sleep a little later, but yesterday was more exciting than usual and I was now more tired and less hungry.
        I made my way back to the abandoned apartment.  As soon as I saw that the scarred female was patrolling the outside, I dived into a nearby bush.  She didn't see me, and after several minutes of me waiting she moved on and I returned to my home, crawled into my makeshift bed and fell asleep, waking several hours later as the sun was just beginning to set.

                                                                          ***

        The days started to blur together again.  My days were generally the same, waking up at dawn, scavenging for a bit, then sleeping through the rest of the day and waking up again at sunset, and scavenging again.  Repeat indefinitely.  Every couple days I made sure to look at the multiplication table again.  Some days, if I was particularly curious, after finding my meal for the day I would look around for interesting items.  Some I dug out of trash piles, some I found in random places and others I stole when their owners weren't paying attention.  That's how I got all the items in the box, though most things I found I ultimately discarded, or in a few cases returned when I was done with them.
        I think several weeks passed without any particular mention.  I don't really keep track of time these days, beyond knowing when the sun goes up or comes down.  Several months had gone by when I saw him.  A young man, average height and build, with a fairly unremarkable face.  He was wearing a trench coat, with a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers underneath.  By all accounts an average human, which I saw plenty on a regular basis.  So why was I terrified by him?
        Don't get me wrong, you need to be careful around humans.  They're not particularly strong or fast, but they're clever.  And they have machines.  They aren't generally a problem though, as long as you keep your distance.  Don't get near them and they'll leave you alone.  This was the first time one every really made me afraid.  Something about the face was stirring an old memory, but I didn't know what.  I just knew I was afraid.  I spent only a couple seconds watching the man the first time, before running back toward home.  He turned and saw me just as I was getting out of his vision and called out something I couldn't quite make out, in response I put on a sudden burst of speed.
        I ran straight home without stopping, nearly getting run over by cars twice in the process.  Once finally in the safety of my home my adrenaline finally left me, but the fear lingered.  I tucked myself under a blanket and shivered for some time, before finally achieving sleep.
        I had strange dreams that night, dreams in which I was walking on two legs.  I haven't had dreams like that for some time now.

                                                                          ***

        The next two days past without incident, but the man was back on the afternoon of the third day.  Between my leaving for home at the time anyways and the fear I was caused by his presence I didn't catch more than a glimpse.  He was in a car, on of those ones with the blue and red flashing lights.  Not wanting to be spotted, I started being a little more careful.  I spent less time outside, filling the time by playing with the box items.  There was about a week of relative normalcy, where despite us catching more brief glimpses of each other my cautious behaviour paid off, and life went on otherwise unchanged.
        It didn't last.  The man started using a car, and I started seeing him drive past the abandoned building that was my home a couple times a day.  I had to be more careful and sneaky, sometimes waiting several minutes outside my home before actually being able to get inside without being spotted.
During one of these times, while watching him from the bushes with the hole to my home taunting me only a couple metres away, I had a thought.  Of course I'm scared of him, he looks just like me.  Wait no, that doesn't make any sense.  WHAT IS GOING ON?!
        I panicked and fled, and in doing so knocked over a garbage can, causing a small racket. The man pulled the car over, opening the door and jumping out almost before it had stopped, and gave chase.  The only thing I could do was run directly away, which in this case took me down a nearby back alley.  I knocked over a stray garbage can with a hind leg for good measure.  I took a quick look back as I neared the street at the other end of the alley and noticed, to my continued dismay, that the human had managed to keep pace with me.  I don't think I've ever seen a human run so fast in my life.  With no further, options, I darted to the right and started running down the sidewalk, weaving between the legs of the few other people walking about at this time of night.  Hoping the confusion would slow down my pursuer, it had the unfortunate consequence that everyone jumped out of the way in surprise and made the path clear for the human chasing me.  He was gaining ground fast.
        I looked frantically around for an escape route as I ran, and spotted a gap at the bottom of a chain link fence on the other side of the street.  Running low on time, I darted out onto the road without warning whereupon several things happened in rapid succession.  First, I saw a bright light shine in one eye, blinding me somewhat.  The human chasing me stopped and shouted "NO!".  Then something large, fast and heavy impacted my left side, sending me sprawling across the pavement.  I heard a soft crunch and there was a sudden, sharp pain in the entire rear left section of my body.
        I started to feel a little lightheaded, I was in severe pain and one of my legs wasn't working right.  Still only thinking about escape, I struggled to right myself and started dragging my leg along, trying to reach the other side of the road.  I had just managed to reach the sidewalk when everything started to go black, my last experience being the human who'd been chasing me this whole time running up to me, repeatedly muttering "Shit" "This is bad" under his breath, and saying "This wasn't supposed to happen..." just as I blacked out entirely.

                                                                          ***

        I was aware of very little of what happened over what I would later learn was the next couple days.  I kept fading in and out of consciousness.
        Fade in.  I'm being carried, by the human who was chasing me.  I've been wrapped in something soft.  Fade out.
        Fade in.  I'm in a vehicle.  I can tell, as there's a constant vibration with no visible source.  I've been placed on the cushioned back seats.  The whole experience felt oddly familiar, though I can't remember the last time I was in a car.  Fade out.
        Fade in.  I'm in a metal box of some sort, with smooth walls and floor and a door made of several metal rods in a crisscross pattern.  Beyond the door I saw a white room with a sterile look to it.  I didn't black out, and as such I was able to take in more from my surroundings.
        The chamber I was in, I noticed, had a small ledge with no purpose I could immediately recognize, as well as a two small dishes with water and then some sort of pet food in them.  Around me I could smell and hear the presence of many other animals, fortunately it seemed like they were all about my size or smaller and further most were asleep right now.  In my more immediate vicinity, I noticed I was sitting in something about the same shape as the food and water dishes, though larger and padded.  In doing so I also noticed something wrapped around my right hind leg, as well as feeling a dull throbbing pain in the leg.  Turning so I could look back at myself, I saw that the leg and a large portion of my hip was wrapped in what looked like bandages, though hardened instead of soft.
        I kept watch for several moments, not sure what I was doing here or ever where I was.  After a few minutes of sitting still I started to poke around the chamber.  Satisfied that everything was durable and I wouldn't be disturbed, as well as still being tired from the whole ordeal, I fell asleep fairly quickly.

                                                                          ***

        I woke to the sensation of someone lifting me out of the chamber, causing me to to come to with a start.  Not knowing what was going on, and preferring to stay on my own four...three legs, I struggled, trying to wriggle free.  I was more tired than I first thought however, and the dull pain was still there.
        "Easy now, I'm not going to hurt you.  I just need to make sure everything went okay.  Relax; that's it."
        Too weak to get myself free, I let myself go mostly limp and noticed the man was true to his word.  He picked my up gently (which surprised me a bit, given my size) and carefully carried me over to a table connected to some sort of device, setting me down on top of it.  I lay down on the table and closed my eyes, starting to drift off again, as the man pressed some buttons on the device and it hummed to life.  I tried to stay awake, a little nervous about what the machine was doing, but it didn't seem to be doing anything.  I feel asleep again.
        I woke up to voices.
        "...never seen anything like it.  Look at this: The bone's already noticably starting to heal."
        "How long will you have to keep him here?"
        "I've never seen recovery this fast so I'm not entirely sure, but if I had to guess I'd say only about a week.  Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what's so important about a stray anyways?"
        There was a pause before the second person spoke again.  "...You could say he's an old friend."
        "Old pet huh?"
        The second voice was silent.  I slowly opened my eyes, finally getting a good look at the two men in the room.  One was an older man, slightly balding and wearing a white coat.  The other was the man who'd been chasing me earlier.
        I scrabbled to the back of the chamber, the noise of that causing both men to turn their heads toward me.
        "Looks like he's awake."  The balding man then shot a suspicious look toward the other.  "He seems afraid of you."
        "I..." the other man began, then hung his head.  "I made some mistakes several years ago."  He picked his head back up.  "Giving D- Damien a good home is one of two things I need to do to make up for them."
        Neither said anything for a few minutes, before the balding man raised his hands saying "Didn't mean to pry," and then walked away, leaving the other man alone with me, still squeezing myself as far to the back of my chamber as I could.  He just stood there, watching me with a pained expression on his face, before eventually speaking to me under his breath.
        "I'm sorry Dan.  None of this should have happened, but I'm going to make it right."
And then he turned and left.  Now I was curious, none of the previous things that had terrified me acted like this.  They'd all acted aggressive.  I moved away from the back wall, then contemplated while eating a few of the food pellets.  Hmm, crunchier than I'm used too, not bad though.  I had a short drink from the other bowl, and then crawled back into the bed and fell asleep again.

                                                                          ***

        The next week seemed to go by fairly quickly.  There wasn't a whole lot for me to do, but given my condition I would probably be sleeping most of the time, as I did, if I were anywhere else.  The food and water right there was nice as well, relaxing compared to my usual.  The balding man checked up on me periodically, and he also put me onto the table a couple more times, but for the most part he left me alone.  He seemed to be occupied with other animals most of the time.
        The other man visited me daily.  Particularly after the interaction that first day, but through his general manner as well I lost my fear of him by the end of the week.  Though his appearance still unnerved me.  It was just as well, at the end of the week he took me to live with him.
        After a quick talk with the balding man, whom I heard him refer to as 'doctor', he came up to my chamber carrying a blanket.  The chamber door opened, and he gently wrapped the blanket around me then picked me up and carried me out to his car, setting me down in a seat on the right side before getting into the car from the left.
        The ride home was for the most part uneventful, though for me at least had a constant air of uncertainty.  Travel in a vehicle was a new and somewhat frightening experience for me, being surrounded by noise and vibration, though I had the distinct feeling that I'd done it before.  It was otherwise quiet, the man looked down at me several times but didn't say anything.
        After a few minutes the car pulled to a stop.  The man got out, and came back a moment later and carried me from the car into the second floor apartment before setting me down.  I was finally once again able to move about on my own, though my leg still wasn't completely healed and so I was limited to a limp.  I spent a few minutes exploring the apartment.
        It was a single bedroom, though it seemed spacious enough to me.  The bedroom had beige walls and contained bed, a closet and night table, the first two of which I noted had small spaces in or under them which might make good hiding places.  Just beyond was a living room, with similar coloured walls and just had an old but soft looking couch and a television.  The kitchen, with a door way but no door separating it from the living room, was through the door opposite the one to the bedroom.  It was a white walled, room with just a counter with a number of appliances in or on it and a small, square table with three wooden chairs around it.  The door beside the one that went to the kitchen led to the bathroom, which wasn't much bigger than the closet in the bedroom, and for the most part just contained what you'd expect in a bathroom, a toilet a sink and a shower.  There was one more door, and I found that it wasn't open.  I pawed at it a bit, to see if I could push it open and in response the man, who up until now had been watching me silently the whole time said "Sorry, not yet.  That leads to the balcony, and I'm not letting you out there until you can prove you won't hurt yourself."
        He then crouched down so that he was eye level with me.
        "I think I already know the answer, but can you speak?"
        I turned toward him, and in response to his question I made a warbling noise as I'd occasionally seen others of my species do when their humans asked them to speak.  The man grimaced, as though I'd hurt him somehow.  I wasn't trying to, sure his appearance still freaked me out a bit, but he could hardly control that and he'd been really nice in just about every other way possible.  I put my head down.
        "It's not your fault..." he said quietly, patting my head.  He then stared at me for a moment, his expression reflecting dawning realization, though just what he'd realized I had no idea.  "You don't remember anything, do you?"  He stood up, muttered "Someone is gonna pay for this" under his breath before speaking to me again.  "Alright, let's start with the most basic: my name's Esao, yours is Daniel Winters, and you used to look like I now do."