At Work

I opened my eyes, almost as if it were the first time I had ever done so, and let my gaze fall across the expensively decorated board room. All my memories then came rushing back to me, the meeting, expensive contracts. Did I really fall asleep during a meeting? Oh my god, my ass is so fired. I started looking around, but there was no one else around. Odd, did they leave me here because they didn't want to wake me? Did they feel disrespected because I didn't have the courtesy to stay awake during the meeting? I used my talon and spun my chair so I could leave and go explain myself.....talon.... ? I look down at my new appendage. What the hypothetical heck? I look over my entire body and find that I am a griffon strait out of those Greek myth books I read in high school. Time for a nap then. My body hits the floor in a very much less then graceful maneuver referred to as "falling".

As I opened my eyes again, I refrained from trying to get up immediately and started to explore the new sensations from this alien body. I feel a twitch from something on my back but decide to hold off on checking that further until later. I move on to twitching my legs around and I discover that they have a backwards knee joints. Very interesting. My arms are about the same as they've always been, so that's something good I guess. The main difference is this my "hand" has three fingers instead of four. The last thing I noticed was a swishing sensation near my ass. It's kind of like when you're sitting on a bench that is too tall off the ground so your legs don't reach the floor and your legs just start kicking back and forth on their own. Well, that's all I could take and I looked around behind me to find a lions tail attached to me. I was surprised how easy it was to control and flicked it around for some minutes before I decided to find out what's going on. I discovered at that point that my clothes were a shredded mess so I left them behind.

As soon as I was was comfortable I started to stand up. It wasn't as hard as you might think. You see I own three cats, and so I'm able to make a mental image and use that to help me learn to stand because I'm part feline now I suppose. I got up and looked myself over, I guess if I stood up on two legs I would be about the height of a short human. So about 5ft 1in or something. I have dark tan fur and my feathers are black, and in a ring around my eyes, of all the colors out there, I had red feathers there. Red and black. Really? Anyway, I left the board room and made my way quickly to the security office. "J-Jim? You here? It's me, Rob. You know, from the contract management department? Hello?" I looked over the counter to find no one there. The chair the elderly man usually occupied was empty. "Damn." I cursed under my breath and after several tries managed to throw a chair through the divider glass and crawl into the security office.

Once in, I made my way to the back of the office and began searching for a way into the gun safe. I went back to the front window and found the keys on the desk...damn it Jim. No offense to the old guy, but he probably should have stopped working ten years ago. But I suppose with the economy the way it is, he couldn't afford to. Well, at least I got the keys out of the deal. I walk over the gun safe and open it up. To my disappointment, I find most of the guns are missing already, probably they were in use when all the people left. That brings me to why I'm at the gun safe in the first place. People don't just leave a perfectly good buildings in the middle of the day for no reason. Something happened. The zombie apocalypse has obviously started. I find a glock and a single magazine of 15 9mm bullets and tucked it away in a computer bag around my neck. The main perk I've found so far about this body is having hands, 'cause I can at least use guns still. I make my way out the broken window, but I trip and fall on my side outside the office.

Let me just say it was rather unpleasant. After several seconds of hissing in agony, I look at my side, half expecting to see like a nail or something sticking out of me, but what I saw shocked me more. There, on my side, was a wing. An honest-to-god feathered wing.

I made said wing twitch, and I felt the new mussels ripple and stretch out for the first time. I couldn't help it, a large smile spread across my (beak?) as I examined the foreign appendage. I checked my other side and found the wing's twin that was also extended to its full span. I flapped them carefully, the pain now faded to bearable levels, and felt my body lift up for a second. "Sweet~" I was fanboying inside, I had always wanted to fly as a child and now I probably could.

With the exploration of the rest of my body done I found I was still a guy and my back paws were clawed. If I were to describe extending claws it would be like extending your fingers out strait, then relaxing them to bring the claws back in. With that finished I made my way to the elevator, checking each hallway for zombies before creeping along. Doing it this way takes longer but I need to make sure that there is no danger before I walk right into it. I made it to the elevator unmolested and pressed the button to descend to the bottom floor, it would take a few moments to reach the bottom as I was on the 69th story at the moment. As I went down, the power went out. Good news is I have some amount of night vision. Bad news, I get to try these wings out sooner then I had hoped.

I had hopped up and managed to get out the emergency hatch in the roof of the elevator and I gazed down in the the dark abyss. Taking a few breaths I opened my wings and came to the edge. "This can't be that hard, right?" I tried to reassure myself. I took one more breath and leaped into the void.

I was doing it! I was flying, or at least gliding. I was happy for about 3 seconds before I hit the cables for the other elevator and started to fall. Should have been paying attention. I screamed as I descended, my alien voice echoing in the dark as I approached my doom. But as all seemed to be lost my instinct to survive kicked in and I twisted my body around and threw my wings out decelerating quickly but not enough before I hit the ground and was knocked out.

When I regained what I lost, mainly my consciousness, I noticed that I was at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Then, I noticed the pain in my right wing and both my front wrists but my hind legs were fine. I found nothing was broken but they were all too painful to use for the moment. I managed to push myself slowly into a sitting position and try to nurse my hands into working condition again, but I had little luck but I really needed to get out of here before the elevator came down smashed me to paste when the electricity came back on. I glanced around and noticed the elevator door for the parking garage was only a few feet up. I grunted in pain as I flew up there and started to pry the door open. I managed to get my claws in and open it enough to squeeze through and lay just outside the opening for a minute to rest. My talons weren't happy about being used so soon after so much stress.

I made my way out into the parking lot, limping along slowly, gun in hand, as I made my way to my car. Now I don't want to brag or anything, but it is a nice car. (Link to car picture. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e7TN8Malw0E/T9zcA-rv30I/AAAAAAAABeo/5kF98uw6Ayw/s1600/Very+Nice+Cars+(10).jpg ) Everything went well until I went to grab my keys to unlock the car, they were in my suit jacket back up stairs...lovely. Right when I was about to shoot myself for being a dumb dumb, I remembered I had a spare key hidden under the car and held by a magnet and slowly went to retrieve it.

Finally I had everything together and I just sat in the front seat and relaxed for a sec. What a day. I reached up and pulled down the sun blind and opened the mirror. I finally got a good look at my new face, honestly it wasn't that bad. My odd face is very expressive. I had no idea beaks could smile, or do anything for that matter beside be a beak. You learn something new everyday I guess. I sigh and lean forward, sliding the key into the ignition and starting the car. The familiar hum of the engine was calming and I glanced around for zombies one more time before putting the car into gear and pulling out of the parking-lot.

As I sped down the eerily empty highway, I tried to call someone using the car's phone, but no one answered. Also I saw no zombies at all, so I was slightly disappointed about that. I stopped at the little gun shop in town I sometimes went to when I felt like looking at cool guns. I've never actually used a gun before but I could learn now I guess. I walked in slowly. "Hello? Anyone here? Any...zombies?" When no one replied I made my way behind and the counter and found all the guns chained to the wall with one long, thin length of chain. I pulled my gun out and shot the chain......I regret that decision now. The report of the gun made my ears ring and bits of the wall flew into my face, thankfully none of them got in my over-sized eyes. But I did get the chain off them at least. I decided to take two of each general kind of gun. Why you might ask? Before I answer tell me this: does a blacksmith use one hammer for all his work?

Every type of gun has its own use. I won't snipe with a shotgun and I will not hunt birds with a sniper rifle. I can't reach out and touch some one with a pistol at 200 yards and I can't maneuver in a house with a rifle. Each gun is a tool and having one gun won't give me the flexibility I need to operate effectively. I picked up an AK-12 and an M4 and set them on the counter. I spent several minutes picking out my other weapons and gear and when I was done I moved the weapons to a back room to keep them safe. I then loaded all of the ammo and magazines I could find into the car after loading up the AK and putting that over my shoulder. If looters don't have bullets, they can't shoot ya. They can take the guns if they want but they'll just be fancy clubs without the ammo. I placed my selected firearms in the front seat with me but kept the AK on my person the whole time. After my little stealing spree I drove by the gas station and I was able to fill the tank of my car up and then I started driving home.

When I arrived I unloaded all the guns and ammo into my room for sorting later and lay on my bed to get some sleep. My body ached and all I wanted now was to sleep. My pretty little kitties came up and somehow they knew it was me. They rubbed against me and purred, I knew they accepted me. I didn't know if anyone else would. I was happy to at least have their company. I didn't see a single human this whole time, I'll need to go find out if there is anyone out there at some point and I can't stay here for long. Maybe I can get one of those big semi trucks with a container on it and make it my own little rolling HQ. Whatever comes in the future though, I'll be ready for it.

Author's Note

Woo~! Another chapter! I had this chapter done yesterday, but I didn't like how it turned out so I decided to re-write it. I hate when that happens.