Meanwhile, Micky was helping me to move Peter out of the car. I had hold of his legs, and Micky grabbed his shoulders, and we carried him out of the car and set him down on the side of the road, a little ways from the car.
But before I could explain anything to Micky, he went around the side of the car to see if he could find Mike. I looked down at Peter, and began to feel queasy. Not because of Peter, though. I felt nauseous. Then, abruptly, the nausea stopped and I felt pain. I bent over, grabbing my stomach in pain. I tried to get something out to Micky, but it was too late.
Micky walked around to the other side of the car to look for Mike. "Mike?" he called. "Oh, Mi-ike?" he called in a sing-song voice. There was no response. "C'mon Mike, this ain't no time to be playing hide and go seek," he yelled. Still Mike did not appear. He spotted the Lug wrench on the ground where Mike had dropped it, but there was no sign of Mike.
"Mike?" he called, his voice showing the worry he felt now. "This ain't funny, Mike. Where are you?" He began to get scared. He looked out at the busy highway. Suppose Mike had gotten hit by a car? Normally, Mike wouldn't walk out into the highway, but suppose he'd felt the need to. A damsel in distress or something? Micky had to admit it was unlikely Mike had walked out into the highway. But where was he? He looked up at the sky, silently asking whoever might be listening to help him. Then, his eyes grew wide as he saw the moon.
'So that's why Davy was getting Peter out of the car, ' he realized all too late. His skin had already begun to rip in half. Micky wondered why his arms hadn't hurt before, as they'd always done previously. But there was no time to worry about it now. He looked down at his hands as they began to rip open to reveal the golden fur underneath, and allowed himself to submit, hoping it would ease the pain.
Mike was playing hide-and-seek with Micky, though he didn't want to be found. He didn't want anyone else to find him either. Since we were on the edge of a busy highway, he didn't want anyone to think that he had appeared and murdered the human inhabitants of the car. So, without thinking about the rest of us, he ran into the trees on the side of the road and hid behind the trees. He looked back in time to watch the rest of us change. Then he saw Peter. It was the first time he had witnessed Peter's change, and it made him open his eyes wide. No wonder Peter had left each time he was going to change. He looked around, and then somehow managed to think clearly. He had to get the others into the forest. Otherwise the cars on the road would see them.
'But how do I tell them?' he wondered. He had to get them over there, but how?
I sat still, waiting for the pain to subside. This was a unique experience for me, to remain fully aware after I'd changed. I looked over at Peter, concerned, and saw that he'd already changed. I thought to myself that he'd done that awfully quickly, but there was no time to worry about that. I sensed the world differently now, and there were a lot of smells. My mind was more in tune to the outside world; to the thoughts of the others. And while I couldn't tell actual words, I could tell the general idea of what they wanted, what they were feeling. I looked around. Peter was next to me, eager, and I sensed that he was happy, and better now. Micky was on the other side of the car. All I saw of him was his tail sticking out. And while I couldn't see Mike, I did sense that he was in the trees. (I don't know if you'd exactly call it a forest, but it was a cluster of pine trees) From him I felt a sense of urgency, directed towards us. Then I noticed that we were near the road. I looked at Peter, and immediately conveyed to him what I thought Mike had tried to convey to me. He was puzzled for a moment, but then understood, and went to Micky.
I headed to the "forest" to find Mike. He recognized me immediately, and I could sense that he was thankful that I'd gotten the message to the others. Peter and Micky were heading over also. Suddenly, he tilted his head to the side, perked up his ears, and listened. Then he sniffed the air. Recognition shot through his brain, along with urgency.
'Stay, ' his feeling shot me, and I felt the need to obey, watching him gallop off. Before I could question why, he was gone.
