Officer Drex Dramvono comes upon a grisly murder scene in the forest and a terrified teenage girl facing a lion poised to kill her. Drex shifts to his own lion and scares the predator away, then shifts back and carries the girl to the trail, calls it in to the station, only to become the prime suspect.
Thanks to the girl pointing him out in court, Drex is convicted to life. With no contact at all with the outside world, his future is grim. He has none. All he does is dream of retribution, of being able to escape to punish the girl who had lied on the stand.
On the day of the crime that resulted in his incarceration, he’d finished his shift, rode his antique mountain bike home like always, and took the shortcut along the trail through the forest. About three-quarters of the way, he heard a sound. He stopped, set his bike against a tree, and followed the strange mewling noise, thinking it was an animal in need.
And then he smelled it…the overwhelming scent of blood. He’d stopped again, listening for other sounds, but all he heard was the soft mewling. He carried on, and the stench of blood got stronger.
What he stumbled upon looked like something from a horror movie. He stood frozen in the shrubs at the edge of a moss-covered glade dotted with bright white mushrooms, many crushed, others splattered with blood. His gaze locked onto the three bodies of the Andersons, their throats torn out, an arm ripped off one of the torsos, a leg from another, their chests soaked with blood still dripping into the moss beneath them and smelled very fresh. The killings had just happened, maybe a minute before he got there.
Besides the blood, he picked up another strong scent he recognized immediately as that of a lion. But how was it possible? Why would one of his own people attack colonists? And what was the Anderson family doing in the forest? Had they gone for a walk? But why leave the trail?
His attention snapped to the mewling he still heard nearby somewhere, but also a growl… That of a lion…
He immediately ripped off his clothes and shifted to his own lion, even if it was forbidden, especially on colony territory. He scented the cat even more strongly now, followed the scent, and came upon a lion ready to attack the young girl. He recognized Anastasia, who stood frozen against a tree, her pale blue eyes wide with shock, her face as white as snow. Her hands and arms were covered in blood, her white t-shirt ripped to her waist, and her jeans were torn and blood-stained. It looked like the lion had taken a swipe at her but only managed to claw the clothing. Otherwise, from what Drex could see with a glance, she appeared unharmed. The large lion stood about six feet before her, crouching for the kill, snarling and ready to finish her off.
Drex let out a loud roar, and the feral beast turned his head, looked at him for a moment, then leapt away. Drex started to follow him into the forest while the scent was fresh to take care of the murdering beast, but then he heard the girl move and looked behind him. She had started to wander back to where the remains of the Andersons lay. He had to make a flash decision. Look after the girl or go after the lion.
