Pulsing.
It comes in waves.
Huge tsunamis tearing at every braincell in my head.
Crippling. Mutilating. I will never heal.
Then bliss.
I bear my fangs and howl silently to the moon, staring up through the sunroof of the black SUV.
Eyes closed tight, teeth glinting in the moonlight.
I see nothing, and yet I see everything.
Next to me a Coyote is sitting in the driver seat, slowly extracting the needle from my vein, grinning wickedly as I take in the powerful chemicals. I look down at my forearm and watch the warm steel pull my skin up as it comes out, a few miniscule drops of blood coming with it and sticking to my fur. It's a dark red reminder of my own mortality.
Coming back down to earth slightly I look over too my friend and grin. He is saying something but I am deaf and dumb, my pupils diminishing to the size of a match head. I feel something warm on my arm, a paw. It's shaking me, yelling something at me that echoes around my hallow cavern of a skull.
"Wake up... wake up.... Josh, WAKE UP."
I shake my head and run a paw through my hair, scratching behind one of my ears.
"I'm up.. I'm up, relax." I reply groggily, freeing myself of the drugs powerful grip. "Lets go."
We both exit simultaneously, slamming the car doors and marching up to the intimidating entrance of the bank. Heavy concrete walls with a reinforced steel foundation. Thick, dark glass on the windows and turnstile, probably bulletproof. Although the synthetic mixture running through my veins is giving me courage, deep down I'm regretting ever leaving the safety of the vehicle. As we scale the marble stairs I wonder what I'm doing here. Out of all of the reasons why like the money, the infamy, hell, even the just the thrill, I can only think of one that would actually push me to do something like this. I'm doing it for him.
I've been deeply, intensely in love with him since we were young, since we first met. That was nearly eight years ago, two young boys ready to take on the world and then some. Headstrong, brave, stupid. At ten years old we were already getting into fights with all the other packs and cliques in our neighborhood, unafraid of even the biggest, most violent kid on the block. We never had any problems getting what we wanted. If we wanted something, we bought it. If we couldn't afford it, we took it. I had everything I could ever want or need. Everything besides him, that is.
As much as I had fallen for him he would never feel the same way about me. He would never know the depth of my feelings for him, and I almost preferred it that way. At least this way we could still be friends. And that we defiantly were, together every day since childhood. We had our first date together (a double date with two cute Vixen twins when we were thirteen), we had our first beer together, and now we were about to take our first, and last, bullet together.
It was his idea of course. To rob a bank. We had started out small time, hitting gas stations, liqueur stores, even the occasional restaurant. But this was different, this was serious. I didn't want any part of it, but I knew that if he was going, so was I.
My heart rate started to leap up as we entered the turnstile, spinning slowly until it spat us out into a large room filled with bright white lights, gleaming tile floors, and velvet ropes. I reached into my waistband, wraping a paw around the high caliber revolver pressed into my crotch. The walk to the counter felt like a lifetime, each footstep sounding off like a gunshot. Looking around I saw mostly neck ties and briefcases, businessmen coming to deposit their fat wallets in off shore checking accounts and heavy steel vaults. But then I saw something that made my heart leap. A mother with a young child in one hand and a stroller in the other, looking down at her cooing baby lovingly. The thought of plugging some mindless drone who spent his days in an off white cubicle plucking away at a keyboard made me feel about as much emotion as if I had stomped on a cockroach. But a young mother and her children, one even a newborn, I knew I couldn't do it.
Just as we reached the back of the line I saw my partner reach into the front of his jeans, going for his gun. Quickly I jumped up from behind him and grabbed his paw, already tight around the grip of his pistol, just under the belt line of his tight jeans. He looked over his shoulder and glared at me, teeth slightly bared. Under his breath he whispered, "What the fuck are you doing!?"
Still clutching his wrist tight in my paw I whispered back, "I'm not doing this, there's a mother and a her kids in here, I'm not risking shooting the cubs." I said this with as much ferocity as I could, hoping that I could snub out the flame I saw in his eyes as he starred daggers at me.
People were starting to notice us, it wasn't exactly normal for two young kids to run into a bank dressed in all black, then start groping each other while waiting in line, muzzles almost touching. Realizing this
the canine elbowed me hard below the ribs, causing me to yelp out, before turning and leaving. Trying to regain my breath I clutched my knees, feeling the stares of everybody in the building burning into the back of my head. Red faced and out of breath I walked out, leaving my dignity on the floor.
The car was already running by the time I got in, barely having the time to close the door before the Coyote slammed on the gas, squealing the tires for a moment before tearing down the road. My heart beat a imprint into my ribs as we drove away, me clutching the seat so tightly that my claws were piercing the leather. The air was sharp with silent tension, my friend staring out at the road as if he wanted to leap out of the car and kill it.
"Look, I just didn't want to risk those kids getting hit in the crossfire.."
Still staring intensely at the road he didn't bother to acknowledge me.
"Don't be like that.. Let's just go get hammered. We'll go to that party you heard about last Friday and hit on some of the girls there.. I heard that Sandra girl was gonna be there.."
He relaxed for a moment, obviously considering what I had said. I knew I had hit a sweet spot by mentioning Sandra, a gorgeous young female Wolf he had been trying to get with for the last month or so. I knew I could tempt him into going, and maybe even keep his mind off of armed robbery for a while.
"I also heard she's in heat.."
He glanced over at me, giving me a quizzical look.
"Don't fuck with me right now Josh I'm not in the mood."
I laughed at this. Was she really in heat? Probably not, but I knew that just the thought of it would have him feinding to get himself some of that canine tail all night.
"So are we gonna pick up a case and head out there or wha-"
Suddenly he slammed on the breaks, coming to a stop before making an illegal U-turn in the middle of an intersection. I guess that was my answer.
