Chapter four
“Hello, everyone, I’m Susan Cross; thanks for joining us. Tonight the mystery continues as the number of faked doppelganger videos surge to over one thousand. But some can not be explained away so easily. Our own Derick Miller is in Atlanta with the story.”
“Susan, I’m here with Donna Taylor, who saw herself in the Texas video after returning home from a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas. Debbie, how did it feel to see your doppelganger for the first time?”
“Honestly, I was in Shock. I thought my mom was joking when she said I was in the background of a local news report. But you can clearly see the date and temperature on the sign proving it was not me––I’m kind of freaked out by the whole thing, to tell you the truth.”
“Derick, have they been able to identify the girl in the video?”
“They have not, Susan. The video clearly shows the unknown woman getting into an Uber around ten o’clock, and a police spokesperson confirmed she was dropped off at 410 Danby Ave. But no one living at 410 Danby fits her description. For that matter, no one in the entire neighborhood fits her description. To top it off, the card used to pay for the ride belongs to the owner of the house.”
“Thanks, Derick; let us know if there are any further developments. In other news….”
“I’m I correct in saying a shifter lives at 410 Danby?”
“You are; now turn it down while I make a call.”
I could hear the phone ringing on the other end as I walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of ice tea.
“Hello”
“Robert, this is Karen. I heard you got a black eye last night.”
“Yep, got my blocked knocked off.”
“Well, have Kate take you to the doctor.”
“Yes, mam.”
It took Karen several days to make up her mind, but there was no going back once made. The black eye comment gives Robert permission to blackout an entire city block using the silencer while his team kidnaps Kate from a homeless camp. After which, they are to make several vehicle changes before dropping her off at the Decker Farm.
During the Elysian meeting, Keith promised Karen he could restore Kate’s ability to shift with a new hypnosis technic he had been working on. She was hesitant about kidnapping a shifter, lost or not, but decided it would be better for her to have a chance, than no chance at all if she got picked up by the NSC.
“It must have been hard for you to make that call, but we couldn’t leave her out there to disintegrate into madness. Decker is an intelligent man. It might work,” I said hoping to ease her mind.
“And what do we do if he fails. Throw Kate back to the wolves? She knew the dangers and chose to ignore them. Her life was her’s to screw up, and she did. What happened to her was of her own doing, and I was fine with that. But now, her life is in my hands. And you don’t want to know what some tribes do to their lost shifters. Remember when I said we are human, and all humans are shapeshifters?”
“I do.”
“Every human on this planet has a good and bad side. Which one they choose is up to them, and shifters are no different. Their leaders are no different. And some see lost shifters as a threat and treat them as such.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning they kill them.”
Shift is an online work of fiction.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift – Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
The story centers around shapeshifting.
I’m currently working on chapter nine.
Timothy French 