Author: Vivian Pfleger

There are advantages to not being human.
The hunter’s bullet would have easily killed one of his own, but on me the wound was already beginning to skin over. Over the next few weeks, my body would break down the bullet currently lodged between my ribs, absorb the copper casing, and excrete the lead. Natural recycling at its finest. I was very proud of it.
I hazily hoped the copper would go towards strengthening my claws. Copper claws would be cool. If that bullet wasn’t enough to do the trick, I’d try swallowing a copper pipe or two next time I had dinner.
Why was I thinking about copper claws now? And where even was I?
I needed to get out of here, wherever here was. Experimentally I rolled my shoulder. Yeah, I was going to be just fine. The pain was nearly gone by now, and I probably wouldn’t even have a scar.
I’d passed out for a few hours after he shot me, though. That was embarrassing. My mama always said that after she got shot, she still had to walk to school the next morning. Uphill! Both ways! (I don’t think my mama ever actually went to school, but I never dared call her out on it. You wouldn’t either.)
I opened my eyes just a sliver and glanced around. Tried to, anyway. It’s hard to see anything when you’re inside a body bag. I unsheathed one razor-sharp claw (not copper, not yet) and quietly cut a long slit down the side through the tough polyethylene.
My night vision kicked in, and the world appeared in shades of blue and green and gray. I was in a dilapidated hangar, laid out next to several partially repaired helicopters. The hunter was over in the corner near the hangar door, talking on his cell phone.
I ate a cell phone once, and its owner along with it. One of these things does not taste as good as the other.
A little light trickled in from the filthy skylights above—enough for me to see the hunter, but not enough for him to see me. I began easing my way out of the body bag, onto the oily hangar floor, as I listened to him talk. He was saying stuff about me, and I swiveled one wire-tipped ear to listen. None of it was terribly flattering, but then, what would you expect?
“Yeah, I got her. One bullet through the chest and she dropped like a stone.”
I did not!
“You want me to fly the body to you tonight, or wait till morning? Yeah, yeah, I know customs won’t approve…”
One thing I couldn’t do was fly. Every time I tried, the TSA threw me out. It’d be a shame to miss my first plane ride, but I needed to get home before my mama started worrying.
I got free and slid under the broken helicopter. The hunter glanced over and noticed that the body bag had gone alarmingly flat.
“Uh. Call you back in a minute.”
He started walking in my direction.
You lay on a concrete floor for hours, you really stiffen up. I don’t recommend it. I missed the hunter on the first jump, and my claws scraped against the concrete as I turned around. He grabbed for his gun, but it was out of reach.
As the hunter’s mouth opened in a scream, his gold teeth shone in the dim light. Gold teeth! I’d like some of those!