Escape

Lenny's guys had been running for months now. They started as a group of eleven heading for the boarder, now they were down to two. He had never been the main man before. He was always under his boss, the infamous Capone. Since he had been shipped off to prison in California things had gone to hell. The cops who enjoyed the hospitality of his boss now hunted Lenny and his comrades. Some how now he and the last of his guys had ended up in Arizona. 

"I think we lost em Lenny. Should we look for John?" Patrick was new, er 5 days after being brought in by Lenny, Capone had been convicted.

"He's on his own now, pin head shoulda kept up" He liked John or painter they had named him for his dubious work with the Tommy. But these were hard times for them. There was no stopping. No Mercy. No hope. "Well wait em out here they'll pass us by and in the morning well head straight away for the border." 

Lenny had wanted out since he was a runner back in Chicago, but experience told him once your in there's no escape. You either left in cuffs or a coffin. Which certainly rang true it seemed now after watching the cops shoot up one and arrest two others in the last week.

"You sure Lenny? They could find us!"

"Shut your hole! They will if you keep yammerin on."

He couldn't sleep. He often went days with out so much as a nap. It was his dreams, his nightmares. While awake he could distract his inner most feelings. Entertaining a friend or fleeing the law kept his mind occupied and off of the pain in his past. But in his dreams he had no control. No will power to keep out the hate distaste and lust that had plagued him. Some times it was the first man he had killed with a billy club. Others it was the girl he led astray who now wanders the red light. A tear rolled down his cheek as he started to recall the horrors, of what he had done, and what he hadn't done, and what he will do, to escape.

He tried to swallow his sadness. With each trial his stomach turned in knots, his head split at the seams. Normally he would keep himself busy. But now sitting with Pat in the darkness hiding away for fear of being caught his dam started to buckle. He couldn't cry, not here. He stood up and walked from the cover they had hidden under. Pat was dead to any one walking by slumped over his pack like a corpse and with the heavy jacket seemed to not even breathe. 

He could get caught, he wouldn't mind if only those memories would leave him. If only he could find a way to start again. He wandered into the near by town. Maybe turning himself in was the right path to redemption. Running certainly wasn't helping. He gazed up at the local police department. He thought being so close would surely get him caught but ironically only a few bums stood outside not an officer in sight. 

Lenny stood there for a few moments when the flood was loosed upon his mind and his face. Dropping to his knees he sobbed. Curling into a ball in front of the steps to those who had hunted him for so long. He was giving up. The bums moved away from the terrible sounds now escaping his lips. 

He drifted off and for the first time in years he didn't dream.

He awoke he knew not how long later, though it was still in the night. He was spread eagle on the pavement his pockets all turned out not a thing left. He didn't care. He tried to stand but could not. His body seemed frail and weak.

"Are you alright sir?" A calm old voice came from the alley. He turned his head to see an old man. 

"No" he replied turning his head back to the sky. The pain was still there. And though he had let loose some of the feelings held so deep the rest had already filled his reservoir to the brink again. 

"Well let me take you over to my truck, well go get some soup from the station down the road." The old man lifted him with what seemed like little effort. This astounded Lenny because of his rather large size. 

After a short drive they walked into a diner attached to the gas station. Before he knew it a bowl of something was set in front of him. He sighed a little as he picked up a spoon but found he wasn't hungry. 

"So what seems to be the matter? You really beat your self up over something."

"I, uh. Well its complicated." He leaned back in the booth letting his neck stretch to the max as his head looked up to the ceiling fan. 

"Bah! Complication is only an excuse for ignorance and guilt. So which is it? My guess is guilt since you found the police" the old man chuckled. "Funny they all left on a tip that two of Capone's cronies were hiding in some bushes a mile or two north. Ah don't worry what ever you did you seem to be willing to repent, which is good." He motioned for him to wait as he got up and walked out to his truck. 

What was he thinking? He had drove and walked hundreds of miles to escape. He couldn't end up in prison now. He couldn't go back to those people. That life style. Someone would recognize him eventually and then the choice would be made for him. Why did he walk into town? Maybe it was fortune that made him leave because from the sound of it someone was privy to their hiding spot. 

He looked down at the soup placing the spoon in the bowl, then up to his lips. Clam chowder. He couldn't taste it though. It was the feel of the potatoes and clam bits that gave it away. After a few bites the man returned with a small case. 

"All I want from you is a kind of animal. Just name one and then the rest of your life can begin."

"What?" He had no idea what that was supposed to mean but the image of his first dog popped into his head. He smiled as a reaction. Then snickered as he recalled playing with him in the park. Then a tear as he saw the car that just couldn't stop in time.

"Just name a type of animal please." He opened the case, lid apposed to Lenny so he couldn't see the contents. 

"Dog, well a bull dog… Jack…" What the fuck was wrong with him he couldn't stop crying. Now in tears he could hardly see a thing just a blur of motion. 

"Here" he felt a cloth being placed in his hand which he used to dry his eyes. "and take this too. It will give you comfort in your coming hardships." As though the man could have seen his memories there was a balloon dog with the same color and eyes as his beloved Jack. It was no Jack, seeing as it had no fur or bones but it was comforting. "Be calm don't be rash and when things hit the bottom, there's only one way to go. And that's up."

"FREEZE! Put your hands up now scum bag!" An officer yelled at him while waving his gun followed by several others. He did what he was told and soon wound up in a cell with his empty pockets, half full stomach, and his balloon Jack. So many years of this life and it was going to be over. He just might be put to death with what they had on him. Though this didn't bother him he just wanted it to be over. He held tight to his Jack as though it was his puppy from all those years ago. He blew the dam and let it all flow wanting to rid himself of the feelings, nothing else mattered much at this point, not pride or honor, dignity or vanity. 

The guard stood in awe at the hardened criminal and alleged murderer of several people.

Lenny tried to wipe the tears fumbling with his jacket when a small fizz could be heard. He saw the hole crafted into the body of Jack by the button of his jacket. "No… Not again… please..?" he pleaded weakly as it deflated to a mash of rubber. The tears now rushed from his eyes unopposed as he held the broken body of his new Jack in his hands just as he had the first. He moaned deep as the memory returned. Then Lenny curled onto the ground in pain both mental and physical as his face smashed into the cement floor. 

The guard continued his blank stare as the man now moaned and sobbed on the floor of his cell. The skin on his hands seemed to grow dark. And though he had been clean shaven when he came in his face was covered in light brown stubble. The guard didn't know what else to do so he continued staring at the oddity. He had stood six foot three and weighed an easy two hundred fifty pounds but now he seemed so small lying on the floor. So weak and helpless. So alone and harmless. The clothes seemed loose on him like he was deflating just as his balloon had. 

The guard turned surprised by the hand on his shoulder. The old man who had tipped them off was standing there. 

"He will be fine, but his clothes will prove to be too difficult to remove unless you do it now."

The guard rushed to the door and opened is then entered. Only when he was kneeling beside the prisoner did he realize what he had just done. 

"Seems you failed to capture him and instead snared my dog officer." The old man chuckled.

The guard looked wide eyed at the man then back to the prisoner who's nose was now black and his upper lip was split. Hurriedly he removed the victims clothing not wanting to invoke the wrath of what ever demon stood behind him.

What was happening to him Lenny thought his moaning and sobbing had become more of a whine and his clothes were being torn from him. He couldn't see through the tears still welled in his eyes but it seemed as though it was a person doing this to him. Hey! He tried to say but only a loud Bark rang through the cell. He looked over his naked chest his hair had shrank and became finer and lighter. He tried to grab the person pulling on his pants but his hands were clumsy. He gazed in horror as his thumbs moved up his wrist shrinking as they went finally turning into a single small claw.

He twisted and turned trying to free himself. He could see the guard now was the one who assailed him. What were they doing to him! Some government experiment? Then he saw the old man from the diner standing outside the cell smiling, he froze. 'and then the rest of your life can begin' he remembered hearing the old man saying. He understood now, this gift the old man was giving him. He looked back over his back now covered in light brown fur as he saw his new tail poke out of his rear growing rapidly and starting to sway. 

The guard stood over him now holding his pants in the air. He was as shocked as Lenny. 

"Jack! Comere boy!" The old man said. "Lets go home!" 

He wiggled himself onto all fours and hurried out of the cell to his new boss. This one seemed like he would take better care of him then the last one. Finally Jack made his escape, from his boss, the law, his past, the sadness and the guilt.

"For your trouble officer." Jack's new master tossed a small wood carving of what looked like a lion or a tiger at the still shocked guard. Then turned and walked out. Lenny happily followed him to his new life.

You can find more of Sup2 stories on Deviant Art: http://sup2.deviantart.com/

15.05.11