Inside the garage of a small home near the outskirts of town, Colin stirred with anticipation next to Kristy as he watched the area using his life pulse. Jenny was hiding in the car fifty feet away, watching over the still unconscious Higgins and safe from anything that was about to happen. She was within Colin’s range, so he could come to her rescue if anything approached.

  Holly was somewhere out there, beyond Colin’s range of senses. She was scouting the town alone, looking for a survivor to lure in so they could try to save them.

  The plan was fairly simple: Colin and Kristy would wait with the garage door open and Kristy would draw one of the people in town to the garage. They would close the garage behind the person and Colin would lock them down if possible, while Kristy would try to heal them. In the event that things went wrong, Colin wouldn’t hesitate to kill anything that threatened Kristy. If he managed to have a meal as a result, that would be a nice bonus.

  There was a noticeable shift in Colin’s attitude toward food and the morality of acquiring it, but he didn’t mind. It was only natural to feed this new body of his in the way it needed. There was a subtle pulse from the instinct that resided within himself that encouraged his line of thinking. He was aware of the pulse and reassured himself that deep down, it wasn’t the one in control, but rather it was simply a focused part of him that only resonated with decisions he made that aligned with its intentions. It was like a gun that Colin knew was there, but could choose not to pick up. Colin steeled his intentions and promised himself that those instincts were a part of him, but would never again force their control on him ever again. He only had to think back to the guilt of knowing how close he came to eating his own family in the car just a few hours earlier to reinforce his resolve that he would remain in control.

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  He didn’t understand why, but something inside of Colin told him that he needed to grow past the next plateau of his growth as a Hypnoosite in order to gain further control of himself and fully suppress his instincts. It was like the certainty of facts that one had in dreams.

  “Do you sense anything yet?” Kristy asked, snapping Colin out of his thoughts. She eyed his current form with open disgust and was keeping her distance.

  “Not yet,” Colin shook his scaled head and said. He didn’t take any offense to Kristy’s reaction to his current form. Kristy hated bugs and reptiles and Colin knew it, but being a chicken wasn’t such a great idea if he needed to be ready for an attack. Right now, Colin was a mix of alligator, snake, beetle and dog. He saw his greenish-black body in the standing mirror of the garage and thought he looked like an Ankylosaurus with the head of an alligator, but slimmer and without the horns and ball at the end of his tail. He put his current form together trying to prioritize power, defense and mobility.

  “As soon as we’re done here, promise you’ll change your look,” Kristy said.

  Colin laughed and it came out sounding like a low growl, “I will, Kris, I promise.”

  Colin snapped to attention as he felt Holly dash into his range of senses and bee-line it toward them.

  “What’s wrong?” Kristy asked.

  “She’s headed towards us,” Colin said and as he felt three large life pulses chase after Holly, he added, “And the plans are already going to shit. I’m going to go help her, close the garage door behind me. I’ll send you a connection pulse when it’s safe to open it back up.”

  “Be safe,” The worry in Kristy’s voice was palpable. Colin felt her powerful emotions bleed out of her and he wanted nothing more in that moment to make her feel okay.

  “I will. I’ll run if I need to. I won’t leave you ever again,” Colin said and as he felt Kristy’s worry dampen slightly, he dashed out of the garage towards Holly.