Anne had no idea where she was going, but staying put had not been, in her estimation, in her best interest. Fearless Americans did not sit quietly and wait to be tortured or brutalized or mocked!
Even better, the good-looking fool hadn’t locked the door or the window. In fact, there were no doors or windows. But it had been child’s play to climb down; she’d spent the first fifteen years of her life in Colorado and could climb before she could walk.
She ran, ignoring the stitch in her side, and kept her eyes on the odd horizon. Perhaps she could find someone sympathetic to the Allies. Perhaps she could find a gun. Perhaps she could wake up and find this was all a horrible, vivid—
She heard a thud-thud-thud behind her, methodic as a metronome, but didn’t turn. In another few seconds, a large yellow cat was sprinting past her, then checked itself so hard it almost flipped over, then came to a dust-rising halt in front of her, which forced her to stop. In truth, she was glad…her side hurt like heck.
The cat looked her over then said, “Hello again. Need you a drink?”
No. He didn’t say it. He thought it. At her. Because his lips weren’t moving, and even if they were, big cats—was it some kind of cougar? mountain lion?—didn’t speak English. Didn’t talk, for heaven’s sake.
“It’s bad enough you’ve kidnapped me,” she said, staring furiously into the cat’s storm-gray eyes. “But you get out of my head. Talk with your mouth, Charley.”
At once, the large blond man was standing in front of her. Naked. Argh. “As you wish,” he said cheerfully. “Are you ready to come back now, Loo?”
“Loo?”
“Loo-ten-unt. Loo,” he added, “is the affectionate nickname I have given you. My brother’s mate has many nicknames for him. It is a sign of their joy with each other. Retard, idiot, dumb-ass, schmuck, loser…all these and more. What will you call me?” he asked, looking absurdly hopeful.
“How about Crazy Man?” She was trying not to look at his groin, and failing. She’d never seen a naked man in her life. His hair was much darker than the blond mass on his head. His penis looked long, but soft.
Stop looking at it, Anne.
She tried. And failed. In fact, she’d joined the WACs so she could see the world—and meet someone. But not like this!
“Are you not warm in those clothes?” He indicated her long sleeves, pants, and jump boots. Which, in the desert heat, were drying quickly.
She jerked back from his touch. “Don’t even try to talk me into being a degenerate like you, you—you—you nudenik!”
“Ah, Nudenik! That will do. But Loo…” He took a step toward her, his long penis swinging against his thigh. She took a compensatory step back.
“You know what? Change back into the cat.”
“As you wish.” And boom, he was a cat again. It was the best trick she’d ever seen. If it was a trick. And of course it was. She was…
Dreaming. It was a dream! A very strange, realistic, odd, odd dream. She’d fallen asleep after a day of training and…
She pinched the skin on the back of her hand. It stung. She took a step toward the great cat, grimacing, expecting a bite, and touched the fur on the top of his head. Thick and plush, like an odd kind of silk, soft and warm under her hand. The cat cocked his head, but didn’t bite or claw her.
She stepped back, thinking hard. The cat, thank the Lord, stayed out of her head so she could ponder. Okay, scratch dreaming. Ah-ha! She was being brainwashed! Someone had captured her and they were doing things to her mind. For what purpose, she did not know. She was a small cog in the great wheel that was the Women’s Army Corps. But if she could just figure out how they were brainwashing her—
She covered her eyes with her hand and always, always, the great cat watched her, his eyes luminous with curiosity.
Nobody was brainwashing her. She wasn’t dreaming and nobody was putting things in her head. She was not an imaginative girl, and she could never have thought all this up. And if she was being brainwashed, they wouldn’t try to make her think she was in a strange place, with strange people who could turn into animals just by thinking about it.
She was here. It was real.
She burst into tears.