Shifted Read Online Free PDF Page B

large piece of broken rock about twenty feet away that jutted out from the side of the ruined hill. It was too far to jump, but he might be able to make it if he moved fast. 
    He picked his path and crouched low, flicking his tail for better balance. He hit the ground running, trying not to let his weight stay too long in any one spot. Still, a hailstorm of pebbles fell behind him. His back paws were finding less and less purchase, and to his horror the ground in front of him started to shift as well. It wanted to carry him down the side of the mountain, and Charlie had a vision of losing his footing, tumbling down the mountain, crushing his bones against the hard rocks below. If he survived it, he would be crippled as a cat just as he was as a man. 
    That thought was so enraging that he pushed himself harder, faster, until at last the rock ledge was beneath him. He was going so fast that his paws skidded, and he almost tumbled off the far side in his haste. 
    Panting, he tested the rock under his weight. It seemed stable enough, but he was certain now that he couldn’t linger here. Still, he could see more of the rockslide now. 
    A whole swathe of road, probably fifty feet in length, was completely blocked. It seemed impossible—how could the entire mountain collapse? He looked up at the high ridge above him. He couldn’t be certain, but it seemed like the rockslide was oddly regular. He supposed that if there were a fault in the rock, it might have opened up somehow, but it seemed unlikely that it would incise such a neat chunk out of the mountain. 
    He was distracted by a glint of light off metal. He hadn’t noticed the car before because of the angle, but he could see it now—an old black sedan, headed away from Independence Falls, with its front end crushed by a fallen rock. 
    Although the rock was holding under his feet, Charlie felt as if he were falling all over again. A sickening vertigo took over his vision, and for a moment he was back in time, back in the twisted metal that stank of motor oil and blood, listening to Angela scream. 
    Darkness swam in his mind, and it was only the peril of his situation that snapped him back to the moment at hand. He was too far away to see if there was anyone in the car, but if there was, they would need help. 
    There was nothing he could do while he was a mountain lion, and even if he transformed, he didn’t have any medical supplies or any knowledge beyond basic first aid. Besides, he wasn’t even sure he could make it down the mountain to where the car sat without triggering another rockslide. 
    It felt wrong to turn away from the car when he didn’t know what was inside, but he knew that the best thing he could do now was run back to his car, transform, then drive into Independence Falls to get Dr. Porter and the police. 
    He was closer to the top of the rise then he would have imagined. He could see shredded sod and thin fibrous roots above him. Torn between caution and haste, he scrambled back up the hill as quickly as possible. 
    There could be people in that car. They could be dying even now.
     
    Twilight was spreading fast as the sun sank behind the mountains. He was almost back to the clearing when he heard Briar. She was crashing through the underbrush with the subtlety of a freight train. She must have tried to follow him, but gotten turned around in the trees. 
    He suddenly remembered that Briar’s Aunt Patrice was a nurse in Dr. Porter’s office. If he could get her to go wake her aunt, and he went to the doctor’s house, they could get most of the medical personnel in Independence Falls in one swoop. Changing direction, he cut through the woods toward her. 
    When he emerged from the trees, her relief was palpable. “There you are,” she said. “I tried to come after you, but I couldn’t figure out where to go. What happened to you?” 
    She stooped to brush dirt off of him. “You’re filthy! What was that sound? Can you lead me