[18+] A story about loving yourself: where you’re from, where you’re at, and where you’re going, no matter how far.

Today’s story is the second of two parts of “Wild Thing” by Dirt Coyote, who, when he’s not causing all sorts of trouble on twitter, is writing a novel, a novella, a series, and short furry fiction. His story featured on The Voice of Dog, “I’m Just Your Stud” was nominated for Coyotl’s Best Short Story of 2021. Find him at DirtCoyote on Twitter for future updates.

Last time, our fox was given a pill from his future self to transform into something greater. Now that he’s settling in with his new powers, we’ll find out what he chooses to do next and how he’ll finish his journey to become the Wild Thing.

Read for you by Rob MacWolf — werewolf hitchhiker.

thevoice.dog | Apple podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

If you have a story you think would be a good fit, you can check out the requirements, fill out the submission template and get in touch with us.

https://thevoice.dog/episode/wild-thing-by-dirt-coyote-part-2-of-2-18

Speaker: 00:00:00

Today's story concerns adult subject matter for mature listeners.

Speaker: 00:00:04

If that's not your cup of tea,

Speaker: 00:00:06

or there are youngsters listening,

Speaker: 00:00:08

please skip this one

Speaker: 00:00:09

and come back for another story another time.

Speaker: 00:00:17

You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.

Speaker: 00:00:19

This is Rob MacWolf, your fellow traveler,

Speaker: 00:00:21

and Today’s story is the second of two parts of “Wild Thing”

Speaker: 00:00:25

by Dirt Coyote, who,

Speaker: 00:00:27

when he’s not causing all sorts of trouble on twitter,

Speaker: 00:00:30

is writing a novel,

Speaker: 00:00:31

a novella, a series,

Speaker: 00:00:33

and short furry fiction.

Speaker: 00:00:34

His story featured on The Voice of Dog,

Speaker: 00:00:37

“I’m Just Your Stud”

Speaker: 00:00:38

was nominated for Coyotl’s Best Short Story of 2021.

Speaker: 00:00:43

Find him at DirtCoyote on Twitter

Speaker: 00:00:45

for future updates.

Speaker: 00:00:48

Last time, our fox was given a pill from his future self to

Speaker: 00:00:52

transform into something greater.

Speaker: 00:00:54

Now that he’s settling in with his new powers, we’ll

Speaker: 00:00:56

find out what he chooses to do next and how he’ll finish his journey

Speaker: 00:01:00

to become the Wild Thing.

Please enjoy: 00:01:03

“Wild Thing”

Please enjoy: 00:01:06

by Dirt Coyote, Part 2 of 2

Please enjoy: 00:01:07

When I open my eyes, I’ve returned to earth.

Please enjoy: 00:01:16

I'm laying on my back,

Please enjoy: 00:01:18

the ground warm, and the desert's night air cooling my fur.

Please enjoy: 00:01:23

I stay there, appreciating the milky way above.

Please enjoy: 00:01:27

I can see all the stars and galaxies millions of light-years away,

Please enjoy: 00:01:32

and peek at them like looking through a telescope. There's

Please enjoy: 00:01:36

two neutron stars colliding there.

Please enjoy: 00:01:39

Over there, there's a

Please enjoy: 00:01:41

couple of aliens

Please enjoy: 00:01:42

performing a form of a wedding with

Please enjoy: 00:01:43

hundreds of guests surrounding them.

Please enjoy: 00:01:46

All around are planets and stars and

Please enjoy: 00:01:49

civilizations, ripe for me to explore.

Please enjoy: 00:01:52

But a hollowed metal thud of something being kicked catches my attention.

Please enjoy: 00:01:59

"We're stranded!" a voice cries out.

Please enjoy: 00:02:03

I lift up from the ground,

Please enjoy: 00:02:05

turning my attention away from the space above and to my surroundings.

Please enjoy: 00:02:09

There's a van sitting at the side of a road,

Please enjoy: 00:02:11

and a group of otters are leaning against it.

Please enjoy: 00:02:15

One’s got a blunt in his muzzle,

Please enjoy: 00:02:16

taking a hit of it before passing it to another.

Please enjoy: 00:02:20

"Things will work out,"

Please enjoy: 00:02:22

an otter says nonchalantly.

Please enjoy: 00:02:25

A girl between the two boys throws up her arms and asks,

Please enjoy: 00:02:29

"How?" That's my cue.

Please enjoy: 00:02:32

"Howdy!" I call out,

Please enjoy: 00:02:34

walking towards them while brushing the dirt off my back and fur.

Please enjoy: 00:02:38

All three jump, but I don't change my gate.

Please enjoy: 00:02:41

They're staring at me curiously,

Please enjoy: 00:02:43

the tallest otter shifting left and right down the road.

Please enjoy: 00:02:46

There's nothing for miles and miles. I can read his muzzle,

Please enjoy: 00:02:49

and explain, "I just happened to land here.

Please enjoy: 00:02:53

here." They shuffle nervously, afraid of me,

Please enjoy: 00:02:56

though all three are taller and bigger.

Please enjoy: 00:02:59

The one holding the blunt

Please enjoy: 00:03:00

cautiously reaches his paw forward,

Please enjoy: 00:03:03

extending a roach for me to take.

Please enjoy: 00:03:06

I've never done pot before,

Please enjoy: 00:03:08

but it seems rude to refuse the offer.

Please enjoy: 00:03:10

I take it, inhaling little puffs before coughing my lungs out in front of the three.

Please enjoy: 00:03:15

They laugh at that,

Please enjoy: 00:03:17

and quickly introductions are made.

Please enjoy: 00:03:19

Their names are Damian, Ross, and Tiara,

Please enjoy: 00:03:21

and their van gave out between concerts.

Please enjoy: 00:03:24

Smoke is still pouring from the grill and I offer to take a look.

Please enjoy: 00:03:29

Careful with the hood, I pop it open and poke my head inside.

Please enjoy: 00:03:32

I'm not an expert at cars, but I think I know the problem.

Please enjoy: 00:03:36

Sensing the vehicle and seeing through its design, I can almost feel where the radiator is cracked.

Please enjoy: 00:03:41

It's like an itch on my skin,

Please enjoy: 00:03:43

and I mend it closed with my will until it is whole again.

Please enjoy: 00:03:48

The otters can't see what I'm doing,

Please enjoy: 00:03:50

but I can feel the car heal itself.

Please enjoy: 00:03:53

Then I draw from the air,

Please enjoy: 00:03:55

filling the tank with water,

Please enjoy: 00:03:57

and in an instant,

Please enjoy: 00:03:58

the insides feel new again.

Please enjoy: 00:04:01

I close the hood and smile at the group,

Please enjoy: 00:04:03

a sense of relief washing over me.

Please enjoy: 00:04:05

All is right. I clap my paws together and say,

Please enjoy: 00:04:09

"That should do it.

Please enjoy: 00:04:11

it." Tiara, ever the skeptic, laughs and says,

Please enjoy: 00:04:14

"You didn't do anything."

Please enjoy: 00:04:17

I shrug, not needing her to understand.

Please enjoy: 00:04:21

"Where we headed?"

Please enjoy: 00:04:22

I ask casually.

Please enjoy: 00:04:24

Damian, the tallest otter, gets in the front seat and turns the ignition.

Please enjoy: 00:04:28

The car comes back to life, and he lets out a gasp,

Please enjoy: 00:04:31

"Well, shit." He stares at the panels, squinting as he notices the vans running better than it ever had before.

Please enjoy: 00:04:39

Again, I shrug. Ross, slapping a paw to my back, takes a hit and when he exhales, he says,

Please enjoy: 00:04:46

"And the universe provides.

Please enjoy: 00:04:48

provides." So I had. I learn that I’ve landed in the middle of the 80’s.

Please enjoy: 00:04:55

We spend months on the road,

Please enjoy: 00:04:57

traveling between venues and concerts and bars.

Please enjoy: 00:04:59

Sometimes we're there to play a gig, and sometimes we're just there to watch.

Please enjoy: 00:05:03

All these bands I only knew from the radio were

Please enjoy: 00:05:06

now playing live in front of me, testing their sounds.

Please enjoy: 00:05:09

Some are met with roaring crowds, screaming out for more.

Please enjoy: 00:05:12

Others are booed and mocked,

Please enjoy: 00:05:14

the music not appreciated at the time.

Please enjoy: 00:05:17

I recognize some of the ones that would later be hits,

Please enjoy: 00:05:20

sleepers that just needed the right moment to shine.

Please enjoy: 00:05:23

It was still good to listen to them in their raw impact.

Please enjoy: 00:05:27

It is with Tiara that I learn how to braid flowers into a crown.

Please enjoy: 00:05:31

She teaches me,

Please enjoy: 00:05:32

her way of explaining she likes me.

Please enjoy: 00:05:35

Despite that,

Please enjoy: 00:05:37

it's Ross who is my first kiss amongst the three.

Please enjoy: 00:05:40

He sneaks it in after shotgunning me with a breath of weed, our lips too close and our attraction too strong not

Please enjoy: 00:05:46

to finish closing the gap.

Please enjoy: 00:05:49

We make out in our hotel room,

Please enjoy: 00:05:50

one of the few times we ever get one.

Please enjoy: 00:05:52

Tiara and Damian are out at the bar,

Please enjoy: 00:05:54

but me and Ross had opted to stay inside for the night.

Please enjoy: 00:05:57

I'm glad, because I've wanted this for a while.

Please enjoy: 00:06:00

When he breaks from the kiss, he says,

Please enjoy: 00:06:02

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm pretty high.

Please enjoy: 00:06:05

high." He turns his head away bashfully,

Please enjoy: 00:06:08

looking to get up off the bed.

Please enjoy: 00:06:10

I don't let him, holding onto his paw

Please enjoy: 00:06:12

and keeping him there.

Please enjoy: 00:06:14

Then I steal his blunt from him,

Please enjoy: 00:06:16

placing it on an ashtray

Please enjoy: 00:06:18

and give him a kiss on his neck.

Please enjoy: 00:06:21

He shudders underneath me, my teeth sinking softly into his fur.

Please enjoy: 00:06:25

I hear him drag his claws on the sheets,

Please enjoy: 00:06:27

muttering moans.

Please enjoy: 00:06:29

Our clothes come off until we're down to our underwear.

Please enjoy: 00:06:32

He's a little unsure of himself,

Please enjoy: 00:06:33

but I know well enough for the both of us. "Let's

Please enjoy: 00:06:37

start slow," I say,

Please enjoy: 00:06:39

and he nods up and down.

Please enjoy: 00:06:41

There's a little pudge over his front that I trace a claw through, and he likes that.

Please enjoy: 00:06:46

He's careful when he touches me back, not wanting to move too fast.

Please enjoy: 00:06:50

His fingers run through the fur on my chest, and I moan to let him know

Please enjoy: 00:06:54

it feels good. His cock tents up his boxers, and I dare

Please enjoy: 00:06:58

a touch. I put my index finger to the tip,

Please enjoy: 00:07:02

stroking it up and down over the fabric.

Please enjoy: 00:07:05

It twitches and a bead of pre drips through to sticky my paw pads.

Please enjoy: 00:07:10

He lets out a soothing purr as I pull back the underwear until his cock slips through the slit.

Please enjoy: 00:07:16

While I'm playing with his cock,

Please enjoy: 00:07:17

he's more invested in my nipples.

Please enjoy: 00:07:20

He keeps making a circular motion around them, every few seconds giving one a gentle pinch before moving onto the next.

Please enjoy: 00:07:27

Then he dips his muzzle down and

Please enjoy: 00:07:30

starts nibbling on me between his teeth.

Please enjoy: 00:07:33

The sensations are so amazing and my cock feels restrained in my underwear. I pull my briefs down, letting my cock hang out, pre dribbling freely along my shaft.

Please enjoy: 00:07:42

Ross looks down, sees my cock,

Please enjoy: 00:07:44

and cautiously wraps his paw around it, squeezing me at my knot.

Please enjoy: 00:07:49

I huff, grabbing hold of his own stiff member to give him a squeeze as well.

Please enjoy: 00:07:53

Side by side on the bed, we jerk each other off.

Please enjoy: 00:07:55

Together, we pant, only silenced when we're nibbling and pecking each other between our strokes.

Please enjoy: 00:08:00

As I'm getting close,

Please enjoy: 00:08:01

I rest my nose into his neck,

Please enjoy: 00:08:03

breathing in his scent sharply.

Please enjoy: 00:08:06

He's first to cum,

Please enjoy: 00:08:07

spraying a line of jizz across his chest and belly.

Please enjoy: 00:08:10

I don't last a second after,

Please enjoy: 00:08:12

and I am showered in my own spunk as well.

Please enjoy: 00:08:14

Together, we fall back onto the bed

Please enjoy: 00:08:16

and nuzzle in our afterglow.

Please enjoy: 00:08:18

We stay there for a while,

Please enjoy: 00:08:20

and I cuddle up against his side.

Please enjoy: 00:08:22

"I've never done that with another guy before," he admits.

Please enjoy: 00:08:27

I silence him with another kiss,

Please enjoy: 00:08:29

reassuring him with my love.

Please enjoy: 00:08:32

He feels safe beside me,

Please enjoy: 00:08:33

and Ross doesn't even flinch when the door to our hotel opens up.

Please enjoy: 00:08:37

Damian and Tiara slip in,

Please enjoy: 00:08:39

pausing for a second

Please enjoy: 00:08:40

when they see us spent on the bed together.

Please enjoy: 00:08:44

Even though we're in our underwear, we're still covered in our cum and

Please enjoy: 00:08:47

it's pretty obvious what we just did.

Please enjoy: 00:08:50

Tiara's muzzle turns, but all she has to add is,

Please enjoy: 00:08:53

"Boys." Her jealousy lasts maybe a week at most,

Please enjoy: 00:08:59

before I catch her alone with a flower crown

Please enjoy: 00:09:01

I braided just for her.

Please enjoy: 00:09:04

Damian, ever the most relaxed of the three,

Please enjoy: 00:09:06

goes with the flow,

Please enjoy: 00:09:08

not denying the inevitable before we're all pulled into a foursome almost every night on the road.

Please enjoy: 00:09:14

It seemed like they only needed me to bridge their sexual frustrations.

Please enjoy: 00:09:18

It's about a year down the line that I'm laying over Damian's chest, naked and panting in the back of their van.

Please enjoy: 00:09:24

Tiara slides off of my spent cock,

Please enjoy: 00:09:27

and turns to curl against my belly.

Please enjoy: 00:09:29

Ross is sleepy eyed in his afterglow,

Please enjoy: 00:09:32

his cum still fresh on my breath.

Please enjoy: 00:09:34

I smile at all of them,

Please enjoy: 00:09:36

my first true friends.

Please enjoy: 00:09:38

That warm glow fills me again, and even though I'm strong enough now to extinguish it,

Please enjoy: 00:09:43

I know it's my time.

Please enjoy: 00:09:45

There's a vast universe out for me to explore, and this is just a fraction of what I can experience.

Please enjoy: 00:09:52

It's left an itch under my fur,

Please enjoy: 00:09:54

and though I'll miss them greatly,

Please enjoy: 00:09:56

I know they'll be fine without me.

Please enjoy: 00:10:00

"I love you all,

Please enjoy: 00:10:03

so much," I say, and stress that last bit

Please enjoy: 00:10:07

just so they understand. There’s

Please enjoy: 00:10:11

a small hope that one of them might recognize what I’m saying and tell me to stay.

Please enjoy: 00:10:16

If they’d ask, I know I’d never have the willpower to leave.

Please enjoy: 00:10:21

All they do is chuckle,

Please enjoy: 00:10:22

and pass me love yous as well.

Please enjoy: 00:10:25

Carefully, I stroke them all in the back of the van,

Please enjoy: 00:10:29

trying to hold onto the touch of their fur.

Please enjoy: 00:10:32

It's important that I remember this

Please enjoy: 00:10:35

and find a place in my heart to cherish it

Please enjoy: 00:10:38

forever. And then I'm gone.

Please enjoy: 00:10:46

For a while, I travel here and there.

Please enjoy: 00:10:48

Sometimes earth,

Please enjoy: 00:10:49

but most times not. Sometimes with friends and lovers, and some eons I'm left in quiet solidarity

Please enjoy: 00:10:57

to explore the stretches of the universe alone.

Please enjoy: 00:11:01

It's only when I come back to Messier-87,

Please enjoy: 00:11:04

do I remember something

Please enjoy: 00:11:06

important. I remember that awkward wave I gave it so long ago, remember how this all started,

Please enjoy: 00:11:13

and see myself so young and new. I've got

Please enjoy: 00:11:16

business to do and I need to get back to that party.

Please enjoy: 00:11:19

But first, I've got to pick something up.

Please enjoy: 00:11:22

Something that isn't mine.

Please enjoy: 00:11:26

Again, I give an awkward wave to the black hole,

Please enjoy: 00:11:29

feeling our time was short, and again,

Please enjoy: 00:11:31

it doesn't have to impress me. It's a freakin black hole. It couldn't give a shit.

Please enjoy: 00:11:37

Then I find myself far into the future.

Please enjoy: 00:11:41

I see a gas giant

Please enjoy: 00:11:43

orbited by a hundred thousand railguns.

Please enjoy: 00:11:48

Hiding in the planet's ring is a top secret station;

Please enjoy: 00:11:53

a research facility

Please enjoy: 00:11:54

where they're developing the pill

Please enjoy: 00:11:56

I need to give to myself.

Please enjoy: 00:12:00

There's a room where it's being held in and I

Please enjoy: 00:12:02

can't just manifest into it.

Please enjoy: 00:12:05

They’ve shielded it from me,

Please enjoy: 00:12:07

or whatever threat they perceived I might have been,

Please enjoy: 00:12:11

keeping me from stealing what they've worked so hard to achieve.

Please enjoy: 00:12:15

Sure I could spend a millenia researching it on my own,

Please enjoy: 00:12:19

but that's not how it went down or how it will go down.

Please enjoy: 00:12:24

Oh, don't think less of me for being a thief.

Please enjoy: 00:12:26

They're Nazis. Space Nazis!

Please enjoy: 00:12:31

Yeah, that's right, they come back and this thing they've created

Please enjoy: 00:12:34

is to ensure their dominance over the universe. I can't let them have it.

Please enjoy: 00:12:41

I will myself into the station,

Please enjoy: 00:12:43

standing outside a hallway alone.

Please enjoy: 00:12:45

But I'm not alone.

Please enjoy: 00:12:47

Time stretches in front of me, and I see the few

Please enjoy: 00:12:50

infinite versions of me standing in front of the door.

Please enjoy: 00:12:54

I am seeing every future of me

Please enjoy: 00:12:58

making the decision

Please enjoy: 00:13:00

that'll change all of time.

Please enjoy: 00:13:04

I watch as each version turns back to greet the one behind.

Please enjoy: 00:13:07

Three ahead, the marble fox goes for a wave.

Please enjoy: 00:13:10

Two, the next one gives its me a sly smile.

Please enjoy: 00:13:13

The one directly in front of me turns back, and I recognize that mother fucker anywhere. He gives me a wink,

Please enjoy: 00:13:19

and there’s no hard feelings between us. I turn back,

Please enjoy: 00:13:22

seeing a couple infinite marble foxes standing in a row behind me.

Please enjoy: 00:13:26

With confidence, I give mine a thumbs up.

Please enjoy: 00:13:29

In turn, that one shows me up by giving his me a double thumbs up.

Please enjoy: 00:13:34

He's the fun one, I can tell.

Please enjoy: 00:13:38

Then I look forward

Please enjoy: 00:13:39

and see that all the me's have turned their heads to the right.

Please enjoy: 00:13:44

I follow suit, glancing into a passage of time beside me.

Please enjoy: 00:13:48

It is there, I see a road that has never been taken, but exists all the same.

Please enjoy: 00:13:52

It's a reality where I don't

Please enjoy: 00:13:54

get my paws on that pill.

Please enjoy: 00:13:56

An existence so dark and bleak, both in past, present, and future,

Please enjoy: 00:14:01

that it proves one thing certain:

Please enjoy: 00:14:03

I always stop them.

Please enjoy: 00:14:06

Every time. The me's collapse into one and I push forward on the double doors leading into a hallway in the research station.

Please enjoy: 00:14:15

There are lizards of all sorts, each wearing white lab coats and visors.

Please enjoy: 00:14:18

They're scrambling, the time of their ascension dawning,

Please enjoy: 00:14:22

and none of them look up from their tablets and notes to notice a fox wearing a tank top just waltzing in.

Please enjoy: 00:14:27

I am fast and small,

Please enjoy: 00:14:30

walking behind and between the men and women.

Please enjoy: 00:14:33

At some points, I pause, waiting for a group to pass

Please enjoy: 00:14:36

and others, I hurry by quickly.

Please enjoy: 00:14:38

My timing is perfect, because it has to be.

Please enjoy: 00:14:40

It's almost crazy to think, with all the railguns and high tech sensors and the room I cannot penetrate,

Please enjoy: 00:14:45

not a one thought to lock the front door.

Please enjoy: 00:14:51

Ahead of me, there's a metal corridor sealing with lights flashing above.

Please enjoy: 00:14:55

There's a tall komodo dragon walking with a couple armed guards at either of his side.

Please enjoy: 00:15:00

He's moving with a sense of authority, chest out, shoulders straight, and his head tilting back so no one could be at eye level with him.

Please enjoy: 00:15:07

Even amongst his own kind, he thinks himself above everyone else.

Please enjoy: 00:15:12

I get close behind the dictator,

Please enjoy: 00:15:13

the guards stopping just at the door and taking either side of it.

Please enjoy: 00:15:17

They turn and to about-face,

Please enjoy: 00:15:19

but their movements are so formal that neither even notices me walking just

Please enjoy: 00:15:23

underneath their line of sight.

Please enjoy: 00:15:27

I stop in the room,

Please enjoy: 00:15:28

pulling my tail forward

Please enjoy: 00:15:30

just as the metal door behind me is sealed shut.

Please enjoy: 00:15:33

The komodo dragon walks to a table in the center of the room,

Please enjoy: 00:15:37

and I see the pill,

Please enjoy: 00:15:38

shimmering in red, orange, blue, yellow, and green,

Please enjoy: 00:15:42

along with every color in-between.

Please enjoy: 00:15:46

He steps around the table, getting into a position that I think he imagines to be more dignified or something.

Please enjoy: 00:15:52

Just before he gets to his moment of triumph,

Please enjoy: 00:15:56

he notices me across from him.

Please enjoy: 00:15:59

He stares for a minute,

Please enjoy: 00:16:00

blinking a couple times as if I might be something caught in his eye. The tyrant looks around,

Please enjoy: 00:16:08

as if I were a prank his subjects were playing on him,

Please enjoy: 00:16:11

and at any second they'd come bursting in saying

Please enjoy: 00:16:13

surprise! No one is coming out,

Please enjoy: 00:16:16

and so he asks in his final question,

Please enjoy: 00:16:18

"Vhat iz dis?" I raise my paw,

Please enjoy: 00:16:24

feeling energy coursing through me

Please enjoy: 00:16:27

before releasing it out directly into his chest.

Please enjoy: 00:16:30

In a flash, the komodo dragon is nothing but a spray of blood and ash against the wall he was formerly standing in front of.

Please enjoy: 00:16:36

I'm a little stunned—

Please enjoy: 00:16:39

no, a lot, because I wasn't expecting that to happen at all. In my head, I pictured him crashing into the wall and falling unconscious.

Please enjoy: 00:16:47

Then I'd take the pill and he would wake up, shaking a fist in anger as I foil his plans for galaxy domination.

Please enjoy: 00:16:53

Nope, he is very very dead, and I

Please enjoy: 00:16:58

probably should have tested my powers before this point.

Please enjoy: 00:17:02

Oh well. If anything, that was a freebie.

Please enjoy: 00:17:06

I snatch the pill off the table,

Please enjoy: 00:17:08

clutching it in my paw and squeezing it tightly.

Please enjoy: 00:17:11

Unlike the fascists, I know this is too valuable to leave somewhere it can be stolen.

Please enjoy: 00:17:16

Instead, I place it deep into a fold between time and space,

Please enjoy: 00:17:21

ever to be locked away until I need it once more.

Please enjoy: 00:17:24

My work here done, I look out towards earth, willing myself to sail back home.

Please enjoy: 00:17:29

With a thud, I smack muzzle first into a wall in the room instead.

Please enjoy: 00:17:33

I'd forgotten

Please enjoy: 00:17:35

that this is the one place I can't travel through.

Please enjoy: 00:17:38

That was embarrassing.

Please enjoy: 00:17:40

Even as a demigod, I can't help but look like a massive dork.

Please enjoy: 00:17:44

With a sigh, I walk back to the sealed door and give it a knock in succession to a tune I remember.

Please enjoy: 00:17:50

It takes a second before the metal room opens up and the two guards greet me in shock.

Please enjoy: 00:17:57

I take a step outside right between the two men.

Please enjoy: 00:18:00

They both raise their guns at the same time, ready to empty their clips inside of me,

Please enjoy: 00:18:04

but I'm already gone,

Please enjoy: 00:18:06

and they only end up eliminating each other

Please enjoy: 00:18:09

and any proof of my existence.

Please enjoy: 00:18:14

Invisible, atop of a railgun is where I place myself after.

Please enjoy: 00:18:18

I sit there, watching their society from afar.

Please enjoy: 00:18:22

They conclude that their experiment was a failure and never attempt to recreate it again.

Please enjoy: 00:18:27

For as strong of a civilization they were,

Please enjoy: 00:18:30

all that talk of master species and unity falls apart with their charismatic dictator gone.

Please enjoy: 00:18:36

Quickly, even before they finish cleaning off the bloody wall of their once great leader, factions are being made.

Please enjoy: 00:18:42

Arguments of what to do next and how to conquer the galaxy falls to infighting.

Please enjoy: 00:18:46

They splinter and a great civil war happens.

Please enjoy: 00:18:50

The railguns once meant for me, are now turning on one another.

Please enjoy: 00:18:54

I picked a good one,

Please enjoy: 00:18:56

it lasting most of the war.

Please enjoy: 00:18:58

The reactor inside hums, vibrating the barrel underneath me.

Please enjoy: 00:19:01

Radiation leaking from the core turns the whole thing blue,

Please enjoy: 00:19:04

and just before it can get too hot, the barrel erupts.

Please enjoy: 00:19:09

A projectile launches from its tip, racing at unfathomable speeds to eviscerate ships, battle stations, and other railguns

Please enjoy: 00:19:16

thousands of miles away.

Please enjoy: 00:19:19

The war lasts years,

Please enjoy: 00:19:20

and I feel a little guilt that I caused this.

Please enjoy: 00:19:23

I didn't want this violence, but I couldn't just let them go through with their plans. It felt like the only option at the time,

Please enjoy: 00:19:29

but I wonder how I could have changed things.

Please enjoy: 00:19:32

Before I can ponder it too hard, I see something coming out the corner of my eye.

Please enjoy: 00:19:36

It's a bullet from another railgun.

Please enjoy: 00:19:38

I slow time, and even as seconds get stretched to months, it's almost moving too fast for me to follow along.

Please enjoy: 00:19:46

Gradually, I rise from the barrel, stepping off into space just as the hull is pierced through

Please enjoy: 00:19:51

and through. An azure glow spills from the reactor, leaking into space,

Please enjoy: 00:19:56

and the whole gun lazily spirals into nothing.

Please enjoy: 00:20:00

Decades pass and the war is over.

Please enjoy: 00:20:02

I stay close by, watching their society in fast motion.

Please enjoy: 00:20:05

They rebuild,

Please enjoy: 00:20:07

not just their crumbled buildings and their ruined stations,

Please enjoy: 00:20:09

but they find their heart amongst the destruction.

Please enjoy: 00:20:12

Their war has left them tired of fighting, tired of dictators, charismatic leaders, and talks of power and ruling the galaxy. I watch

Please enjoy: 00:20:20

a freighter come for the railgun,

Please enjoy: 00:20:22

pulling it into pieces.

Please enjoy: 00:20:24

What is salvaged of the core is sent millions of miles away to power a station's garden atrium for generations to come.

Please enjoy: 00:20:31

The barrel is chopped to bits,

Please enjoy: 00:20:32

and I follow a small section smelted into raw metal that is later repurposed.

Please enjoy: 00:20:38

At the end of its journey, I see a small komodo dragon hatchling,

Please enjoy: 00:20:41

unwrapping a present and looking up at his parents in pure bliss.

Please enjoy: 00:20:46

He'd never know that the casing surrounding his little easy bake oven

Please enjoy: 00:20:50

was once a tool of awful destruction,

Please enjoy: 00:20:52

and everyone’s better for that.

Please enjoy: 00:20:55

I leave, knowing there's nothing left for me to see here.

Please enjoy: 00:20:59

I've got a party to go to.

Please enjoy: 00:21:02

I think to just show up,

Please enjoy: 00:21:05

but that feels a little rude.

Please enjoy: 00:21:06

No, I need a proper invite.

Please enjoy: 00:21:09

Then I remember the wolf the Wild Thing was standing next to,

Please enjoy: 00:21:13

and I chase after his image through time and space.

Please enjoy: 00:21:16

It's kinda hard to flip through a trillion muzzles in history,

Please enjoy: 00:21:19

but I eventually land on him

Please enjoy: 00:21:21

about six months before the party.

Please enjoy: 00:21:24

I catch him in a green coffee uniform, during the middle of his break.

Please enjoy: 00:21:28

He's sipping on a latte while flicking through his social media feed, and seeing him in the light, I realize just how handsome he is.

Please enjoy: 00:21:36

It intimidates me for a second.

Please enjoy: 00:21:38

For all the lovers and all the adventures, he catches me a little off guard.

Please enjoy: 00:21:44

Wiggling my body until I'm feeling loosey goosey, I give my muzzle a slap and

Please enjoy: 00:21:49

tell myself to get it together.

Please enjoy: 00:21:51

With some bravery, I jump right into it,

Please enjoy: 00:21:53

walking into the cafe and taking the seat across from his table to introduce myself.

Please enjoy: 00:21:58

The wolf’s name is Giovanni.

Please enjoy: 00:22:01

He's a college dropout, living in a tiny apartment in a shitty neighborhood on the outskirts of town.

Please enjoy: 00:22:08

When he's not playing video games, he is writing poetry, but he's mostly playing video games.

Please enjoy: 00:22:13

Don't look down on him because I love nothing more than spending time together.

Please enjoy: 00:22:17

When we go out, he likes burgers and hates sushi,

Please enjoy: 00:22:20

but he does it for me anyways.

Please enjoy: 00:22:23

Giovanni is saving himself for someone special,

Please enjoy: 00:22:26

and I know it's me.

Please enjoy: 00:22:28

I know because I look far into the future,

Please enjoy: 00:22:30

when his fur is gray and his eyes are milky.

Please enjoy: 00:22:34

No spoilers. Just a quick peek, right?

Please enjoy: 00:22:38

Even though he can't see me so well, he recognizes me walking into the room and says,

Please enjoy: 00:22:42

"Hey Handsome, I love you.

Please enjoy: 00:22:45

you." He doesn't say it because he knows what's about to happen next.

Please enjoy: 00:22:50

It's just something he likes to do spontaneously,

Please enjoy: 00:22:54

and he genuinely means it every time.

Please enjoy: 00:22:58

It makes me feel good, that same warmth coursing through my body whenever he tells it to me,

Please enjoy: 00:23:03

and maybe that's why I'm just a little too distracted to notice.

Please enjoy: 00:23:07

I don't see the clot building up inside his head until it's too late.

Please enjoy: 00:23:15

I say I love you back,

Please enjoy: 00:23:18

and before anything can be done,

Please enjoy: 00:23:20

he's gone. I am cold,

Please enjoy: 00:23:26

scared, lost, and utterly alone.

Please enjoy: 00:23:36

"Are you crying?" Giovanni asks, and I shake myself from my vision.

Please enjoy: 00:23:43

I’m not alone; I'm sitting cross-legged on his couch with a controller in my paw.

Please enjoy: 00:23:49

We're still just playing video games together in our youth.

Please enjoy: 00:23:52

Giovanni's got a concerned look on his muzzle, pausing the screen for a second to check up on me.

Please enjoy: 00:23:58

I wipe my eyes and nose with the fur on the back of my wrist.

Please enjoy: 00:24:02

"Yeah, sorry. Allergies, am I right?"

Please enjoy: 00:24:05

I say, nodding assuredly.

Please enjoy: 00:24:09

He leans his head back, a sly smile on his muzzle

Please enjoy: 00:24:12

as he stretches out a, "Surrrreee,"

Please enjoy: 00:24:14

unconvinced.

Please enjoy: 00:24:18

I shove him with my shoulder, and though he's almost a foot taller than me, he shoves me back just as hard!

Please enjoy: 00:24:23

The big bad wolf. We're laughing, and resume playing the game.

Please enjoy: 00:24:28

He'd give me so much shit if he knew I was crying about an ending.

Please enjoy: 00:24:32

It was always about the journey.

Please enjoy: 00:24:34

I should know that, better than anyone else.

Please enjoy: 00:24:39

He goes back to telling me about this cool party,

Please enjoy: 00:24:41

and he wants me to be his plus one.

Please enjoy: 00:24:44

Giovanni is so close to asking me out, but he's not quite there yet.

Please enjoy: 00:24:49

This is just a way to spend more time with me,

Please enjoy: 00:24:52

and I shield the rest of our future together from myself.

Please enjoy: 00:24:56

When he finally does ask me out,

Please enjoy: 00:24:59

I want it to be a real surprise.

Please enjoy: 00:25:03

But if he's not gonna do it tonight then I'm gonna get it from somewhere

Please enjoy: 00:25:07

and I know exactly from who.

Please enjoy: 00:25:09

I tell him yes, but I need to stop off somewhere first.

Please enjoy: 00:25:13

No homo, so we fist bump before I walk out the door and find the last thing I need.

Please enjoy: 00:25:21

Sitting on a building sized tree at the end of the cretaceous period, I string together a bundle of flamingo pink flowers.

Please enjoy: 00:25:28

I watch the sunrise, taking in the vast greenery of lands untouched.

Please enjoy: 00:25:33

There's a brachiosaurus taking a bite of the leaves next to me, and I reach out to scratch its long neck.

Please enjoy: 00:25:38

It likes the attention well enough, even if it doesn't know what to make of me.

Please enjoy: 00:25:43

This time and place feels good,

Please enjoy: 00:25:46

and I realize that the Wild Thing was right all along: I am having a lot of fun making this crown.

Please enjoy: 00:25:52

At this point, even after all this time,

Please enjoy: 00:25:55

I finally relax and accept

Please enjoy: 00:25:58

that he was always me

Please enjoy: 00:26:00

and I was always him.

Please enjoy: 00:26:05

Looking up, I see an asteroid approaching.

Please enjoy: 00:26:08

It's coming and I fold my ears back in sorrow.

Please enjoy: 00:26:11

There's a thought

Please enjoy: 00:26:13

that I can stop this.

Please enjoy: 00:26:15

If there is any time I can play god, it’s right now.

Please enjoy: 00:26:21

But I know it's not my place to do anything,

Please enjoy: 00:26:24

and I know that party

Please enjoy: 00:26:25

isn't gonna happen

Please enjoy: 00:26:27

if I make any big changes. I'm not

Please enjoy: 00:26:30

god. I am the Wild Thing.

Please enjoy: 00:26:36

The asteroid slams into the planet,

Please enjoy: 00:26:38

the blinding light of a hundred million megaton explosion sets the world ablaze.

Please enjoy: 00:26:43

I give a final pat to the brachiosaurus, the creature running for its life away from the destruction.

Please enjoy: 00:26:49

As the ground tremors up towards me,

Please enjoy: 00:26:51

I take a bow, and I'm back in front of Giovanni’s place.

Please enjoy: 00:26:57

He answers the door

Please enjoy: 00:26:59

and compliments my flower crown.

Please enjoy: 00:27:01

Just for fun, I tell him it's not half as beautiful as he is.

Please enjoy: 00:27:05

The wolf's muzzle turns red,

Please enjoy: 00:27:07

but he pushes past it and holds up his phone.

Please enjoy: 00:27:10

The rideshare is coming,

Please enjoy: 00:27:12

ready to take me

Please enjoy: 00:27:13

the last mile towards destiny.

Please enjoy: 00:27:17

When the front door opens,

Please enjoy: 00:27:18

it's the hare that invited me to the party.

Please enjoy: 00:27:22

He greets Giovanni with a side hug

Please enjoy: 00:27:24

and then the wolf turns to introduce me as his plus one.

Please enjoy: 00:27:28

The lapine looks at me with some confusion,

Please enjoy: 00:27:30

recognizing me, but I’m just the loner he accidentally invited to the party.

Please enjoy: 00:27:35

Thankfully, he doesn't put too much thought into it, and welcomes me inside.

Please enjoy: 00:27:39

I spend most of the party with Giovanni

Please enjoy: 00:27:41

being introduced to his friends.

Please enjoy: 00:27:43

They're all chill,

Please enjoy: 00:27:44

and it’s not too hard to have a good time with them. But it’s a little difficult to also not be so excited,

Please enjoy: 00:27:50

and I've got to focus on the conversations,

Please enjoy: 00:27:52

hoping to make a good impression on his friends.

Please enjoy: 00:27:56

But it happens. Standing across the room, holding onto a cup for dear life,

Please enjoy: 00:28:02

I see me. It's hard to not break down into tears.

Please enjoy: 00:28:07

There I am, a thousand years younger, and the second biggest dork in the whole universe.

Please enjoy: 00:28:12

And my heart is filled with so much pride.

Please enjoy: 00:28:17

He's here. He showed up.

Please enjoy: 00:28:21

I can see him more clearly than he could ever see himself, and I'm just so god damn proud of him. It's a Friday night,

Please enjoy: 00:28:26

and though he could have spent the evening watching animes he's seen a billion times over,

Please enjoy: 00:28:30

he's chosen to step out of his comfort zone for the first time.

Please enjoy: 00:28:35

He doesn't have a single friend here, but he came anyway

Please enjoy: 00:28:38

with the hope to make some.

Please enjoy: 00:28:40

The invite was out of pity,

Please enjoy: 00:28:42

but he dressed nice

Please enjoy: 00:28:44

and remembered to take the fucking pocket protector out of his shirt before showing up.

Please enjoy: 00:28:49

This night could have been disastrous, and though he doesn't have my powers to see into the future,

Please enjoy: 00:28:54

he went out anyways,

Please enjoy: 00:28:56

like a real champ.

Please enjoy: 00:28:58

He's flawless. In my opinion, that’s the reason why he's so much cooler than me.

Please enjoy: 00:29:05

It's what makes me feel this intense attraction to him, and I'm getting a little hot and bothered.

Please enjoy: 00:29:10

The marble fox across the room is slender, young, and so nervous.

Please enjoy: 00:29:14

He has nothing to fear,

Please enjoy: 00:29:16

because anyone would be so lucky to be with someone as special as he is.

Please enjoy: 00:29:23

That's when he turns to me,

Please enjoy: 00:29:24

and we make eye contact.

Please enjoy: 00:29:27

I remember my thoughts; see what he thinks of me,

Please enjoy: 00:29:31

and I'm flattered.

Please enjoy: 00:29:33

In his mind, I see me

as true: 00:29:36

I am the Wild

as true: 00:29:39

Thing, and I want to be with him as much as he wants to be with me.

as true: 00:29:45

Except this time, I think I’d like to be on bottom.

as true: 00:29:53

This was the second of two parts of “Wild Thing” by Dirt Coyote,

as true: 00:29:58

read for you by Rob MacWolf,

as true: 00:29:59

werewolf hitchhiker.

as true: 00:30:01

As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,

as true: 00:30:05

or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

as true: 00:30:08

Thank you for listening

as true: 00:30:10

to The Voice of Dog.