Appropriate Justice

by Tekwolf

Joey was a hit man for the mob. He'd grown up in New York City and was running errands for the local boss, when he was only ten years old. People didn't much mess with small children at that time and Joey was good at doing their errands. He had also learned at an early age to keep his mouth shut. This is what led him into his current profession. He found that killing people was easy for him and it was surely more profitable that the other. The first few people that he killed bothered him, but as time went on, it became easier and easier to do it.

Joey had quickly turned into a cold-blooded killer. He no longer felt anything as he killed a person. It was a business proposition, no more. His boss called him and gave him a name. After the job was accomplished, he received another call, which told his where to go to pick up an envelope with the payment. He considered himself a professional. He had killed women, men, and children. Sometimes, to teach a lesson, a whole family was put to death. Joey usually brought in help on those occasions though.

His latest job was on an old woman that ran a business over on Century Street. She sold supposedly magic items and told fortunes. It seemed that the superstitious Don had gone there to get his palm read and the old Lady had offended him in some way. Joey never got complete information on the why of the matters; he just needed to know who to target.

The old woman was reputed to be a wise woman. That is to say, that she could read fortunes and was said to be in touch with the spirit world. Joey didn't place any faith in this. He believed that most of that was show and bull. The old woman would be the easiest target he had neutralized in quite a while. He watched her for a couple of days and when he saw that she went home every day after dark and was by herself. This was going to be too easy!

He made his plans and waited for the old lady to leave her place of business. As she neared the place where Joey waited, he stepped out into the open and shot her in the chest, with a silenced pistol. Normally, Joey would have pumped several rounds into his intended target, then leave. This time however, the pistol jammed. This was to cost him dearly.

The old woman had fallen to the ground with her hand clasped to her chest. Blood was slowly trickling out through her fingers. She looked up to Joey, who was still trying to clear the action and stretched her hand in his direction. She began to mumble words in a language that Joey had never heard before. Her words were pained, as her life flowed out from between the fingers of her other hand.

Joey looked up from his task with shock on his face! As the old woman had spoken, he had felt a cold shiver run over his body. He yelled at the old woman," What the hell are you doing to me!?"

"You may have killed me," the wise woman told Joey," But I will have my revenge upon you!"

'What are you babbling about, old woman," Joey asked?

She replied in an increasingly strained voice," You have brought pain and misery to many people in your short life and now you will have to pay. You are cursed to die a different way for each of the people you have murdered!" "You will not truly pass onto the otherworld, until your penitence is complete."

"Screw you old woman," Joey told her, but she was already beyond hearing. Joey put away his gun and quickly left the area. He went to make the call that would bring his money. He collected his bounty and went to a bar to celebrate. Joey always drank after a kill. It was a ritual from his early days, when it helped to settle his nerves. He didn't worry about the old woman's curse. He didn't believe in curses anyway. He finished his drink and pleasantly flush, he stumbled towards home.

Joey stumbled and almost fell. He cursed the drinks that he had consumed. He really didn't think that he was that drunk. Suddenly, he was doubled over with a sharp pain in his stomach! He grabbed his middle and slumped to the ground. Gods, it felt like his guts were being rearranged. He had hot and cold flashes and then things got worse.

His hands were on fire now. As he looked down at them, the fingers merged, the nails coming together to form split hooves. Change flowed up his arms and into his chest. It expanded, taking his stomach with it. His spine lengthened and hips flared with pain, as bones shifted. Another surge of pain in the small of his back signaled the beginnings of a tail. Joey moaned and it sounded weird to him.

His head felt like it was going to explode! He couldn't reach up to feel it, as his arms/legs? Wouldn't reach that way any longer. He felt his face pushing out into a broad moist muzzle. His mouth was huge and he could touch his nose with his tongue! What the hell was happening? His eyesight was weird and as the pain subsided, he struggled to get up. He managed to get to all four hooves and realized that he had become a steer.

The change wasn't finished with Joey yet though. He stood there shivering and wondering what had caused this. It couldn't be! Not the old woman's curse! Then, Joey felt something that scared him more that any other thing ever had. His mind was loosing control of his new body! It was moving by its self, without any command from his. He could sense a presence pushing at his mind. He was slowly being pushed to the back of the mind and the steer was taking over. It started walking around the city.

Joey could hear horns blowing at the steer as it wandered down the street. He was no longer in control and could only watch. He hated loosing control! The cow wandered into the park and reached down to crop grass. Joey was powerless to do anything but watch. He could feel everything that the steer felt, but was helpless. Finally, near morning, animal control came and loaded the steer into a trailer and took it away. Joey wondered where they were going, but couldn't tell.

The truck pulling the trailer stopped and the gate was laid down. Joey felt a sting and the steer let out a bellow. Joey had no voice to even scream. They were funneled down a chute and into a holding pen. He could tell that the steer took comfort from the others around it. Then it was singled out and chased from the pen, down another chute. Joey couldn't tell where this was leading. Then, the steer was penned into a tight box and there was a man there with an axe.

"Oh shit!" This is a slaughter house," was Joey's last thought. The man brought the axe down and Joey never even had time to scream. A sharp flash of terror and immense pain, then he knew no more.

Joey came back to consciousness again. He sighed, or tried to. He had thought upon waking, that it had all been a bad dream. Wait! Something was still wrong! His eyesight was still blurry and he could see a mass in front of him again. He looked back and saw stripes along his side. He wondered at this, then realized where he had seen this before! In the zoo. Oh No! He was a zebra now. He looked around to see others of his kind just over the way from him.

Then, he sensed something! He flashed a look behind and saw a tawny streak coming at him in a hurry. Before Joey could ever react to what he had seen, the zebra took control and reacted. The delay was just enough to doom it though. The lioness rapidly caught up to it and hooked it with claws, sending it to the ground. Joey could feel the fear and pain that the animal felt. The lioness had a death grip and no amount of struggle would free it. It was slowly being suffocated! Even before they died, Joey felt the rest of the pride start to feed. No one could hear the silent scream!

Joey came back around yet again. With sudden fear, he looked quickly around. He was in a glass enclosure. He looked around and saw himself as a small white form. He had whiskers and he felt a tail behind him. He despaired. Not again! Joey thought of all the people that he had murdered. "A death for every murder," the old woman had said. Joey tried to remember how many. He was still thinking when the Boa Constrictor pounced!

End

Appropriate Justice copyright 1997 by Tekwolf.