Tigerfist McCloud

Tigerfist McCloud



Life is often full of shocking surprises. I discovered that firsthand when I was just thirteen. And now, my life is full of adventure and peril, but for some odd reason I enjoy the thrill of it. Like some big action movie, say, "Van Helsing" or... what's that one film with Peter Berg as director? Oh, right; "Battleship." Man, that film sucked! Anyway, I always enjoyed the adrenaline rush I got whenever I went into combat. The cooling sensation of wind in my fur, the look of my streamlined tail...
I know what you're thinking. Fur? Tail? What the heck am I talking about? Well, I'll explain. My name is Gregory Brockwell. I may seem like your average 30-year-old citizen, but I carry a secret within me which most sane people would find crazy. I'm a white weretiger. Not werewolf, but weretiger. How did I become one? Long story, but I'll try to summarize it.

It all started when my family visited India during the 2015 summer break before I went into eighth grade. I had always wanted to visit India, but I got a hell of a lot more than I anticipated when we visited that country. India always seemed to be attractive, just like China and Japan, and I really loved their food. You could say I'm a bit of an international food fanatic.
Anyway... Where was I? Oh, right, I remember. Heh, heh.
We went to the country's famous Ranthambore National Park near the town of Sawai Madhopur. Besides visiting the fort there, we also attended a local festival, which my younger sister Elicia enjoyed; she even dressed up as a local Hindu woman, and I had to say, she looked beautiful in the red cloth. I found some authentic clothes for myself as well, but I didn't try them on yet. Good thing I didn't.
After the festival, we returned to the local hotel, the RTDC Hotel Vinayak, which was right on the edge of the park, or at least close to it. Whatever, that wasn't important. Elicia and I went out for some stargazing, since in that area there wasn't a lot of artificial lighting. We were in the tropical zone of Earth, so I could see constellations I normally couldn't see in America. I can't really remember the names of them nowadays.
Trouble soon started as Elicia wandered off, and I went looking for her. She had a flashlight and some protective gear against the dangerous wildlife in the region (you'd be surprised by what lives in India), and I had similar gear, despite it being rather warm that evening. There was no moon that night, which made finding her a bit difficult in the local flora. It felt like I was searching for hours, and I knew my parents would be thoroughly ticked at me for wandering off. But parental anger was the last thing on my mind.
At around 11 p.m. local time, I heard something which made my blood run cold. Elicia's scream of agony. Without a second thought to the danger, and because I was still a bit immature at the time, I ran in that direction, and soon found her.
She was still alive, but horribly injured. Blood covered her entire body, and her protective gear was literally in pieces. With the light of my flashlight, I could see a huge gash on her shoulder, and it looked like part of the skin had been torn out. I had seen graphic stuff before, but never in real life. And I nearly vomited at the sight of blood. Yeah, nerves of steel I lacked at the moment.
I tried to cover her injury to stop the bleeding, using what I could, but I didn't have much luck; the blood was literally exploding out of her, and at this rate she would bleed to death. I got out my cell phone, but much to my shock, I wasn't getting any reception. So I tried to pick her up, but I stopped when the blood came out faster. I didn't want to leave her there, but I had to get some help, so I got ready to head back toward the hotel.
But before I could, I heard rustling in the trees nearby. My sense of danger went into overdrive, and I could just tell there was something out there, stalking us. I glanced every which way, but even with my flashlight, all I could see were trees and darkness.
I never saw that thing coming.

I remember waking up in a local hospital several days later, thoroughly wrapped in bandages. At first I was confused, but I then learned what had happened, because I had no memory of the incident. My parents had heard the screams from Elicia and myself, and came running with the help of a local who had a rifle. When they found me, I was practically half-dead, and Elicia was in a coma. As for what attacked her, it seemed like some large reptile did it, but the doctors had no idea what species did this; the DNA profile they got matched no known reptile in India. As for what attacked me, the doctors knew it was a tiger, given the large bite marks and DNA traces, but they could not figure out what subspecies it came from, as again there was no known match. Talk about weird.
We healed up over the next few days, and Elicia came out of her coma. I recovered remarkably fast, and so did Elicia, but she had a massive scar on her shoulder which never went away. I ended up having a gigantic one covering my entire back. Once we were well enough to travel, we all left India and headed home, for St. Louis, MO.

Life returned to normal for the next two years, or as normal as I could get it. Ever since that trip, I began having nightmares of a predator attacking me, and the strange thing was, I could remember the dreams as if they were actually memories. Since I was a martial artist in my school, I became known as the Tigerfist, which I found incredibly ironic, given nearly everyone knew about my scar.
It was in tenth grade when I noticed things had begun to change. At the time I had no clue what was happening to me. First, my rather slim body began to build up a muscle tone. This was one thing, but it happened over a rather short period of time, and at times it was painful. I wasn't a bodybuilder, but over concern my parents had me checked for steroids, which came up negative; in fact, they discovered I had developed an extreme intolerance for anabolic steroids.
Over my sophomore year, several more changes occurred to my body besides the added muscle growth. I realized I had become stronger, to the point I could easily lift up nearly three times my own weight. My new-found strength was one thing, but what really freaked me out was my speed. You would not believe how fast I could run - without breaking a sweat. Let's just say, whenever I ran at high speed, any tree I ran past bent slightly in the wind gust I created. Yeah, that fast.
You probably guessed at this point I was on the verge of insanity. Doctors had no idea what was happening to me, my parents were heavily concerned, and several of my friends at school noticed I was acting weird. It got to the point my girlfriend and I mutually called off our relationship, and we parted ways peacefully, although I had a slight meltdown afterwards.
Then came the day my life really changed. April 5, 2018. I still remember exactly what went on that day. It was also the day life changed for my sister Elicia.

I got home from school late because I had martial arts training with my sensei at the school. Both my parents, who worked for NGA (the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency), were out on a trip overseas, at some exotic location on behalf of the U.S. Government. Elicia was already home, since she had broken her leg in soccer practice (thanks to some idiot who hated girls). I started to do my homework, as well as take care of Tucker, our wolfdog hybrid, while she continued watching the latest episode of American Idol, which I honestly can't stand, although I do like Jordan Sparks.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
"Elicia, are you okay?" I asked. She looked like she was about to vomit.
"What?" she replied.
"You look like you're going to puke. You need some medicine?"
"Maybe just some water." I went to get the glass of water, but just as I finished filling it up, Elicia suddenly screamed in pain.
"Elicia!" I stated, rushing over to her. She was bent over in some kind of pain in her abdomen. As I came to her side, I noticed her skin was moving.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I don't know!" she replied through gritted teeth, before another spasm of pain shook her. "Greg, what's happening to me?!"
"I wish I knew, sis," I answered. That's when I noticed her skin color around her shoulder scar. It wasn't a tanned beige, but had changed to a red color, not like blood but more like fire or lava.
"Elicia, look at your shoulder," I spoke. She did, and nearly went white with horror.
"Brother, what's happening?!" She sounded like she was about to explode with pain.
"I don't- what the...? Your hands!" Both she and I looked at her hands, which had changed somehow. Where there should have been pink-colored nails, there were now black claws. She lost it at that point, and I could only watch in sheer horror as she literally transformed into... something else. Her skin turned fiery red in color; her body literally grew out some kind of bony protrusions; a large, scaly tail erupted out of her spine; I could go on about this, but I think you can see where this is going.
When she collapsed on the floor in a pile of body mass and torn clothes, I barely recognized her. She had a reptilian appearance, with a tail dragging on the floor, talons replacing toenails and fingernails, weird scales covering her body, and she stood taller than me if she was actually standing up at that point. This was weird and frightening enough, but it was those bat-like wings attached to her shoulders which really gave it away.
She was a dragon. A real live dragon. If it had been any other situation, I would have thought "Awesome as hell!!"
"Elicia?" I spoke quietly, and the dragon turned toward me with emerald green eyes. For a second it looked like there was only a fire-breathing beast in there, but then I saw human emotion in those eyes.
"Brother," she whispered - in a surprisingly human voice. I expected more of a deep growling sound, but I got her actual voice coming out.
"What happened to me?" she asked.
"I have no idea," I replied. "I've never seen this before. But it's almost like something out of a horror movie."
"What am I? A dragon?"
"More like a weredragon."
"What do you think brought this on?" By this point her emerald eyes had begun to leak tears.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that animal attack in India. Remember? The doctors said they had no idea what attacked you, other than it was some kind of reptile."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense, and..." I trailed off, as a dreadful thought occurred to me. "I just realized something."
"What is it?" Elicia asked.
"If it was a weredragon that attacked you, then what if I was actually... oh, hell." I broke off as a powerful spasm of pain shook me, and I bent over. I knew, somehow, I was about to undergo a similar change. That's when my vision went utterly black. You guessed it; I actually passed out from the pain.
"Greg?"
Was that Elicia? I opened my eyes slowly, to see her still in dragon form right over me. I nearly freaked out, but then recognized her. It was then I realized I had fallen onto my back on the floor.
"What happened?" I asked in a quiet voice. "Did I... change as well?"
"Yeah, you did," Elicia replied. "But... you're not a dragon."
"What?" I sat up, ignoring the aching in my body. As I looked myself over, I realized I had white fur, with black stripes. Claws replaced my nails, and I could tell I had a tail, but as I looked over my shoulder, I saw it wasn't a dragon's tail, but that of a white tiger. That's when I knew what I had become.
"Well, this is new," I commented, gazing at my new feline look. Surprisingly, I had not ruined my clothes as much as Elicia did to hers, but I had definitely grown a few inches, and we now equaled each other in height.
"Brother, what are we going to do?" Elicia asked. "I can't go to school looking like this."
"Well, neither can I. Just... give me a second." I paused, thinking over things in my head. "The full moon was a few days ago, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then that most likely means we're in control over this, whatever this is. Maybe if I concentrate..." I broke off, focusing on my human form. Almost instantly, I felt a powerful, but surprisingly painless, feeling in my body. I had my eyes shut, so I couldn't see what was happening, but when the feeling stopped, I opened my eyes to see my idea had worked.
"That's it," I spoke. "Just focus on your human form. I think your body will do the rest."
Within a minute she had reverted back to human form, but was of course fully nude, so I turned away while she got a blanket to cover herself. Part of her shoulder was uncovered, and I could see her scar was still there; I felt for mine, and I realized I still had it as well. And it hurt like hell from the transformation.
"Well, now what?" Elicia inquired. "Are we going to tell Mom and Dad?"
"They'll figure it out eventually," I answered. "If you want, I'll be the one to tell them."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Now get some clothes on."

When Mom and Dad came home two days later, I told them what had happened. Needless to say, they didn't believe me, until I transformed in front of them. Mom nearly fainted, but I was actually surprised at how supportive Dad was, considering what I had become. Elicia also showed them her weredragon form. We made a family vow, that neither Elicia nor I would use our new-found abilities to unfair advantage.
But a few days after Elicia and I discovered our therianthropy, we got a surprise visitor. He didn't tell us his name, but he said he was from the government. I didn't believe him at first, but he clearly had proof. And what was more, he knew about my condition.
It was then I learned the truth about what had really happened to Elicia and myself. The agent said there were other therianthropes in the country, and many more across the planet. In the U.S., at least, the government had created a program in the military meant specifically for people like us. This branch, called the X-Sector, dealt with dangerous threats on Earth and in space - yes, aliens (you didn't see that one coming, did you?). And these were the threats the general population could not know about, in order to prevent panic, sort of like Men In Black, only not as comical.
As for therianthropy itself, it turned out it wasn't a supernatural thing, but was actually the result of an exposure to a mysterious shapeshifting alien race several million years ago; in other words, alien-influenced evolution. What attacked Elicia and I were not aliens, but people who either were born with this ability or had it given to them via a bite. And there was no cure, not yet anyway.
Then came the biggest shock yet.
The agent asked if we would be interested in joining the group once we were old enough. He gave us a week to think it over. As a family, we probed the pros and cons of this idea, but it ultimately came to this. Elicia, unsurprisingly, did not want to join the X-Sector, as she hated violence. I, on the other hand, found the idea interesting, so I thought I would give it a try. When the agent came back, we told him our decision: I would join, but I wanted Elicia to stay out of it. He accepted this, and I later learned he assigned a fellow agent to watch over my family. After I graduated high school, I made it into the X-Sector, the first white weretiger to do so in nearly forty years. I was also the youngest at age 18.

I must say, I have never been happier in my life. Even if I have to keep my new job a secret. But I don't mind at all. I never really took myself for being a thrill-seeker, even though I was a martial artist, but now I really enjoy the thrills of hunting down anything which may threaten humanity. And it doesn't matter if I'm an unsung hero, or if I'm only half-human now. I don't really care.
To the world, I am Gregory Brockwell, a professional martial artist and trainer who works for the military. But I also have a codename in the X-Sector: Tigerfist McCloud. And to any person or alien out there who wishes to do something evil, remember this:
WATCH OUT FOR THE TIGER!!!