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Delinquent to Dog Collar Pipeline

TW: transphobia, misgendering, gender dysmorphia directed at LA/Little Alpha/Squirt, who identified as she/they in human form, but forced into confines by their captors, in the werewolf form.

She wasn’t even that small, really. But, she was as malnutritional as any other Wasteland kid and some of them were better fighters for scraps. She was pretty sure she’d always fight for scraps. That sort of was life out there “in the wild.” Now... the Wastelands had names. There were communities, buildings, etc. with signs and stuff, but a lot of the inhabitants couldn’t read. If they were orphaned or unclaimed and they didn’t have anyone to teach them, they never learned. She had learned a little. She found a group to settle with. Her mama had gotten sick when she was 6, and was gone by the time she was 9. The perfect age, actually. The perfect age for her to fall victim to what she now thought of as the “delinquent to dog collar pipeline.”

From what she could remember, she had about a 4th grade reading level before her mama left. By 12, she hadn’t read more than street signs and food labels for the past few years, but she had settled in with a gang of survivors who fought for food and shelter. She was never that great at fighting, but for as small as she was, she always could take a hit. Broken bones that never quite set back right, bruises nearly daily and more than a fair share of scars - everybody had shit like that happen out here. It just seemed like more because she was so small compared to her crew. That also meant that they believed she could use less. Less food, less water, less respect. What was she gonna do? Fend for herself? At least she had people who shared food with her.

For a time. Around 14, that absolutely was not the case anymore. She and the few stragglers she still had were struggling and to get food was really life or death. They decided it was worth it to try to sneak into the city limits and perhaps just get a little bit from one of the settlements. Even in the outskirts, people called the police sometimes, apparently. She thought that it only happened in the gates.

She wound up being put into a detention center. The best thing about it for her was that she was able to eat. They allotted you a certain amount of nutrients. They had to keep you alive to do all of the labor that delinquents and criminals were assigned to She may never go to a crime free life again.

She was 15 whenever she got put on the detail where it all went wrong. One thing changed, she found out that she could be a she and a they, and she could change them when she wanted. She was heavily leaning towards a they. In fact, at that time, they were pretty steadfast about it.

They searched the bus on the way to the detail, for smaller and weaker ones. They needed to know that somebody was. They were no longer in the habit of taking hits for needs, and knew that in an environment like a detail, they might slip back into it if they fell too far behind.

The weak link was easy to spot. Pretty skin, a lot darker than theirs, with long, healthy hair and no types of visible damage. She looked like a worker, sure. But definitely not one from the Wastelands. She didn’t even have a collar. Only a few of them did, and fortunately for... Well... let’s call them LA. That’s what they’re called today. They were called something else back then, but boy, oh boy, the entire point of this little trip down the foggy road that some call “memory lane,” is simply because sometimes, you just wind up there. They don’t know what they were called. They would get to a point in which someone in the memory would call them something... and they would completely blank out as to what that was.

Commander said that person was dead, anyway. LA had killed them when she became... this. Murderborn was what Commander called it. For the beast to live, the human had to be killed. The beast killed the human and stole their form. That was Commander’s teachings. LA didn’t feel any different at first. At first, she just felt like the same person on the bus who had been trying to find someone weaker than themself.

The weak link was stronger than any of them knew. Not strong enough to keep her food for herself, or to fight back when she made the mistake of calling LA a “girl,” when at that time, they wanted to be just a person! Not strong enough to hold her ground whenever they jumped on her. But. Much like LA was before - strong enough to take the hits. LA paid their dues and now it was time for weak link to pay hers, as well.

None of them knew what would happen whenever the chaperone vanished, but you always send the weak one first. That way, if they didn’t come back, you ain’t lost the stronger survivors. LA might’ve had to do that in the wastelands, but they had backup now and weak link was it for this assignment. Now, the boy that went with her? He was strong. In fact, LA only recalled strength from him as she was there from his conception to his confirmation as Alpha, the Packmaster.

He left with weak link and the next time LA saw him was in transit. LA had been one of the kids who weren’t slaughtered by beasts that day... but... they were wounded. They thought, “It’s fine. It hurts, but I’m strong. I have taken hits. I’ve had scratches. I’ll be fine...” But, they weren’t fine. In fact, they were never the same again. They were yet again the bottom of the barrel, and this time, they all were beasts.

Soldiers pulled all of them off of the transport, still bound and muffled, still sedated, but conscious. LA felt them lining them up outside of a prison. They supposed that they were being transferred after what happened in the woods. Whenever the soldiers began cutting clothes off of the inmates, LA was puzzled. Usually, strip searches went down inside. Usually, they weren’t bound this way during those, either. But, soldiers were removing their clothes with weapons, then they were hosed down and inspected. Someone reported, “Beast,” when they discovered the large slash across LA’s back, and moved them into a different line. There were others, with scratches or bites. There were some that didn’t seem injured at all. “Meat,” the soldier would say and put them in the line for “Meat.”

LA felt like the drugs were wearing off. They were becoming a little more conscious, though they followed the flow of where they were being steered. They looked at the meat line, absentmindedly and it seemed to become frantic. They were being shoved into a large walk in freezer. There were other bodies in there, too. Naked and bound bodies, as well. LA’s eyes widened. Now that NEVER happened at any center that they had ever been in. The guards were shocking people who refused to move forward, hitting some and shoving others. Whenever the entire line was inside, the soldiers blocked the door and sealed it shut. LA couldn’t even hear the cries through the seal. But, they knew they were terrified for the others, and for themself.

They were in a different place now. It looked like the yard. LA looked around as the lines were formed, noting that never before had they seen such an impenetrable prison before... “Eyes front, girl beast” the woman in charge said... and as much as she wanted to protest, she was already afraid to do so. Rounded up, bound, muzzled... they hadn’t even realized what was happening when it happened, but once they did, when Commander called them “girl beast,” they knew that must be who they were now.

“They” are called “they,” someone said.

They looked around to see who it had been and that was the first time that they got a good look at one of them and then they remembered for the first time the trauma of what happened in the woods

These things rushed their camp, tore her fellow inmates to shreds. They barely got away from one of them swiping at them before their friend distracted it with a shove. They thought... maybe from this very one? He was the size of a man, but with the shape of a wolf... well... he was like... a wolf man or some shit... like nothing they had ever seen. This one stood taller than several of them, mostly white in the front with gray fur on his top and back. It was a beautiful creature to behold today. It hadn’t been when LA was running from it as it broke the shovel with the flick of its wrist and tore their friend’s throat out with enormous fangs.

Whenever the things attacked, everyone ran in different directions. LA ran. They had never been a runner before, but then again, they had never had anything like that coming for her. Anything like him... But. He was right. They wanted to be addressed as “they.” Not “she.” They would answer to she, but “they” usually felt better. Felt more natural. They would accept either, but it was the fact that the woman hadn’t even considered it. The woman didn’t seem as in awe of the wolf man as LA. Had she seen something like him before? Of course she had! She had all of this in place for something like him.. for something like them.

“Oh. Are you the Alpha of this pack?” Commander asked him. He frowned. LA didn’t know how they knew he was frowning, but they could tell that he was. Commander smiled at him, “Oh. Now, you can’t speak? Just as well. I don’t want this thing talking to me. If I ever want to speak to you, I’ll speak to you in that format.” Commander pointed a finger at LA. What format? She wondered, but Commander was in front of her soon. “Girl Beast, change your format.” LA glanced around. There were some people... or... “beasts” that looked like people, like her, and there were some that looked like wolf people. Like him.

“You... want me to make myself look like that? I can’t.”

“Of course you can. That one did it and he was killed after you.” Now, Commander pointed at the future Alpha. He was looking around, like he was trying to find someone. It didn’t occur to LA at the time that he was probably searching for that weak girl. “Speckles,” Commander said, looking at him, and demanding his focus to herself. “Change your format.”

“Am I Speckles?” He asked, confused. Commander simply glared at him and he quickly decided that he must be, clenched his fists as he concentrated on following the directions, and began to sort of change into a creature who resembled the other ones, but not quite... like he wasn’t all the way done. The mahogany red fur began to form on his pale body, but he wasn’t covered like the other ones and his face had not seemed to be getting there very well. But, Commander didn’t even press him, probably because LA hadn’t even done that much.

“Your turn, Squirt,” She told LA. LA imitated the actions that they witnessed Speckles do and felt the hairs stand up on their skin, but beyond that, they couldn’t change. “This is going to hurt a lot more if you don’t change your format.”

“What’s going to...” the words were cut off with jolts of electricity. They couldn’t hear the gasps of the ones shaped like people or the few whimpers of the ones shaped like wolf people, but they were made in the background. The one that Commander had dubbed “the alpha of this pack,” stepped in front of the prod and transformed to a human like form which looked the woman in the eyes as she continued to press the electricity into his person, to see how long he would withstand it. She smirked and withdrew her weapon.

“If you care that much, why don’t you teach her?”

“They aren’t old enough to control it. None of these,” he gestured to the people shaped ones, “Are. You can’t force it. They aren’t properly aged or fed. You may as well just kill them...”

“Kill them?” Commander stared down at LA’s quivering body, as though contemplating it. But, as he thought, they had been captured for a purpose. If Commander wanted them dead, they’d be dead. He wasn’t sure why they weren’t, but the new wolfen didn’t deserve to be tortured for how their body naturally worked.

Commander squatted and gave a shivering LA a dangerous wincing smile. “Well. The big beast on campus seems to think that he knows something that I don’t about your kind. You’d better not make a fool of him whenever I come calling again. Learn to change your format on command. That is an order, Squirt.”

“Yes, Ma’am...” LA managed.

“Commander. You refer to me as Commander, because I am in command of everyone and everything that you will ever see again. Understand?”

“Yes, Commander.”

As she walked on to terrorize someone else, the man held a hand out to help LA up, muttering to himself, “I’m not calling her that shit.” LA gave Commander a worried look, but the man shook his head, “She can’t understand this. You’ll learn, but for now, its enough that she doesn’t know our language.”

“Me no either.” LA said, certain that they had simply spoken English, as usual. But, his little smile told them that wasn’t the case. “Did I do?”

“I got the gist of what you tried to say. It’s in your blood now. It’ll be instinct soon enough, but you need more time. She needs the new ones to be in her grasp before you have the chance to know better than to listen to her...”

“STOP THAT!” Commander shouted. LA straightened and shut up. But the wolf man in people form just stared at her.

“Stop what?” He asked, with the tilt of his head. It only occurred to LA in that moment that Commander did not understand what the wolf man was saying. Even though he was speaking to her, he was speaking in some type of language that only the ones like himself could understand. It was angering Commander. LA was afraid. What if she got in trouble because of it?

“Return to your natural form,” Commander finally told him. “You are idle. No need to mimic humans.” With a louder voice she roared, “And that goes for EACH of you. If you are idle, I expect to see your natural form, NOT, a human form.”

“This is not a human form. This is simply one of OUR many forms..”

“I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!” She snarled.

“It is not meant for you to know.” He smirked. Commander looked like she might explode, but instead, she smiled at him and removed something from her belt. She reached her hand out and pointed it at the head of one of the wolf people in wolf form. Before anybody could even react, she pressed a button and they turned to see that it had been a projectile. Like a gun, but... it was like a laser pointer... They all watched the person fall to the ground, bleeding from their temple.

The person’s wolf form laid in a big pile. Dead. The wolf man stared down at the body in surprise, until Commander pointed the pointer at LA’s face. LA cried, pissed herself, whimpered. But, Commander didn’t press the button. She wasn’t even looking at LA. She was looking at the wolf man. He looked at her too. There was rage brewing in him. He could probably attack her and take her down before the young wolf died, but then what?

“I may not be able to understand what you’re saying, but I know that some of you can understand me to a certain degree. So let me make this clear for those who understand, that you may make it clear for the others. I am Commander. My commands are your only lessons. Every day there is a lesson. Often, every moment can be a lesson. But, this one is a freebie. I. Am. Commander. Say it.”

“You are Commander,” LA quickly complied. Other new wolves did, as well.

“Do you understand?” Commander asked the wolf man. His hands were paws and his feet were changing. She pointed it at another one in wolf form and the wolf man held up his hands. I am Commander.”

“You are Commander.” He repeated.

Commander smiled and put her weapon away. “Very good!” She did a hand signal and two soldiers came to remove the dead wolf. “Get it to skinning, immediately. I think it was a pureblood beast, so it should retain this form, but sometimes the murderborns change slow, depending on when they were killed.”

Two other soldiers were posted nearby and she told them, “I want these two researched. The troublemaker is definitely a pureblood. He knows their language and can get this one to understand. She’s a new beast. Part of the delinquent detail detainees. That one told me to kill them, but I couldn’t understand anything else. That... growl-barking that they do is definitely speaking, though some of the stronger ones can project words. Keep them from using that wolfspeak. It seems like even the new ones can understand it and they don’t need to be communicating with each other without us knowing what they are saying. Tag all of the ones from the detention detail exercise then take the ones in beast form to maximum security and the murderborns to gen pop...”

She was speaking so casually, LA remembered thinking as the soldier placed a tagging gun against their skin and fired a painful shot that left a small circle of blood for a moment, but then quickly healed. LA stared at it, but didn’t have much time before they began to steer them again, this time to the area called gen pop. At the entrance, a guard locked a collar around the neck of everyone who did not have a collar. LA and future Alpha already had, so instead, there was a scan at the doorway, and all of their stats appeared in a holographic form in front of the guard, who seemed to be matching up the description with the records.

“Umm, Guard? The system has my gender incorrect. Its supposed to have she/they indicated.”

Lazily, he said, “That identity is reserved for humans.”

“I’m still human. I can’t even do that change format thing. I’m just..”

“You’re coded as a female, because girl beasts will go into heat. We need that on record for safety. That’s literally the whole thing, so don’t bother too much with the files.”

“Heat?” They repeated.

“And you’re flagged for research, so you definitely will not be getting fixed.”

“You’re talking about me like I’m some kinda dog, Man. This ain’t right. I’m from the Wastelands, so ain’t shit ever been right, but this is going even beyond that. No matter what I didn’t have out there, I had my identity, at least. You’re gonna take that from me?”

“Kid... The idea of identity that you think you had? That is over. I know it’s not your fault completely, but something got you.” He pulled up an image of the four scratches across their back. “That strike infected that identity. The body got sick. The person died, and you were born from this sickness...” He pulled up the image of a fully formed wolf person, “THIS is your identity now. You might not be able to change the format right now, but you will. And do you think that you’ll be capable of being allowed into society then? The ones that came after you and your friends? Did you do them any harm? Not likely. Everyone who falls at their claws are attacked simply for being human. You see us as food.” He pressed the necessary buttons to validate their inspection and they were moved inside, where there was a huge flag of Commander hanging from the ceiling.

“Welcome to The Kennel,” they heard someone say. But, it was all background noise. The person they used to be was classified, on file as dead. Nobody would come searching. Nobody would question the status of a Wasteland kid. They were dead. And this afterlife, this hell for beasts was their new reality. Her... she whimpered, not missing the fact that her whimper sounded like that of an animal’s. Her new reality.

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