It had been nearly two months. Zak had been practicing with the contacts at least once a day and could now get them in on the first try, most of the time. Further raids on the surrounding area had provided him with a comb, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, candles, and matches. As long as he was careful, he doubted he'd ever be caught. After all, little items went missing every day, and he could think of no other way to get what he needed.

Tonight was midnight recon. A combination of claws that could dig into most surfaces and spring-loaded hind legs meant that he could travel the city a few stories up where there was little chance anyone would see him, and even if he was seen, there was even less chance that anyone could catch him. No norm on foot would have the slightest chance at matching his pace, and motor vehicles couldn't take to the rooftops.

He was getting bolder, tonight. Zak realized that he would need money soon and was on the outside of an apartment, ready to lift what he needed. The hot night meant open windows on every room above the second story. That meant that Zak could slip in and sneak what he needed. The next morning, people would be lighter by a few dollars. Zak was careful not to take any bill larger than a ten. That way, the missing cash could be shrugged off as a forgotten purchase.

Once he was done with his midnight raid (and had lifted an ancient fanny- pack out of the back of someone's closet to carry his ill-gotten gain) He started inspecting the rest of the city. This wasn't the city he had grown up in, and it took him awhile to find the name. Bayville. It sounded like the kind of nice, sleepy place where mutant-hunters, or for that matter, anyone who knew what a mutant was, would be few and far between. He could make a new life for himself here.

After scouting out the positions of various hiding places and bolt-holes, just in case, Zak came across the local school. He realized that having some kind of paper tail would make blending in easier, but how was he going to create it? After entering through a third story window in an attempt to avoid any cameras, he searched the building until he found the school office. The door was locked, but when the office was on the third story, he doubted there's be any locks on the window. carefully, he marked where the proper window would be, slipped back outside and used his claws to dig into the side of the building far enough to spider around to the window. After a few moments of jimmying the screen and the window itself, he was in.

Once inside, Zak scouted around the office for some way to join the student body. The morning's mail lay unopened on the secretaries desk, and after a moment's consideration, Zak popped a claw to open the letters. Maybe he'd find something he could use.

Bill.

Bill.

Note of resignation.

Bill.

Love letter?

Note of transfer.

Note of failed transfer. Well, that looked promising. Zak opened the letter to read that the student Jeremiah Zachary Johnson would be unable to transfer to Bayville from his hometown in New York City because he'd been hit by a taxi. Zak had never in his wildest dreams believed that bad driving skills could ever help him, but here was a possibility. He was just glad that father had brought enough of his paper-pushing work home for Zak to have a crude idea of what he needed to do.

Zak sniffed around the office, searching for a hiding place for the keys to the cabinets or desks. Some unusual placed smelled too strongly of human hands for it to be an accident, so Zak carefully worried at each one until he found what lay within.

Vodka.

More love letters.

Gin.

Nail polish.

Ah, here they were. Keys. And if the other stashes he'd found were any indication, any mistakes he made could easily be attributed to the secretary.

Zak searched through half the file cabinets before he finally discovered just where Jeremiah's file had been placed, or rather, misplaced. He carefully removed it and read through it. It seems this Jeremiah was a model student, blond, and way too tall for Zak to fit the bill. No big deal. Zak continued searching through the files until he found blank transfer forms. He carefully copied all the important things, such as name and social security number, over to the new form. He replaced things like contact numbers with random numbers that could be mistaken as typos, and filled in most of the physical information chart with his own measurements. He'd go down to the nurse's office in a moment to find his weight and height.

After another hour of searching though the files and making sure everything was done as well as he could make it, Zak slipped back out of the school, replacing everything in its proper place on his way out. He'd be starting at Bayville High in another two weeks, and he'd even found the forms needed to issue him new books. Now all he needed was a backpack, paper, and pencils. This time, he'd try nicking them out of a new area. No reason to give anyone the slightest reason to be suspicious.

____________________________________________________________________________ ______

Opinions?