The lightning bolt erupted from the building and knocked us off our feet. I kicked myself for getting out of morph. I was stuck on this roof until I could get into a morph with some wings. The world became brighter as my eyes changed to those of an owl, but I didn't care. I was in a hurry. I had to see if Ax was okay.

‹Let's go!› I shouted at my stunned teammates as soon as I was able to thought-speak.

I threw myself off the roof, confident that I would finish morphing before I hit the ground. My wings finished forming, and I used the tremendous speed from my freefall to swoop toward the TGI Friday's building. I saw Tobias flying just ahead of me. He must have left the roof at the same time I had. We flew toward a broken window with an orange glow and smoke coming from inside.

I flew inside, and was momentarily blinded and disoriented as my eyes adjusted from the dark night sky to the flames that were spreading across the room. I landed hard and tumbled on the floor that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Once my vision returned, I looked around through the haze. On the far side of the room, I saw a giant beast charge past an enormous hunk of destroyed machinery, and crash through the wall and into the night air. I flapped to follow it when my ears registered the sound of dozens of screaming voices. I was terrified and fell to the ground again.

‹Cassie!› Tobias yelled. ‹He's got people chained to the wall, like before! I'll get them free! You go after Zenguh! Don't let him escape!›

Tobias began the grotesque change from red-tailed hawk to Hork-Bajir. The orange glow of the growing flames didn't make it any prettier.

I knew that the beast had to be Zenguh, and since he was gone, I didn't have to pretend to be an Andalite. I righted myself, demorphed, and climbed to my feet. There was debris and broken glass everywhere, and I was barefoot. Not ideal. I began to morph again, and as my feet became the durable padded feet of a wolf, I noticed Ax, partially hidden behind an overturned table.

‹Ax!› I yelled.

‹Cassie!› he answered. ‹I will be okay, but I will need a few moments to recover before I will be of any use. Go!›

I groaned with my difficult decision, but I finished my morph and took off, leaving him behind.

‹Cassie, wait!› Ax again. ‹The explosion has changed him somehow. Be careful, he could have some new tricks.›

I thanked Ax, and began running toward the hole in the wall. The fire sprinklers kicked on, and musty-smelling stale water began falling from the ceiling.

I ran out into the night air. Even if there hadn't been a trail of destruction, the unearthly smell would have led me right to him.

The beast was big and strong enough that he seemed to prefer charging through things rather than going around them. Parked cars had been shoved away from the sides of the streets, and corners of buildings had bricks missing where a giant shoulder had crashed past them. I picked up speed. The others should have no problem following the trail when they caught up to me.

I rounded a corner to see the beast breathing heavily and watching a man unlock and get into his pickup truck, oblivious of the world around him as he left for his night shift. He started the engine, checked his mirrors, and screamed. Zenguh punched a massive hand or foot or whatever through the driver's window.

I expected him to rip the man out of the car, but the massive beast flowed into the car, like a thick, blurry cloud. Ax was right, this was different. Way different. I ran up to a car across the street, and looked into the truck's driver-side window. It was empty. This wasn't making sense.

The empty truck's engine roared, tires spinning, and peeled out down the street. I ran after it as fast as my legs would carry me. It was definitely faster than I was, but it took a screeching left turn, and I jumped into the bed of the truck as it passed in front of me. The inside of the truck's tailgate slammed into me, but I was in.

Wolf feet are great for running and climbing in the woods, but they weren't designed to hold on to a smooth truck bed. The truck took a sharp right, and I was thrown against the left wall of the bed. My lower half tumbled over the edge, and I barely managed to hold on using the entirety of my two front legs.

I wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer, and the truck must have been going 60 miles an hour down the tightly packed city streets. I had no choice but to morph back to human so I could climb back in. My human hands formed, and it was suddenly much easier to hold on, though it still wasn't a situation I'd like to be in. I pulled myself up and was halfway into the truck bed when the truck hit a bump.

I flew into the air, half wolf and half human, probably the worst of both worlds. I landed on everything but my feet, and rolled and rolled, completely unable to make sense of my swirling surroundings. I slammed into a big blue US Postal Service mailbox. The world stopped spinning, and I saw the truck speeding into the distance. Then I heard the police sirens.

I'm embarrassed to admit that my first thought was that I was going to jail for damaging federal property, even though the mailbox looked fine. I saw a few police cars flying down the street after the truck.

I finished demorphing back to human, and it healed most of my injuries. The truck and the police cars turned a corner, and I heard a crash. I ran down the street after them. I heard more crashing sounds and screams as I approached the corner. I had heard enough screams tonight to last me a lifetime. Whatever form Zenguh was in around the corner, I knew I needed some muscle.

I focused on the change and felt myself swell, growing many times my normal size. I fell forward onto my hands, which were now hooves. My face elongated, and dense, sharp horns grew from my head. Gigantic muscles tensed, and a wave of immense power washed over me as the changes finished. I was a two thousand pound invincible killing machine, known in parts of Africa as "The Black Death". I was an African Cape Buffalo.

I charged around the corner ready to turn Zenguh into pulp, but the scene that greeted me made me falter. There was broken glass and blood everywhere. I caught sight of the arms and legs of officers pinned under smoking, overturned police cars, with red and blue lights still flashing. I would never get this scene out of my memory.

Shock turned to fear, and then turned to anger. I started hyperventilating and literally saw red. He had done all of this without a second's hesitation. There was no saving Zenguh, and there was no saving the people inside of him. We were going to have to kill him to end this. There could be no other way.

A thick, liquid gurgling sound caught my attention, and a police car in front of me shifted. The same police car then melted, with the same sound, into the same horrible beast I had seen before. Its enormous mouth spread into a wicked grin.

‹They told me that you were following me,› he growled. ‹And they told me that you are no Andalite.›

‹They?› I asked.

‹I suppose it's no secret that there are many voices in my head, the minds of those that I have absorbed,› he said, stepping closer. ‹We all share the same senses, but while I was busy driving here, they saw and felt you become human in the back of my truck. And while some of those within me are still resistant, some have begun to accept their fate, and are working with me. I hope you'll be one of the cooperative ones.›

His teeth glistened in the flashing red and blue light as one of his massive feet took another step toward me.