Jacob rose slowly from bed, yawning and stretching. He scratched his back, and lazily walked to the shower. The week following a shift was always stress free, as if he was always just leaving the gym, a light euphoria always on the tip of his frontal lobe. He showered and dressed himself, with ample time to get ready. He sat down to eat a bowl of cereal and turned on the news, idly watching some man in a tie talking to a camera in a street. Behind him was an alley way, and a cordon of yellow police tape. 

 [i]"Police still have no lead on the male victim found in the Alleyway just two nights ago, here in Clear Springs. Initial suspects believe it to be a large animal attack, but forensics have not been able to match the bite pattern to any animal yet, and are currently investigating any possible animal escapes from local zoos. Police are asking that if anyone has any information of what, or possibly who did this, to come forward. Back to yo-"[/i]

Jacob turned off the tv before the newscaster could send it back to the station. He had lived through this before. Could it have been him? He went to the Red Hills park to change, and he was literally hours away. He couldn't have made it to the city and back in one night. That just wasn't possible. Suddenly not hungry anymore, Jacob dumped the cereal into the sink, and left for work. He was still early, though.

Jacob climbed into his Jetta and started it, driving through the suburbs, and into downtown. He stopped at a coffee shop, parked and got out of his car, an odd twitch deep in his reptile brain. He was walking towards the shop, on a sort of autopilot, his feet leading him without thinking. He walked in, looked around, and saw no one that consciously got his attention. But he smelled something. He felt the hairs on his neck stand up, as he smelled another Zoanthrope. Different, but similar to him. Jacob stepped in line, and got a small black coffee, and sat down at an open table in the corner, looking around for anyone. 

Sipping his coffee, he thought to himself. [u]"Its probably nothing. Just finish the coffee, and go to work."[/u]