Moving Along Remastered

Chapter 33: Bonding...sort of..

Attention: The following chapter features mature and explicit content. If you are uncomfortable with that sort of thing, please leave this chapter immediately.

Featured art by @RLEROFEVRYTHING! Thanks for giving me permission to post this!

Chapter 33: Bonding...sort of..

After it seemed like we'd been walking forever, Starks suddenly declared, "we have arrived at our glorious head quarters!!!!" His arms shot straight into the air as he gestured to white brick building that was in total and complete shambles. Much like government buildings of the human world, this one had numerous flags being flown in the front of it. Though most of them were torn and burned, one remained relatively unscathed. It bore the image of a starry paw print with rainbow colored stripes behind it. Other than that, though, the whole structure looked like it'd seen better days.

"Hate to break it to you," I let out a deep sigh, feeling a little underwhelmed at the sight of it, "but this place looks more like a crater than an HQ." Every squad member turned to me with an unimpressed look on their muzzles.

The bobcat on the other hand chuckled, "oh to be young and only understand outward appearances." I rolled my eyes as he showed us into the ruins. Ziro followed closely behind, but made sure to tread carefully so he wouldn't lose his grip on the still limp Minerva. I could feel his worry. Her only sign of life was that she was still breathing and even that was faint.

The front entrance to the building was caved in, so we went through the convenient hole in the wall next to it. How the hole had gotten there in the first place was anyone's guess. Inside were the remnants of what I could only assume was a reception desk. Most of the phones were ripped from their housing and papers were scattered everywhere. Some computers were still powered on with error messages on the monitors. A fair bit of blood was spattered along the floor, most likely drawn from a blade. "What part of the city didn't get hit??" I remarked to myself.

Commander Rogers stared down at the bloodstains, "central square remained untouched, but the rest of the city is gone." He held down a low growl and his paws clenched tight, "it's hard to say how many casualties there are because a lot of the citizens are missing either from being taken prisoner or.." The rest of the wolfhound's squad mates bowed their heads in despair. Ziro shifted uncomfortably on the spot with a far off look in his eyes. He knew exactly how that felt for sure.

Everyone was silent until Starks cleared his throat, "come along everyone! No time to tuck our tails in when there's work to be done and innocence to be saved! Grieve when the last lizard falls!!" There was nothing, but resolve in the mayor's voice as he signaled his men to march onward. Rogers steeled himself, then nodded, "yes sir! However, we must proceed with caution past this point. Though HQ is secure, it's likely the way to it is not."

"Understood," Starks continued to lead the way with the rest of us following. We all climbed over the reception desk, a few soldiers helped Ziro get Minerva over, and into the dimly lit lobby where the smell of blood permeated the air. It wasn't that hard to find the source, there were bodies everywhere, fur and lizard alike. Even in the dark, one could tell most of the fallen Furs were civilian. Probably didn't see their end coming until it was too late. Some of the bodies looked to be shielding others in an attempt to prolong their loved ones' inevitable fate.

I could hardly look at it all, "my god.."

"There's no god here," Rogers shook his head while he shined a flashlight on a small bear cub. It didn't move as blood poured in droplets from its bashed in skull. "Only hell on Earth.."