John quickly got his clothes on that he carelessly discarded around the room before he went to sleep, causing Ren to groan in her sleep from the noise.
"Will you hurry up human? We don't have time to waste." Shira said Impatiently as she stood at the doorway with crossed arms, watching as John got ready.
"Yeah yeah, just gimme a sec." He replied with a sigh, eventually getting all of his clothes on.
Shira noticed Aura sitting by the corner, clearly prepared to follow John wherever he went. "You will not bring the wolf with you." She demanded simply.
John glanced at Shira with surprise, letting out a sigh as he turned his head to Aura. "Sorry girl, you stay here." He commanded softly.
Aura stared at John for a moment before eventually letting out a whimper, laying down on the ground, which caused Ren to stir awake.
"Mm, John?" Ren mumbled with a tired voice as her eyes blinked open, awakening due to the noise.
John let out a sigh, sitting down on the bed by Ren's side and moving his fingers through her hair gently. "I gotta head out, I'll be back babe, I promise." He said with a soft, assuring voice as he leaned down to place a loving kiss on her head.
Ren looked up at him with her tired, confused eyes. "What? Where...?" She asked tiredly, now sounding worried for him.
"He is getting the chance to prove himself right now, and we do not have time to waste. You can pour your hearts out to each other when we get back... if he survives that is." Shira explained with a roll of her eyes, stepping into the room to grab his arm and pull him along with her.
John let out a sigh as Shira began pulling him along and he glanced back at Ren. "I promise you Ren, I'll be back." He said with nothing but honesty before he was pulled out of the room, Shira closing the door behind them.
"Her love for you surprises me human... she really does see something in you... you better hope that she is right." Shira explained with a slightly ominous voice before beginning to walk along the corridors. "Come, we must get you prepared."
He slowly followed after the lizard, letting out a sigh to her warning. "Prepared? Come on, a little rundown of what the fuck we're doing would be useful." He said with a roll of his eyes.
Shira was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "One of our scouting parties have activated their distress signal, this is a rescue mission." She explained simply, but there was a hint of worry in her voice... perhaps she knew someone in that group.
John was a little surprised by Shira's explanation, but he slowly nodded his head as they continued to walk. "Makes sense... I'll give it my all, we'll get your people out." He said with an assuring voice, knowing this was a very good opportunity to prove himself.
"Yes... if they're still alive." Said Shira with a quiet, uncertain voice.
He could hear the worry in Shira's voice, and it saddened him... he made a promise in his mind that he would do everything within his power to get this group of furs to safety. They eventually made it to the end of one chain of corridors, with a single door at the end of it. Shira opened it to reveal an armory of some kind, with hardly any guns however.
"It's hard for us to find guns and ammunition... so we mostly rely on the old ways." Shira explained as she stepped inside, flicking on a light switch to reveal the kind of weaponry they had.
It mostly consisted of bows, arrows and blades, even some long swords. John did notice a few guns in the armory, but it was very clear that they didn't rely on them at all.
"Huh... must be some pretty skilled fighters if you guys go up against the rabids with just blades." He said with slight surprise, sliding one of the swords out from a rack to inspect it... it was clear the blades were made by them, perhaps they had their own blacksmith.
"We don't go up against them at all human, we avoid them. But when we have to, we fight. And besides, I could put an arrow into a rabid's eye from a mile away." Shira boasted as she picked up a bow, decorated with some golden scales... clearly that bow was specially made for her.
John glanced back at Shira with amusement. "You're a good shot I take it?" He asked with a slight chuckle.
"More than good." She replied with a smirk, grabbing a quiver full of arrows. "Follow me." She demanded simply as she walked deeper into the armory.
Intrigued, He followed the lizard while still holding the sword he was inspecting, passing many other well made blades as they walked. They eventually stopped at a large metal cabinet, and Shira pulled out some keys, quickly unlocking it and opening it up.
"We took these from you and your truck, we will allow you to have them back for this mission. But I'm warning you, if you cross us, I will kill you faster than you can blink." Shira explained ominously, showing that the inside of the cabinet held all of John's weapons.
"I don't doubt it." He replied simply as he looked at all of his guns, trying to think about what to take.
He firstly grabbed his belt that held his desert eagle and kabar, clipping it around his waist... then deciding to bring along his M16 assault rifle with an attached scope, wrapping the gun's strap around him. But he also decided to bring along the sword he was inspecting, since he knew he would have to get used to a weapon like that when he runs out of ammunition.
"Do you know how to use that thing?" Shira asked with a raised eyebrow as she watched him attaching a sword sheath to his left side, followed by him sliding the large blade into it.
He simply shrugged in response. "Never used a sword before but it can't be too difficult." He replied with a chuckle, clearly a little excited to test it out.
Shira rolled her eyes and began walking back towards the door. "You'll need training to become any good with a sword. If you can prove your worth today, perhaps that can be arranged. Now come." She demanded.
John smiled a little to that, clearly liking the idea of getting training like that. He followed behind the lizard as they began walking along a different chain of corridors now, leading them to yet another door at the end of it. But this time, when Shira opened it, Cooper, Francis, Bella, Tristan and a fox fur he hadn't met before wearing a white lab coat was standing on the other side, sitting at a table as they waited.
"Oh look, the human scum." Tristan muttered with pure hatred as he glared at John.
Bella simply smacked the back of Tristan's head with annoyance to get him to shut up. "Come here human, you'll need a proper rundown of what's going on." She said, motioning for him to come closer to the table.
He nodded and slowly stepped closer, and he could tell that Francis and Cooper were watching him like hawks, since he was now armed. Once John made it close enough to the table, he saw a detailed map, specifically of the huge city of Montreal.
"Alright, listen up. Our scouting party's distress signal was activated over here, by the far East side of the city. But... we can also tell that is was activated underground." Francis started off, pointing to the area on the map that the signal was activated.
"Wait, underground?" John asked with slight confusion.
Tristan rolled his eyes. "There's a huge underground mall around here in Montreal, famously called the underground city. Never heard of it, idiot?" He asked aggressively.
He was clearly a little surprised to hear that, apparently he didn't know. "Alright... uh, and underground mall, interesting." He replied, only now realizing that Perseverance could very well be an extension of what was already built from this 'underground city'.
"Mhm, and we suspect that the rabids may have flooded the place and boxed our people in down there, in which case... that's really bad news." Francis replied with a sigh. "It'll take some really good fucking planning to get them out." The coyote said with a quiet voice.
"This scouting group is led by one of our best fighters, her name is Luna. And one of our other commanders is with them, the big fucking bear who damn near shattered your skull." Cooper informed ominously with crossed arms.
Bella rolled her eyes from what Cooper just said and looked back at John. "You'll be going in a small group. Only you, Shira and Cooper. We have all agreed that this has to be a stealth mission, for if what we suspect is true, we cannot fight a hoard of those things."
John nodded with agreement as he began thinking, looking at the map. "Wouldn't have a map of the underground mall by any chance, would you?" He asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately not, this is why we sent them to scout it out and bring back anything useful... but it didn't go as planned." Shira replied with a sigh.
He slowly nodded his head in response to Shira and began to focus solely on the map.
"We're gonna need a new way in. If the place is flooded with rabids then we can't just take the main entrance." Cooper muttered as he thought about it, also focusing on the map.
But then John noticed something and raised his head to look at everyone again. "The metro." He said simply before pointing to the underground metro tunnels on the map. "It looks like the metro station might lead to a different part of this mall."
Intrigued, everyone looked to where John was pointing on the map, seemingly agreeing with him.
"Huh, shit he's right... the mall has a metro station apparently... that's our way in." Said Cooper with a nod of his head, clearly surprised that John noticed that and none of them did.
Tristan let out a disrespectful scoff towards John, refusing to show any sign that he was impressed.
After a moment of silence and planning out the rest of the rescue mission, Bella spoke up. "I believe we have everything planned for your mission, but first, doctor Vulpes... if you will. Send him to the bay once you're done."
The fox fur with the white lab coat, now known as Vulpes nodded his head and stood up from his chair. "Of course, human, follow me." He said calmly, beginning to walk towards a different door nearby.
Confused, John followed. Intrigued to find out what this doctor wanted.
"Do you know what you're going up against, human?" Vulpes asked curiously as he continued to lead the way.
"Uh, rabids, I expect?" John replied with confusion and uncertainty from the unusual question.
"Yes... but do you really know them?" Vulpes asked in response as they made it to the door, slowly opening it up to reveal... a very chained up rabid. It began snarling viciously and desperately trying to break free of the many chains as soon as the door opened.
He was very clearly surprised to see the chained up rabid and watched as Vulpes entered the lab like room without a care, walking right passed the monster. "Uhh... no not really." He replied with a quiet, surprised voice, slowly entering the room as well. He really knew next to nothing about these things. "All I know is that you can only kill it if you put a blade through its eye, and they're attracted to sound."
Vulpes nodded his head in response to that and began sorting through various lab tools, ignoring the rabid's vicious snarls. "Yes, both true. I have been running experiments on them, trying to figure out what the hell they are... I regret to say that I am truly baffled. These creatures show extraordinary strength, speed and blood lust... far beyond any known living being on earth. And the worst part is... there are far too many of them, enough of them that they sent the entire world into apocalypse... we are no closer to finding out where they came from, and what they want." The fox explained matter-of-factly.
John listened to Vulpes very carefully, clearly gaining interest in what this doctor knew. "I think it's pretty clear what they want... they want all of us dead." He replied with a raised eyebrow, glancing back at the vicious monster.
"Is it clear though?" Vulpes asked curiously, glancing back at John with a slight smirk. "I don't think so. I think there's more to it... these things appeared out of nowhere for a bigger reason than to just kill us all... observe." he explained, picking up a small hatchet from his table.
He watched as Vulpes walked over to the chained up rabid... and slammed the hatchet down onto its back with all of his strength. He was very surprised to see the blade of the hatchet snap like nothing compared to the rabid. The fox just looked at handle that was now missing its blade.
"Their hide seems unnaturally strong, far exceeding the strength of a Dragon's hide... I have tried everything, and nothing can seem to penetrate it. These creatures are designed to withstand whatever we throw at them..." Vulpes explained with a calm voice, slowly turning his head to John. "I believe that they are meant to be a distraction to the whole world, one that won't just go away by shooting it... I know there is a bigger purpose at work... and that is what scares me."
He thought long and hard about Vulpes's proposition, and the more he thought about it... the more it made sense to him... a threat to the entire world would indeed make one hell of a distraction.
"I have, however, found some weaknesses." Vulpes brought up, heading back over to his table. "You already know about the weakness of their eyes, it is one of the only places on their bodies that isn't protected by their hide, but there is another." He informed, picking up a stun baton in one hand while picking up a sharp blade in the other.
Now John was paying very close attention, afterall, learning of a new weakness for these monsters could mean life and death.
"Observe." Vulpes demanded simply as he walked over to the vicious monster, zapping it once with the baton. John was surprised to see the rabid go limp for a moment... it seemed they didn't do very well against electricity... but merely ten seconds later, the rabid was back up and snarling viciously again. But John took a mental note of it.
Vulpes then dropped the baton and pushed a button on a dial by the rabid's side, causing the chains to start raising upward, which in turn caused the rabid's underbelly to be exposed.
"After a lot of experimenting, I have discovered one small spot that seems... softer... penatrable by a very sharp blade." Vulpes informed before driving his sharp blade right into a precise spot in the middle of the monster's chest. John was very surprised to see the blade go straight through.
The rabid let out a very loud screech as the blade was stabbed into its chest, and later went limb, dying within seconds from the wound.
"But beware, it will not be easy to stab it in that area... they seem to protect it more than anywhere else. Only attack it there if you know you have an opening." Vulpes warned while yanking his blade back out of the rabid, allowing its dark green blood to spill out of the wound.
He slowly nodded his head in response to Vulpes, clearly pretty surprised by everything he just learned from the fox.
"Now go, you know where our vehicle bay is yes?" Vulpes asked curiously, apparently done with his lesson on the rabids.
"Uhh... yeah, thanks for this." John replied gratefully, clearly finding everything he just learned very useful.
Vulpes simply shook his head and walked over to the door, opening it for him. "Don't thank me, I just want to ensure that our friends come back home... which means you need to know exactly what you're fighting to stand a better chance." He replied, "good luck human, don't die out there."
"I'll um... try not to." John responded quietly as he walked passed Vulpes and out of the lab so he could begin walking towards the vehicle bay.
He arrived to the bay a few minutes later, spotting Cooper and Shira waiting for him next to some kind of armoured truck.
"About time human, now let's go." Said Shira with clear annoyance before getting into the driver's seat, followed by Cooper who sat in the passenger seat.
He let out a sigh and walked the rest of the way, hopping into the back. "Sorry, that Vulpes guy wanted to show me a bit about the rabids."
"Yeah we know, because we asked him to. Now sit back there and zip it, human." Cooper replied, clearly not interested in any conversation with John.
Without a word, Shira started up the engine and drove carefully through the vehicle bay, and towards a large, thick metallic barrier. The lizard turned her head to the window and nodded in the direction of a few furs, who then pushed a large, red button for her.
John was very perplexed as he watched the huge barrier lift up, revealing a long, upward ramp, followed by an even bigger hatch at the top sliding over sideways, which he later found out was actually disguised as part of the road above.
Cooper glanced back at John, rolling his eyes when he saw his surprised expression. "Yeah, gets people everytime." He said boredly while Shira drove up the ramp, leaving Perseverance so that they could get started on their rescue mission.
-
Ren had been awake since John left, she couldn't get back to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. She was currently sitting on the bed, shedding tears while Aura was laying next to her, trying to comfort her.
"Th-They don't care about him... what if it's a trap?" She asked through her tears, clearly far too worried for John.
Aura simply let out a whimper, resting her chin on Ren's lap while looking up to her eyes. As Ren looked back into the Wolf's eyes... she saw what resembled hope... or confidence... Aura didn't seem to be worried for John's safety... perhaps she knew more than anyone that this was something the man could handle with relative ease.
Ren slowly found herself calming down a little from Aura... once again shocked by this wolf's ability to calm her down in times like this. But suddenly, there was a knock on the door... a very clearly nervous knock.
Confused, Ren stood up while wiping away what remained of her tears. Upon arriving to the door, she cracked it open slightly... the first thing she noticed was the very familiar white fur.
"Hi Ren.." Mia greeted very nervously, her cheeks reddening a little.
For a moment, she just stared at Mia through the small crack of the door before letting out a long sigh, opening the door the rest of the way then immediately pulling her long lost best friend into a tight, loving hug.
"You're a bitch for leaving me like that, y'know that?" Ren mumbled with annoyance, burying her face in the crook of Mia's neck.
Mia giggled softly to that while hugging Ren back, letting out a sigh. "Think I wanted to leave you...? I wasn't exactly given a choice." She said quietly and regretfully.
"... I know." She replied with a soft sigh, knowing that it wasn't Mia's fault... but it didn't make her any less angry that she was torn away from her. "Come in." She said while slowly pulling away from the hug.
Mia nodded her head and obliged, stepping in and immediately noticing the huge wolf on the bed. "Woah." She muttered simply.
"Don't worry, she's harmless... unless I command her differently." Ren assured with an amused voice, closing the door before walking back over to the bed and sitting down next to the wolf. "Her name is Aura by the way."
"Uh... hi Aura." Mia greeted with a small, nervous wave while standing a few feet from the bed.
Aura just stared at the white wolf fur with a clearly questioning look, almost as if she was judging whether Mia could be trusted. After a moment, Mia nervously walked over to the small desk in the room, sitting down with her chair facing the bed.
"So... I guess there's a lot you wanna know." Mia mumbled nervously, her eyes wandering to the ground.
Ren simply nodded her head in response to that, crossing her arms. "Naturally." She replied, keeping her eyes fixed onto Mia. "... what happened to you?"
Mia was silent for a moment, keeping her eyes to the ground in an almost ashamed way. "I... changed I suppose." She started off with a sigh. "Being away from you really... changed me. I became more... outgoing I guess. Wanting to try and enjoy life... as much as I could as a fucking slave..." she explained, beginning to tear up. "But I never lost hope... I kept the belief that I would be with you again. Then those things attacked and... I was free... I heard of this place and I knew this would be the best chance of finding you... while I was here I guess I just became excited from the thought of seeing you again."
"... so you became a... performer? Or whatever you call yourself..." Ren asked with clear confusion, but began shedding her own tears from Mia's emotional explanation.
A small smile appeared on Mia's face. "I still like teasing guys like that Ren... that hasn't changed... but don't worry, I've still never let a single man lay a finger on me." She explained, wiping away her tears while standing up from her chair, walking over to the bed. "Because I still love you..."
Ren stared at Mia for a moment, managing to form a small smile. "I was waiting for you to say that... because I never lost my love for you either." She replied with a loving smile.
A small smirk formed on Mia's face and she sat right next to Ren, wrapping her arm around her long lost best friend and not really caring about Aura's presence. "And I see that you found a good man for us to share then... and a human no less?" She asked with confusion but with a suggestive voice.
Ren giggled slightly and nodded. "Yes, I remembered our plan... he's the best man that we'll find, I can promise you that... but he doesn't know about... us yet... I don't know how he'll react to this.." she explained, looking to the ground.
Mia rolled her eyes with amusement. "If he's what you say he is, then I don't think this will bother him that much. And besides... how can he go complain about two hot girls at his disposal~?" She asked with a slightly suggestive giggle.
Ren glanced back at Mia with an amused look on her face. "You don't even know him and you're already so eager to fuck him." She said through a bit of laughter.
Mia simply shrugged with a cheeky grin. "I think it's been long enough since we made this plan... I'm so fucking ready to put it to action." She replied excitedly before moving a hand to Ren's cheek. "But... y'know... it's been a while, hasn't it~?" She asked suggestively while slowly sliding her hand down Ren's body until she was cupping one of her breasts.
Ren smirked with her own excitement from Mia doing that and slowly nodded her head. "Yeah... too long~" she replied, immediately pulling Mia into a very deep kiss as their activities in the room became a lot more... exciting.
-
Within a few hours of driving through the massive city of Montreal, they had finally arrived to the city's edge, right were the once active underground metro was. Shira stopped the truck close by the large staircase that led down to the metro station.
"Okay, grab what you need. We're here." Shira said simply while turning off the engine and getting out of the truck, followed by Cooper.
John grabbed the weapons that he brought with him and got out of the truck last while making sure that his M16 was loaded and ready to use, then watched as Cooper went around the back of the truck to grab a large duffel bag, slinging the strap around his shoulders.
"Some big toys, just in case." Cooper stated quietly upon noticing John's glance, beginning to lead the way towards the large staircase.
He was a little curious about that but decided not to ask about it and began following Cooper towards the staircase, but to his surprise, Shira started walking next to him.
"Not going to make a run for it, hm?" The lizard asked in a voice that was clearly meant to tempt him while they began walking down the many stairs.
He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
Shira shrugged and looked around her for a moment before meeting John's eyes again. "I'm just saying, you're probably thinking of running right now, hell, might even be thinking of killing Cooper and I. With that gun I bet you could do it while we least expect it." She explained with a still tempting voice... clearly she was testing him.
He looked deeply into her eyes, halting for a moment. "I can promise you, that thought has never once crossed my mind. I'm here to help, and that's all I want to do." He stated with absolutely no hint of deception within his voice, being completely sincere with his words.
There was a clear look of surprise drawn onto Shira's expression, but she quickly brushed it off and began walking down the stairs again. "Good." She said with a satisfied voice, apparently he passed her test.
They eventually made it down to the bottom of the staircase and emerged into the pitch black metro platform. Cooper hastily pulled out three flashlights from his duffel bag, handing one to John and Shira and keeping one for himself. Each of them quickly put the flashlights to use.
"Fuck this is creepy." Cooper mumbled with clear paranoia, already hating this place.
To make matters worse, the echoing of rabid screeching could be heard very far up the tunnel, likely around the area that the underground mall was.
"Don't be such a pussy. Come on, we've got some walking to do." Shira said with seemingly no fear at all, hopping off of the platform and onto the tracks.
John followed Shira onto the tracks while putting his flashlight to good use, being extremely cautious as the three of them walked along the abandoned underground metro tracks.
"The mall station shouldn't be too far." John pointed out as they walked along the pitch black tracks.
"Yeah, all we have to do is make it through this fucking tunnel of death." Cooper responded with a shiver, clearly not liking this at all.
Shira rolled her eyes and glanced back at Cooper. "Didn't know you were such a bitch when it came to the dark." She said with clear annoyance.
"Shut up." Cooper mumbled in response, pulling out one of his daggers cautiously while keeping his flashlight in his other hand. "We're all afraid of something."
"Hm, speak for yourself." Shira replied with clear disagreement.
"Oh don't lie, I know you're afraid of something Shira." Cooper responded confidently.
Shira just remained silent after that, choosing to remain quiet about her fear.
"What about you, human? What are you afraid of?" Cooper asked curiously, clearly trying to keep up a conversation to keep his mind off of the pitch black darkness.
John thought about that for a moment... but he knew full well what he was afraid of. "Change." He said simply.
"Change?" Cooper asked with confusion, clearly confusing Shira as well and earning a glance from her.
He simply nodded his head. "I'm not afraid of things changing... things need to change... I'm afraid of a completely different change... a change that I know is coming." He explained, not even fully understanding his own fear... but he knew in his gut that the fear was there for a reason... he just didn't know what.
Shira stared at John for a moment, almost as if she was reading him... she slowly seemed to understand what he was saying, and it seemed that this human had surprised her again.
"Hm, well when you put it like that... it sounds like we should all be afraid of 'change'." Shira replied with an understanding voice.
"Maybe..." he replied quietly.
After about twenty minutes of walking along the pitch black tracks, they finally made it to the next platform, which led to the underground mall. And it just so happened that the rabid screeching grew louder in that area, meaning the place was indeed filled with god knew how many rabids.
John climbed up onto the platform first and kept his grip on his M16 as he walked towards a set of double doors that would lead into the massive mall. He peaked through the glass and was disturbed by what he saw... everywhere he looked in there, there was a rabid... the place was swarming with them.
"Holy shit.." he muttered with shock, clearly never seeing so many of them before.
Shira and Cooper walked up to John and peaked through the glass as well, clearly they were also disturbed.
"Well what the fuck do we do now...?" Cooper asked with a clearly fearful voice.
Both John and Shira remained silent as they continued to look through the glass, trying to come up with a plan of action. But after a few seconds, John seemed to notice something. One of the markets far up ahead, which seemed to be a clothing store, seemed to be very boarded up in a clear, desperate attempt to keep the rabids out.
"There." He said, pointing to the clothing store. "That's gotta be where your friends are."
Looking to where John pointed, Shira nodded with agreement. "Yes... getting them out is the problem." She replied.
"No shit." Cooper muttered.
Shira just ignored Cooper's comment and continued to look around carefully. And eventually... she spotted something up on the ceiling. "The air vents... those are the only way we're getting to that store." She stated, knowing that the air vents would likely chain off into that clothing store somewhere.
Intrigued, John looked up and only now noticed the air vents Shira was talking about. He nodded with agreement, but noticed that the only part of the vents with a hatch they could get in through was inside the mall a little... meaning it wouldn't be so easy.
Cooper suddenly had an idea and pulled out an alarm clock from his duffel bag, quickly setting up the alarm. "Alright, I throw this in, then we've gotta get into those vents asap when they're distracted." He explained, knowing that the only way they'd make it is with a distraction.
John thought about it for a moment and nodded to Cooper's plan, taking in a deep breath before quietly cracking one of the doors open. Cooper then immediately launched the alarm clock as far as he possibly could into the mall, and a few seconds later, the loud alarm began blaring, immediately gaining all of the rabid's attention. With each of the monsters letting out a loud screech, they all began moving towards the sound.
"Come on!" Said Shira with a rushed voice as she ran in first, followed by Cooper and John.
John quickly knelt down below the air vent hatch for Cooper to stand on his shoulders, then boosted the wolf fur up who then began using his dagger to remove the screws, hastily removing the hatch as the alarm continued blaring. But Shira noticed one of the rabids turn around and cursed when it noticed them.
But before it could let out a screech and gain the other's attention, Shira grabbed her bow and drew back an arrow, then released. The arrow flew through the air, finding its target right in the rabid's eye before it could make even a sound.
"Hurry!" The lizard whispered with worry.
Cooper finally managed to remove the hatch and John boosted him the rest of the way up with a slight groan of exertion, allowing the wolf fur to climb into the vent. He then gestured for Shira to come over and knelt down for her, ready to boost her up next. She obliged and stood on his shoulders and was immediately boosted up by him, then helped into the vent by Cooper.
John knew he didn't have much time left and began thinking about how he would get up there by himself. He looked around quickly then suddenly noticed that Cooper was hanging his duffel bag down from the hatch... something John could grab onto. He smiled a little and quickly grabbed onto the bag, and with Cooper and Shira's combined strength, they began pulling upward until he was able to climb in himself... right as the alarm stopped.
The three of them panted a little from relief that they actually made it, and John glanced at both of them. "Thank you." He said breathlessly.
"Whatever." Cooper simply muttered in response as he began crawling through the vent.
Shira just looked at John for a moment and let out a sigh. "You're doing good, human... if you weren't, we would've left you down there to die." She stated simply before she began crawling after Cooper.
After a moment, he managed to form a small smile again, clearly relieved to know that he was doing good. The three of them crawled through the air vents and looked for where they chained off into the clothing store... but since he was behind Shira as they crawled... his focus kept diverting to the rather appealing sight in front of him.
"You better not be looking at my ass back there." Shira stated simply, though there was a hint of amusement in her voice and expression.
He was immediately pulled back to reality when Shira said that and his cheeks reddened a little. "What? No, I... I wasn't." He replied with a nervous chuckle.
"Hm..." Shira muttered, clearly not believing that at all.
Eventually, they made it to a different hatch and Cooper looked through the gaps, noticing that it was the clothes store... and then moments later, he smiled when he saw three furs, the first one he noticed was the huge bear who seemed to be simply picking at his claws.
"They're here." Cooper stated with a happy, relieved voice as he elbowed the hatch, causing it to fall to the ground where he then hopped down to the ground, earning gasps of surprise.
Shira and John both hopped out of the hatch next, where they saw the huge bear Ivan already standing tall in a prepared position... but his stature eased when he recognized his friends.
"Cooper? Took long enough you little bastard." Ivan said with his russian accent, chuckling as he grabbed Cooper and brought him into a bone crushing hug.
"Fuck... yeah I get it... Geez I'm here now... let me go before you break my fucking ribs." Cooper struggled to say.
Ivan just chuckled a little more and dropped Cooper, but it was then that John was tackled to the ground with a very sharp claw immediately poked at his neck.
"Why's this human dickwad with you?" Asked a female wolf fur with a growl as she kept John pinned to the ground.
He didn't try to put up a fight, he just looked back up at the wolf fur who had grey fur, had very dark red irises and didn't wear much clothing, only a crop top, shorts and stockings... John thought she was undeniably attractive.
"Easy Luna, he's with us... Bella is allowing him the chance to prove himself, so that is why he's here." Shira said assuringly, stepping closer to Luna and placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
Luna was silent for a moment, but eventually moved her claw away from John's neck. "Hmph." Was all she responded with as she got off of the human.
"Ah, this human. Surprised he survived my strike." Ivan laughed as he pulled John back up, looking him over. "Cross us, and my strike will be much harder next time." He threatened with a suddenly ominous voice.
He simply nodded his head in response to that, looking up at the huge bear's eyes. "Don't doubt it."
He then suddenly noticed a fox fur hiding behind some clothing racks, which he could tell was only a kid. Maybe twelve or thirteen.
"Sammy come on out, you don't have to worry." Luna called out with a roll of her eyes.
The fox fur now known as Sammy nervously came out of his hiding spot, clearly afraid of the human in their presence.
"You guys brought the kid with you?" Cooper asked with confusion.
"Bella wanted us to train him with this kind of stuff... obviously we didn't expect to be fucking ambushed by hundreds of those things." Luna replied with a shrug. "We're the only ones that managed to make it in here... the rest are dead." She informed with a sad sigh.
Shira and Cooper looked at Luna with shock and sadness, clearly very saddened by the loss.
"God dammit..." Cooper muttered, looking to the ground.
"May the lady of death guide them through oblivion..." Shira whispered as she shed a tear, apparently it was tradition to say that for the furs, as if it was something of a religion or faith.
The others simply nodded their heads with agreement to Shira while John stood in the corner with a sympathetic expression.
"Come, we mustn't let their deaths be in vain, let's get out of here." Shira said with a sigh, wiping away her tears as she walked back over and below the vent hatch.
The others nodded and followed after her, but before John did, something intrigued him. A rack of ski masks. He smiled slightly and grabbed one of the masks, which seemed to have a skull pattern painted onto it. Liking the look of it, he put it in his pocket before following and helping everyone up to the vent.
Pretty soon, they were all crawling through the vent again with Luna and John at the back, but a lot slower this time due to Ivan being in front.
"Fuck, I'm too big for this fucking vent." Ivan complained, struggling to squeeze through the small vents.
"Just hurry up you big russian bastard, I wanna get outta here sooner rather than later." Cooper replied with annoyance.
But suddenly, a very loud and long creek could be heard in the vent from the back, and to everyone's horror, the further back of the vent collapsed... dropping John and Luna to the ground... right in the middle of the huge hoard of rabids.
"NO!" Shira yelled with horror and crawled to the now open part of the vent, looking down at them.
John and Luna coughed a little and he got up first, looking at all of the rabids who were simply staring at them now.
"Fuck, get up!" John exclaimed to Luna, cocking his M16.
Luna quickly tried to get up to her feet, but let out a wince of agony from trying to put her weight on her left paw. "Shit... that's broken." She muttered with a pained voice.
Then, the rabids let out loud screeches as they began charging right towards both of them. John scowled and began firing his M16, doing his best to hit their eyes while Shira was also assisting them with her bow, never once missing her target.
As soon as he heard the click of his gun, signalling that he ran out of ammunition, he quickly grabbed one of Luna's arms and pulled her up to her feet, then began running with her towards the nearest door which just so happened to be a fire escape. Upon arriving he kicked it open then slammed it shut again as soon as they were both in, holding it closed with all of his strength as the rabids slammed into it.
John began thinking to himself how bad of a situation this was, being split off from the rest of the group, but he knew that whatever happened, he would get Luna out... he would prove to the furs that he was on their side.