"Quick! Get something to block the door!" John exclaimed to Luna while still keeping the door closed with all of his strength, hearing the hundreds of vicious rabid snarls on the other side, desperate to make it through and tear both of them apart.
Luna was sat on the ground, clutching her paw with pain due to it definitely being broken from the fall, but she was very surprised to see that John was somehow managing to keep the door closed against hundreds of rabids.
"Uh, there's nothing in here." Luna pointed out with slight panic in her voice, looking down the dark, empty corridor with the help of her flashlight.
Luna quickly stood up on one paw, keeping her injured one hovered above the ground to avoid injuring it more as she looked in her backpack, searching for anything she could use.
"Uggh! Come on, there's gotta be something!" John said with a raised, clearly strained voice as he kept the door closed.
Luna continued to desperately look through her backpack before noticing the large sword sheathed on John's hip. She limped over to him, pulling the blade out then wedging it inbetween the frame and the handle.
"There, that'll hold it!" Luna said confidently, backing up from him.
Noticing what Luna did, John slowly moved away from the door and sighed with relief when he saw that the sword was strong and sturdy enough to keep the door closed.
"Nice thinking... bummed that I didn't get to try it out though..." He said, catching his breath from the exertion.
Luna rolled her eyes, crossing her arms while standing on one paw. "It was either that or die... we have plenty of swords anyway." She replied uncaringly before turning around and limping down the dark corridor while the rabid's banging on the door could still be heard.
"Hey.. wait up, I can help you walk y'know." He said sympathetically, noticing Luna's limp.
"I'm going to get back to my people, human. You and I have reached the end of our alliance, you aren't one of us. Find your own way out." Luna said with a hateful voice, not even turning to look at John.
Surprised, John followed after her anyway. "Look, I don't expect you to trust me... but I was given the chance by your people to prove myself, so that's what I'm gonna do." He stated.
With a scowl, Luna quickly turned around and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, slamming him against the wall while holding a very sharp claw to his neck.
"You may have them fooled, John. But not me, I know you're playing some sort of game here." Luna spat, staring into John's blue eyes with her own dark red irises.
John barely reacted and simply looked back into Luna's eyes. "I'm not playing a game. I'm just trying to do right by your people. You can choose not to believe me, but that's the truth." He explained calmly, showing no fear or deception.
Luna continued to look into the man's eyes, almost as if judging his very soul with only her gaze. But eventually... she let go of him, her gaze never faltering. "That better be true human, for your sake. I won't be so easily fooled like the others, remember that." She warned, scratching John's cheek a little with her claw as she moved her hand away, causing it to bleed... it wasn't clear if it was intentional or not.
The scratch on his cheek almost went unnoticed by John, the only reason he detected it was due to the small amount of blood running down his face. He simply nodded his head in response to Luna, knowing that his words would simply not be believed by the wolf.
After a few more seconds of Luna's sour gaze, she turned around and began limping down the dark corridor again, her large bushy tail swishing behind her as she limped.
With a final glance at the door, which his sword was preventing from being forced open by the horde of rabids, John sighed and followed after her, once again sympathetic from seeing the wolf's limp.
Minutes passed as John and Luna made their way through the dark corridor, and John feared that his flashlight was about to run out of battery, which would leave them in complete darkness.
"Fuck sake, how far does this damn corridor go?" Luna mumbled to herself, "Some amazing fire escape this would've been."
"You're forgetting that we're going at a snail's pace with that screwed up leg of yours." John pointed out, knowing that in the event of a fire, people would be running through this corridor to escape. "Maybe I cou-"
"You're not fucking helping me human, the only time I'll ever allow you to lay your hands on me was when you helped me into this damn fire escape. You can keep your furless fucking hands to yourself." Luna immediately interrupted, almost growling with her retort.
"Look... I'm just saying, we'd get out of here a lot faster if you let me help you. We could get back to the others a lot faster... if you let me help you." He explained, sighing before he spoke.
Luna was silent as she pondered on John's proposal, she didn't want help from a human... but she did want to get back to the others. "Whatever... just, fucking help me walk then." She said with a scoff.
Relieved, John gently grabbed the wolf's arm and wrapped it around his neck, wrapping his other arm around her so that she could put most of her weight on him.
As John began assisting her to walk, Luna began to ponder... why would this human so gladly help an injured fur to walk? If her suspicions about him were true... why hadn't he just killed her at her weakest point? She was starting to realize that there were many flaws in her suspicions of the man... and she couldn't believe that she was starting to come around to him.
-
"Fuck, did they make it?!" Cooper exclaimed with horror from behind Shira, his view blocked due to the lizard being in front of him while they were still belly first in the small, cramped vents. He feared that they were currently being torn apart.
"Yes... I... I saw them make it to a fire escape." Shira said as she caught her breath from panic... she was surprised that some of that panic wasn't only for Luna... but John too.
"My heavy ass probably weakened vents." Came the Russian bear with a guilt ridden voice, Ivan was now completely afraid to move in the vent in case he put everyone else at risk.
There was a moment of silence between everyone... no one wanted to accept that was the most plausible explanation. Though the fox child, Sammy, was already trying to crawl his way out of the vent as fast as he could due to now being afraid that the whole thing may collapse soon.
"Sammy, slow down!" Shira yelled after him, clearly worried that the sudden movement might lead to their doom.
The fox didn't listen, he just kept crawling with the hatch up ahead locked in his sights. If he just reached that... he would be safe, right?
"Sammy! God dammit!" Shira yelled, quickly putting her bow away.
The sudden sound of metallic creaking in the vent sent panic through Shira, Cooper and Ivan... receiving confirmation that their time in the vent was now limited.
"Go! Fucking go you damn grizzly!" Cooper exclaimed, violently nudging Ivan to get a move on.
The three of them were now crawling as fast as they could through the vent, only a little behind Sammy who was now at the hatch, trying his best to lift the hatch up. Eventually, the fox got it off and hopped down to the ground without hesitation, using the rabids distraction by John and Luna to his advantage to get out the way the rescue group got in.
"Kid is going to get himself killed! He doesn't remember any of training!" Ivan exclaimed with an annoyed yell as he crawled and squeezed through the vent.
Eventually, the Russian bear made it and hopped down to the ground first, running after Sammy in hopes of catching up with the fox.
Cooper and Shira made it out of the vent, just as the entire ventilation system detached from the ceiling and fell to the ground with a loud metallic thud, crushing a few unsuspecting rabids underneath it. But the loud noise would immediately catch the rabid's attention, to which the wolf and the lizard quickly ran after Ivan and Sammy, quietly closing the door they got in through behind them while the rabid's investigated the sound.
"Fuck... that was close.." Cooper whispered to himself with a voice that showed his relief, pressing his back against a wall.
"Don't rest now, idiot... now not only have we to find Ivan and Sammy again, but Luna and the human as well. We are not in the clear yet, so stop acting like it." Shira said with a rather cold tone.
With a sigh, Cooper stood to his full height again and sniffed the air a few times. "Well, smells like Ivan went down that way, can smell his stench from a fucking mile away." He said, pointing down the very dark train tunnel, completely the opposite direction from how they got down there. "Looks like we're not done with the tunnel of death yet..."
"Stop your whining and let's go." Shira retorted simply, hopping off of the platform to begin walking along the tracks once again.
With a roll of his eyes, Cooper followed... 'the tunnel of death' was not done with them yet.
-
Ren and Mia both layed on the bed in their quarters, snuggled into each other nude as they slept after some long awaited sex between them. Both of the wolves had soft smiles on their faces, as if they were finally at peace due to having a piece of their lives back. But eventually, Ren would begin to stir, awakening from her sleep with a long yawn.
Noticing that a white furred arm was still lazily draped around her, Ren kept her smile and planted one single kiss on Mia's arm, her head remaining comfortably rested on her pillow.
It would only be a few more minutes until Mia woke up, which was followed by a quiet, tired groan. "Morning~" the white wolf mumbled, lust from the night before still evident in her voice.
"Morning to you too snow white~" Ren replied with a small giggle.
Mia rolled her eyes from Ren's little nickname for her, apparently used to it. "What time is it?"
Ren glanced at the clock in the room, hanging above the door. "5pm." She replied nonchalantly at first... but then, worry started to consume her. "It's... 5pm... and John isn't back yet."
Hearing Ren's clear worry, Mia let out a sigh and began stroking her hair gently. "Come on ReRe... don't think about it too much, they probably just had to travel a long way." She assured.
Ren wasn't convinced. She sat up on the bed, despite Mia's attempts to comfort her. "He... he could be dead... and I'm just laying here."
"Ren, just calm down will you?" Mia replied pleadingly, sitting up with her. "Look, he's in good hands with Shira, that lizard could look fucking death in the eye and not even blink. He's fine."
Suddenly, the soft mattress shifted to support the sudden weight of Aura hopping up onto the bed, immediately making Mia flinch and backup on the bed. Clearly she still didn't really trust the animal.
Ren watched as Aura leaned her head down into her hand, which she then started to run her fingers through the wolf's fur. Once again, as if by miracle, she found herself calming down from Aura's presence. At this point, she decided not to question Aura's ability... it was clear that she was her stress reliever.
"Okay... I think I just pissed myself." Mia stated simply with a shaky voice, her eyes glued to the huge wolf on their bed.
With a roll of her eyes, Ren grabbed Mia's hand and forcefully brought it over to Aura's head, making her touch the wolf which immediately made her yelp and squirm.
"Trying to get me torn apart?!" Mia exclaimed, desperately trying to pull her hand back, but Ren's grip was something to behold.
"Does it look like she's gonna do that?" Ren asked with a calm, soothing voice.
After a little more squirming, Mia peaked her eyes open to look at the large wolf, only to see Aura looking right back at her, with absolutely no hint of aggression in her features.
Incredulous, Mia began very slowly and gently scratching Aura's head out of curiosity, only to see her ear twitch and her head lean into her touch... exactly like a dog would do.
"She... she likes this? What kind of wolf likes being pet?" Mia asked quietly.
Ren smiled, keeping Mia's hand on Aura's head. "This one does. She's harmless to her friends, and vicious to those who would harm them. She's really quite amazing." She explained. "She only follows commands from John as far as I know, he's the one who found and trained her."
"He just... found a fucking wolf and trained it? Just like that...?" Mia asked, the shock clear in her tone. "You're making me like this guy more and more."
"Yup, that's John for you." Ren responded, giggling slightly as she spoke.
There was a comfortable, peaceful silence in the room as the two girls stroked Aura's head, Mia gradually becoming more attached and infatuated with the wolf.
"So, I never asked... how're you liking it here?" Mia asked curiously.
Ren thought about her answer for a moment. "It's a nice place... I'm surprised a haven for furs even exists. It would be better if everyone didn't hate John though." She explained, ending her sentence with a noticeably sadder tone of voice.
"... people will come around to him." Mia said, hopeful.
Ren could only respond with a sigh, unable to speak before they both heard a knock on their door. There was no urgency behind the knocking, so Ren simply stood up and quickly threw on a shirt and shorts then walked towards the door to open it. She was surprised to see the coyote, Francis, wearing his brown leather jacket as if it never left his body.
"Ren, right?" Francis greeted, giving the wolf a respectful nod. "We need to talk."
"Oh, um.." Ren muttered, turning her head back to Mia who was laying back on the bed, the blanket covering her nude body.
"Go on, I'll wait." Mia said with a soft smile, waving her hand.
Ren nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her, but not before Aura could hurry out of the room to join her. "So... what needs talking about?" She asked, looking up at the coyote with curiosity clear on her features.
"We'll talk along the way, Bella wishes to see you." Francis replied vaguely, beginning to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction.
Confused, Ren hurried after him with Aura closely by her side. "Bella? The... the leader of this place wishes to see me?" She asked, almost incredulous.
"Yes." Francis responded.
"Why?" Ren asked, very eager for answers.
There was a short moment of silence as they walked the corridors. "It's about the human." Francis said, glancing down at the massive wolf accompanying them.
Ren seemed too fearful to ask any further questions, so she simply continued to follow the coyote and decided to find out for herself what exactly they had to talk about John for.
After walking a good distance through the complicated chain of corridors, they eventually reached a set of double doors with two tall furs of different species standing guard at each side. They seemed to recognize Francis immediately and opened the doors for him, allowing them to walk through.
Ren was greeted with the view of a large table in the middle of the room. This was the very same meeting room that John was brought to when he woke up, but now, the only occupants at the table were Bella and the Jackal, Tristan, who was already staring at Ren with a sour expression.
"Ren, please, take a seat." Bella spoke kindly, gesturing to the seat at the table nearest to her.
She obeyed, and took a seat near the rabbit while Francis sat across from her. Aura however, never left Ren's side.
"So... what's going on?" Ren asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Bella nodded towards Francis, and the coyote nodded in return with a sigh. "We sent a rescue team to get our people out of a... tricky situation, and as you know, we used the opportunity to send the human with them, so he could be judged on whether he is truthful or not." Francis explained. "But... they haven't returned yet. We would've expected them to by now." He said with a voice that almost hinted at accusation.
"What are you saying?" Ren asked quietly, looking at the coyote with a fearful expression.
"We're saying that it was fucking stupid to give that damn human a chance, as I said from the beginning, because now... he probably got our fucking people killed!" Tristan yelled, slamming his hands down on the table furiously.
Bella was about to scold Tristan for his explosive behaviour, but... she stopped herself, sighing sadly. "No... that isn't what we're saying for certain. But Ren, I do fear that the human has something to do with this delay..." She explained with a soft, saddened voice at the thought of losing her people.
"... His name is John. Stop calling him human." Ren demanded simply, earning confused gazes from the three other furs in the room. "I know John, I love him. And I know that the three of you are just thinking the worst. But whatever is happening... I fucking know that John would never betray you, he would never betray me. So you can take your suspicions about him and fuck off with them."
Bella and Francis stared at Ren with wide eyes, surprised by the wolf girl's sudden aggression.
"I fucking guarantee you that John will be back, and with your people. He will prove himself just as he promised you he would do." Ren continued with her very serious voice, looking to Francis and Bella. "You two seem nice... but this one, I bet he's the one putting these bad notions in your head about John because he can't fucking accept that maybe, just maybe... we have found a human worth giving a chance." She said, scowling in Tristan's direction.
The jackal immediately scowled right back at Ren, crossing his arms. "Humans can never be trusted, they're all the same vicious, greedy, disgusting beings that will never change... I wouldn't expect a human fucker to understand that." Tristan spat, staring daggers at her with disgust.
"You're damn right I'm a human fucker, for John. And you're just some coward in a high position thinking he knows all, when in reality, he knows jack shit and thinks exactly like those humans he's so afraid of." Ren retorted, showing absolutely no fear towards the jackal.
"Think you can speak to me like that you little bitch?!" Tristan yelled furiously, standing up from his chair to seem more intimidating.
But Aura just saw that as a sign that Tristan was a threat to Ren and she hopped up onto the table, looking directly into the jackal's eyes as she growled defensively, baring her large teeth... which immediately caused Tristan to back up out of fear.
"Yeah, might not wanna do that. She'll bite if you threaten me." Ren spoke with a triumphant smirk, taking enjoyment out of seeing Tristan cowering. "I'll talk to you however I like, asshole."
Surprisingly, Bella was amused by seeing Tristan scared, almost as if she thought he deserved it.
"Alright Ren, you've made your point. Tell her to stand down, there will be no mauling necessary today." Said Bella.
Ren nodded, maintaining her smirk as she began to stroke Aura's back. "Down girl." She said softly, to which the huge wolf immediately stopped growling and hopped back down to Ren's side.
"She... she's just getting away with that?!" Tristan exclaimed lividly.
"With what? Making you piss yourself?" Francis asked with a slight chuckle, sitting back in his chair. "No crime was committed dude." He shrugged.
Tristan practically had steam blowing out of his ears. "We... have a vicious little bitch with a dangerous animal down here!"
"A trained dangerous animal." Ren replied uncaringly, still smirking in Tristan's direction.
Before Tristan could retort, Bella held up her hand to shut him up. "Stop embarrassing yourself Tristan, she speaks truly. Her confidence within John is something to behold, and something that I will take seriously." She said with a respectful nod towards Ren. "We will wait, we will have faith. But Ren, I must warn you that if the outcome is anything but desirable... you and John will both be punished accordingly." She warned, with her usual calm and smooth voice.
"I understand ma'am, but there's nothing to worry about. The outcome will be to your satisfaction, I assure you." Ren replied confidently.
"Very well, that will be all Ren. Thank you." Bella said with a small smile, which almost made Tristan tremble with anger.
Ren nodded once more in Bella's direction and stood up from her chair, walking back towards the doors of the meeting room with a proud smirk on her face, Aura remaining by her side.
Tristan watched as the two left, and he could've sword that Aura stared at him coldly as she left the room, as if eyeing him up as her next meal.
-
Shira and Cooper were still on their search for Ivan and Sammy, Cooper was following the scent of the large bear down the dark railway tunnel.
"How the fuck did they get so far already?" Cooper asked with confusion.
"The youngling ran out of fear, Ivan is probably doing his best to keep up with him so he doesn't get himself killed." Shira replied calmly, lighting their way with a flashlight. "It was stupid of them to bring the child."
Cooper nodded with agreement. "Tell me about it."
Suddenly, a loud grunt was heard echoing throughout the tunnel, unmistakably belonging to Ivan. It sounded like trouble...
"Shit, come on, they have to be close." Cooper said quickly as he began running along the tracks.
Shira, not thinking it was the best idea to run blindly into darkness decided that the lives of Ivan and Sammy were more important than her concerns, so she ran after Cooper, following him and gripping her bow tightly.
"Kid, you need to get out from under there!" The echoed voice of Ivan could be heard, very close now, which caused Cooper and Shira to run faster.
"Ivan?" Cooper yelled to get the bear's attention.
"Cooper?! Get little ass over here now!" Ivan yelled back in response, clearly showing some distress.
The wolf and the lizard finally saw an abandoned train cart with the help of Shira's flashlight, stationary in the distance with Ivan flat on his stomach, trying to reach under it.
"What in the lady of death's name are you doing?" Shira asked as she came to a stop, confusion evident in her voice.
With a grunt, Ivan glanced back at them, "The kid crawled under, and I can't fit to get him!" He replied with annoyance. "I lost my pack chasing after him... blyad!" He exclaimed.
Cooper rolled his eyes, looking down at the bear. "Just... get up, let me see." He said with a hint of annoyance.
Ivan sighed and took his arm out from under the train cart, standing back up and dusting himself off.
Cooper knelt down by the cart and looked under it, seeing Sammy very far back underneath, shivering with fear. "Kid, you've gotta come out from there." He said with a calm voice.
"N-No..." Sammy stuttered in response. "The... the monsters..."
"They're gone, we got away from them, now get out from there so we can get out of this damn tunnel." Cooper pleaded.
Sammy didn't respond this time and didn't move from his hiding place under the train cart, as if he felt comforted under there.
"Cooper, allow me." Shira said with a sigh, rubbing her temples for a moment.
The wolf nodded and slowly stood back up, allowing Shira to take his place and kneel by the cart, looking under it.
"Sammy, the monsters aren't here, okay? Come out and let us get you out of this place and back home, you will be safe with us. I promise you child." Shira spoke with a soft, almost motherly voice as she attempted to get the fox out of there.
Sammy slowly uncovered his face with his hands to look at Shira, revealing his tear stained fur. "I... I can't..."
"Yes you can. Be brave." Shira said softly, reaching her scaled hand under the cart. "Just take my hand."
There was a moment of silence, except for the sniffles coming from Sammy. But eventually, the fox child decided to trust Shira and began crawling back out of the cart until he could grab her hand, where she then immediately gripped onto him and pulled him out, embracing him in a warm, comforting hug.
"There there child, you will be okay." Said Shira, stroking the fur on the back of Sammy's head as she hugged him.
Cooper and Ivan both let out sighs of relief when Shira successfully got Sammy out.
"Nice work Shira." Cooper said, giving her a respectful pat on her shoulder.
Shira nodded and slowly stood up with Sammy, keeping her arms around him. "We still have to find Luna and the human... Ivan, get Sammy out, Cooper and I will fi-"
Her sentence was cut off when they all heard a very familiar, terrifying rabid screech echo down the tunnel, then another... then another, until it was certain that a large number of rabids were headed right towards them.
"Oh... fuck." Cooper mumbled, looking behind him to see that the train cart blocked any possible escape. "Well, looks like we're fighting." He muttered, sliding his knives out of his sheaths and twirling them in his hands.
"Sammy, get back under there, now." Shira said, letting go of the fox and quickly ushering him back under the cart, "And don't make a peep, okay?" She said softly, standing back up and readying herself with her bow.
Ivan slid out one very large knife from a sheath on his hip, bordering on a knife and a machete. "This ought to be fun." He said with a small smirk.
"You're idea of fun disturbs me." Shira replied coldly as she nocked an arrow into her bow, staring ahead with a scowl on her face.
"Might as well look death in the face with a smile Huh?" Cooper asked with a chuckle, right as the first rabid became visible in the darkness with its glowing green eyes.
Then, one by one, they all became visible, a large group of them screeching towards Shira, Cooper and Ivan with the full intent to tear them apart.
-
Eventually, the long fire escape led John and Luna back out to the train tunnel, a set of stairs to their side that would take them back up to the surface.
"Well, looks like you can go now human. I'm staying to find my people." Luna stated, moving away from John as she thought he would just leave now that there was a clear exit for him.
"I'm not leaving, I'm helping you find them, as I said." John replied simply, quickly moving to her side again to help her walk.
Luna was genuinely shocked by John's answer, this human had the chance to leave... but he chose to stay and help furs. She couldn't believe it, but she allowed him to help her again. "Okay..." was all she could mutter in response.
There was a strange echoing sound deep down the train tunnel, which almost sounded like voices... but it was hard to tell.
"Maybe it's them, sounds like they got out." John suggested with a smile as he led her off the platform and onto the train tracks so they could follow the sound.
"Yeah... probably." Luna agreed quietly.
There was another long moment of silence as John helped Luna walk down the dark train tunnel, until he let out a sigh and glanced at her.
"Look, I know you're still having a hard time believing why I'm here, but... if you want more proof, a fur that I love with all my heart is waiting for me back at your uh, Perseverance. And I would never want to fail her." John explained with nothing but honesty in his voice.
Luna stared at John as they continued moving, her eyes almost widening. "You... you love a fur?" She asked, incredulous.
"I do, with all my heart." He replied with a nod.
"... What's her name?" Luna asked curiously... but she couldn't believe that she was actually having a conversation like this with a human... at this point, she thought she was dreaming.
"Ren." John answered with a smile on his face, simply by speaking her name.
Luna was silent for a moment as she tried to comprehend what John told her. "Never in my life... would I have ever thought that a human would love a fur." She mumbled with the disbelief clear in her voice.
He simply smiled from Luna's words, nodding his head. "That's what everyone says."
"Because it is so unheard of..." Luna muttered, still unable to comprehend that this human was so... different compared to every other human she's come across.
"Yeah... I guess it is." John agreed with a sigh, before his eyes suddenly squinted when he noticed something up ahead. "The hell is that?" He asked with confusion.
What he saw was a small, dark bundle up ahead on the tracks, clearly an object. He thought it was just a rock at first but... it looked far too inconsistent in shape to be a rock. Luna also saw what John was seeing and made him move faster so that they could find out what it was.
Making it to the object, they saw that it was a big backpack, and Luna was immediately on edge.
"That's Ivan's pack." Luna muttered with worry, staring down at it.
John was surprised, but knelt down to pick it up. "Just means we're on the right track." He said with a nod, though immediately shocked by how heavy Ivan's pack was. "The fuck does he have in here?" He asked with a slight chuckle.
Curious, John opened up the pack... he was shocked to see a lot of rope, supplies... and a grenade launcher.
"That guy just carries this around with him?" John asked, putting the backpack on before helping Luna walk again.
"He found that a while back, with grenades... he's been waiting for the right opportunity to use it." Luna replied as they began walking down the tunnel again.
"Huh, guess he didn't think to use it to get you guys out?" He asked with slight confusion.
Luna sighed. "You saw how many there were... it was safer to wait for help don't you think?"
John thought about it for a moment and nodded, realizing that there were far too many rabids for the grenade launcher to really make a dent.
"They call me the best fighter back home... and yet I could do nothing to help my squad... I was helpless.." Luna mumbled, closing her eyes as tears welled up. "The ones who didn't make it into the store with us... I had to just watch as they were torn apart by those.. things."
John listened to the wolf's words, sighing sadly as he felt nothing but sympathy for Luna. "It wasn't your fault." He stated, trying to comfort her.
"Yes... that's what I keep trying to tell myself. But... it isn't making me feel any different." Luna replied quietly, wiping away her tears as they moved.
Before anymore words could be exchanged, the sound of rabids screeching further down the tunnel was heard echoing, causing John and Luna to freeze for a moment. But then the sound was followed by more screeches, and then eventually... the strained noises of people fighting.
"They... they're in trouble!" Luna exclaimed with fear for her people, making John walk faster with her.
John didn't hesitate to go faster as the sounds of confrontation became a lot louder, and he began to worry about possibly not making it on time to help.
-
"Fuck you, you ugly bastard." Cooper spat as he yanked his knife out of a rabid's eye, presumably the last one.
Cooper, Shira and Ivan were all covered with the green rabid blood, as well as their weapons. They were surrounded by the dead bodies of about thirty of the monsters.
Shira began walking around, collecting her arrows from the rabid's eyes, "Ugly bastards indeed." She agreed, yanking an arrow out.
Ivan remained where he stood, panting a little as green blood dripped from his large blade. His brown fur and clothing was almost completely covered with the blood. "Will take forever to wash out of fur." He said with clear annoyance.
"And that is why I am thankful that I do not have fur." Said Shira smugly, knowing it would be an easy task to wash blood off of her scales.
"Fuck you.." Cooper mumbled with a chuckle, twirling his knives in his hands a little before sliding them into their sheaths on his hips. "Nice teamwork though, go us." He said, nodding as he looked at the many rabid corpses.
"Yes, indeed." Shira agreed, surprisingly allowing a small smile to appear on her face. "Sammy, child, it is safe now." She said softly, turning around to the train cart.
There was no response for a moment, but eventually, the fox child crawled out from underneath the cart again. Apparently he had trust in Shira now. Sammy stood up and was very disturbed to see the many rabid corpses littered around them.
"It is okay child, the monsters are gone." Said Shira with her soft, calming voice.
Sammy looked up at Shira with a clearly relieved look on his face. But before he could say anything to the lizard... he was suddenly pounced on by a rabid that was hiding on top of the cart, immediately letting out a startled, terrified scream as the monster immediately went to bite the child.
"KID!" Cooper yelled, immediately running towards him with his knives already in his hands, along with Shira and Ivan.
But before any of them could reach Sammy, an all black kabar flew through the air and found its target directly in the rabids eye before its teeth could lock onto the child, the lifeless corpse of the monster collapsing onto Sammy as he breathed heavily with shock.
Confused, Cooper, Shira and Ivan turned around to see that John was the one who threw the kabar, still with his arm around Luna to help her walk.
"Shit, you guys okay?" Luna asked with concern.
"Luna!" Shira exclaimed with relief, sprinting towards them and immediately pulling the wolf into a hug... which surprised everyone since that was definitely unlike the lizard.
John smiled and moved away from Luna as the two girls hugged while Ivan and Cooper got the dead rabid off of Sammy, helping the child stand as he still breathed heavily with shock.
Luna was silent as Shira hugged her, clearly concerning the lizard. "Luna? Are... are you hurt?" She asked, separating from the hug to look her over.
"Um... no... I mean, yeah... broken paw. But um, I'm good." Luna replied, still hovering her injured paw above the ground.
Shira nodded then glanced at John, scowling slightly. "Did the human do something?" She asked, clearly assuming that Luna's strange behaviour was because of him.
"No... no..." Luna quickly responded, shaking her head. "... John helped me... I would probably be dead right now if he didn't fall out of that vent with me... from what I've seen.. he's good." She said with a sigh, almost as if she didn't want to believe that a human could be trusted... but she simply couldn't deny it with John.
Everyone was shocked to hear that from Luna... as if she was the last fur they would expect to hear something like that from... but they didn't question her.
Cooper stepped closer to John until he was right in front of him, regarding him with a questioning gaze for a moment before he held out a hand, offering him his kabar back without a word.
John couldn't help but smile a little as he took the kabar from Cooper, putting it back into its sheath. He was even more surprised when the wolf gave him a quick pat on the shoulder before walking away from him.
"Oh sasquatch, catch." Said John as he took off Ivan's pack and tossed it to him, the bear catching it by one of the straps with one hand. "Found that on the way." He said with a kind voice.
"Hm... not bad human." Ivan replied simply, putting the pack on before stepping closer to John, placing his huge, furred hand firmly onto his shoulder. "Don't ever call me sasquatch." He demanded with a low, ominous voice.
John was rather amused by Ivan's threat but he nodded his head, chuckling slightly. "Yeah yeah, you got it big guy."
"Alright... how about we get out of this fucking tunnel of death already?" Cooper asked, already leading the way down the tunnel with his flashlight.
"Absolutely." Shira replied while Luna now chose to recieve help from the lizard with walking instead.
Ivan stared down at John for another moment before moving his hand away from his shoulder, following after the others which left John and Sammy to walk side by side.
"You alright kid?" John asked, glancing at the fox child as he began making sure his M16 was loaded once again.
Sammy was silent for a moment as he stared ahead, still walking next to John along the train tunnels. "Yeah..." he eventually answered. "The... the monster almost killed me."
"But it didn't." John said quickly. "Nothing's gonna kill you Sammy, not on our watch." He said with promise.
Sammy slowly glanced up at the man, looking as if he wanted to say something... but he didn't know how to say it.
"Yeah I know, you don't trust me because I'm human." John said, surprising the fox child since he somehow knew what he was trying to say. "All I can say is I'm on your side kid, I understand that you don't trust me. It's something I have to earn."
Sammy didn't respond to John that time, but in his mind... he already knew that the man wasn't like other humans... he could never forget that John just saved his life.
It didn't take long for the group to make it back to the surface, causing everyone to take in deep breaths of fresh air, more than happy to be out of there. It was now snowing lightly outside.
"Ohh fuck that place." Cooper said, not even thinking about looking back at the underground tunnels.
"The car isn't far, come on." Said Shira, still assisting Luna to walk as they made their way to the car that could be seen in the distance.
Everyone nodded and made their way to the car as fast as they could, clearly wanting to get home quickly to get some rest.
"Want me to drive? I don't mind." John said, smiling in Shira's direction.
Shira thought about it for a moment before letting out a tired sigh, slowly nodding her head. "Very well human." She said, taking the keys from her pocket and tossing it to him.
He caught the keys and quickly put his stuff in the trunk of the humvee, his actions followed by everyone else before he got into the driver's seat, starting up the engine. He waited for everyone to get in, Cooper sitting in the passenger seat before he began driving through the city of Montreal back to Perseverance.
As he drove, John became more and more excited to see Ren and Aura again, clearly missing them during the long hours that he was gone... but only a few minutes into the drive, his excitement immediately vanished as he was forced to come to a stop.
There, just by one of the entrances to the main city was a large blockade of vehicles, with about thirty human men and woman standing gaurd with guns.
"Son of a bitch..." Cooper mumbled, fear evident in his voice. He knew that there were far too many of them to handle.
One man from the large group of humans who wore glasses and had a thick moustache stepped forward, smirking from the sight of a humvee full of furs.
"Gonna need all of you out of the car, right now." The man said, picking at his teeth with a toothpick casually.
John began thinking about their situation, trying to think of a way out of this... it seemed like he had a plan before he turned his head to everyone in the car. "Do as they say... trust me." He said simply as he got out, raising his hands.
Cooper, Ivan, Shira, Luna and Sammy looked at each other for a moment, the fox child already shaking with fear... but they realized there wasn't much they could do anyway, so slowly and defeatedly got out with their hands also raised.
"Good." Said the man with a smirk before his eyes widened. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me... looks like we've got a fur fucker." He laughed hysterically for a moment.
John simply scowled in the man's direction as he laughed, not speaking a word while he kept his hands up.
"Well, boss man will definitely wanna deal with you himself. Ain't no tolerance for fur fuckers with us." Said the man when he finished laughing, glancing back at the people behind him. "Fellas, take the fur fucker behind their car, fuck him up." He said with an ominous voice.
John watched as about four men walked towards him then dragged him behind the humvee. Shira and the others were forced to listen as they began beating him up without mercy.
"So, two wolves, a bear, a lizard and a fox. Quite the selection of furs if I do say so myself." The man chuckled, sitting down on a motorcycle as he stared at them. "So where were you headed?" He asked curiously.
"We were only passing through." Cooper replied quickly, hoping they wouldn't suspect that Perseverance was nearby.
The man stared at Shira for a moment, narrowing his eyes at her. "Hm... eh, it doesn't matter. We were only here to make sure our people got through the city safely... and to make sure no one was on our tail." He explained uncaringly with a shrug. "We're gonna have to kill you all of course, that's just how it is. Artimas wants all of your kind dead and well... what he says goes."
The group of humans behind him immediately raised their guns at the five furs when the man said that, ready to open fire on them as soon as they recieved the order. Shira, Luna, Cooper and Ivan stared down the barrels of their guns coldly while Sammy shook with horror, knowing he was probably going to die here.
"Let the child go... please, at least let him live." Luna pleaded as she stared directly at the men, keeping her injured paw above the ground.
The man was silent for a moment before he simply laughed to Luna's plea. "Furs are all the same, Artimas don't give a fuck if they're kids or not, and neither do we. You've all gotta die." He stated with amusement.
"Who's Artimas?" Ivan suddenly asked, the huge bear staring down at the much shorter humans fearlessly.
"Look, you're not in a position to be asking questions big guy." The man replied simply. "For what it's worth, we're sorry. But well... the furs have gotta go. Artimas sends his regards." He said uncaringly with a smirk. "3... 2...-"
The man's countdown was cut short as something flew through the air, colliding with the huge group of humans then causing a huge explosion, sending Cooper, Luna, Ivan, Shira and Sammy flying back to the ground from the force.
The five of them immediately started coughing as they slowly sat back up, staring at the result of the explosion with complete shock... all of the humans were dead... reduced to body parts scattered around the place as the vehicles they had burned.
John walked around from behind the humvee, holding Ivan's grenade launcher, the barrel smoking. His face was badly beaten but he didn't seem to care.
"You guys okay?" John asked, spitting out some blood.
The five of them stared at John with complete shock, unable to believe that the human just saved their lives.
Luna looked behind her, noticing that the four men who were to beat John up were now laying dead behind the humvee... making her eyes widen with even more disbelief.
"John... you... y-you saved us..." Shira mumbled incredulously as she slowly stood up, glancing from the destruction to John.
John was silent for a moment as he stared at the destruction, and the many people he just killed... but he didn't seem to have any regret at all. "I'm on your side, and I always will be... simple as that." He stated. "We should go, there's bound to be more of them."
Cooper and Ivan stared at John with the same disbelief as everyone else, unable to comprehend the fact that a human just saved their lives. But the five of them realized that John was right and they stood up to get back in the humvee, all except Shira getting back in while Sammy was once again in a state of shock.
The lizard slowly walked closer to John, staring into his eyes for a moment before gently placing a hand on his bruised cheek, being careful not to hurt his already beaten face.
"You are one of us... I see that now." Shira said softly. "You have proved yourself." She said before leaning in and placing a kiss on his cheek, then turning around to walk back to the humvee.
John stood there for a moment with shock from Shira's words, but a smile quickly formed on his face as he walked with her back to the humvee... his mission was complete.
-
(Alright everyone, first of all I just want to give you an apology for the incredibly slow updates with my books. Unfortunately I have been struggling to find time to write recently. But my promise to you is that I will try my absolute best to speed up the updates, and that I will never abandon any of my stories. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you all have an amazing day.
- Myth ^w^)