2 years later-
Skim unloaded all six shots from his revolver into the ceiling, shattering lightbulbs like fireworks above his head.
There was grunting too, ringing the thin metal on the side of the caravan. The kind that really heaves some breath as if that would fix the pain. Then there was another gunshot from outside, and just like that... the grunting stopped.
The raccoon's eye twitched a little bit as dug into his pockets for some more gun-candy.
"IF ANY OF YOU FUCKERS EVEN LAY A PAW ON MY METH," He licked his lips, getting creative. "I'LL KABAB YOU!"
There was silence from outside, and the corners of Skim's lips pulled down as he fed the bullets into his gun, ready for another round of fun.
Roy had predicted it, too: Skim had been growing a beard out by that pool from two years ago. Now it hung down, almost an inch off of his face, as if a furry could act a role in 'Castaway'.
A voice cleared its throat from outside, thick with some sort of accent that coated his words in syrup.
"The fuck does that mean?!"
Skim's blank eyes flicked onto the small slat-window on the door to his caravan. A shadow was there and then it disappeared. No less then half a second, but that was all Skim needed to know.
He slowly dropped down onto the ground. His leg poking at a dead-body behind him, all riddled with bullet-holes like a good cheddar-cheese. That dead bag of meat used to be one of Skim's friends. And Skim wasn't too happy with what happened to him, neither.
"It means I'll tie you up, drill a nice and slow hole through your forehead," He clicked his gun shut and aimed an angle up at the door. "and then fuck that hole until its big enough to see through."
No response other than the gentle swaying grass caught in the 3 am breeze outside.
"HOW DOES THAT SOUND?!" The racoon roared. He was smiling crookedly. Eyes lit up in their sockets like a madman. "YOU BOYS WANNA GET YOUR BRAIN'S FUCKED?!"
Silence. A Bunsen-burner lay unattended on the table behind the racoon, chewing through gas as it shot flame up the ass of a test-tube. The outside was black with ash and the inside was black with something else. Something boiling and brewing. Something unhealthy.
Skim heard the crackles and pops. More correctly, the sound caught his ear, holding him face down in the midst of an idea.
He pushed himself off the ground with one paw, like a fucked-up yoga move, and stretched his arm up and over the table.
The grabbed the burning test-tube and held it tight in a now singed paw.
BOOM!
The door had been kicked off of its hinges, falling rigid as an enraged Doberman fell with it. The fucker had tackled it, as if busting into Skim's meth-lab equated to making the grand-play in a rugby match.
The dog shook the feeling of blunt-force shock from his head and reached for his gun which lay prone beside the door's handle.
The Doberman was fast with it, a perfect snatch and a shot out arm, aiming for the racoon's head.
But Skim was faster.
Skim hurled the test-tube like a throwing knife over the Doberman and brought the same paw down onto the hammer of his revolver, sending a bullet in the same direction.
The test-tube missed the dog and completed an arc directly over his head. As if the Doberman was a cartoon character with a 'chemical idea'.
And before the dog's eyes could even adjust to the strange black tube hovering in slow-motion about his head,
Skim's bullet shattered right through it.
The tube filled with a deep blue-light as the black liquid ignited in almost molten-flame, raining down carnage on the dog's body.
The Doberman screamed, the blue flames dripping down onto his fur and clothes, melting through them, burning everything it touched.
Soon enough his entire body was hissing with almost supernatural flame.
Dead. Now just a sizzling drug-puppet, cut from its strings.
Skim laughed from his spot on the ground, clenching his fists in triumph.
Another one down.
A whole cartel to go.
2 years before a certain test-tube shattered chaos above a certain Doberman's head.
I sighed softly, shaking my head in defeat.
"Exactly."
Adrian muttered with a slow shake of his head before he stood up and walked off to take a piss.
We had been having an argument about what we should do next. I wanted to get done whatever had to get some as soon as possible, so maybe – just maybe – I'd be able to fucking sleep calmly for the next few nights.
However, Adrian's idea was to leave it to the last minute, scoping for a while from the outside so that we'd be able to sweep in for the perfect opportunity when the time came for it.
A party, where some students get a little 'loose' with what they're bringing.
A couple of close friends of Adrian trying to lend him a favour.
Even a dodgy alleyway with some adults in the middle of the night would be preferable to just sitting around scared for the next week.
I was raising some good points in opposition, too. But I have a stutter. So you can imagine who turned out as the winner.
But as Adrian walked away, his head down and avoidant, his headphones locked into his ears, drowning out the world around him; I could tell that he certainly didn't feel like a victor.
There was no winning when you're in debt.
The sheepdog turned around, avoiding eye-contact. His feet shuffled a half-assed box-step and his ears were loose and hanging.
"Anyways." He shrugged. "I might be able to buy the same amount off of my dealer."
I opened my mouth but almost instantly clamped it shut. It made sense for him having a dealer, given his... nature.
"So... what nuh, n-now?" I finally said.
He conjured to motivation to establish eye-contact, but then I found myself staring at the ground as he was before.
"Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that out Southy."
The nickname had lost its sting. It didn't feel like he had even said it with the intention of pissing me off. It was just thrown out there. A loose word trying to lighten the stale mood between us.
He rubbed his muzzle – it wasn't even midday and both of us were yawning and blinking sleep from our eyes like our lives depended on it.
"You got any ideas?"
"Ehh... nope. I'm t-to cooked to thuh, th-think right now."
He slumped down beside me.
"Yeah, I get ya."
"..."
"Fuck... anything, mate? Anything at all?"
"The only idea on m-my mind it getting the f-fuh-fuck outta this place. I'm buh, b-beginning to smell enough of the food to t-taste it."
He had a nice laugh, good and throaty. Just hearing it was contagious enough for me to smile as well.
"That's probably not a bad idea."
The air outside was warm and moist. Like breathing in a sea breeze on a scorching day. But not a shred of sunlight was in sight. The road was dark and the trees surrounding the service station were blown in a warm breeze, thick brown and red leaves clattering against each other in anticipation.
A storm was coming, a good one. A real pisser-downer.
We could both feel it.
Adrian stared up at the sky from the pavement beside me.
There was so something so calm about those dark clouds. As if they were tucking us away from the world. As if as long as they were there, I was invincible. Cut off from any civilization at the thick rain and flooding roads made it impossible for furs to reach me.
Alone.
Alone with my rapist.
"I'm gonna need to stuff my paws down the drain again." Adrian chuckled.
But he was just a voice, insignificant amongst the pisser-downer that brewed in the heavens above us.
"Is th-that a fact?"
"Sure is. Every year when it gets like this, my mum and I stay outside for the entire storm. Just to feel the pour of it all against our fur... you know? It's kinda the only tradition that we could keep going as I got older. Because – although we try – you can't really stop the rain. Well, not with two furs, a flooded backyard, and a handful of clogged-up storm-drains anyways."
"That's c-cool."
"Yeah, I always thought so. She's awesome like that... what about you, Southy? Got any traditions with your parents?"
"Yeah." I smiled. "I've got a sh-shit load of them with my little b-brother, and a few with muh, m-my mum and stuff. Nothing really with my step-dad, though."
"Step-dads suck. That's a fuckin' fact."
"Eh, d-depends... why? Your parents divorced?"
Adrian took a moment to gather his words.
"No. Not really. My dads just not around enough to be much more than a 'step-dad', if you get what I mean. Its mostly just been me and my mum."
"Is she the suh, s-same breed as you?"
"Yeah, a bit more pure though. My dad..." He swallowed a lump in my throat.
"My dad's a husky, but I got none of that."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. It's hard to tell from looking at me, aye? I'm just a little bit darker in the fur, a bit lighter in the eyes..."
I looked at his eyes, both of our heads still tilted upwards like stubborn children disagreeing with their parents.
"Oh yeah!" I chuckled. "I s-see it now."
He returned the laugh, and we both drifted back into gazing through the impossible grey above us. Swirling, almost brewing... I wonder how much of that is going to end up in my mail-box.
"We should probably get going before it-"
Just like that, the skies tap turned on at full blast. The clouds had been too fat and heavy, so they began to cry their tears.
Nice, large warm drops that flooded down in an instant.
The street had become as grey as the sky, cars appearing and disappearing out of the mist of heavy downfall, their headlights locked on full-beam. Fighting the storm with bright yellow fury.
Adrian and I looked directly at each-other, rain quickly slapping wet spots onto our shirts.
He smiled, I shook my head, he snickered, I grinned,
and then we burst out laughing.
We laughed to the point of tears, although it was impossible to notice them in all this. Our backs hunched over. Just some teenagers messing around. Just some good friends, who hadn't had a catch up in a while. We laughed until our stomachs hurt.
What the fuck have we got ourselves into...
"I..." Adrian tried to say, but as we locked eyes again he roared out again in laughter. A clapped a paw on his shoulder and laughed with him on the way down.
"I... haha." He said as he wiped warm tears and warm water away from his face.
"C-C'mon." I chuckled, patting him on the back as if he were choking on somethin' big.
"Get it ou, o-out."
"I gotta run to my car. I'll come pick you up on the way out."
I thought about us both locked in the confined space of a car together.
You like that don't you?
And just like that came the highlight-reel of fractured memories... memories of Adrian out in the forest... blank feelings of him digging around inside of me.
"I'm guh-good, thanks. I'll just w-walk."
He cocked his head.
"You sure?"
"Yeah." I could feel my face going red.
"It's all guh, g-g..."
"Good?" He finished with a chuckle.
"Well... if you say so, I guess."
He began to walk off, getting greyer every step he took. He stopped, turned around, and clasped a two-paw cup around his mouth to project his voice.
"I'll give you a call if anything comes up! You know, if anyone's offering some dog-nightmare!"
I smiled at how stupid he was for yelling that out.
"Sounds good!" I yelled back.
He waved me off and then kept walking on, now just a smudge of fur disappearing through the waves of water. Like a villain in the beginning of the story, getting away with the first of their schemes... but they always get caught eventually, don't they?
I felt my tongue itch, and I watched Adrian walk further and further away.
Losing my chance.
Finally, I swore under my breath and checked whether anyone was around before I cupped my paws to my mouth as he had.
"Adrian!"
I felt my legs twitch, ready to move in case I needed to run after him. But there was no need: He stopped fading into grey, and his silhouette stopped to raise its arms.
"Yo!" He called out, his voice faint.
I felt my heart-beat quicken under my soaking shirt. A wet hammer, duh-dum, duh-dum. Fuck, should I really say this?
"Wuh, w-why..." I cleared the voice crack out of my voice.
Here we go...
"Why did you rape me?!"
Oh shit, I really said that...
The smudge of a border-collie hesitated through the pouring rain. Staying still, unmoving, thinking.
I felt my eyes begin to brew up tears... but I shook them away quickly, determined to face my fears.
The silhouettes arms raised again after what felt like an eternity.
"You were drugged and drunk... and I was... you know..."
I felt my eyes close, my face scrunching slowly as I began to cry. I looked down at my feet, impossible to tell whether tear or water-droplets soaking into my shoes and socks.
The silhouette raised its arms, and this time he kept them up there.
"I'm so sorry Skim...!"
I shook my head and yelled back.
"That wasn't why!" My voice was bendy and fragile, like the branches around us getting tumbled and beaten in the storm.
"You didn't d-do it because you were horny! You're more cuh, c-complicated than that!"
The silhouette lay unmoving. Just shimmering from the tides of water bucketing down in the space between us.
I wonder what going through his mind right now...
I bit my lip, forcing back the tears that were biting at the back of my eyes.
"Why did you rape me?!"
He remained shimmering, unhindered by my cries.
I felt my head drop. A seed of doubt grew deep down in my stomach. Had I said the wrong thing? What was going to happen now? Why isn't he responding?
Finally, I heard Adrian's words penetrate the rain.
"When you and me get this all done and behind us, I'll tell you why... I'll tell you why I did what I did, to you..."
I stood strong, soaking his words in.
"How does that sound, Southy? I'll buy us a beer, and we'll hash it all out?"
I gritted my teeth.
"F-Fuck you, Adrian! I deserve to nuh, n-know!"
He hesitated.
"You sure you don't want that ride home?"
"F-fuh, f-fuck you!!"
But before the brief words had even left my mouth, the border-collie had completely dissolved into the grey. As if he had simply fallen over and melted into water, not a trace... not a tuff of fur left behind.
Just the same grey that swept lifelessly around me.
Leaving me alone to realise the stupidity of my choices. The stupidity of my pride to not suck up to him. The pride of refusing a warm car-seat with a good-radio churning away whatever was relevant at the moment.
The pride of wading alone through flooded streets for the rest of the day...
...Stupid fucking pride...