Thirty-Five. Prevention

Lukan’s closure with his final day at work was nowhere near as heavy as it was with Platt. All his bosses just told him how they were going to miss him and that he would be welcome to come back, and nothing more than that. It was almost hilarious how anticlimactic it was to him. Even Eira was not there. Figures his last day would be on a day she was off. Neither of them knew. Neither of them knew the extent of the drama that had befallen in Lukan’s life. They will never know his true reasons for doing as he did. But Lukan didn’t care about that. He only cared about one thing. That would be the fact that he’d just taken the first major step to building his new life. The first step that he couldn’t walk back from. There was simply no turning back. As they drove through Lilac Grove, Lukan could not help but take a last look around the town, as he knew this was going to be the last time he’d ever be there. Six years in his life, through his adolescence and up to now, all of it was going to be left behind forever. It made Lukan feel sad in a number of ways. But he knew better. Lilac Grove had none of the future that he wanted harbored inside. It was simply time to move on. Sun Plateau, Lobos, wherever down there, was the site of his glorious future. With Fidel. With the one he wanted to be with. It was almost time.
Upon reaching the office of a location called “U-Move”, Lukan looked around at the small number of trucks parked in the lot. It most certainly gave off the impression that not many creatures were moving to Lilac Grove. Lukan was definitely not surprised by this implication.
Inside the tiny building, there were cameras in every nook and cranny, between the boxes and bubble wrap, with two 50 inch TVs behind the front desk showing all the angles they were pointing at. There was literally not an inch of the store not under surveillance and it made Lukan instantly uncomfortable. The clerk behind the desk was an excessively bored looking coyote lady with a large dark brown smudge going over her left eye. “Good afternoon.” was her statement. It put Will’s lack of emotion to the test, yet did not seem impolite. 
Sarah looked right at the clerk and said as simply as possible. “We just need to get a hitch for my car, so it can tow a trailer.”
Suddenly the clerk’s demeanor changed as her eyes lit up. But more with worry than anything else as they darted from the mother raccoon, down to Lukan, and back. “Oh, I’m sorry ma’am, there are no U-Move location in Lilac Grove that has any trailers available for you. They have all been booked. In fact the nearest location would be in… I believe Collies Fort?” 
Now Sarah’s eyes went wide. “C-Collies Fort?! That’s a three hour drive!” she exclaimed loudly. She turned to Lukan, her eyes twitching lightly. “First the $56 shredding paper thing, and now this? This is ridiculous!” 
“I-if you’d like, I can contact that office down there to set up an appointment if you really need to?” 
Sarah shook her head heavily. “Could you at least get a hitch installed in the meantime? We’re kind of low on time to get this all taken care of.” 
“No, I’m afraid not. Our appointments for all that are booked to the end of the month! Best I can say is I can contact the stores in Collies Fort for that, and you can get it done there if you want?”
“Fffff…” Sarah was trying not to swear. She seemed to only barely succeed. “Alright. If we have no other choices, then we’ll do it. Anything open tomorrow?” 
“Hold on a second, let me check for you.” the clerk turned away and turned her attention to the computer.
Lukan felt his eyes go wide as he addressed his stressed mother. “A-are you kidding me?! We’re gonna have to go all the way to Collies Fort for all this?!” 
Sarah shook her head as if she did not want to acknowledge it either. “How else are we going to get all that stuff down to Lobos?”
Lukan failed to even consider it. Because of creatures that would be leaving Lilac Grove due to its numerous shortcomings, the number of available resources for moving away would be limited as a result. But whose fault was this? Wasn’t it any moving company’s responsibility to allocate their resources wherever needed to meet supply and demand? Lukan could not fully understand it. In the end he just sighed, looking at his mother. “We’ll do whatever we need to do, of course.” The meaning behind this statement indicating more than just this instance, Lukan realized. His mother stayed silent after he said those words. The entire office fell into an awkward silence afterwards. So quiet, in fact, Lukan began to ponder the things that could be running through his mother’s mind at that moment. They both knew that there was not much time left until they had to be out of the apartment. The fact that they needed an extra space to put all their belongings, one they initially planned on getting, was bad enough. To face the prospect of spending an entire day going into the next state just to get it, put immense worry in Lukan’s mind. He knew, judging by the face of his mother, that she felt the exact same. 
Several moments passed before the receptionist returned, her expression the same as before, and sat down. “There is an opening at this office in Collies Fort at three in the afternoon tomorrow. They should be able to get you your hitch and trailer in one go.”
There was a mix of relief and exasperation in Sarah’s immediate demeanor. “So we do have to go there…” 
“‘Fraid so, ma’am. I’m sorry. With every creature leaving Lilac Grove as of late, we just don’t have the resources immediately available for you without appointment.”
“Everyone leaving Lilac Grove?” Lukan echoed.
“Haven’t you heard? Oil industry’s busting really bad. 10% of its workforce has been laid off in the last month alone! Therefore they’re all trying to leave or are getting outsourced to other states. We’re overwhelmed trying to accommodate them.” 
Lukan looked around. “But we’re the only ones here right now.” 
	“We’re closing early soon. I’m the only one here since everyone else is at other offices that are overwhelmed,” she replied. 
“Is it really that bad out there?” Lukan continued, curious. 
“I don’t know too much more than this. This is just what I have been told by a few of our clients.” 
“Damn…” Lukan sighed under his breath. This was something that he was not expecting in the least. He turned to his mother. “Perhaps we timed this very poorly?”
Sarah shook her head. “Then why the hell was there apparently a wait list on our apartment by no less than eleven separate parties? That makes no sense at all!” 
“Again I do not know any details at all. Unless they’re coming from recent layoffs and your complex is a low income one? That may explain it. These creatures may be trying to stay in the city.” 
“That may be it,” Sarah muttered. “But why now? This move has been on our plan for months now!” 
“You can’t control how these things go, I’m afraid. We’ll help you all we can, but I am letting you know now, it won’t be much. I’m sorry.” 
Sarah let out another sigh of what seemed spiked with defeat. “Alright. We’ll have to roll with the punches in any way that we can, won’t we, Lukas?” 
Lukan only just nodded in response. Lukan was starting to think this move was about to go as smoothly as the roads after a wet and icy winter. 

Lukan and Sarah spent the bulk of the remainder of the day packing what they could and planning their three hour jaunt to the city in the south. The sheer lack of organization in the apartment seemed to worsen the longer they went. By March the first, they had to be out of the apartment, no questions asked, and it was already the night of the 25th. Just four days to figure it all out. It being a leap year was a help, surely, but would it suffice? Lukan could only hope so. He watched nighttime overtake the outside world as a stressed Sarah pored over the maps on the Internet. Lukan was no longer sure what to do for the rest of the night before he went to sleep. He did not want to seem unproductive, but there was not much left to do that did not involve putting everything into a truck and moving out. His mattress was already gone and replaced by an airbed that ranked too strongly of brand new rubber. His room was almost entirely empty save for that, his box of clothes, and his desk and computer. There was nothing for him to do. He contemplated seeking out Fidel for a nighttime chat, but he knew the coyote was more than likely in bed himself. Instead, Lukan found himself staring out the window into the starry, late winter sky. Regardless of what was going to happen, this was one of his final nights in Lilac Grove. One of the final nights sharing a city with the creatures who rocked and wrecked his life. He knew he should be excited. He knew he should be looking forward to the end of his heartache. But why wasn’t he…?
The next morning hit Lukan in the face before he even realized it. There were no dreams to be had. Which was unusual, since Lukan had the same one time and time again. The Storm of the Century battering him down in some coniferous forest. Sometimes it would flip flop. Between a ferocious thunderstorm and an unforgiving blizzard that stole the air right from his lungs. But why? Why was Lukan having these odd dreams? And why did it not happen this night? Lukan closed his eyes to sleep and the next thing he knew, the morning sun was shining right into his masked face. Because of that suddenness, Lukan also felt as though he had not slept in many, many days. He desired nothing more than to just continue laying there, praying that sleep would return to him, dreams and all. But he knew that this was not the day for such a thing. The day would be fraught with travel. Not the travel that he intended. A wasted day. A delay of the inevitable. That is what Lukan viewed the future 24 hours to be. A necessary waste. Lukan struggled to get himself up out of bed. It was already nine in the morning. Six hours until they would have what they want. Sarah had settled on eleven to leave. And until then, there was nothing for him to do, yet again. This time, however, he knew that his coyote was bound to be up and at them by now. He opted to speak with him until the time would come. 

Lukan watched as the scenery passed by him. He watched the hills, the shrubs, the rocks all fly past him as his mother drove them both through the countryside. The dry, almost desert-like, plains were dead due to the winter that still held its grip on them. It was almost like a desolate planet if not for the occasional tree and pasture that proved life did exist in the least populated part of Earth. There were small towns every now and then to further prove that disposition. However, they were so small that they may as well have been a mere few houses and a gas station. Could they really be called towns at that point? Lukan could not believe that these were the things he was going to be seeing again in just a small number of days. Lukan looked up more information on the small town of Lobos. It was, according to his research, a town attached to a military base on the border with Mexico that was only slightly smaller in size than Lilac Grove. Lukan was not sure it would be easy to see Fidel from such a location, but his doubts were growing rapidly. He hardly had any time to think of it since the preparations to leave Lilac Grove began. 
Once they had passed the capital city of the state, Zephyr Heights, Lukan knew they were getting close to their destination. And the scenery gradually began to change to follow suit. It was getting hillier. There were mountains starting to gradually become more and more visible to the west. The interstate curved to meet with the demands of the rolling hills. And the wind was as relentless as ever, pushing at the side of the car with superhuman strength that forced his mother to counteract with the wheel a worrying number of times. However, living in such conditions for the number of years the Benkas have had them accustomed to it. To an outsider it could be a worst nightmare. But to the raccoons, it was a Sunday drive. 
Finally, several moments later, the raccoons see the street signs for Collies Fort, letting Lukan breathe a sigh of relief. “Finally here. Can’t wait to stretch my legs. When was the last time we took a trip this long?” 
“That would have been the trip to Viva we took with Jonathan and Becky a couple years ago, I believe. Even then, that was half the time on the plane so… I don’t know actually!” Sarah answered.
“Heh. Your memory always finds a way to somehow be worse than mine,” Lukan teased.
“Stooooop! As if I need more reminders about that,” she replied with the same humor. 
Lukan snickered as he turned his eyes back to the road. Just like with any bigger city, the interstate became cluttered with multiple times the amount of traffic as before, as moving forward, changing lanes seemingly indiscriminately at times. Lukan always knew that such a thing would freak him out whenever he would finally be able to get on the road himself. 
	After merging off the exit, it didn’t take long for them to find the U-Move office that was specified by the unfortunately unhelpful Lilac Grove one from the day previous. It was placed on a side road that ran alongside the main road, both separated by a chain link fence in a short ditch. The dead grass was still wet and muddy from the recent snow melt. It seemed to have been a much smaller office, and the lot was worryingly empty. Nevertheless, they pulled into it and the dread hit Lukan hard in the face. The lights were off on the inside. It seemed like there was no one there at all.
“No f- way,” Lukan muttered, almost swearing in front of his mother. “You cannot be serious.” 
“It’s only 3 in the afternoon. Exactly the time they said they’d be here! You CAN NOT tell me that they are closed this early!” Sarah seethed, the anger already evidently boiling over inside her. 
“What the fu…” Lukan could only breathe it under his breath as he stared at the empty, seemingly abandoned building. There was not even any sign on the door to indicate any sort of schedule. There was a “Be Right Back” sign pointed at 9 o’ clock however. What could that mean? Lukan hoped that would mean they are open at 9 the next morning? He shook his head. “M-maybe something happened…?”
Sarah growled heavily. “Oh something is going to happen alright. This is ridiculous. Why is this happening?!” 
“What do we do? Do you think they’ll be here again at 9 like that sign says?” Lukan asked aloud, the worry obvious in his voice.
Sarah sighed, trying to vent out her anger. “Well apparently, it looks like we have to stay the night here. Unless you want to drive 9 hours over the next day and waste so much gas.” She said that in a low, haunting voice. The voice that told Lukan that Sarah was not to be crossed when it was used. 
“What?!” Lukan was incredulous. “But we don’t have that kind of time!” he exclaimed, knowing that their departure date from the apartment in Lilac Grove would be down to just the one day left. That was tomorrow. “There is still far too much crap left in that apartment to go through in just one day!”
	“I know, Lukas! Why do you think I did not like having to come all the way down here in the first place?!” Sarah exclaimed back. She was obviously trying not to take her anger and frustration out on her own son. 
Lukan recoiled, using his next line in an attempt to defuse the situation. “Alright then. We’ll stay the night then. Can’t imagine we’ll have the time to deal with anything if we just went back and forth either. At least we’ll have time after we go back just once right?” 
	“So be it,” Sarah muttered. “Let’s go book a hotel room then. Ugh.”

The most immediately bad thing about having to stay in a hotel room that night for Lukan was that now the raccoon was away from his computer, and unable to talk to Fidel for the first time in over a day. They always at least exchanged a few messages once a day. Lukan hoped the coyote would not miss him too much for a few days. The creature did know that the moving process was gonna be messy at least. But even Lukan did not expect it to become as messy as it already had been. The apartment was still in shambles. U-Move was proving to be completely useless. Lukan did not even think there was a guarantee their stuff would still be in the apartment when they’d get back. And how much of it could they take with such little time left anyway? All these questions made Lukan unable to sleep a wink that night. And even when he did close his eyes, they were snapped back open by the sounds of thunder… Thunder… In February? That made no sense at all. Why would there be--?
“Lukas! Wake up, it’s morning.” The sound of his mother’s voice ended the very light sleep that Lukan was experiencing. Light flooded the room dispelling any further chance that Lukan would have to fall asleep again. “We gotta get to the U-Move office in about 15 minutes!”
“Whuuh…? Morning already…” Lukan muttered, his voice cracked with pure exhaustion. “Where are… oh right. Collies Fort.” Lukan wondered if he should mention the thunder he heard while he was asleep. Was that real? Was that a dream? Where did it come from? Lukan tried to shake it out of his mind while at the same time trying to shake as much of the exhaustion from his head as possible. There was almost zero success, however. Lukan was not surprised.After begrudgingly getting himself up onto his paws, he walked slowly and stiffly into the bathroom to give himself a look in the mirror. His fur was rough, disheveled, and sticking out in all directions. Was it also a toss and turn sort of night too? Lukan couldn’t think so early in the morning. Instead he just grunted grumpily at the sight of himself before deciding to completely ignore it and started to pull his clothes back on. Once that was taken care of, the procyon shuffled his paws from the bathroom again to meet his mother, who was already packing the few things they had with them since of course, they had no intentions to stay the night there. 
“You don’t look ready to go,” she noted dryly. Was she trying to find humor in the situation so desolate of any humor, or was she criticizing him more harshly than usual because of said situation? Lukan could not tell. “Well I suppose it doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this nonsense over with.” And without waiting for Lukan to even respond to her the first time, she started towards the door of the room.

Lukan noticed that his mother had not even called him “Lukey” even once since they left the U-Move office in Lilac Grove. It was becoming noticeable, even to him, that the stress of the situation was eating at Sarah rather heavily. Most of Lukan’s stress however came more from worry than it did from anger. The pit in his stomach just seemed to grow more and more with each minute as they drove closer to the U-Move office they tried to visit the previous day. They had now lost more than an entire day they could have used for packing. And now that it was the second to last day of February, they only had the current day to get out if they were to leave early the next day in order to focus on driving to their new home. Nothing was looking good anymore. 
Fortunately, however, when the raccoons made it to the U-Move office, they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw lights on inside the building. Someone was actually there! Sarah and Lukan wasted no time, they went right inside as swiftly as  they could after parking the car nearby.
Inside the building, it was somehow smaller than the one in Lilac Grove. There was just a single creature there: a very gruff looking wolf that seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face. “Mornin’. What could I help you with?”
	Sarah sighed. “We… came here because we were told you could install hitches on cars from the office in Lilac Grove. So we can get a little trailer for our move. We came but no one was here. We had to stay the night.” 
The wolf’s tail seemed to twitch irritably. “Hrmph. So it seems that lackey did shirk off somewhere after all. I told ‘em bossmen that he couldn’ be trusted. I’m sorry that happened to ya. But…” he said gruffly.
“But?” Sarah pressed, looking serious.
“I’m afraid I cannot help ya out. Not only do we not have any trailers around, but because lazy bones left work yesterday, yer appointment was voided too. And ya need an appointment to get a hitch installed after all,” the wolf replied steadily.
Lukan could see it. The red color on his mother’s face. It was brighter than any ripe tomato on Earth. “What do you mean?” she seethed.
The wolf seemed to ignore the question. “Best I can do fer yas is the office in Greenly. I know fer a fact that they’ll have everythin’ y’all need. And they always have openin’s too. Let’s see here. Yes. Eleven o’ clock. I can put ya in from here like they did in… What was it ya said, Lily Gourd? Ah never mind. Just be at this location in two hours yeah?”
Sarah breathed heavily. She wore the deepest scowl that she had likely worn her entire life. “If there is not another way, then why fight it?” she growled, her voice shaking ominously. “Still why do we have to take the fall because one guy decided not to work? We are not even supposed to BE here!”
Lukan shook his head, knowing that he could not let Sarah continue to go off as she was. “Come on. We don’t have any time to waste sitting here arguing, right?” 
“Who said anything about arguing, Lukas? I’m trying to find any way to get that godforsaken hitch installed so we can get the heck out of here!”
Lukan was sufficiently taken aback by her harsher response, so he did not make one himself. He merely turned tail to be the one to lead the pair of them back to the car.
Greenly was a smaller satellite town to the southish east of Collies Fort. But it was also 30 minutes away in optimal conditions, which only served to sour the raccoons’ moods even further. There was nothing they could do for the hour that they would have left while waiting for the appointment the other clerk had given them there, so they ended up killing time by driving around Collies Fort for a while, looking at places they had used to go to during Lukan’s two cubhood years that they had spent living here, giving Lukan a shocking sense of nostalgia. It was a good opportunity for the two of them to destress as well, but despite this, the tensions still remained high, as there was no avoiding the fact that they should not have had to come to Collies Fort in the first place. So with barely effective destressing being present, it was not as easy to enjoy the sights of a once familiar city. Lukan did his best to though, since his sinking feeling still was not subsiding either. 
Sarah diverted their tour when the clock struck 10:15 in the morning, exactly one hour after their confrontation with the wolf to drive in the direction of Greenly. And that was when Lukan remembered Bright. The creatures he and his mother had to stay with those years ago originally came from Greenly. And that thought resurging into his mind sent hair raising chills down Lukan’s spine. The last thing he wanted to do now was remember that time. But just the name of the town was making him do so. It was inescapable. 
Greenly was also a town that was patchy and in shambles in many parts as it was an industrial town further away from the mountains. It was an eerie reminder to Lukan that Lilac Grove was likely heading in a similar direction if things did not change quickly. Many of the buildings were abandoned, unkempt, or both. The aura in the air felt old and forlorn. Lukan was surprised that there would even be a U-Move in the town that was able to take clients so easily. Or was that because… the town was already dead?
Upon reaching the specified address the wolf gave them, they were graced with yet another building similar to the ones they had seen before. Fortunately, the building did seem more than triple the size, much more well equipped than ever. Several trucks, and trailers, dotted a lot to the side that was fenced off. It looked like the office was going to have everything they needed at last. 
	But there was one problem. And one that Lukan saw almost immediately when he saw the door. There on the door was an hours sign that the Collies Fort office lacked. But on this sign it read that this Greenly office did not even open until twelve o’ clock noon.