Roaming the Living Wastelands
By J.M.Wolf

Part 2: They Rise, We Run

Xer's breathing became noticeably louder and more labored. We are fucked was all he could think about after hearing about the frantic fox. Has the insanity of the outer city limits finally reached the heart of Kansas City? Or was it just some crazy fools messing with the distraught public. Whatever it was, he couldn't let it get him paranoid. More paranoid that is.

As his mind drifted back into reality, he noticed the world around him was shaking in an abrupt way. What the fu--- his thought was cut short when he felt a paw run into the left side of his muzzle. That final hit is what he needed to be brought back into the real world, away from his paranoia-inducing mentality. He flashed a confused facial expression at the black-red wolf, who again had a worried look on his face. "W...what's happening? Is it an earthquake?" he slurred as if he just woke up from a good night's sleep.

"What's happening! Why won’t you answer me?!" fury amplifying the volume of his voice. "You just had another one of your spazzing moments. You were hyperventilating. I thought you were going out pass out or something." He reached behind Xer and pulled the desk chair towards them. "Sit." Xer did as he was told, not wanting to get hit again by his mate. "Now tell me, what's wrong?" By the tone of his voice, Xer could tell Mike was worried.

The black-white wolf looked around the room, looking for a good answer to the question. He looked back up to Mike, who was standing right in front of him. "Uhhh....where do I start?" his sapphire eyes lit up. He looked behind him at the computer monitor, then back at Mike. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think some bad shit is happening here in Kansas City."

A puzzled look covered Mike's face. "What are you talking about? What's happening?"

"I don't know exactly, and I hope nothing happens here. There are reports of missing furs and attacks right outside Kansas City. Across the world actually. Some weird stuff has been going on in the past few days, and I think it's happening here too."

Mike smiled at the sitting Xer. He leaned toward him and kissed the worried wolf's nose. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." He watched as the worried look on his Xer's face slowly disappeared but still remained there, hidden. "Its just some stupid post-Halloween prank by some immature kids who want attention." Mike laughed at that statement. He himself still being a kid, an 18-year-old kid, who pulled a prank on his mate every now and then. The laughing wolf looked back at Xer. "Anything else on your mind mate?"

"Actually, I have a question." said Xer, ignoring the laughter.

"What is it?" the puzzled look returned to Mike's face, laughter gone.

"What exactly did the fox at the store say? Maybe it can shine some light on the crap that's going on," he interrogated, "you mentioned he said he got jumped."

"Yeah, looked like he got beat up bad. Let me tell you exactly what happened. Hmmm......Where do I start?" Mike turned around. He walked towards the couch in front of the window and tossed himself on it, letting out a huge sigh of relief after the long day he had. He cleared his throat. "I was at Wal-mart buying some stuff we we're running low on. I was waiting in line for some bitch to pay, when all of a sudden we heard someone enter the store yelling......."

*****
Growls slowly faded as he got closer to the edge of the pine tree forest. He could see the noon light cut into the darkness of the forest that divided civilization and the country club golf course he left far behind. The loud thumping noise of his heartbeat echoed in his ear, making it hard to hear whether he was still being followed or not. Just look back and check echoed a thought through his mind. Don't do it, unless you want to die another part of his mind screamed, outweighing the volume of the first voice. "Ok," he mumbled to himself, out of breath, as he kept looking forward and finally reached the limits of the forest.

A tall brownish fox jumped out of the dark forest, into the daylight. The green shades he wore didn't protect him from the bright light, which momentarily blinded him. Not being able to see, the fox stepped into an opening on the asphalt ground and tripped. He threw his black paws in front of him, avoiding landing face first when he reached the ground. "Fuck," he lifted himself up and looked at his black paws with his hazy vision. Blood could be seen shimmering on them, but it wasn't his. He wasn't hurt but what he was running away from sure was, and it was mad at him. The growls resumed. He quickly cleaned his paws of on his exposed white chest fur, which was already covered in a fair amount of blood, and then continued to run his destination-less marathon. 

Where to now smart guy!? His thoughts yelled at him begging for an answer, a good answer. His eyes had finally adjusted to the daylight and he clearly saw where he was and where he was headed. He was in a parking lot filled with cars of all sorts, and up ahead was the building the lot belonged to. "Wal-mart," he read the huge green letters on the building, green thanks to his shades. "Must warn everybody." He forced his tired legs to run faster. The furs he passed looked at the running fox in shock. They moved out of his way, not wanting any trouble with the blood covered fox.

"Sir, are you alright?" a hefty female bear yelled at the passing fox. She hid her cub behind her at the sight of the blood on his chest. "Oh my god. Sir, stop. You need help?"

He kept running, but didn't ignore the bear's worried remarks. The fox turned his head back at her, but still continued his running pace. "Lady if you don't move your fat ass, you're the one who's going to need help." he turned his head back to the front, completely ignoring the now cursing bear. 

As he neared the entrance, furs could be seen exiting the store in packs. All of them gasped in shock at the blood covered fur running towards them. Warn them, NOW! His mind commanded him. "Everybody, r...run!" he forced out with what very little air remained in him from all the running. "They've gone insane. N...nothing can stop them. Run! Get help! Anything!" Confused whispers came from the crowd, in response to the fox's psychotic rant. The crowd parted in half letting the frantic fox run past them and into the store. "Run!" he screamed as loud as he could before disappearing into the store.

"It's another crazed trick o' treater who gone an done drugs," a grey elderly feline yelled out loud. Murmurs of agreement filled the crowd. She took out her cell phone, more brick than phone. "I'm callin' the cops."....

***
Long lines of furs filled the cash registers at the front of the store. It was the day after Halloween, so many were just here for the discounted price on all the candy. At one register a slim female coyote stood there with two carts filled to the max with bags of candy. The furs behind her waited impatiently as the lady rummaged her giant purse for her long lost money . "One sec, I'm pretty sure my money is somewhere in here. Or was it in my other purse?" she said to the teenage tiger managing the cash register, who could care less where her money was as long as he got paid at the end of the day.  

Mike was standing two furs away from the coyote lady, frustrated at how she was taking her sweet time. He let out various deep growls, hoping the lady would hear him and get the hint that she needs to hurry up. The attempts were futile. Mike was far enough from the lady that she couldn't hear him. She continued to search through her bottomless purse. "Come on lady." Mike finally hollered. The coyote turned and looked straight at Mike. "Hurry up and---"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" the fox yelled as he ran into the store, towards the huge crowds standing at the registers. He came to a halt in front of the register Mike was in line for. Everyone turned to face the fox, each fur wondering what was happening. "Everybody get out........y..you're all in danger. Something's wrong with them," the fox forced out, stopping to gasp for breath. "I..I think they've been brainwashed or some shit. They didn't listen to me. I warned them, but they still came at me. Fuckin' kids!" he exclaimed. Tears could be seen rolling down from under his shades. The fox took them off, revealing his green bloodshot eyes, and wiped the tears off of his face. "I..I..I had to kill one of the kids that came at me when I was at the golf course," he turned and leaned against the wall behind him and began to cry. "I had to bash his face in with my driver."

Everybody gasped when they heard those words leave the fox's muzzle. Mike had the same reaction as everyone else who heard what the fox just said, shocked and confused. What the fuck is he talking about? He saw the tiger behind the cash register approach the emotionally unstable fox. He placed his arm on the shoulder of the torn up black hoodie the fox was wearing. "Yo, Felix. You alright man?" Must be a friend Mike thought. "What the hell happened? You didn't really kill someone, did you?" the tiger sounded worried, hoping Felix's response would be no.

Felix once again wiped his tears and then looked up. He was facing a board full of missing fur posters. There was over twenty posters posted on the wall, newer ones overlapping the older ones. The fur on his back stood up. His eyes opened wide as he caught a glance of a missing teen wolf's picture. Poster read:

~ MISSING ~
Johnny Day
Age: 15
Grey Wolf
He was last seen at Noble Park

To report any information to his whereabouts, 
Please call (913) 547-6637

"H...Him..." he tapped the poster with his right paw, smearing blood on the picture of the grey wolf. Felix looked at the smeared blood on the face of the wolf. Exactly how I left you kid his mind talking to the still picture. "He’s the one I had to kill." He shifted his eyes to see the rest of the posters. Most of the faces looked familiar to him, as if he had just been face-to-face with those furs less than twelve hours ago. I've seen some of these furs, but where? His jaw dropped. He made a whimpering noise and quickly pushed himself away from the posters, smearing blood on the walls. Felix began to shake again, as if he had seen a ghost hidden among the posters.
"The lost people!" he yelled. "That's them!"

"What are you talking about?" asked his friend? the tiger. Everybody else was wondering the same thing, but refused to say a word. They just listened to every word the fox frantically spilled out.

"T..They're the ones who attacked me. They looked pissed off and kept trying to bite me," he turned and grabbed the tiger by the uniform shirt. The tiger let out a whimper. "They wanted to fuckin' eat me man! Bitches would have bitten me but I had my driver to fend them off. I knocked them all on their asses, but then...." Felix froze. The tiger could feel the fox starting to shake more violently, with fear. "They followed me," he murmured, "I led them to town. I doomed us all." He looked up at the tiger, who was now just as scared as he was, and then turned to the staring crowd. "EVERYBODY LEAVE!" Felix yelled at the top of his lungs. "The city ain't safe no more!" He raised his right arm and pushed the tiger out of the way. Fear swept through his entire body. He knew what he saw, and he wasn't going to stand there and wait for it show itself again. 

After knocking the tiger out of the way and onto the tile floor, Felix ran towards the entrance he came in through. He could be heard yelling on his way out and could still be heard once he made it outside. Furs stood in shock from what they just witnessed. A fox wearing torn pants and a torn hoodie, covered in blood, had just run in there and told them they were in danger. Some found it hard to believe what just happened, others just ignored it and didn't try to make sense out of it. 

Mike stood there surprised as any other fur. He took a deep breath then exhaled. "Damn crack head." He turned his attention back to the line he stood in. The tiger been helped up by a customer near him and was now behind the register again. After a couple minutes, everything returned to normal. As normal as it could get at this point that is.

***
The black-red wolf walked out of the store empty handed fifteen minutes later. He was too frustrated to wait any longer in the god-forsaken line. "Fucking bitch," he cursed under his breath at the lady who was still in line. Mike stomped his way to his car at the far end of the parking lot. As he made his way there, he passed a small group of people right by the entrance talking to a cheetah in a cop uniform. He saw an old grey cat talking to the officer. Mike wasn't exactly sure what she was saying but he knew she was telling him about the fox. The lady was yelling out "covered in blood" and that the fox "gone and done drugs". The wolf just kept moving, not stopping to tell the officer what just occurred in the store.

As Mike returned his attention to where he was walking, he bumped into another fur. "Sorry..." Mike apologized, but was left speechless when he saw the fur he hit. It was a slim snow leopard. She was naked from the waist up, exposing her broad chest. Long black hair flowed from her head, but something was noticeably wrong. What was supposed to be white fur on her body was red with blood. Only random strands of black hair remained as a reminder of the hair to use to flow on her head. There were bite marks all over her chest and body. There was a huge opening where her left breast was, but had been bitten off by the looks of it. She hissed at the wolf before her, showing off her sharp blood-covered fangs. She took a step forward; Mike retreated with a step back.

"Lady, you need help," the leopard hissed at him once more. Mike quickly looked back, towards the cop's direction. "Hey! Somebody help. There's an in---" Mike felt his body shift backwards as if something rammed him. Next thing he knew, he was on the floor with the mutilated leopard on him, hissing at him. What the hell is going on was all he could think. He lost sense of what was going on around him. "Help! Someone get this bitch off of me!" Mike was panicking and didn't notice he was yelling the same thing over and over. He saw the leopard lunge her open maw at him and quickly brought his paws up just in time. The black and red paws were grasping the lady by her muzzle, holding it shut. 

She growled, frantically struggling to open her muzzle. Mike thought help wasn't going to arrive. He knew as soon as she broke free from his grip, he was going to end up bitten and mutilated just like her. He wasn't thinking clearly in his panicking state, he didn't know what to do. But he didn't have to do anything.

"Hey Madame," the leopardess quickly shifted her focus to the new voice. It was the cheetah. Yes! was all Mike could think. The wolf shut his eyes as he saw the cop pull out a small black canister. The lady hissed at the cheetah and the cheetah sprayed her milk white eyes. She let out a shriek and fell to the left of the wolf, hitting the hard ground. Mike didn't stay down for long. He quickly stood up nearly falling onto the ground again and got behind the cop. The small group from the entrance was right behind him too. 

The cheetah's left paw reached for the radio on his right shoulder. "This is Officer Benson. I need a bus at---" his call for an ambulance was cut short and replaced with a loud yelp. The leopardess was up on her feet and with her sharp fangs embedded in the officer's paw. "Let go lady, unless you want to get more than just pepper sprayed," he warned at the leopard locked onto his paw, wondering how she still managed to get up. She growled, muffled by the paw of the officer, and then pulled back. The officer let out another yelp as he moved back from the attacker, grasping at his paw. Blood was gushing out; she tore off two of his fingers. 

She was chewing on the digits she just tore off from the officer. A loud growl exited her muzzle, causing the half chewed appendages to drop from her maw. Her feet paws moved quickly towards the injured cop. The leopard wasn't only going to maim him; the need to kill was in her eyes. Before she could get any closer to the officer, two other cops arrived and grabbed hold of her. "Just in time," relief in the cheetah's voice, "a couple seconds later, and I would have been dinner for this crazy lady. And watch out, she bites." He held up his mutilated paw in a flaunting way, not caring he was missing two fingers. "Handcuff her till the bus arrives. I'll get rid of the crowd." 

The cheetah turned towards the crowd and told them there was nothing to fear. Slowly, everyone left the scene and went off to their own destinations. Mike slowly approached the wounded cheetah once everyone left. "Thanks for saving my ass. I panicked. It should have been me with the mutilated paw, not you." Mike was filled with remorse, wishing he could have done something to prevent all that just happened.

The cheetah gave a weak smile. "It's alright kid. It's my job to protect the civilians of this city," he looked at his paw, still bleeding but not as bad. "I knew what I signed up for when I accepted my position as a cop. Plus I'll be fine, I'm right pawed," he chuckled at his own joke, waiting to see if Mike would do the same. 

The wolf just looked up and gave a small smile. "I'm still sorry," sorrow still filling him.

"Don't be sorry. No way this was your fault, so just forget about it. Go home and rest. Looks like you had a long day. Probably not as long as mine though," the cop flaunted his mutilated paw again. Mike nodded, not saying a word. 

The black-red wolf made his way around the cops and continued to his car, not believing what had just happened. 

I should have been the one hurt, or worse...

*****
"...but I wasn't, thanks to that cop." Mike finished telling the story of his day's events. "I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. I’d be at the hospital, all mutilated and shit."

"Just like the other furs that got attacked," interrupted Xer. Mike looked up, surprised.

"You mean there have been more attacks like these?" asked Mike. The black-white wolf just nodded. "When?" 

Xer opened his muzzle to answer his mate's question, but closed it abruptly. Both their ears twitched at the sound of sirens in the distance, not far from their location. Xer turned towards Mike, "There's been another attack," Mike sat up on the couch. They both turned their heads towards the window. Xer once again returned his attention to his mate, who was curiously looking out the window.

"And a large one by the sound of it...."