Runaway, A Choose Your Own Adventure Story
A story by a nameless wolf.
	Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  This story contains a purely fictional relationship between an adult and a minor and may contain themes of incest and bestiality.  If this sort of thing offends you, don't read this story.  If this sort of thing interests you, please enjoy.

Part 5B - Promises

Tags: Cub, Kangaroo, Roo, Weasel, Bear, Danger, Kidnapping, Violence, Drugs, Alcohol, Runaway, Blood, Choose Your Own Adventure, CYOA

You chose Option B: Try to break the door.  If it's as well maintained as the rest of this apartment, the wood is probably weak and you might be able to break it.

To cast your vote, please comment in the story with the option you choose.  If you have a suggestion that's not in the choices, feel free to say that too!  After a few days and I feel there have been enough votes, I'll post the next part of the story.  I'm not going to involve extreme violence in this story, but remember that not all choices will have a happy ending!
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	Toby ran back and took a closer look at the door.  He rapped his paw on it a few more times; it sounded hollow.  Smoke was now starting to come in around the top of the door and the vents, and he knew he had to act fast.  Well, here goes nothing!  The roo ran back to the other side of the room, and then hopped with all his might straight at the middle of the door.  He slammed his shoulder against the wood as hard as he could.  Smack, crack!  His head was ringing and suddenly he was laying back on the floor next to the door, rubbing his forehead.  That had hurt a lot more than he thought it was going to.  Then he looked up at the door; there was a big crack in the middle now!  Toby cloud see slits of light coming through the broken panels.  It was working!  Wasting no time, he brought his knees up and kicked it with both of his heavy footpaws as hard as he could.  The wood cracked again and the hole grew, splinters flying to either side.  He kicked again, and again, and after a few more heavy blows the hole was just big enough to crawl through.

	"Come on Andrew, come run, we have to go!" he shouted back as he began crawling through the splintered door.  The bear cub just sat back against the wall, rocking against his knees and hiding his face.  "Andrew, now!" Toby yelled again.  The bear cub didn't move, he was simply too frightened.  What would Super Roo do, thought.  He certainly wouldn't abandon a cub in a burning building.  Toby clenched his jaw and came up with a plan.

	Now that he was through the door, he could easily reach up and undo the latch.  He slid the metal lock and pushed the door open, hopping back into the room.  He grabbed Andrew's arm and started pulling.  The bear cub resisted at first, but soon he went limp and looked up at Toby with terror in his eyes.  "I'm scared Toby! I don't want to burn!" the cub cried out and clung hard to Toby's leg.

	"I'm not going to let you burn Andrew, but we need to get out of here fast!  You have to stand up.  Can you stand up for me?" Toby replied.  He surprised himself with how calm he was being.  When he was caught in a tight place or faced with situation he didn't like, he usually just kicked his paws and made a big fuss.  But then again, he'd never been in a burning building before, and now that he wasn't the littlest one around, there was someone to protect.

	With Toby's help, Andrew stumbled to his feet.  Toby started running back out of the room, pulling the younger cub by the paw, who was nearly tripping over his own footpaws with every step.  They went down the hall and into the living room.  The smoke was thick above them, streaming out of the vents on the walls.  When he rounded the corner of the kitchen, Toby stopped suddenly in his tracks.  There was a person standing in the smoke, short and lean, but it wasn't Duke or the skinny woman, he was much better dressed, with a black suit and polished shoes.

	"Toby!" the figure called out, stepping forward and dropping down to his knees.  It was Justin!  Justin had finally come!  The rat opened his arms and smiled wide with relief.  Toby let go of the bear cub and ran to him, leaping into the rat's open arms and hugging him tight.

	"Oh thank you Justin, thank you, thank you for coming, I knew you would!" Toby pressed his muzzle close against the rat's chest.

	"I've been looking for you all night, little roo.  But no time to explain now, this isn't a safe place.  Grab your friend and let's get out of here!" he nodded, standing back up and letting go of Toby.  Toby nodded back and hopped over to Andrew, pulling his paw along again and following Justin through the smoke.  The rat flung the door open wide and they stepped out into the night.  They rushed down the stairs as fast as they could, though Andrew did trip a couple times and Toby had to help him back up.  Justin led the way, constantly looking back over his shoulder to make sure the cubs were still with him.

	When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Toby and Andrew stumbled away from the building and collapsed onto the ground, huffing and catching their breath.  Toby looked back up at the building.  The flames were rising wild and fast from the far side.  It wouldn't have been long before the room they were in was engulfed too.  The fire was raging on the second floor, just one apartment over from where they'd been.  As he watched the flames whip out of the windows, there was a massive crash as he watched the third floor crash down onto the second.  Justin had caught his breath and was looking around nervously.  There were people standing in the street in various states of undress, most of them having just been awakened when the disaster occurred, but the firemen or police hadn't arrived yet.

	Toby looked around too, and then he spotted them, Odie, and the skinny woman.  They were alone right by the entrance to a nearby alleyway, except the scene wasn't quite what Toby had expected.  Odie was laying flat on the ground, his face in the dirt.  It didn't look like he was moving, and Duke was nowhere to be seen.  Toby stared as the skinny bear woman knelt over Odie and appeared to be sobbing.  Then she looked up and stared right back at Toby.  When she saw Andrew standing next to him, she rose to her feet and started running over and waving her arms.

	Justin turned and saw her coming too.  He stepped in front of the cubs and held his arm up protectively, ushering them back.  The skinny woman stumbled up and fell to her knees in front of the rat, sobbing loudly as she looked up at him.  "How could you mister, how could you do that?  We din't do nothin' to you!" she sobbed, throwing her arms down dramatically.

	"Keep it down, shut up!" Justin looked around nervously, "Keep your voice down or you're going to have a much bigger problem than that bear's bump on the head.  Your husband will be fine, he's just unconscious.  With any luck he'll wake up with some sense knocked into him." Justin snapped, holding his arm back against the cubs while his other paw clenched into a fist.

	"I ain't talkin' 'bout him, he's an asshole and you're right!  But you gotta gimmie my son back mister.  He's th' mos' impo'tant thing to me in the' world, please!" she lowered her voice, looking over at her son with a tremendous remorse in her eyes.

	"Is that why you left him and this other cub locked in a room in a burning building?  You saved your damn needles but didn't give him a second thought!" Justin growled back, barring his sharp white teeth.

	"I'll change, please!  I wanna quit the stuff!  I wanna quit so bad!  Please, you can't take my son!  I love him!"

	"If, and this is a big if, I release this cub back into your care, you're going to have to make me a promise."

	"Yes mister, please, anything!  I just want my son!"

	"You leave that drunk slob you call a husband.  You leave that meth slinging scab of a weasel.  You take your son and head for the closest women's shelter.  Most importantly, don't you ever, ever, touch one of those needles again.  Don't think I won't check up on you.  I have ears and I have eyes in places you'd never expect." he growled, unclenching his fist and straightening the lapels on his jacket.

	"I, I can do that.  I promise.  I promise I can!" she held her paws up and clasped them together.

	Then Toby's ears perked as he heard the fast patter of paws on concrete.  He looked over just in time to see Duke running straight at them, jaws snapping, with the metal baseball bat in his grip.  "Justin, lookout!" he yelled, pointing at the charging weasel.

	Justin turned and snapped his jaws, ducking down just as Duke swung his bat.  He charged Duke's midsection and plowed his elbow right into the weasel's gut.  In one swift move he hoisted Duke up over his head, flipped him upside down, and slammed him back on the concrete.  Duke yelled in pain, but was still able to scramble back to his feet.  Tightly clutching the bat, he took another swing, but Justin ducked again and was able to redirect the blow which made contact hard on the weasel's bony kneecap.  Toby took Andrew by the paw, leading him back away from the fight to watch from a distance.

	Duke fell to the ground and cursed, dropping the bat as it clattered to the ground.  "You fuckin' rodent!  How dare you fuck with my business!  I'll rip yer damn throat out!" he snapped up at the air, and then screamed again in pain as Justin planted a kick right against the injured kneecap, pressing his heel down and barring his teeth.

	"You need to walk away now while you still have one good leg." Justin barked, pressing his heel down harder.  He glanced around quickly, hoping the commotion wasn't being noticed.  Fortunately the raging fire was providing enough of a distraction that no one was too concerned about an alley fight.

	Duke growled and spat on the ground, then he quickly shifted his weight forward.  The gesture distracted Justin for just long enough for the weasel to reach behind his back and pull out a rusty black handled switchblade.  He slashed at Justin's leg, but the rat caught the attack just in time.  He swung his footpaw back out of the way and kicked the weasel's arm downward.  Redirected by Justin's kick, the switchblade buried itself in Duke's leg, just above the blow he'd received from the baseball bat.  He screamed again, pulling the blade back out and rising to his feet, leaning over his good leg.  He raised the knife again but Justin was too quick.  He planted a hard kick right to the weasel's chest and Duke flew backwards, landing behind a nearby metal dumpster.

	Justin cracked his knuckles and stomped after him.  What happened next, Toby couldn't see, but he heard a sudden loud scream that sounded like Duke, followed by a clatter as the switchblade came sliding across the pavement, fresh blood covering the first couple inches of the blade.  Justin walked back out from behind the dumpster and straightened the lapels of his jacket.  There was a loud clang and a scrape as Duke's fist and claws hit the side of the dumpster.  He rose on the other side, his paw tightly covering his left eye.  There was blood on his paw, running down the fur on his cheek and into the corner of his mouth.  He spat it out and started hobbling away on his good leg.

	He turned one last time before he disappeared around the fence.  "I ain't done with you yet, fuckin' rodent!  You better hope I ne'er see you again!" he growled and then rounded the corner, his mangy tail whipping in anger.

	Justin growled low and looked over the skinny bear woman, who had watched the whole scene agape.  Then turned down to the young roo and reached out his paw, "I'm sorry you had to see that roo, but we need to leave before the police and firemen get here.  What do you think Toby, should Andrew come with us or stay here with his mom?  We have to act fast."

CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE:
Option A: "No Justin, No!  She's a really mean lady!  She locked Andrew up every day, you can't trust her!"
Option B: "She's scary and mean, but she's still his mother and she still loves him."
Option C: "Andrew" you say, turning to the frightened cub, "Do you want to go back with your mom?"
Option D: "Justin, what did you do to those men?  I know they were mean but, did you have to hurt them like that?" you say, backing carefully away from the rat.