The gold vulpine leapt across the foggy field, followed by another, sky-blue fox not far behind.
"Kratos! Wait!" The blue fox cried. They had to be careful outside the village. There had been reports coming in from the cities of Igel forces in the area. He didn't seem to understand why he had to be so careful, but the adults were always so serious. He knew little about these 'Igel' except what he had overheard from others. It was all very secretive, but the village had never been too concerned with the outside world, or so it appeared.
A huge army of hedgehogs…well I think they're hedgehogs. They don't seem alive from what I hear. They're going from place to place, burning houses down and slaughtering entire towns. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Demons, the lot of them, I bet.
He thought to himself…they wouldn't bother coming here…we're not even a speck on the map. Nobody bothers us. There's nothing to worry about…we'll be okay…
But even as he thought this, he wondered…
The gold fox skidded to a halt and stood, frozen, eyes staring straight ahead.
"Kratos! Please…slow down…" The blue fox came up beside his friend.
"Come on…"
But the gold fox wouldn't move. He was frozen with fear…he just stood there…watching a silhouette coming out from the mist.
It was at least the size of a house…two houses. It rolled towards them on gigantic treads. A monstrous black battle tank driving ever onward, treads marked with blood and dust. A piercing red glow came from the front of the gargantuan machine: a laser sight.
"Kratos…come on, let's go." The blue fox pulled on his friend's arm, but he wouldn't budge. We have to get out of here…
Suddenly the tank slowed. Steam bellowed from great engines as it came to a grinding halt, accompanied fittingly by a piercing screech. The hatch on top opened and out emerged the head of a hedgehog, wearing an alien gasmask. It was tiny compared to its vehicle. Where its eyes should have been were bionic implants, and it surveyed nonchalantly the gold fox staring back at him with frightened eyes.
With a clank the hatch came down again and the hedgehog disappeared into the gargantuan hulk. There was an eerie silence.
Behind the tank came others like it, some sort of van and other motorised combat vehicles. They drove past without acknowledging the foxes.
"Come on…" the azure vulpine whispered, still tugging on the gold one's arm. Kratos finally seemed to register. He blinked slowly and looked down at the ground.
"Ares…what are they…"
Without warning and within a second, there came a swift sound as a laser of some sort impacted Kratos' head. The gold fox fell to the ground, his blood smothering the grass.
Ares knelt down beside his friend.
"Kratos…"
A shrill sound, like a laugh, came from the tank. Ares glanced up to see the hedgehog again.
"You bastard! I'll…you'll pay for this!" Ares yelled. The hedgehog merely laughed again. It was not a jovial laugh, but cruel and filled with a sick demeanour. He spoke in an angry language the fox did not understand.
"«Sorry, vulpine, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. You needn't worry. You'll be dead soon enough, too.»" With one final laugh the hedgehog pulled down the hatch and drove off past his fresh kill.
Ares looked down once again at Kratos's sullen, glassed eyes.
"I'll avenge you…those Igel will pay-" He froze mid-sentence. Those tanks…were headed towards the village!
He ran off over the hill where his home lay…and froze, just like his friend had, in fear.
All the houses were aflame, corpses of those he knew were scattered all over the streets. Igel soldiers wandered the desolation, ransacking houses for loot.
"Hey! Kid!" A hand grabbed Ares and dragged him down behind a house which was, for the most part, not burning. Ares yelled and broke free of the grasp, turning towards his captor…
"Shh. They almost saw you." The brown echidna glanced over into a nearby street, where a hedgehog was smoking a cigarette as one of his colleagues was emptying lead into the cadavers filling the streets, laughing maniacally.
"Wh- You're an echidna…what are you doing in-"
"It doesn't matter…Listen, we've got to get out of here. If we're found, they'll kill us too. We can take the east forest path down the hill. From there we can make a break for Ypez…it's in Echidna territory. The people there are friendly, they'll take you in."
Ares did not look pleased.
"Don't worry…we hate the Igel too…you'll be safe there, at least safer than staying here."
As soon as he said this the crazed soldier dragged a screaming child out into the street.
"«Ha, ha! You sure put up a fight, don't you, vulpine! You'll be joining your friends soon!»" He threw the child onto the ground and the echidna quickly covered Ares' eyes as a gunshot rang out.
"Yeah…let's go." The echidna took an orange staff from his back and walked off.
"Come on, follow me."
"I…I'm not sure if I can trust you…"
"Would you rather be dead?" the echidna growled, gesturing out into the street. The smoking hedgehog took a glance in their direction as if hearing them, but didn't seem to notice them and turned back to watching his partner.
"You can trust me, all right?"
Ares looked up into the echidna's eyes. This place was his home…but everything he had known was now gone. What choice did he have?
"What's your name, kid?"
"…Ares."
"I'm Estarriol. Great, let's get going. The sooner we leave the sooner we can forget about this place." He began to walk off towards the forest.
Ares looked back once again at the place that was once his home. Part of him wanted to leave as soon as possible, but another wanted to stay, see if his family was still alive…not likely.
"Hey, are you coming?" Estarriol interjected.
Ares turned back to the echidna, hiding a morose glance.
"Yeah. Let's go."