Ashes. That's what she saw when she looked up and down. The color of depression, despair, and lost hope. Foxy hacked agonizingly, then shivered and returned her attention to the crudely made fire in front of her. She placed another rotted stick on top of it, careful to not burn herself. She had been living on her own for nearly a year, after waking up and discovering that the town was empty, and charred nearly to the ground.
She called for the rest of the townsfolk for a day, then resorted to screaming for them, then she simply started running, the remnants of the town horrifyingly like tombstones.
She reached up a hand and felt at her hair, which was brutally short, and horrendously uneven. Grimy, blackened with soot, and the edges singed, she had no choice but to shear it off.
She had found a rusted piece of metal, had grabbed her hair, shut her eyes, and started sawing.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a rustling in the bushes. She jumped, then turned, grabbed her spear, and scurried up the dead tree behind her. She hoped that it was a deer, since she hadn't eaten in weeks. What she saw, however, was something odd. It looked like... a moustache. Her eyes widened as she saw the reflection of the flames dancing across a hood.
It pulled out into the clearing, and at the same time, she heard a rustling in the trees around her. She looked up, but saw nothing. It was as though a giant bird had flown overhead, and she tilted her head in confusion. She looked back down at the thing in the bushes, only to see that it wasn't a deer at all, but a car. She hid quickly as it looked up, unused to contact from a car for an extended period of time. It spotted her however, and pulled towards the tree, tilting its hood and squinting its eyes as it tried to get a better look at her.
As a coughing fit overtook her, she could feel herself growing weaker and weaker. The fit didn't pass by, and she gasped as she felt herself slipping out of the tree. She scrabbled for a branch, but missed, and fell to the ground hard, still wheezing.
The car raced around the trunk of the tree, and looked down at her in horror. The figure on the ground had green eyes, was pale, filthy, and extremely thin.
She struggled to stand, to get away from this car, before he hurt her like the last ones. In her weakened state she could only get to her knees, and she scrambled backwards, away from the car, afraid that it would kill her.
"I'm not here to hurt you." The car replied in a thick British accent, slowly reaching a tire out to her.
She began hacking again as she backed up rapidly, sounding like a dying animal.
"Please. I'm not here to hurt you. You must trust me."
As her eyes darted from the car's to the ground beneath her, she could see that the car meant her no harm. She stopped, and the car smiled.
"That's much better." His eyes flicked towards the spear she had dropped, then quickly ran over her skinny form, and he reached a tire out to her.
She flinched backwards, against the trunk of a tree.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I insist that you come with me. It isn't safe here." As though sensing her hesitation, the car continued. "There's a variety of food in the cabin of my aircraft. I'm sure there's something there that we can find for you."
At that, she scrambled over to the fire. Establishing eye contact with the car, she began putting the fire out, scooping dirt onto the fire.
The car, realizing that she was coming with him, turned on his headlights so she could see. She waited until the fire was completely out, then made her way over to the car cautiously. He set off with her following at a length behind, still unsure of where he was leading her.
They soon came upon a large, sleek jet, who nodded to the car. The car nodded back, and Foxy hung back, remembering that the last cars who had been here, the ones who had hurt her, had come in a large, black helicopter. "Come now, Siddeley won't hurt you."
"Of course not. I would say that I wouldn't hurt a Beetle, but they're such pesky insects."
The car chuckled, then drove up the lowered ramp. At the top, he turned around and looked down at her. "Aren't you coming?"
She lowered her head, then followed him up the ramp. She looked around the interior of the jet, and the car directed her down a thin hallway, just wide enough for a car to fit through.
"The washroom is that way, the food that I promised is down the other hallway." The car replied, giving her a smile.
She nodded, then took the hallway leading to the bathroom, hoping that they had a shower. Her eyes grew wide as she entered the room. The shower wasn't a shower, but a car wash! She gulped, and walked into it after shedding her torn clothing. She emerged minutes later, clean and sopping wet. She placed her bedraggled and thin sweatshirt on over her shirt and jeans when she was finished, then walked out of the room, ruffling her hands through her uneven hair to dry it. She winced as she was walking towards the car, her shoulder aching where the orange car that had come earlier had shot her.
"I saw that."
She jumped as he turned around, looking at her worriedly.
"Are you all right?"
She nodded, but the look on the car's face told her that he hadn't believed her.
"Sit." He nudged her towards a chair, then drove off to a cabinet.
Not knowing what else to do, she sat down, wincing again at the pain in her shoulder.
The car returned shortly, and looked her over. "Where was the pain?"
She surrendered, and pulled her right arm out of the sleeve of her sweatshirt, revealing a circular wound. The car's eyes widened, and he gave her a suspicious look before shaking his hood and digging through the container he had brought with him. He pulled out long, slender forceps, and Foxy paled even more. She backed up, but one look from the car stopped her. He held eye contact for a minute longer, then began to attempt to pull the bullet out. She cringed and an involuntary yelp of pain escaped her when the bullet was worked loose by the car.
"There we are." He bandaged the hole, held up the bullet to examine it, then looked at her with a saddened expression. "They found you then?"
Foxy tilted her head in confusion, then asked quietly, "Who are you?"
"McMissile. Finn McMissile. And you?"
"Foxy. Just Foxy."
"Nice to have your acquaintance, Foxy."
"It's nice to meet you too, Finn McMissile. I do have one question though."
"Yes?"
"Where are we going, and why does it seem like you've come to take me away from here?"
"We're going to take you someplace safe, and that's because it's what we're doing. Isn't that right, Siddeley?"
"Sure is, mate." The jet replied, the trio already in the air.
"I imagine that you're hungry." Finn remarked, looking over at Foxy.
She nodded, and he nudged her towards the food. She chose a banana, and set to peeling it.
Neither one said anything for a few minutes, Finn too interested in watching Foxy eat.
"Finn?"
"Yes, Sid?"
"You would like to land in Nottingham, correct?"
"Indeed, Sid. Thank you."
"We're going to England?" Foxy asked, looking over at Finn curiously.
He gave her a smile, then nodded. "My partner lives there."
"I've always wanted to see England. Is it nice there?"
Finn chuckled, then nodded. "Certainly is. For the moment however, it's best to try to sleep. We'll be arriving there in the morning."
Foxy nodded, then departed the room, heading into the main one. "Finn?"
"Yes?"
"Where am I supposed to sleep?"
"Wherever you wish. Except on Siddeley's wings, of course." He replied with a chuckle.
Foxy heard Siddeley snicker, and smiled herself. "All right. Goodnight."
Finn gave her a smile, then wished her the same. She settled down in a corner of the room, curled up on the floor, and drifted off to sleep.
Finn watched her for a while, then once he was sure she was asleep, he began looking her over for more injuries, sure that the other cars had shot her more then once. He found another bullet beneath her shoulder blade on her left side, and he was sure that it had touched her lung. He couldn't remove it himself, and sighed. He moved on, and found that her ankle had been shattered, most likely happening when she had run away. The best he could do was bandage it, and he made a mental note to have her admitted to C.H.R.O.M.E's hospital. Soon, he too was settled in for the night, and drifted to sleep.
When he woke up in the morning, Foxy was just waking up, stretching and yawning. He blinked in surprise as he spotted something yellow and red rise up and begin moving. "What is that?" He asked curiously, moving closer to it.
"My tail."
"Why've you got a tail?"
Foxy shrugged, then replied, "Just trying to be different." She gave him a smile, at which he nodded.
"I see. Siddeley?"
"Yes, Finn?"
"Where would you say we are?"
"We'll be arriving in Nottingham shortly."
"Thank you, Sid."
"My pleasure, Finn."
"Does that mean we get to meet your partner?" Foxy asked, getting to her feet, stiff from being curled up all night.
"It does."
"Yay!" Foxy exclaimed, running around like a goof, looking like an odd kind of rabbit.
Finn chuckled as he watched, and Foxy froze, looking at him around her tail.
"The others and I used to play chase the Foxy. Want to play?"
"I'm sorry, Foxy. I've got quite a bit to do at the moment." Finn replied, looking at her regretfully.
She righted herself, then sat down on the floor, looking up at Finn with big green eyes. "Please? Only for a little?"
Finn sighed, and was about to answer, but caught the full blast of Foxy's puppy-dog eyes. "All right, I suppose the work could wait. But only for a little." He chuckled, shaking a tire at her.
She nodded eagerly, her tail wagging.
"Well what are you waiting for? Go on!" Finn laughed, waving a tire at her.
She giggled, and shrieked as Finn swiped at her feet with a tire, trying to bring her to her knees. She leapt over one of the chairs, hit the floor, did a few barrel rolls, then popped up, looking around for Finn. "...Finn?" She called out, unsure of where he was.
"Got you!"
She shrieked in surprise as Finn grabbed her from behind. Finn laughed quietly as he set her down, then sighed happily. "Are you satisfied, Foxy?" He asked good-naturedly.
"Thanks, Finn." She gave him a sheepish grin, at which he laughed again.
"You're quite welcome."
"Nottingham directly below, Finn. I'll land on the outskirts."
"Thank you, Siddeley."
"Yay! Finn's partner! Yay! Wait... who's your partner?" Foxy asked, looking at him curiously.
"Her name is Miss Shiftwell."
"Ohhh, so it's a woman?"
Finn chuckled and ran his tire over Foxy's hair. "Yes, she is. I'll go get her. You stay here and keep Siddeley company."
"Yes, sir!" Foxy replied, using her tail to salute him. He chuckled before rolling down the ramp, Foxy following at a distance, going out to meet Siddeley.
"Hello there."
"Hi. So you're Siddeley?"
"I certainly am. And you're Foxy?"
"That's me. How long is it going to take Finn to get Miss Shiftwell?"
"Not long. Come here, that way I can see you properly." He extended a wing to her, and she scrambled onto it. He lifted her up, bringing her to his eye level. "I must say, I'm impressed. Finn normally isn't one for fun and games. How did you do it?"
"Simple. I'll show you." With that, she slid down off his wing, then gave him a grin. "Bet you can't get me!" She darted off into the field they had landed in, and Siddeley blinked.
"Come back. Finn wanted you to stay here." Despite his words, he felt himself start grinning. He rolled after her, trying to corner her, which was next to impossible in a large field.
Finally, she stopped, turned around, and gave him a smile. "That's how."
"Quite clever, really."
"I try." She laughed.
Siddeley nuzzled her gently with the tip of his nose. She laughed and tried to push him away.
"Hey, come on, that tickles."
"What? You mean this?" He did it again, and she squealed.
"Yes!" She squirmed around, giggling as he nudged and poked her gently. Laughing, he continued, not hearing Finn roll up behind him.
Okay, this is the story all the way at the bottom of the list so far, The Apocalypse. Just try to imagine Foxy as being a little more playful, and you'll get this chapter. She is also missing her fox ears, and her hair is only about four inches long. Youll find out why it's called The Apocalypse, and why Foxy is on her own for a year. I hope you enjoy this!