Winning was too strong a word.
Baseball teams won. Football teams won. You won a game, a race or a contest of some sort. Winning was an uplifting, joyous experience, where one was elevated by one's peers to a position of admiration and respect. Winning meant gaining from the experience, and being better for it.
Most prudently, winners went home at the end of the day.
Wars, despite the rhetoric peddled by their progenitors and apologists, were not won. Wars were survived. The only victors, in that sense, were those who had lost less than everyone else, who were perhaps able to return home at the end of it all. The lucky ones might even have someone waiting for them.
Surviving was exactly what Amelia had been doing for the better part of the past six years.
Megawar Two; the greatest conflict in the history of katkind, was over. With the shattering and routing of the invading enemy army in a pitched battle some two hundred miles to the north of Megakat City, the forces of The Union had been victorious. That was exactly where Amelia's troubles had gone from bad to worse.
It is so often forgotten that an end to a war does not translate to an end to hardship. Perhaps for the soldiers, the lucky few who survived unscatched, even a tenuous peace would seem a world away from the frontlines, and infinitely more preferable. For civilians, the situation would seldom improve. The curfews, the rationing and martial law, all would remain. Kats would fight for food, for gasoline and for the scarce few luxury items they could get their paws on. The gasoline rationing had been the first, and the most drastic. New Kat City, Amelia's home, had little in the way of natural resources. Despite its vast manufacturing capacity, it had depended almost entirely on neighbouring Megakat City for its energy and resource needs; oil, coal and agricite. Beyond this, all it had been able to provide were warm bodies for the war effort. For a time, this arrangement had functioned; Megakat City received arms and armaments, as well as soldiers, to fight the invasion, and New Kat City received its stipend so as to keep its citizens warm and fed.
That was before the collapse of The Union.
Look about the back of the rickety, sputtering truck she found herself in, Amelia guessed that the half dozen or so kats journeying with here were all here for the same reason. No doubt, each had their own stories; perhaps some had left families, others, like herself, simply wished to leave, having nothing left in New Kat City. Regardless, here they all were, on a remote desert highway some one hundred and fifty miles from their destination - Megakat City.
"Got a problem?"
Nerves were clearly running high among the refugees, as Amelia caught herself staring at one of her fellow passengers, a brutish looking kat missing the better part of his left arm. They were all on edge; their planned exodus from their home town had had to have been brought forward by a week; given the establishment of the demarcation line by New Kat City authorities. Initially an attempt to monitor the previously free flow of kats between member states of The Union, it had since evolved into a militarised border, with those attempting to cross often shot without warning.
"Sorry, I…" stammered Amelia, fighting to find the words to defuse the situation.
Several other passengers turned their heads to gaze upon the young she-kat, eyes filled with apathy at her plight.
"You're lucky." shot the brutish kat, leaning back against the side of the truck. "We're all in this together, no sense in scrapping now. Might need to save some of that for up ahead."
Amelia forced out a smile. She hoped against hope that he was wrong, that they would make the crossing into Megakat City territory without incident. As much as she might tell herself that it would all work out, her common sense said otherwise. News of skirmishes, at often times bloody, between Megakat and New Kat city forces had begun filtering through to her some months ago, barely two weeks after the cessation of military hostilities.
Amelia risked another comment.
"Do you...do you really think it will come to that."
It was the brutish kat's turn to smile.
"Kid." he begun. "I'm not sure what rock you've been living under, but the entire country is going to hell in a pawbasket. New Kat is screwed, we all know that, otherwise we wouldn't be here. Hell, the whole Union is screwed. If we don't have full scale civil war by this time next year, I'll eat my hat."
"Might be tastier than what we've been eating so far." quipped Amelia.
A laugh, the first the she-kat had heard in weeks.
"True that." he continued. "I'd trade my other arm for some fresh tuna, or even just a glass of milk."
He leaned forward, the stench of cigarettes and alcohol on his breath. Amelia did her best to keep a straight face.
"So tell me, cutie, what brings you on this little joy ride?"
"Well." started Amelia, rapidly glancing around for any support from her fellow passengers. "My brother moved to Megakat before the war, sent letters home saying how great it was over there. Figured I was always going to move over when my father passed away, guess now is as good a time as any."
"I hear ya. My old man didn't last the war either, took a piece of shrapnel through the chest during a bombing raid. Mother blames the Megas, of course, says they didn't stop the bombers with their whiz-bang air force. Honestly, I think I owe them one, kat was a drunkard through and through."
"I'm...sorry."
"Don't be." he continued. "Glad the see the last of that place."
The she-kat felt she shouldn't press the issue, and returned to her musings. The remaining kats spoke little and, save for the humming of the engine, the next half hour was seen out in silence.
For Amelia, it was still as if she was in a bad dream. The situation she now found herself in was one that no-one ever expected to find themselves in. Life had always found a way to turn out for the best; the promotion would always come through, the missing kat would always be found, the illness would always pass. Not this time. Seeing her city in flames, riotous groups of kats rising up against the increasingly dictatorial authorities, looting, burning and murdering their way into a frenzy, had brought this worldview crashing down. The sheer panic of her escape, the unwillingness to accept that society was rapidly deteriorating around her, had seen her this far. Now that there was a respite from the violence, she had time to take stock. A small bag with a few cans of soda, some bandages and a waterskin was all that she had left, along with the clothes on her back. She didn't know what to expect upon arrival to Megakat City, whether she would be interned in some camp or simply turned away. She didn't want to think about it.
She just wanted to find her brother and put this chapter of her life behind her.
Again, Amelia was torn from her thoughts, this time by the truck suddenly grinding to a halt. By her reckoning, they were due to arrive at the demarcation line.
"Here we go."
The truck driver, an elderly kat with a kind temperament, could be heard discussing his cargo with the kats up front. By order of the New Kat City military government, they were liable to be imprisoned for their attempted emigration. Fortunately, not all kats in the military saw eye to eye with their superiors. Indeed, the entire trip was banked on that one fact; that they would come across border guards who would be reasoned with.
Or at the very least, bribed.
The sound of a bolt-action rifle chambering a round, followed shortly after by the thunderous report of its muzzle laid to rest any inclination that that would be the case.
"COME OUT! NOW!"
The passengers had gone over this in their heads a multitude of times, and rehearsed their actions as best they could. Being caught was simply not an option, they had come too far, risked everything, for them to be shipped back to New Kat. The brutish kat, clutching a wrench in his good arm, made the call.
"Go! Split!"
In unison, the passengers leapt from the rear of the truck into the cool night air. Amelia was second, following a middle-aged kat clutching a large knapsack. The she-kat shut her eyes tight as two more gunshots sounded, this time from directly in front. Something warm and wet splashed across her face. Opening her eyes as she hit the ground, her vision caught the middle-aged kat stumbling forward, taking a single step before crashing into the ground, unmoving.
She glanced up from her landing, coming face to face with the barrel of a rifle. The kat, dressed in a standard issue New Kat City border patrol uniform, snarled as his finger depressed the trigger.
"No…please."
The rifle swung suddenly upwards, firing wildly at an unseen target behind Amelia. A split second later and the figure of the one-armed kat flew overhead, viciously swinging the wrench into the soldier's head.
"Quick, get up! Run!" he bellowed, following his first swing with a second.
Amelia wasted no time. Clutching her meagre possessions tightly, she sprinted perpendicular to the road, tumbling down the small embankment and into a cluster of cactii. The plant's spines dug painfully into her skin, eliciting a small yelp of pain. There was, however, little time to take stock. With a heave, she leapt up and continued running, the night air again punctuated by several gunshots.
She risked a glance over her shoulder, catching the final moments of the one-armed kat as he fell to his knees, his paws clutching at multiple gunshot wounds to his stomach.
"Over there!"
The shouts of the soldiers carried across the desert toward her as she ran. He breath came in sharp, painful blasts; her heart pounding faster than it ever had before. A few stray gunshots were soon joined by the crunching of boots as the border patrol took off after her.
Amelia took a sharp right, sprinting in the direction of the demarcation line. She knew the odds were stacked against her, it could be one hundred yards or ten miles, but she had no choice. To stop now was to risk certain death.
"Stop!"
The new few gunshots landed a little closer, driving her further and faster. Her legs ached, muscles rebelling against the workout as she pressed forward.
"Please...just let me go…"
It was no use. After a mere five minutes, her legs gave way, sending her tumbling down a small embankment into a dried up river bed. Lying on her back, the sand and dust kicked up by her fall tearing at her throat as she gulped down lungfuls of air. Utterly spent, she had no energy left, her every muscle aching, unwilling to go on.
There was nothing left to do but wait for the end.
The end came in the form of a savage burst from a machine gun, not for her, but for her pursuers. Several screams could be heard in the direction of the New Kat City patrol. Not but five seconds later, and the desert returned to silence.
Amelia rolled over, facing the direction of who she assumed was her savior.
A kat, young and well built, handsome in a rugged, mountaineering sort of way, slowly paced his way down the embankment opposite Amelia, a large, automatic rifle grasped firmly in his paws. As he approached, Amelia's senses were briefly overwhelmed by the smell of cordite, testament to the sheer volume of fire this kat had unleashed upon her pursuers.
"Ma'am." he called, cautiously approaching. "Are you alright?"
The emotion of the situation overwhelmed Amelia. Tears welling in her eyes, she rolled over and clawed her way towards the kat.
"I'm...I'm fine...thank...thank you. You save me."
The kat bent down, his strong grip assisting Amelia to her feet.
"Glad to hear it, Ma'am. Corporal Odysseus Feral, Megakat City Civil Security Enforcement."
"Megakat City?" asked Amelia, her eyes going wide. "I've made it?"
"Sure have, ma'am. Demarcation line is about fifteen miles back. We caught wind of some New Kat City boys poking around where they shouldn't, thought we'd head on down and sort them out."
Amelia glanced around as they walked back to the highway, picking their way through the cactii and desert flora. Several more armed kats met them as Odysseus assisted her into a waiting truck.
"Um, thanks." she said, her heart rate finally returning to normal. "But why? I didn't know what would happen when I got here, are you just going to let me in?"
"Not my call, Ma'am." replied Odysseus, shouldering his rifle and hauling himself into the truck. "But I'm sure everything will work out. What made you come here?"
"My brother, he lives in Megakat City."
"I see, shouldn't be a problem then. We're pretty short on workers over here, what with the war being over and all, if you don't mind a bit of hard work, I'm sure we can find a place for you."
Amelia smiled for the second time that evening.
"Oh." continued Odysseus, lamely attempting to crack his own grin. "I never did catch your name."
"Amelia." she replied. "Amelia Briggs."
Author's Notes:
So there it is, quick, dirty, probably not very good. Ended up re-writing this whole thing in about a day, so it turned out a little shorter than I had originally envisioned.
In short, it's just another little attempt of mine to explore the history (or at least my own interpretation) of the Swat Kats universe. I've mentioned it before, but I kinda like the idea of a Crimson Skies-esque city-state situation; it's different and has a small element of alternative history to it, rather than a simple transplantation of modern countries to a setting populated by anthropomorphic cats.
To kinda put it all into perspective, I envision Megakat City as approximately corresponding to Los Angeles, which would make New Kat City… Phoenix? Well, interpret it how you wish, and let me know how I did!
Cheers,
-AR