The break of dawn in the city sent shimmering rays of light through the towertops, the ground below covered in dust and ash dimly reflected the sun's beauty. In the distance the anthropomorphs could be heard shouting chants in some foreign language, all four of them, Dan, Rat, Scott, and Thomas listened intently from the safety of the corner cafe. Tom peered out of the glass windows trying to get a better view of the scene.
"Well, Tom...you got anything?" Dan looked up from the four-man booth at Tom as Rat and Scott kept an ear on the chanting.
"Not really sir..but it sounds like there's a whole mess of them around the main subway entrance." He replied. Rat leaned back and put his feet up on the table lighting up a cigarette.
"Maybe they're holding a parade." Rat suggested as he blew a puff of smoke into the air.
"It sure sounds like it...Tom, any idea on what they're chanting?"
"Not a clue, sir."
"Very well." Dan turned his head towards Scott, "And you?"
"If I knew, boss, I'd tell you." Scott frowned a bit. "Sorry, boss." Dan sneered and look back out towards where Thomas was standing, immediately noticing a change in light outside.
"Shit!" Dan exclaimed trying to keep his voice low. "Everybody get down and hide!" The three ducked underneath the table and Tom immediately leapt behind the main counter. Two anthros came into view walking side by side, one wolf, one husky. They were wearing some sort of military uniform with an unidentified logo on the armband. The wolf turned to the husky and began a speech, all four of the humans listened closely while trying to keep their heads down.
"0ei mubo mo jasb." Dan raised an eyebrow not able to interpret the language or even the language it was but judging by the look on the husky's face the talk wasn't going to be a good one. Rat raised his head in curiosity.
"Keep your fucking head down!" Dan said as he grabbed him by the collar dragging him back under the table.
"0ei'ho u feeh udt fukxokas opsijo veh u jectaoh udt 0ei bden ak! 0ei nohod'k olod sufurco ev xectadw kxejo sufkaloj cedw odeiwx je no seict amfcudk khusbadw tolasoj ad kxom." The wolf slowly pulled out a blaster and began to charge it to max. Everyone widened their eyes as they heard the sound of it.
"0ei'ho visbadw ijocojj ke mo, tew." Then a loud cracking sound was heard causing everyone to blink, followed by a thud..then followed by footsteps heading away from the execution.
The faces on everyone went blank, knowing that a murder just took place with them as witnesses. Rat from curiosity was the first to get out from his hiding place, then Dan, then Tom, and finally Scott. The four of them looked out the windows seeing the body of the husky lying in an awkward position on the sidewalk, half-dead. They all gave eachother glances and after a long moment of silence Dan finally opened his mouth with nothing more to say than, "Shit.." Tom made a stride for the double-glass-doors but Dan grabbed him and pulled him back.
"Are you fucking insane, Tom?" Dan exclaimed in question. Tom just looked at him coldly and replied,
"If we want answers, I'm sure it has them." Then he turned and pushed through the door. Tom looked down at the soldier as the other three just stood and watched from safety. "Talk." Upon hearing this the husky looked up, it's face changing from one of despair to pure hatred.
"0ei visbadw ximudj! 0ei'ho kxo houjed A'm ucalo! 0ei'ho kxo visbadw houjed nx0 A'm xoho udt xulo ke odtiho kxaj majoh0! Ucc rosuijo ev 0ei! Ucc rosuijo ev 0ei! Nocc A'cc wok 0ei...A'cc visbadw bacc 0ei ucc av ak'j kxo cujk kxadw A'cc te!" It began shouting and twisting it's body, unable to move, making obscene gestures at Tom, and foaming at the edges of the mouth. Tom just stood there unaffected.
"I said talk." His english tone becoming slightly more inclined and agitated. In response it just continued twisting about the ground like a worm, continuing to shout the word "bacc" over and over again. Tom becoming less patient dug his foot into the husky's stomach causing it to spew up a black fluid and twitch rapidly; the cursing stopped. It lied there twitching curled up in a ball and mumbling things under it's breath. Dan immediately stepped out and shoved Tom out of the way telling him to get back in the cafe. He looked upon the creature with one eye, holding a blank face. "You don't speak English, do you?" The husky looked up at him with wide eyes and a face of shock.
"0ei...julaeih." It smiled at him.
"I'm no julaeih." Dan frowned. "I asked if you spoke English." It chucked a bit and blinked before responding.
"Inglissk..." It was hesitant, almost not knowing what to say.
"That's right." It coughed of some more of the fluid before making another response.
"Inglissk..linguage of motter ind fotter." Dan was pleased to see it was capable, poorly spoken, but capable.
"You have parents?"
"Motter n' fotter, sew lon' igo."
"And what did they look like?" The other three gazed at Dan in awe, surprised he was able to make conversation.
"Wear white goats..." It arched inward spewing out more of the fluid.
"They were scientists?"
"Stringe goats, big eyes, like insekkt. Tey krow me in i tube. I know..I sew them fruhm oter side."
"They grew you in a tube?"
"Where iskis going?"
"Was just making conversation is all."
"Well, you've successfully wasted the last few minutes of my life...I hope you enjoyed it, pig." It rolled onto it's back and choked on the black fluid, then finally closing it's eyes and ending it's life. Dan stood in shock, he hadn't expected it to be fully capable of speaking like that. The other three walked out the door and surrounded the corpse, all of them looked down with disgust, except for Dan who looked down with mild regret.
"He was fully able to talk and didn't even tell us anything good. Figures.." Stated Rat. They all nodded in agreement. Then Dan finally looked up and said, "Hey...the chanting stopped." In fact everything had stopped, there were no longer any signs of the anthros around, and the only thing that stirred was the slight wind between their feet. 'something's wrong here' Thought Dan to himself. Suddenly Scott tilted his head towards the sky.
"Say boss, do you hear that?" He asked looking around trying to scope it out.
"No..hear what?" The others said at almost the excact same time.
"Quiet...listen to the breeze." Dan panned his head around trying to hear what he was talking about and all the sudden he heard it. A low and percussive rumbling sound trembled in the distance, and something disrupted the sky. Rat just stood there uneasy, along with Tom who was already edging towards a back-alley.
"Shit, it's..." Rat started.
"It's..." Dan continued.
"Helicopters." Finished Scott. Soon the building they were standing next to shook madly as ten or so choppers disrupted the near-silence. Their fiery wings cut throught the air, propelling towards a golden torch-holding statue.
"They're headed for the statue of liberty.." Said Tom, stating the obvious.
"But...why?" Asked Scott, who gazed at the marvelous formation fade into the distance.
"I'm not sure." Rat eased back into the alley at the sound of something else. "But no time to ponder, they're marching this way!" They all scattered towards an open sewer in the ground and one by one jumped down the hole, the light from day becoming pitch black, the stench awful, and the sound of trickling water terrifying.
Tom paced around a bit before bumping into Rat, scaring them both.
"Shit, sorry...you know.." Tom sniffed the air. "It doesn't smell too great down here." They all laughed in agreement.
"Well, good thing god invented cigarettes." Rat said as he brought the lighter up to his face again. Dan sighed,
"Damnit Rat, you're gonna die of lung cancer or some shit."
"Hey, the sooner I die the sooner I can escape from this shit-hole of a world we've ended up in." There was a moment of silence and then without a word Dan stepped to the front of the group and gave a motion with his hand, which they all barely saw but nodded to as they started off.
"The main subway tunnels connect with the sewers some ways from here. I'm thinking our best bet is to stay low, be quiet as we can, and stay on track." He whispered to the others. The smell of fecies crawled up into all of their noses, making it all worse, except for Rat who was joyfully sniffing on his cigarette, which was also giving them a tiny bit of light to go by. Their footsteps echoed lightly throughout the sewers on for what seemed ages until finally Dan halted almost causing the rest to crash into him.
"Rat, put out your cigarette and noone breath." Rat immediately tossed his butt into the water and tensed up. Goosebumps began to run up Scott's back, soon followed by the others. "Listen." There was a light yet menacing breathing sound coming from behind them, and Rat instantly flicked on his lighter and turned around; the breathing ceased. "There's something in here with us, boss" Scott said uneasily. The flame casted pale orange shadows around the sewer, revealing nothing.
"Does anybody see anything?" Asked Tom looking around and double-checking his back.
"No..." Dan assumed a crouch and motioned for the others to follow. "Everybody stay low and move cautiously." They crept on for a while and finally turned a corner heading in the right direction when suddenly Rat's lighter died out encasing them all in total darkness causing each and every one of them to stand up. The slow breathing from behind resumed. "Shit!" Exclaimed Rat in a whisper who shook the lighter for dear life.
"Rat...get that lighter on fast." Ordered Dan who had already begun to back away from the noise." Rat shook the lighter viciously and finally it sparked.
"Got it!" His victory was cut short after realizing they weren't all there. "Hey..where's Scott?" Dan scanned the area for any signs of him, along with Tom and Rat who's faces went pale after finally spotting him a few yards back. "Dan..." Cried Tom as he grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed towards Scott's body. All the color flushed out of Dan's face, followed by a brief vomit from seeing Scott lying against the gray subway wall disemboweled, his blood dripping into the sewage. "Oh god..." Dan slowly backed away, along with the other two who were near petrified, the light slowly falling off Scott's corpse as they got further and further away. Suddenly another pair of footsteps came from the direction of the body, causing the group to pace backwards even faster. The flame quickly caught a glimpse of something in the darkness causing them all to stop. "Well I'll be damned, it's just a fucking dog." Said Rat to his relief. The dog limped into the light whimpering. It's entire left side was mangled exposing it's ribcage and they all just stared in horror as it fell to the ground with a final cry. Tears began to well up in Dan's eyes as he looked at it, and then finally the breathing could be heard again causing him to panic.
"Fucking run!" He belched as he turned to run in the other direction. Rat and Tom quickly followed after him trying their best to keep up with the light. Somehow when Dan turned away to bolt he managed to grab the lighter out of Rat's hand.
Their feet fell hard on the cement as Dan saw a faint light up ahead.
"We-" He spoke between breaths. "We have..to push on...subway- not much further!" They sprinted as quick as they could towards the light and eventually passed into the main subway station. They all gasped for air and Dan stood up first smiling. "We made it.." He was more than pleased to say it, and the other two smiled back at him, but Rat froze and looked back at where they came from. A furless dog bearing sharp and unusually long claws and fangs marched towards them. It watched them through black-beady eyes as it marched towards them. Slowly it began to cross the track, all of them staring upon the thing, making it's way, crawling to introduce them to their fate, when suddenly a train crashed through the station illuminating the area and tearing the dog to shreds. Tom and Rat fell onto the tile and backed up against the benches. As the train began to disappear Dan saw a husky staring at him through the window, smiling. It's military uniform covered in black oil, almost in slow motion they looked straight at eachother and the husky's lips formed the word, "julaeih". The soldier smiled and turned it's head the other way, standing completely still as the train faded into the darkness. Dan stood for a moment staring in the direction that the train had disappeared, then fainted.
"Wake up." A voice called to him from the void. He slowly opened up his eye, and immediately closed it shut at the sight of pure daylight. He rolled over onto his side, 'It's cold. He thought attempting to open his eye again. When he finally was able to look around he found himself lying in snow. "Get up." The voice called again. He complied and slowly brought himself to an erect position, then looked around to get a better scope on things. Snow was lightly falling on the ground of a plain that seemed to stretch on forever, the only offset being small hills and one or two mountains in the distance. "Where the am I?" He asked to the invisible voice, not expecting an answer. "Over here." The voice called from behind. He turned his body to face a curtain blowing in the breeze, it sheltered something underneath it. "Come look." He paced slowly towards it, looking around the desolate landscape. When he reached it he hesitated and then began to uncover the object with his right hand. He released the curtain, terrified at what he saw...
It was a mirror, but the image staring back at him was not one he expected. He had fur, and his body took on the shape of an anthropomorphic wolf. His eyepatch was replaced with some kind of futuristic eyepiece which had a hollow blue glow to it, and he wore some sort of an armor along with black jeans and silver boots. A tear formed in his eye and fell half way down his face before freezing, he wiped it off with his hand and felt the side of his face. It was real...he was one of them. "What the hell am I?" He turned and asked the clouds. He waited a moment and another tear fell. Then he looked back at the mirror and screamed, "What the hell am I?!" His yell was so loud the mirror shattered into several tiny pieces and he crumbled to his knees sobbing.
"Relax, Wolf." The voice called out to him. He jumped up and took a defensive stance, and then looking around he realized he was alone. "What the hell am I?" He asked one last time, a hint of defeat in his voice. It was a while before the voice called back to him.
"Your name is Wolf O' Donnell."
"How did I get here?" Nothing... "How the fuck did I get here?!" He desperately kicked the mirror onto it's side.
"This is Fichina...a vast ice planet."
"I asked how I got here, not where this is." Wolf became agitated at the voice.
"Perhaps the question you should be asking is when you got here." His eyes widened.
"..W-when?"
"Only time will tell you, Wolf..." He backed away slowly then quickly turned and ran the other way. "Oh, I wouldn't go that way if I was you.." But he didn't hear the voice, he just kept on running as fast as he could head on into a blizzard. He ran for what seemed to be hours and suddenly fell face first into the snow.
"Wake up." He opened his eyes to see both Rat and Tom staring back at him. "Dan..you ok, pal?" Dan stood up and brushed the dirt off himself.
"Yeah, I'm...fine.." The other two glanced at eachother.
"You sure? You were out for a while." Scott came walking around the corner with a bag of chips in his hand. "Hey boss! Never thought I'd see you again."
"Huh? I thought you were dead.."
"Dead?" Asked Rat.
"Yeah...we were in the tunnels and he was swallowed up by the darkness, and when he found him he was..." Everyone just watched him confused by what he was saying.
"No, see we were walking on for about half an hour before we realized you weren't with us; so we went back and found you lying in the sewer talking to yourself."
"Lucky I noticed he was gone." Scott grinned.
"Yeah, you were unconcious so we dragged you all the way here."
"Uh...well okay." 'Shit, when did I pass out?' Dan looked around, finding himself to be in a brighter subway station than the one he last remembered. There were vending machines lined up against the wall. "Don't think I've been here before..." He reached into his pocket and found it empty, his face quickly dropped realizing the map was gone. "Where's my fucking map?" He looked up at the others demanding an answer.
"Oh see..." Rat started. "We don't really know, but we're assuming it fell off into the sewage."
Scott nodded at Rat. "You were practically half way off the ledge when we found you so it could have easily slipped off."
"Fuck...well do we at least know where to go?"
"Sure we do." Tom smiled and put out his hand, offering to help him up. "Now come on, off the bench with you."
