GANG of HOPPERS
My brothers and I in the ZooKzin War
by Dori Hopps
Written by Dan Rush
(c) Zootopia 2016 Walt Disney Cooperation
Chapter 9
October 18, 2040
Zero Hour: Day of Hell
4:30am
I woke up still in a haze and almost slapped my smart phone off the nightstand near the bed as I sat up to greet the day...and a hang over. I scrolled my finger over the phone screen to the messages and what do I see right off the bat?
Owen: "Awwwwwww...cute."
Powen: "Linzi's going to be angry with you.
Nori: : ( :::::: You replaced me as your Bear Bear?
Ori: So cute!
Linzi: "Crying" YOU CHEAT! "crying"
The picture? Me in my BVD's "making out" with Toshi's tail. I wasn't making out, honest...that tail is so soft.
I looked over at Toshi as he came walking out of the bathroom and showed him my phone. "You ass hole." I snorted.
"You really are so adorable." Toshi said as he tweaked my nose and grabbed a coffee cup off the nearby nightstand..."Drink this? It will knock down your hang over."
"Ugh?" I smelled the liquid. "What is it?"
"Ginsing root. I promise in about ten minutes your headache will be gone." Toshiro said as he got dressed. "We have "PT" in twenty minutes so drink up."
I did. And he was right! By the time we got out onto the parade field and joined our school mates for the morning stretches and the five mile run? I felt much better! One of my classmates brought an MP3 boom box on the run and we passed the markers listening and singing to the Bee Gees, the latest small group out of Sandy Point's "Round Robin Jam" to put out a contract album. I tell you...Night Fever actually made a good cadence for a five mile run.
After the run of course, we all ended up at the communal showers where we cleaned up, changed into our field greens and marched to breakfast.
6am
And...once again I was put on the spot. Toshi stood up on his chair among our classmates and gestured towards me..."Fellow classmates! I am happy to announce that our fellow classmate and good bunny Dori proposed to his girl and will soon hopefully be married."
Everyone clapped for me..."Congratulations!" Ashley Gault barked as she picked me up and howled joyfully for me...which got every wolf in the chow hall howling, you know wolves can never resist a strength howl.
Kerry Mahr slapped my back. "This calls for a celebration!"
"Already had it Kerry." I said waving a paw. "Nuff drunk for one night and a week."
Sam Cotton gestured. "We need to get a collection pot going for a wedding."
"Actually Sam? Knowing my family, they'll already have things set up. And if we do have the wedding? Everyone stay below fifty Zoo bucks? I really don't want mammals busting their banks." I said.
"No one said the class couldn't pay for your nuptual hotel?" Sam replied.
"Nor for the evening wear your girl's going to have on for your honeymoon?" Hirano the fox exclaimed. "The class could pay for that little "tickler" for you?"
"Oh no..." I said shaking my head. "No guys! I don't want to look at my girlfriend and think..."Well? well? My classmates have excellent taste." I mean the optics are like? So wrong here."
Toshiro wrapped an arm around me. "You can't escape a tradition. It is a dedicated and serious service for a Fleet Marine's comrades to do something for his wedding and for the health of his marriage vows. Would I ever lie to you Dori?" He said as he snuggled my cheek.
"Ok." I replied. "You guys can arrange the hotel and the flowers for the room. That's fine with me."
7am
Class today was outside the training facility on the big athletic field in front of "Barracks Row" Where we, with other classes in different phases of their education process, put up triage tent clusters and went through the motions of "sanitation, sterilization and preparation" to receive battle casualties. Two nurses from the medical center watched our progress and constantly asked us questions..."What will you do if this happens?" "Do these symptoms call for isolation?" "What's the correct procedure to deal with a hysterical wolf? A Rhino? An elephant? I do not want to be anywhere near a panic'd elephant...that's what I said at the time.
Each of us in the study group took turns being an "incoming" casualty to be assessed and tagged with the level of care required such as "Expected to survive" "Priority surgery" "Minor complaint" or "Red tag" meaning sadly..."not going to make it" and hopefully that casualty would be mercifully unaware of their fate.
Hirano, Daigo and Casteele stood around me as I lay on the casualty bed with a simulated situation. My intestines were exposed outside my body. How the hell would any mammal survive that?! But indeed there have been documented cases from construction accidents in the city where a worker had indeed had their intestines exposed out of a wounded stomach...and they lived!
"Intestinal evisceration! Rabbit...19 years of age...male..." Daigo the rabbit said as he stood over the bed and checked out my simulated complaint. "Sterile gauze pads! Opine Setline solution! Blanket the intestines!" Daigo commanded. "Casteele? Vitals, treat the patient for shock. Hirano...notify the field staff commander this is a priority for surgery. He's still alive...they'll need to disinfect the wound and prep for abdominal levage."
I was impressed..."Way to throw the muscle Daigo." I said smiling.
"Shut up Hopps." Daigo snorted. "Right now you're unconscious with half your guts hanging out. Enjoy your nap."
8:44am
Everyone who came out of this day says the same thing..."I was here doing this or saying that when the alarms went off." Well I was having my turn playing the receiving corps-mammal with Franny Merrel being the casualty on the bed. I had the two nurses behind me watching how I'd evaluate a "GSW" (Gun shot wound) to the right shoulder, another GSW through the right ear and another GSW to the lower jaw. Everyone else in the study group was around the bed observing...
When the "Base Big Mouth" boomed out. First there came an alert claxon, a long horn blast in three with a short pause between each and then...
"This is not a drill...This is not a drill...An unknown number of rockets, launched by the nation of Kzin, are currently in flight towards Zootopia. Their time of arrival and targets of impact are not known. Repeat...an unknown number of rockets, launched by the nation of Kzin, are currently in flight towards Zootopia. Their time of arrival and targets of impact are not known! All mammals take immediate shelter! All mammals take immediate shelter!"
Then the sirens go off all over the base! "AHHHROOOO OOOOOAAAAAAAAAH!"
And what was the first word out of everyone's maw? FLUCK!
The first thing I did? I pulled out my smart phone and sent off a pre-arranged text to my parents and to Linzi and her parents knowing that the entire phone network just went "un-call-able" with a complete log jam of frantic mammals hitting their contact lists...
"Don't try to leave the house! Get to the trench! Cover your head! Open your mouth! Pray! Don't try to find me! I will find you! Stay put!"
We all started grabbing at stuff and shoving our combat packs full of anything...gauze,bandages, simple first aid kits, splints, medical tools, drugs, things to work amputated limbs. We didn't know how much time we had.
8:48:00am
The big mouth announced as our study group cleared from the triage tent...
"Multiple incoming vampires bearing 090, moving 270 on the compass. Estimated number around 300. Altitude from 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet. Distance now 70 nautical miles. Speed 100 knots and closing fast. Estimated time over the top forty two minutes. All mammals take immediate shelter! If you can not reach a designated shelter, find a low wall or natural defilade...cover your head, protect your abdomen, keep your mouth open!"
"Are we going to a bomb shelter or what?!" I screamed as we all tore across the open parade field!
"Screw that mammal!" Casteele growled. "You're not packing me into a big coffin! Better to ride it in a trench with just us few!"
We made it to one of the cut trenches that ringed the parade ground, a prepared hole with a quarter inch steel plate topping it with sand bags atop that! Quickly we stacked our medical back packs at the very back and...
We stood outside? Yeah...we all stood outside the trench! I mean we had...according to the big mouth...forty two minutes?! It wasn't bravery, it was foolishness! We all stood at the mouth of the trench like a bunch of silly tourists...looking up at the air.
"Three hundred rockets?" I said. "That doesn't sound like much?"
I think about that now and I feel like a super dumb cotton tailed Easter bunny. I was trying to rationalize size comparisons..."well? Three hundred rockets, all of Zootopia, the odds of our trench taking a direct hit are like..." Never mind we had no idea what was "in coming". I ignored my phone, text messages were flying in from all over the family and I ignored the multiple "pings" as I continued to look with stupid interest and fascination for the incoming rockets.
Finally sanity prevailed and Toshiro snatched me off my feet and carried me into the trench where we sat on the floor nervously waiting as the big mouth kept announcing updates...
"Multiple incoming vampires bearing 090, moving 270 on the compass. Estimated number now around 500. Altitude from 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet. Distance now 50 nautical miles. Speed 100 knots and closing fast. Estimated time over the top thirty three minutes. All mammals take immediate shelter! If you can not reach a designated shelter, find a low wall or natural defilade...cover your head, protect your abdomen, keep your mouth open!"
Ok...five hundred rockets now or more, things are really starting to get worrisome. We're all looking at each other. Some of us are rummaging through our packs over and over again..."Got this...got that...son of bitch I needed more of this...why the hell did I grab this?"
"Um? Everyone?" I said as I held us a box of...hmph...rabbit rubbers.
"What the hell are you going to do with those?" Daigo asked. "Don't even get any thoughts you."
I took one out of a packet and rolled it over a finger..."Just in case I didn't bring enough surgical gloves."
Everyone laughed their rumps off. The rockets are coming in, we're all in a trench and we're laughing our asses off! I know...totally unbecoming potential heroes. So of course all the talk drifts to what we're going to do once the rocket barrage is over...
"Hopefully..." Hirono said. "Hopefully they miss all the tents outside so we're already set to go to work."
We all made our plans on what to do. We were at least qualified up to middle level triage response so we quickly went over the list of potential wounds and "in comings" and how to deal with them as they arrived...
The first thing of course was to get a senior medical officer over the site. I thought "Choo Choo" was the most logical choice but I didn't have his number on my phone and by this time there was no way to get him a message. My hope was that he'd still see the tents and flags from the medical center and catch the inspiration to get there...
"Multiple incoming vampires bearing 090, moving 270 on the compass. Estimated number now around 800. Altitude from 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet. Distance now 30 nautical miles. Speed 100 knots and closing fast. Estimated time over the top twenty two minutes. All mammals take immediate shelter! If you can not reach a designated shelter, find a low wall or natural defilade...cover your head, protect your abdomen, keep your mouth open!"
"Eight hundred!" I yelped.
"They must have launched in waves." Franny Merrel growled. "That many or more? Who knows how much explosive they have in each one."
Casteele went to the mouth of the trench and drew down a thick ballistic blanket meant to catch flying "shrap" should we get a close in impact outside. Ryude pulled some "chem-glow" sticks from his pack and passed them around our now dark enclosure...
"I can't reach my family." Sam Cotton the rabbit said. "I can't get a hold of my Mom and Dad! Oh Frith...oh Frith make them answer me please!..."
Sam was shivering like crazy as Casteele pulled him close..."Come here Sam. I'm sure your family is playing it smart like us."
I could see Sam was starting to panic...that's all we needed was to chase a panic'ing rabbit all over the place. I grabbed Sam's paw and gave it a slap..."Hey?! Look at me!" I growled. "Sam? Look at me?! You start losing it? We'll sit on you. We'll sit on you or we'll knock you out, one or the other...You're not the only rabbit pissing his shorts right now, trust me! Eyes and mind, here and now. Our families will be all right. You with us? Breath Sam or you'll pass out."
"Ugh...this really flucken sucks ass." Sam said as he took deep slow breaths..."Ugh snit Frith damn them to hell...stupid fricken cats."
Sam looked back at Casteele..."Not you "Casty-ee"...you're cool."
"Oh like you can really hurt me you carrot sucker." Casteele said as he hugged Sam tight. "We're gonna make it dude, trust me!"
Potential crisis averted...I had avoided looking at my smart phone messages for a reason...I took a quick glance and bit my lip so hard that I cut it open...
Owen: Where the fluck are you?!
Nori: You dig a deep fricken warren you! Don't you get killed!"
Ori: We're up to our butts in water!
Powen: We're stuck in a water channel. Better than nothing.
I grimaced..."Ugh...fluck!" At least I wasn't alone in the show courage but piss yourself party.
"Multiple incoming vampires bearing 090, moving 270 on the compass. Estimated number now around 900. Altitude from 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet. Distance now 20 nautical miles. Speed 100 knots and closing fast. Estimated time over the top fifteen minutes. All mammals take immediate shelter! If you can not reach a designated shelter, find a low wall or natural defilade...cover your head, protect your abdomen, keep your mouth open!"
I thought..."Might as well make it a thousand." The time was unmercifully slow..."Just get here already you fricken bastards!" I screamed out loud...which got everyone else looking at me as if I might need an immediate rump kicking..."Just saying they're sure slow as fluck guys...sheesh...by the way for those who may be interested? I have a tube of "KY" for a lucky rocket hit."
"You are fricken sick Dori." Kerry snorted at me. As the time clicked down...after all mammals don't fall far from their ancestors...we all started to dig at the dirt of the trench looking to get a little more protection over our heads. Here were were all in our feral states digging like crazy...mostly throwing dirt at each other...
"If we're anywhere near a septic line?" Casteele said. "Our day will go from "suck" to "sucks gloriously".
So I'm digging my humps off and suddenly our bible comes to mind. The story goes that Great Frith of Inlay punished Prince Rabbit for his arrogant behavior by creating the medium sized predators (Foxes, weasels, cats and Dogs) to suppress the rabbit population. Frith still cared for our kind so he searched for Prince Rabbit to give us all a "leg up"...so long as Prince Rabbit had learned humility. Frith found him digging his butt off..."Have you seen Prince Rabbit? I wish to bless him." Frith asked the bunny he found digging a hole. "No I haven't! The fox and weasel are coming! If you want to bless me then you must bless my bottom." Princes Rabbit replied. "Oh? I see...let it be so." Frith replied and he bless us rabbits with strong back legs, bushy tails and slim bodies...I was just hoping Frith wouldn't bless my ass with a rocket.
"Multiple incoming vampires bearing 090, moving 270 on the compass. Estimated number now around 900. Altitude from 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet. Distance now 20 nautical miles. Speed 100 knots and closing fast. Estimated time over the eight minutes. All mammals take immediate shelter! If you can not reach a designated shelter, find a low wall or natural defilade...cover your head, protect your abdomen, keep your mouth open!"
The number didn't go up again? Good, good still reasonable odds of survival...I guessed. I had now dug a hole within a hole to snuggle in and felt someone crawl over me. It was Toshi?
"Tosh? What are you doing?" I asked as Toshi coiled his body over the top of me.
"Taking care of you." Toshiro replied.
"No! Toshi get the hell off and dig your own hole, don't be stupid!" I yelped. "This is no time for heroics!"
"Shhhhh..." Toshi replied as he wrapped his paws around me..."I know you rabbits. I'm going to keep you from getting stupid and trying to bolt out of here so shut up and ball up. I'll be fine."
"Toshi?! Frith damn it!" I complained then got smacked off the head.
"Quit it or I'll bite you." Toshi fox growled.
"Oh like those needles really impress me." I growled back.
9:24am
We heard muffled booms in the distance towards Sandy Point Naval Station. Obviously the Navy was throwing whatever it had at the incoming rockets. Of course what I didn't know at that time as we all huddled in that trench was that my nephew Jackson was fighting for his life out at sea. His destroyer had been "bush whacked" by the Kzinti and was being maul'd by a Kzinti destroyer. The Destroyer Gnu York was caught in a fight with two Kzinti destroyers and blew up, the survivors machine gunned to death as they tried to swim for their lives. The kzinti were not playing games. They weren't interested in prisoners...at least if they didn't look good to eat.
I felt for a fox paw and squeezed on it hard. Toshiro was right of course, rabbits have a stronger urge to run from danger than to face it, we are not creatures of great fortitude by any means...well...not when you're facing an opponent you can't see, can't gauge or can't reason with and you certainly can't reason with a rocket.
As the "booms" continued and they grew louder, I snarled. "Get em! Get em! Kill those mother fluckers for Frith's sake!" Then I started praying my fluffy tail off..."Frith don't bless my ass? Please? I'll be a better bunny just don't let a rocket smack my butt!"
Toshiro smacked my head again. "You've got a butt fixation, cut it out."
"Give me your tail!" I snorted as I snatched Toshi's tail and snuggled it. "If I'm gonna die? I'll die peacefully at least!"
"Ow! Don't yank it off me Dori!" Toshi snapped!
"Hey?!" Fanny barked. "Will you two idiots stop having noisy sex so the rest of us can hear what's happening?! Gawd damn it!"
9:28am
The big mouth screamed over and over..."IMPACT IMMINANT! IMPACT IMMINANT! VAMPIRES OVERHEAD!"
Now the Kzinti V-1 rocket has a distinct "woofing" sound like a dog quick barking in a very hushed tone..."woof,woof,woof,woof,woof,woof" which I guess is the rocket engine burning propellent and expelling the gas out of the rear rocket nozzle to produce propulsion. Now add that "woof,woof,woof,woof,woof,woof" sound hundreds of times and trust me...you want to panic and run...
That's what Sam Cotton did. He got loose from Casteele and bolted from the trench with Casteele right behind him! "STOP! SAM GET BACK HERE! DAMN IT MAMMAL! STOP!"
With hundreds of rockets...you never hear the ones coming down until the last second when the falling rocket is cutting through the air making a whistling scream sort of sound...
"BOOM!" One landed on the parade field and the whole earth shook! Two thousand pounds of high explosive detonated about a hundred yards from the trench and blew off the protective curtain at the opening!
"FLUCK!" "GAWD DAMN IT!" "STAY DOWN!" We all screamed! Explosions were going off all over the campus! Another close in explosion shook our trench but the steel plate over it and the sand bags caught all the "shrap"! I was putting a death grip on poor Toshi's tail as another explosion shook the trench and threw dirt into my mouth!
"Pleck! Pleck! Son of a bitch in hell!" I screeched!
"They suck at their aim!" Toshi snapped!
"Don't jinx us mother flucker!" I replied!
Then things around us went quiet except for distant "booms" as other rockets rained down through Zootopia proper. The downtown was getting rained on as was Savanna Central and Savanna and Sahara South. The Burrough's and districts far west in Zootopia ,by Frith's great grace, had been spared the first round barrage, the V-1's not having the fuel to reach that far...
I'd say it was about twenty minutes until the "all clear" sirens screamed all across the campus and everything became automatic...
"Come on!" Toshiro said as he pulled me up from my little warren hole and shook me..."Are you all right? You'r not hurt?" He said worried as he checked me over.
"No...no I'm ok. You?" I replied as I looked him over.
"Enough of the touchy feelings snit you two!" Fanny screamed as she moved by us..."Get your packs up and let's move!"
We all scrambled to snatch our medical packs and climbed out of the trench into a nightmare...at least from first glance...
Across the field, the Western wing of the medical center was on fire, a direct hit turned that section of the hospital into flaming rubble. Smoke plumes covered the campus. Looking around we saw another building turned into a pile of flaming rubble. The campus administration building, the "white house" had been blown to pieces and with it sixty seven mammals killed when the V-1 punched the roof of their bomb shelter.
Two rockets had struck the parade field but at least half the set up medical tents were standing. The rest were blown down by the concussions from the explosions. Later we learned that eighteen rockets had hit the campus killing a hundred fifty two mammals and wounding scores of others...
"CASTEELE!" Hirano screamed as she pointed out into the field where the big yellow tiger from Sahara beach sat. We all ran to him and found that he'd been beaten all to hell. Probably launched airborne by an explosion and bounced over the ground...yet he had Sam Cottom firmly in his big arms...safe...except for his broken wrist.
Ryude noted blood dripping from Casteele's ears..."His ear drums are punctured."
While Ryude and the others handled Casteele, Me and Toshi took Sam to set his wrist and check him over...
"Cassy! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Sam cried. "I'm so sorry mammal!"
"Let's worry about you." Toshi said as he paw'd over Sam's body..."I think the wrist is the worst of it Dori." He said as I worked to splint up Sam's wrist.
"One tough cat." Franny said as she wrote questions on a note book for Casteele to nod to shake his head too...
"All I can hear is ringing." Casteele said as he pointed to his ears. "Worst fricken "Carney ride" I ever did mammal!" He said.
"You might have a concussion!" Franny barked at Casteele. "Best we get you to the tent!"
Kerry Mahr grabbed Hirano. "Once we get him over there? You and I should get some doctors if we can! We need a lead "Doc" for our tents!"
"Try and find Doctor McGurn!" I snapped as I helped Sam to his feet. "You look alright other than your wrist."
"I feel like a jerk off." Sam cursed himself. He ran over to Casteele and crashed into his chest..."Cassy I'm sorry!" He screamed!
"Dude? Chill...saint nothin ok?" Casteele replied. "Damn...I can't hear snit but I still have working paws."
Franny poked him in the nose. "You're not working anything. You're going to sit, keep quiet and let us get a doctor to check you out so we didn't miss anything. We don't need you dying on us."
Hirano and Kerry came back with a stretcher and we all "mammal- handled" Casteele to one of the big tents where we filled out a report sheet and "tagged" Casteele's foot with a green "awaiting" casualty tag. While Hirano and Kerry ran towards the medical center to get us some help, the rest of us emptied our medical packs, ran through the other tents and around the grounds for all we could scavenge and made this one big tent our casualty processing station.
9:47am
The first doctors including "Choo Choo" McGurn showed up just as the first casualties were coming in trucks and cars over the parade field. Toshi and I decided to handle the medium and small mammals like bunnied, Foxes, badgers, raccoons, Tanuki and canids...processing them and separating them into catagories or treating the most simple injuries like cuts, broken bones and suture lacerations.
We pulled two bunnies from a car...one obviously too late to help, the head trauma was...well there's nothing you can do with half a brain gone. The other had his arm shredded to hamburger but thankfully the mammal who "belted" his upper arm to stave off blood loss had the thought to note the time on the bunny's forehead.
In this case...amputation is the only solution. For that, we have a quick sterile cauterization package that you press to the cut site once you've taken off the destroyed limb. You crush the ampoules inside the packet, shake the packet for a minute, pull out the soaked pad and push it against the cut site. The chemical fuses all the veins and arteries shut and sterilizes the whole area to prevent infection...
Of course for the patient? It hurts like a muther flucker. Which is why you pull out a green colored morphine ampule needle and shoot the mammal till their happily babbling their butt off while you're whipping that saw around.
Toshi snatched the bunny's arm and it was gone and flying into a hazmat can in a second. Doesn't take that long to take off a bunny's limb. Sheesh, I sound like a saint don't I?"
The rabbit didn't say anything to me as I carefully wrapped the stump in a quick set cast bandage. I leaned over his head, gave him a bunny smooth and said..."You'll be alright brother." A gentle smile calming his worry as Toshi fixed a yellow "Guard observation" tag to the bunny's foot and we called for a stretcher.
Volunteers..."Candy Stripes" were flowing in from all over campus, good thing too as we were getting busy with the "incoming's" flowing in. It was shocking how many mammals were caught out in the open even after forty minutes worth of warnings! Then again...what were we doing outside our trench till the last minute?
You don't just get the wounded in, you also get the natural cases like this young fox we got in that was about 12 or 13 years old. No wounds, not a scratch yet he was in "Cardack" (Cardiac Arrest). In the case of long snoot mammals like canids and Vulpines, you can't do "snoot to snoot" breathing, you have to intubate with a "tube n bag" to provide the respiration while some one else pumps the heart...
"Neffee! I need Neffee!" Toshiro screamed for an "Eff-neff" needle to prime the poor kit's heart as we switched off between pumping the bag and pumping the chest...
"Nef!" A Candy Stripper yelped as he passed a needle to Toshi and he "punched" the heart...
No good...we lost the kit and Toshiro lost his emotions..."FLUCKEN CATS! YOU FLUCKEN COCK SUCKERS! MURDERING BASTARDS!"
"HEY!" I grabbed Toshi and gave him a slap on the snoot! "Tosh?! Easy...Easy..." I said as I petted him on the head..."Easy..."
Toshi sat on the grass as I handled the rest...The Kit probably got absolutely terror struck and had a heart attack, it just happens. You know you're not going to save all of them...you just do what "Chooch" told me...make sure they're well taken care of before you "Tag n bag" em.
Then on to the next arrival. I stop to look at my smart phone for new messages...nothing. The system is obviously flucked all to snit.
Then someone is on a bull horn somewhere near by standing on the back of a truck..."This is Captain Safell! All Marines not presently engaged in tending to any wounded please form up around me at once! We're not expecting any more inflows to this aid station so all Marines sally up on me right now!"
I looked at Toshi, he looked at me, we didn't have anyone coming so we got up and ran to join the forming crowd around Captain Safell, a big gray African Rhino dressed in combat greens...
"Marines?! Obviously we've been "snit kicked" from the looks of things. Here's our current "sit-rep". The Kzinti have gone all out bat snit crazy. They're hitting all over the Great Eastern Sea. They're invading the Out Back Islands, Madagascar Island and they are possibly coming for us next. Things are messed up to say the least. The downtown city center was heavily bombed, it got the worst of the attack. I can't tell you much more than that. Right now Sahara Beach and South Savanna are being evacuated and Marines are being rushed in. I know some of you have only basic skills and some of you aren't done with training yet but we have to make do with what we can put together. I need to pick combat medics out of this bunch to ship to Saharra. You will all be given weapons. You are not combat troops! Your weapons are defensive only! Everyone understand?"
We all replied with "YES SIR!" As a deuce truck pulled up loaded with rifles and ammo and me and Toshi grabbed up our medical back packs...
"Fluck!" I yelped.
"What?" Toshi asked.
"I forgot my field trip permission slip." I replied smiling.
Toshiro smirked. "Bunnies suck at jokes."
We walked up to the "weapons Deuce" and I got my M-1 Carbine, Serial number "B dash Two Two Six". I flipped it around in my paws, locked open the bolt, checked the receiver for a round and locked it closed.
"Impressive Dori." Toshiro said as he checked his own weapon.
"I'm a bit amp'd up." I replied. I was nervous as hell obviously. "Hope I find my brothers down there. Sucks being apart from my brood."
Toshiro nodded to my sound of concern. "I'm sure your brothers are ok. I hope all our families are all right. If I know my Dad? Everyone was all ass and tails into the woods." Toshi threw my back pack on my back and tightened the carry straps and I turned around to do the same for him. Our study group was broken up and we only had the time to give each other nods and waves as we were sent to other parts of Zootopia.
10:52am
Two big wolf marines sat in front of the rear tent flap of the Deuce truck we were riding in for a reason...
The stench wafting through the covered jump seat section was telling just how bad things probably were outside. They even discouraged mammals from trying to use their smart phones to get any radio or network broadcast. It wasn't our "need to know" how deep the snit was, we didn't need to be "emotionally flucked" before we might need to be called upon to perform in the midst of flying shells and screaming mammals. As if we weren't already..."emotionally flucked".
Everyone passed through my mind...Mom, Dad, Judy, this brother, that sister...I had a lot of names to process as you might imagine. Linzi popping up every other thought. I looked at my smart phone again and cursed..."Nothing...fluck damn it." I said to myself as I tightened my grip on my rifle barrel.
"The smoke smells so thick." Toshiro said as we sat side by side.
"Maybe they hit a refinery?" I replied.
"Or a fish mega-processing plant." Toshiro snorted. "It smells like burning fish and oil. My sensitive nostrils are flucked."
"No messages." I said. "Wonder how bad Quanaco got hit? Wonder if my brothers are alright?"
"Quanaco's huge so I seriously doubt anyone got hurt there. Just stick with me Dori, we'll be ok." Toshiro said smiling.
"I like how you can keep so calm in everything." I remarked. "I think I feed off your vibes Toshi."
"And if I'm keeping you fat and happy then I'm happy." Toshi replied smiling. "After this? You need to take me to your family farm so I can get some of that good "shine" from your father."
11:10am
Mass Casualty Aid Station
Dry River, Sahara Square
We arrived in Dry River with civilians still flowing out one way and Marines flowing in on armored vehicles, Deuces and tanks. Toshiro and I leaped from our Deuce truck and were put right to work inside the MACS (Mack-us) inflow tent handling "green card" ambulatory cases that were being processed through our sector. All of Sahara Beach down to Lions Gate and South Savanna Beach was being "prep'd" for invasion, our once clean and white sandy beaches being made ugly with combat trenches, barbed and razor blade wire coils, land mines and heavy and light field artillery pieces.
I was brought a Bengal tiger who'd taken quite a beating. He had a lot of deep lacerations over his upper body and some "shrap" wounds to his face and neck. The report sheet said he was driving a car trying to get home to his wife and two cubs when a close rocket strike threw his car into the air and he found out what a shirt in a dryer feels like when it's going through tumbler mode...
"SWIPE! SWIPE!" The not feeling so fresh Tiger swiped at me as I tried to clean a laceration would in his chest! I quickly snatched up nearby digest magazine and slapped that Tiger right in the snoot!
"If you don't stop trying to take my head off pal?! I'm gonna show you what a really ticked off rabbit can do to your puss, now QUIT!" I warned, shaking the paper in his face. "I'm trying to help you ok?
"Well damn it rabbit?!" The tiger snapped. "That stuff you're smearing me with hurts!"
"It's medical cleaning agent and betadine solution, did you think it was gonna tickle?" I asked as I grabbed a big roll of gauze and a bandage. "Help me put this on you?"
"They hit us at rush hour." The tiger groaned as he helped me with the gauze bandages. "I wasn't fast enough to get off the road. I saw a flash and then holy snit! I was rolling around in my car and my car was flying! Sheesh how did I not get killed!"
"You're lucky your mostly muscle...sort of took the wind out of all this "shrap" you took." I said as I clipped the bandages in place.
"You're like most military doctors." The Tiger said. "Here's two aspirin, go home and sleep, if your legs fall off? Here's two more aspirins."
"I'm flattered you called me a doctor but I'm not even a full Marine Corpsman yet." I said as I pointed to a place in the tent where some mammals had set up a food station. "Get something to drink and eat and stay still for a while. If you need stitches? The paste I put on the wounds will keep the bleeding down and the skin moist so it can take stitches up to six hours from now."
The tiger petted me on the head. "Sorry for being such a jerk and taking swipes at you...Doc." He said happily.
"Just don't try a sprint or a marathon for a while huh?" I replied as I petted the tiger back.
I turned to see another class mate, a white rabbit named "Roger Rah'bet" walk up with a towel in his paws..."Hey Dori? How many you up to now? I just finished number ten with a broken leg and a crunched tail. You know who's the second most vane mammal when it comes to tails?"
"Lions?" I replied smirking as I cleaned my paws with soap. "Tell me about it? Toshiro had a male lion with a nice head gash and all he could think about was his tail. Half the hair tuft at the end of his tail got ripped out right? He's bleeding all over the place, Toshi's trying to get a good spot to work on his torn up scalp and the lion keeps pulling Toshiro off and showing him his poor tail, I mean Toshiro told the cry baby three times Roger..."The hair's gonna grow back! Let me fix your head Sir! Sheesh!"
"Any word from your brothers? Parents?" Roger asked. "I tried my parents and my...sheesh? How many brothers and sisters do I have?"
"My parents are fine." I replied. "Bunny Burrough didn't get hit as far as I know so for my brothers? I'm sure they're doing something. Just wish I knew where so I could request to go be with them. Tell me Roger? You come from a brood?"
"Yeah...and they're all swindles and con-hares." Roger replied. "We were never close at all. In fact? My brother Larry owes me a hundred still that dirty cheater."
Suddenly...a young wolf cub came running up to me! "Please?! Are you a doctor?!"
"Uh...Marine Corps-mammal." Dori replied.
"Close enough! Please?! My grandfather's been badly injured and I think he's dying! Please?!" The wolf cub begged as he pulled on my arm...
"Roger? You better find a surgeon and tell em we might have an expedite or a red bag coming through!" I snapped as I ran behind this wolf cub.
"What's your name kid?" I asked.
"Morty Sancho! The other wolf is my Grand Dad Ricardo! He's in bad shape mammal!" The youngster said sobbing.
When we got to the blanket where Morty's grandfather lay...I got the shock of my life. Here was that Kzinti that appeared at the end of Gazelle's farewell show holding the old wolf in his paws and balling like a baby...
"Ricardo Sama! Ricardo Sama! Watashitachi no uragiri o yurushitekudasai! Furukute rippana satsujin o o yurushi kudasai!" He cried out. One thing to see him on television, another to be face to face with him. He was indeed huge! At least to a rabbit such a Tiger is a monster. The paws alone could turn me into mulch with a finger flick.
My thought for him faded fast as I struggled to get him to put the old wolf down... "You have to let me look at him! Hey?! Put him down!"
Morty pulled on the Kizinti's arm..."Tomodachi dao! Put him down please?!"
The big cat looked at me and pleaded as he lowered the badly blackened, burned and blood covered old wolf on the ground and continued to wail over him...
"Bakana hito-tachi! Watashi wa anata no tame ni kore o kesshite yurushimasen! Shinu to jigoku ni moeru!" He wailed. "Save him! Please save him!" He cried.
You have to think by now that I'm probably wondering just how threatening these Tigers were in real life with this display of emotion.
Morty held the Kzinti's paw in a hug as I looked at Ricardo...
"It's going to be alright Kawam-ura Tomodachi." Morty said softly to the Tiger.
"Kawam-ura?" I asked. "Is that your name?"
"Hi! Yes." The Kzinto replied. "Please? Save him!"
Ricardo was a mess to be honest. Blackened, singe burnt over most of his fur, bloody from some nasty cuts. I feared the worst as I checked him over to see how deep the burns were. Ricardo raised his paw, I could see the life draining from him or so I thought.
"Morty?" Ricardo said weakly. "Morty my most beloved grandson."
Morty collapsed before his Grandfather..."I'm your only grandson Rick! Hang on! Don't you die on me Gawdess damn you! Don't you leave me an orphan you son of a bitch!"
"Not my choice to make kido." Ricardo said weakly. "Your old grand dad's got a lot of things to atone for...like...like...garbage eating. Yup...I admit it. As a wolf? I'm a pathetic garbage can scavenger not a scientist or a respected member of our species. Oh yeah...just one of my most happy vices you know? rummaging through trash cans, seeking out dirty diapers? My sick little decadent secret. But...but I'm at peace with myself though...it will all be soon past. I shall drift off to my eternal big sleep and ride to the great plains of wolfdum."
Ricardo shot up into a sit!..."And gawd damn you! You so called gawdess of the wolves who lives in the moon! you dirty whore! you filthy wench! how many times did I pray to you and you never gawd damn answered any of them you evil, backstabbing slut! I'm coming! Ricardo Sancho is coming to kick your ass you dirty street walking whore! You filthy mutt! You mange ridden..."
I finished looking Ricardo over and smiled at him. "And...the good news is? You're not dying." I said.
"You herpes infested harpie son of a...wait...uh? do what now?" Ricardo asked me.
"You're not going to die Mister Sancho." I said as I petted Ricardo on the chest. "Oh you're filthy as hell. You have some cuts to close up. You got some burnt fur patches but your skin underneath is a pretty pink. Your breathing is normal and?...some how you're covered in...(paw finger lick)...red ketchup and Maple syrup? Other than that? you're very much alive. Unfortunately for you though? You'll probably be shaved bald because I don't think we can save your present coat of fur."
Ricardo's face went blank and then he tore into poor Morty. "Morty?! What the hell Morty?! You said I was a goner! I was at death's door! Here I was crafting the most bitching death speech in all mammal history and you bogart'd me Morty!" Kawam-ura the Kzinti was dancing around like a lunatic all happy as Ricardo ranted away...
"Morty! Here I was, seeing tomorrow's headline..."Great Wolf scientist expires, has death scene the greatest of the ages!" but nooooooooo now it's going to read "Ass bald wrinkle butt wolf covered in ketchup and syrup!" Thanks Morty! That's a gawdess damn lot you little snit! Number one Grandson? Oh no...number one..."I screwed my Grandfather out of a bitchin death scene!"
I couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for poor Morty at the same time. "Does he need morphine?" I asked Morty.
"He needs a whole damn bag of morphine." Morty snorted. "I can't believe it mammal. Everything's gone to hell and I have to put up with my Grandfather's raging...but...he is a genius."
Suddenly...a coffee cup came flying from no where, smashed into Kawam-ura's head and sent the Kzinti falling into a medical cart! I turned to see a pissed off pig squealing and screaming as he came running towards the Kzinti with a steel pipe!
"YOU...BASTARD!" A scream erupted! "YOU DIRTY MURDERING BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Morty snapped and snarled as he charged the angry pig and crashed him off Kawam-ura's body! "GET OFF OF HIM YOU STUPID PORKER!"
I caught another mammal, an enraged reindeer coming in for a goring charge with his antlers down, by "sling shot'ing" myself off a heavy medical gurney and catching the reindeer in the head with my big feet!
"CRASH!" I knocked the reindeer off ballance and he crashed into a medical cabinet! I landed on my feet and scrambled for my M-1 Magnum carbine, locking a round into the chamber and drawing it against a few more pissed off mammals!
"EVERYONE STOP!" I screamed out! "SARGENT OF THE GUARD!SARGENT OF THE GUARD POST ON ME!" I yelled and soon several Marines showed up with rifles and billy clubs.
"NOT HERE!" I yelled to the crowd of angry mammals. "NOT HERE! NOT NOW! BACK THE FLUCK OFF RIGHT NOW!"
"HOW DARE YOU PROTECT THAT BUTCHER!" An angry Camel snapped! "MURDERING BASTARD!"
"THAT?...THAT "THING"! THAT FILTHY PIECE OF SNIT DARED TO SELL US PEACE WHILE THE REST OF ITS' KIND MURDERS OUR FAMILIES?! OUR CHILDREN?! KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!" An elephant screamed out as he swung a tire iron over his head!
"BOOM!"
I discharged a round right through the ear of a lion carrying a knife. I was fully prepared to kill if it came to it.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU WANTS A FLUCKEN SHOT TO THE CHEST?!"I snapped! "YOU WANT TO TEST MY FLUCKEN SHOOTING ABILITIES! WELL?! ANY OF YOU WANT TO JUMP?!YOU DON'T THREATEN THOSE IN MY CARE! BACK THE FLUCK OFF!"
None of the angry mammals said a word. I "was" full of piss and vinegar...
"This is a place for the hurt, the maimed, the dying and the dead to be comforted!" I said snarling...HOW DARE YOU THREATEN VIOLENCE HERE! This is my space and my responsibility! It is the space of my fellow Marines who will move hell and high water to save who we can and NONE OF YOU have the RIGHT to turn it into your own personal place for REVENGE!...certainly NOT against a mammal who's innocent! Once again! Do you want to get fluckin froggy and piss me off even more?! If you think you can take on a Marine bunny with a magnum rifle? COME THE FLUCK ON!" I snarled, standing my ground! Some one was going to get "dropped" for sure!
Till one by one...the angry crowd of mammals dropped their clubs and weapons and dispersed till I felt safe enough to drop my rifle on the floor.
Roger Rah'bet came up behind me.."You alright?" Roger asked. "That was gutsy as hell."
"No...that was stupid." I replied as I turned around. "And no...right now? my legs are piss soaked." I was shaking like a leaf, pumped up on adrenal fluid.
I walked up to Kawam-ura who was sitting with Morty holding a towel to his bleeding head...
"Domo Arigato Bannie Sama." Kawam-ura said with a bow.
"Lay down so I can check for a concussion and stitch this cut." I replied. "You must forgive them...this was bound to happen." I said as I checked Kawam-ura's eyes and looked at the nasty gash. "Can't expect mammals to be happy when they get things taken away from them like this."
The kzinti patted me on the head. "I see no fault in their actions." He said frowning. "My country-mammals have lost their damned minds."
I broke out a wrapping compress and a bandage..."What kind of rockets were those? How many does Kzin have?"
"You're talking to a simple rice planter." Kawam-ura replied. "I know nothing of rockets or military things. I can only imagine given the size of my country that they have more than what they've thrown so far."
I sighed deeply..."So they'll send more for sure?"
"That?" Kawam-ura replied. "You should very much expect. The hate is hot and the blood lust is running. Please? You must finish so I may quickly find a place of safety...I feel my own disgraceful lusts beginning to well in me."
I smiled..."Sorry? I don't offer much of a snack option. But we do have a mobile stockade? Just an option if you need a secure room to "vent" if you catch my meaning."
"Most appreciated Banni San." Kawam-ura said waving a paw. "I would give you a kiss of gratitude but then I'd probably bite your head off."
That was re-assuring. I wrapped Kawam-ura's big head which gave me time to really get a good look at those fascinating sabers he had for canid fangs. "I'm sorry." I said as I rubbed one of them. "Just curious. It's my bunny nature. Damn these are like swords! My Name is Dori Hopps by the way."
"Sharpening them is a cultural fad in my nation. It is also a pleasure to meet you Dori-San. You are most kind." Kawam-ura said. "Young Kzinti shape their saber teeth in the underground to anger their parents. Our young tend to be rebellious of authority which doesn't last into adulthood unfortunately. I can't think any of our younger cubs would consider war a wise choice."
"Good thing you seem to be built so tough." I remarked as I finished his bandage and gestured to Morty. "You can take him now. I don't think anyone's going to get stupid."
"Thanks." Morty replied. "Uh? Do you think you guys could handle giving my gramps a shave? I want to save my tail from trying to persuade him."
I looked at Ricardo and he growled at me. "Would you like a couple of green ampule shots of morphine?" I joked to Morty.
1:15pm
The sudden sounds of intense "WHUMPS!" filled the air around the MACS and the screams of artillery shells flying over our heads got everyone diving for the floor!
"SNIT!" I screeched to Toshiro. "What the hell?!"
"That's "arty" going off!" Toshiro snapped back. "The gun bunnies are lighting something up!"
An officer came running through the tent. "Get on your feet! Mammal up! Invasion force off South Savanna! Some of you are going to units on Lion's Gate beach! Weapons and packs up!"
I jumped to my feet. "Son of a bitch they don't waste their sweet time."
"The Gun Bunnies aren't going to make it easy for them! Cheese n Crackers they're firing like crazy!" Toshiro said as he threw his back pack on his back!
We ran out of the tent and towards an armored landing vehicle, a gator tank, bounding up the back ramp and into jump seats as the driver and crew wasted no time firing the metal beast up and tearing onto the road towards Lion's Gate...were my brothers there? I looked at my phone again and snorted..."The network is still down." I said.
"You stay with me." Toshiro demanded. "You grab my tail and stay on my back."
I joked..."You want a leash and collar?"
"I'm looking after you for your girl's sake." Toshiro replied.
I poked my head up through the top of the "gator" tank to see fleeing civilians down each side of the road and a growing column of vehicles ahead and behind us. I turned to the low grade officer in the Gator, a Cheetah, and pulled on his tail...
"Sir?! What's the Sitrep?! What are you hearing?!" I asked.
"A lot of static and confusion!" The cheetah replied. We didn't notice that the artillery fire had stopped...
"Gawd damn it!" The cheetah screamed as he banged a fisted paw on the tank. "Gawd damn stupid sons of a bitch!"
"Sir?!" I asked.
"It was a a mistake! A stupid fricken mistake! We just fired on our own troops!" He snapped.
"We dropped artillery on our own troops?!" I asked, shocked.
"Yes! We just plastered a whole battalion of Marines with "Arty" fire, Gawd fricken damn it!" The officer snapped as I looked ahead to the plumes of smoke rising from Lion's Gate Beach.
"What?" Toshiro asked me as I came down from the top of the tank.
"We shelled our own troops." I replied. "We just plastered all of Lion's Gate on top of a battalion of Marines."
"What the fluck?!" Toshiro snapped. He scrambled up to the top of the tank and sat with his head lowered as we ran onto the beach... "Can this damn day get any fricken worse for us?" He said to me.
Worse? Uh? Yeah.
2pm
Lion's Gate Beach
You want to see what a full blown artillery strike can do. Work the bloody aftermath. The 4th Battalion, 1st Fleet Marine Division was mostly wolves and they suffered 25 percent fatalities and another 25 percent wounded from this "cluster cluck" caused by mis-communication through the chain of command, which of course due to the surprise attack was thrown all to snit and reconstructed on the fly.
And "we" paid the price...we being..."One Marine lost makes a hundred Marines cry." and there was tons of crying, cursing and screaming on that beach. I cut my first teeth in having to experience a mammal dying in my arms...
He was just 18 years old, fresh from boot camp, a young two tone gray wolf who was mangled all to hell. Nothing we could do for him save give him a "red shot" which Toshiro did as I held the wolf's head in my paws and gently talked to him till he fell asleep. Believe me...it sucks. It still sucks no matter how merciful it is...it sucks to comfort a dying mammal who's crying for momma, asking to be forgiven by a stranger for a whole list of things they did wrong in their life and then to have to hear that final quiet gasp as the overdose stops their heart. And me and Toshiro went through that eleven more times because some jerk wad cock sucker flucked up a phone con chain.
There was some comfort knowing that my brothers weren't there on what became known as "The Meat Grinder Mis-order incident" As me and Toshiro worked the beach, rumors kept coming in and flying around...
"My nephew Jackson's ship, the Growler, had been sunk and all the crew killed."
"Mayor Leo and his whole family were killed. A rocket had slammed into the executive mansion and turned it into splinters."
Our whole fleet had been eviscerated. The massive assault carrier Seyoni had rolled over off Sandy Point Naval Station with thousands of mammals trapped in the hull."
"The Outback Islands had been over run and the inhabitants were being slaughtered."
ZOO Radio gave out the standard things like..."If your lost go to. If you're injured, go to. Yaddah, Yaddah..." nothing changed from the last news five minutes earlier, at one point I just snapped at the radio to shut up!
Then the first big bright spot! The text message services came back on line and I got one from Linzi...
"Nothing landed where we're at! We're all ok!"
I sat down on the beach for a bit you know? Come on, I am a rabbit! rabbits get emotional! I cried as the text kept coming in. All my brothers were fine. My parents were fine, all my other brothers and sisters were fine. Judy and Nick were ok but their house downtown was completely trashed. One bright spot in hell for the moment because we all knew the Kzinti were just getting started.
Toshiro and I were finished on Lion's Gate by 4pm and were re-assigned to downtown Zootopia, the strike epicenter where the majority of the rockets landed. Once again into a gator tank and on the road. All of us in the landing vehicle got our first eyes wide panoramic view of downtown and it was a terrible picture of wide smoke plumbs, half crumbled skyscrapers, fires everywhere...
And dead bodies. On the side walks, on places you don't expect dead mammals to end up like roof tops or trees. Pieces of bodies...bloody pools surrounding what? A deer? A Fox?. Not a few riding in the tank didn't add their puke to the wafting stink in the air.
We all heard over the radio that it was true...Mayor Leo and his wife were both dead, caught in the executive mansion. Their two cubs were pulled from the basement of the rubble.
The huge assault carrier Seyoni had not been sunk after all. She took two rocket hits but was still operational thank Frith alone with most of our surface fleet.
The Destroyer Gnu York was gone, the last radio message sent home was..."We did all we could do! We died fighting! Hail Zootopia!" for the rest of the war, the slogan "Remember the York!" would adorn war bond propaganda posters all over the city.
As for the Growler? No word. I prayed to Frith and Prince Rabbit not to send the black rabbit of death to take my nephew away to Falah, the rabbit heaven. Then I thought...since Jackson was part fox...better pray to the gawdess Vulpix for some extra umph! Didn't find till two days later that Jackson survived and the Growler was coming home seriously messed up yet still afloat."
Toshiro and I ended up spending the rest of the first day at a high school downtown treating wounded mammals and working with the Zootopian red cross to find lost relatives for cubs and kittens who were brought in wounded or injured. There was a little ferret cub named Mandy who'd lost her right leg to falling debris. Absolutely adorable despite everything, she entertained me to death with "cat's cradle" designs after I found a ball of string in a teacher's desk. I search around for some ribbon rolls and sat making a nice hair pin ribbon for her as she talked me to death. I was always told to tell patients the truth but it's hard to tell a cute little ferret that legs don't grow back on certain mammals. I seriously "white winged" that explaination. Thankfully her parents survived and they came squealing and crying into the equipment closet turned into a temporary recovery room. A bright spot amidst all the tragedy of the day.
As I left the family alone and walked out into the big school gym that was turned into a temporary hospital space...I saw Toshiro sitting with his head down and his ears bent low...
"Hey?" I said as I walked up. "You alright?"
Toshiro looked at me..."My sister Quinn...and my parents...are dead." He said.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
Toshiro showed me a text from his brother Cecil. "At least...it was quick." He sighed. "One of those bombs...the whole family was running into the woods to get away from the housing block. Just a lousy stroke of luck for one friggen rocket. One second they were there? The next?...mercifully quick and they were...gone."
I wrapped my arms around Toshiro and held him as he sobbed. "Can you use a bunny pillow tonight?" I asked.
Toshiro rubbed my head..."I just need a few minutes to deal with it. We obviously got more work to worry about."
"Toshi?" I said concerned as I played with Toshiro's jowls..."Don't burn yourself down ok?"
"As they say? I'm tactical." Toshiro replied. "Just give me a few minutes alone and I'll be ready to get at it. Just promise me I'll be your best mammal at your wedding."
"You're best mammal 24/7?" I replied. I kissed Toshiro on his head and left him to mourn his loss.
11:45pm
We were "spent" as you'd say when a mammal's gone beyond their strength and then some, talk about "On the Job Training" gone amok. We were lucky they didn't do any severe damage to the country-wide climate control systems downtown was having an "Indian summer" with a night time temperature not cold nor too hot which meant we could sleep outside with our thin basic medical blankets...
"I got some texts from my brother Nori." I said to Toshiro as we lay on the football field. Seems a lot of other mammals got the same idea, better to be out in the open and have a chance to run than be packed into a building with no basement shelter. That's what happened over at elementary school number six on Herd Street. Packed full of mammals and a direct hit...at last count? One Hundred Thirty Two mammals killed.
"Where are they?" Toshiro asked.
"Standing "blocking guard" in the Agave desert west of Sahara Beach in case the Kzinti invade us." I said as I lay in my feral form allowing Toshiro to wrap himself over me...
Now before you get all "weird" and snit in perverse thoughts? You need to understand that "emotional enforcement" is a common trait among mammals, especially if you develop such close bonds like my sister did for a fox...her husband. Toshiro was "My fox" my absolute dearest of friends who while he may have shown himself to be resilient as steel for public digest...was now hurting from losing family. Sometimes you need to "hug and snug" when you can't deal with the pain and somebody has to be the "snug-it" and who doesn't like a rabbit in feral form who's "plushy" when "plushy" is required?
"Thanks Dori." Toshi said as he licked on my ears and snuggled my head under his chin.
"Anytime Tosh." I replied as I reached back to pet his snoot. "Just don't get to "happy" you silly fox."
Toshiro pointed up to the night sky. "They should think about cutting all the lights off more often...look at how many stars there are."
"I think after a week of being lights out?" I replied. "The stars are going to be the least of our concerns."
"Sigh...Good night Dori. Sleep well." Toshiro said as he pulled me closer.
"Night Toshi." I replied. "Up and at it again tomorrow." I said.
"Don't remind me." Toshiro replied.
End of Chapter 9