Chapter 9- Picnic in the park

I lay in bed watching the rising sun's light bleed into the room between the blinds. Last night was an emotional night, I learned Kyle was a douche bag before I came on the scene. If he's in my body back home, I hope he's enjoying my 1 bedroom studio apartment, empty bank account, estrangement from my family, and laundry list of angry ex-girlfriends.

I have more guns than any American ought to have... I take that back, I have exactly the right amount of guns an American should have. I hope this pussy doesn't lose his shit and shoot himself in the head... meh, fuck him, maybe if he ruins my body there is no chance of me having to leave. I feel like Levi had something to do with how I got here. Maybe he tried to kill Kyle, and this happened. I also wonder about that gore in the recycler, Levi didn't seem in a hurry to investigate that. Or even file a report, and now I've given him the physical evidence. I still have a photo of it in my cell phone. But do I want to contact the police and potentially get Kaia's brother tossed in jail? I could investigate it myself...

"What are you thinking about?" Kaia whispers in my ear.

"What makes you think, I was thinking?"

"You were staring at the wall and furrowing your brow."

I furrow my brow trying to think of a deflection.

"See, you are thinking again, probably of a clever lie to change the subject."

"I'm a man, we don't have thoughts, just actions we haven't taken yet." I smirk thinking how witty and clever I am.

"I stand corrected, you were TRYING to think of a witty statement." She smirks and says, "So, what action are you about to take?" She growls playfully and licks my neck.

"Oh? Now you're in trouble!" I growl back playfully and grab her scruff pulling her head back exposing her neck. The distinct smell of cinnamon fills my nostrils, as I run my free paw down her lower back.

"Oh am I?" She says as she grips my shoulders and pulls me on top of her.

"You woke the BEAST!" I say as I gently nibble on her collarbone. She smells so good, she growls softly, I feel my pulse quicken as my mind races. I look in her hungry amber eyes, she pulls me in tight kissing me, I feel the rush by primal desire filling me.

Kaia startles me, grabbing the blankets pulling them over our bodies.

As quickly as the covers conceal our nudity, BANG! the bedroom door slams open, Gavin bounds into the room wearing his Spider-Pig feety pajamas.

"Tskt, tskt," Gavin punches at air, mimicking Spider-Man shooting webs. And singing the theme song loudly, bouncing to the cadence, "Spider-pig, Spider-pig, does whatever, a spider can! Spins a web, any si—". He stops noticing us piled on top of one another under the blankets. "are you two wrestling?" He looks at us, slightly tilting his head to either side.

Kaia looks at me, and back to Gavin "we are just talking, why don't you go back to bed?"

"I'm ready to go to the BBQ! I want to play!" Gavin says excitedly.

Kaia sighs in defeat, climbing off of me, "Ok, c'mon, I'll make you something to eat."

She dips under the blanket and emerges a moment later wearing her purple slip. Nice magic trick, I think to myself as she escorts Gavin out of the bedroom.

Damn, I glance under the blanket at myself. I don't want to go to a BBQ all horny and shit.

I go into the bathroom, searching through Kaia's and my own cabinets, I find some ivory scented fur conditioner in Kaia's cabinet and test a drop on my thumb and index finger. Feels lubricating...

That didn't take long, 2-5 minutes later.

I come out of the toilet room feeling much relieved and bump into Kaia in the bathroom hall.

She says, "I put Spider-Pig on the TV and gave him a big bowl of sugar cereal. Take your shorts off, We should have maybe 20-25 minutes." She sniffs at me, following the scent of conditioner to my right paw, and looks at me in frustration and disgust. She grabs me by the scruff, "What the?!" I protest. She growls while dragging me towards the bed, "You selfishly took care of yourself without me. Now you are going to take care of your loving wife."

30 minutes later.

I wait patiently, sitting at the kitchen table, rubbing my sore jaw while a happy Kaia, places a bowl of Grain-O's in front of me. This wolf tongue is good for at least one thing. She kisses the top of my head as I open my mouth wide stretching my jaw muscles. She hugs me around the neck, "I love you," she says. "I love you too."

There is a knock at the door, "I'll get it!" Gavin says as he runs to the front door still wearing his Spider-Pig pajamas. "Hi!" Gavin says excitedly.

I hear my friend from works voice, Derek, "Hey Gavin, your parents awake?"

"Yeah..." Gavin says quietly.

"Can we come in?"

I call out, "C'mon in Derek, we're in the kitchen."

Derek comes in wearing a denim shirt, white t-shirt, and light brown corduroy pants, carrying a white pastry box. Behind his legs peaking out is a little tan wolf girl with black markings on her face. She's wearing a black and white checkered fleece hoody, and black shorts. Big contrast against her white father with grey stripe on his muzzle. Also, clearly her mother dressed her. Who wears denim shirts these days?

He says, "S'up Kyle? Charlotte, you remember Kyle right? I know it's been a while, he hasn't come to hangout in over a week," he looks at me disapprovingly. All I can think is, did he say s'up?

"Hi, Charlotte." I say, She's hiding behind Derek's leg, half hiding her face, looking at Gavin.

Kaia breaks the silence, "Gavin why don't you show Charlotte your play room." Gavin shakes his head and retreats into Kaia's leg.

Kaia walks Gavin over to Charlotte.

"Hey Charlotte, do you want to play 'Gnomes at Night'?"

She shrugs clinging to Derek's leg. Derek volunteers for her, "Yes, she does. She loves that game, made me play twice this morning before we came here." He kneels so he can speak softly to Charlotte at her eye level, "go on, show Gavin how good you are at 'Gnomes at Night.'"

She steps away from Derek towards Gavin and Kaia takes them both by the paw into the play room. I didn't even know we had a playroom. I guess that's the door next to Gavin's room.

Derek stands up to talk to me, "Kids, eh?"

I turn my attention towards Derek, "she's a little shy." He says,

"Gavin too apparently. Excited for your adult evening?"

"You don't even know! Your beignets." He places a box on the kitchen table. I slide my bowl of cereal away and open the box. The scent of powdered sugar is strong, but nearly over powdered by the smell of vanilla coming from the dipping sauce. I gingerly take one out, a little powder sugar flakes off as I dip it and stick it into my mouth. My eyes widen. It's light, and airy, the vanilla compliments the powdered sugar perfectly. "Yeah, REAL good right?"

I nod in agreement while eating another one. I close the box and move them away from myself. "I better stop before I leave none for Kaia and Gavin."

"Better than sex, I think. It's been so long I've forgotten what it feels like."

"Well you have the whole day to find out."

He elbows me, and whispers. "My dick hasn't been wet in so long, I might need to put chapstick on it." He starts to laugh so hard I think he might be unable to breath.

I get up and usher him to the front door. "Ok, funny man, get outta here and give your wife that funny bone. Thanks for the pastries"

"Beignets," he corrects. "Thanks for taking her, have fun at the BBQ." I watch him walk down the hall, he has what looks like a brown wolf princes drawn on the back of his denim shirt in crayon.

I dip back into my apartment and close the door.

I sit back at the kitchen table and look at my bowl of blank Grain-O's. Still aren't soggy... I muscle through finishing the rest of the bowl. I really need Kaia to pickup some better cereal,

Kaia comes out of the play room and looks at me, I can feel her eyes scrutinizing my choice of outfits.

"Are you wearing that?"

I look at my outfit, white sleeveless t shirt, says big bad wolf, and some grey cargo shorts.

"Something wrong with this?"

"Maybe just the shirt? The fur hasn't filled in on your shoulder yet. How about this blue under shirt, with this grey button down shirt?"

"Um, ok." I take the shirts and quickly change.

"You look much better, more adult." She says, her phone gets a notification.

"Our ride is here." She says putting her phone in her purse.

"We have a Chauffeur service?"

"No, Lupine is taking us in his car"

"Lupine is coming to your family bbq?"

"Yes, we needed a ride and he wanted to bring Alix to meet more wolves. My family is more accepting than yours."

"Oh, ok. So I walk everywhere but Lupine has a car?"

"Yeah, most people in Zootopia use mass transit. It's better for the environment, could you imagine what it would do to the air quality if we all drove everywhere?"

"Couldn't imagine, why does he have a car?"

"He's an architect, he drives to lots of job sites."

I rub my forehead, "why am I a garbage man and my brother's an architect?"

She adjusted my collar, "you had responsibilities."

"Well, all for the best. I 100% can't design shit."

"She pats my cheek, I'll get the Kids,"

Before Kaia could leave to gather them, they are already on their way, having a heated argument as they walk. Charlet says "No way, Mar Vel would rip Spider-Pig in half"

"Nah uh! He would just web her up and fling her into the sun", Kyle has changed out of his spider-pig pajamas. Now he is wearing khaki cargo shorts, green t-shirt, with a dark grey vest and green baseball cap. The cap has notches cut into it so his ears poke through. I think to myself what is the point of that? He might as well wear a visor.

Kaia opens the door and Alix leaps through the air easily 4 feet and hugs me almost knocking me over. "Hey! Lupine is waiting with the car. Come, Come kiddies". She jumps off me and runs down the hall. I'm frozen in place, shocked.

"How far is this place?" I ask.

"2 hours, do you want to help me carry something?" Kaia holds up 2 big shoulder bags. I take one of the bags, it's heavy, thing must weight 30lbs.

"What's in this bag?"

"Anything we might need for Gavin or Charlotte." She picks up a backpack, "and this one is for you." She winks at me.

We load up Lupine's vehicle, they call it a car, but this is a big SUV. It reminds me of a Cadillac Denali, seats 8 mammals, 2 in front 3 second row, 3 in third row, and then a rather small trunk. The third row folds down into the floor if we wanted extra trunk space.

Lupine and Alix sit in the front, me and Kaia in the middle, and the kids with a pair of Game Gears, sit in the back. They can connect the systems with a wire and play together, which is a godsend. They were 20 seconds from having a fist fight over their favorite superheroes, before Kaia calmed them with video games.

I'm sitting back here looking at Alixs body, she's so small, and very thin. I could grab her upper arm and my thumb and index finger would touch. Two paws would definitely get around her thigh. Maybe even the thinnest part of her stomach, I might have to squeeze her a little for that.

A text notification snaps me out of my train of thought, it's from Kaia,

'What are you staring at?' She must have noticed me staring at Alix's tiny hips.

I look at her, shes furrowing her brow at me. I text her back, 'I think if they have sex, his dick is going to come out her mouth'. Kaia's eyes go wide and she slaps me on the shoulder.

"You ok back there?" Lupine asks,

Kaia says "yes, there was just a bug back here, I got it though"

I smile and shrug at her.

"Don't be disgusting" she whispers at me." I rub my shoulder, she actually hit me kinda hard.

After a moment of rubbing my shoulder, "So, how are you guys?" I ask

Alix and Lupine speak over each other at first. Then Lupine nods for Alix to answer the question.

"We're great, couldn't be better. Lupine is so sweet, last night he made a path of rose petals. From the front door to the bed, with a bouquet of jerky roses, on my pillow." Alix says touching Lupines arm.

"So, what happened then?" I lean in full of curiosity.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yes, yes I would, that's why I asked."

She puts her paws over her mouth, I can see the inside of her ears blushing.

Kaia hits me again, "ouch!" I rub my shoulder.

I look at Lupine, it's harder to see, wolves have a lot of fur in our ears. But I can see him blushing too. I don't know how sex between them works, but apparently it does.

I look at him in the rear view mirror and pat his shoulder, when he looks in the mirror and makes eye contact. I wink at him. This guy isn't really my brother, and my only brothers back home are the men I served with. I feel a kinship none the less. Maybe some of Kyle survived in me, or maybe it's just instinctual fondness. Maybe if someone is genetically related to me, I'm just more inclined to feel affection for them. Maybe all of what I feel here, what I feel for Kaia and Gavin is just raw Wolf instinct I have no control over. Maybe if I woke up in my original human body, the deep affection I feel would be gone.

When I was human I wasn't a particularly kind or generous person. Of all the ex-girlfriends I've had, I don't think I really loved any of them beyond my own self interest. I didn't even love my family, everyone just treated me like I was broken when I came back. They were a constant reminder of what I lost, my humanity. I feel more human as this wolf than I ever did as a man. The only people I remember loving are my shipmates, my brothers. Even though I can't remember their faces anymore. I've had more of my brothers kill themselves as civilians than die as sailors. We use to joke about 6 months manning a cash register killed ya easier than 4 years of non-stop deployment in a combat zone. I didn't realize how true that shit was.

I'm snapped out of my internal monologue by someone calling my name, "Kyle. Kyle!" I blink and see a very concerned looking Kaia staring at me. "Lupine is charging the car, do you want to stretch your legs." Did she say charging? Are all cars here electric?

"Nah, I'm good." She takes my face in her paws and wipes the corner of my eyes with her thumbs.

She kisses my forehead and stands next to the car looking at something I can't see.

I wipe my face with my paw and find streaks of moisture on my cheeks. Was I crying?

Gavin climbs into the car and sits next to me "Can I sit with you?"

"Sure, but don't you want to play with Charlotte?"

"Yeah, I can sit with you and play with her." He sits Indian style and rests his back against me. I feel comforted by his presence, my previous thoughts quickly fade to the recesses of my mind.

Kaia sits in the back with Charlotte.

I watch Gavin's game over his shoulder, he explains to me what he's doing, but I'm not paying all that much attention. You collect resources, like wood from trees and stone from rocks. Use them to build things and change the terrain. Looks like a fun building game.

40 minutes of watching Gavin play his game and it doesn't look like he made any progress. He's just building more walls on his castle.

"We're here." Lupine says.

I look through the windshield and see the large gates of White Haven Camp Grounds. White Haven Camp Ground is advertised as being 50,000 acres of dense woods, with enough camp sites for 40,000 mammals. We slowly travel down a main road with branching paths every couple hundred yards. Some of the paths lead to log cabins or fire pits we can see, many extend far into the woods.

Kaia directs Lupine's driving from the back seat, which brings us to a large open area of grass with 5 cabins neatly spread. There is a volleyball tent in the middle of a sand pit. Looks like about 30 other wolves are here. There is an area with 4 other large cars like this one and 2 smaller sedans cars parked together. Lupine pulls up and parks along side them.

"Ooh, I'm nervous," says Alix. "I've never been alone around this many wolves before."

I say, "You're not alone, you're with us, and if you can tolerate Lupine, it's easy street from here on out. Although, I was expecting a far smaller group myself. Looks like 2 platoons of Wolfards."

Kaia defends herself, "it's my immediate family, plus some friends, and their immediate families."

I say, "the more the merrier! Look, lots of other youngsters for Gavin and Charlotte to play with." I point to a small group of maybe 7-8 young wolves playing football, one of the younger looking wolves tackled a bigger one to the ground real hard. I wince and say, "Ouch, maybe not, these kids play rough."

The moment Kaia opens the door, a blast of odors flood the car, I can smell flowers and trees, all the mammals in surrounding area, plus many away. I step out of the vehicle, I smell a stream out of sight but close to our camp site. My senses are overwhelmed, as I stand there sniffing for a moment. Gavin bolts out towards the other kids playing football, before I recover from my sensory overload.

I turn to Kaia whom is still sniffing the air, with a faint smile on her face. "Took him 5 minutes to warm up to Charlotte..."

She snorts to clear the scents from her nose and turns to me, "He is intimidated by her, I think he likes her." Following her example I snort to clear my nose, but it's not as effective as I was expecting. When I draw my next breath, the scents flood back in.

From the back seat we hear a sniffle, "He left me in the car." Charlotte says, sadly.

Gavin darts in between me and Kaia, and says excitedly "Charlotte, c'mon, c'mon, Come meet my boys!" He grabs Charlotte's paw and they run off together.

I watch Gavin introduce Charlotte, and after an awkward moment where she stood apart from everyone, she started playing with them. Upon closer inspection, they don't seem to be playing football. It's like reverse tag with a football. Whomever has the ball gets chased by everyone.

Kaia says to me, "Do you want to help us?" I look over at Kaia and Lupine unloading bags and food from the car.

"Not particularly." I smirk at her.

She looks at me sternly and crosses her arms.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

I help carry our cargo to some tables near the middle of this camp site.

We brought more food than I thought. I'm carrying a light box of beignets, Lupine and Alex are carrying heavy silver trays of mac & cheese, and chicken wings.

Across from the tables is a giant cylindrical 12 foot BBQ grill, pulled on a trailer. Levi is standing near it with 4 other mammals. A Jaguar, 2 fox's, one white, the other black, and another wolf. They are all staring at me, Levi points in my direction with a big two pronged fork. The smell of burning charcoal is heavy in the air. In fact I can barely smell anything else over it.

Levi runs over and hugs Kaia picking her up over his head. "There is my favorite sister!" He shouts. "I'm your only sister!" She says back as he sets her down on her feet. They hug for another moment and touch foreheads. He shakes paws with my brother, and greets Alix, speaking softly and giving her a polite smile with a closed mouth.

They exchange pleasantries before Levi finally turns to acknowledge me, he extends his paw for a shake which I grasp firmly, "not going to pick me up and twirl me in the air too?" I say with a smile.

Levi laughs, "maybe later, I have some mammals I'd like you to meet."

Kaia kisses me on the cheek and says to Levi, "bring him back in one piece, please."

I cut off Levi before he can speak,

"don't worry, I'll be gentle with him." Levi gives me a toothy grin, walking back towards his grill, he beckons me to follow.

These are clearly his equivalent of army buddies, they are all wearing khaki cargo pants, the same brand of sunglasses, they even stand the same way.

Levi introduces me to his friends, the jaguar is Lucus, the female white fox is Rayne, black fox Jasper, and the other wolf is a dark brown older fellow named Dixon, I think he's in his mid-40's.

"If I stand around with you guys do I get issues my own pair of Oakleys?"

"These are Barklies." The jaguar corrects, passing me his shades. I inspect them, whatever they are called here, these look just like Oakley half-jackets. I should know, I have a collection of them. I pass them back, Lucus's eyes look like almond shaped balls of amber in his black eye sockets.

Dixon reaches into a cooler, "no, but you get a beer." He pulls a can of beer out and tosses it to me in one smooth motion.

"Thanks." I say as I catch it, "You guys all work for Apex?"

"Yep, yep" says Jasper sounding very chipper.

"How's that investigation going?" I ask, I look around at all their blank faces. Levi speaks up, "it's in progress, want to try one of these burgers? You may remember the meat quality."

He opens BBQ, it's filled with sausage, burgers, steaks! My mouth starts to water

Jasper says "You're in for a treat, this is that grade A good stuff!"

"Oh, he's tried it before" says Levi.

Jasper puts his paws over his muzzle and steps back in shock "Ah! This is the Kyle you made have sex with the sheep vagina?"

I look around nervously for Kaia "shhhh, don't say that so loud near my family. But, that shit was good!" I laugh, I stop laughing when I notice I'm the only one. Everyone else just looks at me in horror.

Levi breaks the silence "no, he didn't orgasm so hard he shit himself, it's an expression he's recently adopted".

"Oh, ok..." everyone seems to relax.

"Still gross" says Rayne.

"Alright, alright, ease off him." Says Levi.

"So, Apex is catering this party?" I ask

Dixon says, "They can't sell yet, so they allow it to disappear from storage, rather than be thrown away."

Levi says, "What a waste that would be."

I take a sip of my beer, tastes like Sam Adams, if it came in a can and had that distinct can after taste.

Lucus gestures towards my brother hugging his ocelot girlfriend by the car. "That's your brother right? What's that about?" He asks.

"I don't know, they love each other I guess."

Rayne says, "Well, better than a sheep."

"That has yet to be seen, I'd need a side by side comparison," I say, jokingly

"What needs a side by side?" Kaia asks, I freeze, damn this charcoal, I would have been able to smell her otherwise.

"These sausages." Levi holds up two giant sausages. Nice save Levi, and I was sure this guy hated me after our conversation yesterday.

"I'd enjoy that side by side comparison," Kaia says with a curious smirk. Levi passes her a sausage in a bun, offering her mustard or ketchup. Like a true American she chooses mustard. Although she isn't an American, I haven't been asking enough questions. But it seems like Zootopia is its own sovereign City State. I'll have to look into the political climate later.

"Mom?" I turn around and see Gavin sniffling through a bloody nose.

I bend down to examine him and ask "Gavin, what happened to you?"

Kaia puts her paw on my shoulder, "it's ok, just a bloody nose, let's get you fixed up and you can tell me how this happened."

She leads him away by the paw to the table we put all the bags on. Charlotte follows closely looking concerned.

Levi says, "Gavin's a tough kid, he'll be ok."

"Yeah. He's just had a tough week."

I watch Kaia talk to him and clean up his nose from here. I can't hear them, but they are all smiling.

Levi says, "He looks happy."

"Where are yours?"

He points to where the kids are playing volley ball. "Two of them are in that group someplace, my youngest wasn't feeling very well, so he's home with my baby. My baby is with my baby." He chuckles.

"Not to change the subject but, where are your parents?"

"Over there." He points to a packed picnic table.

"Thanks" I start to walk in that direction but Levi catches my arm.

"Whoah, hold on there. They would rather not see you."

"Oh, well, Never mind then." Oh I really wanted to meet Kaia's parents.

"Don't look so defeated, you wouldn't enjoy that interaction anyway. Let's play a game with the guys," he puts his arm around my shoulders and ushers me to another picnic table. Gavin is already sitting there with Charlotte and Kaia. When I sit next to Kaia, she puts her paw on my thigh and leans into me.

I send a text to Bianca, 'please get Gavin Enrolled' she responds 'very well'

"Who's that?" Kaia whispers to me.

"My liaison to our wealthy benefactor" I whisper back.

Her eyes speak louder and more clearly than her words possibly could, don't fuck us. I wink back, don't worry baby I got this. She doesn't look 100% convinced, maybe 60%.

I take a bite of the burger Levi sat in front of me while I was reassuring Kaia with my eyes. "Ohh, wow, that's delicious."

Gavin looks up at me nodding in agreement as he chews a mouth full of his own burger.

Levi sits down with a deck of cards and some poker chips. 2 dollar buy in, 2 bucks bought me a ton of chips, Very friendly family game. Levi deals 3 in the middle face up, deals two cards to each player. I'm going to assume this is Texas Hold'em, my game! I'm going to take everyone's money.

I look at my first two cards, pocket aces, with an ace, 2, 10 on the table. Everyone folds.

Second hand is poop, I try to bluff, no one buys it.

I must have a tell that is giving everything away, my paws are motion less, my face stone cold, I make no unnecessary movements when touching anything. 6 games later and I'm out of chips. "You suck at this Daddy"

"Thanks Gavin, I didn't notice."

Kaia says, "it's your ears, you might as well wear a mirror on your neck, everyone knows if your cards are good or bad by the expression on your ears."

Everyone laughs.

"Can I borrow some of your chips?" I reach for one of her stacks. She bats my paw away playfully. "No, no, you lost the farm. Now let this bad bitch win it back."

I sit next to her, she says "you can be my trophy husband, no money but nice to look at". She sticks her tongue out at me and proceeds to double her chips in 4 more games. 6 more games later it's down to just Kaia, Jasper the black fox, and Lupine just barely hangin in with 6 chips. Which he loses in his next game. Chips go back and forth before Kaia gets bold and goes all in, Jasper goes all in calling Kaias bluff. unfortunately for Jasper she wasn't bluffing. Her four queens beat his 3, 5's and 2 queens.

Kaia converts her chips to dollars, she walks away fanning herself with 20 dollars in singles.

I say to Kaia, "C'mon sugar momma, watcha got for me?"

Kaia stuffs a single in my pants, everyone at my table hoots, which turns into a howl... within seconds a single Howl turns into 30, I even hear howls in the distance from wolves not even in our party. I stand there dumbstruck as everyone's head is tilted back howling. Everyone except the two foxes, and jaguar, all 3 looking at me. Even Alix the ocelot attempts to howl, chest to chest with Lupine.

I step up to Kaia and howl along with her, she stops and looks at me, "you forgot how to howl?" She whispers.

"What do you mean? I was doing it." , she kisses me and says, "we'll work on this." A few seconds pass and the howling dies down "woo wee! That was fun." Alix says and jumps into Lupine's arms. "How was I?" "You were great!" He says swinging her around.

Gavin looks at me funny, "are you sick?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"You sounded bad," he says.

I look over at the foxes and jaguar who were watching me, they are talking to Levi. He turns, looks at me and lowers a pair of Barkley sunglasses from his eyes.

That is the most disapproving look I've seen anyone give me up to this point.

Kaia says, "it's about time to go, I'm going to say my goodbyes."

I make my rounds saying good bye to Levi and his friends, they are polite, but a little standoffish. I guess not howling well is a big deal.

Levi asks "Before you go, do you want to go a few rounds? I brought some boxing gear, but didn't get a chance to use it, would be a shame."

"Another time, maybe we can find some time during the work day?"

"I'll hold ya to it."

We pile back into Lupine's car, I snooze on the way home. Kaia gently rocks me out of my slumber, "c'mon, let's go home."

I notice Charlotte is missing "where is.."

"We dropped her off on our way home."

I hug Lupine, and Alix goodbye. Alix says "Thanks for having me, I had a lot of fun."

"Thanks for coming, have a good night."

I waive as the car pulls off, I carry two shoulder bags. Kaia carries the backpack and Gavin. Kaia stops at the front door of our complex.

I ask, "What's the matter why aren't you going in?" Then I smell it. The scent of blood is wafting through the hall and our the front door. Kaia steps back as a dark figure jumps down from the stair case, the stench of gore pouring off it stings my nose.

I step forward blocking its path to Kaia and Gavin.

It looks like a jackal or big fox, it's fur blood soaked and caked in gore. Wearing ripped jeans also bathed in blood. It has a long thin filet knife clenched in its paw. Our eyes meet, his lips curlup revealing pointy pink teeth, stained in the blood of his most recent victim.

He lunged at me with the knife,

"Kyle!" Kaia screams.

I step back finding my retreat blocked by a panicking Kaia. I drop one satchel, using both paws to use the second as a shield. The filet knife easily penetrates the bag, I see the glint of 3 inches of steel poking through my side of my bag. I twist the bag and try to redirect the knife to my left.

The jackal grabs the bag with his free paw and tries to wrench it from my grasp. While pulling his knife free, I release the bag. The jackal nearly falls backwards, his momentum carrying him backwards, away from me.

I grab the strap of the bag I had dropped, and spin it over head to strike my assailant. An ineffective strike, the soft contents barely phase my attacker. He casts off the bag he had stripped from my grasp and lunges at me again with an under paw stab. I step back switching my stance, his attack thrusts through the empty space I had just occupied. I deflect his knife with an open paw strike to his wrist, followed by a kick to his groin. My kick must have missed his testicles, he recovers rapidly and presses his attack. Stabbing at me rapidly, forcing me to retreat back making a small circle in the lobby of my complex. He delays his attack momentarily to catch his breath. Seizing the opportunity, I dart in, grabbing his knife wielding paw. He grabs a fist full of my shirt with his other paw and tries to bite my face, I strike him under his jaw with a vertical elbow, his jaw snaps shut from the impact. One paw holding his knife paw, I grab his throat with my free paw and easily lift him up and throw him into the wall. He felt so much bigger when he had the knife. Now I realize he's barely bigger than Alix.

He stands up snarling at me, blood dripping from his muzzle. Kaia runs into the lobby with a pipe and locks her eyes on him. He charges me, mouth wide open, right into my straight kick to his chest which knocks him into the wall with so much force he bounces, off the wall and back towards me. I prepare to finish the fight with a ridge hand strike to the sternum. Kaia strikes him with the pipe across the face before I get a chance, blood bursts from his face. He stumbles drunkenly before Kaia crushes him to the ground with an over head strike to the collar bone. The jackal lays motionless, blood leaking out of his face, where his cheek bone is crushed, the eye protruding from its socket.

Kaia stands frozen holding the pipe over her head.

I grab Kaia in a hug, "Kaia, are you ok?" Dropping the pipe she wrap's her arms around me. "..." she doesn't respond, in shock from the carnage she wrought.

I shake her gentle, pulling her eyes away from the incapacitated jackal, she looks at me. I ask, "Where is Gavin?"

"He's outside, are you ok in here alone with him?" She points to the jackal that's barely breathing in the floor.

"Yes, go."

I crouch next to him, pinning his one good arm under my shin as I check his pulse and examine his injuries. He's so soaked through with blood, when I kneel on his arm I can feel the moisture soaking my leg fur. I roll him onto his stomach and use my shirt to tie his arms behind his back. "Kaia! Someone must be injured or worse upstairs. I need you to watch this guy."

Kaia returns carrying Gavin, she sits him on the step, and clutches the pipe.

I run up the steps following the smell of blood. The trail leads to the first door on the second floor. I enter the apartment through the unlocked door. This apartment has a very similar layout to my own. In the living room, there is a naked male meerkat, face down on the coffee table. He's been disemboweled through his back, every drop of his blood soaked into the carpet. I don't see his organs anywhere, did the jackal eat them? I check the first bedroom, empty. Second bedroom, empty. The smell of blood and feces is strong in the master bedroom. I brace for the worse and open the door. The bed is barely bigger than a double sized mattress. I can't even identify what I'm looking at upon it, tiny meerkat limbs, blood, and flesh are strewn about the mattress, the smell of semen is faint in the air. Blood smears on the carpeted floor lead into the bathroom. I open the bathroom door, there is a merekat female split in two, her body hallow, organs missing. I head back Into the living room. I freeze in place, two reflective eyes stare at me from the darkness in the kitchen. "Hey, come out!" I shout.

A naked jackal female crawls out of the kitchen on all fours, she stands up and hisses at me, in fear or anger, I do not know. Her fur is soaked through with blood, frothy pink saliva drips from her snarling maw.

She quickly moves towards the front door, but I'm faster. I grab her by her back leg and fling her deeper into the apartment. She crashes into the wall, crumpling to the ground, I keep forgetting how much smaller and lighter these jackals are. She gasps for breath, coughing and writhing on the ground. The door behind me is kicked open, a caped buffalo police officer steps into the apartment brandishing a taser. "Freeze, get on the ground!" He demands pointing his taser at me.

I drop to the ground, placing my paws behind my head, "be careful she's crazy."

"What's your name?" He asks, training his weapon between me and the jackal.

"Kyle Wulfric."

"Stay right there Mr. Wulfric."

He cautiously approaches the jackal, when he gets close she tries to bite him. He deflects her muzzle with a strike from his taser knocking her unconscious and handcuffs her. Another officer, a wolf enters the room and begins cuffing me.

"He's fine, that's the victims husband."

He removes my cuffs, and helps me to my feet. The wolf officers puts a muzzle on the coyote and carries her out of the apartment.

"This is an active crime scene, please follow Officer Lupo, down the stairs." The buffalo orders.

"Thank you, Officer?"

"Officer Bogo"

I go downstairs and sit next to Kaia, she asks what I found, but I don't know how to describe it.

"Death," is all I tell her. The police take our statements and allow us to return to our apartment. We all sleep together in one bed that night.

Words from the author

I appreciate all the comments and feedback. I take all of it into consideration when I generate content.

The way I present the story, and how i portray the characters is evolving with my knowledge of writing. This is the second story Ive ever written.

There is an over arching rigid plot, but many of the B and C subplots are flexible. Not so much in how they unfold, but in how prominent the plot is.

for example, if teenage gavin wants to ask a girl out to prom. I will decide without regard if she will say yes or no. But if you the reader seem interested maybe a whole chapter is spent on it, otherwise, it may unfold behind the scenes and be summed up in 1 sentence.

To sum it up, your opinion matters to me.