Author's Note: Hello Lads and Ladies

I am once again struggling to keep a day-to-day writing tempo going which is both very annoying to me and it's keeping you guys waiting. I'll try my damnest to keep it going faster. Not much to say this week, so please have fun with the chapter, we're close to the end.

Song recommendation for this Chapter: At the scene where Juno enters the Male Dormitories I recommend the track "Into the Pit ost - Insight and Renewal"

(Warning of Extreme Violence in this Chapter.)

Editors: SuperAverageFoxyboy, Dude who likes Tanks

Enjoy!

-Portal

Chapter 31: City of Animals.

The day had only reached 12 o'clock by a few minutes and the first rolling hammer of thunder sounded through the sky, the storm careening towards the city. And as the sky above cracked and thundered so did the city boil in rage below.

They were afraid, they were angry, and they were abandoned by all hope and guidance. Herbivores went inside and locked their doors, and carnivores marched down the streets in groups of dozens. The police department was flooded with a record-breaking amount of calls, dispatchers struggling with keeping calls going while taking in new ones. Like the thunder itself, the panic spread out.

And while most herbivores had started hiding in their homes there were a few still walking the streets, one of which being a mountain goat, walking with a heavy limp. He cradled the gun in his pocket as he limped forward with absolute hatred on his mind. A full six years had he waited for this moment to repay the debt still left to be absolved. He clutched his cane and leaned on it whenever he took a step with his left leg which had lost a substantial amount of muscle mass. It looked like a frail stick in comparison to his right leg.

His leg hurt with every step, burning pain that not even the pain killers could really remedy. Nerve damage the doctors had said, telling him that he had been lucky it was only his leg. If the dog had completely gone savage he might have been dead right then and there.

One thing he had found out though was that the resentment he felt was even more undying than the pain itself. The knowledge that the dog got away scot-free, being happy some places else, walking without a cane or wheelchair.

He could refrain from his urge to watch him for perhaps a year. Then he couldn't keep the urge under anymore. He fell into every bit of information he could find about that piece of shit dog. Where he studied, where he liked to eat, who he called his friends, and with which ladies he disappeared into his room. And after five years of waiting, he finally had enough. He knew which parking lot he parked in, and the revolver in his pocket was fully loaded.

His breathing was messy and the pain in his leg was a fiery intensity. Still, he marched onward, the parking spot before him.

He checked his watch, idling in his spot on the sidewalk. He counted the seconds till the average time of arrival that he had documented over the years of watching meticulously. Sometimes from his car, sometimes from atop a building, and one time from a park bench that the dumb dog walked right past. It was a risk to get so close but after a short moment of excitement, he noticed that he truly didn't care.

Three minutes till the dog arrives. His right hand rested in his pocket, softly cradling the grip of the revolver. His heart began to beat in his chest, his leg flaring with every hit of the beat. He stared across the almost dead road at this time of day and continued to watch the clock turn down.

When his watch indicated only a minute left his body tensed up further, causing a nasty spike of pain that had him grab his leg as his face contorted in a pained grimace. He closed his eyes in concentration and tried his best and breathe.

"Are you ok sir?" The goat angrily waved off whatever bystander just commented on his state, still gripping his leg with closed eyes. He breathed rhythmically feeling the pain cycling up his leg. When the pain finally settled itself into the pit of his stomach causing incredible nausea he heard the unmistakable sound of a car approaching, going slower by the moment.

He forced his eyes open, feeling the pain being drowned out by the heartbeat in his chest. The red car rolled into the parking lot, and the adrenaline made him feel electrified with energy.

That car belonged to the beast that nearly bit his leg off in blood lust. It brought him to the university where he studied, while he himself lived in a welfare apartment being tended to by nurses at nearly all hours of the day. They would be looking for him now, but that didn't matter. It was over.

He stumbled forward, not even the adrenaline managing to completely overpower the pain as he stumbled closer to the car. The driver's side door opened, the brown and white-furred beast poking its head out. He was on the other side of the car, his hand-dug in his pockets as he stumbled forward. Unwavering in his advance he pulled out the silver revolver from his pocket raising the barrel up to the same height as the beast's head.

The naive dog had just closed the car, still rummaging in his pocket for something. Did he want to end the dog's life before he would have the chance to look him in the eye one last time? He thought for only a moment.

"Micheal." The dog turned around to the sight of the goat, staring down the barrel of the gun. The features of it turned to terror, the goat smiling a crooked smile of insanity.

"T-Trimagasi." He delighted in hearing the dog say his name, it was in some ways his last victory. His hand held straight and pushed the hammer down, loading the chamber.

"Goodbye." His smile was far from sane, and his hand tensed up more and more, putting pressure on the trigger. Pain shot through his leg, and the absolute fear of his opponent, his nemesis, was life-giving.

Trimagasi felt a weight fall into his right side, his finger pushing the trigger a second too late. The bullet brazed past the dog's head as the goat fell to the floor in a violent crash. He screamed in pain as his leg burned like a gasoline-fueled fire. He saw the blue-colored uniform sleeve of the animal holding his arm down to the ground, but his mind was too plagued by pain In order to properly identify the meaning of it.

He released his hold on the weapon, his hand looking like a claw the way he curved his fingers. The fire in his leg didn't stop even when he was pushed face-first onto his stomach, releasing pressure from his leg. The officer that had just stopped the almost assassination yanked his arms to his back and was quick to place handcuffs.

Meanwhile on the other side of the car there stood Micheal the Saint Bernard, struck by the demonstration of his own mortality right before his eyes. He himself had only seen the policemen when the hippo had knocked Trimagasi to the ground.

He had felt so much guilt over all these years. He spent all the years controlling his urges, never once again consuming meat out of fear. And yet with all his effort he still managed to miss the fact of how terrible Trimagasi felt, while he himself started to enjoy life again.

"Are you ok sir?" The bull adjusted the police cap on his head. Micheal looked at him blankly.

"I-… I don't know." He truly didn't. So long had he spent trying to atone to some higher force for what he had done. And still, Trimagasi had suffered.

"Do you know this individual?" The policeman continued on his normal line of questioning, and Micheal found himself sinking into a state of memory. The memory of Trimagasi before he had mauled his leg. The goat he had met in school when he was just twelve years old.

"We were friends."


Riz broke through the doors of the dormitory building. He breathed in bursts that made curtains flutter, papers fly and potted plants shake. He marched through the halls like a bipedal version of a steam engine going at full throttle. He ascended the stairs past some pathetic carnivore brethren, not caring when he knocked into them.

They looked at the walking hulking behemoth of brown fur running up the stairs. Complete confusion was the aptest description of their appearance and their state of mind. That was only doubled when both Legosi and Bill came crashing down the hallway, nearly falling over each other as they looked onward in panic.

"Have you seen Riz?" Legosi asked in a panicked voice of agitation.

"He just stormed up the stairs something fierce-" Before he had even stopped speaking the two carnivores had started sprinting up the stairs behind the bear. The two other students were left there at the stairs, utterly confused.

Meanwhile upstairs on the community floor, the doors swung open in a violent crash. Every pair of eyes was glued to the bear.

"?" The tone of questions came through but the words lost meaning a while ago. Muscles spasmed, blood pumped and claws flicked. His senses were screaming in agony. He was in pain, he was hungry… he was angry.

Without another word, the hulking frame closed the doors and grabbed for a chair. His arms broke through the wood, leaving behind a few metal frames. He jammed bare metal bars into the large door handles, none of the community doors ever locked for the reasons of easy access in the name of student safety.

He turned around and took the room in. There they were, herbivores. The inferiors of life, those who were meant to be exploited. Biology simply didn't make them equal. He would honor them in the kill and consumption, he would never forget their taste and their smell. He wouldn't forget them…

Tem… Tem?…

The word repeated itself in his head and yet he couldn't associate it with anything. He knew it was important, but what it was was gone. Tears welled in his eyes as he was approached by a familiar white shape.

"?… … !" The shape spoke in hum without words, but the reaction to Riz's sudden kick forward was noticeable either way. The white shape flew across the room knocking a table over and landing in a mess of chairs

Behind him, the loud noises of continuous ramming into the door began just as he started his assault.

Outside Legosi and Bill were no longer alone. As both were ramming their shoulders with full force into the door a group of students had started to stand around them, asking questions of which none were answered.

"Riz!" Legosi shouted his name in a futile attempt at somehow appealing to his senses, but all they heard was the crashing they themselves caused in sync as they rammed their shoulders into the door over and over again, and the terrifying sound of screams from inside the room.

"What the hell is going on?" A voice asked from behind. Bill glared at the group in rage.

"GET STRIGHTMAN YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" The loud command caused some of them to jump back in fear, a few leaving the scene in a hurry looking for the policeman. The situation was very obviously beginning to be extremely urgent.

The screaming inside grew louder and Bill stopped for a second, his anger undertaken by the sudden tinge of sadness. He walked backward fixated on the door. Is this what it will come to? Ramming against a door while he kills them behind it?

Legosi looked at Bill and saw his sad face turn into a sight he would never forget. A face of pure-blooded rage that burned somehow even brighter than the savage beast that they had just faced a few minutes ago. Legosi looked at Bill and they locked eyes for a minute, a primitive and yet pure connection between two beings.

Bill nodded and Legosi understood and that was that no words were needed.

Legosi walked beside Bill and both in sync readied their stances. The other students looked on as both canine and feline got into position and exchanged one last glance as another scream broke out on the other side of the barricaded door.

The two carnivores ran forward, leaning into the run with their shoulders positioned towards the door. The metal bar bent into a crude V shape and flew into the room as the two caught their footing and saw the horrors in the room.

The sterile look of the white room had turned into a dark red nightmare. Bodies lay there in pieces, blood, pieces of flesh, and intestine were spread around like minced meat laid on the counters of the black market. And in the middle hunched stood a creature that was more beast than animal.

Riz's shirt had been torn from his body, his shoes had burst at the front and revealed gigantic claws, and his back was hunched forward over the body of another. Not a single soul that was present in the community room seemed to still be alive except for the shadow himself.

"You are no carnivore," Bill spoke loud and clear, his fist raised before him and his stance of a fighter complete. The shadow of a carnivore peeked over its broad shoulders, the black eyes seeming like infinitely deep voids that were ready to consume everything that had the misfortune of coming in front of it. It turned around, walking on all fours growling whilst spittle fell from its mouth. Bill cracked his knuckles and Legosi understood then and there that they wouldn't be trying to incapacitate him. This fight ends with the death of another.

"You are just a lonely shadow," Bill screamed and ran forward, Legosi following a moment later.

Riz roared as he and Bill collided, the shadow nearly falling over while Bill's hatred made him seem faster and harder-hitting than before. Bill targeted Riz's head in a brutal entourage of kicks and punches. Meanwhile, Riz swiped and bit into the air at the striped orange figure he couldn't fully grasp.

As Riz locked onto Bill for a counter-attack a crash threw him to the floor in dull pain. The destroyed chair laid in splinters around him as his head throbbed, darkness moving over it. But before he could recover from the sudden attack of Legosi Bill had resumed his attack with violent kicks to his stomach. With the air knocked out of him, the rage boiled further.

Riz's head snapped at Bill's foot and bit straight through the fake leather of his shoe. Bill's scream was music to his ears. And this time he was prepared for the flying object thrown by Legosi. His body shot upward, releasing Bill who in turn crashed to the floor cradling his foot and screaming in pain. The brown mass of muscle caught the chair and launched it forward like a catapult hurling a boulder.

Legosi jumped out of the way in a flash and started sprinting towards the bear at full speed yet all he accomplished was Riz's claws digging through his face. He winced in pain, falling forward as he tried to catch himself from sliding over the ground. A well-placed kick from behind and he fell flat forward, turned on his side towards Riz.

Legosi discovered that in this moment the only thing he truly did see in his tunnel vision was a large blood-soaked monster crawling over to Bill. As he slowly got his feet in an adrenaline-fueled haze he could only watch as Riz dug his claws into Bill's stomach, spit falling into the screaming tiger's face.

Legosi sprinted forward again, this time aiming for the red and halfway maimed neck of the shadow. Riz spun around and hurled his fist into the side of the wolf who flew off to the side into a wooden pillar of the room. The loud cracking signaled the breaking of quite a few ribs. The beast smiled in its crooked and savage ways, releasing a growl-like laugh that sounded demonic. Riz enjoyed it all, their little games turning into awful circles over and over. They were doomed to fail in their self-righteous arrogance. To them, it was a sin. To them it was… Them… Tem…

Riz stopped laughing and looked onwards almost saddened this time. What did that name mean?

Just a moment after he stopped laughing a sharp pain drove itself into his throat. The damned striped inferior had gotten up from the ground and had the nerve to bite him into the throat. Riz jammed his fingers into Bill's mouth, starting to claw into his jaw. Bill released his hold on the bear's jaw and bit down on his fingers instead.

Riz yelled a monstrous roar and shot up to his feet, yanking his hand back to him. There was a distinct sound of flesh ripping and Bill fell backward to the floor, a taste of blood as well as fleshy lumps in his mouth.

The shadow examined his left hand, his fingers now being a uniform length all with bloody fleshy pulps where the rest of them used to be. He looked past his hand, seeing Bill smile at him as he loudly swallowed.

Riz's face turned to a hateful grimace looking at the striped fury on the floor. The pure arrogance of still pretending to be right made him even angrier at the two carnivores that dared to stop him on his path. He pulled his foot back and kicked Bill's head into unconsciousness. Done with the tiger he turned around to look at Legosi slowly getting to his feet.

"hhnnnnnngh" Riz tried to speak but found that only blood left his mouth. He stomped onward, looking down at the wolf. He wanted to say so many things to them, so many powerful words of domination that they deserved to hear, that the inferiors so deserved. But thanks to them he now only gurgled blood. Them… Tem

"grrrrruunnngh" The Bears growled, spitting blood over Legosi's face. The wolf blinked only shortly and continued to look directly at the bear, only breathing. Riz was once again asking himself what that dastardly word meant. What did Tem mean? Did the wolf know? Could he perhaps tell him what it meant, what Tem was all about? Tem si ym dneirf…

The Bear couldn't make any sense of the garbled mess of words in his head, his instincts once again singing in intense rhythm. He only looked upon the wolf and asked himself over and over again what that word meant. He wordlessly begged the wolf for answers, his eyes watering as he failed to make sense of what was in his head. What was so important that even his rampage had to wait. What could be so damn important that it overshadowed even himself?

"Let's finish this…" The wolf breathed with trouble, one hand clutching his side and the other hand holding onto Riz's shoulder. Riz was motionless, simply breathing into the wolf's face.

"Let's finish this… for Tem-" Riz's fist crashed into the wolf's face, making him fall to the floor equally unconscious as his striped friend. Riz didn't understand what the name meant nor how important it was. But he understood that it made him angry beyond anything. I deserve to d-

Riz dug his claws into his chest, leaving red marks of blood across the broad muscle under his fur. That thought was unacceptable and he knew it. Angry and confused he turned around towards the open door.

The students that had watched the gory fight stood in the doorway with horrified expressions on their faces. As Riz moved forward, the collection of students ran away in a rummaging stampede leaving the halls empty and abandoned as the bear left.

Riz felt pulsing pain in his missing fingers and the pain in his bloody neck. In a bizarre turn of events, the anger had faded in place of strong overpowering sadness that made him regret not being able to speak. With warm blood flowing down his throat he thought of a white wooled angel standing in the light of the projector room. He had never seen any being more beautiful than that alpaca, and yet he still couldn't remember their name.


The two students who had just watched the spectacle of Bill and Legosi ramming continuously into the doors of the community room burst into the female dormitories much like Legosi and Bill would do at a moment's notice.

"Has anyone seen Strightman?" The exasperated animals asked, the female dormitory answering with confused silent stares.

"What's going on?" One of the Carnivore girls asked whilst looking worried about the state of the two students that had come so quickly and urgently.

"Riz locked himself in the community room. Bill and Legosi were ramming into the door in order to get in, and when we asked what was going on we heard screaming from the room." Disturbed faces looked out of the crowd and among them was a hungover wolfess that quickly came to the front of the grouping.

"Legosi and Bill were trying to get into the community room?…" The silent nodding of the two students before her made the entire world lose its sound. Of course, she knew they would fight sooner or later but not today. Not today…

She blankly stared at the two for another moment before the adrenaline from her head reached her legs and carried her through the hallways at top speeds. She grabbed for her phone on the run and tripped, losing balance right before the turn to the stairs. She landed on her hands holding herself upright yet her concentration still laid solely on her phone.

She speed dialed Louis and darted downstairs while holding the phone to her ear. She managed to be almost graceful In her speedy traversal of school grounds, her movement having in some form a savage beauty to them. There seemed to be an innate difference between the savageness of being a beast and using one's beast's energy to be able to save others.

"The person you are trying to reach is currently not able to reach their phone." The monotone playback came over the line with the resounding beep of the recording of a message.

"Louis. I don't know what the hell is going on but Riz locked himself in the community room. Legosi and Bill are trying to get in but I think they are getting themselves into danger… please just come back." Juno hung up and ran through the doors of the building. Her emotional state had deteriorated to profuse crying, her nightmares were playing themselves in her head over and over again. She saw a flash of blue and crashed into someone a second later. Strong hands grabbed her sides and held her in place as the animal themselves recovered from the shove.

"Are you ok? Running through closed doors isn't that good of an idea." Once Juno caught her footing properly and looked up at the blue uniform she saw the face of a cheetah looking at her.

"Strightman. We were looking for you. Riz went crazy, he's locked in the community room. Legosi and Bill are trying to get in and others said there was screaming." Juno was in full hysterics, speaking in an extreme rush begging the officer to follow her while still tears steadily ran down her face.

Strightman heard through the mess of a she-wolf a few words that made things click together. Riz went crazy and locked himself in the community room. Student Riz resides in Room 604 in accompaniment of a few other students of his species.

His species classification is Ursus arctos horribilis. Grizzly bear. Hulking frame, brown fur, seemingly docile in conduct around school… And I wonder why the hell most of the city thinks the police are incompetent.

"Which community room?" Strightman gently held her shoulder and bowed down in order to be on level with her. He spoke perfectly articulate and calm, contrasting heavily to the mental state of the she-wolf before him. She continued to be a crying mess for just a minute.

"In order for me to help I need to know which community room Riz is in. Once you tell me I can deal with this." Strightman's composed nature managed to calm down Juno at least for a small moment.

"The mixed one in the Male Dormitories." Strightman patted her arm.

"Thank you." He said and grabbed his baton from its holster. He walked for a yard or two, seemingly preparing himself for something. He then broke into a full-on sprint towards the dormitories leaving Juno standing at her position for a moment.

As another warm tear ran down her face she thought about the last moment of her nightmare again and again. The absolute desolate feeling of abandonment that rocked worlds and ruined legions.

She ran after Strightman, but for other reasons than the protector of the state. She ran to hope that the world hadn't been so cruel as to take her Legosi away from her. She ran to escape the terrible feeling of smothering darkness that killed all happiness.

Juno entered the male dormitories and first noticed one thing barraging her senses or more the lack thereof barraging her senses. It was deathly quiet, not a single hushed conversation or snoring or any sign of life. It seemed like the entire building had been evacuated.

As she walked towards the stairs, her walking speed having died down to a slow crawl of a walk unsure and scared of what would come next, the overbearing smell of iron in the air came out. It reeked of blood so much that it smelled like when you put copper coins in your mouth as a child. She kept on walking up the stairs, the fluorescent lights making the house feel static in nature. She felt akin to walking through a theater set, though the stage was the only light and the audience was empty.

The world felt hollow while walking up the stairs. Like it was all just set dressing in a black void in which nothing was absolute and everything was impossible. The fear of what happened to Legosi and Bill grew more apparent when the smell grew heavier and thicker, invisible clouds of red particles in the air that the eye couldn't see.

She finally reached the third floor, holding onto the railing on the side of the stairs for dear life. She peaked above the top step as she ascended upwards and saw the grotesque footprint of a monster. The bloody footprints lead to the right of the community room, yet the prints were complete. The back and middle of the print seemed to show the lines of the shoe's imprint pattern, but the top seemed to have opened up to toes. The claw marks scraped along the floor above the footprint dark scratches on the matte linoleum floor.

Juno breathed out, fear coursing through every fiber of her being as she peaked beyond the wall to her left towards the community room. The door was wide opened to show the red nightmare living in the walls within like a new organism that spread on the walls like mold. And on the floor laid Bill.

Juno approached the scene slowly, peeking around the corners of the door in order to see where Legosi was. When she got close enough she looked at Bill on the floor who lay unconscious with a wounded stomach and a bloodied and bruised face. The fight that happened here left its marks not only on its fighters but also on the arena.

Juno's eyes wandered over the destroyed chairs and the knocked-over table to finally the right side of the room where she saw a gray form lay on its back. Her heart sank in her chest.

"Legosi!" Juno fell to her knees not caring that her fur or her skirt were becoming red with blood. He looked terrible. His chest seemed sunken, his muzzle full of red lines of blood. She held his face in her hands looking down at him, feeling a bit of warmth in his cheeks.

"Wake up, wake up you dumb wolf just wake up, please. Please wake up, wake up." Juno shook his face, his shoulders and his arms yet no response came from the wolf.

"You can't do this to me… You can't do this to me…" She lowered her head over him, crying silently. This nightmare was real, and she failed to rescue him. There was no waking up, no resolution to this. He perished before she could do anything. She was hopeless and alone, left forgotten by the world. And yet warmth returned to her.

Legosi's arm engulfed her. Weakly but persistent. She fell around his neck holding him close, gaining a pained groan from her wolf.

"I think my ribs are broken." Legosi croaked weakly. Juno eased up and simply held her head to his, doing the same.

"You're still here. You're still here, my Legosi." Juno whispered. Legosi simply held her with a smile on his face overall.

"I couldn't leave a great wolfess like you." They locked eyes and leaned in for a kiss, a small win in the big picture. But after a moment groans from the doorway brought both to look at the door.

Bill awoke from his unconsciousness and propped himself upon his knees, raising himself remarkably quickly for his wounds. His stomach was a bloodied and wounded mess, he leaned on one side in order to shift weight away from his wounded foot and his head seemed to bleed as well.

"He got us pretty good huh, Bill." Legosi painfully and slowly shifted himself to a sitting position looking at the striped fury that breathed fire. Bill's shoulders raised and lowered, his eyes filled with the same anger from before.

"We need to kill him no matter what happens. The more time that is wasted the more lives he will take. We need to find and end him as soon as we can." Bill's mind didn't seem to have the capacity for anything else than the logical following of plans now. Anything else was beyond the storm and lightning of pure hatred laid inside his head.

"And how do we do that?… Bill?" Legosi asked the striped fury who left the doors with a limp speed walk.

"Bill, wait!" Juno stood up and started to follow the tiger but her boyfriend's voice stopped her.

"We can't stop him now…" Legosi slowly got to his feet, strained and pained-filled grimaces on his face all the while.

"Be careful." Juno ran over and held him up, Legosi gladly holding onto her in order to raise himself up when a thought went through his head. Two simple words that reminded him of lying in the rain. The bag…

"I think I know what we need to do." Legosi looked at Juno and before she could even answer he held tight onto her hand and left the room on his way to the student garden.