Alive… Again

I woke up to the sound of the cars in the distant. Actually, it was the smell of trash that surrounded me as I took a good look to realize where I was. It dawned on me that it was early morning, if I had to guess, probably 08:00. But what really caught me off guard was how… Human everything was. I was in an alleyway between two buildings, to my right was a street. I took a glance to see who or what was out there. What I saw, well… was pretty remarkable. At first I thought they were humanoid shapes, thinking the Guardian was bullshitting me all along somehow there was life on another planet far away from Earth. But no, they weren't humans. I couldn't tell, so I got up and slowly started walking to the end of the alley to get a clear vision on what was out there.

Stores, shops, houses lined the street. The backdrop was some sort of large metropolis. It came to my assertion that I found myself in a city, but filled with what?

That question was soon asked when something bumped into me. It felt rather… furry, if that sounds any weird at all. It was also very tall as I could see a shadow cast over me, which made me ponder a bit. I'm 6'0", what could possibly be taller than… oh god. I turned around to see someone, not just anyone, but someone who clearly wasn't a human

It was a giraffe. And he wasn't happy since I was standing in his way. But that was the least of his or her concerns when he gazed at my face. I can only imagine what was going through his mind when he the human skin expose in front him. What could this species possibly be? It was before too long when the moving crowd notice me as well. These weren't humans. These were animals. Talking, walking, two legged animals. This isn't right… All the animals that I could spot, were ones I noticed from my old life. Rhinos, gazelles, lions, were all WALKING. AND THEY WERE TALKING THE LANGAUGE I SPOKE. AND WHY ARE THEY WEARING CLOTHES JUST LIKE A HUMAN WOULD WEAR?

It was almost like I was in some fucked up nightmare. As if this new world that I plunged into was like my old life but with a twist in fantasy.

No, this was my reality now, and I would have to deal with it. I've been through a lot before, but this is new territory for me.

"Uh excuse me, just… what, exactly.. are you?" said the giraffe. I almost forgot about the giraffe. I was just in still awe of just where I was.

"Where am I?" I answered back, answering with a question for a question is not the best of conversation starters, but I needed to know where I was. The crowd was getting bigger as moments passed, eyeing to see what exactly I was.

"Zootopia."

And then it hit me as it started to make sense. I was no longer in a world where humans dominated and animals were subsidiaries. No, I was the animal, and they were the humans. The roles have been reversed. I was nervous because now that I'm alive again, I'm no longer the alpha. I'm just simply the hunted, out in the wild. And the wild, was Zootopia. An urban jungle filled with animals of many different species and traits.

This was going to be difficult.

In an instant, I turned around and ran up the sidewalk, slicing and dicing my way through the crowd. I put the incident with the giraffe behind me, hoping that no onlookers would question to the police, or whatever they're called, to go find me. I needed to disappear and figure things out.

It was very crowded. I tried to be nice about moving people out of my way, but I was getting desperate. The more onlookers, the more curious they would find me, and running through a loaded crowd is one way to attract onlookers real fast. Where's a good place to disappear for a while? As I came up to a crosswalk, I saw another alleyway, this time it lead to the back of a building. Bingo. Without a seconds notice, I ran into the alley and gave one last look behind me. I could have swore, there were about two dozens of animals that were on looking at what was taking place. Even one or two decided to follow. Nope, not today guys. Guess you'll have to find out another day. As I turned the corner, I looked at VRWristband and initiated the active camo. I didn't even think for one second that it might not work since I'm in a new world. Well, whoever built this world built it like the old one, because the camo was up and running. Hidden in plain sight, just as I like it. I looked over and saw that two animals that chased after me were stunned not to find me. They searched for quite a bit as I stood still. Movement is a bad thing when the active camo is up. I try to move little as possible, but running while it's up is impossible since the sensors don't have enough time to read the environment that I encompass. I didn't have to worry much since the two gave up there search. I sighed in relief, took a few minutes to gather myself, put my bandana on around my face and turn off the active camo. Before I set off into the moving crowd, I decided to try something that I thought was a longshot. If the new world I'm in is just like the old world but with swapped dominant species… that must mean AAL should work, right? I pressed on my VRWristband to activate my coms., and low and behold, I heard a voice in my ear.

It was AAL. And he was confused like me, oh, like 10 minutes ago.

"Sir?! SIR!? Answer me Howard, are you alive Sir?" proclaimed AAL.

"Yes, I'm alive… again."

"Oh thank goodne… wait, alive again? What… what are you.."

"AAL, I don't usually say this, but you're going to need to get a sitrep on what went down because… the game has changed."

And with that, I blended into the moving crowd.