Chapter 16: Familiar Faces

Sam

Sam woke up as suddenly as if someone had yelled in his ear. He had fallen asleep in the woods on a patch of moss. He had collapsed on the comfiest place he could find last night. Sam looked up at the sky; he had no idea how long he had been asleep. The sun was relatively high in the sky.

"So, to Italy then." Sam told himself. He pushed himself up and started stretching. "Never sleeping like that ever again." He muttered. Sam cracked his back and shoulders. His muscles felt tense and sore.

Sam started walking. He needed to get to Italy, one way or another. He was going to find his sister. Sam wanted to find some clean clothes and wash. He felt grimy and gross after sleeping on the ground for who knows long. Sam listened for a highway or some other road that would lead to a town or city. He heard the faint sound of a car to his left. Sam turned and started walking.

After about ten minutes of scrambling over rocks and branches, Sam made it to the road. He looked up and down the road. He saw no cars coming from either way. The road signs told Sam he was eight miles from the nearest city. He sighed and started walking.

After about an hour of walking, Sam found a group on people. He knew from a distance that he shouldn't get near them. Sam could tell that they were convicts cleaning the side of the street and the guards watching the convicts. Sam crossed the street as quickly as he could. He kept his head down and walked on the other side of the road.

"Hey! It's that Cop Hag that put us away!" Sam distinctly heard one of the convicts yell.

"You're right for once, Muggshot. Inspector, care to grace us with your presence?" Another voice called to Sam.

Sam knew that they somehow thought he was his mother. She must have arrested them at some point. He kept his head down.

"Get back to work!" one of the guards barked.

"Hey, Inspector! Wait!" The other guard called.

Sam couldn't ignore them anymore. He looked up at the guards and convicts and everyone immediately shut up. The convicts were a burly bulldog, a rather insane looking frog, an old lion, and a haughty-looking rooster. The guards were a muscular panther and an embarrassed-looking elephant.

"Oh, uh, Sorry!" The elephant called. "We thought you were someone else!"

"No problem!" Sam called back. He continued walking.

It was when the convicts and guards were out of sight that Sam realized who they were: Muggshot, Raleigh, Octavio, and Tsao. They were people from his father's adventures who were arrested by his mother. Sam turned back around and craned his neck to try to see the convicts again to no avail.

"That was an odd coincidence." Sam said out loud. He turned back around and kept walking. The signs informed him that he was only a mile from his destination. Sam groaned.

"I wish you were here Cami. You'd probably make some sort of joke about something random or how those people thought I was Mom." Sam needed to break the silence around him. "So, Cam, what would you say to me right now?"

Well, what do you want me to say? The little voice in his head said in Cami's voice.

"Something like a joke. Oh, great! Now, I'm talking to the little voice in my head that sounds like my sister. Does this mean I'm crazy?"

Yes.

"Shut up."

No.

"You're obnoxious."

Yes, I am, and proud of it.

"I am crazy."

Ye-

"Don't you even start." Sam said sternly to the little Cami in his head.

He looked straight ahead and tried not to think. Slowly a too-big-to-be-a-town-but-too-small-to-be-a-city came into view. Sam hoped that he would be able to find some clothes and food. His stomach growled at him like a feral beast.

The locals directed Sam to a place where he could get some clean clothes. He changed into clean clothes in a public bathroom and tried to wash his face. Sam looked in the mirror at his face. Dirt and muck streaked his facial fur and his fur was in need of a trim. Sam rubbed his face with water and soap from the dispenser until he looked somewhat presentable. Sam washed as best as he could with just the sink and hand soap. Sam looked again at his reflection. He could see his mother and his father in his face.

"I miss you guys." Sam whispered to his reflection. "Why would someone take you guys and cover it up so well? What do they want with me and Cami?" Sam sighed.

Sam walked to the soup kitchen and grabbed a quick bite. He did not dare to linger and kept his head down. No one talked to him or even looked at him. Sam made his way through the area until he found an Internet café.

"Thank God for the Internet." Sam mumbled to himself as he logged on and searched for a train to Italy. He found one that would take him to the town next to the city that Dimitri was staying in and presumably Cami was in. Sam wrote down the information on a napkin and stuck it into his pocket with the note from Cami.

Unnecessarily, Sam pulled out the note and read it again. It was Cami's handwriting, no doubt about that. It was written hastily. Sam slipped the note back into his pocket. He looked around, partly out of habit and partly out of paranoia. Seeing no one suspicious or unnerving, Sam got up and left. He made sure that the security camera saw only his back and not his face.

The walk through the little city-town was calming for Sam. It reminded him of the town his family vacationed at during school breaks.

"Hey, Cam-" Sam cut himself off. Cami was not here. He reminded himself. Sam swallowed with some difficulty and tried to think about something else. He thought about how he would get onto the train. Sam could only find a cargo train to his destination. He walked across the city-town to the train station. Sam kept out of sight of the station workers and all the security cameras as best he could. Most people ignored him, and he was grateful for it.

Sam found which tracks his train was going to be on and followed them out of the city-town. Sam sat down in a place out of sight.

"So, Cami, what are you doing right now?" Sam asked no one in particular.

Cami

The first thing Cami was aware of was the fact that she was lying on something soft. Cami jerked awake at that realization. When she saw who was standing over her she could only say one thing:

"Thieves."

"Well, yes, but not for a long time now." Cami recognized the speaker as Bentley. He was a bespectacled turtle in a high-tech wheelchair. He was the nasally voice from earlier.

"Bentley." Cami breathed.

"So, you know me." Bentley said. "Who are you and why are you here?"

Cami was not paying attention; she was looking at the rest of the people in the room. She recognized a burly hippo as Murray, the broad panda as Panda King, and Dimitri. She did not know the names of the purple koala with yellow face paint and the female mouse with glasses and blonde hair.

"You're my Dad's old gang, aren't you?" Cami asked, looking at each of the people around her.

"Sly's your father?" Murray asked. He seemed completely taken aback.

"Isn't that obvious?" Cami gestured at herself. "I look almost exactly like him."

"We've learned to not assume in this line of work." Bentley responded. "Can you prove your Sly's daughter?"

"Another not assumption?" Cami asked with a raised eyebrow. "How should I prove that I'm Sly's daughter?"

The mouse woman stepped forward. "Where is Sly? He could vouch for you."

Cami looked down. "That's why I came to find you. He's gone."

"Gone?" Murray repeated. "What? How?"

"I don't know!" Cami rubbed her eyes. "He left us a note telling us to find his old gang."

"A note?" Bentley asked sharply. "Can we see it?"

"Yeah." Cami pulled out the wrinkled note and handed it to Bentley. Bentley took it and the rest of the Cooper Gang crowded around him to read it. Cami waited in dead silence.

Bentley broke the silence. "This is Sly's handwriting, no doubt."

"Yeah, we'd know it anywhere." Murray said. "But I can't believe that Sly could get kidnapped."

"I don't either." The mouse woman agreed.

"Cooper is clever and strong." Panda King stated. "But no one is perfect, it is possible that Cooper was taken."

"You're right Panda King. Uh, What's your name?" Bentley asked Cami.

"Camille Cooper, but you can call me Cami." She responded.

"Well, Cami, we're going to help you find Sly. He's like family to us." Bentley stated. Murray, Dimitri, Panda King, the purple koala, and the mouse lady nodded.

"What about my mother? And my brother?" Cami asked trying to keep her breathing calm. "Can you help me find them?"

"Your mom?" Murray asked. "Who's she?"

"Murray." The mouse lady said smiling sadly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Bentley asked. "Whom was Sly always flirting with?"

Murray raised an eyebrow. "You mean; Sly married Inspector Fox? And had kids?"

Cami laughed. "Yes. Carmelita Fox is my mom. Samuel Fox is my twin brother. He and I started this nightmare together, but we got separated. I lost him a couple days ago. I've been on my own ever since. I need to find him. Please." Cami started speaking very quickly and her voice had risen a couple notes.

"Calm, down, Cami. We'll help you." Bentley smiled.

Murray said. "YEAH! Sly's family is our family! Right guys?"

"Right. First though we need to get out of here." The mouse lady said. "Can you meet us at this address?" The mouse lady wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Cami.

"Yeah, when?" Cami asked as she read the note.

"As soon as you can. Make sure no one sees you." The mouse lady said emphasized the last part. "Can you get out of here?"

Cami smiled mischievously. "Easily."