Stray Bullets 3

The large armoured Reptile moved with a frightening casualness. To Zhu, it reminded her of the menacing crawl of the tanks of the People's Army. She'd been a young student, protesting the evils of racial purity and cultural stagnation. The People's Government had ignored them for almost a week, but once their attention was focused, the troops and the tanks had rolled in as inevitable as a sunset.

Beneath her clothing, she could feel her fur fluffing out in fear, but she did her best to remain cool, calm, and collected. Oddly enough, she did not fear so much for herself but for Harold. Her Canine friend loved her, she knew, and he was not above throwing his life away to protect her. To save him, she had to remain centered.

She concentrated on memorizing as much detail of the Reptile that called itself Stegosaurus Rex as possible. Not for the police, of course, but for her and for her ancestors. Someone had to remember the shape of his muzzle, the golden-yellow hide with its numerous brown spots, the sand paper voice, and attitude of one very much in control of things.

High Tech super-villains, she recalled, did not respond well to having their delusions of grandeur questioned. Considering that he had appeared out of no where, as his four false guards seized the bank, she felt unwilling to argue with him on that point. Zhu, however, knew that Harold, who been both soldier and police officer earlier in his life, was very close to the point of trying to teach Stegosaurus Rex his true place in the scheme of things. Such a clash, she realized, was inevitable, if she did not come between these two men.

When she and Harold was backed against the wall with the tellers and their daughters at gunpoint, she kept a tight grip on Harold's muscular blonde arm. She wished he had worn a shirt today, as his short, shaved fur offered no place for her to grip. She knew from experience, he would just shrug off her nails, no matter how deeply he was raked by her. One outraged act of bravery would be all it takes to get him killed.

Or worse. Super-villians were known to carry cruel weapons that did worse things than killing people. The incident in the mid-west where witnesses were turned into living statues of glass was the most recent horror her mind could recall. Some of the victims had changed back after several hours, describing the experience as something they'd been fully aware of. Eventually, they had all changed back... even the ones who had been chipped. Or broken. Or shattered. For those who were not restored whole, they reported being aware of what was happening to each missing piece of themselves while they were glass. The world as a whole prayed that those broken into many little pieces had not suffered as fully aware of their fate as the survivors had been.

"Now, please," the monstrous Reptile said, "the Reptilian Liberation Army would like to apologize for this disruption in your everyday lives. I'm sure this isn't how you planned to spend your day, but it is a cruel world out there. It's my appointed task to help you understand just how cruel it is... at least for those of us who aren't as pretty or as graceful as your Furries." His voice was like a sack of stones being dragged along a cobblestone street. Still, to Zhu, it was the obviously playful undertone to its insincere apology that frightened her the most. "Now, in regards to the children..."

Rex pointed at four of the young girls, one at a time. Each girl was of a different species and each between the apparent ages of five and eight. The first one was Mary Target's eldest Nancy. The Gecko pulled the young Rabbit away from her mother, its mutant eyes seemed to scare both Mary and Nancy into compliance. Its gun went from the room in general to the back of Nancy's fluffy white head.

Zhu felt Harold stiffen and she flung herself into his shaved chest. She let herself shake against him and she could feel him relax just a bit. It wasn't much of an act, she was frightened for herself, for Harold, and for the children. Still, she was surprised at how comforting burying his face in his musk scented chest was. And when his arms went around her protectively, it was, for a split second, as if they were the only two people in the room; in the world, for that matter.

She wished he had kept his chest fur long and shaggy. She could let herself cry if only his fur had been longer. In fact, the fur there was shorter than hers. It was as short as Xing's, in fact, and her heart skipped a beat. Had he shaved himself this short to match Xing? It was touching, but sad, too. Her heart would always belong to Harold, but what could he do with just her heart?

Then there was a cry of sheer agony from a Canine of as mixed a breed as any Zhu had ever seen. She was a temp for the Student Loan Department and Zhu did not know her name. She did vividly recall a couple of the more gossipy types chiding the woman behind her back for bringing her daughter in, as if a temp had no such rights. Zhu had been very annoyed at them for such small mindedness, but she had kept her thoughts private.

In retrospect, the old-biddies had been right, the temp's daughter should have stayed home, but not for the reasons they had voiced. The motley Canine howled with terror and misery as one of the shelled gunman pulled her black and white girl away from her. Again, the gun went right to the daughter's head as he dragged her into the middle of the Lobby.

Zhu nearly fell over as Harold jerked forward, but she's been waiting for that. Braced against the flooras she was, Harold was unable to do anything but glare at the terrorists.

Rex noticed the motion and swung his eyes towards them. His gun remained pointing in the general direction of the others. "Don't worry, Dog. I won't harm the children. This is just a thought experiment made real." The eyes were bright and playful for such a cold blooded creature, Zhu thought. His gun indicated the bank employees and the three customers that had just happened to be there. "We won't hurt them... oh no, but they might. With their hate and prejudice... and their pretty little minds... their petty little minds."

He walked over to the wailing Canine mother, who seemed caught between the impulse to run away and beg for her child's life. "United Species Bank... doesn't live up to its name, does it? Do you know why you there was a temp. position here for you? Do you?"

"Leave her alone, you freak!" Harold growled, sending a spike of fear into Zhu's heart.

Rex spun around to face Harold, his plated crest nearly knocking the poor female to the floor. "No, she should know this." He did step back and made a casual show of displaying his large weapon to his captives, as if to remind them all who was in charge. The room went quiet, even the sobbing was instantly subdued. "There were three qualified USB employees who wanted this job. It's not a very prestigious job, of course, but it pays better than a simple teller post. And they had a nice bit of seniority going for them. But, they were Reptiles. Dirty, stinking Repts and we can't have the rich Furries sending their children to them for free money, oh no. Bad enough the poor Furries have to deal with them, eh? So, this branch... alone in all the USB branches in the state is made up of Temps.

"Funny how the green Temps never last very long." Rex laughed at his own joke without humor. "I can see you're a mixed breed, lady. You know what it's like then to have people turn their muzzles up at you... just for having the wrong colored fur or a tail that's too long... or too short. You like being called a Mutt? You like hearing people discussing Purity in stage whispers?" The female shook her head, no. "Well, that's what it's like when you're a Reptile, only times as bad. Separate bathrooms for health reasons. Landlords turning off the heat in the cold winter night leaving whole families in torpor until someone finds them or until they are evicted or wake up in some sweat shop chained to a table. Locked out of sports... clubs... most of us can't even fit comfortably behind the wheel of an automobile."

The last two girls were taken. Zhu did not know the girls' names but since they were a Porcine and a Fox kit, she guessed they belonged to Naomi Wilder and Giles Toddson. The Crocodile hesitated before putting the gun to the kit's head, his attention caught by a little Avian girl standing between Zhu and a Feline by the name Kelly, who was standing bravely in front of her two daughters. The Croc slapped his tail on the ground and pointed with his vicious looking snout at the poor little thing. "What about her?" Zhu didn't recall any Birds working for the branch; maybe this wasn't an employee's daughter, but a friend of one. Did that make it better or worse, Zhu wondered.

Rex spared a quick glance and shook his head no. "Adopted by that lovely Lioness she's standing next to, if I recall correctly. I think her 'mommy' already knows the lesson we're going to teach, don't you, Jane?"

Zhu watched as the Feline Teller swept the young Avian behind her other two offspring, as if she had momentarily forgotten that the Bird was her responsibility, too. Her eyes narrowed threateningly. "My husband's an Avian."

"He's a Feathered Brother, then. Well, when you get home today, you can tell him we did this for him, too. And for her."

The Crocodile stood with the others in the middle of the lobby. The sacks of money collected earlier had been piled up nearby. They each held a nasty gun to each girl's head. They were not above twisting a few limbs to make them stand as still and as silently as possible.

"Now, what happens to your daughters is up to you. You're the only ones that can hurt them. You're the only ones that can help them. You're the only ones that can help make the world a better place for them." As the hulking monster spoke, the gunmen put a small broach on their frightened charges. Small explosives, Zhu thought, but before she could look up at Harold, the gunmen put matching broaches on their stolen uniforms.

Zhu met Harold's eyes and she could see he was confused as she was by this. Then, suddenly, the broaches spark and filled the lobby with a blinding light that lasted several seconds. "You said you loved your Children, you Furry tools." Rex screamed during the extended flash. "Do you really? Do you still love them?"

Then the light vanished and the eight people in the lobby stood, frozen for a moment but changed in a tremendously fundamental way. That's when one of the tellers screamed.

Where there had been Repts in brown shirts with guns, there now stood four Mammals with guns; a Rabbit, a Fox, a Canine, and a large Hog, the leanest male Porcine that Zhu had ever seen. They each wore the brown security shirts from before and each held a gun on a child standing next to them.

Only now, each child was a small Reptile.

to be continued...