Seaotter, Day Two
Nostalgia.
It overtook the gray-furred doe as she barfed out what little she had eaten the day before. The toilet was all but stained and unpleasant, but it was all she could find in her rush to find a place to vomit. Her morning sickness had been occurring ever since she went on this crusade, managing to hide it from Clem by waking up early every morning and spilling her lunch to the early spring leaves. It had only taken them a day in Seaotter for her to start getting worse. The cramps and the vomits were one thing, but she also began experiencing cold-like symptoms, getting a stuffy nose and feeling feverish. Maybe it was a symptom of carrying a baby (or babies) from a fox, but she had no way to really know. One thing was clear, she would not go back home without Clem, Skye, or Gideon. With matters of endurance, Judy was very familiar.
The nostalgia arose from the smell. Not of the vomit, or the putridity of the bathroom, but of her own smell. Her new smell, which was her normal scent combined with the one of her kits growing in her belly, started awakening memories she didn't know were still buried deep inside. Dreams of lilac fields and laughing bunnies. There were some other animals in those memories. There were tigers, hippos, even other friendly foxes. She instantly recognized them. They had been her friends from early childhood. It was so long ago that she had forgotten their names, but she remembered the games they played. In her childlike wonder, she had failed to realize how disturbing some of those games were. They played cops and robbers, and as usual, she'd wanted to play the cop. But they also played a good amount of hunters and runners. The predators would naturally play the hunters, and the prey like Judy would play the runners. It was a 'Tag, you're it' type of game, but the only difference was that if you got tagged, you'd be dead. You'd stay limp, acting as a corpse for the remainder of the game. They also got points for how creative they could make the pose of a dead body. Crooked limbs? Ten points. Broken neck? 20 points. The morbidity of that game had never clicked until that moment. She was notorious for being bad at playing a corpse.
The kids also seemed to have a certain code. Whenever she got caught, she remembered them shouting something. That's about as far as her memories allow her to go. Whatever they used to say had slipped completely off her mind as a new wave of nuts and tuna fish were expelled from her mouth into the toilet water.
"Judy?" asked a voice behind her. When she looked back, it was her vixen daughter, who stopped wearing her black hoodie, now opting to sport her unbuttoned light blue short-sleeved button up, which gave Judy a look into her plain brown t-shirt underneath. The red handkerchief was still covering part of her forearm where a shot had grazed her. The vixen was looking at Judy in concern.
"I'm okay. Just…pregnant stuff."
"Is pregnant stuff really vomiting everything in your system until you pass out?"
Judy gave a quick laugh. "It's called morning sickness, and it only happens for the first few months."
"I haven't seen you eat that much," Clem said. "I know I haven't eaten that much either, but you're pregnant. We gotta find you better food."
"You're right, Clem, but I still have some good provisions. They should last me for another day at least."
"We gotta find you some good food when I go out today. Firstly, though, let's check back on Skye. I didn't see her on the sofa."
"I heard something above me. Maybe she's up there," mentioned Judy. "You never did tell me what you found."
"Just a radio. Gave only static, though."
"Skye's pretty good at fixing up stuff. Maybe the radio was just broken. Let's go see her."
With that, the doe and vixen went ahead to the second floor, walking towards the room with the radio. Surprisingly, they began to hear actual mammals talking on the radio instead of just annoying white noise. Entering the door, there was Skye, drawing something on the wide map of Seaotter, while listening to the radio, which laid on the floor with the top panel opened up. She could also see screws and other parts scattered around the floor like a baby's building blocks. The cause of the massacre, a screwdriver, was currently at her side. Her right ear twitching at the noise of the door, she looked in their direction, catching a view of Clementine for the first time of the day.
"Hey," said Skye.
"Hey," said Clementine in the same way. Judy helped in erasing the tension between the two by nudging the red vixen in the arm and pushing her towards the arctic vixen. "Listen," she began saying. "About yesterday-"
"It's okay, Sunny. You didn't mean it," Skye said, smiling. "Me and Judy were also kinda shitty for hiding that from you. It wasn't right."
Relief washed over Clementine's face, finally relaxing around her girlfriend, sitting down right next to her as Judy looked at them with extreme content. "You mind telling me how you fixed this thing? I gave up on it last night."
"That was your problem, Clem. Pure stubbornness. It was just a loose connection with the antenna. I've been gathering a lot of intel from our Wolf boys. They cannot keep those muzzles shut for one second. First, they found our mess at the school."
"Good," Clementine said, who now noticed the pictures of Nick's killers on top of the map. It seemed like Skye was keeping track of where they were based on the radio.
To corroborate her thoughts, Skye picked up one of the images. "This guy, Owen," she showed the picture of the two red foxes, Owen and Abby. "He went AWOL."
Clementine picked up the picture, looking at Abby. "Maybe Gideon got to him."
"Maybe."
"What about her?" Clem asked, pointing at Abby with one of her thumbs.
"Nothing yet," said Skye.
"Unit Romeo, you are requested at Site Two," said a woman on the radio. "Repeat. You are requested at Site Two. Confirm."
"So, the numbers are locations," Skye began explaining. "The TV station we were at? That's Six. There's a lot of chatter coming out of Two, so I'm assuming that's their home base."
"Ugh," criped Judy, touching her stomach, who was sitting down at the foot of the entrance. Clementine approached her, sitting beside her, passing one of her paws slowly through her back. "That helps," said Judy. Skye had the intention of going to comfort her as well, but radio chatter interrupted the moment.
"Casualties reported in Fourteen. All available units report. Over." Skye changed the frequency, listening in on another group. "This is site Thirteen. Unit Llama nearby. How many Scars you got? Over."
"Negative on Scars. Lone fox trespasser. Armed. Over."
"Lone fox trespasser?" asked Skye curiously.
"Gideon," she said instantly, getting up from her comfortable position with Judy. "Where's Fourteen?"
"I'm not a hundred percent sure," said Skye with worry.
"Okay, then guess."
"Well," Skye began looking at the map and all the locations, thinking about where fourteen could be. "If this is Seven, Twelve's all the way over here, I guess it's somewhere in this neighborhood?"
"Hillcrest," read Clementine. "Okay."
Judy was seen getting her backpack ready, assuming her position to go out. "Let's go, then."
"Wait a damn second," said Skye. "You're not just gonna let her go, are you? She's getting worse, you can't have her running around like that."
"Skye…you're right. But I think at this point you must know how damn stubborn she is. Even worse than me. Trust me, I've been thinking about it too. Thinking up any way to not make her leave this theater. But I know that if I was in her position, I'd probably want to go too."
"B-but just look at her!" Skye said, tears slowly coming out. "She's gonna…she's gonna-"
"I'm not dying, Skye," said Judy. "Not until I know Clementine will be safe. I might be pregnant, but I'm still a pretty good shot with a rifle. You have to trust me on this."
"You have to stay watching the radio," said Clementine, giving her the hard truth. "You're the only one of us who would know how to fix it if it broke all of a sudden."
Skye looked at them both with wide eyes, tears still visible despite her white fur. Judy got closer to her, motioning her to kneel to the doe's level. The rabbit gave her a hug.
"Don't underestimate us, Skye," said Judy. "Didn't you see us out there yesterday? We kicked ass, right?" This provoked laughter from the arctic vixen.
"You did."
"And we're gonna kick even more ass today, find Gideon, and get the heck out of here. This isn't a wish. It's a promise."
Skye nodded, nuzzling Judy in the cheek. "Please be careful."
"Come on, Skye," scoffed Clementine. "When are we not?"
"Is that sarcastic?" she asked, prompting nervous laughter from the red vixen. Skye got up and went towards her. "Before you go, I want you to have this. Gimme your paw."
Clementine did as told, giving her the paw. Skye took out a small bracelet from her own wrist and carefully put it around her own, adjusting it to her width. "It's for good luck," said Skye.
"I don't believe in luck," replied Clementine, still accepting the gift and looking at her girlfriend with lovely eyes.
"I do," Skye said, returning the smile. Clementine got closer and shared a kiss with her before leaving. If there's one thing all three of them knew, it was that it was only going to get more dangerous from now.
Hillcrest
A sign on a lamppost gave Judy and Clementine their current location. It was the speculated site where the Wolves' Fourteenth base should be. Judy kept noticing the looks that Clementine gave her every now and then, checking to see if she was moving fine or if she wasn't hurting. The sentiment was sweet, but what she hated most was feeling underestimated and weak. She was pregnant, but the fire in her had not magically left with her rapidly increasing belly.
"Okay, Hillcrest," said Clementine, looking at her map. "Is this the right place?"
"How would we even know it's the right place?" said Judy.
"I don't kno-" Clementine got interrupted by a few gunshots far from them. Some birds had been startled, flying the opposite way of where they were going. "Guess this is the right place."
"Yeah," Judy said. "Let's keep going."
A store to the left of them called Natural Remedies got Clementine's attention. "Hey, is this a drug store? Maybe we can find something for your pain."
"I highly doubt that," she said. "Most stores like these have gotten looted to hell by now."
"Doesn't hurt to check," said Clementine, breaking a window with her axe and hopping inside. Right away she started checking the cabinets and stalls for medicine that was by some miracle not picked over. "Ugh, only a few pills. Nothing important."
Judy gave a sigh. "I'd really kill for anti-pheromone pills more than anything. Those are really hard to come by."
"Oh? Are you, uhh…activated right now?" Clementine asked awkwardly.
"Not right now, no. Call me crazy, but being near a group of deadly military mammals isn't the most exciting thing in the world."
"Hehe, I attest to that."
"But when it does happen, it feels ten times worse now," she said. "Pregnancy comes with many setbacks."
"I haven't really…smelled it on you, if you're concerned about that."
"These rains might be masking it pretty well. I'll be glad if it's only you that smells it," she said. Judy was concerned about being a major negative influence into today's journey. She needed to stay far away from the canines and let Clem do most of the hands-on work.
"I'll kill the asshole who even takes a sniff at you. Don't worry, Judy."
"Thanks."
She saw Clementine explore a bit more of that store, even going through the back, but then she came back, disappointed and with nothing to show for her hard work at searching for supplies. To their right was an apparel store, with most of the mannequins still sporting quality clothes.
"I wonder how no one has picked these over," said Clementine, looking at the strange abundance of men's clothing.
"They're fancy suits," she said. "Not really a comfy fit in an apocalypse."
"Not even at a place like Bunnyburrow?"
"Nope. There's always gotta be on the lookout for something to happen. You wouldn't like to be caught in a firefight with a dress, would you?"
"I guess you're right," Clem sighed. "Would be nice if we could wear good clothes like these someday, though. Could you imagine Nick in one of these?" she said with a grin, analyzing a smoking suit.
"Not really, haha," said Judy. "He'd look so off. His clothing style was awful, but it grew on me. It was very him."
"Yeah…no one else dressed like him. He really was a one-of-a-kind fox."
"Indeed," Judy said, also searching around for other important supplies other than clothes. The rabbit went towards a silver door by the end of the store, but discovered it was locked.
"There's a hole in the wall," noted Clementine, who was looking at a wall adjacent to the silver door, hidden behind a counter. "I'll get in and open the door for you."
Without waiting for approval from Judy, the red vixen entered the hole. She heard her reach the stairs of the place with a thud, hearing her walking over to the silver door. With the sound of unlocking, the vixen opened the door, letting the doe in. They had reached the basement of the store, which actually held a decent amount of supplies as well as a workshop. It was about time they had another upgrade to their arsenal.
"Hey, Judy, check this out," called Clementine. "Someone here was a great artist."
Clem was holding a piece of paper containing a very detailed drawing of a fox posing gracefully, wielding a bow and a quiver full of arrows at his back. There was a message written in the sky, saying "Happy Birthday, Dad! The Best Howler Killer in the WHOLE QZ"
"Kit has talent," said Judy, admiring the very sweet birthday gift.
"Right?" said Clementine, who was gushing the most about the picture. "This fox looks really cool."
"This reminds me of a story Nick told me once, about a fox with a bow and arrow just like him," she began saying, immediately garnering the interest of the young vixen. "It's a folklore legend they used to talk about a lot in the olden days. This fox would go around stealing from rich people and giving it to the poor."
"Sounds like a really cool fox."
"It does. Nick had that same admiration for him, saying it was one of the few popular fox characters."
"That's depressing. There should be more heroic foxes around," Clementine said.
"I'd say Nick was pretty heroic. Maybe we should tell his story," suggested the doe.
"Oh yeah, his obsession with well-groomed fur was very heroic," Clementine joked.
"To be fair, he had the guts to care about that in an apocalypse," Judy said, making both girls laugh.
"Gosh, I just wanted to throw that stupid brush he carried around. He should've cared more about lowering that belly of his."
"Hey, don't disrespect the Nick chub. He looked very adorable."
"He looked a lot like Gideon. It was bizarre."
Looking around the room more, they noticed a showcase of archery trophies and medals. logically belonging to the same fox. Picking up one of the trophies, Judy noticed the name of the fox, Borin Legasov, alongside a giant number one.
"How's your archery these days?" asked Judy, still observing the display case.
"More or less," said Clementine. "You?"
"Haven't practiced in a while."
"If we find one, it could do nicely if we want to be stealthy," suggested Clementine.
"Yeah. Let's see if we find more of this guy," said Judy, putting the trophy back on the case. She ran along to see what Clementine was doing, who was now posted at the workbench, ready to work more of her weapons. She decided to upgrade the fire rate of her shotgun.
"You need any upgrades to your rifle?" asked the vixen.
"No, it's just how I want it," responded Judy. "We just need more bullets."
"There should be many where we're going."
"Let's hope so."
Getting out of the creepy basement, the duo decided to refocus on their objective ahead, starting to climb over a tumbled truck that blocked their view. To Judy's annoyance, Clementine went first and offered her paw for her to go up. Once again, she was being pampered way too much. I'm pregnant, not paraplegic, for fox sake, she thought, but not openly stating it. She knew Clem meant well.
Now on top of the truck, Judy looked up at the elevated ground they would have to traverse. Pieces of forest and towns could be seen on the mountainous horizon. "How do we get up there?" asked Clementine. Judy could not reply to that, hearing the whines of a car turning to their direct right on the other side of the broken-down street. "Oh shit!" exclaimed Clementine. The small truck contained a group of heavily armed Wolf militia. Thankfully, they weren't spotted, as the group was more focused on hurrying up to an unknown destination.
"You think they're going to Fourteen?" asked Clementine.
"They seem to be in a rush, nonetheless. We're in for a party when we get there."
"Yeah, and not the fun kind. Don't suppose there's any confetti to pop?" joked Clementine.
"If their heads count as confetti…"
"Yeah…Gideon better hold on 'till we get there," said Clem worriedly. "They're far gone now. Let's move." Clementine jumped down into the ground, waiting for Judy to do the same.
"I don't need help, Clem," said Judy, now a bit irritated.
"You sure? I don't mind catching y-"
"Not. Needed." She said sternly. Clem received the message loud and clear and went to do for something else. Now that she saw it, the fall was actually pretty far for her. Her pride forbade her from asking for help now, however, so she went down as far as she could with the help of her paws, gripping the edge of the truck. She let herself go, and while the fall wasn't severe, she still felt it across her entire being. She won't show it. She must not show it. Holding her breath for a few minutes to calm down, she was ready to move on and explore their new location. She saw her go into a locally-owned library, and she followed suit.
"Hey, look," said Clementine, showing her something on the counter. "I found a letter addressed to that archer fox."
"Lemme read it," said Judy. Clementine gave her the piece of paper and she began to read it.
Borin,
Wolves broke into Fedra HQ and found the enlisted rosters. I've heard they're starting to knock on doors looking for soldiers. I'm not gonna be executed in my own town. After things calm down, I'll try to return with a new name.
I couldn't find Alfie. I put his food on your back porch. In case I don't come back, give him lots of scratches for me. He always loved you and Sofia,
Yolanda.
"So, this fox was FEDRA, huh?" asked Clementine.
"Kinda soils it, doesn't it?" said Judy.
"Yeah. Still fucked up they went after all the soldiers, even the ones who probably didn't want anything to do with them anymore."
"Yeah, well, you can't just simply quit once you know you're going to die. They still committed horrible crimes. They reaped what they sowed."
Coming out of the bookstore, they kept going forward, finding another one of the WLF's rule sheet on the walls. This time, though, it was vandalized in orange graffiti with the words 'Fuck the WLF' alongside a rough drawing of a wolf's head with crosses on its eyes. This showed the incorrigible conclusion that the WLF are awful leaders that were just as bad as FEDRA. Judy thought of the Fireflies, wondering if another group like them would rise and spark more senseless wars.
"What are you gonna name them?" said Clementine, taking Judy out of her trance.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Their names," she said, pointing at the doe's belly.
"Oh," she said, remembering she was in fact with child. Possibly multiple of them. She caressed her belly softly. "I haven't put much thought into it. I don't even know how many they're gonna be."
"Well…can I give suggestions?"
Judy chuckled. "Oh, this is gonna be rich. Shoot."
"I'm not gonna shoot you, Judy," Clementine said with a smile.
"Did you channel your inner Nick or something? You know what I meant, silly!" Judy said, in the same playful manner.
"Okay, okay, here goes. If she's a female rabbit, make it Moonie."
"Moonie? What kinda name is that? Judy retorted.
"Rabbits come from the moon, right? Moonie's perfect."
"Who the heck told you we come from the moon?"
"Isn't the rabbit memorial back in Bunnyburrow about how all rabbits become stars?"
"I mean, yeah, but that's a totally different thing than rabbits coming from the Moon. It was just an ancient myth because scientists from billions of years ago believed they could see the shape of a rabbit on it."
"I guess I really skipped that bit of info on all the space books I read. Thanks for the correction. So, to be clear, Moonie's off the table?"
"Hmmm, let's just put it on hold for now. What else ya got in mind?"
While the girls talked, they entered another Roarston Coffee shop. They first encountered one in Downtown Seaotter, and now it was back, possibly to remind them both about Nick's coffee addiction. "If it's a male rabbit, it could be Jimmy," said Clementine.
"Why Jimmy specifically? asked Judy. She wondered if it was someone from Clem's past.
"Just a name I thought up. Unless you want the alternative to be Thumpy."
"Jimmy's a great recommendation, thanks," Judy said instantly, making Clementine chuckle. There's no way she'd name her son Thumpy.
"Tough crowd," commented Clementine.
"You're welcome to name your own kids if you ever have any," Judy joked.
"That's quite difficult to accomplish, Judy. I think you know why," Clem said.
"Hey, if Nick and I managed, never say never."
"Ehh, I'd say you two had more chances than me from the start."
Trying to open a door to the back of the kitchen, Judy found it was locked. "Damnit."
"There's a vent up here!" called Clementine from the bathroom of the store. Judy walked to where she was and inspected the place.
"I think I can fit there," she said. Clementine looked at her worriedly. "I can do it, Clem, don't look at me like that."
"You sure?"
"Yes," she said, rapidly acting on it, still swiftly getting herself into the vent with the same athleticism displayed yesterday. While still a bit in pain, she had to endure it.
"Ugh, gross," she said, crawling through the cockroach-infested vent.
"Everything okay in there?" Asked Clementine, still in the room below.
"Yeah, just stupid bugs. I'm almost to the other side."
Perfectly landing on the back room, Judy began stocking up on some of the supplies still left there, with Clementine waiting for her to open the door on the other side.
"Anything good in there?" asked Clementine.
"No coffee, if you're curious," she said, still rummaging about.
"That's good, at least. Anything useful?"
"Yeah, some bandages and alcohol. Other than that, though, deserted." After collecting everything she needed, she unlocked the door and came out to the outside to meet with Clementine again.
"Now you're all dirty. It wasn't even worth it," said Clementine. "If you had let me go instead-"
"I could barely fit there, Clem, you would've just gotten stuck."
Clementine widened her eyes. "Yeah, on second thought, glad you did that for me."
"No problem. Let's keep going."
"We can use the stairs of another building in front of us. There's no way for us to pass through that broken street," Clementine informed, to which Judy nodded. The chasm in the street in front of them was too far down for them to even attempt climbing to the other side. The duo passed through a fence, leading to the ladder they needed to climb. "I don't suppose you want me to help you climb the ladder?"
"Nope. I'll go first," said Judy, pushing Clementine aside. She knew she wasn't really in the best position to lead, but her protective mom instinct would never leave her. She had to see for herself what they were getting into. "It's clear," Judy said, now standing on the roof of another building, possibly another store from what she could see through a hole.
She waited for Clementine to go up as well, intending to ask her something. "Do you have any suggestions on if the kits are foxes?"
This seemed to have taken the vixen aback for a second, but she was happy to answer. She just needed to think. "Hmm. Nick would be great for a male kit, in my opinion. Honoring his memory and all that."
"Funny. I was thinking that too," smiled Judy.
"No clue on the female department, though. And don't you dare call her Clem, there's only one like me."
"Woah, you get a girlfriend and all of a sudden your ego goes through the roof? You sure you're not actually related to Nick?" Judy said with a smug smile, making Clementine blush.
"I-it's not that! Just…isn't as original."
"Mmhmm," Judy said doubtfully. "I'll think of something."
The vixen approached the roof hole, noting it wasn't a long fall. "Ready to go down?" she asked the doe.
"Yeah," Judy responded.
"Can I please go first?"
Judy thought for a moment. Clementine had asked in a serious manner. "Okay, fine. Go. I'm right behind you."
Clementine nodded and smiled at her mother's trust, going down into the hole, which was another store. It seemed to be deserted as well, but it was too good to be true.
"This is dumb, we should be pushing in," Judy heard someone say below. Fear washed over her and quickly went down with intensity. Clementine was about to tell her to stay up there, but it had been too late. It was time for their first battle of the day.
"Stay back," Clementine whispered, going over to a boarded-up window to inspect.
"We hold the perimeter until we hear otherwise," said a female voice outside. "Keep an eye out in case he comes this way."
Judy heard a whine of a turkey vulture, and Clementine reacted by crouching, moving rapidly to the back of the room. "They have vultures, let's go!" whispered the vixen, as Judy hurriedly followed her to the back of the room, opening a door and hiding behind a wall. They still had to crouch due to the see-through window that replaced most of the wall.
"I got something," said the male voice outside.
"Infected?" wondered the female voice.
"Let's get in there," ordered the male voice. Finally, the door to the outside was open, and through it came a turkey vulture, just like Clementine had said. The two mammals were a female skunk and another male rabbit.
"It seems the prey get the vultures to smell for them," Clementine whispered.
"Or any animal than can't smell well. Shit. We can't let it get us," whispered Judy, motioning Clementine to slowly walk to the right, making sure not to alert their enemies further.
"You think this fox is connected to the girls from the school?" asked the rabbit, still following the turkey.
"It'd be a hell of a coincidence if they weren't," replied the skunk. Clem and Judy moved as slow as possible. The male rabbit could smell as well as an oyster, but his hearing was probably as well as the doe's.
"I hate these big groups," said the rabbit. "With big groups, it's a straight fight. These loners, they could be hiding anywhere."
Clementine was able to lead Judy to the outside of the store, where they weren't exactly out of danger, but were now more protected by the high grass. Judy kept watch on the vulture, making sure it didn't get close enough to alert the group. Closing her eyes, she listened intently as she kept on crawling through the grass, ignoring her cramping.
"There's a few more mammals on this street, Clem," Judy whispered. "Let's tread carefully."
"Got it," the vixen said, preparing a silencer on her pistol.
"You really did learn how to make it," whispered the doe.
"I listen to my girlfriend," Clem said, smiling. "Now let's get these sons of bitches."
"And technically sons of does, sons of sows, etcetera."
"Don't make me laugh right now," the vixen said, trying to hold her laughter and not get themselves killed in the process. Clementine had a clear visual of the skunk, and quickly made her move.
"I feel you," the skunk said. "Let's find these fuckers and head back ho-" she stopped talking as Clem's bullet pierced her left cheek and exited through the top of her head. A cloud of blood appeared in the air for a few seconds before her body plummeted on the store floor.
"Dana?" the rabbit asked, who was a few steps ahead of her. "You okay? Talk to me!" Alarmed, the rabbit turned his back to go to the door, instantly spotting his friend's dead body. "It's Dana! She's dead! Sweep the whole goddamn street! Go, girl!"
The vulture began heading closer to them, as both girls crawled around a silver car, trying to get off its trail. Peeking from behind the car gave Judy a good view of the rabbit, his fur cream-colored and particularly well-kept. Clementine managed to see him as well, using this opportunity to aim at him with her silenced pistol, ending his life with another clean gunshot to the face, entering through his forehead. "Nice shot," Judy complimented. The death of its owner threw the vulture off the scent, and the two were ready to keep advancing.
The girls crawled until they were at the front of another suit shop, named Bearland and Sons. Judy motioned Clementine not to go inside, hearing a vulture's feet clacking on the wooden floor of the shop. From a small hole in the wall, she could actually see the animal, walking about, trying to find them. She saw something peculiar on it, and looked at it more to try and see what was different. A glisten on the bird's feet made her eyes hover to it, and she finally saw it. The vulture had sharp scythe claws. Not only could the bird easily find them if their scent is caught, they were ready to tear the girls apart in a manner of a few seconds. She imagined the vulture tearing open her belly, which froze her on the spot. It was the first time she felt afraid of anything happening to her.
"Judy?" asked Clementine with worry, who also happened to look at the bird's claws, understanding the doe's fears. "It won't get us," Clementine assured her. To show her that she wasn't lying, Clementine found the owner of such vulture, quickly getting behind a car and shooting at him, all while Judy stayed on the same spot, still frozen. As soon as the mammal fell to the ground, the vulture went to his location, giving them the window of time to get inside the store.
Through one of the windows on the side, Judy saw a bright red door that could serve as their mode of escape. "Maybe we can sneak through there," suggested the doe, pointing at the door.
"Good idea," said Clem. "We just need to get over the rest of these assholes."
Judy nodded, analyzing their situation. There were about four mammals left searching the area, and at least three vultures were working on sniffing the girls out. There were two mammals closest to the red door and two more were left exploring the stores on the other side of the street. It would be a tricky getaway, but nothing they hadn't gone through before.
The clacking returned, making Judy's nose twitch with intensity. The vulture had gone back to the store and was now moments away from finding them out. Judy froze again, not knowing how to react in this situation. When the vulture ended up seeing her, it instantly flew to her, intending to use his sharp claws to do serious damage on her. She began tearing up from the fear. Seconds before the vulture's claws were pierced into her eyes, Clementine reacted, grabbing the bird by the throat really harshly before cracking it with a single movement of her paws. On its remaining seconds of life, it tried to get away from her grasp, flapping around with its wings, and even managing to connect its claws to Clem's forearm. Clem reacted to this cut by letting it go, but at this point, she knew it wouldn't go too far. One was never too sure, so for safety's sake, she used her axe to cut off its head for good. The vixen then redirected herself to getting Judy out of her trance.
"Mom," she whispered softly. "Snap out of it. We're almost out of here, The door's right past here." She kept moving her, slapping her face gently, "Come on!"
Her eyes blinked a few times and looked at Clementine confused. The vixen wiped her tears with her paws, waiting for her to calm down. "Okay…I'm good," she said. "Let's go."
The vixen knew that she wasn't 'good', but there wasn't enough time for her to talk to her about it. They needed to escape this encounter first. Leading her to the window of the store, Clementine turned back to Judy to tell her the plan. "Listen close. I'm gonna have to break this window for us to go through. As soon as I break it, I don't care if you jump over me, but run. Run as fast as you can to the door and start pushing. They haven't spotted us yet, and if any of them do, I will shoot them. Nothing will happen, okay? You understand?"
Judy, surprised by the vixen's leadership moment, gave a weak nod, getting into position with the vixen. Getting out her axe, the vixen looked at her with knowing eyes, also nodding. Prepping herself up, the vixen swung the axe gently, pinpointing the spot where she would hit the window. Taking a deep breath, she struck with certainty, shattering the window perfectly. Adhering to the vixen's plan, the doe jumped over the window, ran quickly to the big red door, and began pushing it.
"What the hell was that?" asked a Wolf in the distance, as the other prowling soldiers began reaching their location. Judy kept pushing as hard as she could, but her own diminishing strength from her weak state would not be enough to open it. In a few more seconds, Clementine was there to push with her. As soon as she arrived to help, the door started budging, which gave Judy the confidence to use much more of her strength. She needed out of this. Her fear was only restrained.
"There they are! Shoot!" screamed one of the Wolves, who began to prepare his rifle to shoot at them. She felt less resistance at the door and saw Clementine readying her own pistol, rapidly shooting at the enemy Wolf, who went down almost instantly. With one final decisive push, the red door swung open and the two headed inside. Thankfully, it was much easier to close from that side. Shutting it with the latch on top of the door, Clementine added much more protection to it by putting a nearby cabinet on it, panting from their near-death battle. Nevertheless, they were successful, and Judy took that moment to look for a place to sit down for a moment.
Walking a few meters, she saw a small round table where mammals used to sit to enjoy a coffee in the morning, probably belonging to a locally owned cafeteria. She saw in one of the seats, panting as well but with more difficulty, as she struggled to wipe the sweat from her face.
"Judy?" asked the vixen with worry, which the doe now noticed she had been left back at the red door. Hearing a slow walk towards her location, the vixen let out a breeze from her mouth in relief. "Jeez, you almost gave me a heart attack," she said, grasping her chest, which led Judy to believe that she probably wasn't exaggerating.
"Sorry," the doe said. "I just needed to sit."
"We should probably get going," Clem said. "We don't know if they'll find another way here."
"I know, I know, just…can I just sit here? For a bit?" Judy said, looking at her with tired eyes. Clementine wanted to object, but to appease her mother, she sat down with her, on the other side of the table. "What do you want to order?" the doe asked.
"Hmm, you know I hate coffee. And I'm honestly not a big fan of tea. Hot chocolate would be nice."
"One hot chocolate coming up! What would you like to eat?"
"I'm craving a beetle soufflé, oh but wait, a centipede flan would go great with this chocolate. Oh no, wait…some rice pudding with moth sprinkles would be amazing," said Clem, her mouth salivating from the thought.
"You know, being a bunny, I'd find all of those disgusting, but you kinda…made me want to try them, weirdly enough."
"It's probably the kits talking. They must have a predator appetite."
Judy was stupefied. She hadn't thought of that being a possibility. Would she need to actually eat predator food to keep them healthy? "Oh no, am I gonna actually have to eat bugs for these freaks in my belly?"
"Hey, don't call 'em freaks. They're probably super cute."
"Yeah, you're right. I sure hope they don't inherit Nick's smugness."
"I think those genes are too strong, I'm afraid. You're gonna have to deal with sassy bunnies and foxes."
"Oh great," she said in jest. She was surprised they didn't hear anything from the red door. It appeared like the group had given up or retreated. Honestly, she liked it that way. She just wants this journey to end. "Am I…" Judy started saying. "Am I horrible for doing this?"
"What?"
"I mean, I'm pregnant for fox's sake. I shouldn't be out here risking my life like this. It's completely terrible."
"I won't say it's not bad that you're risking Nick's kits like this," she said it, trying not to be hurtful but being unsuccessful. Just calling them Nick's kits was enough to make Judy realize how big of a mistake it would be to lose them. "But you're also doing this to protect me. To make sure nothing happens."
"Lousy job I've been doing," the doe said. "All I've done is cower behind you."
"Hey, just because I don't show it doesn't mean I don't like having you with me. I trust Skye to protect you, but I get anxious now when you're not around. When I have you with me, I know you'll be safe."
"I feel the same way, but now I don't have anything to show for it. I'm trying to be strong, but this condition is holding me back. I'm only gonna kill you at this rate."
"Don't. Say. That." Clem said harshly. "You are not killing me. Just having you here calms me down."
"You mean it?"
"Of course I do."
After that, a bit of a silence reigned in on the two. It was a comfortable one, but none of them knew how to continue their conversation. A lot had been said in very few words, and now it seemed like all their feelings were out in the open. In the silence, Judy came to some kind of epiphany, and she didn't waste any time sharing it.
"You know what hasn't changed for me, Clem?" the doe asked in an aura of mystery.
"Hmm?" the vixen asked, gesturing her to keep going.
"Despite me leaving the Fireflies, I've never really stopped looking for the light, as they used to say. I thought I had everything I wanted with you two. I thought I had finally found the light. But I still felt like something was missing."
"I understand," Clem said. "It is animal nature to want more after we're satisfied with one thing. I don't blame you."
"This in no way means I was unhappy having you two," she cleared up. "But it still somehow felt not as full as it should be. In those years of calm, I tried many things. I tried to find my light. The one thing that could finally make me forget everything bad that happened in my past."
"And?" the vixen asked.
"...Nothing. My light was still you two. And now, with…everything that's happened, the light is even dimmer."
"Is there a 'but' coming?" asked the vixen.
"I don't see a butt walking over here. Do you?" the doe joked with a smile, making Clementine chuckle.
"You know what I meant. Those Nick years really affected us, didn't they?"
"We are so rotten, my girl," Judy chuckled once again. "But yes, there is a but coming."
"Which is?"
"Something that I've learned from all of my experiences in life, is that a light never fully goes out. It may lose its batteries, yeah, but you can find new ones and replace them. This right here," she looked down, touching her pregnant belly. "This is my new light."
Clementine approached her spot, touching Judy's pregnancy with care and love. "You know what? It just might be my favorite light too."
"Better than Skye?"
"Well…we'll see about that."
"I also…thought of a name for a female vixen kit," she said softly.
"Oh, you gotta tell me right now! Come on, come on!" Clementine said, jumping in glee.
"Hold your ostriches, I'll tell you," Judy said, chuckling. She went near the vixen's ear and whispered the name, eliciting a smile from the red vixen. A smile that stayed there for a bit, where she was left processing Judy's chosen name for her offspring.
"It's beautiful, Judy," she said, with the utmost love a daughter could have for her mother. "Ellie," she repeated what Judy had said, practicing how her name would sound with her voice.