Chapter 10: An Outcast Turned Citizen
My head hurt. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to my skull multiple times even after I had been knocked into an unconscious state. My hands slowly shuffled, feeling what I could only assume was fabric as I struggled to lift my eyelids, my vision slowly clearing up the longer my eyes were open and I soon found myself in the Heeler's living room, laying on a couch. The source of the fabric feeling coming from a blanket that was draped over me. Slowly looking to my left, I saw the familiar faces of Chilli, Bluey and Bingo all watching me, their faces plastered with concern.
"...You okay, Nathan?" Bluey was the first to ask, having noticed that I had woken up.
"Ugh, what happened?" I groaned as I rubbed my head, the pain slowly fading but still noticeable.
"Bandit said you passed out in the library. You hit your head pretty hard on one of the bookshelves." Chilli explained. That explained the head pains I was currently dealing with. I tried to remember what had happened back at the library that had made me pass out as I knew that the Heelers would no doubt be asking me how and why I fell unconscious.
The last thing I remember was reading a book that Lucky had pointed out to me which contained a piece of the lost page with five words that were clear as day in my mind.
"...Chilli? Do you know anything about a War of New Zealand that happened on 2015?" I asked the mother dog in question, her eyebrows raised which told me that she was not expecting that kind of question.
"I don't believe I do, why?" Chilli inquired with a question of her own. I wonder how she would react if I told her what I found.
"Well... Me and Lucky found a book about Canistralia and... I found a page had been torn off of it with only the title left which was "New Zealand War of 2015". I know that New Zealand exists in my world... So does this mean...?"
"Yes. We are living in the same world as you and the other humans are." A voice suddenly answered what I was about to ask, making us all turn to find a certain German Shepherd in a suit at one of the doorways.
"...Andrew?" The German Shepherd nodded at my recollection of his name before he approached us.
"How are you feeling, Nathan?" Andrew asked sympathetically as he sat on a nearby couch whilst I sat up, pulling the blanket off of myself. "Well, my head isn't hurting as it was before so there's that." I replied as Andrew acknowledged my answer with a nod.
"Now... Bluey's parents mentioned to me that one of her friends had said that humans had used to live among us in the past. Is that correct?" He asked to which I responded with a nod, having been there when she had said it, allowing him to continue.
"Miss Heeler. What your friend has told you was indeed the truth." Andrew addressed Bluey before continuing. "There was indeed a time when dogs like us and humans lived together in peace for years. Perhaps all the way back to even the stone age."
"What?!" Bluey and Bingo exclaimed in surprise upon hearing this.
"Yes, it's true. The problem was... The human organisation known as the United Nations were weary of us, as were many of the human states' governments. They were afraid that we would use their trust for our own advantage and possibly attack them to claim the human world as our own. The government of Canistralia, which believe it or not is a sister region to Australia had been planning to sign a declaration of peace to ease the UN's worries. That is until... that happened." Andrew's expression fell as he finished part of his answer. I had a vague feeling on what he was referring to.
"Bluey, Bingo? May I ask that you go do something while me, Nathan and your mother talk? What I'm about to say may scare you." The two young dogs didn't argue as they got off the couch and ran off, leaving us alone before Andrew turned back to me.
"You mentioned the 'New Zealand War of 2015', didn't you?" He asked me as I answered again with a nod before he resumed his explanation.
"In 2015, a war suddenly broke out in New Zealand. We don't know what the cause was, but it was between several humans and dogs of Canistralia. Our citizens only made it out with a few injuries, but the humans... they weren't so lucky. And unfortunately, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for the UN. They and many of the human governments not only banished us to Canistralia, but have banned us from almost every single human region and have even taken the human citizens of Canistralia off and back to their regions."
My blood ran cold at what Andrew had said. If this war was the reason why there were no other humans in this area... It made too much sense.
"And it has been like that ever since. None of us are allowed to go into any of the human regions and the UN has made damn sure that Canistralia is removed from every single world map so that they don't risk losing any of their kind who decide to try and visit us. Canistralia's government has even been trying to remove and destroy all evidence of humans ever existing here, with the ones who knew about their past existence being made to keep quiet. And it seems like they failed a spot check with what you found, Nathan." Andrew finished his answer.
I took a moment to look at Chilli to find that Bandit had joined her and both of them were stunned as they processed everything Andrew had said. That was when he spoke to me once more.
"This is why I had originally taken you to the CPIA and asked you for a proposal, until... I revealed to you what happened to your parents. But I won't pressure you. All I ask is... Do you feel ready to hear me out?"
It still stung when he mentioned my mom and dad but I knew that I couldn't let the grief hold off whatever Andrew had to say forever, so I looked at Andrew firmly in the eyes and said the very two words.
"I'm ready."
The town square was full to the brim with countless bipedal dogs, all of ranging breeds. Few of them I managed to recognise as I was stood behind the curtains of a podium stand, waiting for Andrew to walk up to the microphone and begin his speech.
It wouldn't be until a few minutes later when I saw the German Shepherd in question walk up on stage and tap the microphone to test it, getting the microphone's audible feed as a result before beginning his speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please." The murmuring from all the dogs fell into silence as Andrew continued.
"My name's Andrew Kahlon, Professional Investigator of the CPIA. Now I'm aware some of you may have concerns about being in supposed danger of a creature you may have spotted. A being that lacks fur and with body proportions completely different to yours. I've come here today to reassure you of your worries. What you have been seeing is actually known as a human being. And just like us dogs, he has a name."
Andrew temporarily halted his speech to turn to me and gesture him to come up on stage, to which I did so. Many of the dogs gasping as their eyes laid on me, I even heard a few of them exchange whispers with each other.
"That's him! That's the freakish balding ape thing I saw at Bandit's home!" One of them called out, I could just about feel the hostility the dog was giving me as it said that.
"Do you think he's holding him and his family hostage?!" Another dog exclaimed before Andrew spoke out on the mic again.
"People, people, please. Let's not jump to conclusions." Andrew cleared his throat before starting again.
"This is Nathan Faulkner. And you're free to not believe me, but his kind has actually lived among you for years up until 2015." The crowd murmured again, their voices sounding confused and in disbelief as you'd expect.
"About a few days ago, there was a plane crash in the forests near Lake Eacham. The survivor of this crash was none other than Nathan. He and his parents had seemingly been on a vacation flight when the plane they were in crashed into the forest in question. While Nathan survived, his... parents are still missing and we are doing our best to search for them." Andrew had hesitated on explaining what had happened to my parents, possibly having chosen to lie instead to avoid risking me recall seeing my mom and dad's charred bodies.
Very slowly, the murmurs of the dogs turned to concern as Andrew continued to speak.
"To put it in simple terms, Nathan here is just an innocent young man who means no harm to anyone. He has even been given care by the Heeler's for the past few days and they can confirm that he isn't a threat to you or anyone else."
"He's right." A familiar voice said among the crowd as we saw a certain Chow Chow, Wendy come on up stage and face the crowd.
"I've known Chilli for so many years and she has told me so much about this human. It's thanks to her that I know I can trust Nathan, especially when he has been so good to Chilli's own children. And if I can see that Nathan is someone we shouldn't shove away, then you shouldn't either."
"Thank you, Miss Chow. Your input was really helpful." Andrew said gratefully before facing the crowd once more.
"So, until we can locate his parents, all I and the CPIA can ask of you is that you don't see or treat Nathan as a "monster", "thing" or anything else, but as a citizen like you. He has been through so much and the last thing he needs now is to be ostracised. So can I ask you this? Will you accept Nathan into your region?"
There was brief silence for a moment until the dogs chattered among each other. From what I could tell, they were murmurs of agreement as some of them walked closer to the stage.
"I will." One of them said.
"If what the CPIA is true, then there really is no harm in trusting a... "human"." Another one said as soon enough they were joined by many of the others.
I couldn't help but smile. The days of being a pariah to these dogs was finally over. Never again would I be treated as some hideous creature that wasn't welcome here. I was finally accepted into a place I felt so alien to.
"Hey..." A voice nervously called out me, making me turn to face the source. It was the very same Pug lady whom I had a rather unfortunate encounter with.
"...I'm sorry I attacked you a few days ago. I should've realised then that you were only helping my little boy. That's a mistake I'll never make again." She said sincerely and a little sadly, her tone evidently remorseful of her actions.
"I probably would've done the same if I saw something I had never of before anywhere near my family, so no hard feelings." I replied reassuringly as I held a hand out to her, which she shook with a smile, which actually made a few of the dogs cheer with acceptance.
But as I looked at the crowd, I recognised a familiar young Border Collie with his arms crossed, giving me that distrustful glare I had seen back at Bluey's school.
...Mackenzie.
God, I honestly had forgotten about him and how Lucky had mentioned him back at the library. That was when that one thought hit me.
If Mackenzie really was from New Zealand... then did the war perhaps negatively affect his views on humans in general?
Soon enough the crowd had died down, a good few of the dogs had even exchanged polite farewells to me which always put a smile on my face from how I knew that they now trusted me and saw me almost like I was one of them.
With the square now empty, it was just me and the Heeler family when Andrew addressed Bandit and Chilli.
"Well... Now that Nathan is essentially an orphan, we may need to discuss his possible plans of having a legal guardian. I have two options, one of which you'll need to eventually decide on."
Bandit and Chilli looked at each other before nodding to Andrew.
"As far as I'm aware, we cannot contact any of Nathan's remaining family as either taking him to them or them arriving to us would go against the UN's current laws. So I'm afraid I can only suggest that you either... adopt him as if he was your own child or we can consider finding a suitable care home for him that'll be comfortable enough for him."
Bandit and Chilli's eyebrows creased with worry. It was obvious to me that they didn't know what to do as the former finally spoke up.
"...How long do we have to decide?"
"I'll give you five months at best. I'm sorry to put this kind of pressure on to you." Andrew replied with an apology.
"We understand." Chilli said honestly, making Andrew respond with a nod before he left, supposedly to return to CPIA's headquarters.
With Andrew now gone, Bandit and Chilli turned me, still with those undecided looks on their faces. They then looked down which made me look down as well to find Bluey and Bingo looking up at their parents with puppy eyes and their hands together in a pleading manner.
They were begging them to adopt me.
"Look kids... I don't know if we'll be able to care for another one, especially a human. We'll just have to wait and see, okay?" Bandit told them sympathetically as the two nodded in response before looking up at me. I knelt down to the young dogs and pulled them into a gentle embrace before whispering to them.
"No matter what happens, I'll always love you two like you were my own little sisters."
