I know the last chapter was intense. But trust me, it gets better.
I Knew You Were a Weirdo
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XV - Things That Go Bump in the Night
Nooshy stirred where she laid. Her throat was sore and raw. Her eyes stung and she had a headache.
Anxiety forced her awake and she sat up.
A familiar scent caused her to look down and see that she was in bed and she was covered up to her collarbone in her blankets.
And Johnny's leather jacket.
Nooshy gasped softly.
I must've fallen asleep. And he carried me to my bed again. And he gave me his jacket too. Again!
Nooshy took the jacket and hugged it tight to her chest, affectionately nuzzling her face into it, savoring the scent and the rich texture.
She clung to it as though it was the one thing that could keep her mind tethered to reality.
Seeing her phone on her nightstand, Nooshy picked it up to check the time.
She gasped when she saw that it was thirteen minutes past nine in the evening.
9:13 pm?! Geez I overslept!
Swinging her feet over the side of her bed, Nooshy began to stand up.
But she stopped dead when she felt several sharp pin pricks pierce the bottoms of her feet.
"YOW!" she shrieked, pulling her feet back.
"WAAAHHH!" shouted another voice.
It was Ash.
And she had been snoozing on the floor in a bundle of blankets by Nooshy's bedside.
Startled and frightened by being almost stepped on and the shrill cry of Nooshy, Ash jumped back.
And her prickly backside collided with a sleeping Porsha's rear.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Porsha screamed in pain and alarm.
She too jumped, arching, writhing and jumping up and down a bit in agony before it subsided to simply stinging soreness.
"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Porsha cried as she looked behind her at the stinging quills now stuck in the bottom area surrounding her tail.
She looked to see Nooshy sitting on her bed, her feet in the air as there were two or three quills in both of them.
Ash, now recovered from her wake up call and seeing what had happened, covered her mouth in shock.
"Omigosh...you guys ok?"
Both Nooshy and Porsha gave Ash a pained, deadpan look.
Ash chuckled nervously. "Right, stupid question."
The awkward trio stood in silence at their most unusual predicament, until they heard silent laughter from the other side of the room.
They turned to see Meena, in her baby blue nightgown, covering her mouth, trying desperately to keep from laughing.
Nooshy scowled. "Not helping Meena."
"I'm sorry," the elephant said, giggling. "H-Here, let me help."
Nooshy winced as Meena took her right foot and plucked out one of the quills.
"Ow."
Porsha groaned as she looked down at Ash. "Well...let's get this over with."
She bent over slightly so Ash could have better access to the quills sticking out of Porsha's backside.
"I really am sorry Porsha," Ash said, ashamed.
Porsha waved a dismissive hand. "It was an accident, just be gentle please."
The door opened a jar and Rosita poked her head in.
"Is everything ok? I heard screaming."
Meena, Nooshy, Ash and Porsha froze as the mother of 25 gandered them in the most unexpected of circumstances.
Rosita, mouth slightly agape, saw Nooshy sitting on the bed, one foot held by the ankle as Meena was pulling out another quill. Her other foot had at least three quills stuck in them.
She also saw Porsha slightly bent over as Ash was in the process of plucking out a quill as several were stuck in the young wolf's backside.
All four were staring at the pig matriarch in dumb shock.
Nooshy covered her face. "Don't laugh."
"Are you two ok?" Rosita asked.
"Peachy," Porsha said, equally annoyed, not moving from her position.
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Elsewhere…
A gray wolf in an expensive tailored suit groaned in discomfort as he stirred from unconsciousness.
"Wake up."
Blinking his stinging eyes, the gray wolf realized he was hanging upside down. Looking down, he saw nothing but air until his eyes adjusted to see lights, many lights.
As his eyes continued to adjust, he realized to his horror that he was many, many stories high in the air.
At least 50 stories.
"Hé."
The wolf looked up towards the voice that addressed him.
Was that a French accent?
The wolf cried out in terror at what he saw.
He saw that he was suspended by the ankle by some kind of cable which was attached to something unseen as it was dark.
He was hanging from the rafters of the topmost floor of a tall building under construction.
But that was not what terrified him.
What shook him was the shadowy outline of a man, standing over him, looking down at him, his eyes shining bright in the moonlight, giving him a monstrous appearance.
The person leaned down.
It was a goat mammalite. Black of hair, fierce green eyes, an x-shaped scar on the bridge of his snout, and one of his curved horns was broken off, mid-section. He was wearing a long-sleeve tactical sweater, black trousers and boots. There were tight leather gloves on his cloven hoof hands.
The terrified gray wolf stammered as he swung in the air. "What?! What?! What do you want?!"
"For starters," said the black goat. "Le nom de vos patrons. Which is to say, your bosses' name."
The gray wolf shook his head. "No! No! I cannot! He will kill me! And my family! I will not! No no no no NO!"
The black goat sighed deeply. "Your family has already been relocated to a safehouse of my choosing," he said in his thick French accent. "They will be placed under your government's protection and you'll be allowed to see them. Cooperate, and it will go easy for you. Comprenez-vous?"
The gray wolf looked skeptical.
The black goat produced a cell phone from his pants pocket, dialed a number and placed it to the wolf's ear.
"Harvey?"
"Marg!" the wolf cried. "Are you ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine! The kids are ok too."
"Where are you?!"
"We're at this safehouse. A Sergeant Winslow is here with us. He told us you were being coerced?"
Harvey gasped in an emotional sense of sharp relief. Sergeant Rob Winslow. A good cop. His family would be safe with him.
"Harvey? What's going on? Are you ok?"
"I love you honey!" Harvey said through tears. "I love you so much."
"I love you too baby, come soon please!"
"I will, I promise."
The black goat hung up the phone and pocketed it. He grabbed the wolf by the lapels of his jacket, detached what was suspending him, and laid him on the concrete floor.
"Name," the goat said firmly.
The wolf looked up at him, stricken. "Sorrows. Jorge Sorrows."
The black goat blinked. "It's that big?"
The wolf nodded.
"Hmm."
Producing car keys from his pants pocket, the goat gave them to the wolf.
"Take stairs. Stop for nothing. Take the black Cadillac. Instructions and directions are under seat. Déménagez!"
The wolf nodded and took to his heels.
With that, the black goat sprinted to the edge of the floor and leapt over the edge, into the skyline, out of view.
Just as he was descending down the stairs, Harvey gasped, seeing this stunt take place. "Who was that?"
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Ash fiddled with her quills nervously.
"Ash, don't sulk," Nooshy said. "It doesn't suit you."
"Sorry, it's just...embarrassing."
Nooshy scowled and she covered her head with the covers of her bed.
Ash looked up at the lynx and she clenched her teeth . Embarrassing? What do I know about it? Nooshy...she was almost...that foster care…
The porcupine covered her eyes. "Are you ok Nooshy?"
"M'fine, just need to process this. I...I never told anyone."
Meena sat at the foot of the bed, her back to Nooshy. "We're here if you need us, Noosh."
"Thank you," the lynx whispered, her words slightly muffled by the covers.
Porsha fidgeted, twiddling her fingers. She breathed out a laborious, anxious breath. "I had no idea you went through something like that, Noosh. You must've been very brave."
Nooshy bundled up under the covers and pulled her knees to her chest.
She did not reply.
Porsha turned to look at her. Oh man...I don't know what to say to her at all.
A solemn Ash pulled herself up onto Nooshy's bed and laid down beside her.
Feeling the motion and weight shift, Nooshy slightly uncovered her head so that just one eye could be visible. Seeing Ash looking at her, she slowly blinked awkwardly.
"Sup," Ash said, averting her eyes.
Nooshy sighed. "I hope I didn't hurt ya when I stepped on you."
Ash looked incredulous. "Trust me, I think you got the worst of it." She shook her head. "But what about you? Are you ok?"
"Guess."
Ash frowned at the street dancer's snooty remark. She chose to say nothing and just laid her head down.
Noticing Nooshy's hand sticking out from under the covers, Ash placed her own on it and caressed it.
Nooshy flinched but she did not pull back. Intense emotions raged inside her chest like a whirlwind.
Anxiety, anger, self-hatred, self-disgust, fear…
...and love.
If she wasn't holding Johnny's jacket to herself, she'd have already broken down in tears.
She pressed her face into it once more, taking in the scent. His scent.
Unable to help herself but think of him and how safe he made her feel when she told her story, even when she went to pieces, in front of her closest friends, Nooshy buried her face into his jacket as soft, moaning whimpers escaped her lips, muffled by the rough texture of the leather jacket.
Hearing her soft cries and feeling her starting to tremble, Ash, now misty-eyed herself, scooted over to Nooshy, released her hand, so she could wrap her arms around Nooshy's head, allowing her to nestle into her shoulder.
Nooshy made no attempt to resist. Her anguish greater than her pride, she accepted the embrace and buried her face into her friend's shoulder.
Ash soothingly rubbed the top and the back of Nooshy's head. She needn't say anything because really she could think of nothing to say. Right now, all Nooshy needs is her friends, her family.
She has lost so much. Been through so much. How is it possible that she has been through all that tragedy and yet became the person she is now?
Porsha circled around, slipped onto the bed, and without disturbing the covers, crawled behind Nooshy and put an arm over and around her, laying her head just behind hers.
Nooshy's trembling seemed to subside at the young wolf's tender embrace. She placed a hand on top of Porsha's and held it tightly. The young wolf squeezed it in turn.
Meena watched all this from the foot of the bed and sitting quietly, pondered within herself on what to do to help in comforting the troubled young lynx.
She decided that she would sing.
"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?"
"It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah"
"Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah"
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Johnny sat in a luxury armchair, overlooking the night skyline of Manhattan. Fabulous lights throughout the medieval metroplex, the skyscrapers, the streetlights, the multitude of cars, as well as the blare of Time Square.
But he barely paid any attention to them. He was more focused on the tempest raging in his heart, of the new knowledge of the history of his girlfriend.
I just...I just can't believe it. How could...I don't know if I'd ever be able to get over something like that.
"Hey Johnny."
Startled, the young mammalite jumped in his seat.
Johnny saw his father standing over him with a demure grin on his face.
"Mind if I join ya?"
Johnny put a hand to his chest to steady his accelerating heart.
And then without a word, he gestured to an empty chair next to him.
Marcus sat down, albeit gingerly as though he had to use a certain amount of effort to do so.
Johnny took notice of this and it chilled his heart with fear. Even sitting down is a chore for him.
"I...I had a word with Miss Noodleman and Calloway," Marcus said hesitantly.
"Did you?" Johnny replied without looking at his father.
"Yeah, I did." Marcus clears his throat sheepishly. "They...well...we had a chat about my health...and we came to the agreement that I should have some much needed rest."
Johnny scoffed. "Much needed is an understatement."
Marcus was visibly hurt. His son never talked this way with him. But he understood that the news of his own health clearly took its toll on his son. Marcus suddenly felt like the worst father in the world. An exaggeration but perhaps not altogether untrue. After all, he had let his wife die and led his son, her son, into a life of crime.
He would've most likely ended up in jail too if he hadn't left to go to his rehearsal. That gold rush was a bust either way.
It was more or less true. Even if Johnny had stayed with the getaway car, that band of police was already waiting and they might've been caught anyway. Meaning Johnny would've been in jail with him, or worse, juvenile hall. They'd have been separated and Johnny would never fulfill his dream.
My Ivanka would've been sick and ashamed of me.
Marcus felt his eyes sting but he shook away the coming tears.
"I promise son," he said. "I will take it easy from now on. I have not much hope of recovering but I will fight this heart disease all the same, even if it ki-!"
Johnny turned on his father. "Don't you dare finish that sentence, dad!" he exclaimed through bared teeth, putting a finger in his dad's face.
Marcus was taken aback by how forceful and forward his son was. Johnny looked angry but there were tears in his eyes.
Big Daddy Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes shamefully. "Son, I'm sorry. But I promise, I will never hide something like this again."
"Like it matters, you're dying aren't you? Aren't you?!"
Marcus sighed. "Hard to say. But it doesn't look good m'son. It's advanced now."
Johnny looked down, visibly shaking. "How long?"
Marcus looked at him. "What?"
Johnny clenched his teeth and balled his fists. "How long?!"
Marcus swallowed heavily. "A year, maybe two."
Johnny covered his face as he hopelessly whimpered. "Nana...she told me that a doctor's word isn't the end all, be all."
"Yeah, she said the same thing." Marcus shuddered. "Can't believe she's 90."
"93," Johnny corrected.
Marcus whistled. "And she's not bad looking either, eh?"
Johnny cleared his throat. "Nope. My point is that hope may not be lost, dad."
"I believe it."
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A kilometer away, on top of a skyscraper overlooking the skyline, with the Citadel Tower in clear view, was a ventilation facility, with an iron trailer which served as an office for said ventilation facility.
Three men, a Rottweiler missing some teeth, a cougar with an eyepatch, and a bull mammalite with a broken horn, all clad in dark blue track suits, were setting up three Stinger missile launchers.
The ordnance they were arming them with were not explosives but highly-advanced gas bombs. Their function: to attach to glass surfaces and penetrate them with needle-like nozzles which would pump poisonous gas into the other side.
"He said there were kids inside," the bull said.
"Yeah, so?" said the Rottweiler ruefully.
"Nothing, it's just…"
"What?!" the cougar snapped, getting in the bull's face. "Since when did kids matter? That never stopped you before. So it's a little more this time. But that doesn't matter. When we get a job from on high, we get it done. Period! You take care of business-!"
"Or business takes care of you, I get it!" The bull huffed and then continued arming his Stinger. "Shouldn't we be planting these from all sides."
"What we got is limited," the cougar said. "Feds have been seizing our resources left and right. Thanks to these nobodies." He snarled angrily. "These bottom-feeding nobodies. All we have to do is hit the windows, the gas will spread through the ventilation. Should take at least 10 minutes."
"What about the Crystal girl?" the Rottweiler asked. "Aren't we supposed to keep her alive?"
"We have someone on the inside. He'll pick her up before the gas spreads."
Their actions halted at once when a knock at the door was heard. A very unusual rhythm of knocking.
The Rottweiler pulled a gun but the cougar held up a hand to stop him. "Hold it. That's the secret knock. Must be the boss. He's the only one besides us who knows it."
The cougar stood up and approached the door.
He opened it ajar without bothering to check who it was first.
And then suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed around the throat.
The cougar barely gasped out before seeing the face a black she-leopard with shoulder length hair, a shroud covering up one eye while one blue eye stared at him in abject fury.
She pushed him back into the office hut and using her tail, closed the door behind her.
Nothing could be seen aside from the one window.
Screams, curses, blows of impact, and breaking equipment could be heard.
"WHAT THE-?!"
"NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM-!"
"SHOOT HER! JUST SHOOT HER!"
"AGGGHHHHH!"
A battered and bruised cougar was thrown out the window. He had just enough time to grab a Stinger missile launcher and he took aim. He had just enough time to see two gorilla mammalites in the window.
He fired.
He had just enough time to look up to see the she-leopard looking down at him, teeth bared in rage.
The cougar screamed when the carnage began.
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"You promise?" Johnny asked, wiping his eyes.
"I promise, son," Marcus said, placing a hand over his heart. He noticed it was beating abnormally. He straightened himself out and looked his son in the eye.
"Johnny, I need to ask you this but how serious are you about her?"
Johnny blinked. "What?"
"Your relationship."
Johnny blushed slightly. "Well…"
"Do you love her?"
Johnny recoiled as though he had been pushed back, his face red as a beet. "Dad!"
"You do…" Marcus smiled warmly. "I know you do."
"Dad please…"
Marcus reached into his jacket pocket and when he found what he was looking for, he handed it to Johnny.
When the young man saw what it was in his hand, he gasped.
It was a ring. Silver in make, with musical note designs, with a blue sapphire jewel encrusted in it.
It was his mother's engagement ring.
Johnny felt his face and ears burning so badly, it felt like a really bad sunburn, the implications in his mind rendering him speechless.
What? What? What?
Johnny looked up at his father. "Dad? What?!"
"I wanted you to have this for a while, son," Marcus said solemnly. "Had it adjusted and everything."
"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Adjusted?! You'd have to know Nooshy's finger size. How-?!"
Marcus shrugged. "Eh...that's not important."
"I disagree!"
Thwip!
Crack!
Johnny and Marcus paused as they both looked at the glass viewing window in front of them. At first, they saw nothing but the city lights and the black sky.
Then their eyes adjusted to see a strange device, a small black metallic cylinder attached to the glass. A sharp thick syringe-like rod had pierced the glass.
And to the shock and horror of both Johnny and his father, the hiss of a green gas was flowing into the hall.
Before Johnny could cry out, his father tackled him to the floor, knocking over both their chairs.
"Johnny," Marcus whispered. "Stay down and cover your mouth."
"What-?! What's happening?!"
"Dunno! Just stay down and don't breathe that stuff in."
Marcus started coughing as he picked up his chair and with all his might, tossed it right through the window.
A blaring alarm went off.
The gas began to dissipate as the device fell harmlessly to the city streets below.
Marcus coughed violently.
In his effort to break the window, he had breathed in a mouthful of the gas.
"Dad! Are you ok?!" Johnny cried in fearful distress as he got to his feet and checked on his dad.
"Yeah, yeah," Marcus said through his coughs. "I'm fine, just need…" He coughed again. "Need to catch my...breath."
"What happened?! Johnny?!"
Johnny lifted his head to see Rosita, followed by Buster and Ash turn around the corner at the end of the hall.
"No! Stay where you are! Stay away from the windows! We're under attack!"
Everyone in the hall froze mid-motion.
Another voice shouted in the opposite direction. "Johnny?!"
Meena!
"NO!" Johnny shouted. "Don't come in! Stay away!"
"Johnny?! What's wrong?!"
No, not her! "Nooshy, stop! Don't move!"
"Johnny!" Ash cried. "Look out!"
Johnny noticed too late the red laser point near his chest.
Suddenly, something swiped him from below, tripping both him and his father.
They fell on their backs when a point in the wall behind them exploded.
Johnny, out of breath, looked up to see a hole in the wall, the size of a fist.
Surprisingly, he was not all that afraid. "I think I'm getting used to getting shot at."
"That's not good."
Johnny looked to his left to see Suki Lane, crouched on all fours, looking at him, half-amused and half-stricken with alarm.
"You saved my life," Johnny whispered.
"You can thank me later, but right now, we have to leave."
No sooner had she said those words did large metal doors suddenly come down, blocking the windows and all views from the outside, completing the emergency lockdown protocol.
All was shrouded in darkness before emergency lights came on.
Suki and Marcus helped Johnny to his feet.
"How did you do that?" Johnny asked. "I didn't even see-OOF!"
He was cut off when a blur of white and black crashed into him, nearly knocking him off his feet, and he felt two arms wrap around his middle.
"I thought I lost you," Nooshy whispered into Johnny's chest, clad in her pajamas and his leather jacket, which was clearly too big for her.
Johnny chuckled nervously. "Don't worry, I'm ok."
All were silenced by a stern clearing of the throat.
All turned to see at the end of the hallway, clad in British Ivy League outdoor garb complete with a flat cap, was Nana Noodleman.
Douglas Hobbs was by her side, dressed by much the same way and armed with an M1 rifle.
"Get dressed and follow me," Nana said in a low, commanding voice.
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In under ten minutes, once all was up, they dressed quickly in travel clothes and made for the private lounge.
Rosita, Norman and Gunter were trying their best to calm down the piglets, all of which were either exhausted, confused or afraid.
Jimmy was visibly shaking as he was being held by his Aunt Sue, who whispering comforting words into his ear.
"Why are we here?" Ash said as she thumbed behind her. "The exit's in the other direction."
"We cannot take the conventional exit Ashlyn," Nana said as she reached the grand piano in the room's corner. "I received a report that there was a foul up in the number of employees in this building either losing their ID's or not showing up to work. And yet, there has been no shortage of staff today."
"What does that mean?" Porsha asked in alarm.
"It means we don't know who's waiting for us." Nana played a few keys on the piano. "Therefore we must take an alternate route."
Once she finished the musical note, a loud click was heard and on the wall, a large portrait of a younger Nana with her husband, a ram with a golden-brown coat in a British military outfit, shifted and opened to reveal an entryway leading to a massive elevator, just large enough to fit a small army.
All those present were amazed and baffled.
"Well don't stand there gawking," Nana almost snapped. "In you go."
The Moon troupe filed in at once.
Buster turned to Eddie with an inquisitive look. "Did you know she had a secret passageway concealed by a painting?"
Eddie put his hands out. "Nooooo."
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It took a better part of an hour to make their way through an underground channel beneath the city of Manhattan. It was well-lit and well-preserved.
Apparently, Nana had bought it off and made it into a private emergency exit should the worst ever happen.
People had thought she was paranoid. Some thought she was nuts. But those who knew her know her to be simply cautious and known for her foresight.
Nana, Suki and Hobbs led the way at the front. Buster and Eddie followed behind. Ash, Rosita, Porsha, Nooshy, Meena and Johnny were behind them. Jimmy hung behind Johnny.
The piglets surrounded their father and Gunter and being full of energy as they are, most of them had no trouble keeping up.
Those that were either too tired or scared were carried.
Meena had Ada and Julianna in her large hands.
Porsha held a sleeping Vida in her arms.
Nooshy held a trembling Caspar close to her chest, shushing him whenever he whimpered.
The remainder, Nurse Sue, the security detail consisting of Ryan, Murphy, Sam and Julia, and finally Clay Calloway and Big Daddy Marcus, both fully dressed and well armed with an M1 rifle.
Both agreed to cover the rear.
"Are we almost there?" Porsha asked anxiously.
"It's just down this hall," Nana said simply without taking her eyes off the end of the hall. "We will be coming up into a warehouse just off the coast of the East River. An emergency transport will be picking us up in 15 minutes."
"Thank goodness," Rosita said, voice filled with relief.
Meena gulped before she looked at Johnny with a pained look. "Johnny? Are you ok?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah. I'm great, awesome in fact."
Ash did not look convinced. "Johnny...you were almost shot tonight...again."
Johnny flinched as he scrunched his eyes. "Yeah, I know."
Nooshy's lip quivered. But then she bared her teeth in a snarl but she took great care not to show it as to not frighten Caspar further.
Thankfully he already nodded off.
And the other piglets were not close enough to hear.
Jimmy Beadling gulped as he rubbed his upper arm.
Johnny took notice of this. "You ok?"
"Huh?"
"You've been rubbing your arm like that the entire time we've left. You hurt?"
Jimmy shook his head. "No, my arm just itches. Don't know why."
"Here," Nurse Sue said as she approached her nephew.
She pulled up Jimmy's sleeve. "Where does it itch?"
Jimmy pointed just to his upper arm, just below the shoulder.
"Here we are," Nana said as the group reached a lift. "Just above is the warehouse. It has a panic room which will keep us safe until help comes."
Sue pressed around the area of her nephew's arm which was irritating him.
She felt something off, as though there was something under the skin that shouldn't be.
What is that?
As she moved her son's fur out of the way to get a better look at the skin, she noticed that there was what looked like a tiny cut, and being a nurse, saw that it was around two weeks old.
She gasped when she saw that there was a tiny red light that was blipping under the skin.
She knew what it was at once.
A tracking device. DiMarco must've put it in him when he kidnapped Jimmy. But that means...that means…DiMarco knows where we are and he'll be waiting for us!
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"Here it is," a black Panther, full of muscle said as he and a few other thuggish looking men reached the large doors of a massive warehouse.
They all carried duffel bags.
"Right, start planting your charges." The panther smiled evilly. "We're about to bring the house down."
"Bonjour."
The thugs looked up with a start to see the head of a goat, cast against the night sky and the moonlight.
"Who the-?"
00000
As everyone was escorted into the panic room, the sound of screaming could be heard just beyond the closed doors of the warehouse.
And there was nothing but silence.
The piglets started crying.
Their parents did their best to console them.
"Everyone inside, now!" Nana commanded.
Once everyone was inside, all that was left was Nana, Hobbs, Marcus, Clay and Suki.
Rosita, looked about the room and took into account of all in the room.
"Let's see, three, four, five...Caspar, Ada, Oscar...seventeen…"
"Mommy."
"Not now Julianna." Rosita continued counting. "twenty three...where are Leo and Zoe?! Ah, there you two are!"
"Mommy…"
Rosita sighed deeply. "Yes Julia, what is it honey?"
"Porsha's gone."
Rosita turned with the start, as did everyone in the panic room.
"What?!" the mother of 25 exclaimed.
All eyes looked about and they saw that Julianna was correct.
Porsha was nowhere to be seen.
"Porsha?!" Nooshy called out.
Those outside took notice immediately.
"What?" Suki said, a tad alarmed. "Where is she?!"
"She's not here!" Meena cried.
"What?!" Nana said, eyes huge and filled with disbelief.
"PORSHA!" Suki called out, with her hands to her mouth.
"She can't have gone far," Johnny said as he prepared to leave the panic room but he was held back by Nooshy.
"But why would she…?" Ash asked but trailed off when she saw Suki looking at something out of view. "Suki?"
The talent agent adjusted her glasses as she noticed something glinting in the distance just across the warehouse space.
She ran towards it and as she got closer, she covered her mouth in shock.
"What is it?" Clay said.
"It's Porsha's phone! It's been smashed to pieces!"
"Was it dropped?" Norman called out.
"No!" Suki picked up the shattered remains of her charge's phone. Judging by the imprint of the impact that destroyed Porsha's phone, it was clear it was stomped underfoot by a booted foot, a shoe size much too large to be Porsha's. And as Suki's eyes adjusted in the dark, she noticed scuff marks on the floor, as though someone had been dragged away. "It was destroyed by someone here who should not be here! Someone took her! Someone took Porsha!"
There were gasps of horror that echoed throughout the entire warehouse.
"No!" Rosita gasped. "Are you sure, Suki?"
"Why didn't she scream?" Ash said, aghast.
Suki began to tie her hair back, something no one has ever seen her do.
Her ears were now visible for all to see.
"Because whoever did this makes it their business to abduct young girls."
Suki then removed her circular glasses. "Calloway, hold these for me." She tossed them to the old lion and he caught them with relative ease.
"What?" he said, a bit bewildered.
And then Suki did something that none of them expected.
RIP!
She tore the hem of her skirt off, so that it was above the knees.
"Suki?!" Buster exclaimed, poking his head out of the panic room. "What are you-?!"
"Getting Porsha back. That's what!"
Suki took off running with such dexterity and speed, it should not be possible for one wearing high-heel boots.
Ash blinked. "She's not just a talent scout, is she?"
"Marcus Egerton!"
A deep voice filled with insolent malice filled the warehouse like a horn in the valley.
"Or should I say Big Daddy? That is what they called you when you and I were in the pen, right?!"
Jimmy cried out in terror. "It's him! It's him!"
A cruel chuckle. "And thank you James for helping me find this place. Couldn't have done it without you."
Jimmy covered his face as he began to wail, shame and guilt coming off him in waves.
"Jimmy, don't listen to him!" Johnny said, putting a gentle hand on the young retriever's back. "None of this is your fault."
"Aww, well aren't you just a sweetheart, Johnny. Did you inherit all that sweetness from your sweet mom? She was weak and ugly."
Everyone close to Johnny gasped and looked to the young man.
Johnny stiffened, his mouth agape, and he began to tremble.
Aghast, Nooshy snarled. "How dare you!" she shouted.
"That reminds me," DiMarco said. "I believe you lost this Big Daddy."
The sound of something small falling was heard and it hit the floor of the warehouse with a ping.
Marcus' eyes went huge when he saw it was a silver pendant.
He picked up the pendant from the floor and examined it.
There was an inscription on the heart-shaped pendant.
To my darling Ivanka. You will never be forgotten.
Marcus felt cold. "What? Where did you-?"
"I slipped it off her wrist before you could reach her...right after I dropped that wheelbarrow on her."
It was as if all the air in the room had been sucked out in a vacuum from deepest space.
Clay Calloway nearly dropped his rifle.
Nana's eyes widened as she covered her mouth.
Hobbs' beak dropped open.
Buster fell on his rear.
Eddie gripped the edge of the panic room door to steady himself.
Rosita covered her mouth in horror.
Meena's mouth was agape.
Ash's eyes were huge.
Nooshy's mouth was pursed tight while her eyes shot open.
Johnny seemed like a dead man when he heard this.
Marcus, his father, was different. He did not move from where he knelt when he examined his wife's pendant bracelet.
"No," he said. "You didn't. It's impossible."
"Ever wondered why it just disappeared?" DiMarco said smugly. "Why it was never found after they finished scraping your wife off the pavement? Why they never found that worker who messed up and ended your wife? Truth is, I was aiming for your boy. She was just too fast I suppose. Threw him across the sidewalk before all those cinderblocks in that wheelbarrow crushed her flat."
Marcus began to breathe heavily. "W-Why?"
DiMarco laughed haughtily. "Because you humiliated me Marcus. Me and my brother. You should've just died in prison. Then your son would still have his mommy and a future that didn't involve a life of crime. What? Still don't believe I did it? Look at me."
Marcus looked up and there he was, Sean DiMarco, clad in a black coat, standing on top of the warehouse roof, seen clearly through one of the open glass windows, looking down at him with an evil, toothy grin on his face.
"Look at me. You know I did it."
Marcus dropped his rifle.
"Dad?" a horror-stricken Johnny said, as he saw his father slowly rise from the floor.
"Marcus?" Clay said, worriedly as he reached out to the man.
"YAAAARGHHHH!"
Clay recoiled in shock.
All those present shrunk back in terror at this unfamiliar show of fury.
Marcus roared in unadulterated rage as he beat his chest and cling to one of the support beams of the warehouse, climbing towards the roof, towards the open window and his grinning target.
"Dad no!" Johnny cried as he sprang after his father.
"Johnny!" Rosita shouted in alarm.
"Come back!" Meena shouted as well.
"Johnny stop!" Nooshy ran after Johnny, hand outstretched but before he could catch up to Johnny, he was already scaling the support beam after his father.
"Dad, stop!" Johnny shouted desperately. "Please stop! Your heart!"
But Marcus was beyond reason now. His mind was numb with unfathomable rage, rage of the knowledge that the accident so long ago was no accident.
It was murder.
And his wife's murderer was right in front of him and Marcus would have him for it.
Even if it killed him.
00000
Porsha struggled and struggled and struggled.
Her captor's hold did not falter.
One massive arm around Porsha, keeping her arms to her sides and the other with its massive hand over Porsha's mouth, or really her entire face. Therefore, screaming was not an option.
The albino gorilla mammalite came out of nowhere. No warning, silent as a ghost.
Maybe he was a ghost. He had the color.
They were just going through the underside of a water purification plant and passed through a few tanks until, using the wetness of her tears to slip through the hold on her mouth, Porsha broke free and bit down as hard as she could on the forearm of her colossal captor.
The albino gorilla cried out in pain. His hold loosened and Porsha was free.
She took off running like a mad woman.
"YOU LITTLE-!"
Porsha paid no mind to her captor's obscene language. She had to escape, get as far away from him as possible.
She opened her mouth to call for help but her fear choked the words out of her throat.
Stay calm! Stay calm! Just keep moving! Don't panic! That's the key, don't panic!
Ducking under pipes and slipping past tanks, Porsha managed to get some distance from the muscled maniac.
Crouching on the floor, she faintly heard the sound of the massive footsteps of her pursuer getting further and further away.
Porsha let out a quiet breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
She pulled out a phone from her pocket.
It was not her phone.
It was her captor's.
She had slipped it out of his pocket while he had her in his grasp.
She tried to dial Suki's number.
But there was no signal.
Porsha cursed under breath but then covered her mouth, fearing that even the slightest sound might give her away.
As the silence continued, Porsha had nearly relaxed, knowing she'd be safe but then she froze when the sound of footsteps came from above.
Two sets of footsteps.
Porsha could not see through the grates of the catwalk above her, but the shadows were clear enough to see that there were two large persons above her.
"You want me to do what?!"
"You heard me DiMarco, pull our forces back."
"But-!"
CRACK!
"Don't argue Sean, you already put the plan behind schedule, for several years actually."
"Me?!"
Porsha listened intently. Whoever was talking with DiMarco, he obviously knew a great deal if DiMarco was answering to him.
Even if this phone has no signal, I can still record this.
Pulling up an audio recording app on the phone, she nicked, Porsha pressed record.
"Who do you think you're talking to, Khan?!"
Porsha's eyes widened. Khan? DiMarco's Lieutenant.
"I think I'm talking to the upstart who is deep in debt for the free ticket out of prison so you could have a part to play in the grand plan. Wealth and position was in your future, but ever since this mess in New Jersey, you've made matters worse for all of us. Why do you think I was sent to keep an eye on you?"
There was a manic growl of fury.
"I did everything you wanted," DiMarco snarled. "I did my part, me and my brother!"
Khan scoffed. "As if saying it would make it so. What that hot-blooded mass was thinking when he attacked that girl, I'll never know."
"Let me kill her, her, her boyfriend and his father. At least let me have that."
"No. The stakes are too high for self-indulgence."
DiMarco snarled madly. "You can't-!"
"Don't tell me what I can or cannot do, Sean! I can do whatever I want. You are here as a favor for the personal loss you suffered. Don't test me! Now do your job!"
DiMarco huffed. "What about the Crystal girl?"
"What about her?"
"Why alive?"
Khan chuckled. "Because she's more useful to me alive than dead. We need her as leverage so that her father can sign the necessary papers so that he'll take the fall for our operations in Red Shore."
Porsha bit down to keep from gasping. Daddy!
"And then?"
Khan laughed. "Let's just say they'll both be loose ends."
DiMarco chuckled. "Yeah, just like that woman of his. You really messed her up, I heard, when you ran her off the road."
"I'd very much like to know how you got a hold of that information."
An icy void opening wide in her heart, Porsha choked.
She covered her mouth but it was too late.
"What was that?"
Porsha as silently as possible, got up and slipped away.
She felt numb.
Mom...it wasn't an accident. It was murder. Mom was murdered. Murdered. Murdered.
Coming out of her tumultuous thoughts, she looked down to see the phone still recording.
To her sharp relief, she saw that the phone had bars now, a signal.
Finding it very difficult to steady her shaking hands, Porsha stopped the recording and saved it. Then she accessed the email app on the phone and opened a new email.
Typing down the email address belonging to Police Captain Thad, Suki Lane and Nana Noodleman, Porsha then pulled up the audio clip, pasted it, and then sent it.
The process was instantaneous.
Porsha breathed out a shaky sigh of relief.
But she failed to breathe in another as large fingers encircled her throat like a vice.
And then she beheld the ugly pink face of the albino gorilla who dragged her away.
Taking his phone back, he took one look at the screen and he knew what she had done.
His blue eyes flickered with hateful fury. "You shouldn't have done that," he said in a low, dangerous voice.
Pocketing his phone, he took his free hand and sandwiched Porsha's throat and squeezed.
Terror overwhelming her mind as she was being robbed of life-giving air, Porsha kicked and thrashed.
But she could not get a firm footing.
The floor of the water treatment plant was slippery.
Porsha flailed but her efforts started to wane as her vision started to fill with spots, black webs on the edge of her sight, indicating her brain being robbed of oxygen.
The albino gorilla grinned savagely, a vein popping in his temple, adrenaline surging through him from the pleasure of claiming another victim.
They said keep her alive, but that instruction no longer interests me. The plan has already failed, thanks to this brat and her worthless father.
He suddenly felt a numbing sting as something impacted him from behind where his shoulder meets his arm.
He stopped strangling the girl and turned to see the face of a furious Saluki.
"Get your stinking paws off my goddaughter!" she said before jabbing the albino in the right pec and hard.
Oddly, he released Porsha but he didn't seem to realize he couldn't lift his right arm.
"Was that a tickle?" the gorilla asked with a smirk.
Suki smirked. "That was an attack on the nerve bundle in your right deltoid. Care to use your right arm?"
The gorilla blinked and then she realized she was right. He couldn't use his right arm at all.
Snarling in rage, he reared back, preparing to strike the Saluki who dared to interfere.
Before he could complete his attack, Suki had, with unbelievable swiftness, leapt on to her hands, craned her feet and kicked out right into the underside of the gorilla's jaw.
There was a sickening crack, and the bottom of the gorilla's jaw shattered.
He collapsed and he was out before he hit the ground.
Suki got to her feet and shook her head to shake off the mild dizziness.
Been a while since I pulled that one off.
Suki, with a start, looked to Porsha who was sitting up, coughing a bit, a hand to her dizzying head and the other massaging her sore throat.
Suki knelt by her. "Porsha, are you ok?"
Porsha opened her eyes, which were swimming a bit. "Mmhm."
Suki smiled warmly as she pulled her into a hug. "You scared me half to death."
Porsha tearfully returned the hug. "You called me your goddaughter."
Suki's eyes widened a fraction. "I'll explain later."
"You also want to explain where you learn to fight like that?" Porsha asked with raised eyebrow.
"I'll explain that later too."
"You're not just a talent scout are you?"
Suki sighed. "Only part time."
BANG!
Porsha and Suki gasped upon hearing the gunshot in the distance.
A shrill cry followed.
"JOHNNY!"
00000
Ten minutes ago…
"COME BACK HERE DIMARCO!" Marcus roared as he ran past the many tanks of the water treatment plant.
"Not so fast, flat nose!" shouted a large black bull bearing a massive club, coming around a tank and charging Marcus with an overhead swing.
Marcus ducked under the bull's swing and drove his head hard right into his face.
The bull's snout collapsed and several teeth went flying.
He was out before he hit the ground.
Another thug appeared around the corner of the catwalk, a cougar who was blind in one eye. He charged at Marcus but the gorilla easily caught the cougar by the throat with both hands, and he kneed him hard in the groin.
The cougar groaned in pain, bent over and collapsed to the floor.
From behind, a large crocodile easily towering over Marcus, hands open and preparing to throttle the gorilla.
Without bothering to turn around, Marcus sidestepped, allowing the croc's momentum to force him past him. Reaching around his attacker's middle, he suplexed the croc and planted his head right through the catwalk.
Jumping to his feet, Marcus felt dizzy and bolts of pain shot through his left arm.
No! No! Slow down, you stubborn heart! Remember Johnny and what you promised!
Marcus cursed himself. This was a huge mistake. Why?! Why did I let DiMarco provoke me like that?!
Because he killed your wife, right in front of you and your boy.
That knowledge left Marcus cold. What was he thinking?
"It's funny how things come full circle, don't they?"
Marcus snapped out of his enraged stupor and looked about for the voice that seemed to echo and bounce off the walls of the water treatment plant.
"Where are you DiMarco?!"
"You make a fool of me and Gus in the pen. Dress us down and make us look bad. And now your wife bites it...and then there's your boy, too stubborn to die, and that piece of street trash he's taken up with, the one who my brother wanted so badly."
Marcus grit his teeth. "Don't you dare talk about her like that!"
DiMarco laughed. "Your girlish son and that street trash deserve each other."
"I'm going to kill you!"
DiMarco tsked. "We'll see."
"Dad!"
Marcus gasped. He looked behind him and saw Johnny climbing up to the catwalk and then running towards him.
"Johnny no! Go back!"
Johnny didn't seem to hear him.
Marcus noticed a shadow in a gap between water tanks.
It was the shadow of a gun being lifted in the direction of his son.
NO! Not him! Not my son too!
Marcus ran like the devil towards his son, her son.
He was just at arm's length to his boy before reaching him.
00000
Nooshy had just entered the water treatment plant, out of breath and terrified beyond belief.
And furious.
When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna-!
BANG!
Nooshy's heart stopped.
She screamed at the top of her lungs with abandon.
"JOHNNY!"
…..