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4 - Underground in the Air

After a quick breakfast of packaged cookies and slimy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Helix ordered Nym not to leave the room. He grabbed the plastic bags as he stood up, bunching them and setting them on a table for later use. He glanced out the blinds, which had become frail and yellow with age. His tail moved dangerously.

Nym watched from the desk chair, his feet on the ground and swivelling himself periodically. The pads of his fingers still tasted like jelly. He licked them off, his eyes still on Helix as the big cat impatiently paced in front of the door. Someone was coming, that was obvious. Maybe Helix had decided to take Nym out of the equation completely. Erase him, drop the pencil shavings behind a dumpster, move on.

The paw he felt the night before, its imprint still weighing down his shoulder, gave him a contrary belief. Maybe for once someone wouldn't abandon him. He wasn't a hopeless kit. Helix went back to where Nym sat and picked up a cellphone Nym supposed he must have lifted from someone. Along with the money they used to buy breakfast.

"No one will miss this piece of trash," he had said when he brought it back home and frightening Nym's moral core. "Why look for a phone when you could be looking for wanted criminals?" He stuck a small portion of his pink tongue out at him and turned away, flipping the phone open and clumsily dialling a number. Then he went into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and something happened. Nym couldn't hear, for whatever reason Helix decided was reasonable.

Helix exited, having actually bathed. "Go while we have time."

She shower proved to be especially feeble. It spat droplets of cold water against Nym's back and head, its plumbing hissing like an infuriated snake. Nym wrapped his arms around his thin body, feeling exposed. His tail became steadily soaked and his front... He looked down. A small scar, a burn mark, was on his side, where his ribs ended and the skin sloped towards his hip. Straight through his fur, searing his skin. He touched it softly, any other feeling but a soft gust of melancholy wouldn't have been due.

He ended the shower and used a faded pink All Body blow drier. The sound screamed, filling the entire stall. He wondered if Helix was talking on the phone again. His muffled tone seemed decisive.

Nym stepped out, a towel wrapped around his torso, carefully hiding his scar. His clothing was wet and drying.

"What...?"

"You don't have to smell like a fugitive. You look enough like one anyway." Helix was in boxers, the bedsheets covering him up to his mid thigh. Nym flushed beneath his fur and looked away.

"How long until they dry?"

"By the time you finish breakfast."

And they did just that. And here Helix was, pacing like a caged animal. In a way he was a caged Animal.

After what felt like a century and several lamentations of not having a book to read, a soft knock finally issued at the door. Helix opened it. Someone's arms flew up and around him, tightly around his midriff.

"Hey, hey Savannah. This isn't a personal meeting." He stepped back, his hands on a thin, wiry jackal's shoulders. Her pointed, dainty face was grinning. Her eyes glittered happily. Her clothing was anything but subtle. Flashy purple with sequins catching every last possible ray of light. A bell on some red ribbon was tied to the base of her tail, jingling whenever she grew excited. Her feet were tightly bound in adjusted high heels.

"This is Nym? What's Nym short for, sweetie?" Savannah asked, rounding on him and holding out her paw. Nym shook it.

"Nymr."

"One letter..." Helix said, visibly astounded. Nym shrugged.

"Hate my real name and all its meaning."

"Oh really? Now, anyway, this isn't a personal meeting." Savannah stepped forwards and shot Helix a feisty look coupled with a snap of her jaws. Her hips swung, causing the bell to rattle. "I'm here to steal your old identities and give you new ones. The emperor's new clothes, since the new one is only as real as you make it, sugar."

She slipped her purse off her shoulder. Helix locked the door behind him. Savannah sat down on the edge of the bed, giving it an odd look before shrugging and digging through the fake leather bag. Several items clinked together loudly. She hummed to herself, crossing her legs.

"So you live near here?" Nym said not at all casually.

"Nope. I live three states over. I was here because of good ol' Helix's trouble with... well, with the whole reason he's here. And I managed to swing by before I had to leave town. See, I can't be in one place because I get too popular. Not to, you know, ring my own bells too much." She shook to emphasise her point.

"Yeah, the bells...?"

"Symbols."

"No, they're bells."

"Sweet-cheeks I'll slap you so hard if you make one more bad joke like that your children will be born with crooked faces."

Nym shut up real quick after that.

"Aha! Ok, come here. This'll hurt but it's patented technology." Helix marched over obediently, sticking out his palms. Savannah had a small, circular object in her arms. She pressed it to the fore-pad. Helix winced visibly. She moved on to the other one.

"You erased his paw prints just like that?"

"No." She rolled her eyes, beckoning him over next. "I burnt part of it. You need those prints." Nym held his shaky paws out. Savannah was quick and efficient, but it didn't help the sudden burst of pain in his paws. He winced and drew back, rubbing his fingers. They felt as if he hadn't had moisture on that part of his finger in years. The dryness and itchiness competed for his attention.

Savannah tucked the object away, taking a tube of nail polish and adjusting one of her claws as she spoke.

"So that's the first part. Next they'll look for any distinguishing marks on your body. Helix, I know you have at least one. I'm going to temporarily hide it. Come." She went into the bathroom and Helix followed. The shower went back on. Nym was left to wait, rubbing the pads of his fingers together in a vain attempt to scratch at them without drawing any blood.

Nym then realised how hard his heart had been throbbing. He took several short, but deep breaths in and out. Savannah knew what she was doing. Helix probably wanted to jump the border as soon as their identities had been eradicated. Their faces were still plastered across the news, unflattering pictures though they were. Helix looked like a thug with a mean streak. Nym looked like a pathetic youngster who got caught drinking or something.

That's probably what anyone watching thought. Anyone who didn't know the story. Anyone who saw only the cover and never read a word of his book. Not that he had a book. He wished, for probably the twentieth time that hour, that he did. It would make the painful moments slip by much more easily.

The shower was cut off. Nym heard Savannah laugh, a broken, splintered sound. The bathroom door open and Helix emerged with a slight limp. He nodded at Nym.

"Did they brand you?"

Nym nodded.

"Go in."

Nym walked forwards as if ready to be executed. He shut the door behind him. The fan whirred overhead. Savannah cranked the shower on, sitting on the edge of the tub. Nym sat on the closed toilet seat.

"Where?"

He rolled up his shirt. Her eyes widened. Nym prepared for the disgusted comments. Instead, she said nothing. She placed a thin sheet over the brand - a broken circle with a slanted cross through it - and held it there with her fingers. She worked efficiently, adding small tufts of fake fur and stitching it into his real fur. Like adding extensions only side ways and over a special sort of sheet. Her paws were deft, flicking quickly, the needle flashing in the hazy orange light. Nym watched her, hardly wincing whenever the needle poked his skin or tugged a hair.

When she finished, Savannah leaned back to admire her handiwork. "I'm pretty good." She said quietly.

"Thanks."

She shrugged. "I don't consider what you, or what Helix did for that matter, a real crime. I don't help those real monsters. If I saw you had the small heart on you I would have stitched more than just your fur." She smiled warmly. The glossy cover she had coated her voice with earlier was briefly gone. It was replaced with a calmness. "Anyone, this wasn't really your fault." She tapped his side. "Now remember, this is temporary. It'll pry itself out eventually. Hopefully by then you and Helix would have settled somewhere safe. Somewhere outside of this hellhole and this judiciary system. The more I look into it the more scared I get. When are they gonna come down on me?"

She shut the water off, and at once stopped speaking. She stood and gathered her purse, exiting the bathroom. The place of privacy was once again vacated. A stale scent of cigarette smoke drifted somewhere.

"Ok, we have your bodies down. We could dye your fur but that's basically the stupidest idea we could have." Savannah announced. Helix was sitting on the bed again, his gaze pinned somewhere outside. He pried himself away and looked at her and Nym. "Documents you can find with Jake. You remember where he is, right?"

"Party Room Three-Oh-Five." Helix nodded.

Savannah laughed at some private joke.

"Yep you got it. Same exact place. Has a niece living with him now. So he's a bit more mellow, luckily."

"Where is... Jake?" Nym poked in.

"State over."

"Are we gleaning a car?"

Savannah shook her head. "No, honey, you're riding in style."

"I don't really want to know what that's like."

. . . .

"I wish I didn't know what this is like." Nym whispered harshly. Helix grunted. They were in a truck, in the back of a truck. It transported beauty products and cut straight through the small human suburbs between this state and the next. Apparently Jake lived nestled right into the Rocky Mountains. In an almost cabin like place with trees and grass and wildlife all around! At least, that's how Savannah advertised it. But it meant cutting through this stretch of human life, an awful smelling city, and further South-west. But about the time they cross Greeley they'd have to hop off and make a run for it. They could hitchhike, but this was mixed territory. They had to be careful.

"Careful is all I got." Helix said proudly. Savannah pinched him for that.

She helped them board a truck driven by a bored-looking Boar, tucked into the back on a hard, bumpy floor next to Reviving Island Mist Creme and New Skin Soap Bars. Nym brought his knees to his chest and hugged them, watching the boxes shift. The Boar said nothing to them save for a grunt and "don't damage shit".

Helix was uncomfortably close. His breathing was heavy and big, as was expected of a snow leopard, and made Nym's fur tingle. He said nothing about it, though. It wasn't like he had much of a choice.

They rocked like this for a long time. Complying the the sliding down the hallway, the jerking stops in domestic areas, the quick, quiet running through the neighbourhood. Nym perked his ears and could have sworn he heard squeaky, loud children playing outside. Someone pointed at the driver, probably. Many humans know of us, Nym thought, but we're still freaks in a way.

( A freak? No, gosh no, there's nothing more amazing than this... )

Nym shook the voice out of his head and focused on not getting cramps in his thighs and back. He shifted slightly, stretching as much as the cramped pink truck would allowed. Helix did the same once Nym finished, taking up a considerable amount of space in comparison. He yawned widely.

The road hitched several times after that, sending Nym and Helix airborne for a couple of seconds before thumping them back down harshly. Tears sprung to Nym's eyes. He very much never wanted to do that again. Just as his internal declaration finished, they'd hit another bump and would soar yet again.

By the end Nym was muttering a tangled string of curses under his breath.

They passed through Greeley. Someone honked at them in the distance.

The truck grew colder. The mountains were closing in. Nym had slept five times and Helix had been somewhere inside of his own head. Nym woke with a start to find his head had lolled onto Helix's shoulder. He muttered an apology and moved. Helix said nothing the first couple times. The final, the last nap, Helix shook his head and shifted so Nym could rest better. Nym closed his eyes, feeling travel sickness rising in his throat.

In a way, it was perfectly ok with him.

Finally, several hours later and a hearty stomach rumble sated with a couple energy bars the Boar tossed in from the front, the truck parked. Helix nudged Nym awake. The two sleepily rose, collecting the bags they had been using as luggage and bundling it on their backs.

The Boar opened the doors in front a broad open road.

"Out."

Nym slipped out first, followed by Helix. Helix dug in his pockets. Nym expected a bundle of money to appear. Instead a golden case popped out, glittering harshly in the light. Nym squinted. The Boar took it, grunted something in return to Helix's thank-you, and went on his way. The truck hummed to life and turned the other way, fading into a glittering husk of metal receding into the rolling, twisting distance.

Nym turned towards the dirt road in front of them. The sky looked like a low hanging table top, flecked with wispy white clouds. He held his paw over his eyes, squinting in the direct sunlight. The mountains rose up starkly on either side of them, avalanche warnings were stuck every couple of feet. Below the road was a drop, a cut in the rocks filled with prickly evergreen trees. A ribbon of a river flowed through, white spots where the sun hit and bounced off. Nym looked around in awe, breathing in the sharp clean air.

"Well, here we go." Helix said. Nym nodded and followed him through the dirt road. It crunched below their feet.

Their breathing did not constrict for long. It adapted. Helix was, if anything, in his element. After a couple minutes he tossed a glance over his shoulder at Nym.

"I feel feral."

Nym grinned.

"I'd feel better in a more level forest."

Helix laughed.

. . .

The road was open. The road was theirs. The thunderstorms bunched up along the corner of the sky - receding or coming, Nym couldn't tell - where coming for them. The path was empty save for a couple wild squirrels skittering across. Nym felt odd seeing them. It must be like seeing ancient ancestors, he thought, but not quite. Somewhere along the path they diverged. Somewhere someone fell - or ascended - or perhaps something else entirely had happened. Theology debated, bickered, science tried to pacify but instead only angered. Nym looked away from the animals, focusing on Helix's back.

For a long time they didn't see anyone. They passed by cabins, both in use and abandoned. Rusted axes jutted out of the ground. In the distance, regal looking homes perched on the mountainsides. Their roofs reflected. Wild dogs, old dogs on four legs, barked in the distance.

Nym hurried up to match Helix's pace.

"So, this whole place... Is Jake a - well, you know?"

"He's a Blue Jay."

"Oh."

"This is too wide and wild to be a specific housing area." Helix attempted to explain. "This is a mixed community, if you will. Jake is one of the few of Us here. They're more abundant up here, being richer usually and all. But anyway I'm guessing you've never been in one of Their societies?"

"You don't either, what with your pronouns. That seems kind of racist actually."

Helix shrugged. "You didn't answer my question." He stepped over some brambles, Nym followed suit. Golden sunlight speckled Helix's back, dappled and cut up by the rustling green leaves just overhead. The path from here was more lush. The trees rose up on either side. Picnic tables were decorated with delicately fallen leaves. Sunlight cut in visibly, lighting on the path. Water was rushing somewhere. Helix followed that sound, commenting on his thirst.

"I kind of have been. Kind of haven't. Like most of us."

Helix nodded.

"We agreed not to share our histories." Nym reminded him, "and I'm upholding that."

"Good. Good to keep old promises."

"Yeah..."

Helix picked his way through towards the river. Went he reached it he sighed, shedding his sack on to the ground and upsetting a couple insects. He crouched down, dipping his massive paws in. His tail flickered behind him. Nym followed suit. Helix leaned forwards, drinking water in big gulps and splashing his face. Nym dipped his feet in as well. The water felt smooth and cool against his fur and flesh. He sighed, leaning back.

"I almost don't feel like a criminal on the run."

"Key word, almost."

Nym laughed. "Being out here kind of makes it worthwhile."

Helix nodded solemnly. He turned and leaned towards Nym. Nym froze in place, unsure of what to do. Helix reached forwards, his large, grey and white paw casting a blot of a shadow across Nym's body. He placed it on Nym's shoulder, gazing into Nym.

"Why drop the 'r'?" He asked quietly.

"The meaning. I already explained."

"Yes, what's the mean..."

"Wh--" Nym's ear swivelled behind him.

A female human voice screamed. "Lion!!"

"Shit." Helix hissed at the same time. "I'm not a lion."