Repercussions, Chapter 3
Chapter 3
November 13th, 2008. 3:17 P.M. Somewhere in the deep forests of Aria...
Frizz the fox was in a good mood. He felt great, like nothing bad could ever happen to him. He was almost trotting through the forest because he felt so good and so abnormally proud of himself on this sunny day. But little did he know the danger that was lurking just around the corner. Frizz sensed something was wrong when his sensitive vulpine ears noticed that there was not a single sound being made; no birds, no other animals bustling about, and it seemed a little eerie. Frizz's nose now picked up the scent of blood, not too far away. He got off of his normal path home to investigate. The first creature he found was a bobcat, dead and bleeding from the throat. Frizz kept walking, not sure what was going to happen next. He came around a large rock and was shocked at the scene before him; several other dead bobcats and an injured raccoon trying to leave. He had a handgun in one paw, and a large knife in the other. He was limping and had deep cuts all over his body. The paw with the gun was holding a pretty deep cut in his side. Frizz wasn't about to let him die.
"Hey, stop, I can help you!"
The raccoon turned around.
"Leave now if you value your life. There will be a lot more of these cats coming to finish me off. They will kill you too if you stay."
"It's a risk I am willing to take."
The fox was now walking up to the raccoon.
"Every day I think of a fox I once knew who needed help but didn't want it."
Frizz was now turning him around and helping him walk back to his den.
"He ended up dying and I knew that I could have prevented it."
The raccoon reluctantly agreed.
"All right, but it won't take long for them to be here so we have to hurry."
"Ok, we are not too far away from my den, about twenty minutes if we hurry. What is your name?"
"Phil. Let's do more walking and less talking."
"Got it. By the way, my name is Frizz."
They quickened their pace a little, Phil was doing a half jog half stumble with Frizz holding him up.
About ten minutes later, both Frizz and Phil sensed something behind them. Although Phil was nearly his size, Frizz put him on his back and started running faster. A minute later, Frizz heard a cat behind him, about twenty feet. Suddenly there was a bright flash and loud bang. Frizz saw Phil still holding the smoking gun. Although a little in shock from the blast, Frizz kept running, and he no longer sensed a being behind him. Finally, a few long minutes after that, the pair made it to the den, a fairly large cave in a rock that was about twenty feet high. The only entrance was about four feet high and covered with a movable rock that acted as a door. Normally frizz would not be in here this early in the day so he had none of the light holes up above open. He set Phil down on his bed of moss, leaves, and other soft stuff. Frizz then closed the rock door, climbed up the natural steps to the ceiling, about fifteen feet high, and opened up a few light shafts. They were about two inches wide and went all of the way up to the top of the rock. They let a good amount of light into the den during the day and made a nice, calming feeling on a full moon.
When he came back down, Frizz noticed that Phil had a large cloth pressed on the wound on his stomach.
"Where did you get that?"
"Had it in my bag."
Frizz now noticed that the 'coon had a small bag on his back. Phil also had a rifle that he didn't see either.
"Oh, I must not have noticed it when we were running."
Phil took a few other things out and continued to take care of his wounds. A few hours later, dark would be here. Frizz had enough food for a week, but that was for emergency use only. The fox decided to go and get some food.
"I'm going to go out and hunt some food."
Phil looked up at Frizz with a worried look.
"You don't think that they followed us to your den?"
"No. Even if they did they could not get in."
Phil sat up a little bit.
"But you are risking death. You sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah, we need food."
"Ok, just be careful and come back if anything bothers you."
***
By now Phil was getting worried. It was well into the night and Frizz still had not returned. Hopefully he was fine and the hunting just took a while. He managed to get himself up with the help of his rifle that was strapped on his back. The gun was an M4, a weapon he wouldn't prefer but decided to try it out for a while. He managed to limp over to the door and push it open. Now he was glad he was a nocturnal animal from birth. He could see fine and his hearing was awesome. He started to smell where Frizz walked to and followed the scent like a hound dog. Ten minutes later, he could hear the sound of bobcats laughing and hitting something. He also started to see the flames of a fire up ahead. Phil knew that this was not going to turn out good. He attempted to sneak up to the fire, but his injuries limited his possibilities.
He managed to get to a bush where he could get a perfect view. Phil had seen some pretty bad things in his life, but this was up there on the worst sites he had seen. Three bobcats had Frizz tied up on the arms and legs with a gag around his mouth. He was hanging from a tree and the cats took turns hitting him with a large stick and cutting him with their claws. Hate and anger now arouse in him, knowing that this was not going to turn out pretty. He aimed at the cat that was hitting Frizz at that moment, and put a clean hole through his furry head. The other two turned around and before they knew it they were both hit, one in the head and the other in the arm. Phil did this on purpose and walked up to the injured cat.
"Now let me tell you this, if I find one more of your sorry asses around these areas torturing things, I will personally hunt each and every one of you down and give you the most painful, slow death you could ever imagine. Now go back and tell all of your other pussy friends."
The cat took off into the forest without a word. Phil cut the ropes that were binding Frizz and took off the gag. He did not look good. Phil could tell that a few of his ribs were broken, cuts all over his chest and stomach, and a few bad bruises on his face. Frizz looked at Phil and could barely talk.
"Nice pun about the pussy thing."
"Thanks, to me it actually has a double meaning."
The two furs started laughing, finding the joke unreasonably funny.
"Well, we better get you back home."
Phil picked him up and started to carry him back.
"Wait, take me back by that tree real fast."
Phil took him over there and let him pick up a dead feral rabbit.
"You think that I have been out here for this long and I would not have got something?"
Phil just smiled and continued on back to the den.
It was a long and painful walk for both of them. Exhausted and injured, it did not take them long to go into a deep, long sleep. Phil was the first one to wake up the next morning. He noticed that the herb he put on his wound yesterday worked because he felt no pain. He guessed it was about ten in the morning, and decided that he would stay here for another day before taking Frizz to safety. Phil went to a nearby river and decided that he would do what most raccoons love; fishing. Like most other raccoons, Phil used his bare paws to do it. After fishing for about an hour, he brought back two fish to eat as a brunch for his self and Frizz.
Phil stoked up a fire and fried the fish on a flat rock. It had been a long time since he had fish, and it was one of his favorite things to eat. Fish reminded him of his birthplace on Raiche, where before his tragic story started, seemed like the perfect place on earth. There was not a care in the world, everyone he knew was alive, and he could do whatever he wanted. Frizz suddenly broke him out of his trance and gone memories. He looked down to see the fish done perfectly and took them off.
"You like fish?"
Frizz looked up at him, still a little shaky from the night before.
"Never had the skill or patience to catch one."
"Well, you will love it, try this."
Phil took a small piece off and pawed it to Frizz.
"Ouch!"
Phil looked at the fox and smiled.
"Careful, it's hot."
"Thanks for telling me now, asshole."
"Ahh, just shut up and try it."
Frizz did just that, and was amazed.
"Wow! That is one of the most wonderful things I have ever had."
"You think that is good, wait until I take you back to the Main Island, the food there is amazing."
Frizz gave Phil a confused look.
"What do you mean, take me back?"
"Well, those wounds are not going to heal properly if you just leave them like that. I will take you there and then make you a much stronger and better creature than you were before. The only thing you have to do is help me out."
Frizz's ears went down and he started to back away a little bit.
"Whoa, I am staying right here, I am not goin' anywhere. I have the perfect life and I do not want to change it."
"Well, if you consider this 'perfect life' being attacked for the rest of your life then great, so be it. But I am warning you now, cats do not know when to stop, they will keep trying until they succeed. Now look, I am leaving tomorrow morning, and if you want to come with me, then I will take you, but if not, then you will be dead in about a week either from your wounds or the cats."
Frizz just sat there, not knowing what to say. He knew he was right. From interfering with what was supposed to happen to Phil, he now either had the choice of dying or changing his life around. Maybe Phil was right, his life could be a lot better. Frizz decided to sleep on the thought and tell him tomorrow. The rest of the day went by pretty slow, and before they knew it, they were asleep again that night.
The next morning, Frizz woke up to the sound of Phil almost ready to leave.
"So, what do you want to do?"
Frizz didn't say anything and just got up. He grabbed the few possessions he owned and walked out of his beloved home.
"You think you will never see this place again, don't you?"
Frizz, looking depressed, slowly nodded his head.
"Well, after awhile we'll see if we can make it an outpost and you could have this place back, even if it means kickin' some ass to get in it."
Frizz smiled a little, feeling a little less pain in his mind and body.
"Hey, you know what makes you feel a whole lot better? It is something that I have been trying out lately."
Frizz looked at him with a curious look.
"Whenever you feel sick or hurt in any way, keeping a positive attitude is key. If you let yourself get down, it will last a hell of a lot longer. Trust me, I had a cold a few months back, I kept a positive attitude, and I felt fine the entire time and got over it in a few days. Well, let's get goin'."
Phil started to walk, and Frizz gave one last look at his home, and then walked away.
A few hours later, the sun was up high in the middle of the sky. The pair were walking on a trail on the side of a mountain. The view was amazing at their point of view; to left of them, the area was flat and there were trees as far as the eye could see. In front, some large mountains loomed ahead. They could see a tall waterfall in between two mountains that cascaded down the mountain, at least 200 feet. The view seemed a little hazy, so it seemed like the view in front of them was like something out of a painting. Frizz didn't rally know what he was getting himself in to, so he decided to ask Phil.
"How much longer of a walk is it?"
"Over those mountains, at least two days."
Frizz thought about it for a few minute before saying something else.
"How did you find this place then?"
"Every once in a while, I choose a random location in a forest and I get dropped from an aircraft. I like to explore and see new things that I have never seen."
Frizz thought about this for a couple of minutes as well.
"How do you know your way back?"
"Well, I know that this is a certain mountain range, and over them is more forest, then a city which we will only be able to travel at night, then a little bit more of a forest, then the outpost that we will be going to."
"What city is it?"
"It's Beville. Compared to a lot of other cities around it's not too bad. It's just a little pointless if you ask me but what do I know, I'm just a raccoon."
Frizz went silent, and kept on walking. An hour later, they were at the top of the mountain. The mountain range seemed to extend on forever, never ending. Phil looked at Frizz, who was a little worried at the sight ahead.
"I know, it seems like we will be traveling for days, but we will be through by nightfall."
Finally, what seemed like a long walk through hell, they were able to see the bottom of the range going into a huge valley in the fading light. They were almost down went it was completely dark, and Frizz was able to see lights in the far distance.
"What is that?"
"What, the lights?"
Frizz nodded.
"That is the city. This is no tiny thing we are talking about here, this thing is huge! Instead of having just one home, they have thousands, and they also have places to get food and places to get money. See, nothing is free when you live outside of the forest. You have to pay with a thing called money. The furs work for it and the more of it you have, then the more food and other things you have; even a bigger home."
Frizz started to think a little.
"Do you understand, Frizz?"
"For the most part, but you can explain while we walk."
"I know that this seems so different from life in the forest, but you'll get used to it."
Finally arriving at the bottom, Phil started to look around for a place to sleep. He found a large tree with a huge bush around it. Under the bush were some vines, so it would make a comfortable bed.
"This is good enough, it should shield us from any unseasonable rain that might happen."
The raccoon looked up to see clouds and a huge drop of water hit him in the eye.
"Ouch! Well, I guess we can go in."
Frizz was feeling very hungry after the long hike.
"What will we have for food?"
"I have some things. Stay here, I am going to get some water. I'll be back in about five minutes."
Frizz looked around for a comfortable spot to lay in. Suddenly, he heard something rustling around him. Then he heard voices:
"Hey looks like we got ourselves a little foxy. What you doin' here, boy?"
He heard several others agree with this voice, but he couldn't see them.
"Yea, this is our home, boy."
"You should get on out of here 'fore you get hurt."
Suddenly he heard a familiar voice.
"Guys, guys, he's with me. Don't worry."
"Phil! Hey how is it goin'? I haven't seen you in months!"
"Well, you never showed me where you live, but now I know."
Frizz just sat down in confusion, not knowing what was going on. He couldn't even see who or what Phil was talking to.
"Hey, this is my new friend Frizz, he going to come and join when we get back to my outpost."
He felt a paw grab him, and could barely make out Phil's face. Suddenly he was face to face with a huge raccoon, much bigger than Phil.
"How's it goin', little foxy."
Frizz never felt so nervous.
"Umm... good."
"Ight, good, 'cuz if you was intrudin', you wouldn't be good. I tell you what."
Frizz had never heard such an accent before, he was in a completely different area.
"Well, you two are welcome to stay fer da night, if'n you want to."
"Sure, this kid has to see your awesome cooking skills."
"Aww it ain't nuthin special, but if that is what yer want."
The raccoons and fox went around the bush to find a pretty small trailer park. They entered the big raccoon's trailer and got ready to eat.
After a nice, hot, filling meal, Frizz was ready for sleep. He went and got Phil who was conversing with the huge raccoon, and they went off to sleep. Frizz was wondering how Phil knew them, and decided to ask.
"So, how did you come across meeting them?"
"I helped them out when their last home was destroyed by a storm, but they never showed me where their new home was. I have not been back here in almost two years, and I am surprised to see that all of them are still alive. They also helped me out a while back."
Frizz stated to feel much better about the situation.
"Oh, they had me a little worried before you came."
"Yeah, they can be pretty intimidating."
"Well, I am tired as hell, so goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The two went to sleep to the sound of heavy rain hitting the tin roof of the trailer.
Frizz woke up with the sun not even up yet, but was surprised to see Phil already awake.
"You ready to go?"
It was still wet from last night's rain.
"Isn't it a little wet, Phil?"
"No, it's fine."
They started to walk in the direction of the city, and they started at a good pace. Phil gave Frizz some food he saved from last night. Frizz stated to expect another long day of walking, so he asked Phil how long it would take.
"So, how far is it from here to the city?"
"Well, to give you an idea of what is going down today, the next time we will be able to sleep will be this time tomorrow. We will get to the city by night, and we must travel through it by night or we will run the risk of being caught by... bad furs to say the least."
Frizz became a little bit afraid then.
"Can't we just go around?"
"You saw how big that stretch of light was last night, it would take days to do that. Besides, we need to get there before your wounds get worse."
Just then both Frizz and Phil stopped, they could hear something coming from behind them on the trail. Phil grabbed Frizz and they ducked behind a bush. Two furs, a horse and a cougar rode by on bikes and did not even stop to look.
"That was a close one. They would not have done anything, but tell me if you ever hear anything that does not sound natural. We might not be so lucky next time."
***
It was about 5 P.M. when they got close to the city. The pair could start to hear cars driving, furs bustling about, sirens filling the air, some gunshots in the distance, and a brown haze that Frizz had never seen before. Phil started to think about the good timing they made and decided to let Frizz rest for a bit.
"Ok, we will have to find a shelter for a couple of hours, we made it here a lot earlier than I thought. You can sleep, but I will stay awake to keep guard."
Phil found some nice sized rocks and decided to hide behind them for a few hours, until the sun was down. Frizz fell asleep immediately, and the sun slowly descended down into the trees as Phil looked at his new friend. He had always admired foxes; their shape, color, personality. He was glad he was fortunate enough to have a friend like Frizz. He is the only being to ever help him out and have meaning while doing it, other than Rico and Silva back at the island. He knows that if it wasn't for Frizz, he would have died at the paws of those bobcats. Sure, anyone could save his life, but to do it and stick with him was just amazing. Before he knew it, the sun was down and it was time to go. Being captured was not the only risk of traveling during the day. Phil knew that furs don't like it too much when you walk through their town looking for trouble. So he woke up Frizz and told him it was time to go.
The city was not too bad when they first entered it. It had a lot of bushes and trees to hide in if any fur were to be out. There were some houses and a few small businesses. Up ahead, Phil could already see the tall buildings looming into the horizon. He figured they were about two hours away from them. He quickened his pace a little, Frizz trailing behind.
The next few hours went without any problems. The night was great; it was about midnight, the air was warm, not a cloud in the sky. They had seen a few cars, but none near them. They came upon a bus stop with lights and a map of the city. Phil went up to it to see where they were. The map said Beville on it, and they were just coming into the heart of the city. Phil could see it too, there were very few trees and bushes, and the buildings grew taller and taller. Frizz saw some furs laying against these buildings up ahead and stopped.
"Wait, furs!"
"Don't worry about them, they are not a threat. I will tell you about it when we get out of the city."
Phil knew that these guys were homeless, and by now they were either too drunk or too high on drugs to give a shit. One fur in particular looked like he was really tripping out when they walked passes him.
"Whoa man! This is a crazy trip, dude!"
Phil kind of had to laugh, finding it pretty funny. They came to a building that was long and had no cover to hide in, not even a trash can. They were halfway through it when Phil turned around and saw headlights coming from about 100 yards away. He saw lights on top. Phil turned back at Frizz.
"Oh shit! Run!"
Frizz took off, and Phil pulled his gun around and shot out the closest streetlights. The cop was now about twenty yards away. He turned on his spotlight and got out, looking a little confused.
"Hey! You! Stop!"
Phil took off after Frizz, not turning around to face the cop. They ran for about a good two minutes and came up to a park. They both dove into some bushes and tried to catch their breath. Phil looked at his fox furiend, who looked like he was about to piss himself.
"We are going to have to stay in here for a little while, no more than twenty minutes or we will get off schedule and really be in trouble."
"Ok."
Phil looked around and saw a pond not too far away. He went over to it and started drinking. Frizz saw that it was safe and did the same. They rested and in twenty minutes were on their way again, on high alert.
Over the course of the next few hours, they saw a few more cops and hid. They started to enter some suburban areas again. Just another few hours and they would be out. Frizz was really bothered that the furs laying on the ground did not do anything whereas the cops did. He finally decided to ask Phil about it.
"So why did those furs laying on the ground not do anything when we walked past them?"
"Some furs take these things called drugs that make it so their mind plays tricks on them and they see things that are not really there. They probably thought that we were an effect of the drugs, so they did not do anything. Make sense?"
Frizz still looked confused.
"I guess so..."
"One day you will understand."
Frizz continued on thinking about the subject for another ten minutes, and then noticed that the houses were becoming less numerous around them. Phil was still amazed at the good timing they were making.
"Wow, we are a lot closer to getting out then I thought, we should be at the compound before morning."
After about an hour Phil saw the forest up ahead and knew that they were almost in the safe zone. They were about twenty yards from it when a car came onto the street they were on in front of them. They hoped for the best, but unfortunately, lights were on top of the black and white police car.
"Run past him into the forest! We should lose him there!"
They started to bolt when the cop stopped in front of them. They ran passed him just as he came out of his car, gun drawn. He opened fire and Phil could hear the bullets whizzing around him and ricocheting off of the pavement. They finally made it into the trees and continued to run. About twenty minutes later, they slowed to a walk and could here helicopters looking around behind them. Frizz was a little worried.
"Why do they want us so bad?"
"Probably because they have never seen anything like me and they think I could harm them. But it is me they want, not you."
"Wow, the city life is a lot different."
"Yeah, but there can also be a lot of good thing about it, too."
Just as they came over a tree covered hill, Phil could see the lights of the compound not more than 200 yards away. The sky in the East was just starting to become a lighter shade of blue, signaling the start of a new day.
A few minutes later, they were at a small gate in the back of the large building. Phil punched in a code into a keypad on the gate and they walked in through the barbed wire fence that surrounded the perimeter of the compound. There was a grassy area about the size of a football field and a large area for parking, about the same size as the field. Light surrounded the entire area, and the building was the size of a large hospital. Phil and Frizz walked through the glass doors and walked past the receptionist. She recognized him immediately.
"Hey Phil."
"Morning Mary."
They walked into an elevator and Phil pushed number 7.
"We will go and get our wounds from a few days ago checked out tomorrow, I am tired as hell right now and I am sure you are too."
Frizz just nodded. They finally arrived at floor 7 and walked to Room #714. Phil put in another code and they entered the room. It was small, about the size of a hotel room and it had two beds. Phil took off all of his gear and collapsed on to a bed, Frizz doing the same. They both went under the covers on each of their beds, and fell asleep to the dull moan of helicopters still flying overhead.
© Nightcoon