THE HAMMER OF THE ROAD rise of a legend
(now i am sorry if there is any spelling or grammer mistakes in this story, but this is my first publically released story and i am only a beginner plus i have always had a grammer problem and there is swearing but i could only mark it as clean)
Prologue
It has been 25 years since the anthro/human war ended. there was heavy losses on both sides but finally a truce was called and both forces eventually laid down their arms and now both humans and anthros live together in harmony and I saw every year of it , see my name is James Windrider and I was part of the most infamous clan in the world, but that's for another time see I am retired now and have made a good life as the local towns mystic and handyman, all the cubs and kids in the town used to call me "poppa wolf" and for fun I always give them rides in my truck and every week I would tell stories about my escapades in the war.
It was a cold but clear night in June in scruff Ville and the streets were almost deserted apart from the occasional car or pedestrian, in the distance the sound of a Jake brake echoed down the range as a big rig negotiated the hill into town taking ore from the mines in the hills down to the refinery to be shipped out by train, whilst down in town at "the paw and crown"(the local bar) a fire crackled away in the fireplace , in an old armchair given to him by the mayor of the town sat an old wolf with his head covered by a cloak, he sat there sipping on a beer and munching on a big steak dinner watching some football on the bars big screen TV. He had just finished eating when 2 young greyhounds ,a beagle pup and a young human of about 15 came and sat on the mat at the old wolfs feet "hey kids, what can I do ya for" says the old wolf "come on poppa wolf ,tell us a story of the old days" the beagle asks. "are you sure that you are ready for em" PW asks with a grin, without even hesitating they all speak at once "of course we are" "ok,ok kids I will but first let me ask you a question", settling in to his chair he begins "how many of you have heard of the anthro/human war"
"Didn't that start like 130 years ago "asked one of the greys "well yes actually it started 145 years ago and lasted for 120 years and I have seen nearly every year of it" "but you can't of, that would make you" the other grey piped up "I am 137 years old" "beg pardon sir but you can't be" the kid asked "why do you say that, young one" "well you don't look that old sir" " why thank you there sonny, I have taken care of myself . Now let's get some drinks and I will begin" the old wolf raised a paw and a waitress brings over a tray of drinks and some popcorn for the kids and a beer for him "thanks doll face" says the old wolf as he gave the waitress a friendly squeeze on the ass "now let's begin, you see I was a resistance fighter during the war, I was the leader of the toughest clan in the war but first I will tell you about how I got there"
Chapter 1
I was only 12 years old when I saw my family murdered by a human death squad. They came in the night, I was spared as I was up in the attic and they couldn't see me but when I came down and saw what they had done I swore the humans would pay for what they done to my family. I bummed around the forest for the next few weeks occasionally raiding garbage cans for food but then I made the mistake of trying to raid the dumpster near a human base, I was captured and sentence to live in an orphanage until I had become of age but I was lucky to have been adopted 3 weeks later by a nice old man who needed an assistant at his store, he didn't care about the war (he later told me that he was an anthro sympathiser) he just wanted someone to do good days work for a good days pay.
The old man owned a small garage and junkyard outside of town, I spent 4 good years working for that man, he had given me free reign in the junkyard to do what I please and when I was 16 he applied to the government to get me a drivers licence as there was a few places that humans were shot on site, the licence was granted on the proviso that I only drove during the day and I reported any non-human vehicles that we worked on but we always falsified the records.
I had worked for the old man for 6 years when one cold night he called me into his office, he motioned for me to sit down on the small sofa next to his desk, he then produced a bunch of folded papers from his desk drawer, "you know what these papers are don't ya son" "no sir, what are they sir?" I asked "well son these are your "term of service" papers, they say that you are employed in my service for the term of you natural life or until you are killed whichever comes first, but seeing that I am not long for this world I am going to do you a great honour boy I am going to set you free" "what do you mean sir?" I asked with a tear in my eye " son I mean what I said, I am releasing you from my service, you no longer work for me and I am giving the garage as well" as he said that he balled up the papers and tossed 'em in the fire, immediately I burst in to tears and began to bawl my eyes out "now now son, you have a good reason to cry, you have just been given a second chance at life" through my tears I managed an answer "thank you sir, I will try my best to stay out of trouble sir." "I know you will son" he said as he broke in to a coughing fit he was then having trouble breathing, I jumped up and asked "are you ok sir?" "I'll be fine son could you just help me up to bed" "no problems sir" I said as we climbed the stairs to the unit above the shop, as I placed him on the bed he gave out one last request and when off to sleep, sat with him for an hour and then went down to my camp bed in the storeroom.
The next morning I went up to see if the old man was alright but when I got upstairs I saw what I really was expecting, during the night the old man had died, well I sat there with the body for 2 hours thinking of the good treatment he had given me. I was brought out of my dream by the bell from down stairs, I was lucky that it was one of our regulars. I saw that it was Johnny an old lion who drives a tractor. When he saw me wiping my eyes he asked me "what's the matter jimmy, you look like you've seen a ghost" through the tears I answered "the old man died last night, I took him up to bed last night and when I went up to see him he was dead" "come here son" Johnny said as he wrapped his arm around me and gave me a big hug 'he was a good mate and friend wasn't he?" he asked as we went and sat down on the concrete step out front "he sure was, last night he burned my service papers" "you mean he set you free"
"Yep" I said having finally calmed down a little. "Come on lets go and have ourselves a drink and then we will bury the old guy eh?" "Yeah" I said as we both got up and walked inside. I opened the filing cabinet and pulled out a half gallon jug of the old man's rot-gut whiskey "where'd you get that" Johnny asked "I found the old man's still down in the old shed, I've never tried the stuff but he used to say that it was so strong you could run an engine on it" "must be strong stuff then", after getting completely wasted and trying to balance a full oilcan on the tip of my muzzle only to have it fall and dump 20w50 motor oil all over my head we decided that it was time to bury the old man. I went and found a nice place up on the hill overlooking the garage whilst Johnny went and fetched the body, after filling in the grave and placing a crudely made cross I said a few words.
"lord please look after this man, he was the only man who could keep a pup like me on the straight and narrow and by setting him free you have earned a place in my heart for all time amen" "beautiful man beautiful" said john. After all that was said I asked him "what I should do now " "well dude if I was you I would close up for a few days and then get back to it" " I can't do that man, if the humans found out they would kill me" "fuck the humans , you have lost someone you held dear and remember too they did kill your family" "true man very true, come on lets close up the shop" I went and closed the door ,pulled the blinds down and secured the pumps, I then grabbed a bag, threw some food and ammo inside and decided to go bush for a few days and reflect on the life the old man gave me. After a week I thought it was time to go back to work so I went back and opened up the garage. It was business as usual for the next few days but on the morning of the 4th day I woke up with the feeling that something go wrong that day
(chapter 2 arrives when i get it finished)