Life's Tough With The Odds Against You - Chapter Three - One After The Other
#3 of Life's Tough With The Odds Against You
Life's Tough With The Odds Against You - Chapter Three - One After The Other
The days seemed to mesh together, stringing a few weeks into what seemed like three days. The second day of being in the new town, I went to the businesses I applied for, and they all offered me jobs. So now, I work almost 23 hours a day, seven days a week while Alexis stays with Geana all day, helping her around the house and other things she needs help with in compensation for sheltering and feeding us.
"Ierlex, Alexis is here again, want me to send her over?"
"Send her to the break room, I'll be there in a second." I said back to Shellea, the Orca at the front desk. I grabbed my stack of papers I had been filing and stood up, moving to the break room.
I got in and sat down, saying hey to a few of my co-workers and the supervisor who were watching the news as Alexis walked in, a bag of delicious home cooked food in hand.
"Hey there handsome, you ever planning on taking a break sometime or are you content with working yourself to death?" she said, sitting next to me.
"Whatever I do, I do it for you, completely willingly. So what did you and Geana cook me up this time?" I said, kissing her muzzle.
"We made you a big 'ol sandwich, it's got fried chicken, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and"
"Wait, mashed potatoes on a fried chicken sandwich thing?" She giggled at my reaction.
"Yep, sounds amazing right?"
"Yea, I don't even think there's a type of bread to contain this much awesome."
"Aww, thank you honey." She said, hugging me as I pulled out the sandwich. I glanced at the news on the TV to see it was a missing persons case. I stopped what I was doing to see whom they were showing.
"... And the two teenagers have been gone for weeks, one family even had to leave for their new life without their son. We ask that..."
All eyes turned to us as the pictures were displayed on the television. A few nodded as they confirmed we were the two runaways.
"Look, we can explain." I started to say before anyone began making accusations and judgments.
"So, Ierlex, the rumors of what you told the boss were true."
"Yes, yes they are."
"So then it's true that you ran away to stay together, for love?" The beaver next to my supervisor said, putting two and two together.
"They are true, my family was moving to the other side of the world, and I probably wouldn't have seen you again, so we ran away together."
"Wow, that's amazing. I wish I could have something like that." Said Leshki, the light brown mid-twenties bunny, putting her chin on her hands. Alexis's cheeks turned slightly red at the comment.
"And we would really, really appreciate it if you didn't report us, because there's not a single doubt in my mind that I'd be sent around the world in an instant if they find where we are." My co-workers nodded in silent agreement to allow our love to continue.
Their lunch break drew to an end as they made their way out of the break room, leaving Alexis, my sandwich, myself, and a stack of papers I planned to file while eating. Alexis gave me a quick hug and kissed the side of my muzzle before standing up.
"I think I'm going to head back now, Geana and I were going to make some dessert for dinner tonight and I offered to help."
"Ok, thanks a million for coming down, it makes the days a lot easier to burn through." I said, setting a small portion of the papers in a neat stack while I reached out for my sandwich.
I took a bite of it while she slowly walked out into the hall, no doubt hesitating to hear the massive moan of ecstasy that flew from my lungs as I was bombarded with a grand array of flavors that coated my pallet in a way no other food could do. I could've sworn I heard a few giggles coming from the hall...
I finished my lunch, savoring every single atom of food, and had jut finished filing the papers when my boss walked in.
"Ierlex, do you have a minute?" He asked, leaning on my desk.
"Yep, I just finished with these papers, so I have a little bit before I was going to start my next part."
"Well, you've been working here for what, almost a month and a half, right? This whole time you've worked three other jobs, never asked for a day off, never left early, never asked anyone to cut you any slack, and have always consistently given 130%, even on less than an hours sleep. I almost wouldn't believe it if I didn't know why you are driven to do this much."
"Well, I do it all for Alexis, happily and without complaint."
"I want you to take the rest of today's work for here off. Give me your punch card and I'll check you out when you normally would. Think of it as a small paid vacation."
"Really sir? I couldn't impose on something like..."
"Nonsense! I can do a half a day without you to make sure you don't kill yourself from exhaustion. Please, just go home and relax a little bit." A huge grin spread across my face as I gave him my punch card.
"Thank you very much sir, I won't disappoint you."
"You could burn down the entire building and chop off both my arms, but if you kept up working like you do then I still wouldn't be disappointed." I laughed lightly with him at his remark as we walked over to the door.
"Thank you again, sir, it really means a lot." I said, walking out the door he was holding.
"Don't worry about it, and just call me Tom from now on."
I felt like I was floating down the road, for a monumental weight had been lifted from my shoulders for today. I was able to now spend more than just thirty minutes before sleeping with Alexis, and I didn't have to finish out the last few hours of my shift. The sun beamed down rays of warmth, the clouds danced upon the sky, not a care in the world, it's times like these where life makes you happy to be alive. Even the wind played a soft melody, its breeze carrying the slight smell of burning. Wait, burning?
I turned the corner to the streets of the subdivisions and saw smoke pluming like a column above a house. I sprinted down, dread setting in as it soon was undoubtedly Geana's house, burning and crumbling, ash floating away in the breeze. A crowd of people stood in the streets, but not a single horse stood by.
"Ierlex!" I turned just as Alexis wrapped her arms around me, crying and gasping for breaths between the sharp intakes of pain.
"Breath Alexis, just breath. What happened?" She held her breath, re-composing her face.
"I-I got back a-a-and I walked into the kitchen," she started, still far from being calm. "She was trying to light the stovetop with a lighter, and she turned to me to say hello." She gripped my waist even tighter than before, her knuckles almost glowing white. I moved my head closer to hers before whispering to her in a soothing tone.
"Then what happened?"
"She, she must have moved the lighter to the gas line, because it melted the tube and then there was an explosion, and she was thrown across the room... dead. From there things kept combusting and enflaming. I just ran as quickly as I could and got out before the second huge explosion." I held her tightly as she burst into tears again, heaving and sobbing deeply as the horse that helped us when we were lost now was unfairly dead, she herself now lost in the afterlife. Once again, we were out on the streets, unsure of what to do.
We left the smoldering reminisce of our home, the sight of it too painful to bear. All the earning I got were directly deposited in the bank, but everything else we had except the clothes on our backs were up in flames, leaving us out in the cold for the second time.
"Ierlex, what are we going to do?"
"We just have to find another place to live, we'll make it out of this, I promise." We walked down the streets, thinking of what to do and where to go.
"I have an idea. Because of Geana, god bless her soul, we didn't have to really spend money for food or rent, so I've got almost five grand in the bank. We're going to find a small apartment and rent it out, and I don't want you sitting around all day with nothing to do, so you're going to enroll at something at the community collage they have around here, ok?" She nodded in agreement, now almost back to herself, but was still shaken up.
We passed by a store, the clock inside telling me I had but a few hours until I was needed at my next job. I was constantly searching for a place to rent, but it seemed that the closer we got to the community collage there was an even smaller chance of finding an open apartment. We passed by the collage and started moving further from it, finding the occasional graffiti mark painted on a wall. I looked further down the road; each building seemed even sketchier than the last.
"I think this place has an extra room." Alexis said, pointing to the sign on the door. We walked in; the doorbells chime warning the weasel behind the counter that there were potential renters.
"Well, hello there. 'M names Chet, how can I help you two?"
"We're looking for someplace to rent, what do you have?" he looked at us quizzically, unsure whether or not to offer us a room because of the predicament of us being not yet sixteen even.
"Tell ya what, I've got two rooms, they're both 1 bedroom apartments, but I ain't too sure I should be renting one to you, because shouldn't your mother be here to sign or somethin?"
"Have you seen the news today?" I said, pointing at the TV.
"Well, yep. It's on all day." I took Alexis in my arms, hugging her closely.
"Well, we're the two 'missing' teenagers. What they didn't tell you is that we ran away to save our love and stay together, because we would rather have each other than be forced apart forever." He took a minute to understand the situation before nodding.
"All right, I'll rent you two a room."
"Great, how much?"
"Nine hundred a month."
"What!?! Are you crazy? That's almost four hundred more than any other place around here would charge!"
"But all the other places are full aren't they?"
"Sorry for wasting your time." I said as I grabbed Alexis's hand and walked out the door.
"Freaking unbelievable, nine hundred a month. Who does he think he is?" I said, walking down the street in an angry rant. I blindly turned the corner to what I thought was just a narrow street, but the paint on the walls told me otherwise. We had accidentally turned into an alleyway in the sketchier part of town, and I didn't realize it until a jaguar had bumped into me.
"My my, what are two little foxes doing so far from their homes?" he said, moving between the only exit and us.
"Shit," I whispered to myself, stepping forward in front of Alexis. "What do you want?"
"Me, oh I'm just out trying to make a living. Sadly for you, that means you'll be short a few bucks today." He snickered to himself, reaching into his jacket.
"Look, I don't have any money on me, I swear."
"Well then, maybe you could pay me in form of, pleasure, if you know what I mean?" He said, glancing at Alexis. Blood surged through my veins, pulsing from my head to my toes, the tip of my tail to my balled up fists.
"If you dare touch her I'll make damn sure that it will be the last this you try and do."
"Baby, I'll ravage her."
I lunged at him, swinging my fist towards his head. He easily sidestepped, my blind rage leaving my right open for him to take a stab, and that he did. From his jacket he pulled a knife from its and plunged it deep into my chest, just below my ribs. I stopped where I was, mouth drawing a mouthful of painful air as he pulled the blade from my flesh. I dropped to my knees; now realizing I'd been stabbed. My hand instinctively pressed against the wound, quickly becoming covered in my blood. The jaguar turned and ran, wiping the knife on his clothes.
"Ierlex!" I heard faintly, feeling Alexis wrap her arms under mine, trying desperately to get me on my feet. "Ierlex, get up!" I struggled to my feet, knees wobbly. I dropped my arms to my side, releasing the pressure on the wound. Alexis wrapped her arms lower around me, her left arm sliding over the cut, smearing dark red blood over her white fur. The sudden warmth must've startled her, because she drew her arm back, mortified when she saw it was covered with blood. She looked around my side to my front, shrieking when she saw blood running down from the gash in my gut. I placed my hand firmly over the wound, slowing the blood flow.
"Ierlex, don't die on me!" she screamed, tears pouring from her eyes. With renewed vigor I stumbled forward, braced by her form, out from the alleyway and back towards the center of town. Through my blurring vision I saw the apartment we'd just turned down not but five minutes ago. I barged into the door, stumbling into the lobby.
"Ahh, what can I do for y- holy shit, what happened?"
"Shut up, just give me the key and we'll discuss payment later, but damn it in bleeding out give me the keys!" I shouted, reaching out a reddened hand. He hesitantly dropped a key ring in my hand.
"Third floor, room 63."
We moved to the elevator, slamming into the wall as my leg gave out for a moment. I smashed my hand on the call button, smearing some blood over it. I looked back at the weasel, who was staring at me in disbelief.
"Look, I'll come back and wash it off when I'm not suffering from a fatal wound ok?" The doors dinged and slid open. We moved into them and jammed the third floor button and the close button as well. It slid shut slowly, then began rising, but stopped on floor two.
"Dahhh, come on!" I shouted as the doors opened to reveal two collage roommates, both dogs. Alexis glared at them as they looked in horror as the blood began pooling down by my leg. They stood there as the doors shut again, bringing us finally to our floor.
I rushed out as soon as the doors slid open and lost my balance, causing me to crash into a wall, splattering some blood on it. Alexis rushed over to support me again as we moved down the hallway to our room. A door behind us swung out, accompanied by an angered voice.
"What the hell are you doing, pounding in... on... walls." His voice trailed off as he saw blood across the floor and my pained limping. His door clicked shut as we rounded the corner, seeing room 60 close by. I gripped the keys and leaned against the door to our room, thrusting the key into the lock and flipping I over. The door swung open violently because of my weight, hitting the wall with a smash. I did all I could to stay on my feet while I stumbled to the bed, slamming down on it and rolling to my back with a pain-filled grunt.
My vision grew very spotty and dark, either fading out completely or opening slightly to be bombarded with the light. I could hear nothing but the pounding in my head and the occasional pleads of Alexis, who was frantically working to keep me from loosing too much blood. Each time I felt a jolt of pain, my eyes would shoot open, their hypersensitivity to light only forcing them shut once more. I felt my fingers becoming cold, my paws becoming numb. Each blast of pain becoming weaker and weaker; My vision faded out for longer and faded only slightly until I was entirely enveloped in darkness, and with it a strange sense of peace.
There was a pressure on the right side of my body, and my shoulder felt quite damp. I woke with a jolt as staggering pain shot trough my entire body.
"Gahhh! AHHHH!" I opened my eyes with my fists clenched. I looked around to see I was still in our apartment, my wound had been bandaged and slightly clean, and Alexis was curled up on my right side, her head resting in my shoulder.
"Are you all right Ierlex?" She said, slightly frightened.
"Just a bit of pain, nothing much. So, what happened? Did I pass out?"
"Well, after you got on the bed you kinda faltered back and forth between consciousness. I guess I panicked a little and tore your shirt up in the front."
I looked down and saw that over half of the front of my shirt was shredded.
"Yea, don't worry about it, it was just my only shirt. What happened after that?"
"Well, I wrapped up your wound and did some cleaning, but then your breath got short and deep, and then that's when you blacked out for good. The bleeding even stopped, but when I felt your chest I could hardly even feel your heart beating." A tear formed in her eye as she continued. "I curled up next to you and cried because I didn't know if I was too late and if you were going to die, and I didn't want you to leave me so I stayed right by your side and swore that I wouldn't leave until you were awake again. But then, after what must've been like three hours, your breathing got stronger and you started to move and twitch slightly, so I knew you were alive. Then I sorta fell asleep, and then you woke up and we kissed."
"But wait, we didn't-" I was cut short as she wrapped her arms around me and locked her muzzle with mine in a loving kiss. She drew back slightly, only to come back and hug me tightly.
"Don't you ever think of dying on me, ever ok?" Even though I was still in lots of pain and very sore from what had happened, I still returned the hug and whispered into her ear.
"There isn't a thing in the world that could separate me from my true love, not even death." She smiled and curled up around my side again, laying her slightly tear-streaked muzzle on my tear drenched shoulder, content with just being with me for now, and so was I.
"Hey, despite the predicament we were just in, is it strange to say that was the most relaxing sleep I've had in a few weeks?" We both chuckled lightly, closing our eyes with each other to hold on to, today, tomorrow, and until the day we breathe our last breath, together.
I woke again as the sun was past the horizon and looked at the clock. I shuffled to get a better view and saw that I had to leave soon or I'd be late to my next job.
"What's wrong Ierlex?" She said, her arms still around me.
"I've got to be leaving or I'll be late."
"You can't be serious, right? I mean, you've been stabbed; you're in no condition to work right now."
"But I've got to. I haven't been late yet and I don't want him thinking that I'm irresponsible." She pouted quietly to herself before looking into my eyes.
"Well, could you stay with me for just a few more minutes, please?" Her face was too cute to deny.
"Ok, for you I will." I said, lying back down and wrapping my arms around her. Besides the pain, I was in a blissful heaven, and it only cost me less than a thousand a month.
As time slowly ticked away, Alexis fell asleep again, whispering my name occasionally. I knew I had to leave within the next minute to make it on time, but she looked too peaceful to wake up. Ever so easily I moved out from under her and laid her head down, pulling a blanket over her to take place of my absence of heat. As I grabbed a set of keys I looked back at my love, my one and only soul mate, shuffling under the blanket before again, lying perfectly still except for her chest, rising and falling.
I slowly opened the door and walked out, making sure the lock worked just fine before closing it and checking once more. I hurried down to the elevator, pressing the call button just as the door across from it opened.
"Y-You!" he said, slightly shocked. I turned to the buck, following his eyes to my mangled shirt and bloodied chest.
"Oh, hey, sorry about all that. It's just that I was, well, you know, dying, so I apologize for bothering you earlier today." He was at a loss of words, stunned from my courtesy.
"What happened to you man? You looked like you were bleeding more blood than you had in ya."
"Well, to put it bluntly some asshole stabbed me when I stepped forward to defend my mate's honor." The bells chimed and the door slid open.
"Daaaaaamn. But shouldn't you, ya know, go get that looked at by a doctor?"
"Can't, don't have health insurance and probably couldn't afford the bill."
"Unemployed?"
"Nope. I work four full time jobs and opted for higher starting wages than Heath insurance." He looked at me quizzically for a moment before we both stepped into the elevator.
"Well, I'm sure you have your reasons." he said, pressing the ground floor button.
As the doors opened I saw the weasel cleaning my blood from the walls. I smiled lightly at him, who rolled his eyes in return.
"You know Ierlex? I'm thinking that if you keep bleeding all over my property then your rent isn't going to cover my time and cleaning expenses," he said sarcastically. "But it's good to see you're still alive, and not just because your part of my income."
"Ok then, but if you need anything else done around here I'd love to make this up to you."
"Oh don't worry about it. It gives me something else to do around here when I'm bored."
"Alright, I will see you later then." I said as I walked out the door.
With the sun now set the air was slightly colder than earlier, more so than the last month or so. Coming from a tropical area, the cold was something we almost never had to deal with, so I would have to get used to it soon, or at least get more than shorts and a tattered shirt to wear. Maybe tomorrow I'll take Alexis shopping for some clothes, and then take her out to dinner, because she really deserves it. Besides, I had enough money set-aside for now, a hundred bucks or so wouldn't be too harsh on it. Then I remembered that first I wanted her to get involved with the community collage, take some course there so she wasn't sitting in a room all day.
Before I knew it I had gotten to the doors of the building for one of my jobs. I pushed the door aside and stepped in.
"Welcome to the," The secretary stopped short when she saw me. "Ierlex, what happened to you?!?"
"Um, I got stabbed?" I said, unsure really what to say about it. I kept walking to my desk, drawing the occasional glance of a co-worker, but eventually made it to my desk and began working. I guess word spread quickly around the building, because just as I started checking my work email my boss came up behind me and tapped my shoulder.
"Ierlex, I've heard some rumors that you were stabbed, is that correct?" I turned around and brushed aside the remaining strips of cloth to show my bandaged wound, the fur around it stained a deep red.
"Don't worry, it's only a flesh wound."
"You know, I should probably give you the night off, for obvious reasons of course."
"No thank you sir, I'm fine. It won't affect my work effort."
"Well, did you get it checked out by a doctor?"
"Nope. I don't have health insurance, so it would be very costly."
"Sometimes I worry about you Ierlex. Especially because you've only been here for a little over a month and already you are the best worker I've seen, ever."
"Thank you sir. I do my best."
"And to think I almost didn't hire you because of a first impression." He said as he was walking away.
I finished my shift for that job, desperately holding back any signs of tiredness or exhaustion.
"See you tomorrow Wendy." I said to the company's other secretary.
"Yep, tomorrow Ierl...ex?"
"Oh yea, about the blood and tattered shirt. Well, long story short, I was impaled with a knife and my mate bandaged me up and saved my life."
"Ok then, good enough for me I guess. Take it easy now."
I quickly jogged down a few blocks before turning the corner. The air was brisk in the first couple of hours in the morning without the sun's warming gaze to give it warmth, and it dug under my fur and drilled into my bones. I finally made it to the building and threw open the doors, the warmth of the heaters brushing over me.
The shift here was almost always quiet because there were only two or three people on staff here at night, all on different floors.
"Hey, Ierlex. There was some extra sandwiches left over from a concerned call a few hours ago, it's in the fridge if you want some. Hang on, what the hell happened to you?"
"Oh yea, I'll tell you in a sec jack," I said to the husky, "I'm starving. What kind are they?"
"I think salami, but there's still blood all over your chest, and a sandwich doesn't explain what happened." We walked into the break room and I decided to take a different approach on retelling the story.
"Ok, guy threatens my mate, me step forward," I picked up a knife left on the counter and stepped towards him. "Guy goes stabby, and I goes AHHHH!" I said, thrusting forward then falling to the ground, clutching my side. I gave a spasm of death, but halfway through I lost it and began laughing.
"You know, I find it very odd that you can find something like that so comical." He said, chuckling a bit. "But you know, there's some showers on the third floor if you want to take five, ten minutes to clean up. I won't tell anyone."
"Ok, I'll do that, but first, sandvich!!!"
I awoke with Alexis was tracing her paw over my chest, the wound now just a scar after a few weeks of mending.
"Whatcha doing babe?" I asked, moving up on my elbows.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm just thinking back about the day I almost lost you." She said, tracing the outline of my scars. "I was so worried."
"Well, don't worry, it won't happen ever again."
"It had better not, no one will take my little foxy away from me." She said, hugging me tight. A smile spread across my face.
"And no one will steal away my arctic goddess, not even the jaws of death itself." I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a quick kiss before sitting upright and stretching. "So, you have like, one week left of that water coloring class out of the four week program, right?"
"Yep, last week until that segment is over." I got off the bed and tossed on a plain gray shirt I'd bought a while back. "You know, I've gotten used to falling asleep without you, then waking up in your arms. It's like a boon each time I open my eyes to see you."
"Aww, that means a lot to me." I said, walking over to her and hugging her.
"I love you." She said, giving a tight little squeeze.
"I love you too." I said, giving her a quick kiss before heading to the door.
"I'll see you after, well, I guess I'll either see you if you drop by or tomorrow morning."
"You should really take a few days off, I'm sure it would do you some good. And then I'd see you more than an hour a day."
"Hey, please don't be sad. This is just temporary. After this I swear to you I shall spend every moment of my life, every single second, with you, mi amor."
She cheered up a little bit.
"Ok, I guess I can handle that."
"And babe," I said, opening the door. "I love you."
"Ierlex, you've gotta come check this out right now."
"What?" I checked the clock on my desk. It was about ten till noon, so I assumed a few of my co-workers took an early lunch and saw something on the news.
"What's it about?"
"Just come check it out now." He said, rushing back to the break room. I sighed to myself; putting down the last bit I'd paperwork I had to do for today, got up, and headed to the break room.
I moved behind the crowd gathered at the TV screen, showing the news reporter standing outside of what looked like the community collage just nearby here.
"Hey, is that the collage that's just around here?"
"Yes, now hush."
"...We are updating the story now as it develops. A police task force had to retreat after the psycho threatened to harm one of his hostages, and when they persisted, he racked off two shots. We are unsure if they were directed at the police, the hostages, or not at anything in particular. So far he hasn't made any demands..."
"Oh no." I turned on the spot and shot out the door, around the corner towards the lobby.
"Ierlex, what are you doing?"
"No time to explain, sorry." I slammed into the doors and burst into the streets, full out sprinting to the collage.
I was turning the last corner when I saw smoke rising from the ground. As I drew closer I saw that the road to the collage had a few cars that had crashed into each other and were smoking slightly, leaving no room for a vehicle to get through. I moved around them and started pushing through the crowd between the collage and myself. I reached the police line and leapt over it, rushing to the last bit of space before the doors.
"Sir, come back. You can't cross the police line with no reason." I heard a police officer call to me. I turned my head, grabbing the door handle. "Trust me, I have a reason to be doing this, and I'll be damned if I stand around and do nothing."
I ran through the halls, seeking desperately the room where Alexis might be held. I dashed up a flight of stairs before I heard a faint trail of sound. I stopped and directed my ears towards the source.
"... No one ever listened to me, no one ever paid attention to me..." I started creeping on the balls of my feet, moving silently. "... I would help them; I would help them all without a second thought. I failed tests to help others study, but did they even say thanks? No, no they didn't. They treated me like a cheat sheet, and then threw me away. But now the tables have turned, haven't they?" I moved to the doorframe and peeked around the corner with caution. The faint smell of blood lingered in the air; the assumption only confirmed when I saw a small trail of blood leading to a body, propped against the cabinets, the blood directly contrasting her beautifully white fur. Oh my god that was Alexis.
I jumped back from the door, inhaling sharply. My heart lodged itself in my throat, causing me to gag.
"Oh, it seems we have company. Perhaps I'll shoot him rather than another one of you." Shit shit shit shit. I heard his paws moving closer to the doorway. I crouched down as low as possible and readied myself for whatever was to come. He jumped around the corner, gun in his paw. However, the groundhog had his back turned to me, so I capitalized on the moment. I pounced on him, making sure to secure his arms while we crashed to the ground. I heard the gun fire blindly a few shots before clattering onto the ground. He tried to push up from the ground, but I kept my elbow driven into his shoulder blades.
"Oh ho ho, have you come to apologize? Well it's too late!" He somehow drove an elbow into my chest and scrambles out from under me while I recoiled. I saw him jump for the gun, so I dove into the classroom just before I heard him fire off a few more rounds where I had been. I scrambled behind a table and flipped it to its side.
"You don't understand what it's like to be me, to do so much and gain nothing from it. I lost a scholarship because my scores were too low because I spent my time helping others. They didn't take that into account though!" He walked back into the room, a menacing grin accompanied by twisted eyes. I looked around and found a small, crudely made clay vase. Quietly apologizing for what I was going to do, I grabbed it and rolled past the side of the table and threw the pottery towards the groundhog. He turned at the sound just as it crashed into his shoulder, shattering into hundreds of pieces. While he was distracted, I ran towards him, screaming while I drove my fist into his chest.
He grunted and tried to bring the to my head, but I grabbed his wrist and fought for power of the firearm.
"Stop this, just stop this! Haven't you done enough damage already?!?" The gun began firing into the air until it swung to the side and shot at the window overlooking the streets, which were filled with onlookers.
"No, I'm not done yet! I've yet to be finished! Nothing can make this any better!" I took a paw from the gun to jab at his sides, which wound up being a mistake. He overpowered my one arm and slammed the grip of the gun to the top of my head, quickly followed by a knee while I was bent over. I stumbled to the ground, landing on shattered glass. I looked up, blood running down my right eye to see Alexis, her face blank in expression, but glued to me. She reached out her paw, which was just out of my reach. I dragged my body across the floor, glass cutting into my chest with every inch, until I could take her paw in mine. Tears began running down her face, blood still slowly pouring from her chest. She mouthed few words, which I knew exactly what she meant.
"I love you too." I said, spitting some blood from my muzzle. I felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of my head.
"Looks like you've lost this game. Feels bad to lose, doesn't it?" I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.
click
"What?" My eyes opened as I realized that he had ran out of rounds in his gun. Suddenly, out of nowhere there was a gunshot that tore threw the air. I heard the groundhog cry out in pain before dropping the gun. I jumped to my knees and turned around to see him clutching his upper arms, which were bleeding profusely. I looked towards the window to see a swat unit with a sniper rifle, giving the order to move alpha company in. I brushed whatever glass was on my chest before looking at Alexis, who was holding on to life by only a small sting. I moved over to her and swept my arms around her.
"I won't let you go, please, stay with me." I lifted her up, trying to support her weight as best I could across my chest before dashing out of the room and towards the stairs.
I took the steps down three at a time, trying to keep Alexis as stable as possible on the way down. Once I hit flat ground again I was off, speeding down the halls, my head spinning and my legs hurting, but I continued. I rounded the last corner before covering the last bit, slamming my shoulder into the door and sprinting down the sidewalk.
"Sir, there is an ambulance coming, please wait here." I ignored him, knowing all too well what would happen if I stopped. I raced past onlookers and questioners, only one goal in mind, and that was to never, ever let my soul mate go, and damn it she isn't going to die. I turned the corner, seeing the hospital far off in the distance. I was in a full out sprint, lungs unable to keep up with the demand for oxygen, but yet I persevered.
I was almost there, almost at the hospital when I heard her heartbeat stop, skip a few beats, and then sporadically race, before stopping again.
"Please just hang on, just hang on don't die on me please." I shoved the door aside, screaming and yelling for a doctor to come quickly. Someone pulled out a gurney and I gently laid Alexis on it, taking her paw in mine. A doctor came out and looked her over while she was wheeled down the hall.
"Hmm, this is bad." He looked at me with a very sincere look in his eyes. "I hate to tell you this, but I don't think she'll make it." Furious, I grabbed him by the lapel and shoved him against the wall.
"Damn it you will do everything you can to keep her alive, every damn thing that can help you will do, got that? She means everything to me, and nothing will take her away from me. I promised her that, and I am not about to break that promise." I let back on my pin to the wall. "Do you understand?" He nodded before calling for his surgery team, rushing her into a room.
I walked back into the lobby, all eyes gazing upon me while I sat down, head in my paws, tears dripping down my muzzle to the floor. My body was physically drained of everything while the adrenaline began wearing off. I broke down completely, tears pouring from my eyes and my breathing insanely inconsistent. My vision was spotty with black specks until I tried to control my breathing, taking slow, deep breaths. I leaned back in my chair, suddenly realizing I myself was bleeding from my skull and chest, but I couldn't care less about that, because I had only one thing on my mind, and it was destroying me just thinking of what I might lose if I hadn't been fast enough.