FSE

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She was really hoping it wasn't Welton knocking on her door. After everything that happened back at Krazzer Labs, she needed some time alone, and so did the bear. They hadn't said or talked to each other for nearly two days now; Cindy didn't even bother to relay any information she found out about Krazzer Labs to Welton. All the research she conducted was done on her own, mostly by searching on the Internet and making phone calls and reading documents. She started to look into Krazzer Labs' connections to the military and government, hoping she'd discover something about them hiring freelance mercenaries or ex-military soldiers. But some of the information she wanted didn't exist, or it was part of the company's main website and couldn't be accessed without the proper password and username. In the end, Cindy took a break and relaxed herself, still trying to forget about the shark who choked her and tried to rip her pants off. Cindy heard someone knock on her door again and sighed heavily, getting off the couch so she could see who it was.

"I'm coming," she forced herself to say.

After the incident down at the labs, Cindy wasn't taking any chances. She reached for the gun in her back pocket and groped it, ready to pull it out if need be. She looked through the peephole and saw a smiling gray mouse wearing a red coat, black shirt and jeans. He waved at the peephole, causing Cindy to sigh with relief. She opened the door and let the rodent inside.

"Heeeeeeey, Cin-day!"

"Hey, Gomez," she replied as she closed the door.

Gomez sniffed the air a few times and blinked. "Well, I can't smell bear musk in here, so I'm guessing your drunken Teddy bear isn't here."

"No."

Cindy walked past Gomez and sat back down on the couch, trying to relax after spending most of her day looking up information about Krazzer Labs. The gray mouse wiggled his nose before he sat down on the chair beside the couch.

"So when'd you find out he was drinking again?"

"Two days ago. He wasn't even trying to hide it, Gomez. Just left the bottle out for me to find."

Gomez sighed heavily and shook his head. "It was only a matter of time anyway."

Cindy stared at the rodent and frowned. "Stop acting like he's a lost cause. Welton...I know there's still good in him."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Gomez, if the only reason why you came here was to tell me 'I told you so,' then get the fuck out. I'm not in the mood and I don't need to hear that right now."

"All right. ...How's 'bout I tell you a story then?"

Cindy raised an eyebrow. "A story?"

"Yeah! Just a simple one is all. Maybe you've heard of it before."

Cindy leaned back on the couch and blinked, waiting for the mouse to get started. Gomez rubbed his whiskers and muttered to himself, trying to figure out how to get his tale started.

"So there's this guy named Joe. He's a happy fellow. Loves his life, loves his job, loves his wife and kids. But he also loves making others happy, and saving other people. So Joe goes around helping others in need, volunteering as a firefighter, a policeman, a soldier--you name it. Joe reads the newspaper one day. It says people are suffering in another country. So he flies over to this country and helps make these people happy. It works. But when Joe comes back home, he finds out that his wife and children left him."

Cindy started to frown. She didn't like where this story was going.

"'That's okay,' Joe says. 'As long as I'm making others happy.' So Joe keeps saving and helping people, despite the loss of his family. One day, Joe starts to feel sick. He's been feeling sick for a while now, but he ignored it because he was too busy helping others. He goes to the doctor. Doctor tells him he has cancer. 'That's okay,' Joe says. 'As long as I'm making others happy.' So, despite his possible terminal illness, Joe keeps trying to save the world."

Gomez paused and wiggled his nose again. He rubbed his paws together slowly, ready to finish the story.

"One day, people stop hearing from Joe. People stop seeing Joe. He's not helping people anymore. 'Where's Joe? Where's he run off to?' everyone asks. So the cops get worried, break into his house. They search the living room, bedroom, bathroom, but Joe's nowhere to be found. Then they go downstairs into the basement. One of the cops turns the light on. And lo and behold, they found Joe! ...Who's dangling from the basement ceiling with a noose tied around his neck."

Gomez didn't say anything afterwards, and neither did Cindy. The two creatures sat in silence, listening to a few cars driving around on the street. Gomez scratched his face while Cindy lowered her eyes and started to understand.

"Did you like the story?"

"No," Cindy snapped.

"Why not?"

Cindy looked back up at Gomez. "That's not what this is."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not. Welton isn't some nobody in danger. He's not some bystander on the street who's about to get run over by a truck. He's my partner, Gomez."

"And he's slowly ruining your life."

"There was a time where Welton was like me, Gomez. He was happy too; he smiled a lot. Everyone who knew him loved him."

"And then he got into a car crash."

Cindy paused. "I know what he did...I feel like no one understands or cares about the pain he's in."

"I used to care. But he's abusive to me, and he's an asshole. I've reached the point where I don't give a shit anymore. Welton's like one of those wife-beaters who everyone tries to sympathize with just because he used to be in the army and suffers from PTSD or something. Yes, random ex-soldier, we know what you went through was horrible. Yes, we know you saw your best friend get tortured to death. But you have no goddamn right to bash your wife's face in just because she didn't add cheese in your scrambled eggs."

"So what are you saying, that I should just give up on Welton?"

"You can't save everyone, Cindy. Some people...sometimes there's nothing more you can do. Sometimes you need to let them go."

The young woman stopped talking and pondered. She thought about letting Welton go several times before, but something always happened to make her change her mind. Maybe it was time for her to abandon him and focus more on her own life and career.

"I'm not saying you need to let him go right now...but take the time to think about it. If you really believe that Welton can be saved, then by all means try. But if not, then don't waste your time. All he's gonna do is drag you down with him."

That was all there was to it. Either Welton changed his behavior sooner than later, or he'd be left to wither up and die. It seemed like an easy decision to make--Cindy wasn't in love with the bear, and they weren't related in any way. But after hearing the mouse's words, she had to force herself to swallow a lump forming in her throat. Cindy exhaled and started to wonder what would happen if he left him. She could try to become a detective again. She wouldn't have to worry about having a partner who exacerbated situations. If she was lucky, she'd find a new partner who actually cared about personal hygiene and didn't constantly swear at everybody and everything around him.

"Okay then...I'll think about it."

"Good! In the meantime, I gotta get back to figuring out what the chemical was that was stolen from Krazzer Labs. With any luck, it might prove my theory to be correct."

"Let me know if you find out anything."

Gomez nodded. "Will do!"

The gray mouse rose from the chair and headed towards the door. He opened it up and left Cindy's apartment. As Cindy got up and closed and locked the door, she sighed heavily and turned around to look at her living room table. Her cell phone was still sitting there, untouched for the last half hour. All day she was hoping that Welton would find the sense to call her and explain what he was going through. But he never called her, and the sun had finally gone down. Cindy sat back down on her couch and stared at the phone. She took a few breaths, still thinking that her phone would ring and she's hear a gruff, possibly slurred voice on the other end. But after sitting in silence for almost five minutes, Cindy realized he wouldn't call. So she reached forward and picked up the phone so she could dial Welton's phone number. It only had to ring a few times before she finally heard the grizzly bear's voice.

"Yeah?"

"It's me, Welton."

"I know it's you; I saw the caller ID," he barked.

Cindy huffed. "Are you drunk again?"

"Not really. ...Kinda."

Cindy closed her eyes and put a hand on her head. "You still at home?"

"No. I'm at Kerchen Park, not far from the fountain."

"Fine. I'm heading over there now; just stay put."

"You're the boss."

Cindy hung up her phone and got up from the couch so she could put on some warmer clothing.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She didn't drive to the park. She needed some air and time to think. So she walked over to the subway station now clad in her light blue jacket, black pants and shoes. She had a feeling she probably wouldn't need them, but her handgun and small flashlight were concealed in her pants as well in case she saw anyone threatening following her. But Cindy managed to reach the park without any confrontations, even though it was dark by the time she got there. Cindy entered the park and started to walk along the pavement, disregarding the giant deciduous trees, the colorful signs, and the kiosks that were now empty and closed down for the night. But the park wasn't abandoned. Cindy spotted plenty of people around the area, human and anthro alike. A couple of joggers were running down the pavement with headphones in their ears, while Cindy moved past a presumably homeless man sleeping on a bench with no shoes on and a ratty coat as his blanket. Cindy even noticed a group of people who seemed to be celebrating and were waltzing through the park inebriated, talking very loudly and enjoying themselves. Eventually, Cindy found the giant fountain shooting water up into the air and saw a familiar burly figure sitting alone on a bench.

Cindy walked over to the bench and sat down, glancing at the figure just to make sure it was really Welton. It was, but Welton didn't look back at her. He rubbed his paws together and blinked, gazing at the fountain releasing a seemingly endless supply of water. Neither of them said anything and listened to the wind blowing through the trees and the group of people as they started to move away from their position. After some time, Welton opened up.

"He always liked this park. I'd always take him here on Sundays and we'd just sit here, talk about each other's week. Or maybe we'd play Frisbee or toss one of those stupid Nerf ball things around."

Welton scoffed. "Never understood what he liked about those things. You're better off with a good-ole fashioned football."

"Is that why you're here? You suddenly started thinking about your son?"

Welton looked down at the ground. "I'm always thinking about him...always miss him. I was sitting in my apartment earlier this morning, and I suddenly noticed how quiet it was. ...It drove me insane. I tried going to sleep, but that didn't work."

"So you started drinking until you passed out," said Cindy, already knowing the answer.

Welton lifted his head and nodded. "Bingo. And it worked. But I had this dream...my family was in it. I was completely shit-faced, beating on my wife in front of my cubs. I was yelling and cursing, they were all crying. I grabbed a kitchen knife and was about to stab her. She found my gun and pointed it at me."

Cindy started frowning; she already knew where this was going. Welton sighed heavily and rubbed his face.

"She killed me, Cindy. I woke up the moment she fired, but I know my wife killed me. But the thing is, when I woke up, I kind of felt...relieved. Not happy, but I felt like she did the right thing."

"Welton, it's--"

"What, it's not my fault?" snapped Welton as he looked at Cindy. "I killed my family while I was drunk driving."

"It was your birthday. You were out celebrating and you drank too much wine at that restaurant."

"My wife offered to drive, but I kept telling her I was fine. That's all I can ever think about. All I had to do was let her drive, and none of this would've happened. So yeah, Cindy, it is my fault. It's _all_my fault. I didn't have to drink wine. I didn't have to drive. And I didn't have to swerve into oncoming traffic. But I did. And now they're gone. All I had to do--"

"Stop," Cindy suddenly blurted out.

Welton, for once, listened. He stopped talking, and the duo sat on the bench in silence. The group of drunken partiers had left. The joggers were nowhere to be found. Cindy and Welton didn't even notice the water trickling from the fountain anymore. It was just the two of them and the chilly wind blowing against their faces.

"What are you fighting for?"

Welton looked at Cindy, suddenly confused. "What?"

"Why are you my partner? Why do you have this job?"

"How else am I gonna earn money?"

Cindy shook her head. "That's a lie and you know it. You could be a banker, a fast-food worker, a grocery clerk--there's thousands of things you could've done besides working as a private investigator and solving crimes. But you chose to take a job where you help others. Why?"

Welton looked away again and didn't answer. All he did was rub his nose and grumble to himself.

"If you don't have a reason for fighting, for doing what you do, then that means you just don't care. And if you don't care, then that means you won't hesitate to go back to your old ways. How do I know I can still trust you to keep your alcohol issues under control? We've been in this position before--last time you were at the playground your younger son loved to go to. And the time before that, you were on the beach where you proposed to your wife. So how is this time any different?"

Welton smirked. "Third time's the charm, right?"

Welton looked at Cindy's scowl and stopped smiling. He shrugged. "Honestly, you don't know. I can look you dead in your eyes right now and tell you I'll quit drinking, but it won't matter. They're just words. You and I have seen murderers and rapists go free because they lied their asses off during their trials. And you know what happened? They killed and/or raped another person shortly after being released."

"Well, you better figure out the answer soon. Because if this keeps up...I'm not sure we'll be able to be partners anymore."

Welton's eyes grew wide after hearing that. He looked down at Cindy, expecting her to look back up at him with that same stern glare she always had. But she didn't. She just looked straight ahead, as if Welton wasn't even there. And that was the point. Everytime Cindy threatened to end their partnership, she always had something to say or do afterwards. She'd always sound angry or on the verge of tears, or even flat-out sobbing. But now she was calm, almost emotionless, like the thought of ending her partnership was less important than trying to find a house fly buzzing around in her living room. Welton started to open his mouth, wanting to say something to change the woman's mind. He even thought about hugging her for a brief moment. But in the end, he just looked straight ahead at the fountain, and the two creatures listened to the water splashing as they thought about their futures. A few minutes went by before Welton finally stood up and scratched his left arm.

"I should be getting home now," said Welton softly.

Cindy sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Same. If we hurry we'll be able to catch the train at 10:30."

Welton raised an eyebrow. "You didn't drive here?"

"No," said Cindy as she put her phone back in her pocket. "I needed the fresh air. 'Sides, my car's low on gas."

"All right then. Let's get going."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cindy and Welton sat by each other on the train, which was surprisingly empty even though it wasn't midnight yet. A few people were on the train, some humans heading to their night-shift jobs, a couple of anthros who were on the verge of going to sleep, and a couple of others who didn't want to be bothered. Cindy and Welton ignored everyone like they always did, up until they heard strange grunting and cracking. Welton glanced beyond Cindy's head and saw a man sitting to the left of her wearing a beige overcoat, fedora and pants. The man grunted a few times before he started to scratch his right hand. Welton noticed that he was wearing black gloves too, one of which he took off so he could get to his skin. As the man scratched his hand, Welton noticed that it was shaking and the skin color was starting to darken. Cindy looked up at Welton and blinked.

"What?"

"Um..."

The man put the glove back on and exhaled. Welton stopped looking at him and turned away.

"Never mind."

A couple more minutes went by and the man was still grunting and breathing heavily. Cindy started to notice it as well, especially when he started shaking violently. The woman thought the man was getting cold sweats or having a terrible case of withdrawal.

"You all right, sir?"

The man nodded slowly, but didn't face Cindy. "I'm fine...j-just trying to get over the flu," he lied.

Cindy had a feeling he was lying, but paid no attention to it. Whatever he was going through was none of her business. When the train was nearing the next station, the man screamed and grabbed his right wrist. Cindy raised an eyebrow and heard faint tearing and popping, which was followed by strange, anthro-like claws poking out the tips of the right glove.

"No, no, no--they-they said it wouldn't take effect this fast," the man muttered to himself.

A few seconds later, there was a loud rip. The man gasped as his right glove fell to pieces, revealing a paw. Cindy's eyes dilated. The man glanced at the woman, which proved to be a mistake when she saw beneath his wide fedora and realized that his eyes were greenish-yellow and that his skin was fuzzy and pitch black. The train stopped with a loud screech, and the doors hissed open. The man quickly stood up and walked away, still breathing heavily and sweating. It was at that moment when Cindy remembered the conversation she had with Gomez a few days ago.

Let's say that, uh...Krazzer Labs has been recently concocting this new chemical that can change anthros...and humans...

"Oh my God. Welton, get up!"

The bear grumbled as he saw Cindy spring off her seat. "But this isn't our stop. Hey!"

Cindy grabbed the bear's left arm. "We need to follow that man right now! There's something seriously wrong with him!"

"I--wait a minute!"

Cindy didn't listen. She ran out of the train and hopped onto the platform. As she stepped out into the chilly nighttime air, she spotted the man hurrying down a set of stairs leading back to the street. Welton got off the train moments before the doors closed and saw Cindy walking as fast as she could down the stairs, chasing after the man.

"DAMMIT, CINDY!" shouted the bear.

Panting, Cindy checked her back pocket to make sure her gun was still on her. It was. As Cindy began to reach the ground, she noticed that the mysterious man had gained some distance from her and was heading towards the alleyways.

"Will you please tell me what the hell's goin' on?!"

Cindy turned around and saw Welton on the streets as well. "That day I talked to Gomez? He said something, uh, something about this chemical Krazzer Labs was making--it can change people, Welton!"

"Slow down, slow down. Change people how?"

Cindy shook her head and exhaled. "I don't know. But he said that it can change anthros and humans! That man I saw on the train--his hand turned into a paw, Welton! His eyes were all glowing and yellow and his skin was completely black!"

"Are you sure--"

"I know what I saw, Welton!" Cindy was talking so fast Welton could hardly understand. "If we catch this guy, we'll finally be able to figure out what the hell's been going on with these murders!"

Cindy started to run towards the alleyways immediately, with Welton tagging along behind her.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

His clothing was too tight; the man couldn't breathe. His ears started to tingle and pop, almost making it seem like his hearing was about to fade. The man snatched off his fedora and tossed it aside as he stepped in a puddle and continued to walk down the alley. His shirt and coat was putting too much strain on his chest and midriff. The man panted as he snatched off his overcoat and left glove and dumped them beside a trash can. He was about to take off his shirt as well when his head began to throb. His face burned, and his skin tickled him from his head to his toes. Black strands of fur began to emerge all around his skin, but for some odd reason, a patch of fur going from the center of his face all the way over to his spine and down to his bottom was white. The man's ears crackled as they grew and became pointed.

"They lied...they said it wouldn't hurt...they said it would happen the instant it started!" the man shouted to himself.

The man fell to his knees and looked at his left hand and his right paw. He felt more bones and muscles shifting around in his body, crackling and making his paw and hand grow larger. The man looked at his left hand in horror as it increased to three times its size. The hand slowly contorted, the fingers becoming thicker and closer together, the palm turning into a paw that carried his new print. The man felt his stomach grumbling, the juices inside churning. His heart was beating incredibly fast, and he was having trouble breathing. The man shut his eyes and inhaled sharply as his entire face began to extend forward. The man screamed horribly as his mandible moved forward, the teeth shifting themselves around as his face grew a maw. His nose shrank and turned into a wet extension on the end of his upper maw with two holes to breathe through. The man opened his eyes and covered his mouth. He moaned as his teeth crunched within his mouth. They were starting to fall out, filling up his maw like tiny pebbles were being thrown inside. He lowered his jaw and retched as the teeth clattered onto the ground. Only seconds later, newer, serrated ones appeared--sharp enough to cut through flesh. The "nails" on his paws extended as well, turning into razor sharp claws that could easily rip someone's face off.

As the man kept transforming, his legs began to give out. The limbs shook for a moment before the man fell down in a puddle and noticed that his legs were crackling as well. He started to scream again, his pants ripping along the bottom and becoming tattered, showing off the black fur along his legs. His black shoes began to tighten, the material ripping quietly as his feet began to grow at an exceedingly quick rate. His shirt started to rip, tearing to shreds and exposing his muscular frame. The man gritted his teeth as he felt his toes popping and was surprised to see that the ends of his shoes had ripped, his toenails now turned into newly formed toe claws that were poking through the material. There was a sudden deep ripping noise, and his shoes gradually exploded, falling apart as the man's feet turned into footpaws and broke through the shoes. He shouted as he looked at his immense footpaws, which still grew and crackled as the bones, muscles, flesh and fur reorganized itself to fit the new body structure. As the man's footpaws finished changing, he panted and sniffed the air several times. He leaned forward and scowled, surprised that his footpaws were emitting a fetid, musky odor.

The transforming man stood up and continued sniffing, his olfaction quickly filling with a dreadful stink. The man smelled himself several times and panted, surprised and appalled that he was releasing the pungent fumes. The man saw his shirt and ripped what was left of it off in frustration before he started to whine and scream. His body was still growing and changing, the bones stretching themselves out, the muscles expanding, the belly gurgling. The creature that was more animal than human breathed heavily as his lungs kept tightening. He shut his eyes and whined when he felt his belly grumbling again. The creature took a few deep breaths before he shouted and felt more pain in his abdomen, like someone was setting it on fire. He wrapped his arms around his stomach before the creature bent over, gritting his teeth. The creature shouted when his bowels spasmed and widened. He had no time to stop himself before his body flushed all the waste in his bowels directly into his trousers. The creature stopped grasping his belly and took a few deep breaths as he let out some gas and tried to ignore the odor. But the pain around the rest of his body, especially in his head, still existed.

"STOP! STOP! STOOOOOOOPP!!!"

The creature's voice got deeper as he kept screaming the word. Eventually, his throat reconfigured too, to the point where it hurt to even say the word. All the creature could do was roar and cry out in pain, hoping it would all end soon.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welton and Cindy stopped running so they could catch their breath. The bear leaned against a brick wall before he heard raucous screaming and banging in the distance.

"I think...I think he's down this way," said the ursine.

Cindy nodded, and the duo started to rush down a dark alley as fast as they could. But when they were halfway down the narrow alley, both creatures slowed down and stopped. Cindy backed away and covered her nose with an arm, while Welton swore with disgust.

"JESUS! Did you just shit yourself?!" shouted Welton.

"No!"

Welton took a few steps forward. The smell got stronger.

"You sure?"

"Do you wanna grab my ass and check?"

Welton grinned widely. "Well, since you offered..."

Cindy could see Welton reaching towards her bottom. She quickly slapped his paw away and huffed.

"Besides, that isn't just feces...kind of smells like a skunk's down here."

"Skunks do not smell this bad, Cindy!"

"Maybe a skunk died? I-I'm not--"

Cindy and Welton heard another vicious scream. Cindy immediately took out her gun and flashlight.

"Go call 911. I'm not taking any chances; this could be the serial killer striking again!"

Welton blinked. "That doesn't sound like a woman's dying voice...or a human's, for that matter."

"Just call them!"

Welton nodded and took out his phone. As he dialed for help, Cindy started to walk down the alley slowly, shining her flashlight around the darkness as she breathed heavily. The stench kept getting stronger the further down she went, but she ignored it. Someone or something was pounding on a brick wall, scratching at it and moaning horribly. She started to walk faster, thinking whoever it was could be seconds away from death. Cindy slowed down when she saw the man's fedora lying on the ground, with his overcoat only a few feet away. Then Cindy heard fierce crackling coming from another alley and turned to her left. She shined her flashlight down the other alley and gasped. The creature standing in the middle of it inhaled sharply a few times before the seat of his pants ripped, exposing a long, wavy black tail with a white stripe going down the center of it. The creature was whimpering, sobbing almost as he grabbed his head. But then he stopped and sniffed the air a few times. Before Cindy could even blink, the creature jerked his head around and snarled. She froze. She knew she needed to shoot it. The gun was in her hand. But even as she put her finger on the trigger, she couldn't do it. All she could do was stare and whimper. The creature turned all the way around, staring at Cindy with greenish-yellow eyes, drool running down his slobbery maw, and his claws sharp enough to tear flesh apart with ease.

"Okay, they should be here in a few..."

Welton turned and looked into the same alley with wide eyes. He thought he saw a skunk at first, but the beast Cindy and Welton was staring at was too large, too aromatic, and too feral to be a regular skunk. The skunk creature licked his lips before he snarled and started to run forward. Cindy shrieked and fired twice, hitting the skunk creature both times. The bullets didn't even faze him. Before Cindy could get off a third shot, her body was thrown against a brick wall, and the skunk was on top of Welton. Cindy could hear Welton screaming and the beast snarling as the two of them got into a vicious fight, using their bare paws and teeth. The skunk creature bit Welton along the collar bone, but Welton quickly lifted his right arm and pressed his thumb into the creature's left eye, pushing so far forward he thought he would've destroyed the eyeball entirely. The skunk creature backed off, roaring in pain, when Welton got off the ground and lashed at the beast's stomach with his bear claws. The skunk creature yowled again when Welton ripped at the flesh, but he quickly punched Welton in the mouth, knocking out a tooth. As Cindy finally recovered from being slammed, she hurriedly picked up her gun and aimed again.

She was just about to raise it when the creature was on her, grabbing the woman's entire arm and squeezing so hard that Cindy was forced to drop it. She screamed, thinking the beast was about to break the limb, when Welton came along and pounced on the creature's back. He latched on with his long claws and climbed up to the beast's head, where he snarled and opened his mouth. He bit down on the skunk creature's neck, causing the beast to yowl as he tried to jerk the bear off. Welton quickly jerked his head backwards, ripping off a good chunk of flesh from the beast's neck. As blood began to run down the skunk beast's shoulder and chest, he reached behind and grabbed Welton's head, lifting him over his shoulder and slamming him on the ground and knocking Cindy over. Cindy saw the gun; it was inches away from her. But the skunk saw it too and immediately kicked it away so it slid right past the woman. Cindy turned around and stood up, ready to run down the alley so she could grab the handgun. Then she screamed as the skunk lashed his claws at her, tearing right through her coat and flesh and leaving three bloody marks on her back. She collapsed onto her stomach, her coat in tatters and her back deeply wounded.

Welton was just about to get up when the skunk was on him again, snarling viciously and punching and clawing at him mercilessly. The bear snarled and swiped his claws at the beast's face a few times, but the skunk was dealing several heavy blows to Welton. Cindy groaned and reached forward, grasping her gun. She sluggishly rolled over, her hands shaking as she pointed the pistol at the violent beast. And then she pulled the trigger. The skunk might've died right then and there, but Cindy's gun jammed. Panting and desperate, Cindy mustered the strength and adrenaline in her body to reach over and grab a broken bottle lying beside a trash can. She groaned again as she stood up, determined to save Welton. Somehow, she managed to drag her feet across the ground. She jumped onto the skunk's back, gritting her teeth and panting as she latched onto him.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!!" she shouted.

Cindy raised her arm and used the bottle as a knife, reaching around towards the skunk's face and jamming the jagged end of the broken glass into the skunk's right eye. The skunk roared and whined as his eyeball exploded into crimson, squirting blood and fluids all over his face and around the alley. The skunk thrashed his body around, hoping the shake off the tiny but bothersome flea draining the blood from his body. But Cindy held on and reached forward again, this time using the bottle to lacerate the beast's throat. Fed up with all the pain, the skunk ran backwards, sandwiching Cindy between his back and a brick wall. Cindy dropped the bottle and let go, coughing as she fell to the ground. The beast turned around and punched Cindy in the face four times, causing blood to gush from her mouth and nose. Then he bent down and grabbed Cindy by the throat with both paws. The woman gagged as the beast lifted her right off her feet, choking her so hard that Cindy thought her neck would break. She could see the beast's face clearly. Cindy thought she'd see only madness and sadism in the beast's good eye. But when she looked in the skunk's left eye, she noticed that it was filled with sorrow and regret. And at some point, he had started crying, as his face was wet with tears and blood.

"I'm...s-sorry! I'M SORRY!" the skunk said painfully.

The skunk tightened his grip, whimpering and panting, watching as Cindy kept gagging and gasping for air. The skunk heard a beastly growl from Welton once the bear latched onto his back again. Using nothing but his claws, the bear reached along the side of his face and maimed his other eye, blinding the beast entirely. The skunk let go of Cindy and roared in pain, walking backwards slowly as Welton let go of him and dropped to the ground. Welton kicked the skunk in the back of the kneecap, causing the beast to yell moments before falling onto his knees. Taking no chances, Welton grabbed the skunk's head with both arms and started to choke the beast, snarling and growling as the skunk tried to pry his arms away. Seconds later, Welton twisted the skunk's head so violently that his neck cracked multiple times. The skunk stopped moving once Welton let go of his head, and his body collapsed backwards. The bloody, bedraggled ursine looked down at the skunk's body, panting as his body throbbed with pain. He could hear sirens in the distance coming towards them. The bear could also hear Cindy whimpering as she sat on the ground shaking and staring at the skunk's body. She quickly moved away from the corpse as a few tears started to run down her face.

"It's okay," Welton quickly said, getting down on the ground behind Cindy. "You're okay now."

Welton immediately hugged Cindy as he sat down behind her, while Cindy started to shake uncontrollably and began to cry. The bear tightened his grip around Cindy, panting quietly as he tried to comfort her.

"It's over. You're okay now," said Welton, his voice cracking. "It's fine."

Welton didn't realize he was crying until his vision became blurry. The bear took a few deep breaths before he sobbed and started to shake too.

"You're okay," he wailed.

Welton reached the point where he couldn't talk clearly because he was blubbering too much. So he just kept holding Cindy tightly as the partners continued to sob and wait for the police to show up.