Introduction...
#1 of Forgotten and Unforgiven
The sun shone down warmly onto my black fur, warming it evenly as I lay on the beach with the sand acting as a sort of cushion beneath me. The sound of the crashing waves like music to my ears as I stretched my arms over my head and yawned loudly, my tongue lolling out of my mouth to wet my lips before I wriggled my toes into the warm sand. The sky above me was a beautiful shade of cerulean and not a single cloud was there to mar its beauty or cover the sun. I sat up gently and ran a paw through my hair to get rid of any sand that was left; my eyes open to take in the dazzling blue-green ocean as it lapped at the sand as if in an affectionate way. I brought my hands infront of me and stared at the strange, dull silver coloring of my palms before clenching them into loose fists and opening them again to stare at the claws that were barely sticking out the ends of each digit of my hand; their matte black coloration matching nicely with the rest of the dark fur on my body. I looked down at my stomach and ran a finger down my slender front, my claw brushing through the fur and tickling the skin underneath, making me giggle quietly as I continued exploring my body with my finger; running the tip over my thighs and down the length of my legs before bringing it back up to my chest to tease one of my nipples through the small belly shirt I was wearing. I moaned softly at my playing and took my finger from my nipple to put my paws on my knees as I drew them up and crossed my arms over them while I watched a couple walk by on the beach, their hands clasped together while their tails were entwined at the tips. I smiled wonderingly after them and sighed as my thoughts drifted back to Jasper and Amber again, though they were quickly shoved off to the side when I heard some shouts coming from farther down the beach. I looked around for the source of the sound and saw a cloud of sand rushing towards me.
"Of course..." I muttered as I got up from off of the sand and stared at the fur on the ATV barreling this way, his eyes alight with excitement as he tried to steer out of the way. I tensed my legs to jump and threw myself towards the ATV, as it got close enough, tackling the fur to the ground and holding him there to keep him from getting up to quickly. The ATV puttered to a stop about twenty feet away with no one to use the throttle and ran into a nearby sand dune with a thud.
"Hey, get off me! Let go!" The fur underneath me growled as he squirmed pitifully beneath me, trying to get away before the others got there. I shrugged my shoulders and got up off of the raccoon before nodding over at the ATV stuck in the dune. He blushed angrily and stalked over to it before pulling it out and driving off down the beach towards his friends, looking back at me with a wondering look before he became little more than a dot the farther he went. I sighed again and picked up the jeans that I had taken off when I had lied down before putting them on and walking off through the sand towards the pier, feeling my stomach grumbling for food.
* * *
New Haven City during the summer is a nice place to be, lots of different people to talk to, different foods to try and a ton of stuff to buy. It's not to say that it isn't a dangerous place as well, but it has its charm. It just so happened that my fellow crewmates and I had decided that a vacation was definitely needed after a few months in space with only each other for conversation, so I chose this place to vacation in. It took some persuading to keep Felix from coming out with me, but I was glad that I did.
* * *
I walked around for a while, looking for something good to eat, when I found a kiosk selling popcorn shrimp and chips with tartar sauce. I quickly made my way over to it and bought a couple servings before finding a table to start eating at. I made my way to one of the more inconspicuous tables at the end of the pier and sat down before picking up a french fry and looking at it while a smile graced my lips. "Okay kid, you can come out from hiding, I know you're there."
The raccoon from before came slinking towards me and sat down across from me, a t-shirt covering his chest and a soda can in his hand while he looked at me. "How did you know I was following you?"
"Takes practice. Want some?" I asked, offering him the other basket of food. He took it gratefully and started wolfing the food down while I nibbled at the fry in my hand. "So, why did you come looking for me exactly? Tell me your name first then talk."
The raccoon stopped eating in mid bite and closed his mouth to swallow what was in his mouth before washing it down with soda. "It's Jared. Don't suppose you'll tell me yours?"
"You supposed right, so talk."
"Eh, worth a shot. Okay Hazel, no point in beating around the bush, so here's it bluntly. We-" I cut Jared off by grabbing his collar from across the table and almost dragging him over it to look him in the eyes. A few of the other patrons looked our way, but I didn't care.
"How do you know my name?" I hissed, my food forgotten as I glared at his smirking face.
"Oh we know a lot about you and your crewmates. Felix Ulrich, Dante Skelton, Dawn Clearsh or ‘Maxi' as you like to call her; there's a file as thick as a dictionary on each of you, but I had to come see you myself to believe the reports." Jared spoke nonchalantly. "An actual Rapturian, interesting. I can see now why my employer wants you for this job."
I let him go and sighed dejectedly as I picked up a shrimp and popped into my mouth before chewing it slowly, mulling over what he said while still glaring angrily at him. He just smiled and took another drink of his soda as his eyes slowly started sliding downwards from my face to my chest. "Hey, raccoon boy, I'm up here." I growled as I snapped my claws repeatedly infront of his face until he shook his head and remembered I was here. I sighed again and propped my elbows up onto the table before looking him over for any reason why they would hire a raccoon this young for anything. He wasn't that tall, about 5"6', with grey fur covering most of his body except for the black fur that circled his lime green eyes and spanned the bridge of his nose to connect the two. Dyed white blonde hair covered most of his forehead as well as some of his left eye and he had shell necklace around his neck that ended with a shark's tooth at the tip. All in all, he was an attractive teen who put on a good front of being a surfer boy who could fend off girls left and right if he chose to, but I had a feeling that he could fight if pressed to.
"Do you mind if we talk in a more... private area, Hazel? Being in the open like this makes me wary." Jared stated as his eyes darted a little too quickly for my liking, but I knew who they flickered over to before he had even made the motion. A couple of table from us was a leopard in a pair of swim trunks drinking some coffee from a cup he'd bought at the kiosk, though if I were looking at him, I'd probably see him look over at our table every now and then. I'd seen him when I passed by to get this table and deemed him a slight threat by the way he sat. His muscles were tensed and he had a scowl on his face, not really tourist behavior unless they were really angry at something or he wanted people to stay away from him.
"Okay then, if you want to talk in private, I know just the place. But you'll have to trust me and follow my lead, alright?" I asked in a hushed whisper as I made a subtle motion with my claw in the leopard's direction. He nodded and I grinned evilly as I jumped to my feet, knocking the chair over behind me with a clatter and slapping him across the face, leaving a nasty red mark on it. "We're through, Andrew! I don't ever want to see your face again!" I cried, tears forming in my eyes as I turned and ran through the crowd, my shoulders hunched and shuddering as I sobbed theatrically.
"Janice wait!" He called after me as he started running frantically to catch up, a hand to his cheek.
"NO!!" I yelled back, roughly shoving aside a group of tourists from where I could only assume was Earth by the way they were gawking as I ran past so I could get through the crowd, keeping up the act so that no one would try and stop me. By the time I had made it to the pier entrance, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I continued running until I was a good block away from the pier before I even chanced a look back, spotting Jared running frantically to keep up with me. I giggled quietly to myself and took an abrupt turn down a dark alleyway before launching myself off a trashcan and catching the bottom rung of the fire escape before pulling myself up and climbing it quickly to wait for the raccoon to catch up. When I saw him run down the alleyway, I took a few steps back for him to fit comfortably up there with me and ran up the steps of the of the fire escape to the roof, continuing my sprint to the edge before using it as a springboard to launch myself across the three foot gap to the next roof. Jared was close behind and I didn't wait for him to make the jump before I continued. I was determined to make him regret coming to me and ruining my vacation, but a part of my mind was having fun and made me take the long way to the place I had in mind.
We had been running for most of the day, ducking behind corners and sticking to the shadows in case the leopard was falling us, though if I remember right, he didn't look like the type to sustain long sprints. By the time we got to the warehouse district on the opposite end of the city, it was dusk and both me and Jared were covered in sweat and winded, more him than me.
"What... are... we... doing... here?" Jared panted as he flopped down onto the ground, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. I sat down on a nearby crate and pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing the number for Maxi's phone as I got my breath under control.
"Hey, I won't be able to make it to the party tonight. Got sidetracked and wound up at a friend's place till tomorrow. Yeah, I know Felix'll be pissed, but that's how it is. See you later, Max, and tell the guys sorry." I told her before hanging up and slipping the phone into my pocket before jumping off of the crate to stand next to Jared, who was still lying on the ground in a daze. Before I could move, I heard a click of a gun from the shadows behind me and put my hands up with a sigh, knowing that I was going to have to act again.
"Keep ‘em up, vixen. Wouldn't want you trying anything that could get your head blown off, now would we?" A gruff, out of breath voice growled. I looked down at Jared and gave him a wink before sinking down to my knees with a sob.
"W-Why does this kind of stuff k-keep h-happening to me! F-First I get dumped on our anniversary and then I get c-chased around the city by my ex." I sobbed pitifully. Jared crawled over to me and tried to put his arms around my shoulders, but I shook him off and was about to slap him again when the leopard grabbed my wrist. He pulled me roughly to my feet and spun me around to find that I was smiling darkly.
"What're you smiling about, bitch?" He growled as he leaned close to me, our eyes meeting in a single glare.
"Look down." I hissed.
"You think I'm going to fall for that little trick?" He laughed into my face as he pressed the muzzle of the gun against the bottom of my chin. I shrugged and watched his eyes go wide as he pitched backwards and dropped his gun to the ground. I caught it before it hit the ground and gave him a swift uppercut as I came up, knocking him back a couple of steps as I emptied the chamber of its bullet and tossed the clip and gun over my shoulder. He grasped his chin and rubbed it a bit before spitting out a tooth, glaring a little as he reached behind his back.
"Too slow." I muttered as I pulled out a throwing knife from my jeans and threw it expertly at his throat, blood spurting past the blade as it went into the soft flesh and pierced his neck. He let out a gurgled cry and clutched at his throat, trying desperately to get the knife out as his eyes glazed over and he slumped against the wall before sliding to the ground in a sitting position.
"Why did you kill him?!" Jared gasped in shock as he stood.
"Because," I said as I walked over to the dead leopard and gently pulled the knife from his neck before wiping it clean on his shirt and giving him a kiss on the forehead as I closed his eyes. "He was going to kill me. You learn quickly that someone out there wants you dead. Better to strike first."
"Yeah, but-" I cut him off with a raised hand as I searched the leopard's pockets, looking for anything useful when I found a small holo-disk in his jacket pocket. I took what money he had on him and a couple pictures of Jared and me before getting up and walking away. Jared gripped my hand and stopped me in midstep. "Nobody told me I'd be working with a murderer, Hazel. I'm not moving another step until you tell me exactly what possessed you to kill him. For all you know, he could've had a family waiting for him."
"So? There is an equal chance that he wanted the both of us dead. Did whoever hired you tell you about the little known fact of life that not everyone will like you? He could've been a contract killer hired by someone who isn't to fond of whoever hired you and wanted to be sure that you were killed to stop me from getting his or her message. Now, if the universe worked on your logic and everyone had a family to support or something like that but still resorted to horrible things to get by, would that make them justifiable? If you can still look at me and answer truthfully with a yes, then you are more naïve than I thought." I stated coldly as I pulled my hand from his grip and started off in the direction of the south end of the district, Jared following silently after he had looked one last time at the dead leopard. It was hard to do for me too, but he had to learn the hard way that the universe wasn't as noble as he thought.
* * *
It was sometime around midnight when I made it to the right warehouse and banged on the side access door a couple of times and hit it a third time after a few seconds. I looked over at Jared and saw him standing with his hands in his pockets, his head bent down to look at the ground while his tail dragged on the ground.
"Who's there? How did you know I lived here?" A timid voice called out from behind the side door as a slide at head height was moved away to reveal a pair of blue tinted eyes, though I knew they were contacts.
"Cause you told me, you silly squirrel, now let us in." I teased as I saw his eyes narrow in suspicion.
"The only furs I ever told of this home were a vixen and a badger. Am I to believe that you are the vixen I told, cause if I remember right, she had caramel colored fur, green eyes and copper colored hair." The squirrel said with a nod as he reassured herself. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose before an idea formed in my head.
"If I guess the names of both the furs you told of this safe house, then can me and my friend come in?" I asked, clasping my paws behind me as I rocked back and forth on my heels. The squirrel mulled the thought over and nodded again.
"Go for it. You'll never guess their names right, though." He said with a bob of her head. I stayed silent for a couple of minutes, rubbing my chin and scratching the back of my head in thought before I snapped my claws.
"By any chance would their names be Jasper McKinley and Hazel Eros?" I asked with an innocent look on my face, trying desperately not to look smug. I heard the squirrel gasp and shut the slide. I groaned annoyedly and let my head rest against the steel door. "Oh come on, Ken, let us in. We had a deal."
"Why don't you just force your way in?" Jared said with a distasteful sneer in his voice. I was about to turn on him when the slide opened again and I was greeted with the muzzle of a pistol.
"This can work out one of two ways, vixen. Either you tell me how you know these names or I blow your brains across the asphalt. Talk." He demanded. I felt my anger start rising at the fact that a close friend of mine had a gun pulled on me and snapped.
"You wanna know how I know those names, Ken? I know more than that. You went to the same elementary school as I did and you were a shy little squirrel, too scared to even talk to people when they asked your name. We met when I saved you from a few bullies who had beat you up after school one day and we had been friends ever since. During the tenth grade you had asked me out on a date and even though I didn't feel the same, I went out on one with you because you were my friend and I didn't want to hurt your feelings. We shared secrets with one another and helped each other out whenever we needed it!" I nearly yelled at him as I stepped forward so that the barrel was pressing against my forehead. "Go on then, Kenneth, do it. If you want to kill a friend, pull the trigger." The barrel quivered slightly against my forehead and was pulled back before the slide closed softly and I could hear the locks being removed before the door opened to reveal Ken standing in a long red t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. His pistol was in his paw while tears rimmed his eyes as he stared at me.
"It is you, Hazel," He whispered as he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged him back and found myself crying along wither him, the stress from today finally starting to get to me. He let go of me and around my shoulder at Jared, who just gave him a blank stare in return before looking back down at the ground. I sighed and told him about the day I had. When I got to the part about the leopard, he punched me harshly on the arm and immediately went to Jared's side.
"How come I get hit for saving lives?" I pouted as I rubbed my shoulder as Ken and Jared walked past me into the warehouse. I sighed and walked after them, quickly avoiding the closing door as he closed it with his foot. I looked around the massive space and saw that he had converted it into basically a flat for himself and anyone who wished to come stay with him. There was a car and a motorcycle parked near the loading dock entrance and a couple of old sofas around for him to sit on as well as a few work benches and tables littered with mechanical paraphernalia. There were a couple of office boxes still hanging above the work floor and through the windows I could see that he had made those into bedrooms by the wallpaper on the inside. I smelled the intoxicating aroma of cooked food and turned in the smell's direction to find Ken standing in a fully furnished kitchen with his hands hovering over a skillet while Jared was sitting at a square table that looked to be made up of welded steel girders that had been bent to fit the shape of a table. I walked over and quietly sat down on the opposite side of the table from where Jared was sitting and smiled to myself as I listened to the conversation they were having.
"But what about the power displacement from the factory super charger? Surely you had to have figured that into the equation when you fixed up the engine?" Jared asked; eyes alight with curiosity as Ken turned to give him a smug smile.
"Of course I did. It wasn't all that hard, to tell you the truth. I just had to override the preset controls and install one of my own chargers so that it would get more out of it. Carson doesn't like it when people mess with their cars, so they put in a chip that shuts down the car when it's turned on and a foreign performance part had been installed, so that is a problem that I take pride in getting around. It may be ‘illegal' to some, but to others like myself, it's more of a public service." Ken laughed as he grabbed three plates from a cabinet next to the stove and prepared a plate of pasta and shrimp for each of us.
"Thanks." Jared said politely with a soft grin on his muzzle as he took the offered plate from his hands and sat back down before digging into the plate with a fork he'd placed there for him. I watched him tear into the food with a giggle and gratefully took my offered plate before moving over to let him sit in my seat, only to be disappointed when he sat next to the starved raccoon, but I got over it quickly and started eating myself, savoring each bite with relish. I'd forgotten how good a cook Ken was, being gone for so long and having forgotten what good food actually tasted like after months of condensed army rations. Soon I was shoveling the food into my mouth, all thoughts of civility out the window as I slurped the pasta noisily. When I caught Ken laughing at me, I just gave him a shrug and went back to eating. I ended up going back for thirds before I was satisfied and washed off my plate in the sink to save Ken the trouble.
"I'm surprised you didn't eat the entire plate as well, Hazel. You act like you haven't eaten all day." Ken laughed as he put his and Jared's plates into the sink. I burped into my hand and grinned over at him as I ran my tongue over my lips, tasting the sauce that he had cooked the meal in and giggling giddily.
"You try running around the city for most of the day trying to outrun a leopard out to kill you, all while keeping up the façade that the raccoon chasing almost two steps behind you is a persistent ex-boyfriend who's trying to get you to calm down. It's very tiring." I said with a dramatic swoon.
"This isn't something that you should be joking about, Hazel." Jared said quietly, staring down at the table to keep eye contact to a minimum. I sighed and propped my elbows up onto the tabletop to cup my chin in my hands before looking at him directly.
"Jared... I know what you're thinking about me right now and trust me, I feel that way every time I kill someone. Sometimes it's a necessity to kill to save a life, though I wish it didn't have to be that way. I'm sorry you had to see that today, but your going to see death from time to time in your life, so you should try to get used to it." I whispered, trying to get him to understand. I heard him sniff and watched him wipe a hand across his eyes to dry his tears before he looked up at me, a kind of sadness in his eyes that I knew all to well. It was the sadness of one in mourning. Ken looked as if he were about to ask him what was wrong, but I stopped him with a shake of my head and looked back at him to see that he was staring at me again.
"I-I know how it feels to experience someone's death, H-Hazel, so don't lecture me about it." He stammered angrily, fury now sparking in his eyes as he got up from his chair and stalked off up to one of the bedrooms above before slamming the door shut behind him, the sound echoing around the massive space a few times before dying out quietly in the rafters and gantries high above. I sighed and let my head rest against the table my arms stretched out to the edges to grip them tightly. Ken watched him go and sighed before slumping in the chair tiredly and putting a hand over his eyes.
"Man, Hazel, why did you have to kill the poor guy if he wasn't going to kill you? Even from what you told me, I know you well enough that you could've easily knocked him out or something, but killing him? That was just overdoing it just a tad much." He said, making me sigh again and sit up a little to look at him directly with a sad look in my eyes.
"Yeah... I know I should've knocked him unconscious instead of killing him, but I didn't think when I did it. I was moving purely on instinct and I guess my hands moved on their own. Does this make me a bad person?" I asked him, putting my head on the table and covering it with my arms with a groan. I felt him put a comforting hand on my shoulder and moved my arms a little to see him smiling understandingly at me.
"No Hazel, it doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a person who deals with dangerous things in her life and has to protect herself from any and all eventualities." He said before rubbing my shoulder comfortingly and getting up with a yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I'm going to bed and please, don't sneak into it like you used to whenever you slept over at my house, else I might have to kick you out." He joked as he cut off the lights before mounting the steps to his room. I sighed and followed him up, seeing as I would infinitely rather sleeping in the same bad as him than that of an emotional seventeen year old. I closed the door once I got in his room and grabbed a pillow and a blanket from off of his bed when I noticed Ken doing the same thing.
"Umm, Ken, what're you doing? I don't mind taking the floor if you would rather the bed. Trust me, I've had worse sleeping conditions." I said as I started setting up my makeshift bed on the floor, but he shook his head and gathered up my stuff before throwing it back on the bed with a grin on his face.
"Now, what kind of host would I be if I did that? No, I'll take the floor. Seriously, you look like you need a comfortable spot to sleep." He said before lying down on the floor and turning his back to me before going to sleep quickly, though I could tell he was faking from the annoyingly loud snores he was making. I sighed irritably and crawled under the warm covers before curling up slightly to fall asleep, leaving my hands away from my body to the empty side of the bed incase he tried to get back into the bed with me.
"Goodnight, Hazel." He said with an extra loud snore, making me cringe and throw an extra pillow at his head with a satisfyingly soft thump.
"Goodnight, Kenneth."
I hope you guys like returning to the universe of Infected with this new iteration.