Screams, gunfire, blood, my blood? A head rolling, bodies everywhere, everything hurts, I go to grab someone's gun from them but can't, where did my arm go? I try to dodge before they can shoot me but I'm too late, a loud boom, then everything is dark. I wake with a startle, its quite, a stark contrast to what i last remember, i hear someone beside me “FLUFFY you're finally awake “, i sit up and turn towards her “hey sis, must have been a fun party, i haven't blacked out like that in a long time”, she boops me on the snoot “there was hundreds of them, we must have had the entire army on us”, i put my hand on my head and realize im still missing a hand “i doubt there was that many”, “but there really was that many”, i chuckle and ruffle her mane “any which way we made it out. I was supposed to be on vacation, it doesn't feel much like it” i lay back down “where are we?”, she looks around a little “in a secret cave not very far from the base. You passed out just after we got out, and you’re too heavy to carry”, “hey sis, how bad of a shape am i in?”She looks me over “Well, you’re missing a hand, cuts everywhere, patches of missing fur, and the general wrapped your leg”, i turn to look at her “oh yeah, where is the general ?”, “She's over by the lake” she points to a spot on the other side of the cave, i can see a figure sitting by the edge of a glowing pool of water. I try to stand up, “be careful, your still hurt”, i manage to stand but as i take a step my wrapped leg gives out, “agh”, i fall to the ground catching myself with my hands, “fluffy, i told you to be careful”, “i'll be fine”, i crawl my way there instead, trying to avoid using my bad leg, “hey general ” she continues to stare into the pond “i’ve never seen… anything like that… a massacre… like that. I've never seen anything take gunshots like it's nothing, or even lose an arm and just keep going… like nothing. I'd call you a monster. But you're something far beyond that”, i sit up and scoot beside her “i don't remember my past, i don't know who created me, and those with the answers are long gone, but i know i was created to be something like a monster, a one man army.”, “a weapon of mass destruction? Then why didn't you kill the men in the van that brought you here”, “created and am are two different things, i don't even know what they wanted me to be, so, i make myself now”, “what is that even supposed to mean? How can a creation break away from its creator?”, “Do I look like a lab dog?!” I glare at her but she doesn't say anything, “I've lived for a long time. long enough i could have met someone at least ten generations back. Long enough that humans don't comprehend what it's like, how it feels”. “How many people have you slaughtered?” I raise my eyebrow at the question “how many slices of bread have you eaten?” She looks at me, “bread and people are different”, “both are a way of food to us, like how a wolf eats a rabbit. Would you not kill someone to protect your friends?”, “i wouldn't eat them”, “well you can’t eat them. Not like me”, she just stares at me. We sit in awkward silence for some time. I finally break the silence “we should get moving, can’t stay here forever. And I need some meat… unless you want me to eat you” she glares at me for that, “please don’t, i’ve seen enough slaughter today, i’d rather not be added to the count”, she stands up, “aw come on, it was a joke”, “it wasn't very funny”, “ok ok. But seriously, I do need some meat, I can't exactly walk, and I'm too heavy and tall to carry… maybe just some blood?” she looks at me disgusted, i lift up my arm “i guess ill just have to go without an arm for awhile then” i bite off my arm and start eating it, now she looks revolted by this, “you’re full of disgusting tricks aren't you”, i finish eating my arm, “well, i need something if we are gonna get out of here” i stand up and some of my scars heal a little and some fur starts growing back. “See, what else you think I'd need meat for?”, she starts walking around the pond to the back of the cave “you are going to creep me out a lot aren't you?” i motion at swiidu to follow before catching up to the general, “probably. By the way, where are we heading?” She seems to be lost in thought and doesn't answer. Swiidu catches up to us and we walk in silence for the rest of the way. The caves and tunnels finally giveaway to a shorey cliff side, as we get to the exit the general says “stay low, the enemy might not be gone yet, they could have helicopters patrolling. If we are spotted there's nowhere to run”, we slowly make our way across the cliff staying in the shadows, the cliff winds and wraps around the base keeping us out of sight. We see that we’re coming up to the main entrance lot to the base, where I was taken to earlier. The general stops us for a moment to plan, “the main entrance is coming up, there should still be some vehicles there, but how do we take one without being suspicious?” she starts tapping nervously for a moment while thinking, i whisper “ill go scout ahead, i won't be long”, the general reaches out to stop me “wait, they'll see you”, but i'm already gone. I sneak around some boxes and up to a wall, there's a bunch of vans and not very many soldiers, probably just left here to guard. And I don't see any signs of helicopters. I start to make my way back, but when i get to the boxes there's suddenly a lot of commotion, i whisper under my breath “shit, i was spotted wasn't i”, i peak over the boxes, but i don't see anyone coming this way, instead it looks like a lot of soldiers are coming back and packing up. I quickly sneak back to the others, “it looks like they’re leaving” the general comes up with an idea “if we can sneak onto one of the vans we can leave with them”, i nod “what happens after, how are we going to get away from them?”, swiidu pipes up with “can’t we just stay here until they leave?” the general replies with “they’ve likely left alarms or guards in case someone comes back, and we need a vehicle to get out of here. Or we’ll be walking on foot”, i say “ok then, how are we getting a van?”, the general replies “there's too many to just sneak in the middle of them, so we’re going to have to take the last one”, “but how without being seen? I'm sure as soon as we’re spotted they’re all going to be on top of us. And i don't think i can slaughter that many the way i am now”, swiidu comes up with an idea “hey fluffy, you can climb walls, you can climb above the big door and pounce on the last guy”, “ maybe, but i think the van will be full by then and we’ll be spotted. We should move up before we get left behind, we’ll figure it out” we come around the ledge and move up to the boxes, the general points out “they’ve lined up the vans across the lot, it looks like it’s just go when full. This is our chance” we wait for the soldiers to be distracted by something, then we take our chance and get into the nearest van. There's already someone asleep in the driver's seat, i quietly come up behind him and cover his mouth, he wakes in a panic flailing about, i say to him “shhh, just drive, and don't try to be a hero” move my hand and press a claw against his genitals “you want to keep those right?” he nods and starts driving as we close the back, we get in line with the other leaving vans, it's a very long drive on a long winding road before we see anything different. Finally, the convoy passes along the edge of a small town, i have a sudden idea, I come up behind the driver again, “we’re running low on gas, you need to make a stop here before we run out’, he looks at the fuel gauge confused, “no? We still~” i cut him off, “we, are running, low, on gas” i reiterate as i stare into him, he reluctantly nods and brakes away from the convoy, the general come up and says in a worried whisper “what are you doing?! they’ll know”, “i'm getting us out”, “they are gonna know something is up”, “we are just stopping for gas, we’ll be fine”, suddenly a voice comes over the radio “carrier ten, come in, what's wrong”, everyone freezes for a moment, the general still whispering, says “see i told you”, i look at the driver as hes picking up the the radio and whisper “out. of. gas”, he hesitates for a moment so i flex my claws at him and he nod before saying, “i-i’m almost out of gas”, the radio responds, “we are almost to the out post, you can refuel there”, “i-i won't make it, i'm on empty”, “why wasn't your van filled up before the mission?!”, “sorry sir”, “every mission requires your full attention, before, dering, and after, you will receive court martial when you return. We will be sending another carrier to accompany you”, then the radio clicks off and he gives a defeated sigh. We sit in silence until we get to the gas station, when we get there I say “the other van isnt long behind us, we need to move” then I turn to the driver “you’ve been helpful. But one last thing i need your help with” as i walk up to the driver the general realizes what i'm about to do and tries to stop me, but it's too late, i twist off his head in one clean motion, the general is horrified by this, “WHAT THE FUCK, YOU COULD HAVE LET HIM GO!”, “we don't have time to argue about this, lay him out on the floor”, “YOU MONSTER! HE HELPED US AND~” i cut her off with a glare, “we, do not, have time, to argue. Lay him out” she reluctantly shuts up and pulls him from the seat and lays him on the floor, as i finish eating his head i take his dog tags and wrap it in his hands. I leave the driver's body resting there in a peaceful resting pose as we leave the van, we quickly make our way across the street and leave the van behind, as we get further and further away my body starts to slowly heal and my arm starts growing back. After a bit of silence the general finally speaks “why? Why would you do that?”, “do you want to be stuck running? I did what needed to be done”, “we could have taken him with us, o-or bound him and left him somewhere”, “if we left him then he’d tell the others where we’re going. Kinda pointless when we’re trying to get away. And i needed meat to heal”, “we could have gotten some meat from the store. You didn't have to kill him’, I shake my head, “store meat is no good, it's been dead too long. There's no living dna left. I did what needed to be done”, “there's no way to reason with you is there?”, “i've already told you i've lived a very long time”, i look around a bit to assess where we are, “by the way, we need to figure out where we’re going, we have about ten minutes before they check the van and call it in” i look at swiidu, “sis, do you remember where the house is?” she thinks for a moment, “i remember where it is, i don't know where to go from here, i don't recognize anything around here. I don't think we’re in Oceanside” the general suddenly perks up “Oceanside?! I know where that is, im just don't know where we are now, and we’ll need a way to get there” i turn to the general, “wonderful, now we need to figure out where we are now, and how we’re gonna get there. Ideas?”, “we could ask a local”, “alright, ill let you do that. I don't want to intimidate anyone”, “we probably passed by a shop we can ask” we start heading back the way we came, we pass be a few buildings, i notice one is open, “hey general, this one's open”, she turns around like she was just pulled from thought, “oh, i didn't see”, we wait outside as she walks inside and asks someone at the counter “excuse me, i seem to have gotten lost, what town is this” i hear the guy say “your in bethlend. Somewhere you’re headed?”, she just says “thank you” and walks out. As she rejoins with us i say “so, bethlend. Hey sis, would you happen to know where bethlend is? I only know about Oceanside.” she shakes her head “sorry no, i never went far from Oceanside” the general speaks up “this is my first time in bethlend, but i know its quite far from Oceanside. How are we even going to get there?” she paces back and forth tapping at her side and thinking, i say to myself “too far to walk. We could have kept the van, but I think they have trackers on them. We could take a bus” the general shakes her head “you’re going to be seen and someone would report us” i look at her with a raised eyebrow “oh, and what about all the people around? They don't seem to have a problem. You can't tell me they haven't seen me yet” i gesture to the other side of the street were a few people are walking by and I see a young fox boy and a bunch of friends quickly look away as if they weren't just staring at me. The general just looks at me “you have a point”, swiidu excitedly pipes up “BUS IT IS”. I glance around for a bus stop but didn't see any nearby, i think out loud “gonna have to ask someone again”, i head inside the store to ask the guy at the counter, as the guy sees me he nervously says “c-can i help you?”, i respond with “oh, sorry, I had a friend come in earlier so I didn't scare you. I'm just looking for a bus stop”, “if you turn left heading out the door, keep going that way until you reach a crosswalk, turn left there and you should see one close by”, i nod at him, “thank you, your help is appreciated”, I turn around and walk out the door and meet back with the others, “he said to go this way and turn left at the next crosswalk” we follow his instructions and find the bus stop, we get to the bus stop, there's already an older lady waiting for the bus so we wait on the other side of the canopy. After a bit of silence the old lady speaks “you’re not from around here are you dear?”, i can’t tell which one of us she's talking to, “who? Me? Her? Or?”, “oh, there's more in your party big fellow. I'm terribly sorry, my eyesight has grown terrible in my old age. What brings you here dear?”, “i'm just needing to take the bus to another town”, “I mean to our world dear, I've never seen something quite like you, you’re not from this world are you?”, “oh,i’ve been at uhh, work, for a long time, i enjoy my work, but my uh, boss, has told me to take some time off. But it’s been a very rough vacation”, “oh dear, i do hope you get to enjoy some time off.”, i sit there a think for a moment, the old lady perks up “Ah, well, the bus is here dear, you best get going now. It was a lovely little chat.”, i nod and we step onto the bus, but i don't see the old lady get up, “are you not coming mis?”, she shakes her head, “not this bus dear, we have separate places to be”, “oh, well, have a good day then”, “you too dear”, i bow a little then turn around to take a seat in the back. The bus doors shut and the bus starts moving. The bus turns back the way we came, as we leave town we drive by the gas station, it’s swarming with soldiers now. One of them waves down the bus, they must have set up a checkpoint. The bus comes to a stop, and we try to shift out of view as one of the soldiers steps on. The general starts nervously tapping again. The soldier looks across all the seats, scanning the bus, he puts a finger to his ear then nods before turning to someone outside and calling out “Clear”, then turns to the driver “you are free to go”, then steps off the bus. As the bus starts moving again i look over at swiidu with a concerned look that says, that should not have worked, and she has the same look. The bus ride is a long one, going back through the long dry desert for miles and miles. But eventually the road twists and winds by a cliff side that drops away into ocean. The road continues this way for a while longer before we start seeing tall buildings, a large sprawling city near the cliff's edge, a large sign passes by the window… Welcome to, Oceanside.

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