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5 - Golden Rule Broken

Helix and Nym rose from the river, their fur still damp from the water. The wind rolled through the mountain, rustling the sun-doused leaves. The Human before them, a young woman with a flushed face and tautly tied hair, looked ready to faint. Helix's tail began to twitch nervously.

"You're... What the hell?" Her voice cracked like glass.

"I'm N... Nathan. This is Hector." Nym said quickly, gesturing his paws at the two of them.

"You can... Talk?" She stepped back. A couple steps behind her a man approached, his eyes wide as disks. She looked back and forth from the Animals and the man, her hand raised out between them, as if keeping Helix at bay. "Mark, what is this?"

"I thought this was banned territory." He said.

"It's everyone's land." Helix growled.

"Yeah, but it's our right to protect ourselves."

"We aren't going to attack you."

"Like hell you won't!"

"Wanna say that to me, closer, instead of hiding behind your female?"

"Female! Here that? The fucking cat thinks your my mate or something."

Nym began to feel anxiousness rise up from his belly, like acid. He walked forwards, his feet hardly making any noise. He began to walk in a direction away from the couple, his eyes fixating on the man's clenched fists. Helix outweighed both of them put together, and the two of them were defter and more physically able. But if they called their friends, or park rangers, or officers, then hell would split loose.

"We're just passing by. We have our own campsite not far off. We won't bother you." Nym said. It was weird. Helix should be leading him. He reached for the leopard's paw and grasped it, tugging him gently away. Helix was growling low and deep.

"We're not feral beasts." Helix hissed.

The man scowled. The woman still appeared confused and numb. "I thought you guys..."

"Didn't exist? Were myths? Didn't belong here?" Helix countered.

The woman cowed and the man nearly lost it, but she eventually found her voice again and spoke up. Peace reigned, for the time being. "No, I just figured you were so distant. So Other. Never expected to see you here. In this area." She gestured around them, offering a weak smile.

"Sandy, come on." The man tugged at her hand. "You might catch fleas."

Helix was back on edge, but Nym grabbed at him and tugged harder. Helix obliged, turning his back. But not without pushing out his claws and letting them glimmer in the sunlight. Nym sighed loudly.

"You're making things worse."

"I'm scaring them."

"Exactly."

"No, we don't want them thinking they could shank us in the woods while we sleep and use our pelts as their rugs or, worse, hats."

"I think your opinion is a bit outdated. Did you see any shanks on them? They barely had sticks. The worst they could do is throw a rock at us."

"Rocks hurt."

"Ok, but how was provoking him a good idea?"

"It wasn't. I'm extracting my revenge."

Nym stopped in his tracks and turned on Helix. There it was, the look of betrayal, hurt, and hunger for justice clearly plastered across his face. In the twitch of his muzzle. In the sorrow deeply embedded in those dusk-yellow eyes. The look most Animals had, those that lived in Animal-only cities and towns. Nym felt sad, for him or for the Humans he couldn't tell. For everyone, then, he decided.

"That's not a good idea."

Helix shook his head, seemingly returning to his senses. They continued walking, finding a dirt path. "No, you're right." He said as they stepped over a cluster of rocks, hopping into the shade on the other side. Nym made no noise. Helix made even less sound. "They might call scouts on us. That'd be the end of that."

"No... I don't think They will."

Nym stopped under a pine tree, digging through his packs and finding a water bottle. He took several short sips and handed it over to Helix. They drank in peace for some time, simply listening to the river. Nym read one of the park maps, situated just at the corner of the road. They needed to head to the end and towards --

"Sycamore Street. Party Room three-oh-five."

"Ok, just a bit more hiking. Think Jake knows we're coming?"

"Savannah probably let him know."

Nym thought it over, feeling the dread of anticipation build up in his blood stream. Maybe it was ok. Maybe she was too shocked by seeing them that she simply glazed over their faces. Terror can do that, disorient faces. Or was it the other way? Does the adrenaline sharpen memory? Nym wished he knew.

"HELIX!" Jake through his feathery arms around the big cat, embracing him. His niece, a little bird of the same breed shy out of her mind, sat towards the back. She wore red shirts and a loose shirt, looking at the new visitors with mixed apprehension and curiosity.

Jake parted from Helix, guffawing and patting his arms. "Aw man you've grown, you've grown... So proud. Who's this? New love interest? On the run form the law?" He rounded on Nym, who noticed the glittering piercing at his eyebrow. And the dangling necklace on his neck. He wore a plain white shirt, khaki shorts. He looked Nym and Helix up and down. He whistled. "So, heard you guys got caught out."

"She ran into us." Helix defended. He had shaken his head at the lover jab.

"I heard, man, I heard. Marvin came up and sent me the news, panting like a dog..." he laughed again, loudly, exactly like a bird would laugh. "Aw, man, love Marvin. Best pomeranian I know."

"Only."

"Pesky details always in my way." He gave a beaky smile. "Come on, get in. You can roost here all you need. Until you're ready to head out."

Helix followed the bird in, Nym tracing just behind. The screen door clattered shut behind him. Crickets chirped angrily outside. The niece hid behind the couch, eyes watching them, her head slightly cocked. Jake patted her head. "Hey kid. Play nice. These cats won't eat you."

"I'm not really a cat."

"Your a forest cat for a all I cared." Jake glanced at Nym over his shoulder. He turned and rounded into the basement. The fine wood floor clicked under his talons. He had a bengal bracelet at his ankle which also tittered. The house was full of noise.

"Yeah about the staying here," Helix said, reaching forwards and back to the topic at paw. Or talon. Or wing. "We don't know exactly where to go next."

"Canada."

"Ok sure but how?"

"I'm sending you off there my own bird-self."

Nym chuckled. "Gonna hop on your back and you'll fly us over there."

Jake rounded on him, eyes narrowed. "You think that's a joke, foxy? I'll rip that bristly tail of yours and make myself a necktie. Make one more jab at my flightlessness and I'll eat you up."

Nym flushed.

Jake laughed, straight into his face. Nym recoiled slightly, his fur standing on end.

"Dude, I'm kidding. Chill. Peace. We're good. Nah, I can't fly. Some of us can. I saw kiddo there flutter a little."

"Molly said I could!" She lamely tried to defend her integrity.

"Yeah, sure. But I'll save bird genealogy - heritage? - screw it. I'll talk bird to you later. For now you get settled, we'll eat dinner, and I'll lay out our battle strats. Sound good? Also, I wanna hear how you got locked up, kid." He elbowed Helix, whose expression didn't really change to indicate shame or intimidation. Helix's paw was probably bigger than Jake's head.

Nym watched the exchange. Jake scoured him.

"Well, maybe and your story too. But you don't have to, man. Your stories just as personal to you as your skin. Wouldn't want no stranger messing with it, would you?" With that, Jake left Nym and Helix to settle in the basement room. He whistled as he walked.

The room was extravagant and smelled like cigarette smoke. A pool table stood at one end, seemingly frozen in the middle of a game. A fake fireplace was to the right. The basement was warm that time of day but soon enough it could get a chill, Nym figured. Two rolled mattresses waited for them. Nym and Helix unrolled them and dressed them in bedsheets they found in the closet. Behind the bedsheets several rows of shoeboxes were lined. They didn't smell like anything, but Nym didn't really want to know what was inside anyway.

A television was across from them. DVDs towered high around the side, cassettes along the other. Endless entertainment. Jake must have been filthy rich. Or maybe good at saving? Who knew. Nym had too many questions rolling in his head. His back and bum were stiff from having slept on a metallic floor. Exhaustion was beginning once again to drape over him like a warm and heavy blanket.

"Dinner." Helix purred next to him.

He stood right behind Nym, one paw on his shoulder. Heavy, grey. Nym resisted the urge to rest his cheek on it. His heart pounded. Helix gave him a soft grin and let go. As he turned away a tail flicked at his knees. Flirting? Nym watched him go. Helix's shoulder blades flexed. Showing off? Nym had no idea, but he felt something warm in the pit of his belly.

Dinner was crackers - "make all the jokes you want" Jake dared playfully - and an assortment of vegetarian items: a plate of mushy edamame humus, a salad with ginger dressing, bread sticks with cheeks oozing out both ends. No meat. Helix and Nym exchanged a look at that.

Once halfway through, and the niece had scampered off to her room and started chatting on her pink laptop with some friend miles away, Jake turned to Helix. Nym could have sworn Helix's tail and feet had nudged him under the table. He sat to his right, across from Jake. Jake didn't seem to notice the casual touches. Helix even stretched and tried to pull that "man let me just put my paw here around your shoulders oh how'd it get there? What a surprise!" But he only brushed Nym's shoulder and placed them back. The smell of him Nym noticed again.

He recognised the scent. He tried to forget it. Drop it, man, move on. Out of your league. But then again... Nym was far too confused to make any decent judgements.

"Ok, spill."

Helix sighed, looking at Nym abashedly. But only a bit. His face suddenly hardened, turned cold, and his eyes focused on a half-eaten bread stick. "The old Fallen Crest Gang kicked me out mid tour. Called the police. Someone told them about my rabbit-affair. They didn't like it. I was branded and all. I was dealing with a few cats tripping in an alley and picking on a stripper on her cigarette break when the sirens came blasting at me."

"They call on you cause you're gay? That's the exact opposite of how a Gang is supposed to act. You're never, ever supposed to rat each other out." To prove his point, Jake rolled up his shirt and showed off a brand that looked like a cudgel and a smashed skull under his ribs. It stuck out against all his other feather markings by being bright red and scaly with scar tissue. "Left and no one said a word to me."

"That's why I'm so confused, and scared." Helix added for good measure. "I don't think it was them, but that's what I was told when they took me in. Saw Zhou who cussed at me and said it was cause of my 'choices' or whatever that I got the boot."

"Huh. An old haunt?"

"I'm on good terms with all my exes."

"Human encounters?"

"Like hell I'd mess with any of them."

Jake nodded and hummed. "Sorry to hear, buddy. But hey, you're out and about with a cute fox on your tail and you get to see me again."

"Somethings come as gifts." Helix grinned.

Jake quirked his expression in Nym's direction.

"I really don't want to talk about it. Too sleepy. Probably have PTSD, too." Nym said quickly. He had been staring at his lap, feeling mostly bad for Helix. His tail twitched uncomfortably.

That night Nym dreamt of distorted palm beaches and shadowy figures laughing happily in the distance. When he woke, sticky from the dream and feeling as though sleep was almost painful, he heard Helix mumble in his sleep. Something incoherent. Nym wriggled backwards, closer to Helix. They had their spines arced towards one another. Nym glanced over his shoulder and crossed his tail with Helix's. Small comforts. He thought he saw Helix's ear twitch.

Nym rolled on to his back, one arm out. Helix did the same. His large paw pressed over Nym's brown-black one. Nym turned his head to the side, meeting Helix's gaze.

"Things are crazy." He whispered.

"Everything is going so, so fast." Nym whispered back.

"It's like we're in an hour glass, but it's particles of our lives falling instead of sand."

"Huh. And I thought I could write something pretty every once in a while."

Helix grinned.

Nym felt a hot twitch in his belly, and his heart. His body seemed to tremble with glee for Helix's small touch. He didn't realise just how badly he craved this, how badly he needed this. Nym found himself smiling.

"Do you like me?"

Helix chuckled. "I think that's obvious."

"Why?"

"I don't think it's time yet for that to have an answer."

"Do you evolve into that answer, then?"

"Nym, it's a bit too late for philosophical pandering."

Nym giggled and nudged him playfully, squeezing his paw. "You started it with your hourglass stuff."

"But I'm bigger."

"Just so."

Helix rolled to his side, his yellow eyes slitted and lowered. His tail swished. Nym wanted him. He wanted his kisses, his touches, his caresses, to roll his clothes off and... See his brand. The passion fell away like an overripe apple. Plummeting. Falling. Splitting. Nym restrained tears, happy it was dark and then unhappy because Helix could probably see him very clearly.

"Want to sleep?" Helix asked, sensing the unease. Not wanting to prod.

"Yeah, actually."

"Can I...?"

Nym rolled towards him, his velvety muzzle mere centimetres from Helix's. They brushes past each other, briefly. Nym rested on his side.

"I like it like this. For now." He smiled.

"You know what? Me too."

They slept again, paw in paw, knees touching. Nym dreamt something blissful and drenched in soft white light. The shapes were lost in the morning, but the sense of peace for once was more than just a thin membrane.