FSE

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I am told that I am a wolf, although, not quite. Some of those in the pack that were older than me looked as I did, others did not. All those that came after did. Our differences eventually led our pack to split into two. Those that came before the change, and those that came after. Our home was a forest not too far from a city known to its inhabitants as Seattle. At night, I would look over the land from my favourite vantage point to watch the lights of the city, the passage of the vehicles and wonder what it was all for.

I got to see one of the inhabitants up close one day, somewhere around my fourth season. They looked so much like me, missing fur and covered in strange smelling things, no muzzle, and strange round ears on the side of their head. A few days after I saw them, I wanted to see that city up close. I figured that if I looked so similar, they wouldn't mind if I had a look around.

I spent seven sunsets studying the routes to the city. I would go at night, I didn't know how they would react if I went during the day. Finally, on the day I was ready I informed my pack of my decision. They actually agreed it was a good idea and told me to bring back as much information as I could. I set out on my trek as the sun was starting to sink below the horizon.

As I approached, I began to notice something strange. My senses were tingling, and I began to look for places to hide. I couldn't quite place what was wrong. As I drew closer, I saw why it felt this way. Even from my vantage point in the woods, I could hear the noise of the city at night. Now, it was still. Nothing moved, no music drifted through the air. It felt like the entire city was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. Something told me I shouldn't be on the streets. Looking around, I saw a garden with a tall fence. Jumping over it with ease, I landed softly and was instantly greeted with a warning.

"Get down, behind the pots."

I wasn't sure what pots were, but I laid myself flat behind the most solid object I could see, a long object with flowers growing from the top. Looking around for the source of the warning, I saw a raccoon and a pair of rats hiding behind more vertical stands. Another raccoon lay in the open between us, struggling to breathe, its lifeblood staining the grass beneath it.

A shot rang out, and part of my hiding spot chipped away with a sharp crack. A voice rang out from the building at the other end of the garden, "I saw you, you devil spawn. I'll not let you near my home."

"He means to kill us," the hiding raccoon said. "He shot my mate with no warning."

"We can't move fast enough, we're trapped here," one of the rats explained.

I looked around, judging the distance between myself, these other creatures and the fence. "I might be able to get you out of here. I won't be able to stop. Grab my tail as I run by, I'll try and jump us over the fence."

The three of them nodded in assent. Carefully, so as to not have any of myself be revealed from behind my protection, I readied myself to move. Another shot rang out as I saw some grass fly into the air. I moved. Scooping the injured raccoon into my arms as I ran, passing the others, I turned towards the fence. I felt the drag of extra weight behind me and went for the jump. As I cleared the fence, I heard the crack of another shot. Fire raced through my leg and I saw something spray out in front of me.

Collapsing in pain as I landed, my passengers released their grips. I looked back to see that all three had made it. "We have to find somewhere safe. Do you know anywhere?"

"I think so," one of the rats responded. "I've heard of a place. They called it the Shelter, said there are friendly humans there."

"Lead on, I can't go very fast like this," I struggled to my feet, I could barely put any weight on my injured leg, just enough to be able to hobble along. The rat kept to the side of the street. Making turns every now and then, but I could tell we were heading further west into the city. Finally, we broke out into a wide street. Completely clear of vehicles one way, a barricade set up the other.

"Hold your fire, friendlies inbound. Recon." The shout came from behind the barricade. Two humans carrying guns jumped over the defences and jogged toward us.

"Come on, quickly." One picked up the racoon and two rats, the other put his arm around me, supporting my injured side, and holding my arm over his shoulders.

"Medic to the front!" The same voice as earlier shouted as we approached the defensive line. Many willing hands assisted me over the barricade and on to a soft object they placed under me. A human approached carrying a pack I recognised from some walkers I had witnessed injure themselves.

"I can't fix you here, but I can make you comfortable. There is a vetinary building near the centre of our place here. You'll receive full treatment there." The human put something on my wound that stung, then wrapped some cloth around it. "Get them to the vet, ASAP, the raccoon needs urgent treatment."

Two more humans picked up the object I was laying on with two sticks that ran its length on either side. The journey was uncomfortable due to the speed of those helping me. I wanted to know what was happening. I had to know, something told me they would not answer questions until they had attempted their repairs.

The building they took me to was white inside and smelt of chemicals that could not hide the smell of recent death. A human covered in white came over to me. "I know you can smell it, I can see it in your eyes. They were too injured for us to save. We tried everything we could. You will have to wait, I'll take this one from you first. I can't promise I can save them."

The tone of his voice gave me confidence. "Do what you can." I lay there, waiting for the man to come back. I could feel the raccoon blood on my chest beginning to dry in my fur. I dared not move in case I caused more injury to my leg. The waiting seemed forever. Eventually the man came out, he looked dejected. Turning to see my expectant face he sighed.

"I'm sorry. She'd lost too much blood. There was nothing I could do. If you'd got here twenty, thirty minutes earlier, maybe I could have."

"I don't know what minutes are, but I have no way of knowing how long she had been like that before I found her. The one that killed her also got me as I helped the others escape."

"Let's get you to the operation room, so I can fix you up. Are you ok if I carry you?"

"Do what you must. I have no problem with you."

Once he had placed me on the cold, metal table, he removed the temporary bandage. "At least the medic that treated you knew to cleanse the wound. Not that we can argue much. We're all civilians here, except for a couple of military men that organised this defence. You may not have seen, but some of the people here wear tails to show their allegiance to the anthropomorphic species."

"That's a rather fancy word, what does it mean?"

"It means you," The vet responded. "It means all of you that now stand and talk like us. The first sightings of anthros, as people say for short, were in the UK. Then you started appearing all over the world. Nobody is quite sure why it started. But it all began shortly after these damn religious fanatics attacked that military base. All because of a picture so I've heard. Nobody seems to know the real reason."

The vet seemed to not stop talking a he worked. But he was answering my questions before I could ask them, so I didn't stop him.

"Two days, you know. That's all it took for this city to go from not caring, to being a warzone, between your defenders and those religious lot, claiming your breaking their world by existing. Apparently, a blight upon the Earth that must be expunged. There, all done. You're lucky the bullet went straight through and didn't hit anything vital. You'll need this."

He handed me a wooden object. "Place that under the arm opposite your injured leg and use it to help you walk. I'll show you how as you try."

Following his instruction, I quickly picked up how to use the object. As I left he told me to ensure the bandage was changed every day until the stitches fell out. I was met by a group of people outside. Some with odd objects they pointed towards me, others with larger objects on their shoulder. Questions came flying out of their mouths faster than I could process them. One was repeated more than the others, "Why did you come to the city?" I chose to answer that one.

"I liked the lights, and I wanted to know what went on here, if it was anything like my life in the forest."

A human in a uniform came over and pushed these people away. "Begone you vultures. This pore fellow has probably never seen a reporter before, don't expect him to know how to behave." Turning to me he spoke gently. "Come with me. I'll find you a spot to rest and relax."

He moved me away from the reporters and they let us go. Once we were out of earshot he spoke again. "That was probably the best answer you could have given them. Showing that you are innocent and curious, not dangerous."

"It was the truth. The rest of my pack want me to tell them what I learn. How can I tell them all this?

"Slowly and over time. Where do you come from anyway?"

"My pack lives in the forest to the east. I don't think it would be safe for me to return with this place like this."

"Best you hold up here," he stopped outside a tall building, the entrance comprised of a rotating door. "This is where we are looking after all those we've managed to save. I need to get back to my post. Keep yourself well, and I hope you heal quickly."

Leaving me standing in the road, the human retraced our route. I watched him until I could see him no more before I turned to hobble through the strange, spinning entrance.

The inside of the building was decorated with skill, it certainly put our winter caves to shame. It was nice to see a twin line of plants set out, leading to a hollow at the back of the room. There was a human stood in the hollow, in conversation with the racoon and rats I had rescued earlier who were standing on a desk. I figured I would have to bare the bad news, though how I was going to tell him about his mate, I didn't know.

One of the rats saw me approaching and got the raccoon's attention. "You survived! My mate, how is she?" My drooped ears and tail told him all he needed to know. "Thank you for trying. I would be more upset if you hadn't brought her with us. Part of me knew it was too late, even before you showed up." He had sat himself on the edge of the desk, shoulders slumped, His round ears dropped slightly.

"I think I should not have taken so long getting here. I don't understand what is happening. I've never observed this behaviour before in humans. I've never been this close, but the city is never this quiet."

"Like a calm before the storm," the human put in.

"What?" My head tilted to one side as I tried to understand his statement.

"It's a saying. Before a thrunderstorm, everything goes quiet. It's like when you hold your breath before you make a jump. Something is going to happen; the city is holding its breath. If you want to know why, there is a television in the lounge over there, they have the news channel on." The human pointed to the left wall of the room and I saw a pair of doors leading into a room full of other creatures.

"Thank you." I went straight for those doors. I had to answer my questions, none of this behaviour made sense to me. I heard the patter of claws striking the hard floor. The raccoon and rats were following me. When I reached the doors, I pushed experimentally, and they opened. I stood their waiting for the other three to go through before stepping into the room myself.

The room was filled with other animals. Rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, otters, badgers, even some types of bird were perched on the backs of chairs. All of them were intently watching the screen in the corner of the room, from which voices came as it displayed pictures of humans fighting, occasionally going back to a human sat behind a desk, the one that was talking.

"...estimated death toll has reached the thousands as the religious groups banded under the Earth Of Our God movement have launched attacks in multiple cities. The group claims that the Earth was made by God and will always be as he made it, they claim the appearance of the anthropomorphic animals is a perversion of God's design, and are on a mission to eradicate them, and they are killing any that get in their way.

"This same group claimed responsibility for the attack about one year ago in the UK that destroyed the research facility of Doctor Halcyon, who has since vanished. It is believed he has gone into hiding to avoid these fanatics.

"The US government has declared that both the military and national guard are being mobilized to respond to these direct attacks on our cities. How long it will take them to organise a defence against these atrocious acts, we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, it is recommended that all civilians stay indoors, and barricade your homes.

"We have just received new footage from Seattle, where a grey wolf is being reported as having rescued other animals from some of these fanatics." The pictures changed to show me coming out of the vet's building and responding to their questions. Cutting off, when the human rescued me from the mass.

The sound of gunfire reached the room we were in. All of us crouched down in fear of the sounds. My ears could just about make out voices from outside. "They're coming up from the south, reinforcements needed on the south barricade." Making my way back into the first room, I saw the man in the hollow pull a gun from beneath his desk, moving to a door to the side of the hollow, he began to make his way from the building.

I had to follow him. I needed to see this fight for myself. A thought stabbed at the back of my mind. I brushed it away for now, it wasn't important. Hobbling as fast as I could, I followed back the way I had come to this building.

Humans were running down the street, each one preparing to fight. As I neared the barricades, the sound of gunfire grew louder, and more frequent. I stayed close to the edge of the street. I saw some of the reporters there as well, using their devices which must send the images to the television. By the time I got to the closest place the humans would allow me to be, I saw some lying injured already.

"The army is on their way, we need to hold them off until they get here." One person shouted.

I saw something flying though the air, trailing fire behind it, to land, crashing on the barricade, the fire, spreading everywhere. Some splashed into a fighter's face. His screams terrified me, and I know I wet myself. Others rushed to the human and threw cloths over his head to extinguish the fire, before dragging him out of the way.

I watched as the humans pressed their guns to their shoulders, aimed down their length and fired. Some were rewarded with yells from further down the street.

Our attackers kept on firing, and our defenders kept firing back. "There are far more of them than us." I heard someone say, their voice shaking.

"If they had those things in my size, I would help. But what can a raccoon do against such hatred?"

I looked down to see that I had been followed by many of those that had been watching the images. Such small creatures compared to me, when I was the only one the size of the humans. The annoying thought came back to me, and this time I listened. This was my fight as much as theirs, the humans were fighting for my protection, I should fight as well.

I went to say my desire to the nearby human when the sound of something metallic hitting the floor rang out. A voice yelled out, "Grenade." Everyone threw themselves to the ground as an explosion rocked the night, I saw one human did not get to cover fast enough. The blast threw them against the barricade, their body lacerated by fragments from the explosion. As the body slumped down, I knew they had died. Others groaned in pain, as they had lessened their injuries, but still suffered.

Pushing my way forward, I ran to the one that had died. Picking up the gun he had dropped, I looked at it for a moment and tested how it felt against my shoulder. I heard the patter of the smaller creatures behind me. "What can we do to help?" A squirrel asked me.

"Ask if we have grenades. We can give them the same gift. Have the humans tell the birds how to use them. Ask them for weapons you can use." I looked over the barricade. My eyes could see the humans attacking us, despite them having destroyed the lights surrounding them.

Turning back to those at this barricade, I addressed the humans. "This is not your fight. It is good that you would fight for us. But our enemies should be fighting us, not you." I turned back, raised the gun to my shoulder looked down its length, and saw the little hole and notch at the end, lining the two up to my chosen target, I pulled the trigger.

The sharp pain in my shoulder distracted me for a moment until I saw my target go down. This wasn't so hard. I took aim at another and fired again. As I did so, the humans came back to the barricade, throwing water over the burning section, even those injured by the grenade, limped back into position. One set up right beside me, a tail hanging from his belt. I remembered the vet telling me about these ones. "You need to wake up, this is our fight just as much as it is yours, we like you. It is an honour to fight beside you, wolf."

I saw some movement above our enemies, the larger birds had been shown as I had hoped. Explosions ripped through the ranks of the fanatics. As we opened fire, I head vehicles approaching from behind us. Streaks of light shot overhead as a weapon behind us opened fire, spraying the fanatics position with its deadly payload. I heard others down streets nearby as well. The army had arrived.