Zach - Chapter I
#2 of Zach
Hey everyone! So, this is my first story here on SoFurry, I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! It's also my first furry story too, so if I make some mess ups like saying 'hands' instead of 'paws' or whatever, than sorry! Forgive me! Anyway, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters within this story are of my own creation, please do not steal.
ZACH
Chapter I
Rain tapped against the awning of the small café relentlessly, people would run under the awning just to catch a break from the heavily falling drops of water. Jeff Gilligan was one of these people. The wolf stood at six feet, four inches and he had an athletic body; lanky, but muscled.
The grey-furred canine sneezed, pulling his drenched trench coat closer to his body. "Fuck..." He muttered, his voice nasally from an oncoming cold. The wolf quietly hoped that his boss at the bank firm would at least show a bit of a heart when he arrived to work, what, two hours late, he would guess? After all, it wasn't the canine's fault that his car broke down the previous day, a colossal rain shower hit, and that a cold had decided to settle in his immune system.
Surely the boss has had shitty days, right? That's probably why he always has a pole up his ass, figuratively speaking.
Jeff sighed and headed back out of the cover that the awning provided and went further down the streets of London. As he passed through a large park, he was sure he heard something. A quiet, sad sound - someone crying. Just ignore it, his brain said. You're not going to just walk away? His heart asked.
Mumbling a curse, the wolf directed his head towards where the sound emanated from and he saw ruffling within a shrub nearby. Jeff walked over and crouched, seeing a flash of brown fur, but that was about it. He wasn't even sure if the crying figure had seen him.
"Hey, you okay in there?" The wolf asked softly.
"Go away...I don't have anything!" A voice said, in a mixture of anger and fear. It was a child, for certain, he could tell by the voice.
"I'm not here to hurt you...I heard you crying, I just wanted to see if you were okay?" Jeff said, hoping to get a reply but not exactly expecting one. After a few seconds of silence, the child crawled out of the shrub and the wolf had to hold back a gasp.
It was a tabby cat with a white coat of fur, a brown patch of fur over his left eye and on his shoulder and tail. The kitten was bruised in a few places on his body, his fur covered in dirt and grime and, except for his badly torn jeans, he was naked.
"Holy shit, kid..." The canine muttered. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Why do you care?" The tabby asked suspiciously, but then he sighed. "Just...don't hurt me...I don't have anything..."
"I don't want anything." Jeff assured the tabby, but the kitten was still clearly tense. "Why are you hiding out in a shrub anyway? Shouldn't you be getting home? You'll catch pneumonia like that." The wolf noted.
"I...don't have a home. My parents...are gone." The tabby said sadly, putting a paw to his eyes as they leaked tears.
"Man, kid, that's rough..." The wolf said as he looked the kitten over. After a few seconds of pondering, he took his trench coat off and wrapped it around the tabby who looked up perplexed.
"What's this for...?" The kitten asked softly, confused but somewhat grateful, and just a tad bit suspicious still.
"Not sure how much it'll help but it's better than nothing, right?" The canine said, shivering a little now without his coat as the cold rain splashed onto his shirt. "Keep it, sell it, whatever. You probably need it more than I do. Wish I could do more, but I have to go." The wolf said before standing up and beginning to walk away.
"Hey, wait!" The kitten called out meekly. The wolf turned to look at the kitten, now keeping the coat tight around his small form. "Thank you..." He said with a small, appreciative smile. The wolf smiled back before heading on his way.
Jeff sneezed and wiped his nose with a tissue as he sat in his living room. His cold had severely worsened over the day, probably because he sacrificed his trench coat so that little kitten wouldn't die of pneumonia. Luckily for the wolf, the boss was lenient, saying he could take the week off, but he wouldn't be paid for coming in today. Having arrived home, the canine had just changed into old and dirty, but dry clothes until he got a shower later and sat watching the TV.
The canine was surprised, however, when he heard a light knock on his door. He sure wasn't expecting anyone. Getting up with a groan and padding over to his door, he undid the bolt and latch and unlocked it, opening the door and, to his surprise, seeing a somewhat familiar white-furred form in front of him.
"Kid...?!" The wolf said in surprise. "How...how in the world did you find me?" He asked. The tabby cat blushed.
"I followed you when you came back through the park from wherever you went before." The kitten admitted. "I sleep in the park, so I'm always there..." He explained. The wolf suddenly noticed that the kitten was still wearing the drenched trench coat he had given him, which made him smile a little - that and the fact that the thing had kept him fairly protected from the weather, though a small, cute sneeze told him the boy had certainly caught something.
"Wow, kid, you must be good. I'm usually pretty aware of people around me..." Jeff complimented with a chuckle. Against his better judgement, he stepped to the side, causing the kitten to look up at him in utter disbelief. "Come in." He invited with a welcoming smile. The kitten blushed more and stepped inside, the wolf locking the door back up behind him, blocking off the cold fall air from the child's fragile, shaking body.
The kitten walked into the living room and looked around. The house was small, that much was clear but looked homey. It was simplistic, but as the tabby noticed the large plasma TV and devices near it, he saw that the wolf wasn't exactly lacking in terms of his comforts.
"Hey, kid?" The wolf called from his kitchen, startling the little tabby who turned, wide-eyed but soon calmed as he realised it was the same kindly wolf that had spared him his clothing and allowed him to rest in his home for a short while.
"Yeah...?" The tabby called back, a bit softer than the wolf's shout.
"Would you like anything to drink?" The wolf asked and the tabby heard the clinking of glasses from the direction of the wolf's voice.
"Please...if you don't mind...?" The tabby responded nervously, feeling a little bit like he was imposing, despite the fact that he'd been offered by the wolf.
Soon, the wolf walked in with two glasses of an orange liquid the boy assumed was orange juice, a comfort for him, considering he'd barely had water, let alone juice, during his time on the streets. The canine offered him one, which was happily taken by the slim, bony paws of the kitten.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's your name, kid?" The wolf asked as he sat on his couch, the kitten following suit and sitting a small distance apart from the adult.
"It's..." The kitten hesitated, his ears burning a little from embarrassment. "My name's Zach." He answered.
"Zach, huh?" The canine said before smiling at the kitten. "Nice name. I'm Jeff, Jeff Gilligan."
The tabby smiled softly, which made the canine feel a lot better. Noticing the silence that permitted afterwards the wolf picked up the TV remote and offered it to the kitten who, again, looked surprised.
"Why don't you have a look, see if anything interests you." The wolf offered.
"But...it's your TV." Zach noted nervously. The wolf smiled that welcoming, friendly smile again.
"You're the guest, Zach." Jeff said softly. "You get a chance to watch TV; it's just the polite thing to do." After thinking a little, the kitten, albeit hesitantly, took the remote and looked through the channels. The variety was amazing but, as Jeff would have guessed, he stopped at some kids program. The canine didn't particularly take any notice of it.
Things stayed like this for a while but then it got dark and the canine sighed. "Well, kid, I guess you should get going unless you..." The wolf trailed off as he looked at the kitten to see he had dosed off. Chuckling, he got up and picked up the tabby. Ascending the stairs of his house, he took the kitten to his bedroom and cradled him in an arm as he shifted the covers. He placed the feline onto the mattress softly and pulled the duvet and blanket over him.
He looked incredibly cute sleeping, the wolf noticed. Feeling a sudden epiphany he smiled more, deciding to wait until the kitten woke up. "Night, kid." The canine said softly, looking at the snoozing kitten with an almost fatherly gaze. "Have a pleasant sleep..."
Jeff grumbled sleepily as the rays of the sun rudely awoke him from his slumber. The canine got up off of the couch and scratched his back before...wait, couch? Suddenly, last night came back to him. The kitten had followed him home and fallen asleep. Normally, the wolf wouldn't take stray children from off the street, there was a certain name for that and he was sure he didn't fit the bill for that reputation. The kid was so helpless, though, and the canine wanted nothing more than to give the kid what he'd been deprived of.
The wolf headed upstairs and into his bedroom to see the kitten still snoozing, the canine sighed as he, sadly, realised he'd have to wake him up. The question from yesterday couldn't wait, he'd need to organise a lot of things if the feline agreed. Walking over, he shook the small form which grumbled before turning towards him, green eyes fluttering open to meet golden ones.
The tabby would've jumped back in fear had his senses not come to him. He remembered the wolf and his acts of kindness. He hoped this was another one, the fact that his body didn't ache anywhere, particularly in the lower regions, convinced him that it was.
"Oh, sorry, I must've fallen asleep." The tabby said softly, sounding genuinely sorry, even in the midst of just waking up.
The wolf chuckled. "It's no problem, actually...are you hungry?" The tabby nodded, blushing as his stomach gurgled in agreement. Though, the embarrassed look and deep blush on the kitten's face just made the wolf smile all the more.
As the wolf walked back downstairs, the feline followed, his long, slim tail swishing to and fro. The two reached the kitchen and the canine got straight to work with breakfast.
The aroma of breakfast soon filled the house, making the feline's stomach complain all the more frequently. Zach sat at a table within the kitchen and waited patiently, watching the wolf cook in quiet.
Jeff was surprised, but understanding, as the kitten began to ravenously eat the plate of food set before him before the canine even had a chance to sit down himself. The wolf didn't take long to join in on the eating of breakfast. Soon, the plates of bacon and eggs had been finished off and the wolf set them into the sink before sighing nervously and turning to the kitten.
"Zach, I've been thinking..." The wolf started, catching the tabby's attention. "When I saw you in the park yesterday, all dirty and mangy...it tore me up inside. Seeing a little kid like you, alone and helpless. So..." The kitten's heartbeat accelerated as the wolf talked, hopeful that the wolf was about to say what he thought he was going to say.
"...how would you like to stay here with me?"