FA+
Shop
419
Views
Views
5
Favorites
Favorites
Category
All / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 400 x 100
File Size 16.4 kB
Report this content
More from Giruvegans-aevis
Okay, I know it's been a LONG while since I update my story, sorry for all the delay. I just don't feel much pleasure writing. I hope you guys like it! And if you find typos/grammar mistakes, lemme know.
Enjoy.
________________________________________________________________________
3 weeks before Fahl entered the military complex.
"Give us food! We don't have enough for tonight!"
"Where are the supplies you promised? Liars!"
And similar phrases could be heard by an angry mob, shouting with everything they could at an improvised military outpost that blocked access to the rest of the city, constructed with piles of sacks full of sand and concrete barricades, with meters and meters of barbed wire on top of it. Behind this protection, a few soldiers and policemen made their best to contain the anger of the hundreds of families that were there, claiming for their necessities.
"We ask for some patience, please, we are just asking for a bit of patience." Claimed a policeman, using a megaphone to be heard. "A supply truck is coming from the other side of the town with everything you need."
"It's been two days already! My kids are starving!" A father yelled, his voice filled with rage.
"We were not expecting such an amont of refugees. Our team is doing their best to repair the damaged busses so you can head to your destination."
Several pacifying speeches came from the policeman with the megaphone, but none of them seemed to calm very much the crowd. In the middle of all the families that were there, standing and hoping to hear something that would change their lives, a white cat girl with medium-lenght and dark brown hair, with a big and dirty red ribbon on top of her head could be seen. Her yellow eyes were moving from one side to the other, while she made her way through the angry people, making her best not to step on someone's foot or trip on a curbside or something else. She was not very tall, and thus, asking for someone to let her pass was usually not enough and pushing was the thing she always had to do next. The stench of sweat was inundating her nose and even though the temperature was below zero, in the middle of all those living beings, she really felt like taking off her coat.
The feline headed a few blocks away from where the manifestants were, and the amount of people gradually decreased, as she approached her objetive. Even though it was still 4 pm, acording to her clock, the sun that came from the sky was already very weak and was starting to show the characteristic colors that are seen on sunsets - a mix of orange, blue and light pink. The girl felt good for not having to walk through the badly illuminated streets that surrounded the camping spot where several tents were serving as temporary shelter for the families that were staying in the city in the last week.
She turned left on the first opportunity she had and was now facing a long street with a dead-end, where several dark blue and dark green tents could be seen, some of them emitting a faint light produced by a flashlight or a lit candle from the inside. Even though all the tents looked the same, the girl knew exactly where was hers, and thus, she found it at the blink of an eye.
"Mom, it's me." The cat said, crouching near the entrance and knocking gently the plastic outside of the object.
Almost at the same time, the distinctive sound of something being unzipped and one of the walls becoming a passage to the inside of the tent, the cat saw the face of her mother.
"Oh, it's you! Come in, Scarlett. How's the crowd there?"
"They're still angry, mom..." The white cat replied, burrying her hands on the pockets of her light pink hoodie. "The police guy said that a supply truck is coming from the other side of the town, but I don't know how much time it'll take to arrive. We can still hear the people complaining even from that distance... I guess that when everything gets silent, it'll mean it arrived, right, mom?"
"You might be right, Scarlett. I just wish my ankle was okay... It's still hurting a lot."
"You had a lot of bad luck to twist your ankle when you got off the bus... You gotta be more careful, really." The girl replied, showing concern.
Malina, Scarlett's mother, landed her hand calmly on her white social pants, over her ankle, right on the source of her pain. She stretched her arms and laid on her sleeping bag, slowly stretching her legs to find a better position. Even though her moderately dirty dark blue suit did not seem the most appropriate clothing to relax, Malina could not care lass about it. Her dark green eyes - one of them, encircled by a dark brown spot that contrasted a lot with her white fur - gazed deep into her daughter's.
"Everything will be fine, my darling. You just need to trust me. We've been through some difficult situations before, but everything ended well. Am I wrong?" The woman ended her phrase with a timid smile.
"No, you aren't..."
"See? You just need to trust me, like I said."
"Talking about trusting... don't worry, I'll go get the supplies this time, okay? I want you to rest. I know how you hate when I go to the outpost, but I want you to trust in me as well!"
Her mom looked down, making her best to absorb all those words that came like a punch from her daughter's mouth. She did not like the idea, but she had no choice to say a 'no'.
"Okay, Scarlett. Okay. But take care, okay? Don't get into trouble. Promise me you won't."
"I promise you, mom. I promise." The girl replied, feeling on top of the world. She could finally be less useless than she always was until now!
Time flew while the mother and the daughter talked to each other, just to kill time. They had anything else to do, besides reading Malina's favorite book, called "A Million Stars". Scarlett's cell phone was out of battery and she had no chance to charge it either. Her tablet was also out of power and the only device she had that still worked properly was a small digital clock, that had the shape of a yellow bell.
Either way, it was night by now and since Scarlett or Malina could not hear people protesting and yelling anymore, they guessed it was a good time for the cat girl to check if the supply truck had arrived.
She made her way back to the rudimentary military outpost again, and the streets seemed to be a bit more empty this time. One or other person was returning to the dead-end streets every once in a while, carrying a small wooden crate or a plastic bag filled with something heavy. Scarlett soon concluded it was the promised supplies.
The dirty and littered streets, covered by a thin layer of snow, were a lot less noisy now and a huge line with about 100 or more people led to the militaries. Every single soul there waited patiently for their time to receive the food they needed and fought so much for. The cat was about to go to the end of the line, however, her ears detected a familiar, masculine voice talking to her.
"Hey, Scarlett! It's so good to see you!" A dark blue wolf - about the same age as her - said, waving his arm rapidly and making a signal for the cat to get closer. She soon recognized who the boy was.
- Nebel! What a coincidence to see you here!"
- I can't say any different." He greeted her friend with a warm hug. "Hey, don't tell anyone, but you can stay here by my side. Don't say a thing and nobody will know you're queue-jumping."
Scarlett gave a graceless smile, feeling flattered.
"Thanks, puppy. I need to return home as soon as I can, so you're really helping me out."
"Friends are for that, aren't they?" He said, giving slow steps forward, every time the line moved. He stretched his arms and put his hands inside his pants pockets. "Hey, Kitty, did you hear about the plans me and my dad are organizing? We'll fight for justice here, we're sure that the militaries aren't giving away our supplies and are actually keeping a big deal of them... This explains the delays, at least."
"Oh, it actually makes a bit of sense... But no, I didn't hear anything about it. But have you ever wondered if what you're saying is actually the truth? I mean... What proof do you have?"
"Come on, Kitty. You know we weren't born in the best period of history ever. In almost every place money has little to no value and these guys can barely put food on table. They're gonna get what they need by any means."
"I don't know..." Scarlett's eyes glued to the outpost, just a few meters ahead. A female skunk, who was carrying a heavy plastic bag, passed by the two kids soon after receiving it. "I just don't know. Your dad has been into a lot of problems lately and well, how many guys believe in you?" She questioned her friend, faltering.
"Pretty much half of the refugees we have here."
"Wow, more than I thought." The cat now looked at the sky, which was pretty dark and had a few dark clouds covering the stars. "But why you're saying this to me?"
"We need someone that's cute-looking like you to help us. It's for the refugee's own good, I swear." He quickly added the last phrase, as a way to justify his need.
"And that cute-looking person would be me?"
"Eh... Yes. In case you wanna be my guest, of course." The dark blue wolf scratched the back of his neck and snapped his fingers.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to deliver them a gift and that's it. They'll probably get happier and hear what we've been asking for. We're gonna try a friendly approach first."
"It seems pretty easy, okay, you can count on me." She replied happily. "Where I need to meet you?"
"A half past midnight is fine. I'll be in one of the alleys near the dead-end streets, it'll be easy to spot us. I'll be with my dad near a small firepit."
"Next!" A soldier said, his rifle readied on his hands. He glanced at Scarlett, who quickly gave a step forward, crossing a red line drawn with chalk on the asphalt and received a supply pack from another soldier, over the barbed wire fence.
"Thanks." She said, with a gentle smile. "By the way, my mom twisted her ankle on the day we arrived here and we're out of bandages... Could you give me some more?
"Sure." The husky behind the barbed wire said, crouching and getting a small red bag from behind the concrete barricade "I just hope you're not lying... We don't have many of those. Make good use of it, okay?"
"Thank you very much!" She replied, with a gentle smile and grabbing the red bag. When she was making her way back, Scarlett affirmated to her friend in a matter of seconds.
"I'll meet you later, then. Good night."
"Thanks, Kitty. I knew I could count on you." The boy replied, readying himself to get his supplies too.
Scarlett guided herself through the badly illuminated streets and soon found the camping site where she lived now. She got in her tent quite fast and told her mom she managed to get a few bandages to wrap her mother's paw.
"Oh, darling, you're so sweet! Thank you very much, I hope they help me to immobilize it, at least a little."
"Thanks, mom. I also got our food, I think we should eat, we just had some toasts for breakfast today and that was that..."
"Let's hope they have something better this time..." Her mom said, wondering what was inside the package.
"Just don't expect to eat the fancy food you're used to, mom." Scarlett said, a bit more serious, almost scolding.
"I know the food won't be the best, Scarlett..." Her mom declared, glancing at the luggage she and her daughter carried out of the bus, after it went out of service. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you're just 12. You act so mature sometimes..."
"It's just obvious, mom. We can't expect to have the same food we're used to." She opened the big plastic bag full of food. "And it seems we got more toasties, more bottled water and more bread. That's it..."
"Too bad." Malina gave a sour smile. "It seems we'll stick to toasts and bread for a good time."
The two females had toasts and water for dinner, in silence. Malina soon figured out that her daughter was a bit too quiet and asked if something was wrong.
"No, I just talked with that friend of mine, Nebel. He's-"
"The son of the leader of all the protests people are doing out there? I told you not to talk with him!"
"I know mom, but we found each other in the line to get the supplies... So I got to talk a little bit. Nothing wrong, though..."
"I really hope you're not hiding anything from me, Scarlett." Her mom finished her phrase with a severe look at her daughter.
"No, it's just... Our chat made me wonder if the soldiers out there aren't hiding anything from us. If they're not taking a part of the supplies for themselves and fooling us."
"Scarlett, if they are or not, we'll never know, and will never be able to prove it either. We can't do anything about it. They're giving us what we need to survive and that's enough."
"But mom, what if...-"
"Scarlett, I said it doesn't matter!" Malina quickly interrupted her daughter, angered. "Don't you dare to join a revolutionary group or anything, I'll never forgive you for it. You know why I divorced from your father? He was like that. In fact, a big, dumb dreamer. He thought things could be changed easily and at an incredible speed, but things do NOT work like that. They don't. Unfortunately..."
Scarlett looked at her own palms, then at her crossed legs and finally the ground of the tent, thoughtful.
"It's just a big brainwashing, my daughter." Malina proceeded with her speech. "In the end, you change who have the power, but you don't change how the situation is, it might improve here and there, but everything gets pretty much the same. Do you have any idea what would happen if those rebels take over this place? They'd advance to the city, and probably steal, or even kill civlians for food and anything else they needed. This city would become terrible and violent, and I doubt we'd be able to head to Triren, our destination. Repairing the busses would be pointless since we'd have everything we needed here. Lots of innocent people would be harmed though... That wouldn't be very nice."
Scarlett paid a lot of attention to her mom. Everything that came from her mouth seemed to make sense, however, at the same time, none of the refugees seemed to act violently or have any other unwanted behavior. Nebel proposed something really friendly and nothing wrong could come out of it.
"You're still listening to your mom?" Malina asked her daughter, dead serious. "I want you to promise you're not getting involved into this."
"Okay, mom. I'll stay away from everything, I promise."
"I'm happy to hear that." Malina gave a warm hug on her daughter and smiled. "Completely changing the topic, I think I'm gonna sleep a bit earlier today, darling. I don't know why, but I feel a bit tired, and my paw is really bothering me... I'll wrap it up with the bandages you brought and call it a day."
"The soldier who helped me also put some painkillers inside the bag." Scarlett said, grabbing the red bag and lending it to her mom. "You can use them if it's hurting too much."
"Thanks, darling. You're my most precious thing ever!"
It did not take long for them to be ready to sleep, laid and relaxed on their sleeping bags. Scarlett kept starrying at the ceiling of her tent, thinking about everything her mom and Nebel said, it was impossible not to feel divided. She had no intention of disapointing her mom, but at the same time, the feeling of doing the right thing was hammering in a never-ending pace inside her head. The cat would wait for her mom to fall in a deep sleep and-
Scarlett woke up in the middle of the night, hating herself for falling in the abyss of slumber so quickly that she did not even notice. She got up really slowly, making her best not to disturb Malina's sleep and exited the tent, being received with a cold gush of wind that came from the outside. The cat even felt like going back to the tenderness of her tent, but no, she couldn't. She made a promise a to Nebel and she would not screw up everything.
It did not take her too long to find an alley with a rusty red barrel on the end of it, near a brick wall. Something was burning from the inside and the fire erupting from there was certainly used to keep Nebel and his father warm in that cold night. She approached both males, after putting a few strands of her hair to the side, since it was almost covering her eyes.
"Wow, what happened?" Nebel asked, boosting his back from the wall with his hands. "You got a bit late, I see."
"I fell asleep, sorry..." Scarlett said, straightening her big red ribbon. "Sorry for this, really."
"That's okay, really. Let's do what has to be done now."
Nebel's father - who looked a lot like a grown-up version of his son - handed one of the green supply bags that were given from the soldiers to Nebel, and then the kid gave the pack to the feline.
"We made a small gift for the soldiers as a way to say thank you for caring for us."
"What's inside...?" Scarlett questioned at the same time she opened the bag, seeing a moderately big green box resting on the bottom of it.
"A medicine, we heard that some of them were having problems with the flu, and a guy we know had 3 or 4 flasks of a good medicine to combat it... So he decided to give one away."
"Ah, I see." Scarlett stared at Nebel's father for a moment, but he seemed a bit unfriendly. It was a bit dark to see all the details, but what called the most of her attention was his tough-looking body, he seemed to have been carrying heavy things from one side to the other for all his life. His face was also almost expressionless, the closest emotion it was showing that she could think of was anger. It was not a pleasant thing to see, though. Her eyes landed on the package she had between her hands again. "I'll deliver this and will be right back, then."
"We'll follow you until we reach the outpost. Do you mind?"
"No, not really. Let's go, my mother can't notice I left her alone."
"Sure, sure." Nebel said, as Scarlett led the party to the avenue, their new objective. "We'll stay here and wait for you, though." Nebel said, as he stopped walking in almost the same time as his father, near a corner that encountered with the avenue.
"Okay, I'll be back soon." She gave a timid smile, scratching one of her eyes and trying to keep herself awake.
The cat was the only soul that could be seen in the avenue, despite the one or two soldiers that were behind the barricade, 300 meters ahead. With a confident smile, she quickly approached it, walking as fast as she could, her back fully erect.
The husky that gave her the bandages before was there, and she quickly remembered him. Even though he seemed to be tired and was sat on an old wooden chair, the sleep seemed to be one of the last thoughts of his brain.
"Puppy, you're still there!" Scarlett said, exteriorizing her happiness. "I wanted to say thank you for giving me the bandages earlier, my mom is already feeling better!.... You remember me, right?"
"Ah, yes, the girl with the ribbon... I surely remember you. I'm glad I helped you out, then!" The canine giggled, after getting up from his chair and setting his eyes on the feline.
"I... Me and the other refugees wanted to give a medicine to you. We noticed some of you are getting sick, so I think this might help you out." She offered the bag for the soldier, who quickly accepted it.
"You sure you don't need it? One my friends here is really needing something like that you just brought. You have no idea how happy I am with this gift. And hey, why you're still awake?"
"I've been... Sleeping really, really bad." The cat replied, looking at the asphalt covered by a thin layer of snow, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I just don't know why. Oh well. We'll talk later. See ya!" She said, walking away and waving back to the soldier, who waved back at the girl and said goodbye.
The soldier sat on his chair again and gazed at the girl until she disappeared in the distance, after turning left in a corner. Feeling less sleepy now during his nightwatch, the husky got the box where the medicines were inside it and analyzed it for a few seconds. For some odd reason, something told him to open it, and he did so, lifting the cover of the packing. He saw some red led numbers that showed the number 04 and decreased every second, as well as blue, yellow and red wires connected to the device displaying the numbers.
"Oh no..."
Scarlett saw the two dark blue males wolves again and gave a tired, faint smile.
"I'll go to bed now, guys... I'm really, really tired. I hope I helped you to-"
A loud noise followed by the characteristic sound of shattering glass, made both the walls and the ground shake considerably violently. It was clearly an explosion, and it came right from where she was seconds ago. After gazing at the now destroyed and fiery military outpost, some tears started to erupt from her eyes.
"Guys...?"
"Some sacrifices must be made to achieve our goal, girl." Nebel's father finally said, killing the small moment of silence the group had. "We're gonna take what's ours. Period."
"Nebel, I-I can't... I-I can't..." She landed her hands over her chest, disappointed and lost.
"Sorry, Scarlett... I'm sorry I lied to you." He said, almost whispering and hugging the feline, who violently pushed him.
"Don't touch me! Don't do it! You two, stay away from me!!" The girl said, as she ran away back to the camping site, worried about her own safety now. More refugees that have been waiting for the glorious sound of the explosion were exiting their tents and slowly crowding the streets and alleys once again.
Scarlett reached her tent, but her mom was already awake, sat, showing a deep disappointment.
"I told you not to get involved into this!" She quickly said, in a low, deadly tone.
"I-I didn't mom... I just went to see what was that sound and..." She replied, cleaning the tears that never stopped to burst from her eyes.
"Don't lie to me, dammit! I know you went with your beloved friend to aid some mischievous plan of his! What the hell did you do this time?"
"I... I delivered a bomb to the outpost... Nebel and his father said it was just some medicine, and I really fell on their trick, they got me for real...
"And you broke your promise... That's shameful."
"I'm so sorry, mom, I just believed in them, I was so stupid..." Scarlett said, hugging her mother tight, the crush of regret crushing her mind.
"I can forgive you, even highly disapproving what you've just done. But everything has a consequence, Scarlett, and you have to face it. We don't know what's going to happen now that YOU exploded the barricade. We need to leave this city in the first opportunity we have. This whole thing will turn into an anarchist mess."
"What do you mean, mom?"
"I'm sure that if they have a leader, a group of rebels will say the leader is somehow keeping most of the supplies, which would be the source of new fights and more bloodshed. To avoid this, they won't ellect a leader, but still, people will slowly turn into groups and fight for their interests, generating conflicts. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure civilians will get involved in everything too. This whole place will turn in a mass civil war. Thanks to you, my daughter." She emphasized the word 'daughter' and glanced severely at Scarlett, who felt even more guilty than before.
After scavenging the luggage they had stored inside their tents, Malina got out of the tent and hid a simple pistol on one of the inside pockets her dirty blue suit had, feeling nervous about the whole situation. With only a backpack to carry everything she needed, the feline could just wonder what she would have to go through in order to leave that soon-to-be warzone, and she cared especially for the safety of her daughter.
"Come on, it'll be better if we go through the barricade and leave this place as soon as we can. Switch to clean clothes and grab everything you can put inside your backpack."
Scarlett obbeyed her mom and took a little while to get out of the tent, with her black and heavy backpack hanging on her back. She was using a typical white, blue and orange school uniform now, worn during fall and winter. Her cute cat doll was being hugged and protected by her arms.
"We should get moving. I just hope we can make it..." Malina said, walking toward the former place of the improvised military outpast, Scarlett going right behind her, still sad with her bad decision.
CHAPTER 10
END.
Next chapter: Coming soon! (I've been saying this for 6 months!)
Previous chapter: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14701773/
Enjoy.
________________________________________________________________________
3 weeks before Fahl entered the military complex.
"Give us food! We don't have enough for tonight!"
"Where are the supplies you promised? Liars!"
And similar phrases could be heard by an angry mob, shouting with everything they could at an improvised military outpost that blocked access to the rest of the city, constructed with piles of sacks full of sand and concrete barricades, with meters and meters of barbed wire on top of it. Behind this protection, a few soldiers and policemen made their best to contain the anger of the hundreds of families that were there, claiming for their necessities.
"We ask for some patience, please, we are just asking for a bit of patience." Claimed a policeman, using a megaphone to be heard. "A supply truck is coming from the other side of the town with everything you need."
"It's been two days already! My kids are starving!" A father yelled, his voice filled with rage.
"We were not expecting such an amont of refugees. Our team is doing their best to repair the damaged busses so you can head to your destination."
Several pacifying speeches came from the policeman with the megaphone, but none of them seemed to calm very much the crowd. In the middle of all the families that were there, standing and hoping to hear something that would change their lives, a white cat girl with medium-lenght and dark brown hair, with a big and dirty red ribbon on top of her head could be seen. Her yellow eyes were moving from one side to the other, while she made her way through the angry people, making her best not to step on someone's foot or trip on a curbside or something else. She was not very tall, and thus, asking for someone to let her pass was usually not enough and pushing was the thing she always had to do next. The stench of sweat was inundating her nose and even though the temperature was below zero, in the middle of all those living beings, she really felt like taking off her coat.
The feline headed a few blocks away from where the manifestants were, and the amount of people gradually decreased, as she approached her objetive. Even though it was still 4 pm, acording to her clock, the sun that came from the sky was already very weak and was starting to show the characteristic colors that are seen on sunsets - a mix of orange, blue and light pink. The girl felt good for not having to walk through the badly illuminated streets that surrounded the camping spot where several tents were serving as temporary shelter for the families that were staying in the city in the last week.
She turned left on the first opportunity she had and was now facing a long street with a dead-end, where several dark blue and dark green tents could be seen, some of them emitting a faint light produced by a flashlight or a lit candle from the inside. Even though all the tents looked the same, the girl knew exactly where was hers, and thus, she found it at the blink of an eye.
"Mom, it's me." The cat said, crouching near the entrance and knocking gently the plastic outside of the object.
Almost at the same time, the distinctive sound of something being unzipped and one of the walls becoming a passage to the inside of the tent, the cat saw the face of her mother.
"Oh, it's you! Come in, Scarlett. How's the crowd there?"
"They're still angry, mom..." The white cat replied, burrying her hands on the pockets of her light pink hoodie. "The police guy said that a supply truck is coming from the other side of the town, but I don't know how much time it'll take to arrive. We can still hear the people complaining even from that distance... I guess that when everything gets silent, it'll mean it arrived, right, mom?"
"You might be right, Scarlett. I just wish my ankle was okay... It's still hurting a lot."
"You had a lot of bad luck to twist your ankle when you got off the bus... You gotta be more careful, really." The girl replied, showing concern.
Malina, Scarlett's mother, landed her hand calmly on her white social pants, over her ankle, right on the source of her pain. She stretched her arms and laid on her sleeping bag, slowly stretching her legs to find a better position. Even though her moderately dirty dark blue suit did not seem the most appropriate clothing to relax, Malina could not care lass about it. Her dark green eyes - one of them, encircled by a dark brown spot that contrasted a lot with her white fur - gazed deep into her daughter's.
"Everything will be fine, my darling. You just need to trust me. We've been through some difficult situations before, but everything ended well. Am I wrong?" The woman ended her phrase with a timid smile.
"No, you aren't..."
"See? You just need to trust me, like I said."
"Talking about trusting... don't worry, I'll go get the supplies this time, okay? I want you to rest. I know how you hate when I go to the outpost, but I want you to trust in me as well!"
Her mom looked down, making her best to absorb all those words that came like a punch from her daughter's mouth. She did not like the idea, but she had no choice to say a 'no'.
"Okay, Scarlett. Okay. But take care, okay? Don't get into trouble. Promise me you won't."
"I promise you, mom. I promise." The girl replied, feeling on top of the world. She could finally be less useless than she always was until now!
Time flew while the mother and the daughter talked to each other, just to kill time. They had anything else to do, besides reading Malina's favorite book, called "A Million Stars". Scarlett's cell phone was out of battery and she had no chance to charge it either. Her tablet was also out of power and the only device she had that still worked properly was a small digital clock, that had the shape of a yellow bell.
Either way, it was night by now and since Scarlett or Malina could not hear people protesting and yelling anymore, they guessed it was a good time for the cat girl to check if the supply truck had arrived.
She made her way back to the rudimentary military outpost again, and the streets seemed to be a bit more empty this time. One or other person was returning to the dead-end streets every once in a while, carrying a small wooden crate or a plastic bag filled with something heavy. Scarlett soon concluded it was the promised supplies.
The dirty and littered streets, covered by a thin layer of snow, were a lot less noisy now and a huge line with about 100 or more people led to the militaries. Every single soul there waited patiently for their time to receive the food they needed and fought so much for. The cat was about to go to the end of the line, however, her ears detected a familiar, masculine voice talking to her.
"Hey, Scarlett! It's so good to see you!" A dark blue wolf - about the same age as her - said, waving his arm rapidly and making a signal for the cat to get closer. She soon recognized who the boy was.
- Nebel! What a coincidence to see you here!"
- I can't say any different." He greeted her friend with a warm hug. "Hey, don't tell anyone, but you can stay here by my side. Don't say a thing and nobody will know you're queue-jumping."
Scarlett gave a graceless smile, feeling flattered.
"Thanks, puppy. I need to return home as soon as I can, so you're really helping me out."
"Friends are for that, aren't they?" He said, giving slow steps forward, every time the line moved. He stretched his arms and put his hands inside his pants pockets. "Hey, Kitty, did you hear about the plans me and my dad are organizing? We'll fight for justice here, we're sure that the militaries aren't giving away our supplies and are actually keeping a big deal of them... This explains the delays, at least."
"Oh, it actually makes a bit of sense... But no, I didn't hear anything about it. But have you ever wondered if what you're saying is actually the truth? I mean... What proof do you have?"
"Come on, Kitty. You know we weren't born in the best period of history ever. In almost every place money has little to no value and these guys can barely put food on table. They're gonna get what they need by any means."
"I don't know..." Scarlett's eyes glued to the outpost, just a few meters ahead. A female skunk, who was carrying a heavy plastic bag, passed by the two kids soon after receiving it. "I just don't know. Your dad has been into a lot of problems lately and well, how many guys believe in you?" She questioned her friend, faltering.
"Pretty much half of the refugees we have here."
"Wow, more than I thought." The cat now looked at the sky, which was pretty dark and had a few dark clouds covering the stars. "But why you're saying this to me?"
"We need someone that's cute-looking like you to help us. It's for the refugee's own good, I swear." He quickly added the last phrase, as a way to justify his need.
"And that cute-looking person would be me?"
"Eh... Yes. In case you wanna be my guest, of course." The dark blue wolf scratched the back of his neck and snapped his fingers.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to deliver them a gift and that's it. They'll probably get happier and hear what we've been asking for. We're gonna try a friendly approach first."
"It seems pretty easy, okay, you can count on me." She replied happily. "Where I need to meet you?"
"A half past midnight is fine. I'll be in one of the alleys near the dead-end streets, it'll be easy to spot us. I'll be with my dad near a small firepit."
"Next!" A soldier said, his rifle readied on his hands. He glanced at Scarlett, who quickly gave a step forward, crossing a red line drawn with chalk on the asphalt and received a supply pack from another soldier, over the barbed wire fence.
"Thanks." She said, with a gentle smile. "By the way, my mom twisted her ankle on the day we arrived here and we're out of bandages... Could you give me some more?
"Sure." The husky behind the barbed wire said, crouching and getting a small red bag from behind the concrete barricade "I just hope you're not lying... We don't have many of those. Make good use of it, okay?"
"Thank you very much!" She replied, with a gentle smile and grabbing the red bag. When she was making her way back, Scarlett affirmated to her friend in a matter of seconds.
"I'll meet you later, then. Good night."
"Thanks, Kitty. I knew I could count on you." The boy replied, readying himself to get his supplies too.
Scarlett guided herself through the badly illuminated streets and soon found the camping site where she lived now. She got in her tent quite fast and told her mom she managed to get a few bandages to wrap her mother's paw.
"Oh, darling, you're so sweet! Thank you very much, I hope they help me to immobilize it, at least a little."
"Thanks, mom. I also got our food, I think we should eat, we just had some toasts for breakfast today and that was that..."
"Let's hope they have something better this time..." Her mom said, wondering what was inside the package.
"Just don't expect to eat the fancy food you're used to, mom." Scarlett said, a bit more serious, almost scolding.
"I know the food won't be the best, Scarlett..." Her mom declared, glancing at the luggage she and her daughter carried out of the bus, after it went out of service. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you're just 12. You act so mature sometimes..."
"It's just obvious, mom. We can't expect to have the same food we're used to." She opened the big plastic bag full of food. "And it seems we got more toasties, more bottled water and more bread. That's it..."
"Too bad." Malina gave a sour smile. "It seems we'll stick to toasts and bread for a good time."
The two females had toasts and water for dinner, in silence. Malina soon figured out that her daughter was a bit too quiet and asked if something was wrong.
"No, I just talked with that friend of mine, Nebel. He's-"
"The son of the leader of all the protests people are doing out there? I told you not to talk with him!"
"I know mom, but we found each other in the line to get the supplies... So I got to talk a little bit. Nothing wrong, though..."
"I really hope you're not hiding anything from me, Scarlett." Her mom finished her phrase with a severe look at her daughter.
"No, it's just... Our chat made me wonder if the soldiers out there aren't hiding anything from us. If they're not taking a part of the supplies for themselves and fooling us."
"Scarlett, if they are or not, we'll never know, and will never be able to prove it either. We can't do anything about it. They're giving us what we need to survive and that's enough."
"But mom, what if...-"
"Scarlett, I said it doesn't matter!" Malina quickly interrupted her daughter, angered. "Don't you dare to join a revolutionary group or anything, I'll never forgive you for it. You know why I divorced from your father? He was like that. In fact, a big, dumb dreamer. He thought things could be changed easily and at an incredible speed, but things do NOT work like that. They don't. Unfortunately..."
Scarlett looked at her own palms, then at her crossed legs and finally the ground of the tent, thoughtful.
"It's just a big brainwashing, my daughter." Malina proceeded with her speech. "In the end, you change who have the power, but you don't change how the situation is, it might improve here and there, but everything gets pretty much the same. Do you have any idea what would happen if those rebels take over this place? They'd advance to the city, and probably steal, or even kill civlians for food and anything else they needed. This city would become terrible and violent, and I doubt we'd be able to head to Triren, our destination. Repairing the busses would be pointless since we'd have everything we needed here. Lots of innocent people would be harmed though... That wouldn't be very nice."
Scarlett paid a lot of attention to her mom. Everything that came from her mouth seemed to make sense, however, at the same time, none of the refugees seemed to act violently or have any other unwanted behavior. Nebel proposed something really friendly and nothing wrong could come out of it.
"You're still listening to your mom?" Malina asked her daughter, dead serious. "I want you to promise you're not getting involved into this."
"Okay, mom. I'll stay away from everything, I promise."
"I'm happy to hear that." Malina gave a warm hug on her daughter and smiled. "Completely changing the topic, I think I'm gonna sleep a bit earlier today, darling. I don't know why, but I feel a bit tired, and my paw is really bothering me... I'll wrap it up with the bandages you brought and call it a day."
"The soldier who helped me also put some painkillers inside the bag." Scarlett said, grabbing the red bag and lending it to her mom. "You can use them if it's hurting too much."
"Thanks, darling. You're my most precious thing ever!"
It did not take long for them to be ready to sleep, laid and relaxed on their sleeping bags. Scarlett kept starrying at the ceiling of her tent, thinking about everything her mom and Nebel said, it was impossible not to feel divided. She had no intention of disapointing her mom, but at the same time, the feeling of doing the right thing was hammering in a never-ending pace inside her head. The cat would wait for her mom to fall in a deep sleep and-
Scarlett woke up in the middle of the night, hating herself for falling in the abyss of slumber so quickly that she did not even notice. She got up really slowly, making her best not to disturb Malina's sleep and exited the tent, being received with a cold gush of wind that came from the outside. The cat even felt like going back to the tenderness of her tent, but no, she couldn't. She made a promise a to Nebel and she would not screw up everything.
It did not take her too long to find an alley with a rusty red barrel on the end of it, near a brick wall. Something was burning from the inside and the fire erupting from there was certainly used to keep Nebel and his father warm in that cold night. She approached both males, after putting a few strands of her hair to the side, since it was almost covering her eyes.
"Wow, what happened?" Nebel asked, boosting his back from the wall with his hands. "You got a bit late, I see."
"I fell asleep, sorry..." Scarlett said, straightening her big red ribbon. "Sorry for this, really."
"That's okay, really. Let's do what has to be done now."
Nebel's father - who looked a lot like a grown-up version of his son - handed one of the green supply bags that were given from the soldiers to Nebel, and then the kid gave the pack to the feline.
"We made a small gift for the soldiers as a way to say thank you for caring for us."
"What's inside...?" Scarlett questioned at the same time she opened the bag, seeing a moderately big green box resting on the bottom of it.
"A medicine, we heard that some of them were having problems with the flu, and a guy we know had 3 or 4 flasks of a good medicine to combat it... So he decided to give one away."
"Ah, I see." Scarlett stared at Nebel's father for a moment, but he seemed a bit unfriendly. It was a bit dark to see all the details, but what called the most of her attention was his tough-looking body, he seemed to have been carrying heavy things from one side to the other for all his life. His face was also almost expressionless, the closest emotion it was showing that she could think of was anger. It was not a pleasant thing to see, though. Her eyes landed on the package she had between her hands again. "I'll deliver this and will be right back, then."
"We'll follow you until we reach the outpost. Do you mind?"
"No, not really. Let's go, my mother can't notice I left her alone."
"Sure, sure." Nebel said, as Scarlett led the party to the avenue, their new objective. "We'll stay here and wait for you, though." Nebel said, as he stopped walking in almost the same time as his father, near a corner that encountered with the avenue.
"Okay, I'll be back soon." She gave a timid smile, scratching one of her eyes and trying to keep herself awake.
The cat was the only soul that could be seen in the avenue, despite the one or two soldiers that were behind the barricade, 300 meters ahead. With a confident smile, she quickly approached it, walking as fast as she could, her back fully erect.
The husky that gave her the bandages before was there, and she quickly remembered him. Even though he seemed to be tired and was sat on an old wooden chair, the sleep seemed to be one of the last thoughts of his brain.
"Puppy, you're still there!" Scarlett said, exteriorizing her happiness. "I wanted to say thank you for giving me the bandages earlier, my mom is already feeling better!.... You remember me, right?"
"Ah, yes, the girl with the ribbon... I surely remember you. I'm glad I helped you out, then!" The canine giggled, after getting up from his chair and setting his eyes on the feline.
"I... Me and the other refugees wanted to give a medicine to you. We noticed some of you are getting sick, so I think this might help you out." She offered the bag for the soldier, who quickly accepted it.
"You sure you don't need it? One my friends here is really needing something like that you just brought. You have no idea how happy I am with this gift. And hey, why you're still awake?"
"I've been... Sleeping really, really bad." The cat replied, looking at the asphalt covered by a thin layer of snow, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I just don't know why. Oh well. We'll talk later. See ya!" She said, walking away and waving back to the soldier, who waved back at the girl and said goodbye.
The soldier sat on his chair again and gazed at the girl until she disappeared in the distance, after turning left in a corner. Feeling less sleepy now during his nightwatch, the husky got the box where the medicines were inside it and analyzed it for a few seconds. For some odd reason, something told him to open it, and he did so, lifting the cover of the packing. He saw some red led numbers that showed the number 04 and decreased every second, as well as blue, yellow and red wires connected to the device displaying the numbers.
"Oh no..."
Scarlett saw the two dark blue males wolves again and gave a tired, faint smile.
"I'll go to bed now, guys... I'm really, really tired. I hope I helped you to-"
A loud noise followed by the characteristic sound of shattering glass, made both the walls and the ground shake considerably violently. It was clearly an explosion, and it came right from where she was seconds ago. After gazing at the now destroyed and fiery military outpost, some tears started to erupt from her eyes.
"Guys...?"
"Some sacrifices must be made to achieve our goal, girl." Nebel's father finally said, killing the small moment of silence the group had. "We're gonna take what's ours. Period."
"Nebel, I-I can't... I-I can't..." She landed her hands over her chest, disappointed and lost.
"Sorry, Scarlett... I'm sorry I lied to you." He said, almost whispering and hugging the feline, who violently pushed him.
"Don't touch me! Don't do it! You two, stay away from me!!" The girl said, as she ran away back to the camping site, worried about her own safety now. More refugees that have been waiting for the glorious sound of the explosion were exiting their tents and slowly crowding the streets and alleys once again.
Scarlett reached her tent, but her mom was already awake, sat, showing a deep disappointment.
"I told you not to get involved into this!" She quickly said, in a low, deadly tone.
"I-I didn't mom... I just went to see what was that sound and..." She replied, cleaning the tears that never stopped to burst from her eyes.
"Don't lie to me, dammit! I know you went with your beloved friend to aid some mischievous plan of his! What the hell did you do this time?"
"I... I delivered a bomb to the outpost... Nebel and his father said it was just some medicine, and I really fell on their trick, they got me for real...
"And you broke your promise... That's shameful."
"I'm so sorry, mom, I just believed in them, I was so stupid..." Scarlett said, hugging her mother tight, the crush of regret crushing her mind.
"I can forgive you, even highly disapproving what you've just done. But everything has a consequence, Scarlett, and you have to face it. We don't know what's going to happen now that YOU exploded the barricade. We need to leave this city in the first opportunity we have. This whole thing will turn into an anarchist mess."
"What do you mean, mom?"
"I'm sure that if they have a leader, a group of rebels will say the leader is somehow keeping most of the supplies, which would be the source of new fights and more bloodshed. To avoid this, they won't ellect a leader, but still, people will slowly turn into groups and fight for their interests, generating conflicts. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure civilians will get involved in everything too. This whole place will turn in a mass civil war. Thanks to you, my daughter." She emphasized the word 'daughter' and glanced severely at Scarlett, who felt even more guilty than before.
After scavenging the luggage they had stored inside their tents, Malina got out of the tent and hid a simple pistol on one of the inside pockets her dirty blue suit had, feeling nervous about the whole situation. With only a backpack to carry everything she needed, the feline could just wonder what she would have to go through in order to leave that soon-to-be warzone, and she cared especially for the safety of her daughter.
"Come on, it'll be better if we go through the barricade and leave this place as soon as we can. Switch to clean clothes and grab everything you can put inside your backpack."
Scarlett obbeyed her mom and took a little while to get out of the tent, with her black and heavy backpack hanging on her back. She was using a typical white, blue and orange school uniform now, worn during fall and winter. Her cute cat doll was being hugged and protected by her arms.
"We should get moving. I just hope we can make it..." Malina said, walking toward the former place of the improvised military outpast, Scarlett going right behind her, still sad with her bad decision.
CHAPTER 10
END.
Next chapter: Coming soon! (I've been saying this for 6 months!)
Previous chapter: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14701773/
Category All / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 400 x 100px
File Size 16.4 kB
Comments