Your vision blurred slightly as you stared up at the moon through the broken skylight you’d fallen through. It became clearer after a few seconds. You were dazed and confused, wondering what had happened and where you were when suddenly, the events of the chase came flooding back to you. The fire escape, the rooftop, the fall... you looked down at yourself. You were laying on a crumpled store shelf, you didn’t seem to be injured, at least not too badly. Your body was covered with cuts and bruises. Fortunately the bruises were small and the cuts were shallow, that didn’t make them hurt any less though.

“I’ve got to get up,” You muttered as you hoisted yourself into an upright sitting position. You knew that it would only be a matter of time before they were on you again. You shakily stood up, your body was sore, pain raced through you as you trudged through the remains of the shelf you’d landed on. You wanted nothing more than to find a dark corner to lay down in and just sleep.

You kicked down a service door that you found in a dingy storage area in the back of the store with a dimly lit exit sign hanging above it. You staggered out of the doorway and onto a small street where a few anthros were going about there business, enjoying the night. Almost all of them froze and stared at you when they saw you. You looked up and down the street before turning to leave toward what you thought was the suburbs. You froze however, as one anthro stood in your way.

“Good evening,” He greeted you with a voice as smooth as silk. He appeared to be a black lab, with his drooping ears, long snout and brown eyes, he was difficult to mistake for anything else. He was wearing black body armor along with a utility belt of sorts. You knew that the odds of him standing in front of you at this point in time with combat wear was no accident. You also knew that the black lab was actually used as a hunting dog. It was very likely that the Mayor had sent this lab anthro to hunt you down.

“This is bad” You thought to yourself. You scowled at the canine as he looked back at you with a grin.

“On second thought, maybe it isn’t such a good evening from your perspective.”

“What do you want?” You demanded.

“We both know that you already have the answer to that question,” He replied.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” You grunted.

“And I’m fairly sure I already have the answer to the question that I’m about to ask, but for the sake of all these witnesses here, I’ll ask you anyway. Are you going to come quietly?”

“No freaking way...” You spat.

“Very well then,” The Labrador replied. Before you could even prepare yourself, he’d managed to close the distance between you and himself at an alarming rate. When he reached you, he easily hefted you up by your throat and applied pressure. “I was told this would be the quickest way to incapacitate you without harming you too badly.”

“Yeah?” You coughed. You then swung your left leg up as hard and as far as you could. The toe of your shoe struck your captor squarely on his chin causing him to drop you and stagger backwards as his head snapped upward. “I’m told getting kicked in the face hurts more than you’d think.”

“That... was well done....” The canine admitted after regaining his bearings. He found that you were missing from where he’d dropped you though. Looking around at the crowd, he found that the majority of the anthros gathered were looking in the same direction. Down towards a side street not far from where they were standing, “He doesn’t waste time does he?” The lab noted before getting ready to give chase.

“Just a moment Mr. Sanders,” A gruff voice called out.

“Well, if it isn’t Captain Stone...” Mr. Sanders sighed as a German Shepherd approached with a few officers in tow.

“We’ll take it from here, there’s no reason for Mayor Deluma’s private agent to get involved in something so routine.”

Sanders smirked, “Routine? He’s a human. A species thought to be a mere fairy tail. You call that routine?”

“Perhaps not the creature, but the operation is most definitely routine,” Stone replied.

“A valid argument could be made for that point,” Sanders replied. “But I find it far more likely that you want to take credit for capturing and delivering the human to the Mayor. After all, it couldn’t hurt to be in her good graces given how influential she is.... That is what you’re thinking, isn’t it?” Stone suddenly seemed on edge and uncomfortable, but said nothing. Sanders laughed, “I thought so,” Sanders then turned and began walking away, “Do what you will, I won’t get in your way.” The black canine then paused before looking over his shoulder at the police captain, “But know that if you fail to catch him, you will be the one to explain it to the Mayor. I would advise you not to underestimate him, he’s a rather crafty creature. But you already know that, don’t you? After all, he did escape the custody of your officers once already.” With that, Sanders continued down the street without sparing another glance towards the officers behind him.

“I really hate that guy,” Captain Stone growled.

“Erm, sir... several witnesses say they saw the human running down Fourth street,” One of the officers reported.
“Well what are you waiting for, an invitation? Get after him!” Stone barked.

You were tired, confused and scared. You’d nearly been choked to the point of unconsciousness and you weren’t sure if you could defend yourself against another attack. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and you’re senses were beginning to dull. Everything was becoming white noise and your mind was having a hard time making sense of anything. You could hear the German Shepherd officers behind you shouting orders and calling out search patterns to one another. You knew you couldn’t stay out in the open. You stumbled into one of the businesses that lined the street you were on. Inside you found two anthros working behind a desk. One was a pig anthros with curly hair wearing a business suit typing behind a computer, she was obviously female and so was the anthro red panda sitting next to her. The panda seemed to fit the role slightly better with her pin reading glasses and shoulder length black hair. She looked the part for the classic office worker. They were both wearing ear pieces and appeared to be secretaries. Upon further inspection, you appeared to be in some sort of upscale gym. Several anthros were walking around in fitness attire. A couple were walking out with duffel bags, and nearly every last one of them had some sort of head phones in.

“Hi, welcome to Apex Jungle Gym, may I check your membership card ple....” The pig anthro trailed off as she looked up from her computer at you. Quite a few of the anthros in the main lobby were actually looking at you. But she was the only one you were making eye contact with, “Oh my god.... it’s you!”

The red panda sighed, “Amy, you know we get high profile customers regularly, you’ve got to stop freaking out evertime you...” The red panda also trailed off as she looked up from her computer at you, “See one...” she finished.

“He’s that human that they’ve been chasing all over the city!” Amy exclaimed.

You took a step back, but nearly fell over. Your lack of energy and injuries were beginning to take their toll. Minor they may have been, but they were numerous, and you had spent everything you had to get away from the officers on your first attempt. There was little left in the tank after having to fight with that Labrador guy.

The red panda scrutinized you carefully, “He looks worse for wear,” She commented as she stood up and began walking around the counter. That was enough to kick you back into flight or fight mode. You blew past her and the front desk, charging deeper into the gym. “Hey, wait!” She called after you, but you didn’t listen, you just kept moving. Moments later she saw the German shepherds buzzing around outside of the glass door. All of the anthros in the lobby seemed to notice them too.

“Find that runt, and when you do make sure you chain him up good! Don’t want him slipping through our paws again,” Stone ordered.

“They don’t care about his welfare at all... not one bit...” The panda woman growled as she watched through the window. Several officers went around kicking down doors and overturning garbage cans, it was evident that your welfare was very low on priority list, if it was even on the list at all. “The poor thing needs our help... but how can we shield him from the police?”

“Leave that to us Ms. Kim.”

The panda turned around to find a lion in denim jeans and an aqua blue t shirt. Beside him stood a bull, and behind him was an alligator. All of them were large and imposing. A pair of female cheetahs wearing running shorts and tops also stepped forward, “We’ll keep them busy for you,” One of the two said.

“Just make sure you stash him somewhere safe,” the other said.

Kim nodded and ran off after you, “I owe you guys big time for this,” She called over her shoulder as she left.

Not long after that, the police barged in, the lion stepped forward with the group that had volunteered to cover for Kim. “What’s going on here?” The lion demanded as he crossed his arms.

The majority of the officers stopped in front of him. “We’re conducting a search for a human that recently appeared in the city without warning.”

“What kind of a fool do you take me for? Humans don’t exist, they’re made up folktales!”

“I assure you sir the one we’re chasing is quite real, have you seen him by any chance?”

“I just told you they were fairytales didn’t I? So what makes you think that I’ve seen one recently?” The lion growled.

The officer became indignant, “We’ve had cases before where citizens who appeared to be law abiding have obstructed us before. So I’m sure you can understand that we have to be thorough.”

The lion clenched his fists and stood at his full height, towering over the German shepherd before him, “Are you calling me a liar!?” The lion roared.

Meanwhile, another pair of officers were on their way into the workout area, before they could get too deep into the building however, both were knocked off of their feet and onto their backs.

“So sorry officer, didn’t see you there!” One of the cheetah’s apologized.

“We were just in such a hurry to get home,” The other interjected.

With all of the officers detained, Amy called Kim on her headset, “You should be fine for now, but I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

“Thanks Amy!” Kim then hung up and paused as she tried to track down the missing human.

You continued running, bursting through a frosted glass door in a full sprint. What you failed to realize, was that you’d run into the room housing the indoor pool. You ran, slipped and fell right into the fifteen foot end of the pool. Tired, disoriented and out of breath, you quickly began sinking to the bottom of the pool, lacking the strength to swim to the top. You managed to hold your breath, but after all that running, you had very little oxygen. Your lungs were screaming for you to suck in a deep breath of air, you fought the urge as long as you could until finally, you tried to take a breath and began choking on the water that surrounded you. Within seconds you began to pass out, becoming as calm and still as the surface of the pool water.

“Guess this is it for me” You thought to yourself “Man... what a way to go....” Darkness closed in on your vision from all sides as one last group of bubbles escaped your mouth.

“Please wake up! You have to!” A female voice begged.

“I think he’s breathing!” Another female voice shouted, “Yes! I’ve got a pulse! He’s regaining consciousness!”

You began coughing and sputtering as your lungs expelled the water from themselves. You rolled on your side to avoid choking on the water. When you were done with your coughing fit, you rolled back to your face up position staring at the ceiling when two faces loomed into view. The first was Kim, the red panda from the front desk, her black hair hanging down and framing her face as her eyes conveyed worry from behind her reading glasses. The other was that of a shark, a long angular snout protruded from her face, soft green eyes with slitted pupils gazed down at you while matted white hair framed her face as she looked down on you with relief. Two fin like antennae about a foot in length poked out from either side of the top of her head, judging by the small ring earrings in the tip of each one, you assume they are the equivalent of ears. She was dressed in a red life guard bathing suit.

“We need to hide him, the police will be back here any minute to search. We don’t have a lot of time,” Kim stated.

The shark nodded and lifted you up bridal style. You weakly began to flail to get out of the sea predator’s grasp but you knew you weren’t going anywhere. The shark seems to take notice of this as she tries to calm you, “Shh, its okay, you’re alright. We’re going to help you.”

“Help... Me?” You groan.

“Yes, help you. My name is Mako, and this is my friend Kim...”

To be continued.....