[SNEAK PEEK]A Failed Escape
The city of OldQuarry has fallen.
(Art by Jintally)
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A Failed Escape By Limewah Subscriber Reward for Flarfenarfle (Feb 2025) 18+ SNEAK PEEK
Utahime was surrounded by several dozen piercing, expectant gazes. The cinnamon-furred kitsune tried not to let them see the nerves behind her green eyes.
They were all counting on her to get them out of the city with their minds intact.
No pressure there.
The group, all filthy, exhausted, and terrified, were holed up in the remnants of a tavern, filled with dust and the musty scent of mouldy, long-abandoned food.
Those beasts were still outside. Those enormous floating eyes looked like they’d been plucked, nerve-tail and all, from some giant’s skull. These enchanted constructs were created by a vindictive witch with a personal grudge against the OldQuarry’s mayor, and had overwhelmed the city in a single afternoon.
That was more than a week ago.
Most of the city had fallen - as far as Utahime knew, her and the others in this room were the last ones who had not fallen afoul of the patrolling eyes.
One glance into one of those creatures’ eyes, and…
Utahime shuddered. Best not to think about it.
Not just because of the chill those thoughts sent down her spine, but for the way that chill turned disturbingly warm when it reached the base of her kitsune-tails and formed a warm caramel puddle in her thighs.
_The looks on their faces. The way their bodies moved.
The fear turning to…_
“What’re we doing?”
She shook her head, pulling herself back into the present. Her right paw was hovering disconcertingly close to her inner thigh.
One of the survivors, a grey-furred hare with tufts of pink hair, was bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to go.
“Yes, yes, sorry.” Utahime shook those feelings away. “We’ll be in sight of the gate as soon as we leave this house. Keep your head low, don’t look up, don’t look back… just run. As long as at least one of us gets out of here, gets some help… it’ll be worth it.”
Most of them didn’t look all that convinced. But that young rabbit, his whole life ahead of him, pushed forward, his eyes brimming with belief and courage.
“I’ll go first!” he said.
Utahime was secretly a little glad that someone volunteered. If someone was going to get blindsided and brainwashed when they broke cover, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be her.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely! LET’S DO THIS!”
Before she could stop him, the hare rushed past her and burst through the door.
She shouldn’t have run after him. None of them should have. But their position was compromised, they couldn’t stay…
Utahime put her head down and sprinted, her face turned towards the dirt and focusing on her clog-clad feet digging into the dirt path.
She only caught a glimpse of the hare’s legs. He was falling to his knees. Looking up at… one of those things.
Poor thing.