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This Forsaken World

By Mantrid Brizon

Episode Twenty: Betrayals

Sitting on the bench of an old, metal picnic table, Grey stretches out his left leg. With April beside him, he leans over and gives her a loving kiss. The pair nuzzle each other, his thin, pointy nose brushing her snout and her snout rubbing against his human face.

“How's that leg doing, little bear?"

“It's a little sore, sugar. Six days doesn't seem like much, but I'm healing quick."

“Can I see?!" Augustine asks.

Grey and April glance toward the pre-teen, who sits across the table from them. Her hands are buried in a fabric satchel, where she retrieves supplies for preparing their lunch.

“You keep asking. Why are you so interested in seeing it?" Grey asks.

“I don't know... Medicine is fascinating, and I really like your skin." Augustine admits.

“Like mother, like daughter." April chuckles.

“Oh, okay!" Grey relents.

“Yay!"

Grey bends his knee and plants a foot on the bench, carefully pulling up his pantleg. April and Augustine lean in, with the girl lying over the table to watch. Revealing his wound, they examine the little railroad tracks of pink in his otherwise pale flesh. Little dabs of blood remain from the stitches that Dr. Shaw had removed earlier that day, as Grey's wound was healing so well that he no longer needed them. April reaches out a hand, softly stroking his scar tissue with her fingertips and black claws.

“My poor, little bear." She coos, kissing his cheek.

“That's so cool." Augustine remarks.

“What is? The pattern, or getting shot?" Grey asks, sliding down his pantleg.

“Neither. I just meant that it's fascinating to see how something as mundane as a needle and thread can help a person heal." Augustine replies.

“You really like medicine, sweetheart?"

“Uh-huh!"

“Maybe you'll become a doctor? ... I wonder what our other kids will grow up to be." April thinks aloud, leaning into Grey.

“Other kids?" He asks.

“I really think I'd like more, while I still have time left. Why not mass produce?" She grins.

“Well, thanks for talking this through with me." He chuckles.

“What?! You don't want any?!" She asks, a hint of worry in her voice.

“I didn't say that; I like kids, and I'd enjoy a few more. This is just the first I'm hearing about it." He replies, slipping an arm around her.

“Oh, okay!" April sighs with relief.

“I think that'd be really interesting! I'd like to help raise my baby brothers and sisters. You should hurry up!" Augustine chirps.

“Oh, good! Now I'm feeling the pressure." Grey remarks.

“Great! You can release it, deep inside of me." April coos.

Grey's face immediately flushes, growing redder by the moment. He glances toward Augustine, the pre-teen girl looking equally embarrassed, as she fully comprehends the barely hidden innuendo. Before he can respond, there's a sudden burst of distant gunfire, accompanied by faint voices; they're screaming. Drawn by the commotion, the couple and the young girl race toward the conflict. Reaching the nearest street corner, April has already drawn her firearm, their backs against the wall of the brick building. Taking a peek around the corner, Grey sees no attackers, though the gunfire escalates.

“What do you see, little bear?"

“Nothing." He replies in a subdued voice.

“It sounds like it's coming from the north edge of town." April remarks.

Turning his head to speak to his lover, Grey pauses when he spots the twelve-year-old Augustine standing beside her, her purple Taurus G2c in her left hand.

“Woah! Where are you going?!" He asks.

“With you two." Augustine swiftly answers.

“I want you to head home, okay? Head home, right now!" He instructs.

“But I can help!" The girl exclaims.

“Get your ass home! I'm not willing to lose you, sweetheart!" April growls insistently.

Seeing the fear on the adult's faces, the young girl reluctantly agrees. Taking no chances, they race through the streets as the gunfire only increases, the couple guiding Augustine until they reach the front doors to Searchlight Tower's lobby. Checking the room for threats, and with none in sight, they push the girl toward the staircase before returning outside. After waiting a moment, taking the time to more accurately pinpoint the cacophony of pops in the distance, April and Grey head for the edge of Searchlight proper. Coming from the north end of town, where most of the homes are located, the couple know that they need to act fast.

With Searchlight Tower in the center, the five-story, luxury apartment building acts as a centerpiece to the relatively quaint city, but its location keeps them safe from the conflict that awaits them. Racing side by side, April and Grey make their way toward the battle, hearing several voices screaming and crying. A window shatters within feet of the couple, startling the pair. Grey spins, staring down a man in filthy coveralls. He has a distinct look, and both he and his lover are certain they know from there the man has come. With a rifle to his shoulder, the strange man fires another round.

It veers away from Grey, slamming into the brick wall to his left. Fearful of losing her lover, April lifts her gun, but before she can aim her Micro-Uzi, Grey draws his Bersa Thunder 9 Pro from the holster on his gear belt, takes aim, and fires. A single round strikes the man in the forehead, dropping him to the asphalt in a silent heap. April hasn't ever seen Grey actively defend himself before; she knows that he must be competent, as long as he's survived on the road, but he's as fast and accurate a shot as the hero cowboys in some of Augustine's preferred movies.

April realizes right away that he's been her equal in combat since she'd first laid eyes on him. Why would he ever allow himself to be captured and imprisoned, when he could've easily slain her guards and walked away? Seeing the cold stare in his eyes as he calmly lowers his sidearm, she cannot help but look him over. She bites her bottom lip, intrigued and even aroused by his skill.

“Come on, sugar. We've got to be close. Keep your beautiful head down, alright?"

“Alright, little bear. I've got your back."

“What about my front?" He quips.

“I'll get that tonight." She coos, her lustful gaze drinking in his form.

The couple move swiftly across the street, passing the man who lay dead from Grey's bullet. Rounding a corner, they find nearly a dozen corpses lining the road, most being poorly dressed and dirty swamp people, though some are Searchlight residents, both soldiers and civilians. A man wearing an old respirator, designed for the elongated snout of a canine Voeldahn, is one of Tyson's teammates. A gleaming pool of crimson spreads around his dead body. Emerging from a building, a family races across the street, eager to flee the conflict surrounding them. As they run in terror, three hooting men burst through the door, chasing after them.

“Woo! Get 'em boys!"

“Please! We're not soldiers!" The mother exclaims.

“Leave us alone!" The teenage daughter shouts.

Taking aim and ready to fire, April and Grey don't hesitate. Grey fires two rounds at a rifle wielding man, while April fires a burst from her Micro-Uzi. The rounds pepper her target's left side, striking from his thigh to his shoulder. Spinning around, the third man is startled by the sight of his dead friends, and two firearms being aimed at him. Before he can even breathe, April unleashes a burst. Grey also fires two rounds, joining his lover in the attack and striking the man's center-mass. He drops dead in an instant, a half dozen rounds dug into his body. Dashing up to the frightened family, the father struggles to open the locked door of another family's business, while his wife peers through the storefront window.

“Are you alright?!" Grey asks.

“We're alright! We just need a place to hide!" The mother responds.

“Where'd they come from?" April asks.

“They came out of the swamps to the north. There must be a hundred of them." The father replies.

“Where are our people?"

“Near the north end, fighting them off." The mother answers.

“A patrol ran off and found Tyson, who brought back most of the scouts. He organized a line near our shop, but some of them broke through." The father adds.

The door of the shop soon opens, once the family inside realize that the swamp people are lying dead. They usher in the other family, urging April and Grey to join them. This, however, is impossible. Taking hold of his lover's hand, Grey bolts toward the shop that the family was fleeing from. With April following alongside him, they move through the empty building, which served as both cover and concealment for the terrified family. Making their way to the back alley, the pair jump over a fallen corpse and run around another. Moving through the alley, they find an opened door to another shop.

Heading inside, they follow the shouting and the gunfire. Staying low and looking through the plate glass windows, they can see Tyson leading scores of men. An impromptu barricade of random articles, trash cans and blue mail bins among them, are placed around the disabled hovercars that line the streets. Keeping their heads down, April and Grey leave the shop, running through the front door and toward Tyson and their men. Quickly spotting and waving them over, the swamp people see the light color of April's fur and clothing. A few of them recognize her from the day she met with Mama Fi.

They focus their attention on the couple, who're forced to dive behind a hovercar for protection. It shudders and shakes as it's riddled with bullets. Tyson orders a quick barrage of covering fire to protect their leaders, a few of the yokels being struck and wounded or killed outright. With a break in the action, April and Grey make their move, sprinting the rest of the way to the barricade where Tyson and the other's wait for them.

“Hey! I'm glad to see you two!" Tyson exclaims, reloading his AK-pattern rifle.

“Well, we were in the neighborhood." Grey quips.

“What's going on?" April asks.

“A bunch of guys came out of the woods from the north. I couldn't count them all; easily a hundred. They started shooting randomly at people. I think they're some of the swamp people we met before we came here." Tyson answers.

“Mama Fi?!" April gasps. “Why would she attack us like this?!"

“We can figure that out after we deal with these guys. We need to regroup and push them out. I want you to send a few guys into the nearby buildings and take positions on the upper levels." Grey instructs.

“Right!" Tyson nods.

“And once they get up there, they need to cover us so we can push forward. We'll take cover in the shops when they reload, but we need to gain all the ground we can. If we can route them, street by street, we can push them back into the forest." Grey continues, before Tyson can issue any orders.

Listening to Grey, April and Tyson are both impressed by his tactics. Has he learned these skills from someone in his past? Her lips curl and her eyes narrow; Grey continues to become desirable, but thankfully he's already hers. Following his instructions, Tyson picks some of his better shots, urging them to reload and to take extra ammunition before sending them toward a few of the taller buildings partway down the street. The stay close to the walls and near the sidewalk, some of them nearly crawling on their hands and knees, while April, Grey, Tyson and the other scouts provide covering fire.

Reaching the buildings, his men clear them of swamp people, most of whom never thought to take higher positions or even claim buildings as impromptu bases. With a lull in the battle, Searchlight's ground forces reload and prepare, waiting for the time to strike. As the swamp people seem to wait for them to move, doing their best to save their ammunition, the snipers and gunmen in the upper floors take their shots. With bullets streaming at angles onto the cover of the swamp people, many of them panic and scatter, unsure of how to defend from an attack from high ground; none have ever been in combat like this before.

Moving through the streets, the ground forces see the swamp people's lines already breaking, and use the opportunity to kill a dozen in a matter of seconds. Taking cover in the ground floor of various buildings, the soldiers on the high ground provide them with covering fire. Repeating this maneuver several times, it isn't long before they've claimed the entire street, chasing the men way and into the next block, where more of their kin await them. Sitting in the penthouse by herself, Augustine anxiously paces about the floor, her pistol in hand.

Racing for a window, she looks outside, but she sees nothing. The battle is already fading fast; the gunfire becomes more sparse, and the sounds are quieter. She flees from the window, paranoid that someone may see her standing in it and shoot at her, only to take another peek when the sounds become even quieter. Each time she returns to the window, it's harder and harder to hear the battle. Are her people winning? She can't imagine the sounds growing quieter, unless the worst has happened. What if April and Grey have died? What if the attackers are leaving because they've won, or maybe they'll collect more troops and return?

All of the dramatic possibilities run through her mind and she can feel the fear building. Her sapphire eyes well with tears as she starts to tremor. Eventually, after nearly an hour, the gunfire stops altogether and she's left in an eerie silence. After a time, she's overcome with a desire to know what's going on. Slipping her pistol into her pocket, she opens the window and gazes outside, hoping to hear or see anything that might reveal what's happening.

“... Mom?! Grey?!" She calls out.

Silence is all that she can hear. Her voice shivers and her bottom lip vibrates from her terror as she calls out to them again. Movement catches her attention. Furling her brow, she squints as she looks into the distance. Her eyes bulge and her lips curl with delight, revealing many of her teeth as she witnesses the couple returning. Tyson and a horde of scouts follow behind them. Elated, Augustine races for the door, throwing it open and barely remembering to close and lock it behind her. Her shoes thump and echo throughout the stairwell as she makes her way to the ground floor, reaching it in record time.

Bursting into the hall, she sprints through the lobby, toward the front doors and shoves her way through, right into April's awaiting arms. Slamming into her mother's chest, April stumbles, caught by Grey who quickly joins them. Augustine gives him an arm, burying herself between them both.

“Mom! Dad! You're back!" She exclaims.

“We are, sweetheart. You had nothing to worry about." April replies.

“What'd you just call me?" A humbled Grey asks.

“What, Grey?" Augustine replies, looking innocently up at him.

Ending the hug, April and Grey turn toward Tyson and the men, some of whom suffer grazing gunshot wounds, lacerations, and sprains. Those with worse injuries are likely already dead.

“What should we do now?" Tyson asks the couple.

“Keep our heads." Grey begins. “But beyond that, we need to-"

“What the hell was that?!" An angry civilian shouts.

Turning back, they can see some men leading a group, all of them unarmed and most of them women, and children too young to join the fight. The men of this group are also civilians, who for one reason or another, did not participate in the battle.

“Why were we fighting them?! What did we do to them?!" The man asks.

“We don't know." April replies.

“Don't you?! Why would they ever want to fight us?! What reason would they have?!

“... Are you accusing me of something?" April narrows her eyes.

“Maybe I-"

“No, he's not!" Grey interrupts, stepping between them.

“Don't you speak for me you human scu-"

Cracking him in the face with the butt end of his pistol, Grey drops the Voeldahn man onto the asphalt. The crowd gasps, stepping back as the man stares fearfully up at him.

“I'm saving your life you idiot... Shut up!" Grey growls.

April can't help but chuckle. She giggles as she looks down at the man, resting her clawed hands upon Grey's shoulders and giving him a little squeeze.

“Thank you, little bear." She coos, kissing his cheek. “Now! ... I really don't know why they attacked, or what they wanted! I never sent people after them, and our scouts have stayed close to home for a while now!" April shouts, slowly pacing before everyone. “For all I know, Mama Fi's gone senile, or maybe she died and someone else took over; someone who wants what we have and who's eager for war?! It might even be a misunderstanding! All I do know is that we cannot allow this event to make our decisions for us!"

“What're you talking about?! They already made it for us!"

“YEAH!!!" The mob shouts.

“No, they didn't! We fought them off! If we chase after them, that's on us!"

“We should probably send a group to try and find her, to start peace talks." Grey recommends.

“I'd love to volunteer for that mission!" Tyson chirps.

“The fuck?!" A civilian woman gasps.

“We'll also need to do a cleanup; collect the guns and ammo, assess the damage, get rid of the bodies and treat all of the wounded." April remarks.

“I can handle that." Grey says with confidence.

“I know you can, little bear."

“We need to do something about them! What if they come back?! What if they think we're weak?! We should retaliate!" A man in the mob suggests.

“And do what, exactly?! We aren't even sure where they lay their heads! It'll take scouts just to find them, because that town we camped in before we made it to Searchlight sure as hell wasn't their base!" April retorts.

“It isn't a smart move!" Grey adds.

“Shut up, human!" A man scoffs.

April can feel her blood boiling as he's so casually disregarded.

“He's right!" Tyson steps up, defending his best friend. “We aren't even sure what our strength is right now, and we don't know theirs either! We'd only be sending guys out to die, and I'm not doing that unless I know we don't have a choice but to fight!"

“Don't be a pussy!" A woman in the crowd retorts.

Several in the mob snickers.

“Oh, are you ready to fight them, then?!" April growls.

“Maybe..." A woman steps forward. “You sure as hell aren't."

“... Excuse me?!" April glares with a terrible rage.

“You heard her. You're letting them get away with it. That's like letting them hold you down and fuck you like some little bi-"

“RRRRHHHH!!!" April roars.

She takes aim, pointing her Micro-Uzi in his face, his eyes widening as he sees her finger squeezing the trigger.

“NO!" Grey shouts.

Grabbing her wrist, he pushes her left arm away. Bang!

“Agh!" The man screams.

Falling back, the crowd look on in horror as April wounds one of their own, for the crime of rather rudely disagreeing with her strategy. A bullet hole in his upper left arm bleeds profusely.

“Why'd you do that?!" April screams at Grey.

“Don't do this, sugar. You're better than that piece of shit. You're better than all of them, so prove it."

Taking his hand away from her wrist, Grey flashes her a warm smile. She scowls angrily, though not at him. The blizzard in her eyes focuses on Grey, whose presence helps quell the storm, however, as angry as she is, it doesn't subside, at least not right away. Her tensed muscles relax and her arms lowers of her own volition. She turns her eyes toward the wounded man, glaring at him. As Grey steps back, April approaches him. With her weapon in her hand, she points it at the man, held sideways as she extends her index finger, her claw aiming at his nose.

“Not killing you is a mistake... A mistake that I won't correct, but only because he spoke up for you. Remember that..." She growls.

“I-I will." He says through clenched teeth.

“Don't ever think about questioning me or my decisions again... None of you! If any of you step up to me like that, not even Grey can save you!" April screams at her frightened citizens.

Thoroughly afraid of her, many lower their heads, nodding subtly.

“No one leaves Searchlight with a weapon, unless I sanction it, and I'll only sanction active scouts." She speaks to Tyson. “Step up the patrols on the borders; if anyone tries to leave before this is resolved, arrest or shoot them. I don't care who they are, just make sure that they don't escalate this."

“Understood."

“We'll take care of the weapons, the wounded and the bodies first, then I'll put together a small crew to find and negotiate with Mama Fi. We need to fix this, before it breaks even more."

“Right. I'll take care of it." Grey replies.

“Thanks, little bear." April murmurs, a sour look on her face.

Stepping up to her, he drapes an arm over her shoulders, pulling her in.

“I'm proud of you, sugar."

“You are?" Her expression softens.

“Yeah." He kisses her cheek. “I am."

April flashes a little smile, looking into his eyes.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you back inside." She says, turning toward her daughter.

“I'll get started." Grey remarks.

“No. Wait for me, little bear."

“Alright."

No sooner than April takes her daughter inside, Grey picks two scouts, motioning for them to help the wounded man.

“Get him to Dr. Shaw, and prep them for a lot of wounded... Everyone else, help us clean up or stay the fuck out of our way!" Grey yells.

The crowd swiftly obeys. Tyson steps up to Grey, looking at his best friend for a moment.

“You alright?" Grey asks.

“I'm not hurt." Tyson replies.

“That's not what I asked..."

“I know... I'll be alright." Tyson insists.

“Good."

“Hey, you did well, man! I'm proud of you!"

“Really?" Grey asks, raising a brow.

“I wasn't raised to lie. You're taking to that job better than I ever did."

Grey looks toward the dissipating crowd, then turns toward the northern horizon. He looks over the buildings, as if he were focused on a tall landmark behind them.

“What're you thinking?" Tyson asks.

“Just wonder what the other side are going through right now."

Walking through the woods, having only recently left the swamp, the men race to catch their kin, intent of fighting everyone at Searchlight. They'd heard faint echoes of gunfire and feared the worst. Though they moved as swiftly as they could, collecting their equipment and enough troops too time, time that allowed the raiders to make their distance. Constantly several hours behind them, it was on the third day of the hike when Mama Fi's men suspected that they were never going to catch up to them, however, Mama Fi isn't one to be disappointed.

Jogging through the pain in their sides, their heavy packs shifting on their backs, the men move through the woods, only to stumble across a horrific sight. Popping out of the bushes, one of their own holds a rifle, blood trickling from a grazing wound on his arm. Stepping up to him, the men are about to ask him what happened to everyone else, but they soon make their presence known. Scores of men, most of them with mild injuries and all of them frightened, appear through the brush. They head for home, defeated and dejected. It's clear from the looks on their faces that their attack didn't go as well as they'd hoped.

“What happened out there?" One of Mama Fi's soldiers finally asks.

“We went against Searchlight... We lost a bunch'a our boys... Too many..." A wounded man sullenly replies.

“We got sum'a 'em, though!" Another, uninjured man interjects.

“You kill 'em?"

“A few!"

“How many of their peoples did y'all kill?!"

“I dunno... But it weren't enough..."

Looking toward Searchlight, the soldiers slings his hunting rifle, an anxiety overcoming him. Watching his kinfolk returning from the battle, which killed many of their own, as Mama Fi predicted, he cannot help but sigh. They should've listened. The only thing that fills him with more dread is what's going to happen because of this.

“Now what?" A soldier asks the team leader.

“Now, we get 'em back home." He replies.

“Right... A shame we couldn't'a stopped 'em." The soldier remarks.

“Yeah... Let's jus' get back, 'fore they decide ta' come chasin' after us."

With the new orders given, the underling moves down the line, rallying the men and making sure that their wounded are accounted for. The team leader pauses, taking a moment to look toward Searchlight.

“Mama's not gonna like this..." He murmurs.