FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Summary:

The highlight chapter of book 1 as we are nearing the end soon.

This chapter was thrilling to write, and it stays as a landmark to show that despite being a story with furry characters, this is not a cringy rainbow land trip. This chapter defines what I have to offer and what is still yet to come. remember to really listen to the music choices on the background... And enjoy the reeling film of imagination.

-Rasheed

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

"Hills have eyes"

ACT 1

FLASHBACK CONTINUATION

2250

(Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - Extended Best Theme)

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

The sounds of the Winchester rifle echoed through the whole town of Alpine, as the small dog was firing repeatedly, his finger aching and the smell of gunpowder aching in his nose.

Walt was looking at the kid's performance on the shooting range mere two feet behind him with his arms crossed, wiping the sweat from his forehead under the burning sun.

Sulivan was sitting on top of a nearby wooden sunset sarpatilla crate, staring the show along with the mouse in awe.

That was really the word for it. Awe.

Amazement.

The traded gazes between the bear and the mouse screamed of nothing but mindblown thoughts, as they witnessed something they could have never believed.

This ten-year-old husky kid was a force of nature with a gun.

He was hitting targets with incredible precision all the way from sixty to eighty feet distances, the cans and empty bottles getting smashed into pieces one after the other.

"How... Walt, just please tell me... How is it possible to see what I am seeing after training someone to shoot barely half an hour?" The bear asked, wondering if this was real life anymore.

"You asking me? This is the most insane thing I have seen in my darn life." Walt whispered.

"The kid literally has missed only eight shots out of sixty," Sulivan said like it sounded impossible.

"Seven," Walt said shortly, looking as the small husky now hit an empty Nuka cola bottle that was placed on a rusty bucket, being around ninety feet away.

"Where did Rachel go off to? She was here just a moment ago?" Walt suddenly asked, looking behind him and not seeing the female fox stand where she was just a second ago, having being admiring the kids shooting along with them for a good while.

"Dunno. She just left off, muttering something."

"Huh... Hopefully, she getting us and Charlie here something to drink. The heat is crazy today." Walt sighed, focusing back on Charlie's shooting.

BLAM! BLAM!

The rifle kept on blasting, Charlie muttering something by himself that neither could hear.

Suddenly, the bear rose on his feet from the top of the crate, walking next to Walt slowly and speaking.

"The rifle positioned on top of the crate for balance is something you have to note though," Sulivan said, using his cap to wave a small breeze against his face.

"Man, you know he needs to. The kid doesn't have the muscle to keep the gun in the air without support-" Walt began pointing out, the bear cutting him off with a hiss.

"I know, I wasn't trying to down put what I am seeing, but shit... If the kid was four years older, he would be able to do a god damn mercenary work with that aim! I have never seen someone with such talent." The bear exhaled, wondering was it possible for someone to be born with such a gift?

"More than that... Hell... I think we should take up a bet corner for people to spend their money on, convincing that this kid ain't missing a damn bullet. We are witnessing something I doubt anyone else has ever seen."

"He could always be lying."

"About?" Walt asked in confusion.

"Not knowing how to shoot. How do we know he hasn't handled a firearm before?"

"... Does the kid strike you as a liar, Sulivan? He has no reason to lie about such a thing. No... This is just something else. This kid is not a liar." Walt said, genuinely believing that.

"... He must be getting tired with all this shooting; the kid should know these bullets ain't free." Sulivan pointed out, knowing that all these training bullets were going out of Walt's pocket.

"I would complain but just... Look at him go. Hot damn..." Walt whispered, shaking his head and not able to hold his smile over being proud of a kid that wasn't even his by blood.

BLAM!

BLAM!

CLICK!

The rifle gave an empty click after Charlie tried to pull the trigger once more, making it clear that there were no more bullets to unleash.

Charlie slowly brought his focused eye away from the sights, laying the rifle on the crate and taking a deep breath, wagging his tail excitedly as he saw that there were literally no bottles left to shoot either.

He started waving his paw a bit to let his fingers get some stretching, the kickback slightly having hurt his shoulder some as well, most likely small bruise forming under the fur. But it wasn't stopping him right now. Far from it. He took the small pains as motivation, turning to look at Walt with a proud smile as he spoke out.

"More bottles?" He asked excitedly.

Sulivan and Walt both looked at eachother with wide eyes, the mouse speaking in amazement.

"... Jesus, Charlie... Don't you want to take a break? At least a small one?"

Charlie nodded from side to side as a negative answer, speaking impatiently with a smile.

"... More bottles. And bullets, please. I know I can do it better this time. This is fun."

"... BETTER?" Sulivan asked like it was ridiculous for the kid to think that missing few bullets were somehow making his show worse when it was already a miracle for him to hit so many targets with so little time taken in aiming as well.

The mouse then spoke with a humble and proud tone.

"Kid, you are better shooter than most twenty-year-olds I have seen in a firefight."

"Yeah, I am not going to lie to you, little Charlie. You are a god damn miracle with a gun. I have never seen someone advance into shooting skills like that after this amount of training. You are born to be a soldier." The bear added, sounding genuine as he could.

Charlie felt his curly tail starting to sway happily after hearing that, giving a confident smirk.

"... Thanks! It's honestly not as hard as I expected. The thing kicks a bit too much but I know I will get used to it if I keep going, right?" Charlie asked excitedly, rubbing his slightly sore shoulder with his paw and waiting for an answer.

"Charlie... I am just saying this as humble advice. You should sit down for a moment and drink something. It is too damn hot out here for you to be shooting all day under the sun. You already told that you were tired of your journey, so you shouldn't push your health more than you already have."

"... This is giving me energy. Come ooon, this is so fun and easy! I want to keep going! You got more bullets, right?" Charlie asked, really hoping that he had not already shot every bullet the town had to spare.

".... Yeah, kid. We got more bullets. But the thing is, your gun choice uses three-o-eight caliber bullets, and them ones ain't cheap around here. You already shot most I can spare. You would need caps to buy more. And since you barely had any of those, it would go outta my pocket."

"... Caps?" Charlie asked with confusion, raising an eyebrow.

"... A currency of sort. Been since the great war." Walt stated.

"... What is the currency?" Charlie asked right away.

Sulivan was smiling and shaking his head amusedly, wanting to see how Walt was going to explain all this.

"... Whoo boy... Umm... How do I put this simple?" The mouse exhaled, rubbing the back of his head, puzzled, trying to explain as best as he could.

"... Charlie, currency means ummm... I guess you could say that its collectible round things you get from bottles you just shot. You basically collect them, and mammals around all over Texas and beyond trade things for those caps." Walt explained slowly, trying to make his best effort so Charlie would get all he said.

The dog was quiet for a while, giving a baffled look at the mouse and then spoke with weirded out tone.

".... That sounds kinda stupid."

"HAHAHAhaaaa!" The bear started laughing, too amused over Charlie's expression and attitude of their culture.

The mouse could not keep himself from smiling a bit as well, as he continued with a shrug.

".... Well, it just is what it is. You need caps, in order to get you the stuff you want. Food, drink, weapons, ammo, medicine, clothes. Without caps in your pocket, you are not going far around anywhere."

"... And how do I get these... Caps that everyone so much wants?" Charlie proceeded to ask after a moment of thinking.

"... Multiple ways, to be said. Honest work. Jobs. Finding them laying around, if you are lucky." Sulivan said from the side.

"... I see... Makes sense, I guess... So, you got caps then?" The husky asked thoughtfully from the mouse.

"Well... I do have some, yes. Not a lot, though. That is the problem here, kid." Walt spoke genuinely.

"... Enough to get me more bullets?" Charlie asked with a sneaky smile.

"I meaaaan.... Yes, Charlie-"

"Then what is stopping me from taking your caps and getting me more bullets?" Charlie asked innocently.

"Pardon?" Walt asked like he had not heard right, Sulivan also raising an eyebrow.

Charlie then laid his paw on top of his Winchester rifle that was laying on top of the crate, giving a finger gun at Walt's way with an evil smirk.

"Give me all your caps, or I'll shoot use you both as target practice instead of bottles. This is a robbery!" The boy spoke theatrically.

But the puzzled smiles faded quickly from Sulivan's and Walt's faces, turning into concern and anxious looks slowly traded with eachother.

"... Uuuuuuuh, C-Charlie, are you serious?" Walk asked nervously with an awkward and small laugh.

Charlie rolled his eyes, taking his paw off the rifle and laughing amusedly.

"... No! But I just wanted to see your reactions. You both looked so funny. I would never rob someone." Charlie spoke.

Both relaxed right away, Sulivan speaking with a proud chuckle.

"... Great, now he is picking on the manners of others and becoming a comedian at this rate. He blending in fast."

"Charlie, you know that making jokes like that among friends is fine, but I wouldn't suggest such jokes around people you don't know."

"Depends if they are nice to me. If they are not, maybe it is not a joke after all." Charlie winked with a sneaky smile.

"... The scariest thing is that I believe this kid." The bear chuckled, Walt, speaking right away.

"Now I'm starting to think if this training thing was a mistake." the mouse said, half-joking and half concerned.

"Maybe. But there is no untraining me now. I need to at least train one day before I am ready to leave. But I guess I need caps for more bullets like you said. So... Any work available I could get some caps for?" Charlie asked with an optimistic tone, ready for some action.

"... Kid.-" Walt began in concern, wondering if Charlie was pushing it too far.

Suddenly someone cut their conversation off, arriving at the scene. It was Rachel. She was panting, having dressed a bit nicer this time for the sake of weather, wearing a long skirt. She was carrying something with her.

"Where did you go?" Walt asked right away in slight relief.

"HEEEYY; I am back. Sorry for leaving like that! I needed to get something for this little gun hero right here! He is going to need all these things, so I ran by the store and used some of my caps to help Charlie to get a proper start of living among civilized folk." Rachel spoke excitedly as she was carrying a crate of items.

"Did you bring some cold beer-?" Sulivan began with a hopeful smile.

"You and your beer, scoot off and let me lay this down. It's heavy." Rachel hissed at the bear in frustration, blocking her way.

The bear quickly gave her the needed space, the puzzled husky kid looking at the fox with a smile as she laid the crate on top of the bigger crate that the rifle was lying next to.

"Heeeere we go. This is all for you. I am sure that these will come in handy." Rachel spoke proudly.

She opened the wooden lid of the crate quickly, stepping out of the way and giving hand gestures for Charlie to step forward and see what was offered.

Both Walt and Sulivan came a bit closer to look as well, the bear speaking out with a confused tone.

"You ran around the town just to literally give away free stuff to the kid?"

"Yeah, Rachel. That is not very like you. You all about item management, hell you don't even give discounts." Walt spoke a bit baffled by the female fox's behavior.

The fox looked a bit insulted, Charlie not moving and just awkwardly following this exchange of words form the side.

"He is the damn son of...-" Then Rachel realized what she accidentally almost yelled out, knowing that this secret was not to be shared with anyone recklessly. There was no fully trusting the people of even their own town. She then continued with whisper annoyedly.

"This is a son of Ethan Winchester. You both know that he is a bloody legend. And in case you have all forgotten, Ethan and Allen saved this village from the raiders when the febris was still trying to take control over this side of Texas. He personally saved my sister from those scum. I'll be damned if I don't try to return the favor to someone of his bloodline."

Walt now just nodded his head awkwardly at that, having indeed forgotten this event, since it was so long ago. Sulivan himself was a bit puzzled, having not even lived in Alpine town himself during the mentioned time. But the bear then threw his hands up in apology, muttering answer.

"Okay, apologies. Just very unlike you, sweetie. All I'm saying."

"I ain't your sweetie, Sulivan. Now. Step in little Charlie and see if these would come in use. It's my treat."

"... My father really saved this town once?"

"He did. I was there that day. Bastards shot in all my windows. Took ages to get enough glass from merchants to fix them. They occupied this town like parasites and... Did terrible things to a few. Including my sister. But when your father and general Allen rolled in with those Humvees and their guns... None of those raiders survived. And Ethan personally saved my sister from becoming a sacrificial hostage of one of them."

"... Wow... He... He never told me he did something like that... Or... About things he did here for that matter."

"... Because it is not very fatherly to tell such grim stories to such a young kid. It was very mature of him."

"... you mean that I don't need to do anything in return for this stuff?"

"... Maybe. We shall see if there is any work to be done. But this should be a good motivation for you. Including blending into the society you are now part of. Come on. Take what you like." Rachel encouraged warmly.

The small husky now took a few steps slowly towards the open crate, gazing upon it.

It was first filled with clothes on top. He slowly took the first piece up, observing it. It was a dark brown pair of jeans. Somewhat rugged and dirty but there was no complaining since it was exactly the right size for him.

He laid it down onto the crate, his smile coming to his face as he was wondering how all this stuff would look on him.

The other one was meant almost as a shirt of a kind to cover his shoulders and top.

It was a dark green poncho with some odd decorations all over it.

Charlie observed it for a moment, laying it on top of the jeans.

And the last clothing piece he took from the pile with interest.

It was a brown cowboy hat. A bit crumbled around, and in need of punching from few spots to make it look less ridiculous. It had a hole in the back too. A bullet hole in fact.

But yet, Charlie kept looking at the hat with an interested smile, slowly putting it on top of his head and trying if it fit. It was a bit bigger than expected, having about an inch of extra space. But it did indeed cover form the sun.

"You like it, eh?" Rachel asked joyfully.

"... It's big. But... It feels good on my head. Does it look good?" Charlie asked excitedly.

Rachel turned to look at both Sulivan and Walt as they tried not to smile amusedly over the hat on top of husky's head, making him look rather adorable. But Rachel's warning gaze at the two gave them to a hint to act nice.

"It makes you look badass, kid," Walt said.

"Yeah. It fits ya." Sulivan agreed with a nod.

"Cooool." Charlie spoke in awe, taking the hat off for now and laying it on top of the new clothes of his.

"Thanks for all this. Really. What do I do with my old clothes? I don't expect that I need them anymore?" Charlie asked in wonder.

The female fox smiled and spoke.

"I wonder if you give them to me that I could get some caps out of those for you." She spoke optimistically.

"... Really? Cool." Charlie said excitedly.

"What material are those umm... leathers and fabrics you are wearing?" Sulivan asked with interest.

"... I think the leather and fur is Yau Gai." Charlie said innocently.

"... Wait, really?" Walt asked like he had not heard right.

"Yeah. My dad hunted it down himself with a bow." Charlie said, memorizing the origin of his clothes.

Sulivan then closed his eyes and spoke with a tone that screamed uncomfortable.

"... To think that the kid is wearing the skin of the mutated version of my species as literal clothes is rather disturbing."

Rachel rolled her eyes and tapped Sulivan's shoulder.

"... Oh, hush, Sulivan. It's not like the kid sees anything wrong with it. It's his culture. We have to understand it best as we can."

"Yeah yeah," Sulivan grunted.

"Charlie... there is still something left in there for you. Check the rest." Rachel then reminded.

"Cooool." Charlie said again in interest, looking back into the box now and taking his paws off the hat.

He then looked back into the crate and saw the rest of the items that had been hidden under the clothes pile.

There were several.

One of them was a small pack of bubble-gum.

"I think you might like it. It tastes sweet. Kids like sweet stuff." Rachel spoke.

"... Seriously? Gum. Rachel, the kid already has a mother." The bear chuckled.

"Quiet or ill slap you, Sulivan. The kid must have never tasted candy so I was just being considerate." Rachel hissed.

"Cute," Walt spoke with an eye roll.

"... Gum. Sounds silly. I can eat this?" Charlie asked with a puzzled smile as he held the gum in his paw, throwing it in the air playfully and catching it perfectly.

"That's right. Whenever you feel like it." Rachel chuckled.

"Cool." Charlie smiled, putting the piece of gum back in the box.

The second item was something... Odd. It looked like an injector of some kind with a short needle on it.

And at that moment, the mouse's and the bear's eyes widened as they were about to protest.

"Rachel... Are you giving the kid a damn stimpak?!" Sulivan asked as the puzzled dog took the object into his paw and observing it with interest.

"I am." Rachel said calmly.

"... Rachel, are you out of your mind? You should keep that for yourself in case the village would get attacked. You never know what might happen. That thing could save your life." Walt spoke like Rachel was overdoing herself right now, the mouse sounding concerned.

"Or it might save his. It just feels right. He deserves to have one of those." Rachel encouraged.

"Rachel... These things cost four hundred caps a piece these days, if you are lucky-" Walt began, trying to talk sense into the female fox.

"I KNOW. And I am giving it to him, nevertheless." Rachel pressured, her tone making it clear that she had already decided to give the stimpak to Charlie.

"I-I'm sorry... But... What... What does this thing do?" Charlie asked, not following this conversation at all.

Rachel then smiled warmly and kneeled down, speaking to the husky adoringly.

"That... It is called a stimpak. Whenever... If, it would ever come to that... That you would get truly hurt... Injured severely, and feeling in pain... You stab yourself with this thing... And you inject the medicine inside you. I know that It sounds scary, but... This thing right here might save your life. It will heal you. All the way from bullet wounds to large cuts. I fear that this road you are going to take in order to save your father... Well, you and I both know, it is not going to be a safe one. You have to be prepared for whatever might happen. I truly wish that you won't need to use it... But... Just in case, little Charlie." The female fox spoke gently, giving a heartful tap on top of Charlie's paw as he was squeezing the stimpak.

"... I... I see... Thank you. I'll... I'll take good care of it. I promise." Charlie spoke with a truly grateful tone, yet feeling a bit weirded out and slightly skeptical about believing in what she said. How could a small object like this save your life if you stab yourself with it?

But he didn't see any reason to insult and start vocally doubting if the item was useful. He needed everything he could get.

"Aaand as a last thing. It was cheap, so I figured it as a better alternative for your current... Gift from Walt." Rachel spoke, somewhat sounding competing.

The Husky looked down into the crate and saw a small linen wrap. He didn't know what it held inside. He slowly reached for it, taking it out and feeling it around. It felt a bit heavy. It definitely was metal of some sort.

And as he unraveled the linen, he ended up staring the object in his open palms.

Sulivan now spoke.

"Gum. Stimpak. And now this. How much you paid for that thing, tha fuck Rachel?" Sulivan asked like her behavior was bizarre.

"You know I have my way of getting discounts. It was only around forty caps."

"Forty? Since when? The idiot would have charged me three times more than that for the piece." Walt spoke annoyedly, somewhat sounding jealous.

"... Is this a... This is a gun, right?" Charlie guessed in awe, looking at Rachel now and wondering if she was really giving this to him.

"That it is. And it's all yours." Rachel stated happily.

Charlie dropped the linen onto the ground, holding the weapon clumsily in his paw and gazing upon its details. The gun was rusty for sure, not in it's best shape. Had clearly been in some use during its life.

"Why do you give him a gun when he already has one?" Walt asked annoyedly.

Rachel shook her head, kneeling down and speaking to Charlie.

"Let me look." She whispered.

"Huh?" Charlie asked, weirded out.

The fox suddenly reached out her paw towards Charlie's shoulder, the husky taking a step back warily and wondering what was she doing.

But the fox then gave a warm smile and spoke in concern.

"Just... Let me look. I am not going to hurt you or anything."

Charlie didn't answer but didn't step back this time as the female fox started to bring her paw closer. She pulled aside the leather protection around Charlie's shoulder, revealing the fur.

She gave a slight poke at the spot, getting the reaction she expected.

"Ow." Charlie let out quietly, trying to hide the slight discomfort on his face.

She turned to look at Walt judgingly and spoke.

"You should have kept him from firing too many bullets. Look at this. It's going to hurt a ton when he goes to sleep." Rachel sighed disappointedly at the mouse.

"Rachel, the kid was having fun! And he is a damn great shooter, it wasn't in my place to stop him from it. He didn't show any signs of agony while doing it." Walt argued back.

"Because he wanted to impress you both, ain't that right?" Rachel asked from Charlie knowingly.

"... I dunno. Maybe... It's... It's okay, it doesn't hurt that much." Charlie tried to lie.

"Eeeee, that does look like it's gon ache." Sulivan pointed out, sounding a bit guilty. They had both been so mesmerized by Charlie's shooting skills that they forgot indeed the risk.

"I'm fine." Charlie tried to assure.

"No, Charlie. That is not fine. You are too young to hold a rifle. Even if it was a gift from Walt." Rachel spoke like there was not going to be an argument.

"... Look, I... Shit, I'm sorry." Walt then finally apologized.

"It's not your fault. I can handle the pain. I like the rifle and I want to shoot more with it." Charlie spoke with a grateful smile, rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh, little Charlie. If you keep shooting with that thing, it will dislocate your shoulder soon enough. It is a weapon for grown-ups. It is too heavy and strong. You are barely able to carry it around. This weapon right here will be more suitable for you. Even if you are the first ten-year-old, I have ever seen with a gun. Trust me... This one is better until you grow enough to handle that rifle." Rachel said, pointing at the gun given to the pup.

"I see... It's... So much smaller." Charlie spoke in wonder.

"Like you. It will be much easier to shoot with and the kick from the gun is most likely only ache your fingers." Rachel assured.

"... What is it called?" Charlie asked with interest.

Walt then spoke knowingly.

"These types of guns are called handguns. This particular model is uuhh... It seems to be a Walther Ccp model. Small but reliable." Walt said, feeling somewhat jealous indeed that the store clerk gave such a discount to Rachel over such a nice gun.

"It has one clip inside it as well, full. Holds eight rounds in it. Was free on the house." Rachel stated.

"... C-can I uhhmm... Shoot with this? I want to try it." Charlie spoke excitedly.

"You sure can. But in order to train, you are going to need bullets. And to get those, you need more caps. I'm sure that Walt and Sulivan here can find you some jobs to do in order to earn some more. Should get you some nine-millimeter ammo for sure, honey. But you just have to work for it." Rachel explained.

Charlie now looked concerned, not liking where this was going.

"B-but my father... I don't know how much time he has; I shouldn't linger too much-"

"Charlie-" Rachel began, Charlie starting to argue back to all of them.

"I-I mean I am grateful for all this stuff you have given me but... I can't stay for long. I need to rescue him."

Walt then finally spoke, sighing and kneeling down to Charlie's level as he spoke with a caring tone.

"I know that. And I understand your concern for him. But Charlie, even with all the things we have given you, it is not enough. You are just a child. You can't go out there all alone and without help, even if you are a good shooter. Being a good fighter is not all that counts. You are going to need more help in many things if you are to survive in Texas wasteland, little one."

Rachel now finally smiled as she heard that all from Walt himself, proud that they were on the same mindset. It was clear that Walt as well as starting to feel attached and responsible over Charlie, even if they had known him only barely a day.

"...Walt is right, Charlie. We are not trying to hold you down or keep your prisoner. I understand that your father means everything to you... But you are not ready to go out there. Even if you think you are." Rachel added.

"Yeah... I got some work to be done if you want to earn some caps for your journey. Come on, kid. This is the best way to go with it." Sulivan stated with an encouraging tone.

"... I..." Charlie whispered, sounding unsure and anxious... And yet... He saw the reasoning. So far, these all seemed like good mammals that genuinely wanted the best for him. They knew the land and the culture, and even Charlie knew that without their help, he would most likely in worst case already be dead. They were giving him gifts for god's sake. And they seemed reliable.

He needed to rescue his father... But he needed to do it right. He had only one shot after all.

And he needed to decide what was best for him and his situation.

"Three days," Charlie stated.

All three gave a questioning look at the pup as they did not know what he had meant exactly until the pup cleared his intent.

"Three days. I will remain here for three days. I want to know everything about this place... And I want to earn some more of these... Caps. Three days. And then... I go. With... Or without any of you. I have to." Charlie decided with dedication.

Walt then gave out his paw, smiling proudly at the determination of the young pup, speaking out to him with a promising tone.

"Three days it is."

And this time, Charlie shook the paw back with a relieved smile, hearing no arguments from them.

He knew this was the right choice to do.

Three days would have to be enough.

ACT 2

(Kill Bill Vol. 1 [OST] #7 - Run Fay Fun)

And so, began the furious training of Charlie Winchester. He began doing all the possible work he could around the whole town at full speed. The next day after a nice, relaxed evening spent inside the saloon with his new friends and somewhat caretakers, he was dedicated to not waste an hour.

He sold his old gear and began to take lessons from Walt about general behaving and manners of the civilized lands. First, Charlie felt rather wonky walking around on his new cowboy desperado clothing choice, but he couldn't deny that they fit him as a look perfectly. He began helping with crate carrying, water fetching, store managing, all the while Walt and Sulivan all around him, guiding his way and teaching everything he needed to know step by step. The townspeople were very confused about all the attention these two most important characters were giving to this random kid who had just arrived in the town as "announced orphan". That was all the info that was given to them. By Charlie himself and by both Walt and Sulivan, as well as Rachel. They were going to keep Charlie's true identity secret as they promised.

The small husky already made a good number of caps within his first day, and by evening, he was already buying as much ammo as he could from the general store for his handgun.

The sun rose the next day, Charlie starting to already train. He was up on his feet six in the morning, shooting cans, crates, and bottles. He got the hang of wielding this small gun way much faster than he did the rifle. It wasn't nearly as painful to shoot, and if held by both paws like Walt guided, Charlie was gaining confidence more and more onto his shooting skills.

The townspeople and nearby children could not ignore this show. The continuing shooting made them uneasy, as Charlie scared everyone shitless with his early shooting, everyone thinking raiders were attacking. But instead of coming to scold this newcomer, they began clapping and ended up staying the whole day under the sun, taking bets, and going nuts over this kid's shooting skills.

He was the most talented shooter they had ever witnessed. To them, this was insanity. Charlie kept going as long as he could, having shot almost a hundred and fifty bullets by mid-day, having run out of caps.

But the bets that he had placed in his own favor when it came to hitting targets from even longer distances, earned him more than any of the work had the previous day.

He was starting to earn a great sum of caps nonstop, buying more bullets from the store owner, who himself was now one of the crowds as well.

And as the evening was about to arrive, Walt and Sulivan grew more nervous. Sure, this kid was a beast with a gun, but Charlie had soon spent his promised three days in the town already. Meaning it was soon time to take the kid to the place where his father was rumored to be executed in front of the people.

Baxton city. And the way to Houston ruins was not a short journey, nor safe. Not by far. Walt knew this. But yet... He had to keep his promise to little Charlie.

And as Charlie was training still outside under the stars, having barely taken breaks, Rachel, Walt, and Sulivan gathered into small meeting inside the saloon, which would lead to an argument.

The main question was... What would be the worst case of this promise? Assuming they would even get to the Texas capital alive, what was going to exactly be the plan?

They all knew that Charlie would not be able to rescue his father. How could he? What were the chances? And even if this impossible task without any plan would somehow succeed, how were any of them able to get away alive from the city? The chances were less than low. It was a suicide mission.

And right now, they were trying to figure out how to still steer Charlie's mind from this task and tell the ugly truth. That this mission had failed before it even started. The only way Ethan could be possibly saved would be if they marched to the city gates with an army. A big one. And that was even less possible thing to do than the rescue mission.

They needed to talk sense to him... And they knew he would not listen and resist back. But keeping Charlie stuck in the town felt like the right thing to do. For his own personal safety, even if he didn't understand it nor need it. But they still felt responsible over his life.

The third day came... And the sun rose in the west.

Little Charlie Winchester was already on the saloon floor doing push-ups straight from the morning, wagging his tail and listening to a tune by Jackson five from the partly broken radio on the corner.

Sulivan was already early at the scene, Rachel waking up from the backroom too and starting to serve drinks to early runners. There were no customers yet, but she was so attached to young Charlie's company that she woke up early just to talk to him. And trying to discreetly gain Charlie's trust and favor in order to try talking the pup into staying in their town before it was too late.

Walt himself came around an hour later into the saloon, having been ranching the brahmins in the pen all morning along with going up around the town on a casual security check. Fixing a few guns and scoping the perimeter and whatnot.

The three sat Charlie down, knowing that it was time to have this discussion. It was for the best.

And it went just as they expected. Charlie was furious. But yet, not as tense or forceful as he had been before. He had grown fond of all three, he couldn't deny it. Especially when Rachel was trying to make Charlie change his mind, it had an effect on him. They wanted him to stay in Alpine and be raised in there by them until he would come of age.

But Charlie was not going to let go. He had left his own true home for a mission. Stayin in the town without even attempting to rescue his father and just giving up... It felt like cowardice. Hell, if the places were switched, his father would storm out of the tribe to rescue Charlie without question.

Even if Maya herself would have told that it was already too late.

But yet, the hesitation in him was now growing, and the three made very compelling arguments on why Charlie should stay.

Until Walt's eyebot called EDI started making the broadcast on Febris frequency, right at Charlie's presence.

It was now confirmed. Ethan Winchester was publicly announced a traitor and deserter of Febris. He was going to be shot in an executing line of fire at the Baxton city mid square, the most public place for everyone to connect.

It was going to be a spectacle and an example of the year.

This was going to be his end.

This event was going to take place within one week.

Now there was no talking Charlie out of it anymore. He was going. With or without them.

He wasn't going to stay in the town an hour longer. He had a week left, and by the words of Walt and the rest, it was exactly a one week walk into the capital, if walked with minimal breaks and sleep. It was also a route of absolute hell. There was a crazy amount of danger between capital and Alpine. Walt himself had only once visited the capital five years ago, barely making it back alive. And it took him three weeks of walking instead of one. To send a ten-year-old out on that journey... It was fucking absolute insanity. Guns or not, ammo or not... Would something like death claw meet against Charlie, the little husky's Makarov wouldn't do any difference.

It was pure suicide. And now, it was about forcing Charlie not to go.

They were practically begging him to stay at this point. The whole journey to the capital could have been planned with a long process and a solid plan, let alone budget... But now, there was literally no time. The week was not enough.

It could not be done.

560 miles. As bad as it sounded. In a week. With incredibly dangerous situations in between. The land might have been safer due to Ferbis control but nothing was ever truly safe. And in the worst case, Febris patrols could with some miracle connect the dots and guess who Charlie was. Hell, the kid looked identically like his father, only hell a lot younger.

As all these facts and promises of Charlie's most likely death kept being thrown at his way, he was losing his nerve and tried even not to cry as they made him lose last of his hope.

Until Charlie realized something. His heart clenched a bit as he wondered if there was a chance. A possibility.

The transmission had told that Ethan would be taken to the capital with a vertibird transportation from the Febris base.

As the three were confused by the pup being quiet for so long and thinking something intensively, he suddenly spoke out and asked the question.

Did they know where this Febris base was?

And at that moment, Walt, Sulivan, and Rachel's traded and wide-eyed gazes already told Charlie the answer. They did know, clearly. But something told Charlie that they were not happy where Charlie was aiming this conversation, in light of this reveal.

Walt told that he indeed knew. The Guadalupe mountains.

Charlie proceeded to ask, where was this base located exactly.

And Rachel then tried to steer Charlie away from the idea, as it was clear on all of them that this was even worse idea than the capital journey, would Charlie comfort the whole army at their very gates.

Charlie yelled angrily and demanded to know if there was a chance. He needed to know where his father was being held.

Walt then took a deep sigh and told that the Alpine town and it's people visit Febris base for small trades around three times a year. They knew where Guadalupe mountains were, and the roads and routes that would lead there.

Charlie was left with two final pieces of information that we're going to be crucial in his decision making.

How far away was the Ferbis base from Alpine town... And which direction?

The answer he got after closed eyes and awkward, concerned silence for his life, was something that made his heart burst out of a feeling of hope and courage once again.

It was only a three-day walk to the base if breaks and short sleep pattern was concluded.

With the gear provided along with food and water for the small husky, and knowledge of the safest routes...

It could be done. He would make it in time before Ethan was going to be taken to the capital.

164 miles. It was doable.

Charlie was reading himself and starting to pack without a word. But it didn't stop the resistance he was still getting from the three.

What was going to be Charlie's plan once he would get to the gates? There were thousands of ways this mission could fail. Sure, the road to the Febris base was a hell of a lot safer compared to the roads to capital, considering all the Febris outposts in between their journey, keeping wastelanders safe as they could from any harm. But once he would arrive at the base, there would be almost two thousand Us soldiers between him and his father. He wouldn't even be able to find out where they would be keeping him.

Or with luck, maybe he could. But how would he free him? How would they escape?

Doing something like this would take at least a year of complete planning but all they had was a few days and boy with a temper and a gun. That was not a plan, it was idiotic suicide.

As the argument kept on escalating, Charlie finally pulled out the dept card on Walt, yelling that he owed him to at least draw a map of some kind, so he would find his way to the Febris base.

Rachel was speaking against this idea, as Walt was ready to give up and just give Charlie what he wanted. The kid was too stubborn to be saved. Sulivan was just drinking beer most of the time, trying to figure out the best way to do all this, and end up with a conclusion where Charlie would not die.

The heated yelling competition went on until Sulivan finally yelled the loudest for them all to stop.

And they did. The bear who had kept quiet for the past ten minutes had come up with something.

He rose up from his stool and laid his idea out.

Walt and Sulivan both would go with Charlie, taking him to the gates of Febris base. It was safe enough idea to travel the merchant caravan roads, and the closest known Febris road stop was only ten miles away. With luck, maybe some Febris troops in the outpost would be going on their way, and they could leave the cart there and get a lift by army convoy to the base. This way, Charlie would be allowed within at least the city outskirts that had been built in front of the mountain base, getting maybe a bed from a shack and roof over his head in the best case. The rest of the plan could be figured out from there. But the thing was, once enlisted and name stamped on the city gates, Charlie would not be allowed to leave, only Walt and Sulivan were, as their caretaking over the orphan child had come to an end and it was for the Febris men to be responsible over Charlie's well-being within the tall walls.

It was a bad and risky plan, especially as the rest of the rescue mission from there would be on Charlie to plan on. And Sulivan along with Walt would have to leave him to his fate and return back to Alpine town.

Charlie without hesitation nodded and agreed with this plan. He was ready for it. It sounded like his best shot so far, the husky grateful to the bear for suggesting this plan to others.

Walt was uncomfortable with the idea, but he had made a promise to Charlie. And within luck as horrible as it sounded, Charlie would be too late to do something idiotic as trying to break his father free guns blazing, and would just enlist and live rest of his life actually serving Febris. Or maybe with better luck, escape the Febris base and return to his tribe.

Rachel did cry a bit for Charlie, hugging him and wishing him luck. And it was hurtful to Charlie as well to see that these people genuinely cared for him, and made it clear that Charlie was not going to find anything but pain at the end of the road he was about to walk.

But there was no stopping it now.

And thus, the sun rose the next day... Walt and Sulivan packing their things, and everyone doing their farewells, Rachel begging from god that the three would not get killed on this journey.

They couldn't afford to lose either Walt or Sulivan from this town.

ACT 3

(Fable III Soundtrack - Aurora Desert Theme *Extended*)

The first half of the day was going rather calm. Charlie was sitting in the back of a carriage, the brahmins doing the work of moving on their behalf. The husky was just fumbling his gun, staring at the sand dunes in silence and swinging his feet back and forth. Walt was on the driver's seat, nervously just munching on bubble-gum and looking around paranoidly.

Sulivan was fixing his trucker cap, cursing the heat and sweat as he was holding his sawed-off shotgun, staring around the distances and seeing the reflections of circling buzzards blocking the sun, hovering above them. Watching.

There had been no grave danger of any kind yet. Few mole rats and one feral ghoul came up close a few times, the ghoul getting his head blown off with Sulivan's shotgun, and the mole rats scattering and escaping after one of them getting shot by Charlie's pistol from a nice distance away.

It must have been at least thirty-two-degree heat out here, the water going down their throats from the bottles nonstop. The discussions were ongoing between them, as Walt was still trying to express his concern for this journey, reminding they could turn around any moment Charlie wanted to.

But Sulivan kept snapping at Walt, trying to make him shut up about it already. It was clear that Charlie was not going to give up, and at this point, it was just best to do as the kid said and for them to drop him off, and continue on with their lives like Charlie had never come to Alpine in the first place, as rude as it sounded. But Sulivan just expressed his frustration about Charlie in a different way than Walt and Rachel. Thinking that the kid was rather ungrateful after given new opportunities and new possible life with them, only to stubbornly fight back and try to save a man who was going to die anyway. It was the most likely outcome that Charlie was going to get killed or captured, just to be executed beside his father in the capital.

After eight hours of cart rolling, Walt informed that they had arrived at the first outpost of the Febris. It was seeing around two hundred meters away, the American flag flying high over the sandhills and rocks. The sign that they had just passed stated "Fort Davis checkpoint. Property of united states army. Proceed with caution. Raiders and trouble makers will be shot on sight. Guns down when approaching the area. Current Us troop population: Twenty-six. Civilians population: Eleven."

Walt gave the hinting look at Sulivan to put his shotgun down onto his feet. The bear nodded, telling Charlie to tuck away his handgun as well. The husky did as was told, concealing his weapon under his poncho. The mouse started to get anxious, whispering that they all needed to chill and act as calm and humble as they could. Otherwise, this would end badly.

The road to the febris outpost would be by the broken concrete road that would circle around a rock hills that were bright against the burning sunlight, almost looking white by color. The cactuses and few struggling trees were around the hillside, making the area overall look rather beautiful in certain light.

The mouse and the bear both were quiet, just scoping around the area slowly, the brahmins seeming restless. The shadows by nearby clouds cast themselves slowly upon them, small warm wind moving the bushes against the cliffs. Charlie was looking around with them, his ears giving a confused twitch as he spoke quietly.

"Uuhhh... Why are we not moving?" The husky spoke with a puzzled tone.

Walt sniffed loudly, looking around the hills and then slowly back at Sulivan, the bear clearly going through the same train of thought the more he looked at Walt but tried to still stay optimistic.

Sulivan then quietly spoke.

"Walt, you suspecting something bad going on here?"

"... Hard to say. I can hear something over the hills though. Listen." The mouse spoke nervously.

"... I can hear it." Sulivan said calmly after a moment of listening, Charlie not understanding why they started to have dialogue like this when they were supposed to be moving.

The small husky still kept on patiently listening.

"... When is the last time you heard Febris troops being loud? Caution is more of their style." Walt spoke skeptically.

"... Walt, if I am not mistaken... I hear music. Not actual talking." The bear suddenly said, lifting his eyebrows.

"... Wait, really?" Walt asked, sounding somewhat relieved of that.

"Yeah, someone playing radio, I think," Sulivan said, looking over at Charlie and wondering if he heard it too.

"It... Does sound like... Music." Charlie said with an unsure tone with an awkward smile, the mouse still feeling uneasy.

"Walt, just say what you think is going on," Sulivan grunted out, gazing the views.

"... I don't wanna scare Charlie in the back there but I am just saying... Four months since we last took this route to the Febris base. ANYTHING can happen in four months." Walt reminded like it was an obvious fact.

"... Like what?" Charlie asked carefully.

"... Attacks. Ambushes. I'm just saying that I have this feeling. Something just doesn't feel right. The brahmins are restless." Walt said, giving a nod to the two monsters pulling their cart.

"... Walt, they have at least fifteen armed soldiers on that checkpoint, taking them down or attempts for it would be insanity." Sulivan spoke, thinking that now Walt was just paranoid.

"... You speak as if insanity wasn't a norm these days." Walt sighed.

"... Fair point. But if we start circling around this place, it's going to take time." Sulivan reminded.

"I know... But maybe we should-"

The rest of the discussion got muffled by Charlie's mind, as his eyes scoped around the top of the hills, rocks, and cactuses.

The shadow of the clouds slowly moved away, the burning yellow light capturing the cliffsides with it embraces again all over. And as Charlie kept squinting his eyes...

He felt like he saw something.

Movement.

By the left side of the hills, he felt like he saw someone behind the huge rock.

And as he stared for three seconds intensively just to see if he indeed was looking at someone.

The figure stared right back at him. There was a lot of distance between them... But now Charlie was sure that he had spotted someone... And that someone had spotted him as well, looking straight at him.

The figure looked like a goat of white color, dressed in rags, as Charlie started to really squint his eyes to see.

The person hand traveled slowly in front of its mouth... And with one finger motion, it gave the silent suggestion for Charlie to "Shhhh", as the figure grinned at him as well.

The finger remained in the middle of the goat's grin for a moment, the eye contact making Charlie feel threatened and creeped out, the goat knowing that Charlie could clearly see him.

Before Charlie could realize it, the figure quickly with a leap behind a nearby rock, disappearing in a blink.

"... What doesn't feel right?"

Charlie felt like he was brought back to the moment with a pull of collar almost, as the voices of Sulivan and Walt made themselves clear to him again.

Without hesitation, Charlie cut them both off, looking concerned as hell as he spoke.

"WALT."

"And by going another route we-Huh, what? Charlie?" The mouse asked, Sulivan stopping to talk as well.

The alarmed looking pup turned to look at them both as he spoke scaredly.

"I saw someone."

"... Wait, where?" Walt suddenly asked Sulivan started to look at the cliffs nervously.

"Yeah. Someone just looked at me from the cliffs!" Charlie assured.

"-Walt, grab your revolver!" Sulivan cut off quickly, the mouse not hesitating as he took out his revolver and started to point it around the cliffs now in full paranoia.

"You sure, kid?!" The bear asked with a serious tone, his hand bringing his sawed-off shotgun onto his lap.

"He looked straight back at me, I'm not making this up!" Charlie assured with a nervous tone.

"Shit! It could be a raider." Walt hissed.

"Or just a traveler. You never know. Was he armed?" Sulivan asked right away.

"I... I didn't see." Charlie mumbled.

"What kind of clothes was he wearing?" Walt asked quickly, feeling like he was not mentally ready to shoot.

"I.. I-I didn't se-"

"Then what did you bloody see, kid?!" Walt asked loudly and nervously.

"Don't yell at me! I just saw someone! I think he was goat by species!-"

"That ain't exactly helping! Shit, this might have been a bad idea, we should turn back and figure out!"

"OI!"

About ten meters away from their right side, someone had approached with light steps.

Walt quickly out of scare pointed the revolver as the person next to them, Sulivan standing up and dropping the shotgun onto the floor due to jumpscare.

But Charlie was ready. He was pointing his Makarov handgun at the person with one eye squinted and ready to fire.

"... Jesus H. Christ, folks. Don't shoot me." The person said with an almost offended tone.

The person who had arrived at the scene was a kangaroo of yellowish fur, around twenty-five of age. He was wearing leather armor and carrying buckets of water in his paws. He was wearing a turban warp to protect his head from the heat, slowly putting down his water buckets and looking at the three cautiously.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Walt asked in panic.

Sulivan clumsily picked up his shotgun from the floor and now joined the others on pointing at the shotgun at the newcomer.

"... Are you really going to ask my damn name after pointing guns at me for no reason? Last time I checked; buckets of water can't kill anyone. Jesus. Travelers getting ruder by days. Is it the heat of the sun or lack of getting laid? Or are you raiders? You guys got a damn kid with you, that is fucked up if you indeed are raiders. Stolen from his parents maybe? You guys are going to have a bad day, if you are indeed raiders, ill promise you that."

"Why don't you stop talking so much and just tell what you want, buddy?" Sulivan asked cautiously.

"... My name is Zac Wiggins. I am a store clerk at the febris outpost right over these hills."

"Bullshit. How do we know?" Walt asked nervously.

The kangaroo rolled his eyes and sighed heavily as he spoke.

"... Look, if you really wanna find out, shoot me. They will be here within one minute after hearing that sound and there is no place for you guys to run until they butcher you in a scene of blatant murder. Well most likely not the kid, Febris has morals after all... Except for the fact that this kid is literally pointing a god damn gun at me. I have seen some shit but never shit like this."

"..." Walt and Sulivan both looked at eachother now with unsure gazes, wondering if this was the truth.

The kangaroo shrugged his shoulders and continued, not able to take his interested eyes off Charlie.

"Look, how about you folks put your guns down and ill forget this rude welcome ever happened. I am being expected in the outpost within five minutes tops, and if I am not there within that time, they come out looking for me. Do you want me to tell them that you held me at gunpoint, or do we both just calmly make our way there together and make this a pleasant, non-shooting day?" The kangaroo asked with a frustrated fake smile.

"... Walt put the gun down." Sulivan said, laying his paw on top of Walt's revolver.

"... What?" Walt asked confusedly.

"Just... Put it down. I believe him. Sorry, dude. You know that you can never be too careful." The bear spoke to the kangaroo.

He seemed pleased with the outcome, then proceeding to talk.

"Granted fact. Now, I would ask for your names but to be honest, I don't really care. But I do gotta ask. Why is this kid holding a damn gun? How old are you? Twelve?" The kangaroo asked like the whole sight was just disturbing.

"... I'm ten." Charlie said quietly, still pointing the gun.

"... Ten. Wow. Would you please point that somewhere else, kid? You are making me uncomfortable. It's enough that kids are rude to their elders these days but pointing guns is whole another level. Please?" The kangaroo asked a bit baffled.

"... Sorry, mister." Charlie said quietly, the husky putting the handgun back under his poncho warily.

"... Forgiven. Although, I don't know if it is very ethical for you two to let ten-year-old have a gun." The kangaroo said, scolding the two driving.

"... Mister. You might not believe it but... He is a better shooter than either of us."

"... HA! That is right, I don't believe that. Just make sure he doesn't hurt himself with that thing. Now, I'ma take these buckets and start walking, unless you guys would want to give me a ride on the back of that cart? These rocks are killing my damn feet. Consider it a compensation for being treated harshly. Fair?" The kangaroo asked with a hopeful tone.

Walt and Sulivan gave a quick look at eachother, the mouse giving a small nod at that and giving the silent permission.

"Much obliged," Zac said, walking around to hop onto the back of the cart, right next to Charlie.

The husky kept looking at the kangaroo with careful gaze, taking a bit personal space and still scouting the hills slowly, wondering if this was a trick. Maybe this was one of the goat's friend he had spotted earlier.

"Aaaah, what a day. Come on boys, get these brahmin moving." Zac said, tapping the wood of the cart.

Walt rolled his eyes and grunted quietly as he gave a light whip of leathers for the brahmins, starting to make them take up the speed.

"Annoying guy." Walt hissed.

"Hey, you need attitude sometimes to survive out here. I believe him." Sulivan whispered.

"... Should we... Tell him about the guy that the kid saw?"

"... What would it matter? He told Febris is stationing at the outpost. What can one goat do from up the hills? We are going to rather a safe spot right now. Let's just tell them we are passing through, maybe buy some supplies, and be on our way. Easy peasy." Sulivan whispered.

"... I don't know... But we just gotta hope that he is alone up on those hills. Whoever he was. Could have just been some creep or a madman." Walt said quietly, just wishing this was going to be a calm and easy day.

FIVE MINUTES LATER

Black Hawk Down (2001) Vale of Plenty (Soundtrack OST)

The cart was finally arriving at the outpost after around five minutes of traveling around the tall cliffs.

They were getting on a more open area now, but this town with wrecked buildings was still somewhat closed around the cliffs around it. They gave protection and scouting points, so it seemed like indeed a good place for an outpost.

Charlie could see a tall flagpole from the back of the cart, staring at the waving Us flag fight he wind proudly.

The little husky felt wary, still holding the grip of his gun under the poncho and not really knowing what to expect.

These might have not been the same men and women who captured his father, but they were on the same side, serving the same purpose. In Charlie's eyes, that made them enemies. And he was not going to let his guard down for a second. No one would expect a ten-year-old having a gun, so he was keeping it close. He didn't know if something would go wrong, but there was always a chance.

There were absolutely no concrete or stone buildings to be seen. Most of the housing seemed to be made out of wood. Some being fragile and old, pre-war housing. But some were hand-built by recent years, making it look like somewhat of a town, the shacks and houses scattered around the place, along with green tents, small as well as long, bigger ones.

It just overall seemed like a good place to occupy, and it was clearly habitable.

The most attention taking building was on top of a small hill. It was an old pre-war house, half of it being burned but the other half remaining. On the top window, third floor, someone was holding a sniper and scoping around the place warily. Just like Alpine town, these people had their own scout sniper, being able to see a fair distance on top of the hills.

There was basically a straight concrete road passing the whole town in the middle, their left side being full of the tents and the white big house, and the right side having the wooden houses, a small church, and at least three different vehicles to be seen. One hummer and two big trucks. And the small store, which assumedly belonged to Zac.

The whole place looked somewhat populated, but not too much. It was clear that not all of this housing was in use.

A small blockade with barb wire and fences was right in front of the approaching guards, as well as at least four mammals on plain sight, guarding these so-called gates.

Walt whispered quietly.

"Hoookay... Here we go. Just act calm. You got this Walt. Sulivan, you calm?"

"I am calm."

"Why are you two whispering? You have been doing that the whole time." Zac asked annoyedly from the back.

"... None of your business." Walt grunted back at Zac.

"Yeah, it ain't, I guess. Thanks for the ride. I will make sure that your attitude is going to affect the prices of my store the most unpleasant way." Zac snapped right back with the same tone, taking his water buckets and jumping off the back of the cart.

Charlie was sitting there still, looking at the kangaroo as he suddenly gave a pat on his shoulder, making him flinch a bit from sudden touch.

"You can get a discount, little cowboy. You might favor a plushie toy over a gun, let me tell you. Fits the picture better. Ten your olds like you shouldn't have a gun."

"..." Charlie said nothing to the odd comment, the kangaroo smirking and taking his leave with the buckets. He walked right past the febris soldiers without a second thought, the soldiers not even addressing him and just giving nods as he passed by.

But it didn't take long for the four soldiers to focus right at the newcomers, all of them approaching slowly with hands on their guns.

They were all dressed in the same green forest camo'ish uniforms, some having helmets, some fisher hats, and some the army caps.

Most of them looked rather serious.

All four had M4A1 assault rifles with holographic sights on their guns, along with grenade launcher tubes under. Heavy weaponry compared to what they had in the cart, which was exactly why Febris could be very intimidating.

"That's far enough, travelers." The coyote soldier with a cap spoke, standing in front of the other three troopers.

Walt signaled the brahmin to stop, and slowly after, they did.

"... State your business." The coyote ordered formally.

"... We are just three travelers, passing by. We are hoping to maybe do some trade while we are here."

"... I see. Weapons?"

"... We have one twelve-gauge shotgun, one revolver, one handgun, and one Lever rifle."

"That's all the guns?"

"Yes."

"... Alright then. State your names for the logs. Private Raston!" The coyote commanded with a voice of authority to the tired-looking brown-furred hedgehog who straightened up his back on the nearby chair, starting to take out a pen from his pocket, having a paper sheet right in front of them on the table.

"Sir, yes sir." The rabbit said lazily, the other soldiers giving out small smiles at the attitude.

The coyote looked at them all just for a brief second and the smiles died within an instant.

Charlie followed the situation from the back of the cart with interest, Walt clearing his throat and attempting to speak before the coyote cut him off with a strong tone like he knew what was going to be spoken, saving the time.

"Name is Captain Ferguson. You are hereby entering the checkpoint of Fort Davis, otherwise known as the Davis point. You will be briefly confiscated of your weapons until your leave from the outpost unless you are here to trade them in instantly. You will not cause trouble or stir, or put your hands where no one can't see them, or you will be treated back with cautious hostility. Private Janice there over at the white house window will take down anyone before you can blink, so don' try anything. If you have any infectious disease, you will enlist it on the paper and keep your distance from the other residents and my soldiers. If you have anything to report from the road that could aid Febris in any way possible, you report to private Luke at the center tent, located near the general store. You are not allowed to use alcohol or drugs while on your stay, or break the rules of Febris army. There is no whorehouse here either, so acts of degeneracy and buggery are out of the order. If we find out by name that you are a known raider or responsible for serious crimes, you will be brought to the range, sentenced and gunned down where you stand. Now that we got the obvious rules out of the way, my soldiers will escort your cart from here to the center. Any questions?"

Walt and Sulivan were a bit speechless now, Charlie finding the whole attitude interesting. These people sounded very... Strict and sharp.

The mouse then spoke quietly.

"I umm... Don't know if you remember me, mister Ferguson-"

"You address me as Captain Ferguson, civilian. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes. Sorry. Captain Ferguson. I am Walt Reinhart. This is Sulivan Hamid. We have met a few times. We pass through this route every four months. We spoke last time as well."

"... I wouldn't remember. Many folks passing every month." The captain grunted, not caring at all if they had met or not.

"... Right. Sorry." Walt said quietly with a bit wounded tone.

"That's two names stated for the log. What's the kids name?" The captain asked.

"... His name... Uhhh..." Sulivan mumbled, wondering what to say until Walt nervously spoke.

"His name is Danny." The mouse said quickly, using the same fake name Charlie had before.

"Family name?" The captain asked impatiently, clearly just wanting to get this procedure out of the way.

The quick panicked looks got traded between the bear and the mouse before Charlie quickly spoke.

"... Reinhart." Charlie said with quick thinking.

"... This your son?" The captain asked quickly with a bit wondering tone from the mouse, the other soldiers looking amused as well.

The mouse was first a bit confused by Charlie's quick thinking, then just awkwardly going with it after getting his mind working under the gazes and pressure.

"Yeah. He's my son."

"Clearly got his mother's genes, ain't looking nothing like you, with all due respect." The captain spoke with a weirded out tone.

"Well, I mean, she is a husky so-"

"With all due respect, I don't care about any of this. You are welcome to proceed to the town. Private Lahey, private Mark, and private Trav. Take these three civilians onward from here and check through their items once they have found suitable space for this cart." The coyote grunted, taking his finger away from the trigger and letting the weapon hang from the strap now as the formal situation was over.

"SIR YES SIR!" All of the three said without hesitation in unison, giving a salute in a firm body form with a paw on their forehead, showing respect for their superior, then easing down and starting to approach the sides of the cart, the captain moving out of the cart's way slowly.

"What a pleasant man." Sulivan chuckled at Walt as the coyote already was focused on yelling at the bunny who had been listing the names lazily, the other privates holding their laugh like this was the top entertainment they got around here.

"I am just offended that he didn't remember me," Walt muttered quietly.

"Maybe that was for the better, I don't think he is your type, Walt," Sulivan added with a grin.

"Real fucking funny, whatever, man." Walt coughed with a smile and rolled his eyes.

So far... Charlie was confused. He had expected... Something different. He had expected these people to be evil even.

But yet somehow... he had an odd feeling that he might have been wrong.

ACT 4

A MINUTE LATER

(John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads (Audio)

The radio on a poorly conditioned wooden table was playing a song rather loudly, having been most likely the source of the sound they had heard before behind the hills. The tents around were without walls, only having protection from the burning sun above. The dust and sand were dancing around the feet due to the wind picking up a little bit, everyone's feet covered in sand.

The large open tent nearby had three soldiers in it, playing pool and drinking water from time to time from their bottles.

Charlie looked around in interest at these male and female soldiers, seeing most of them occupied doing all sorts of activities, some more interesting than others.

The escort of the three soldiers came to its end, the soldiers taking their leave back to the welcoming gates after checking the whole cart and confiscating their weapons into a small box next to the cart, where they could be seen visibly.

Charlie kept looking at the radio, not able to hold a small smile as he listened to this unknown tune, feeling like every piece of music he had heard these past days was just incredible pleasure to his ears.

Walt shook Charlie's shoulder a bit, breaking his daydreaming. Sulivan was stretching his back, looking as the mouse spoke to the small husky.

"We are not going to linger here for too long. Let's just buy something quickly and be on our way to the Febris base. Okay? The original plan still is the best. There is really nothing for us here. Agreed?" Walt asked carefully, just feeling overly tense around this place.

"Yeah," Charlie said quietly after a moment, his gaze still wandering around.

"... Not quite what you expected, eh?" Sulivan asked with amused expression from the husky.

"... No." Charlie admitted quietly and bluntly, looking around at the soldiers.

Walt then began talking.

"Well, don't let it fool you. You heard how strict these people are around threats. If we-"

Suddenly, he was cut off by someone addressing them.

"Excuse me, sir."

Walt, Sulivan, and Charlie turned to look at the person behind them.

It was a rat with a bandage rolled around his shoulder, along with having an eyepatch. He looked still friendly enough despite the damaged areas, speaking formally and respectfully to them.

"Name's Private Luke. I assume you are mister Rainheart and... Hamid. I got contacted by the gates. My job must have been mentioned by the captain, am I correct?" The rat asked politely.

"....UUuhhh... What... Job was that again?" Walt asked nervously, having forgotten already, Sulivan rolling his eyes.

"If you have anything to report as information that would aid Febris in its cause, we might be able to give compensation depending on the information's value. My tent is right here. You folks have anything to report from the road? Where yall coming from anyway?" The rat asked with interest.

"... Alpine town." Walt said.

"Ah. Been there once. Nice place. How's Rachel?" Luke asked suddenly.

"... Pardon?" Walt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Rachel. The barkeeper. Fine looking fox. She was kind the last time I visited with the troops. Two years ago, approximately. She well?"

"Y-yeah, Rachel is well," Walt said, having not expected Rachel mentioned randomly.

"That is very good to hear. Now, let's cut to the case. Anything interesting you guys have seen?" The rat asked.

"Nnn... Naah, nothing in particular." Walt mumbled, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Charlie then looked at Walt, leaning in to whisper, even as suspicious as it looked in this situation.

"Sh.. Should we tell about the guy we saw?" The husky asked in concern.

"... I doubt it's important... Just... Let's play along. That goat could have just been some random traveler. It's not our business." Walt assured.

"... Didn't seem like one. He... Seemed shady." Charlie said, feeling like maybe they should tell.

"Well, it's up to you to tell if you really want to." The mouse whispered.

"... No, you... Sorry... You are right, we don't need to tell. I don't need to help these people in any way." Charlie realized, letting it go as he still saw these people as the enemy side.

the mouse nodded, leaning away from Charlie and the rat looking at them both with a questioning look.

"Whispering in the company is rather rude." The rat reminded politely.

"We just think were maaaybe saw Cazador pack. Big one." Walt lied quickly.

"... There are no Cazadors in Texas." The rat said like it was not possible.

Suddenly the bear joined in to save the conversation.

"He might have just seen boatfly's. To be honest, we saw just a couple of feral ghouls as well... That is pretty much it." Sulivan added.

"Well... That ain't exactly information. But we take what we can get these days." Luke coughed, taking his fisher army hat off his head and using it wave a bit wind on his sweaty face, continuing to rant randomly.

"Fuck this heat. Patrolling Texas state makes one almost wish for a nuclear winter, yall agree?" The rat winked.

"... Hehehe, aaaa... yeah, I guess so. Wouldn't mind a bit of snow." Sulivan chuckled, Walt just saying nothing like it was a stupid thing to wish for.

"What is a nuclear winter? What is snow?" Charlie asked suddenly with interest in confusion.

"... The kid is kidding, right?" The rat asked like everyone should know that in his age.

"Uuhh, yeah. Danny is just a bit heat struck, that's it. He knows what nuclear winter is." Walt laughed nervously, shaking Charlie's shoulder and making the husky look at them both in annoyance.

"No, I don't. What is it?" The husky let out in frustration, Walt trying to keep the same smile as his brain was hitting the red light, wishing Charlie just to go with it.

Suddenly, Sulivan spoke awkwardly in between, cutting the weird and suspicious moment off.

"Iii aaam gonna visit the general store. I need to buy cigarettes on the road. Walt, you sharing? You owe me caps if you want a pack too." Sulivan spoke.

"Yeah... yeah, sounds good. I'll owe you ten. Get matches if they have some." Walt said quickly.

Sulivan gave a nod, taking his quick leave from the situation and starting to jog over to the general store, the soldiers giving quick looks at his way as he almost got bumped by a passing cart of another random traveler as he was crossing the road.

"... How about ya folks follow me if you will?" The rat said suddenly, looking after Sulivan still with rather weirded out gaze, the mouse speaking nervously.

"... W-why, sir?"

"If you can't give any information about your road travel, that is fine. But we haven't patrolled around Alpine in a while since things been rather quiet over there. Now, we keep a list of people who live in nearby settlements and towns, so since you are from there according to captain Ferguson, I need to ask some updated information on the current population amount and the overall health situation of the place. Saves us the trouble of going there ourselves and I don't mind little paperwork. Follow me under my radio tent. Just a formality." The rat assured with a calm tone, still smiling casually.

"... Alright." Walt said, trying not to act nervous.

Charlie hesitantly followed after the mouse, looking around at the tents.

The whole order of things just seemed... Very calm as it was strict. It wasn't chaotic. It was subtle and... It just was. There were few soldiers fixing a truck nearby, using skateboards to come back out from maintaining the vehicle, their faces stained with black oil. Some were adjusting and fixing their weapons, laughing and bragging about something to eachother. Three males were visibly doing push-ups and one female soldier was hitting a boxing sack around with talented moves and footing.

The smell of car gas, pot cooked soup, and some other odd smells were filling Charlie's nose as he was just letting his interested gaze observe every detail around him.

These were the mammals that are responsible for what was going to happen to my father?

They didn't... Seem horrible. Not at all. They seemed somewhat very decent people. Overly focused and up tense maybe but... It wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Finally, Walt and Charlie arrived in the center of the whole town, the wide-open tent with white linen covering the sunlight waving around wildly in due to wind like sails on a boat around the open sea.

Charlie closed his eyes momentarily as the sandy wind blowed against his face.

There were two chairs conveniently opposite of the rat's desk.

Charlie didn't sit down, unlike Walt who made himself comfortable.

Private Luke sat down after a moment as well.

He had a radio connector station on top of his desk, the transmitter able to take signals and calls from a nice amount of distances.

The rat sniffed a bit, making himself comfortable even more and putting his feet on the metallic desk. He had his black chrome M14 Carbine rifle standing against the side of his desk, along with an M1911 pistol on the corner of the desk. The ashtray was full of stumped cigarettes, and the water bottle on the desk was almost empty.

"Noooow... Let's go throouugh these papeeers... Give me a moment here, mister Reinhart." The rad asked politely.

"No hurry. I'll be glad to help." Walt said quietly, fidgeting on his chair. Charlie was standing now formally next to Walt with his hands behind his back, looking around the place like a small bodyguard.

"... That is very good to hear, makes my job easier..." The rat spoke in thought as he started to take his pen out.

When suddenly, a strong voice spoke from behind Walt, making his fur spark up and his nervously waving tail spike up straight.

"HOOOLD UP!"

It was captain Ferguson himself, the coyote having two soldiers right behind him, looking rather serious and holding their guns carefully with both hands, but not aiming with them.

Before anyone could break a word, Captain Ferguson spoke loudly with an angry tone.

"Private Luke, you have exactly one fucking second to take your boots off the desk and act like a soldier or I will have you doing Seventy fucking push-ups right now and guard duty for the rest of the night, AM I FUCKING UNDERSTOOD?!"

"SIR, YES SIR! MY APOLOGIES FERGUSON, SIR!" The rat yelled in small jumpscare as he got himself quickly in form, standing up and saluting his captain right away.

"You fucked up, Luke." One of the wolf soldiers behind the captain snorted out with amusement, the rat clearly being his good friend.

"DID ANYONE ASK YOUR OPINION, PRIVATE JASPER?!" The coyote yelled angrily without even looking at the wolf.

"No, sir!" The wolf yelled, wiping the attitude away with the smile in a second.

"THEN ARE YOU ALLOWED TO GIVE STUPID OBVIOUS COMMENTS OVER MY SHOULDER LIKE YOU WORK AS MY SECOND BRAIN, PRIVATE JASPER??!" The coyote asked with the louder tone, Walt wincing on the wolf's behalf, Charlie just looking stunned over such angry voice of authority over such a small thing.

"No, sir!" The wolf yelled again.

"NOW THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT! Now... I have a couple of words to you mister Rainheart and I want you to answer me truthfully because if I won't like the answers, I promise you that the rest of the day will be one of your worst experiences, am I understood?" The coyote yelled, looking at the mouse now with an intense gaze.

"W-what? Y-you mean me?" The mouse asked in half panic, Charlie now getting restless, wondering what this could be about.

"Is this your child? Because I have reason to believe he is not." The coyote said.

"... W-what?! I..."

"Is he your son or not? Answer the question!" The coyote pressed.

"... W-wha-"

"Why do you want to know?" Charlie suddenly spoke as he saw Walt stumble on his words out of sudden fear. But Charlie's tone was far from fearful, more of defying.

The captain looked at Charlie now with a baffled expression, wondering if the husky had just spoken on grown man's behalf.

"... Did I speak to you, kid? You will speak only when you are addressed." the coyote said, trying to steer his focus back on the mouse, but Charlie kept talking.

"I speak as much as I want and when I want. No, he is not my dad in blood. So what? You don't need to scare him half to death and yell so loud, we are right next to you." Charlie spoke like the angry attitude made no sense.

"... Well, look at that... Not many ten-year-old has the balls like you, talking to me like that. Fine, kid. Let's speak straight then. Did this mouse and the bear kidnap you?" The coyote asked with a serious tone.

"N-NO, WE DIDN'T KIDN-" Walt began, almost shitting himself.

"I AM ADDRESSING THE KID, MISTER FERGUSON. YOU DO WELL FOR YOUR HEALTH BY SHUTTING UP RIGHT NOW!" The captain yelled angrily at the mouse.

"..." Charlie just looked back at the captain and wondered what to answer.

"Kid, answer the question. Did these two kidnap you from your parents?" The coyote asked, Walt, looking at Charlie in panic.

"What makes you think they did?" Charlie asked like it was a dumb thing to assume.

The coyote then turned to look at the mouse accusingly and spoke.

"Because there is no record of female husky living in Alpine town, we checked the records. There is no background info on you, and I assume that the name is fake as well. What I think is going on here, is that these two men have kidnapped you, made you play along with threats of violence, and most likely plan to sell you as a slave. That happens very often around Texas and there is a lot of caps in the illegal slave trade."

"... I WOULD NEVER! -" Walt began, begging with his gaze for Charlie to speak on his behalf.

"Kid. If what I suspect is true, tell me the word and I will have these two executed on the shooting range and will take you under our protection till we can find a suitable life for you. That is one of the things we are capable of, and if my gut is in the right, you have a chance to make things right by you." The captain spoke, actually now sounding genuinely concerned for Charlie.

"..." The small husky was quiet for a while, then speaking straightforward.

"... They didn't kidnap me. I escaped my own home and I am heading for the Febris main base at the mountains. They are just giving me a free ride there because they owe me a favor. That simple." Charlie said calmly.

"... Are you telling the truth now, boy?" Ferguson asked with a serious tone, after processing the answer for a moment.

"... Yes." Charlie answered firmly.

"Why do you want to get into Febris base?" The coyote proceeded to ask.

"... To enlist into your army." Charlie spoke.

"..." The captain now raised eyebrows at that, turning to slowly look at Walt and asking without words if this was true. And he got his answer quickly, the mouse panicky nodding fast up and down.

"... You want to enlist into Febris army at age of ten, son?"

"The sooner the better. You guys will be hearing a lot about me after you see what I can do." Charlie spoke proudly.

"..." The captain now actually broke up into a small smile, speaking with impressed tone.

"I like this kid already. If only half of these idiots were as dedicated to serving their army like this boy right here." The coyote spoke, pointing his finger at the kid.

"C-can you now stop having your fingers on triggers? Jesus." Walt begged nervously, feeling his heart rate go down.

"Ease up, soldiers. My apologies, mister Reinhart. Next time, just give out the truth instead of lies, or you will regret it again." The coyote spoke, the soldiers completely relaxing now.

"Sheesh, yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind." Walt exhaled.

"Well, since you want to enlist, kid... We might as well take your real first name along with the family name." Private Luke said from behind his desk with a smile.

"Is that really necessary? We can give them once we arrive at the Febris base ourselves-" Walt began until the captain spoke in between.

"He will not be going there with you two. You two can do your trade here and return back to Alpine town or wherever you want to. This kid is now with us, we will take care of his safety." Ferguson stated like it was already settled.

"... What?" Charlie asked with wide eyes.

"You will remain here. You want to get to the base for enlisting, you might as well stay here where it's safe. Kids are always the first priority of protection. There is a supply transfer going to the Guadalupe mountains within one week. I'm sure we will find you something to do here in the meanwhile, trust me." The coyote assured.

"... "First, Walt wanted to argue. But he didn't know what to say to this. Charlie was indeed much safer in Febris hand more than in theirs. Maybe this was the best solution after all. But the only thing was, a week was too long for Charlie to wait in order to save his father. It was his call. But truly, Walt wished that Charlie would say yes.

"... No." Charlie suddenly said.

"... Come again?" Captain Ferguson asked, the soldiers looking amused at sudden deny.

"... I need to get to the Febris base earlier. I can't wait a week." Charlie spoke in frustration.

"... Why would you not be able to wait a week, kid? Enthusiasm for serving is fine but you are not in a position to make such demands." The captain said, shaking his head.

"... I need to get there faster. I am not staying." Charlie pressured, Walt just begging silently for Charlie to shut up as he saw the kid get into his fierce mode again.

"... Listen, kid. Give us your first and last name at least for now so we can get something for the records. I can see if there are earlier convoys going to the base but for now... You get what you get. Understood? First and last name." The coyote said firmly.

"... Charlie." The husky spoke firmly, Walt's eyes widening as he only needed to look at Charlie's face to see what he was about to say, the mouse's expression screaming NO.

"... Last name?" The captain asked.

"..... Winchester." The husky finished.

Every soldier along with the captain stopped everything they were doing. Like they had frozen in time.

Walt wanted to die on his seat after hearing that, Charlie's ego having just hit the tire into a ditch.

The coyote turned to look at Charlie slowly with sharp, doubting gaze, Charlie looking back defyingly.

No one said anything. Walt suddenly started to look at the nearby pistol on the table, knowing that Charlie had just accidentally gambled with his life as well.

Sulivan suddenly arrived at the scene with his hands filled on random junk, passing over the main concrete road and speaking, getting no one's attention.

"Eeey, Walt! I got the stuff we needed but got a little excited so... You know how it is... Uuhh... What is going on here?"

The intense gaze the soldiers and the captain were giving for the kid were like drills, all of them clearly wondering the same now. The species. The color of fur. The eyes...

"... You are not going to hold me here. Me, Walt and Sulivan will be on our way." Charlie spoke defyingly as the intense silence and staring had kept going for a good while.

"... Repeat your last name, kid." Captain Ferguson said quietly with intimidating tone, slowly starting to bring his hand closer to the handgun holster of his belt.

Sulivan started to realize that he had just walked out of the store in the worst possible moment, wondering what the fuck was going on. Walt was giving him the panicked looks, his fingers twitching and ready to grab the handgun from the steel table next to him, as the rat behind it was still distracted. It was going to get messy, as the soldiers were connecting the dots.

If he would leap and take the captain as his hostage, they could-

BZZZZZZZZZT!

"COME IN, THIS IS PRIVATE JANICE REPORTING, OVER!"

The static on the radio on the table made Walt and Luke almost jump in the air as someone was on the line, speaking loudly and rather nervously. The concerned female voice had broken the tension that had been so heavy you could cut it with the knife. Charlie was still staring at the captain without any reaction to the sudden radio call.

Private Luke quickly took the device in his hand, opening the static line and speaking.

"Private Janice, this is Private Luke on the line, what's the report? Over."

"PRIVATE LUKE, I THINK I AM SEEING MOVEMENT ON THE HILLS AT CLOCK ONE FROM MY POSITION, OVER." The female voice spoke on the line.

The captain slowly started to walk backwards without taking his eyes off Charlie for a second, the kid just staring back at him. Walt and Sulivan wondered what was going on right now, as well as the soldiers who seemed alerted now, taking their doubting eyes finally off Charlie and looking at their captain now.

The coyote took the intercom device from the rat's hand quickly without questions and answered for the female on the line.

"Copy, private Janice, this is captain Ferguson on the mid comm station, can you confirm what you are seeing from up there? We are kind of in the middle of something here, so please do not waste my time by seeing some damn boatflies. Over." The coyote grunted in frustration.

The silence came in and within two seconds, the static line opened up again.

And this time... The voice sounded truly nervous.

"NEGATIVE, CAPTAIN. I HAVE VISUAL ON MULTIPLE UNIDENTIFIED MAMMALS MOVING ON THE HILLS, AT LEAST FOUR... FIVE BY QUICK COUNT, ON YOUR CLOCK THREE, COULD BE TRAVELLERS OR PEOPLE NEEDING HELP, OVER."

"... CAN YOU CONFIRM THE RIGHT NUMBER OF TARGETS, WHAT ARE THEY DOING UP THERE EXACTLY? OVER." Captain spoke back firmly, now the soldiers starting to take their gazes off their captain and look around the hills, not seeing anything yet as the burning sun was hovering over the hills.

Walt, Sulivan, and Charlie started to give each other concerned looks, wondering if this random distraction was their chance to just get their cart and be on their way.

(Black Hawk Down (2001) Synchrotone (Soundtrack OST)

The static line opened up again, the voice sounding now scared instead of nervous at this point.

"NEGATIVE, CAPTAIN! THERE IS NOW MORE THAN SEVEN CONFIRMED TARGETS MOVING ON TOP OF THE HILL ON TWELVE AND ONE A CLOCK FROM MY POSITION, SEEING A LOT OF MOVEMENT UP THERE, SIR!!! I... AND I THINK THEY ARE ARMED!"

The captain now ended up looking over at the hills as well, his eyes widening and his paw taking out his revolver from his belt right away, the rat behind the desk quickly getting up from his seat and taking his rifle, the nearby soldiers now raising up their guns and starting to give quick scanning with their short-range scopes around the hills.

Now, Charlie, Sulivan, and Walt could see the movement on hills as well as they squinted their eyes.

The captain opened the line again, wiping sweat off and looking at the hills with wide eyes as he saw figures running around wildly.

"PRIVATE, CAN YOU CONFIRM THAT THEY ARE ARMED?! OVER!"

Only one second of silence passed.

Janice was now literally yelling on the line, staring in horror through her long scope as there were now at least twenty mammals on top of the hill, scattering around.

And the female voice yelled on the line in total horror.

"CONFIRMED, CAPTAIN! MULTIPLE TARGETS ARE ARMED-JESUS! CAPTAIN, THEY ARE AIMING AT YOUR LOCATION-

WATCH OUT!!! R P G!!!!!"

WHOOOOOOSH!!!

The smoke blew on top of the hills, sending the rocket at their direction.

"GET DOOOOOWN!" Ferguson yelled from the top of his lungs right after as all of their eyes widened, seeing the rocket travel right at them.

KRATHOOOOOOMMMM!!!!

The rocket hit rather close right in front of them, hitting the truck that was mere eight meters away on the other side of the road, making the whole humvee explode and blast metal pieces in every direction.

"OOOOOPEEEEEN FIIIIIIIREEEEE!!!!" Captain Ferguson yelled, the firefight beginning.

"OHHH MY FUCKING GOOOOD!" Walt screamed, jumping down onto the ground with Sulivan and Charlie, their faces hitting the dust.

The rapid-fire of the assault rifles was starting to conquer the air like roaring trumpets, the sand screams beginning.

WIIIIIIIUUUUUUUUUWIIIIIUUUUUUU!

The siren alarm started to echo all around the town, signaling everyone that it was now officially under attack.

"RAIDERS!!" Private Luke yelled, now crouched behind his desk and using his desk as a bipod support as he fired with his rifle at the hills.

"WE ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE!!!" Walt yelled in terror, covering the back of his head with his paws as pieces of rocks started to fly around.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!" Sulivan yelled as well, quickly having crawled behind a nearby oil barrel.

"SOMEONE GET THESE CIVILIANS OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!!!" Captain Ferguson yelled, blasting with his revolver at the hills with others bringing the bullet storm upon the attackers.

Charlie was looking at the hills with wide eyes, for the first time of his life feeling truly scared as he witnessed the sight like time had totally slowed down.

Another blast of smoke blew on the hills as the raiders shot another RPG, this time hitting a house far away on their left and the screams coming in result as it killed civilians inside.

Charlie saw in slow motion as at least thirty raiders were rushing down the hill, screaming and yelling like savages, some even laughing. Some of them had actual firearms, but many had melee weapons as well, making them look terrifying. But they were in lack of defense in such a fearless rush, as someone's grenade launcher hit one of them, blasting at least three raiders into flying bodyparts.

And yet, they had no intention of pulling back the attack. And more was just arriving at the fight over the hills.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!" Captain Ferguson yelled at his soldiers, waving with his paw for the nearby wolf soldier.

"PRIVATE JASPER! GET THESE THREE OUT OF LINE OF FIRE, RIGHT NOW!! MAKE SURE THE KID DOESN'T FUCKING DIE ON YOUR WATCH! GET THEM TO THE SAFE BUNKER BEHIND THE WHITE HOUSE!" captain Ferguson yelled, grabbing the wolf by the collar.

"SIR, YES SIR!" The wolf yelled loudly, taking a break from firing and giving the signal for the three.

"FOLLOW ME!" The wolf yelled.

Charlie was already behind the wolf soldier, Walt and Sulivan both clumsily starting to rush right after the boy and the wolf as best as they could.

The sand and the bullets started to take over the whole place, the smell of gunpowder filling the nostrils.

They were getting away from the town center, running by the broken and fixed housing, every gab between the houses giving them the visual to see at the hills where the attack was coming from.

Soldiers were hiding behind the house corners, firing back as much as they could. They were not prepared enough for this attack mentally, it had come without needed warning. Charlie was feeling his adrenaline rush like crazy, jumping in scare as a random bullet almost hit his foot. Walt and Sulivan panted as the wolf soldier was guiding them as fast as he could on a straight line until one of the soldiers yelled by the corner they almost arrived.

One female skunk soldier yelled right in front of them as she was shooting at the hills, starting to run past them.

"ANOTHER RPG! LOOK OUT!"

BOOOOOOM!

The blast broke the whole building right in front of them, setting it on fire and the impact from the blast making them all fall on their back against the sandy ground, greeted with falling, burning pieces of wood like rain.

The wolf soldier quickly composed himself as the three behind him were still panting on the ground in panic.

He took out his M4A1, starting to shoot from the corner of the house next to them that was still intact.

"FUCK YOUUUU!" The wolf yelled, firing till he ran out of ammo and dropped the empty clip onto the ground.

The return fire almost hit him, until he managed to take cover just in time and switching to his grenade launcher tube.

"You psychos wanna play, huh?!" The wolf yelled, turning again on the alley and aiming high.

THOMP!

The grenade flew, the wolf not able to see if it even hit any of the targets but he heard screaming in the result of the blast.

Walt and Sulivan were practically praying in total terror, Charlie staying close next to the wolf soldier with his back against the door of the house.

"Where is the safe place!??!" Charlie yelled quickly, yanking the wolf's sleeve. They needed to keep moving.

Just as the wolf was turning around to yell the answer, ready to stop firing and carry on with the urgent mission at hand, it costed him dearly.

The whistle of a bullet came, hitting the wolf straight into the side of his head and traveling clean through, making some of the blood spray right across Charlie's face like a swing of a paintbrush.

"JESUS FUCK!!!!" Walt screamed after witnessing the death with Sulivan, the woozy eyes of the wolf giving one last roll at the back of his head as his lifeless body fell down limp, collapsing right on top of Sulivan's feet.

Charlie was still looking straight, having not truly processed what happened, his eyes looking shocked and his jaw hanging as his face was covered in red.

"SHITSHITSHIT! HE IS FUCKING DEAD, SULIVAN!!! WHAT DO WE DO?!?!" Walt yelled in horror.

"CHARLIE, ARE YOU OKAY??!" Sulivan yelled, looking at the shocked pup who looked slowly back at him, not able to answer. But now he was about to cry.

As strong as he might have been for a ten-year-old... He had hit the limit of how much he could take. And his legs were not working.

"CHARLIE! ARE YOU- FUCK! WALT, TAKE HIS DAMN RIFLE, WE NEED IT!"

"OKAYOKAYGOTIT!" The mouse yelled in panic, quickly crawling to take the dead wolf's assault rifle and starting to rip one magazine from his belt as well, repeating scaredly.

"SORRYSORRYINEEDTHIS!"

"CHARLIE! CHARLIE! KID!" Sulivan yelled at the husky pup, now taking him by the hand with a strong grip.

And just like that, Charlie snapped back to the moment, looking at the bear.

"WE NEED TO GET A VEHICLE AND GET OUT OF HERE! SNAP OUT OF IT, KID!" The bear yelled.

"HOW DO WE GET A VEHICLE!? THEY ARE MOSTLY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD! WE WOULD HAVE TO RUN AND SHOOT LIKE HELL! THE RAIDERS WILL GET TO THEM FASTER THAN WE DO!!" Walt yelled like the plan was insane.

"THEN WHAT THE FUCK ELSE WE CAN DO?! WE DIE IF WE JUST WONDER AROUND HERE! WE NEED TO GET VEHICLE AND GET OUT OF HERE!!!" Sulivan yelled like it was the best choice.

"CAN YOU EVEN DRIVE A FUCKING CAR, MAN?!" Walt asked like there was no way.

"I HAVE TRIED ONCE, I MIGHT MANAGE!" Sulivan assured.

"YOU MIGHT?!?!?" Walt screamed.

"WALT, DO YOU HAVE BETTER PLAN!?! WE NEED TO KEEP CHARLIE'S LIFE AS PRIORITY, AND IF WE FUCK UP NOW, WE DIE! WE HAVE TO TRY TO GET A CAR AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WHEN WE STILL CAN!!" Sulivan yelled back.

"SHIT!!!! O-OKAY, FUCK!!! WE SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT ALPINE!!" Walt cursed, trying to get himself into shape to do this.

"TOO LATE TO THINK THAT NOW, WE HAVE TO SURVIVE THIS SHIT! CHARLIE!" Sulivan yelled, wiping some of the blood from Charlie's way as it was getting into his eyes otherwise.

"Y-YEAH?!" Charlie yelled scaredly with glossy eyes.

"STAY LOW AS YOU CAN, AND STAY BEHIND US THE WHOLE TIME! WE GONNA HAVE TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT! IF WE GET KILLED, YOU MAKE A RUN FOR IT! TAKE ONE DIRECTION, OR BETTER YET, RUN BACK TO ALPINE IF YOU CAN! YOU DON'T WANT TO GET CAPTURED BY THESE RAIDERS ALIVE!!" Sulivan yelled.

"BUT THE SOLDIERS MIGHT WIN THIS FIGHT!" Charlie yelled back with a hopeful tone despite being scared to death.

"THAT IS TRUE, BUT I AM NOT GOING TO START TAKING BETS ON THAT, THESE PEOPLE ARE GETTING FUCKING SLAUGHTERED, LOOK AROUND YOU! AND IF WE DON'T MOVE, WE JOIN THEM! WE FIND OPENING AND WE RUN FOR IT!! OKAY?!" Walt yelled from the ground, starting to get up now that the magazine was in.

"... G-GOT IT! ILL STAY BEHIND YOU BOTH!" Charlie yelled, now grabbing Sulivan's paw without a second thought.

"GOOD! WALT, IS THAT GUN LOADED NOW?!" Sulivan yelled at the mouse.

"YEAH; I GOT IT, MAN! OH SHIT, LOOK OUT!!!" Walt yelled, taking the gun up quickly and aiming it.

The alley between the burning house and the still intact one serving as they cover was not clear anymore.

A hyena raider was laughing like a maniac, blasting with his Ak from the alley at Walt's direction.

Rattattatat!

The bullets hit all around Walt's feet, blowing the sand and only one bullet passing an inch next to Walt's waist.

"FUCKING DIE, BITCH!!!" The Hyena screamed, laughing.

Walt was quicker to react despite panic. He opened fire on the hyena, missing the first three bullets until the last of all four hit the hyena right in his chest, the immediate death causing the finger press the AK trigger and spray all around in the air randomly as the hyena fell down on his back.

"JESUS! HE ALMOST SHOT ME!" The mouse exhaled, stopping his aiming and Sulivan and Charlie peeking from behind the corner and seeing the corpse.

"Good job, Walt! Okay, move! I'm taking his gun!" Sulivan yelled.

Walt started to walk down the alley towards the heavily dangerous area and out of the protection of the housing.

Sulivan quickly sprinted to the corpse, yanking the AK-47 from the grips of the dead raider and Charlie stumbling over the dead body, looking at it one last time in scare as he stayed behind the two, both now armed with weapons.

"Gogogo, over the road! Get to those tents!" Sulivan yelled to Walt, the mouse moving forward and just trusting Sulivan under the pressure. The arrived at the concrete road that was passing through the whole place, seeing as on their both sides there were still soldiers very much alive, shooting at the raiders as best as they could.

"LOOK OUT!" Sulivan yelled with wide eyes, grabbing both Charlie and Walt and pushing them against the ground painfully.

KRATHOOOOM!!!!

Another RPG flew only six meters on their left, blowing up another house completely into pieces, ash and pieces of wood falling down.

"THIS IS INSANE!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS, THEY ARE SLAUGHTERING EVERYONE!!!" Walt screamed on the ground, Charlie starting to now cry, not able to hold his courage anymore.

Sulivan was panickily aiming with his AK as they were still hugging the concrete road, trying to make sense of the chaos.

Three soldiers were spraying with fully automatic rifles right at the tents and the hills, someone yelling orders to them.

One of the soldiers got hit in the leg by long-distance shot, making him fall on his one knee and answer with a painful yell and taking grenade from his belt, throwing it as far as he could.

The two soldiers started to drag their injured brother away from the line of fire, the burning house being their best cover for now.

Wherever Sulivan was looking, the worse it looked. Until he could stop their cart.

The cart was at least forty meters from their location, next to the general store. The owner of the store, Zac, was trying to shoot at someone with his rifle but ran out of ammo. As he was trying to reload, some skunk raider rushed right at him, the kangaroo screaming in fear as the skunk laughed, slicing his head clean off with a machete and making his headless body fall onto the ground, right before the skunk raider was shot in the head by Captain Ferguson, who had run to the scene too late to save Zac.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" Walt screamed, having looked at the same area as Sulivan. Charlie was too busy crying, trying not to look around him and witness the horrors he thought he could handle.

"WE NEED TO MOVE, GO FOR THE TENT! GO FOR THE TENT NOW! THE ONE WITH THE WALLS!!" Sulivan yelled, starting to get up from the hard ground.

"SHIT! CHARLIE GET UP! I GOT YOU!!!" Walt yelled, his protective instinct taking over as the crying husky was not able to function in the chaos anymore out of fear. The mouse grabbed the husky's hand with a strong grip, forcing him to keep up and not get left behind.

"GOGOGO; Get in there!" Sulivan yelled, opening the curtain door for them into the green tent, Walt and Charlie making their way inside and Sulivan quickly giving last looks around the chaos before closing their curtain behind them.

TEN SECONDS LATER

The three were now in the long tent, nobody being inside beside them. There was a long table full of document papers and water bottles on top of it, as well as some bags around and ammo crates.

Charlie was taking breath against an ammo crate nearby, feeling woozy. Sulivan and Walt both secured the area by aiming with their guns, making sure no one was hiding behind anything.

"Sulivan! Cover that doorway right there, I need to get some of this stuff!"

"What?!"

"This is our opportunity to take supplies on the road, we can't exactly survive if they pursue and we have no ammo or anything. I'm taking one of these bags and filling it, they won't need it anymore!"

"If you say so! I got this door! Charlie, you okay?! Are you harmed?!" Sulivan asked loudly, aiming at the doorway and giving quick glances at Charlie who was panting and crying.

The husky was not able to answer, his whole outlook already speaking for itself. This quick breather in the tent was needed or he would have most likely be still outside having a panic attack.

"This, this-" Walt kept mumbling, taking one of the big army bags and just scooping stuff from the table inside it, water, random ammo boxes, and bandage packs.

"Charlie! Hey! Look at me, kid!" Sulivan yelled in concern at Charlie, snapping his fingers at him.

BOOOOOOOM!

A large explosion outside the tent made their ears ring, all of the three wincing for a moment knowing how lucky they were that the assumed RPG rocket had not hit into this particular tent just now, the impact clearly having not been too far as it made the ground under their feet tremble a moment.

"Shishitshit this is insane! Where did they get all these weapons??!!" Walt muttered, Sulivan wiping sweat off his face nervously and looking at Sulivan.

"They must have prepared this attack for a long time, but it doesn't matter, we have to- Charlie! HEY! Please tell me if you are alright!" The bear yelled in concern as he saw the husky hold the crate and cry his eyes out, legs wobbling.

Charlie was having a panic attack, whimpering at them.

"I don't want to die!" He managed to meep out.

"You are not dying! We will make sure of it! Walt, you have taken enough stuff, we have to make the run for the cars now!" The bear yelled with an encouraging tone.

"How do we know they are not all blown up by now?!" Walt yelled with a skeptical tone.

"If you were raiders, would you blow them all up, considering how valuable they all are!?" Sulivan asked as genuine thought.

"WELL THEY DON'T EXACLTY THINK WITH A HEALTHY MIND DO THEY?! That one guy just sliced the kangaroo dude's head off with a fucking machete!" Walt yelled in scare.

"Well, it's all we got for now! Plan B is that if there is no car, we make the run for it! We have guns and ammo and food to keep going!" Sulivan told.

"That ain't much of a plan but I trust you! Charlie, take this!" Walt said quickly, walking to the shaking and crying little husky, putting his paw on his shoulder.

"... W-w-what?" Charlie squeezed out in confusion in the middle of his rolling tears, looking at the mouse.

"Take it! You are better at using it than either of us!" Walt said, handing something over to Charlie as he had found it from one of the crates.

It was a khaki-colored XM 17 handgun, fully loaded.

Charlie kept looking at the gun while crying, his shaky paw going for it and Walt quickly handing it over faster, tapping Charlie's paw and laying his paw behind the back of Charlie's head, talking to him with fatherly tone now despite being just as scared.

"I know you are scared, hell we all are! I am ready to shit myself any second now, to be honest, but you will have to get through this alive, even if we don't! You are not meant to die in this fucking place, and chances for that are a hell of a lower when you have this on your hand. You are an amazing shooter, and I'd feel a lot safer out there if you were carrying a gun as well. Take it!"

Charlie swallowed, sniffing loudly and nodding rapidly as he took the gun and had his paws around the grip now.

"Good kid. Sulivan! Peep through the door, are we okay to run for it?!" Walt asked loudly, leaving Charlie to stand where he was and adjusted the back bag on him.

"I don't know, I will look!"

The bear slowly peeked out of the tent door with the barrel of the Ak going out first. He looked around, seeing how bad the situation had gotten.

Bad.

At least two opposite tents were burning, five soldiers were lying dead on the ground, and three meters from their left, some raccoon raider was hitting a dead soldiers head with a hammer.

"Fucking lunatic..." The bear whispered in disgust.

The bear quickly pulled back into the tent, speaking to the two.

"It's bad, the raiders have already pushed through half of the town at this rate, there is a lot of dead soldiers! It is risky as fuck, but if take direction to our right, and just run and gun the way, we will get to the truck area! With a bit of good luck, we get one of those Humvees!"

"You better know how to drive those things! Charlie! Boy, you ready to make a run for it?!" Walt asked loudly, Charlie wiping his face from tears, nodding rapidly and forcing himself to get his head back in the game.

He tried to look determined, knowing that if he would screw up now, it would be the end of it, and he would have failed his father.

He had to get himself together... And get through this alive.

"Okay... Sulivan... GO!" Walt yelled at the bear, Sulivan storming out from the tent with his gun up, Charlie quickly following after the mouse with his handgun lowered, taking a deep breath and steeling himself as they all got out of the tent and back into the fight.

(Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 OST-13 Chasing Rojas)

OUTSIDE

The moment Sulivan got out of the tent with Walt and Charlie behind him, the mouse aimed at the left side of the tent ways, and the bear to the right. Sulivan saw the same raider still beating the dead soldier on the ground with a hammer, Sulivan yelling.

"HEY, ASSHOLE!"

Walt and Charlie now looked at the way bear had yelled.

The blood-covered raccoon turned to look at the three only three meters away from him, his eyes widening as he saw the Ak barrel point at him.

He was readying to yell something but didn't get the chance.

RATATAT!

Sulivan sprayed the raccoon's torso up, the blood mist releasing in the air as the body collapsed right on top of the dead soldier.

Walt then turned his gaze away from the settled threat and back to aiming at the route they needed to take between the rows of the tents. He yelled at the two.

"Come on, Sulivan, next to me! Charlie, cover our back!"

"Y-yeah!" Charlie yelled, taking his gaze away with Sulivan from the two dead bodies, starting to follow the mouse's lead.

"Aim between the tents! Try not to shoot the soldiers!" The mouse yelled.

"I don't think at this point they can realize if we are civilians or raiders, if they shoot at us, shoot back!" Sulivan yelled.

The mouse didn't answer but knew that it was the most likely case.

They had to walk over a few dead raiders and soldiers, weapons, and blood scattered all around the place. It was truly a battlefield now.

Charlie could see raiders running in a far distance from their position past the tents with guns and melee weapons, yelling and laughing in midst of the terror. He didn't try to shoot, as he knew it would be a waste of ammo and it was hard to hit moving targets from this far.

Sulivan kept aiming at the left side of theirs and Walt covering the right until the mouse yelled.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

An opening between the tents came, enough to have a full view at the hills the raiders had come down from. It was covered in a small explosion caused holes on the ground, body parts, and a few dead raiders. But now, they very all visible for the eye, and some raiders had just spotted them.

Walt pulled Sulivan in cover just in time, the raiders starting to yell at their direction.

"SHOOT THEM! BEHIND THAT TENT!!!"

"SHIT!!" The mouse yelled, Sulivan panting rapidly and hearing as the echoing gunshots started to come their way heavily.

"How many?! DID YOU SEE?!" Sulivan asked from the mouse, standing next to him.

"AT LEAST THREE!" Walt confirmed.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN GET THEM?!" Sulivan questioned.

"WE MIGHT IF YOU GIVE ME COVER FIRE! ONE OF THEM HAD ONLY A PISTOL! COVER ME AND LET ME GET BEHIND THAT CONCRETE BLOCKS OVER THERE!" The mouse yelled, nodding at the way of the tent that was four meters next to theirs, having actual concrete blocks one meter high, surrounding the whole tent.

"COUNT ON IT! GO!" Sulivan yelled.

Walt closed his eyes briefly, taking a few sharp inhales and exhales, readying himself.

They were not getting fired, for now, so the raiders were clearly approaching and waiting for the right moment.

Walt gave the confirming nod and starting to make a run for it.

"TAKE THIS!!" Sulivan yelled, coming out of his corner cover the moment Walt started sprinting.

The AK started to spray at the raiders, but this time there were only two left in the open, one had left somewhere else.

Sulivan managed to hit one of the raiders, a female bunny, right in the leg.

She fell down, starting to yell at the other raider next to her as she started to desperately spray at Sulivan's direction with a Mosin Nagant rifle.

"SHOOT THAT FAT FUCKER, HE FUCKING GOT ME IN THE LEG! RORY!"

The male squirrel raider began shooting with his Glock at the Sulivan, and then at the concrete block, Walt had managed to get behind in.

Sulivan was forced to take cover, Walt now taking his turn to aim at the two and starting to pull the trigger.

But the female raider was a good shot, almost hitting Walt in the head after he only managed to fire three shots, making him duck back down.

"SHIT!" The mouse cursed in jumpscare.

Meanwhile, as the firefight was going on, Charlie was still behind Sulivan, holding his handgun with shaky paws.

Until he looked next to him, his eyes widening as he saw something.

Someone was approaching inside the tent. The husky could make out someone moving inside the tent through the gap of the entrance curtains.

It was a raider. Most likely the third one from the open. He had decided to circle around and ambush them through the tent. It was a white-furred cat in leather spike armor.

The husky quickly stepped far away from Sulivan closely, getting on the other side of the tent entrance, aiming and readying to shoot the raider.

Charlie was sweating, knowing he would come out any moment now.

And soon enough, as the trembling hands held the handgun, the cat raider slowly came out of the tent, looking straight at Sulivan's back with a victory smirk.

He already had a bowie knife in his paw, ready to get stab the bear from behind.

But he had not seen Charlie. And as the barrel was aiming at the legs of the cat.

"SULIVAN, LOOK OUT!" Charlie yelled. The cat turned around, meeting his eyes with Charlie.

Charlie inhaled air, pushing his fear aside as he was about to save Sulivan's life, squeezing the trigger.

BLAM! BLAM!

The bullet hit both kneecaps of the cat, making him scream out in agony as he fell on his knees.

"WHAT THE?!" Sulivan jumped, turning around after the gunshots and seeing Charlie aim the smoking barrel of his handgun at the cat on his knees.

"YOU... YOU FUCKING LITTLE CUNT-!" Was the only thing the cat managed to yell at Charlie's face, spit flying and his eyes full of disbelief of what had just happened until Sulivan swung his Ak.

THOK!!

The back of the wooden Ak smashed against the back of the cat's head, killing him instantly from breaking the back of his skull.

The cat fell down, Charlie panting and lowering his gun as Sulivan looked at him with wide eyes.

"..." Sulivan said nothing, just giving a nod of gratitude, turning back to shoot from his cover at the two raiders.

Charlie just looked down, quickly getting into action and taking the knife from the cat's loose paw. He quickly put the bowie knife on his belt, knowing that at this point it was smart to take anything he could from the dead.

Meanwhile, Walt was still behind the cover, ready to shoot at the raiders again.

But then his eyes widened, as he saw someone come straight towards him from the front, running from the concrete road.

"LOOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE!!!"

"FUCKFUCK!" Walt yelled, aiming his assault rifle up in terror, as some black-furred bear raider was running at him with a hatchet in both hands, equally covered in blood. He was wearing heavy metal armor, already having few bullet dents on it, along with scary-looking metal helmet with horns.

Walt started to spray with his assault rifle at the hatchet-wielding maniac, getting assistance fire from Sulivan as well as Walt's scream had alerted him as well.

Charlie witnessed as the bear got his whole chest full of led, but it merely made him just slow down as the metal pieces were getting torn off, but doing their job in protecting him from the bullets.

But the number of bruises and broken ribs from the rapid-fire made the bear fall down, letting go of one of his axes and spit blood on the ground.

"I WILL... KILL YOU ALL!" The bear yelled in rage, trying to get up as Sulivan and Walt both realized that they had almost no ammo left in their magazines.

Charlie raised his handgun up, aiming carefully. If he would hit the eye of the bear, he would manage to kill him.

Before any of them managed to take the shot, someone else did.

General Ferguson walked from behind the kneeled bear, grabbing the raider by the horn of his helmet and yanking his face up.

He shoved his Magnum 44 barrel into the bears mouth, yelling at him.

"BITE DOWN THIS FUCKER!" The coyote pulling the trigger and making the blood and bits of flesh spray all over his paw.

General Ferguson barely managed to take look at the three, before he saw the two raiders try to now reach their position.

"TURN AROUND!" Captain Ferguson yelled at Sulivan and Walt to wake them up, pushing the dead bear onto the ground and starting to blast his magnum at the approaching raiders.

The two raiders didn't stand a chance, as Sulivan and Walt emptied their last ammo on them along with Captain Ferguson who shot the female raider on the ground right in the chest, Sulivan and Walt shooting the squirrel raider all over his chest and making him fall down.

Right as the situation was over, captain Ferguson yelled.

"YOU WERE ALL SUPPOSED TO GET TO THE BUNKER!"

"THE GUY WHO WAS TAKING US THERE GOT SHOT, WE CAN'T STAY HERE! THERE IS TOO MANY OF THE RAIDERS, YOU CAN'T WIN!!" Walt yelled at the coyote.

"I WILL RATHER DIE THAN RUN LIKE A COWARD, I AM FEBRIS! WE CAN HOLD THIS SCUM OFF! YOU THREE NEED TO GET TO THE BUNKER- AND!"

SHHHHHHHOOOOFFFFF!

The rocket came from the top of the hill, the coyote's eyes widening as he saw it coming too late, dropping his magnum and saying something silently before the impact came.

KRATHOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The rocket made captain Ferguson explode into a bloody mass, Walt, Sulivan, and Charlie all wincing and closing their eyes as the blast made bits of the coyote's body fly everywhere.

"JESUS CHRIST FUCK!!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!??!" Walt yelled in absolute shock the explosion having taken off his hearing as a result, the mouse hearing nothing but ringing.

Sulivan was rapidly panting, still staring at the meaty rags left on the burning ground with traumatized eyes.

Charlie was feeling himself zone out. Every sound started to become a blur.

The violence around him... The death... the blood... The chaos...

No one of his age should witness this. No one... Should witness this.

At this very moment... He felt like leaving home was the worst thing he had done.

The false feeling of safety had been there... Until everything had turned into an absolute nightmare.

Sulivan was yelling at him... But he couldn't hear the words. All he saw was the bears wide, terror-filled eyes, as he was shaking his body by the strong grip on the back of his neck.

"CHARLIE! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! HEY!"

The hearing came back slowly, pulling him back into ringing explosions and bullets.

"WE NEED TO MOVE! THE TRUCKS ARE NOT FAR AWAY ANYMORE! WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE! WE CAN'T STAND STILL AROUND THIS PLACE!" Sulivan yelled.

Charlie didn't answer, just nodding unsurely as he was trying not to just stand around in shock once more, taking Sulivan's paw again and kept holding onto it, as the bear started running again.

They arrived at Walt, the mouse wiping flesh pieces off his face.

"Walt! Are you okay?!" Sulivan asked, pulling Charlie to duck down against the concrete blocks with him.

"What?!" The mouse asked with ringing ears.

"ARE YOU SHOT!?" Sulivan asked again.

"WHAT?! NO! I... I CAN'T FUCKING HEAR PROPERLY!" The mouse said, shaking his head all over wildly and hitting the side of his head with his hand.

"Better than being dead! We need to move!" Sulivan yelled.

"WE NEED TO WHAT?!" The mouse asked, not having heard again.

"FOLLOW ME!" The bear yelled, just giving a tap at the mouse's shoulder, not wanting to spend any more time on such an open area.

"O-OKAY!!!" The mouse yelled, starting to sprint after Sulivan and Charlie, the three now continuing to run between the tents and towards the cars.

They had barely run a few meters before Sulivan yelled.

"How much ammo do you have left?!"

"WHAT??!!" Walt yelled.

"AMMO!??!" Sulivan repeated in frustration.

"NONE!!!" Walt yelled back.

"SHIT! I have MAYBE FOUR LEFT IN THE MAGAZINE!" The bear yelled.

"WAIT!!!" The mouse yelled, tossing his assault rifle on the ground and quickly going down onto the ground, right next to a dead otter soldier, sitting against the tent side with closed eyes.

He quickly took the same gun from his dead paws, being M4A1 as well. Along with the pistol holster from his dead belt, just in case.

"QUICK!" Sulivan yelled to the mouse who was taking all the gear he could with clumsy and panicked hands.

"I'm trying, cover me!!" Walt yelled back at the bear.

"CHARLIE, LOOK OUT!" Sulivan suddenly yelled with an alerted tone.

The Husky saw as people were coming towards them from the same route.

It was multiple raiders. They were starting to gun at their direction with full automatic weapons, Charlie jumping right into the tent that was next to him, stumbling through the curtains.

Walt got a bullet scrape his shoulder, making him wince and yell out.

"AAAAHSHIT!" The mouse rolled right behind the tent, Sulivan backing out and shooting the last ammo from his Ak before tossing it away.

Walt yelled in horror as Sulivan was directly in the line of fire, about to get shot by the raiders until the luck came on their side.

Few Febris soldiers started to hit the raiders from their left side, killing at least two immediately. It gave Sulivan time to rush into Walt's location as quickly as he could.

The mouse was holding his shoulder, rapidly panting and yelling at the bear in panic.

"YOU OKAY?!"

"ME?! YOU GOT SHOT, WALT!!!"

"It's a flesh wound, it stings but I'll survive! I can keep going!" The mouse assured.

Walt suddenly passed the pistol holster to the bear, Sulivan looking at it and quickly taking the offer.

He took out the M1911 pistol from the holster, throwing the leather protection away and taking a good grip around the gun.

"THIS WILL DO!" The bear yelled in gratitude, checking the chamber.

"SULIVAN!!! WHERE IS CHARLIE?!?!?" The mouse suddenly let out.

The bear and the mouse both woke their eyes up in a panic, looking around them with heart stuck int heir throat as they had lost the kid from their sight in the heat of combat.

Little did they know, Charlie was inside the tent that they were taking cover behind in.

Charlie wanted to answer to them, as he clearly heard the yelling of the two from this close.

But he ended up being silent... As he had just stumbled on a situation he had expected not to.

Charlie was laying on his stomach, having a weapon pointed straight at his face.

It was a raider. It was a white-furred male goat, in dirty rags and holding a Glock right at Charlie... But he wasn't alone.

There was someone right under him. Crying. Bleeding from the head.

It was a female soldier, a cat. Looking barely twenty-year-old. She was in beaten up condition, looking roughed up as one could.

She was being raped.

The goat had his pants on his knees, being in the middle of the vile act just before Charlie had stumbled in from the fire.

The husky was looking at the goat and the goat was looking right back at him. The first serious and angry looking goat was silent, just observing the husky slowly.

He could kill him right at this moment, as Charlie didn't have his gun up ready.

The girl's head turned to slowly look at Charlie, tears falling down her cheeks as she whimpered.

"H-h-help me..."

Charlie panted, looking horrified at the situation, the girl begging for Charlie's help, just seeing the boy with a blurred vision.

The goat suddenly started smiling at Charlie, slowly releasing his hand from holding down the girls bruised wrist. The hand traveled right in front of the goat's mouth, as he gave the "Shhh" sign to the kid to be quiet.

At that moment, Charlie realized it. This was the same raider he had seen in the hills, as they recognized each other.

He had been raider after all. And Charlie realized... If he would have told this information to the Febris...

Maybe they had been more cautious and prepared.

Instead... he was now witnessing this helpless and beaten soldier girl getting raped by this same goat, the wicked smile behind the finger giving Charlie the creeps.

The goat moved his gun barrel a bit in a motion that told Charlie to get up.

The husky slowly rose back up on his feet, looking at the goat now with the question of what was he going to do.

"... Kid... Fuck off, will ya? Come back to this tent and I'll shoot her and you. leave now, and you will live. More than fair deal, for you not clearly snitching on seeing me to the troops, or they would have been ready. Go. Now." The goat asked almost politely with a wicked tone.

"CHARLIE??! CHARLIE?!?!"

The concerned yells came from outside the tent, the two trying to find Charlie.

The husky looked at the directing of the yells, seeing both Sulivan's and Walt's shadows through the tent side due to bright sunlight.

"... Go to them, kid. I don't need to shoot you." The goat whispered with the final tone, smiling as he was nodding at the way of the shadows, finding it obvious that the two were most likely looking for the husky in front of him.

The husky slowly started to back out with careful steps from the tent, maintaining the measuring eye contact with the goat.

"Smart kid." The goat said with a pleased tone, just before Charlie had backed out through the curtains.

The husky was back on the battlefield now, stumbling right against a dead Febris soldier with a back of his knee and landing on his tail painfully. Walt spotted Charlie, yelling at Sulivan.

"THERE! CHARLIE!"

The husky looked at the mouse who arrived within a blink to the scene with the bear behind him.

"YOU OKAY?! ARE YOU HURT?!

"... You have been shot." Charlie said quietly, looking at the wound on the mouse's shoulder, not able to shake off what he saw in the tent.

"WHAT?! IT'S OKAY, KID! WE NEED TO GO, GET UP! SULIVAN JUST SPOTTED A TRUCK! IT LOOKS INTACT!" The mouse yelled, pointing at the direction.

Charlie indeed saw the truck at the end of the tent rows, looking still functional. It was around fifteen meters away from them. If they would run, they would make it.

"WALT, WE NEED TO GO!" Sulivan yelled, already seeing some raiders at the direction of the truck, shooting two times with his handgun, cursing as he missed both shots.

"Charlie! Get up!" Walt yelled, pulling the husky harshly by the wrist.

"..." Charlie said nothing, still staring at the tent and felt himself getting pulled by force.

The mouse was dragging the husky, Sulivan still aiming with his handgun in front of them, keeping his eyes on the truck.

"We need to go! Charlie okay?" Sulivan quickly asked over his shoulder.

"He's okay! Charlie, same tactic! Cover our backs!" Walt yelled at the husky.

Charlie tried to get himself straight back into focusing. He managed somewhat, raising his handgun...

But yet...

The situation in the tent haunted his eyes.

MINUTE LATER

(Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 OST 28 Of Their Own Accord Crow's Nest)

The had arrived at the vehicle area, only to find that out that they had not been the only ones with the same plan.

There were at least four dead civilians around the cars, having been shot or butchered in the attempt.

Charlie and Walt both kept shooting around, noticing someone aim at them.

From behind the army truck, someone turned to shoot at them.

Charlie reacted fast, actually hitting a Tec-9 wielding dalmatian raider right in his hip, Walt finishing the dog off with a careful shot to the head with the assault rifle.

"GOGOGO!" Walt waved to Charlie, signaling him to climb into the back of the truck, the whole storage space being mostly full of all kinds of crates.

Charlie did as was told, quickly hopping inside the truck with agile movement, still aiming around the area with his handgun for the two's protection.

"THE CLIP IS EMPTY!" Sulivan yelled, shooting the final bullet from the clip of the handgun, hitting a raider from the housing side right in the shoulder, making the raider curse out and fall down on the ground to hold his wound.

"OPEN THE CAR DOOR, WALT!" The bear proceeded to yell at his friend, backing out and throwing the empty gun away from his hand.

"GOT IT!" Walt yelled, clicking the door open and letting Sulivan climb inside as fast as he could onto the driver's seat.

"I NEED A MOMENT WITH THIS! I DON'T SEE THE KEYS!" Sulivan yelled right away.

"THEN HOW DO YOU PLAN TO GET IT ON MOVING!"

"JUST BUY ME SOME DAMN TIME!!!" Sulivan yelled in frustrated panic, starting to go through the seats and dashboard of the car in hope of finding the keys to the ignition.

"WALT!" Charlie yelled quickly as a warning, as the mouse had been too busy looking after Sulivan's attempts to start the car.

Charlie saw that from the housing side on the other side of the concrete road, some wolf raider was lighting up a Molotov with a lighter, looking right at their way.

"OHSH!-" It was all that Walt managed to react, taking his gun up and shooting at the raider quickly.

The raider managed to throw the bottle in the air just in time until Walt's bullet from the assault rifle luckily hid the bottle in the air.

The bottle broke, sending a curtain of fire right on top of the wolf, setting him on flames and making him scream.

Charlie's jaw dropped as he didn't even bother to shoot at this point.

"AAAAAAAFUCKFUCKING!" The burning wolf started roaring and running in agony away from them, hitting the ground and trying to set the flames off.

Only to be shot by the sniper Febris that was still alive in the white house window.

As the burning wolf's brains splattered against the rocks, Walt winced away from the gory sight and screamed at Sulivan.

"DID YOU FIND THEM ALREADY??!!"

"WAIT!!... YEAH, I GOT THEM, I THINK THESE ARE THE RIGHT ONES!!!" The bear yelled after checking the folding mirror on top of his head.

"OH, THANK FUCKING GOD! I'll CORCLE AROUND THE CAR; CLOSE YOUR DOOR AND START THIS THING!!" Walt yelled in total relief.

"GOT IT!" Sulivan yelled, also relieved and praying that the car would actually start.

The bear slammed the door closed and inserted the keys with shaky fingers into the slot, turning them up and pressing the pedal.

THNKTHNKTHNFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The truck started vibrating, the bear yelling in victory.

"YESYESYESYES!

Charlie then yelled from the back of the truck with a hopeful tone.

"IS IT WORKING?!"

"HELL YEAH!!" Sulivan yelled at the back for the husky, then turning to look at the passenger side windshield as he saw Walt already there, ready to open the door.

But the smile died away as Sulivan's eyes widened, seeing the danger behind Walt.

"WALT!!!!" The bear yelled.

The mouse turned around, only to be greeted with a bad greeting.

A male Doberman with a brass knuckle hit Walt right in the side of his mouth, sending two of his teeth to fly from the side of his muzzle with blood. The assault rifle in Walt's paw fell down instantly.

The mouse barely managed to block another incoming punch with his hands, when the dog gave a full sidekick at his ribs instead and made the mouse grunt heavily as he fell down on the sand.

"NOT SO TOUGH WITHOUT GUNS!!!" The dog laughed mockingly like a maniac, proceeding to kick Walt in the stomach as he was crawling on the ground.

"SHIT!!" Sulivan yelled in panic, not knowing what to do, as he had no gun on him. And It was already obvious that this dog knew how to fight, Sulivan would lose their chance to drive away now and escape by going to help.

"Get the fuck up, bitch!" The dog yelled, pulling Walt by the back of his shirt, slamming his head against the metal of the truck tire hard.

Walt kept grunting as the dog kept kicking him, not standing a chance against him.

The dog was lifting the mouse up now with both of his strong hands, slamming him against the door.

Walt's eyes were spinning as he saw the dog in three, hearing the maniac laugh right at his face.

The dog balled his fist, ready to knock Walt out with one good hit, but something stopped him as he grunted out, his eyes widening.

"AARRHm!!" The dog let out, feeling something cold and burning inside his flesh.

The dog slowly turned to look with wide eyes next to him, seeing what had happened.

Charlie was standing there, looking ferocious.

The bowie knife he had taken from a body was now all halfway sun in the dog's right ribs.

The dog let go of Walt, his burning gaze looking right at Charlie as the dog started to take steps back warily.

The Doberman slowly reached for the knives handle, pulling it out and gritting his teeth in pain as he held the knife now, speaking with a growl.

"You... Fucking... Little shit... You stabbed me... I will cut your fucking throat and feed you to deathclaws-!"

"HEY PYSCHO!" Walt yelled in anger for the dog.

The dog didn't even get to turn around, getting greeted by bullets.

Walt had picked up the assault rifle from the ground, shooting the dog three times right at the back of his head, the distraction Charlie had created being situation saver.

BRATATATAT!

The dog's face got mangled from the rapid-fire, his lifeless body falling face flat against the sand.

Sulivan witnessed the whole thing from the window, yelling waking up them both back into the moment at hand, as Charlie and Walt both panted and looked at eachother, full of adrenaline.

"GET IN THE CAR! WE HAVE TO GO! NOW!!!" The bear yelled.

Charlie and Walt both snapped out of it, the husky quickly bending down and taking the bowie knife from the sand back into his hand.

"You could have just shot him, you know, but thanks still!" Walt yelled, opening the door quickly and waving for Charlie to climb into the driver's seat.

"The gun had no ammo left, I had to do something!" Charlie yelled back with apologizing tone, getting practically shoved inside by the mouse.

"You saved my life, that is good enough for me, kid!" Walt yelled, climbing into the car as well, slamming the door closed.

"OKAY, I NEED TO BACK OUT; WATCH THE REAR WINDOWS!" The bear yelled for the two as they had climbed in finally.

"SULIVAN! IN FRONT OF US!!" Charlie suddenly screamed in fear as he saw two raiders right in front of their truck, one reloading his revolver and one already aiming a shotgun at them.

"DRIVE!!!" Walt yelled quickly, taking the assault rifle out and ready to shoot the two through the front windows.

"HEADS DOWN!!!" Sulivan yelled, Charlie and Walt both quickly ducking down as Sulivan hit the pedal down, the tires rolling on the sand and starting to move.

The two raiders realized that they were about to get driven over, one of them yelling.

"SHOOT THE FUCKING BEAR BEHIND THE WHEEL!!!"

They both started to blast at the front windows, the bullets going right above the three.

The truck impacted the dalmatian raider, hitting him back against a bunch of oil barrels and the revolver flying from his paw, the Shiba raider next to him managing to jump out of the way just in time.

The bear stopped the truck, starting to put the break on and attempting to back out until he looked behind him.

"I can't back out, there are too many bodies blocking the way for tires, we could get stuck!!" Sulivan yelled.

"WHAT DO WE DO?!" Charlie yelled scaredly.

"THEN DRIVE FORWARD AND CIRCLE AROUND THESE TENTS, GOGOGO!" Walt screamed.

"OKAY!" Sulivan yelled, taking the break off and hitting the gas.

"WATCH OUT!!" Walt yelled quickly, having spotted the Shiba who was now next to their truck and on his feet, aiming at them with his shotgun.

PPPOOFF!

The first shotgun shot hit the driver's side door, blocking the pellets.

"OUT OF THE CAR, BOYS!" The Shiba yelled angrily.

Walt leaned from over Sulivan, aiming his assault rifle and pressing the trigger.

The Shiba got hit with the last remaining ammo from Walt's assault rifle, the brief blood mist coming out of the dog before he fell down dead with holes all over his chest, the dead dog's face hitting a rock as well and making Sulivan wince.

"SHIT! THAT WAS CLOSE!!" The bear yelled, pressing the gas now and turning the steering wheel.

"I got no ammo left, shit!" The mouse yelled, dropping the assault rifle to their feet and trusting that Sulivan would be able to drive them away from here.

"HERE WE GO!" The bear yelled, the truck now starting really roll on its wheels and going forward, the bear turning left and driving over tent poles, the whole thing getting caught up in the wind as result.

"WERE DO WE DRIVE?!" Charlie yelled in confusion, seeing the raiders trying to run beside the truck and hit it with any melee weapons they had, along with shooting it.

"I AM TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT!! THE GATE OUT OF HERE IS ON OUR LEFT! I need to find an opening to drive on, this car could get stuck in the tents or concrete barricades! I am trying my best, man!"

The truck was driving on full speed now, getting to the open area, which was the hillside the raiders had come down from.

It was attracting clearly lot of attention now, as their truck was getting heavy bullet fire on its cargo area.

The bear kept panting, looking at the two next to him and actually smiled nervously.

"Is everyone okay?! No one got shot?!" The bear yelled nervously.

"Nah but I can't feel my fucking face, and I think I broke a rib, that dog was going to beat me to death!" The mouse still yelled in shock, spitting out blood due to missing teeth.

"YEAH, I SAW! YOU LOOK EVEN ULGIER NOW THAN YOU USED TO!" The bear laughed.

"NOT THE TIME, STOP MAKING JOKES AND FOCUS ON THE ROAD!" The mouse yelled in frustration.

The bear gave a nervous laugh, pushing the pedal to the end and keeping on driving, Charlie being so stressed out that he was clawing the seat and trying to just keep on breathing.

The bear yelled now with relief.

"GUYS! I THINK WE ARE GONNA MAKE-"

"SULIVAN!!!" Charlie cried out, Walt's eyes widening as they saw it.

At least five raiders were already at the gates, knowing that there was going to be attempts of escape.

They were all armed with weapons.

"SHIT!!! WE HAVE TO DRIVE OVER THEM; WE CAN'T TURN AROUND!!!" The bear yelled in panic.

Walt pulled Charlie down just in time as the raiders aimed and yelled.

"DOWN!!! DRIVE OVER THE-"

That was all Walt managed to get out, as the assault rifle fire opened on them and started shredding their front window down totally, the sharp glass flying all around them like a hail.

BRATATATATTTTTATTTTAT!!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Walt and Charlie screamed in horror with their heads tucked down.

Sulivan... He didn't stand a chance to get down in time, as he needed to see where they were driving.

The bear yelled in pain as the bullets came.

Sulivan's blood sprayed at them both as he was getting shot at least three times all around his chest, the bear's body starting to go into a shock as he started to twitch all over, his hands dropping from the steering wheel.

Walt screamed with Charlie in horror as they saw that the bear was slowly losing his life, looking at them with woozy, begging eyes, the bear knowing that the end was near as well.

"SULIVAN!!!"

The mouse let out in broken voice, right before Charlie turned his head to look in front of them, yelling before the impact came.

"WALT! WE ARE GOING TO HIT-!"

PPFFFMMM!!!!

The truck smashed right against at least three raiders, killing them all instantly, only two managing to jump out of the way.

Their blood sprayed all over the truck hood, as well as on their seats through the broken front window, a whole severed arm flying in as well.

The impact made both of them almost hit their heads against the dashboard, Charlie flying right at the feet area due to his small size, losing his breath as the air got hit out of his lungs.

Walt had used his hands just in time to protect the impact against the dashboard, causing two big bruises on his elbows.

"GARRHH!!" The mouse let out in agony.

Charlie was coughing on the feet area, his vision blurring as he tried to desperately gasp for air.

The car was slowing down a lot now.

The bear's foot was still pressing on the pedal even if he was still slowly dying on his seat, but the strength was wavering from his lower body and the car was now going merely a walking speed.

The husky could hear the remaining raiders nearby yell something, along with Walt who was screaming in tears at his friend, echoing in Charlie's head.

"SULIVAN! SULIVAN!!! JESUS FUCK, PLEASE DON'T FUCKING DIE ON ME NOW MAN!!!" The mouse screamed desperately, trying to shake Sulivan by his collar, getting more panicked as he actually now saw the damage on his friend.

There was no saving the bear. He was trying to speak, the words coming out as painful groans as his eyes couldn't stay focused on Walt, his gums dropping blood all over Walt's hands and making him scream and cry harder.

BRATATATTA!!!!

The bullets broke the reflecting mirrors at the car sides as the two remaining raiders had finally gotten back to finishing their job, spraying at the truck around ten meters behind them.

The mouse snapped as Charlie was slowly gathering himself woozily from the floor, rushing to yell at the raiders from the open window.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! YOU FUCKING MANIACS! YOU FUCKING-!!!" Walt screamed in rage from the side window at the raiders who were shooting started to yell curses back at him, the mouse broken over his loss that he didn't even care about the bullets that could have hit him right now as the raiders were still shooting.

The mouse winced, bringing his head back inside and beating the dashboard in rage as his best friend had just died next to them.

"FUCK!FUCK!FUUUUUCK!!"

"Chr... Charl... Dri..." The bear tried to squeeze out, looking at Charlie with glossy and bloodshot eyes, the husky crying and looking at the bear in sorrow, now knowing what to do.

"...Dr..Driv... G-go..." The bear managed to get out, spitting blood heavily all over and coughing loudly after, his eyes rolling.

"WALT!!! WE NEED TO GO!! THE GATE!!!" Charlie woke up, his eyes widening as he realized what situation they were about to be in if they didn't move.

"YOU SHOT MY FUCKING FRIEND YOU FUCKING MURDERING PSYCHO FUCKS!!!!" Walt was still screaming and crying from the window, picking up his assault rifle and trying to fire the empty magazine clicking but scaring off the two remaining raiders who had ran out of ammo as well.

He was about to keep yelling at the two runners when he actually realized what he was seeing far away.

The raiders who had already taken over the outpost were now all running from the town towards their location. At least twenty of them coming through the dusty wind, screaming and laughing, some shooting in the air like this was a sport hunt for them.

"SHIT!!!! FUCK!!! CHARLIE, WE NEED TO GO!!!" the mouse yelled instantly in panic, pulling his head back in and looking at Charlie, the husky desperately trying to shake the bear so he wouldn't completely close his eyes.

"CHARLIE! CHARLIE!!! We... WE HAVE TO KEEP DRIVING! THEY ARE COMING TO US!!!"

"WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!!!" Charlie yelled back in tears, his face once again covered in blood all over, trying to shake the bear awake still desperately and crying all over him.

"WE HAVE TO TRY!!! STOMP THE THING THAT HIS FOOT IS ON!!!" The mouse yelled in panic.

"O-OKAY!!!" Charlie let out, sniveling and quickly hopping off from the bear and crouching down to the feet area.

He started to press the bear's foot with both hands against the pedal, the truck reacting immediately.

The wheels started to spin again, spitting dust cloud all over behind them as it began moving.

"KEEP PRESSING IT!!! THEY WILL CATCH US!!!!" The mouse yelled paranoidly, looking out of the window and seeing the crowd run on full speed now as they had clearly expected that the truck had broken down.

Charlie pressed the foot as hard as he could now, closing his crying eyes and knowing the impact was about to come.

"HOLD ON!!!" Walt yelled, letting go of Sulivan and grabbing the seats as the metal gates were about to get crushed.

KSSSHHH!!!!!

The metal fences didn't stand a chance against the hit, flying to the sides as the truck rammed through.

As they both opened their eyes after the gate had been rammed, Walt quickly looked out of the window, panting.

He saw that the raiders were now slowing down, giving up with the running and shooting in the air, yelling and actually cheering for their escape like lunatics, shooting their guns in the air as a celebration for their nevertheless taken victory.

The mouse still panted under the adrenaline, pulling his head out of the window and speaking quickly.

"OhshitohshitohshitohshitCHARLIE! Are you okay?!"

"I-I am!" The husky whined from the feet area, looking up at the bear, Walt looking at Sulivan at the same time.

Sulivan was holding his chest with both paws, Charlie keeping the car on the right track with his other hand on the steering wheel and the other hand on the pedal.

The mouse was looking at his friend with tears starting to roll, as he could not understand with Charlie why the bear would smile at this moment while dying.

But the bear managed to grunt and breathe heavily, spitting out blood and looking at his best friend.

"Wh.. Wheehh.. Wh.. W-we made it... Wheehh... Weh... M-made it out..." The bear grumbled.

The mouse could not help but exhale with a small genuine smile of relief, knowing that it was true indeed. They had survived.

"W-Whalt.. Whal..." The bear tried to get out, his smile fading away and his eyes almost closing.

"S-Sulivan, I am here! I am here!" The mouse said, scooting closer and quickly pressing on the bear's bullet holes, staining his paws with the running blood as he tried to hear what the bear had to say.

"Youuh... MMhaake.. HHaah..The... Thekid.. Make... Prothetch.. Hnn.. Ch-Charl..."

"I will get him there! I promise...!" The mouse let out while crying, Charlie not able to look at the bear anymore as he saw the light fading from his eyes.

The bear only managed to get out a small, weak smile as he closed his eyes shut.

"Ih... ich.. Chould.. Haahnh... Al.. Alhw.. Choun... Count on.. Jhh.. Tellh.. Mh.. Mh... Wifeh... Tellhh.."

"Sulivan?... SULIVAN?!!? OHNONHONO!!" The mouse began in panic, the bear's heart starting to fail.

Charlie started crying, just wanting this all to be one big nightmare.

And all he could see with his blurred vision anymore, was as the mouse was having a panic attack, hugging his best friend as hard as he could and screaming for god to save his life,

only seconds before he felt the calming and warming sun last time on his fur as his heart stopped beating, feeling the darkness swallow him whole,

Only Walt's sorrowful yells echoing like broken voices at the end of the tunnel.

END