Night, Fight, Then Flight
#5 of New Kid
Part Five: Night, Fight, Then Flight
Chapter notes: I figure I'll keep the story being told by Zeke but will have parts with other characters where the need applies. Ok so new day here and things start off ok, Zeke is still hiding his secret from Matt and we see more of Zeke's dad, who as you may be able to tell is a bit of a goofball but loves his son all the same and is a bit like my dad in a few ways (random work hours, humor, often cheerful, etc.). Please read the end notes after reading this all as it should help explain a few minor things.
Also I just decided to post it to get it posted... Enjoy it, and if there are any errors don't worry when I get the time to rehaul the whole thing they'll get fixed.
Zeke:
The morning came too quickly for me as they normally do most days and as I heard my alarm going off at 6:30 I just wanted to throw a brick at it. Instead of resorting to violence, though, I just threw my arm around and hit the snooze button before returning my arm back to this large fuzzy thing that I had in my bed. I couldn't remember what was going on when I realized that I wasn't alone then so I slowly opened my eyes. When they got used to the light and focused, I saw that I was sleeping next to Matt, the otter I had known for less than 24 hours, and he was curled up next to me murring softly in his sleep.
I couldn't help but smile at him and think about how sweet he looked, but I knew that this couldn't last. We had school today and I needed a shower before leaving, so as much as I didn't want to get up, Matt being one of the reasons and the other being that I'm just not a morning person, I slowly slipped out of the covers and got up. I stretched out my back and limbs trying to be quiet as I stood up, turned off my alarm, and got my towel and clothes. I was just going to have to get dressed in the bathroom today since I couldn't risk letting Matt see my back. I walked to my door, opened it, and then took one last look back at the otter as he stirred softly before I shut the door behind me and headed towards the bathroom.
Once I got to the bathroom, I took off my shirt, and looked in the mirror at my bed headed mess of fur. I shook my body out to try and fluff out my fur and turned on the sink to splash some water on my face to wake up some. "So...," I shook my head and turned my head to see my dad leaning against the doorway smiling at me, "how'd you sleep last night?"
I moaned and splashed my face some more to get awake and looked back at my father again, who was already dressed and ready for his day at work. "I slept just fine, dad, and I wish you'd stop insinuating that I'm going to have sex with Matt as I doubt he's gay anyway."
I turned to face him to see that he was holding his head in mock pain, "Ow... five syllable words hurt my brain this early in the morning..., and how do you know if you haven't asked?"
I pushed my dad out the door, and sighed as I looked up at him, "Because dad... I'm just not that lucky..." I knew it was just an excuse of me being afraid of being hated again but still it was true, I just wasn't lucky enough to find a guy. Hell I wasn't even lucky enough to find a real friend most times.
My dad put a paw to my good shoulder and smiled softly as he brought me into a hug. I felt like a pup every time he did that, but still it made me remember that I had people who did love me. "You'll find someone, you just got to open up and not worry so much, you've learned how to defend yourself and you train all the time... heck I know you could kick some of the tails of the guys I used to play with. So don't worry, be proud of who and what you are, and things'll go better for ya's." I smiled as he broke the embrace and headed downstairs.
Right before he started heading down the steps, though, he turned around and sneered at me before opening up his muzzle again, "And I know you'd have liked to wrestle around with some of those guys." He winked suggestively at me and laughed as I reached for a towel and threw it at him. He just caught it, smiling widely at me, and headed downstairs while I finished undressing and got in the shower.
I situated the water to wear it was nice and warm before I got in. I stood there for a few moments and let the water soak into my fur before starting to wash myself down. I don't know why but taking a nice warm shower always made me happy and calm and as I started to wash my lithe gray front I let my mind wonder. I thought about what it'd be like to actually be able to have a mate. To be able to walk with him paw in paw down a beach with my shirt off and letting the wind go through my fur. Having someone who'd accept my tiger heritage and also be there for me would be enough. Sure I'd have my preferences on what I'd like in a guy, but beggars can't really stand to be choosers.
I chuckled at my thoughts and kept washing getting some shampoo and scrubbing my scalp. 'It would be nice I suppose... if he was interested in me...' I thought about Matt's actions up to this point and there definitely seemed to be a vibe from him, but I didn't want to freak him out by asking so I'd just have to find a way of finding out for myself.
I finished up with my shower, turned off the water, and let myself drip for a moment before shaking out. I thought back to what my dad had said about opening up and not worrying so much as I got out of the shower and dried myself off.
'Maybe he's right, maybe instead of being so cold and distant I should just...DO WHAT?' I suddenly realized that I really had no idea of what to do. I mean I could just go right up to him and ask 'Hey you want to go out on a date with me?' But geeze I would have to be an idiot to do something that would be that potentially embarrassing, not to mention just about stupid, of me to do.
I went over a few scenarios as I dried out my fur and brushed it down, but nothing good seemed to come to me. I slipped on my boxers and a t-shirt before heading back to my room with a towel around my head. I was still thinking about how to go about opening up to Matt when I opened my door, and quietly walked in to see that Matt was still asleep in bed. The poor pup must have had a rough night what with that huge storm and being away from home and in a strange bed. Still though, he looked peaceful enough when I woke up, so he must have got a somewhat good night's sleep.
I looked at the clock, 6:57, school was in an hour and as much as I hated to do it, I had to wake Matt up. I decided that I should try to gently wake him up so as to not scare him. So with that decided I went over to the bed and gently stroked over his head and quietly tried to stir him.
"Matt... Matt...," He moaned softly and squirmed about but I persisted knowing he had to get up, "Matt... it's time to get up... come on buddy..." I gently shook his shoulder and he slowly blinked his eyes open and looked up at me standing above him. He smiled a goofy kind of grin as he blinked his eyes open and I just had to smile at the innocence that surrounded him.
"It's time for school, dear, hurry up or you'll be late," I tried to sound like a mother as I said that while shaking my finger at him, and apparently that made him chuckle as I had hoped that it would. As I went to my drawer to get out some shorts and socks for today, Matt got up off the bed and stood up straight before bending in a few different directions to stretch out his spine.
"If you want...," I said hesitantly looking back at the still half-naked otter in my room, "You can take a shower. I've got some spare clothes that should fit you, boxers, shorts, t-shirt, and all that if you need them too."
Matt looked over at me and nodded, "Yeah, that'd be nice, thanks. I always like to take a shower in the morning. It gets me energized for the day." I smiled understanding what he meant and rummaged through my drawers a bit before I got out some nice clothes and handed them to him. I then sat down on my bed to pull up my pants and position my tail through the hole and got presentable for the day.
I looked at Matt and told him that I would go fix us some breakfast and that he could just come down when he was done with his shower. He nodded and walked out yawning, leaving me to finish getting ready. I put on my socks and shoes, slipped my light jacket over my shirt, checked to be sure that I had my cell-phone and miscellaneous items with me, and then brushed my shoulder-length grey hair before I headed downstairs.
My dad was sitting back watching the news when I came down and he said good morning to me happily. I just grunted back in response while I headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I went around the kitchen getting out some ham, eggs, and cheese, along with the proper pans and utensils, and started to make an omelet for Matt and me. My dad had already made him some bacon and sausages for his breakfast and had now left me with the job of cleaning up after him. I got his plates together, put them into the sink, and then turned on the warm water and poured in some soap so that the dishes could soak. After that was done I turned the water off and got out a clean pan to start cooking my own breakfast.
By the time that the omelet was finished, I had made some toast and poured a glass of juice to drink just as Matt entered the kitchen wearing the clothes I'd got out for him. I always wore clothes that were a bit big and baggy on me so they looked like they fit him just fine. He looked happy and relaxed as he came in and I motioned for him to take a seat.
As he went to the table and poured himself some orange juice he sniffed at the air and smiled at me. "Well something sure smells great in here, whatcha got cookin' today?" He took a sip of his juice and looked over at me as I finished preparing our breakfast.
I told him I was making some eggs and toast for us and that it would be ready in a few minutes. Once the eggs had finished cooking, I put them on a plate for each of us with some toast, and threw on some bacon and sausage for Matt. I then took the plates and set them down on the table before I went and got out some jelly and butter for the toast. After everything was fixed and prepared I sat across from Matt and we started to eat in relative silence. Neither of us said a word as we ate, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but was more the kind of quiet when you have nothing to say.
After a few minutes of this though, Matt broke the silence, "Um... Zeke?" I stopped eating then and looked up from my breakfast at Matt, politely waiting for him to go on. "Um... you're not going to tell anybody about last night, are you...? I mean with my immense fear and my acting like a coward?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at how he sounded so worried, but when he looked at me concerned I raised my paw promising that I wouldn't say a word. It was all cool with me and I made mention that he had helped me out too last night. Besides, he was a good guy and I never had it in me to really hurt someone I liked and I made a point of telling him that as well.
Once we were done with our meal I glanced up at the clock and saw that it was getting late. "Well..." I stood up stretching and taking our plates to the sink, "Time to get headin to school, bud. We can walk to school from here, and you can walk back and drive on home afterwards. That ok with you?"
He agreed with me once he saw the time, so he went to the family room as I went upstairs to brush my teeth. When I came back down stairs Matt was sitting down on the sofa waiting for me with our bags on the floor. He saw me coming down the stairs and got up picking up his bag and walked to the door. As I walked over to get my bag, Matt said suddenly, "Your dad left for work already, and he wanted me to tell you that he'd be home around 4 today."
I nodded and thanked him for telling me before I grabbed my book bag and we headed outside. Once we were outside I made sure that the door was locked before we headed off. We started walking down the sidewalk together; I had my book-bag slung over my right shoulder and was moving groggily while Matt walked along next to me. I looked up at him and noticed that he was smiling and seemed to be having a good ol' time. "Let me guess..." He looked over at me with bright happy eyes so I just went on, "you're a morning fur ain't cha?"
Matt just chuckled and shook his head a bit. He explained to me that he liked the smell of the air after a big storm; it just smelled so clean and fresh compared to other times. I took a deep whiff of the air around me and nodded saying that it really was like that. The air did smell much fresher than it did yesterday and the whole area seemed to be more alive as well. I smiled as we kept walking and we started to talk lightly about some random things like most teenagers do.
I was almost starting to think that this was looking to be a great day, but about half way to school I was quickly proven how wrong I was to think that. Matt and I had gotten on the subject of our schoolwork when we suddenly heard a very nasty voice from behind us. "Well, well... What do we have hear...? A freak and... oh look it's the spineless otter..."
We both turned around and there he was, that stupid puma, Jarrod. He was standing with a rather large husky looking rhino, a punk looking hyena with some really cut looking muscles, and a very tall griffin who looked like a basketball player. They all looked angry and threatening as they stood behind us, but to me they looked like nothing but a bunch of punks looking for trouble.
"What do you want Jarrod? We're just headin' to school and we don't want any trouble." Matt could see that this was not a good get together just as easily as I could, but unlike him I could see the anger and thirst for violence in their eyes and the smell of adrenaline in the air. They were here for a reason and they weren't going to just go away easily.
Despite their glares I stood my ground and started looking them over. If they all tried to jump me at once it could be trouble, but I think I could handle them. I didn't want Matt getting involved in this, though, as I knew that they were here for me, so I walked over between him and the rest of these guys. I set down my backpack and looked back at them making sure I was showing no signs of backing down from them.
"Aww look, the wittle puppy doggie is pwotecting his fwiend... isn't dat sweet...?" The rhino mocked what I was doing but I just glared at him as he stepped forward. He looked down and snorted as he looked me over chuckling to himself. "Heh, pitty, he don't look like he'll be much of a fight."
I growled softly at this idiot as he said this. He was obviously your stupid run-of-the-mill bully who used his size just to push others into doing things for him. He was large, muscular build, wearing a letterman's jacket, and fit the stereotype of a "dumb-jock". He more that likely had a few kids working on his class assignments and such, but he was all brawn and no brain, which meant he wouldn't be to much of a problem for me.
"Just to warn you my grandpa and my uncle were both in the NAVY and taught me everything they know about fighting, I also have taken several self defense courses and won't hold back on you... so why don't you guys just move along and leave us alone. I don't want any trouble and I really don't want to fight." Now it may have seemed like I was bluffing to them, but in reality my uncle and grandfather really had taught me how to fight when I was younger, and when I was older I got enrolled in several self-defense type classes (karate, taekwondo, judo, and a few other things). The point is, though, that at this point I was pretty sure that I could protect myself and others when the need arose, and these guys weren't likely going to pose an issue if they wanted to start something with me.
The rhino just stood before me and chuckled, "Ya here dat Rod? Dis guy says he can take me on." He looked back at his friends and they were all chuckling and grinning like what I'd said was stupid, but I remained calm and unwavering before them.
All of a sudden he turned and swung a right hook at me, but I easily evaded it and struck back with my own right hook, which, unlike the rhino's, connected with the side of his muzzle. My punch knocked his face around and I heard a gasp from everyone around me as he reached up to hold onto the area where I'd hit him. I then stood back and took a defensive stance bouncing softly on my heels, ready to fight if he didn't back off.
The rhino just stood there dazed for a moment holding his face with a surprised look on his face. Matt then walked around me and stepped between us looking nervous and scared as he tried backing us away from each other, "Hey guys... Let's just settle down... no need in fighting or anything right...?" He chuckled nervously as he stood between us, but I quickly saw that doing so was a mistake.
The rhino suddenly got over his shock and swung a balled up fist at Matt that hit him square in the eye. This sent the poor otter stumbling back a few steps before falling over on his side holding his eye and cringing at the pain from the hit. This single moment really made me pissed off. When I saw Matt fall to the cold, hard, ground an image surfaced in my mind of when my brother and I were attacked and he fell to the ground, beaten, bleeding, and hurt. I just couldn't help myself then and I lost it. I went into a primal attack mode, shutting off all other senses and putting all of my strength into my attacks. I socked the rhino square in the jaw and then landed a good solid punch straight to his gut. I then kneed him straight where it hurts (which was a low blow I know but like I said, I was pissed and running on adrenaline at the time), and then slammed my knee up into his chin before I extended my leg and brought my foot straight down on his head, thus drop kicking him to the ground.
As he laid there on the cold ground I watched him for a moment as he groaned in pain and curled up holding his stomach where I'd hit him. He didn't look like he was going anywhere soon after my strikes so I took the incentive and went over to examine Matt as Jarrod and the rest of his goons went to help their friend. I crouched down and examined the area Matt had been hit and though he winced at my touching the area, nothing seemed to be broken but his eye would more than likely be swollen later on. I then managed to get Matt up and moved against a small tree that was growing near the sidewalk. He could sit there and recover while I took care of the rest of those guys. As soon as I had Matt positioned there I looked back at the guys and saw that Jarrod had gotten that rhino up and was now glaring at me.
I got up quickly and took on a defensive stance as we starred at each other from our respective positions. After a few tense moments of glaring at me the puma made a slashing motion at his throat and growled at me, "You're dead, Punk. No one gets away with hurting one of my guys and gets away with it!" I perked up my ears at what and how he had just said that. It was rather strange for a feline to be getting that worked up over a friend like he was, and as I looked him over something seemed a bit weird. He was lightly puffing out his fur to look bigger and baring his teeth to show he meant business. The feline was doing his best to look intimidating to me, but from my understanding felines didn't normally do this sort of thing unless they, or something of theirs, were being threatened which was not the present case.
Just before Jarrod could start heading my way, though, the hyena stepped forward and blocked him with his arm, "Let, me take care of this, Rod, I can handle this runt." This guy looked pretty strong so I watched him intently as he got closer and balled up his fists. I wouldn't have the element of surprise like I'd had with the rhino so I had to stay sharp with this guy.
He walked slowly towards me and kept his eyes on me looking for an opening. I was keeping my eyes on him at the same time, keeping my breathing calm and preparing for his attack. After a moment of watching me the guy lunged forward and threw his fist straight at my face but I moved to the side to evade it and then backed up a bit from him. He turned around and growled at me as he started circling me again, and I took this chance to move back to my original position. I had to keep glancing around to make sure I wasn't being ganged up on while I was fighting this guy, but more importantly I had to try to remain positioned between theses guys and Matt.
Once I was back in position I took my stance again, keeping my eyes on the hyena as he moved about getting ready to attack. He was holding his fists up in a boxing stance as he watched me and started to growl. "You're gonna get it now, ya mangy runt," the hyena then rushed up and started swinging his fists at me trying to land a punch on me.
The ones aimed at my head I managed to dodge easily and the ones to my body I blocked with little effort. He seemed to be a fairly simple fighter, whose skills likely came from having a good deal of random fights beating up kids and typical schoolyard stuff. He probably had been bullying kids who couldn't fight back against him for a long time and used his larger size and strength alone to fight. This made his attacks strong and fast, and he aimed mainly for the larger targets like my stomach and face since he would have found such attacks effective in the past. Against me however, his attacks were easy to read and weren't useful on me. I could see his motions coming easily and was able to block or dodge them all. Despite his inability to land a solid blow on me, though, he kept on throwing punches at me in vain, growing more frustrated with each unsuccessful attack.
"C'MON, DON! SOCK THAT DAMNED TAIL DRAGGER!" I glanced to the source of that slur and saw that the griffin was shouting to fire him up. After that slight distraction I turned back to the right before the hyena, I now assumed to be Don, swung at me with a left-hook. I ducked the punch and then lunged at his torso, grabbed his arm, and then spun around with him tossing him with all my might straight over to the where the others were. He landed with a loud thud and let out a sudden gasp as the air was knocked out of him.
Before I could even get back into position, though, I heard a loud yell and turned to see that the griffin was running full on to tackle me, but I reacted too quickly for him. When he got within arm's reach I got a hold of his arm, turned around, and used his momentum and my leverage to throw him over my shoulder and onto the ground. After he was on the ground near his hyena friend I looked around and saw that the rhino was starting to get up again still groaning softly while the hyena and griffin just moaned and laid there.
Jarrod by now was helping the rhino up and moving him towards his other two guys to check on them to see if they were ok. As he was doing this I saw that his hackles were raised and his fur was standing on end. There was no doubt that this puma was ticked off now, and you could practically see his muscles tensing under his fur, getting ready to fight.
When he finally had the rhino with his two other goons he turned around glaring at me. "I'm gonna get you for all that, freak!"
He was putting his fists up and popped his knuckles as he started drawing closer to me. I took my stance and firmly stood my ground while keeping myself between him and Matt. Matt had already been hurt once today and he wasn't going to get hurt anymore by these guys if I had anything to say about it.
As he got closer to me, though, I took a sniff of the air to see how serious he was. He was getting his breathing even and was now becoming calm and focused. Despite the tranquility on the surface, though, it was easy to see that below was a torrent of anger, hatred, and biological chemicals that churned and swirled in a violent maelstrom deep within. I could almost smell the adrenaline that his body was pumping through him, to ready him for this fight.
It was when he was about a few feet away that I got a good whiff of him and looked at him curiously. Jarrod seemed to be wearing a lot of different scents on him. I could smell some strong soap and shampoos, as well as deodorant and a splash of some kind of dry feline musk-like cologne coming off of him that hid most of his natural scent. It almost seemed like he was trying to cover how he really smelled without it being to obvious of what he was trying to do. Jarrod couldn't hide it from me, though, and even under all that soap and deodorant I could smell his natural scent, but something was off. He didn't smell exactly like a puma, and if I didn't know better I'd swear he smelled like...
I didn't have time to think of anything else though as he threw a punch at my face which I just barely evaded. I then threw a punch at him but he managed to block it and throw it off. We took a few steps back and stared each other down each of us waiting for any kind of an opening to attack.
Jarrod circled around a bit with his fists raised and I kept up my guard, he was obviously well trained in some manner of fighting so I wasn't going to let my guard down. Jarrod then lunged at me with his fist, but I grabbed hold of it and then lunged at him with my other fist. We held on to each other like that, pushing against each other, before I brought my leg up and struck his side. I let go of him then and he moved over holding the area where I'd struck him.
I saw my opening there and moved in quickly to take advantage of it, but Jarrod recovered too soon and managed to hit me in the stomach. It was a good strong and solid blow and he'd hit in such a way that it nearly knocked the wind out of me. I took a few steps back and held onto my gut. We each stood there taking a moment to recover from the other's blows.
We stared at each other again for a few moments as we caught our breath, but it was Jarrod who recovered faster from my blow. I knew he was going to attack as soon as he could and as he stood up and straightened himself out he turned towards me and ran at me fist raised. I was still holding my side while he was coming at me expecting to finish this fight but I summoned as much power as I could and struck him with a right-hook right in the side of his muzzle.
The puma went staggering to the side holding his face and I stood up still panting and waited for him to make his next move. By this time, however, the rest of his guys had gotten up and were rubbing their bodies at their sore areas. They all were pretty angry looking at this point and now they knew that I was not an easy target that would just lay-down and rollover for them. This sadly meant that now they'd try to gang up on me to use their numbers to their advantage.
Thankfully, though, some furs started walking around on the other side of the street either exercising or walking to school. If these guys started ganging up on me the others would see it and rush to help. This made the situation not worth the effort for the jocks. So they got their stuff together and walked off in the other direction, but not before they cast a dark look at me.
I kept my eyes on them as they walked off. They had gave no threatening motions, made no foreboding threats, or anything before they'd left and I hoped that they weren't planning anything to get back at me. They were all pretty strong on their own but I could likely handle them again, but if they had more friends I would be in trouble.
Just before the guys got out of sight I noticed that Jarrod's tail was hung low and was slightly curled at the tip. Jarrod was not all what he appeared to be, and I could put all the pieces together now. It was a shame that he had become a bully like this, but I hoped that I could talk to him later and settle things.
I went over to Matt and kneeled down next to him as he sat up. I looked at his eye again and it was already getting a bit swollen. "C'mon, Matt," I reached around Matt's waist and pulled him up before I picked up our bags, "Let's get back to my house and get you something for that eye of yours."
He didn't offer any resistance to that and I just helped him back along the way we came. The day had started off so good, and now all this had happened. The only good thing was that I hadn't lost the fight; I may not have won, but so long as Matt was ok, then what would be seen as a draw to most would be a victory for me.
End Notes:
Ok for the record, that was the first time I had ever written a fight scene, and it took a long time for me to be able to write it out to where I was happy with it and I'm still not so sure about it.
Other details, I came up with the term "Tail-dragger" as a special slur for canines by watching my dogs scoot across the floors sometimes and thought it'd be appropriate. For those of you who may now think that the hyena, Don, would find this term offensive, you should know that hyenas are a part of the suborder "feliformia" and are thus more closely related to felines than canines in a genetic sense.
And just some more information, for those who may be wondering about the griffin, I put him in here to show that while lions and eagles (the animals that a griffin is said to be composed of) are able to breed together in my story, that griffins are something else entirely and griffins with griffin parents would not be hated or disliked by society, but lion/eagle hybrids would be disliked and would also likely have several distinctive characteristics that would make them easily distinguishable from true griffins.
What is going to happen next will hopefully be a twist for everyone and I hope that I'm leading people on in the right way.