Chapter 1 - Attacked!
#1 of Crimson Fur
Sara pressed a soft paw against her muzzle. It was sometime after two in the morning, and she had been driving all night. Now the raccoon was completely lost. 'Somewhere along the way I must have missed a turnoff,' she thought. The early model Nissan 300ZX purred away as she drove slowly down the darkened streets.
Sara glanced down at the fuel gauge and she felt panic and fear well up inside her. The gauge read empty and she knew that if she didn't get to a gas station soon, she'd be stranded. And not just stranded anywhere. Lincoln City was largely populated by humans, most of which were prejudiced toward the anthropomorphic race.
She flipped open her cellphone. No service. 'Great. Just great,' she sighed. Exhaustion had set in, and there wasn't a single open gas station in sight. Sara knew she couldn't possibly find a friendly hotel room for the night, so she turned up a particularly dark residential street. She pulled over to the curb, turned off the car, and snapped off the lights. She cracked the window and tipped her seat back. She knew that she'd be safer when the sun came up, for no human would dare harm her in the light. 'Just need a few hours,' she thought as she drifted off. 'I'll have better luck in the morning.' Thankfully it was a cool early summer night, and she stroked her tail to calm her nerves, as she often did before she went to sleep.
Sara awoke with a start. Something startled her, but she didn't know what. She checked her cellphone. The time read 3:37am. She had only been asleep for a little over an hour. She slipped the cellphone into her pocket and looked around the car. It was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing, but she could not shake the feeling of alarm, an unsettling sense that something was very wrong. Slowly and quietly she sat up in her seat and flipped on the cars interior lights. She gasped in terror. A human male stood at her window, leering in at her!
"Hello, honey, you lost?" he said snidely, then grinned evilly. There was a tap on the passenger side window glass. Another man stood outside, thin and wild-eyed, clothing disheveled. He wasn't as tactful.
"You in the wrong neighborhood!" He tried the door handle, but Sara had locked it.
"Open the damn door, bitch!" he yelled in at her. Sara, frozen with fear, suddenly came to her senses. She grabbed the keys and cranked the car. It roared to life. The man at her driver side door took a step back, but the other guy held a tire iron. He reeled back and smashed through her window. She shrieked and threw the car into drive. The red Nissan laid rubber as it tore away from the curbside. Panicked, she glanced upward into her rear view mirror and saw two shadowy figures get into a large vehicle. Sara knew they would surely catch up if she wasn't quick-witted. She flew through a stop sign and spun the tires right around a corner, then took a left, and another left.
The streets were dark and dirty, clearly a seedy part of town. Shaking, the raccoon girl slowed the car as she carefully watched her mirror. Suddenly, a big gray pickup truck from a left side street pulled out quickly in front of her. Sara slammed on the brakes, narrowly missing the truck. From the light of the headlights she could make out the passenger as the man who stood outside her driver side door. Gripped with fear, she dropped her car into reverse and spun around. Sara tore down the street at full speed, and it began to appear that she might get away. Then the inevitable happened. The Nissan began to shudder and hesitate.
"No!" Sara screamed. "No! No! No!" The 300ZX slowed as the massive pickup bore down on it. As the car rolled to a stop, she threw open the door and bolted for an alleyway. Before she could reach it, the pickup cut her off, and its passenger jumped out.
"Where do you think you're going, missy?" he growled with his arms outstretched. She turned tail and started to double back to her car. The man sprinted up and tackled her from behind, knocking them both to the cold hard cement.
Sara whirled around to face her attacker, teeth bared and claws flashing, but he was prepared, and busted her sharply square across the chops. He then quickly moved up to sit on her, and pinned her front paws to the ground. Sara was dazed but defiant.
"You're a feisty little one, aren't ya?" he sneered. The human male had cut her lip and knocked a few of her teeth out with the force of his blow. She was weak with exhaustion, and she knew she was outmatched and outnumbered. He could feel her struggles soften under him. Sara spat blood and glared at him.
"What do you want with me?" she snarled angrily.
"We just want to have a little fun!" he grinned menacingly at her. The skinny, wild-eyed man joined his friend and stood over the helpless raccoon girl. He held in his hand a bottle with a rag dangling out of it.
"Lenny! Take care of that car of hers!"
Sara watched in horror as Lenny walked up to her Nissan, lit the rag on fire and tossed it in. Instantly the interior was engulfed in a bright orange blaze as Lenny danced around it maniacally.
"Get your ass over here!" the man holding Sara barked out.
"Alright, Jake, I heard ya!" he scurried over.
"Help me get her up, you dumbass!"
Lenny grabbed her by the hair and pressed the blade of a knife against her furry throat.
"Don't try to run, princess, we ain't done wit' you yet!"
Jake held her arms as Lenny pulled her by the hair up off the ground. By then her overalls were dusty and torn, stained from the bloody attack. Lenny moved his knife away and Sara struggled hopelessly against Jakes tight grip. He forcefully kneed her in the abdomen and she doubled over in pain, the wind knocked clean from her.
"Settle down!" he growled. Sara struggled to catch her breath on her knees, her mind racing. She caught a glimpse of Lenny behind her. She knew that if she didn't do anything, she would surely be dead. Her paws now free from Jake's terrible grasp, she suddenly and swiftly slashed at Jake's midsection.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Jake reeled backwards. The attack left a noticeable large hole in his filthy shirt, and an even more noticeable deep bleeding wound. Lenny bashed her across the shoulder blades, sending the raccoon female to the ground again. This time Sara lay still, the last of her energy sapped, intense pain riddling her body.
"You BITCH!" Lenny screeched, and slammed his boot into her. Sara writhed in agony. Her vision foggy and blurred, she started to slip out of consciousness. 'This is it.' She resigned herself to certain death. Sara closed her eyes and a single tear slipped down her furry cheek.
* * * * *
Sara awoke to movement and noise, her head pounding, her body wracked with pain. She was afraid to open her eyes, but she could tell that her paws had been bound, and she had been gagged. The rag tasted gritty and salty in her mouth, and it made her nauseous. Sara also knew that she was in the bed of the pickup truck, and it was moving. She opened one eye slowly and looked around. Lenny sat across from her, looking out behind the truck. It was still mostly dark, and she thought she saw red and blue lights in the far distance. He started to turn toward her, and she quickly closed her eye.
Sara stifled a sob. What had she done to deserve this? The only reason she was there at all was because she had met a nice young fox on the internet. Despite her parents being against inter-species relationships, she had fostered a deep love for him. They talked often, through chat sites and on the phone, and even though he lived three states away she left to meet him. Driving nearly nonstop, except for gas and snacks, she let her emotions cloud her better judgment. The most straight forward route to her destination took her deep into violent territory. Whole cities had fallen prey to the anti-furry movement. The police couldn't even be trusted to keep peace, especially if they decided to enforce their own form of martial law. Sara wept. Why didn't she listen to the voice of reason? Why didn't she take the path less traveled? She began to doubt. She had never met Tag, the fox she had fallen so madly in love with. They had talked, true, but how did she know that he wasn't a predator? The only picture she had of him he had sent her through e-mail. He could be anyone! This revelation only made Sara feel foolish and made her cry even harder.
Where Sara came from, she had no reason to fear the treachery of mankind, but she was aware of the violence and destruction of which they were capable. In school they taught her which cities were human and which were furry, and which were deemed neutral community. It was not law that kept them apart, it was hate. They also tried to teach her how to detect if a human was friendly or an enemy. It was not an exact science, and it was basic at most. Human enemies usually scowl in the presence of a furry, but some, like Jake, learned to hide their emotions. Sara had always been a sweet, generous fur, but naïve to a fault. The brutal attack on her being left her filled with anger, resentment, and a new found hatred.
Apparently, her sobbing had attracted Lenny's attention, because she heard his voice over the roar of the engine.
"Well, well! Looks like Sleeping Beauty is awake! C'mon pretty girl, let's see those cute brown eyes of yours!" he cackled. Sara trembled as she slowly opened her eyes. The sky above had lightened up as daybreak approached. She could make out the tops of evergreen trees speeding past. The truck bed was dirty and littered with assorted junk. A motorcycle wheel, an old rusty toolbox, worn tires, paint cans, even a length of rubber garden hose. She noticed that the truck was also missing its tailgate.
The raccoon girl then focused on Lenny, trying to take in every detail in the dim light of early morning. Lenny had a long, thin face with a thick dark mustache and ratty, unkempt sideburns. He appeared fairly young, possibly in his mid-20's. His long brown hair whipped back in the wind from the ride. She noticed his wild, squinty, narrow eyes, as they darted up and down her petite frame. Sara scowled at him as best she could through the gag in her mouth. He sneered and raised a bony hand.
"Watch it sister, I'll bust you good!"
A tattoo of a snake wrapped from his thin wrist to the top of his shoulder. He wore a sleeveless denim jacket and a stained t-shirt, and a pair of bleached out Levi's with a bony knee sticking out a hole in the front. Lenny sat perched upon the rusty toolbox like a king of scum, with a tire iron in his lap as his greasy scepter.
Suddenly and without warning, the truck began to careen back and forth across the highway. Lenny dropped the tire iron and took a hold of the trucks rollbar.
"Jake!" he bellowed, "What the hell are you doing?!" Sara and the loose junk began to slide from side to side in the bed of the truck. The truck swerved harder, beating and battering the poor raccoon. Lenny held on for dear life. He bent down and looked through the back window of the truck's cab. Jake was slumped over across the seat, no longer in control of the truck.
"Fuck!" Lenny screeched. Junk began to slide off the truck bed and onto the highway. Sara's eyes opened wide as she slid to the edge of the bed and stopped. She struggled against the ropes that bound her, but to no avail. The out of control truck slipped down the soft shoulder of the highway, then spun sharply to the left, spinning the raccoon girl off the back. Her right shoulder slammed into the road grit hard and tore a gash into her upper arm as she slid several feet and down into a grassy ditch. She lay dazed for a moment, then a flood of pain washed over her. She winced and blinked back tears as she tried to sit up. Her arm bled down to her wrist, turning the once silver gray fur to a dingy, matted crimson. Kneeling, she shook the gravel out of her hair and looked up and across the road. The pickup truck had plowed into a stand of trees and was at last stopped, its engine blaring. Lenny scrambled off the bed while he had the chance.
Sara shifted her attention to her surroundings. Tall evergreens and spruce dotted the grassy landscape and there was much underbrush. No longer under Lenny's constant supervision, she once again struggled with the ropes that held her. She felt sharp intense pain in her right arm and she whimpered. 'It must be broken,' she thought as she bit down harder on the nasty rag in her mouth. Fighting back the tears of agony, she slipped her tail, rump and legs through her bound arms. Finally having access to her front paws, she ripped at the gag in her mouth. It came loose and fell around her neck. Sara turned toward the truck. The engine had quieted, but Lenny and Jake were nowhere to be seen. The raccoon girl knew she was running out of time, and gnawed at the knot binging her front paws. The knot loosened and she wriggled her paws free at last. She untied her feet and laid flat down in the tall grass.
Sara peeked over the edge of the road and saw the brake light illuminate on the truck. Blocking the pain of her injuries, Sara began to feel panic. She swiftly crawled toward the trees, hoping to find a place to hide. Behind her, she heard the truck backing out of the ditch. She staggered to her feet but her left knee burned as she moved. Sara hobbled as best as she could into the outlying forest. She looked up into the trees. She could've easily scaled one if her arm wasn't injured so badly, and they'd never find her. But she was confined to the ground, so she had to resort to cunning and instinct.
Knowing that she couldn't out-run them in her current condition, she looked around for cover. She took refuge behind a particularly shady and hidden thicket of shrubbery. Sara plopped down and leaned against a fallen trunk. She so wanted to weep, but she knew that she had to keep it together. Her body ached, she started to examine herself to see the extent of her injuries. Her left knee was bloodied and stuck through a large hole in her overalls. They were torn so badly that she ripped the pantleg off just above the knee and used the material to tie a bandage around the open gash on her right bicep. Fortunately, her knee was not bleeding, just scabbed with road rash. Something was nagging her in the back of her mind, but she could not figure it out. There were bits of pine needles and leaves stuck to her overalls from crawling around earlier, and she dusted them off. She brushed past a small bulge in her pocket. She gasped as her eyes got big as saucers. Sara reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone.