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The book of humanity closes and the words "The End" are given upon us all, yet even when one book is closed the story continues on.

The pale moonlight flickered through a dark canopy of leaves as the sounds of crashing footsteps echoed through the brush the shuddering almost panicked breaths announcing the passing of five frightened shapes as they ran full tilt through the forest. Despite the near omnipresent darkness that seemed to pervade the forest floor the five dark figures seemed to manage well. Jumping over every fallen log and stone in their path their footing sure, despite the darkness the weak glow of the moonlight causing the eyes of the fleeing figures eyes to shine brightly. Deep panting breathes could be heard as the figures hunkered down in an old erosion depression behind a thick gnarled red oak, twisting roots still clinging to chunks of old dry soil. The figures pressed their backs into the roots of the tree, the cold making them shiver as they looked towards one another.

Each figure was covered in dirt and soaked with water and wearing nothing more then rags. The largest of the group was what appeared to be a great Clydesdale horse....If such a horse could walk on two legs and had the physiology of both a man and equine. The large bay was sitting down due to his great size. The big draught horses chest worked like great bellows as he took deep lungfuls of air, his large nostrils flaring as the warm moisture misted in the cool morning air. Giving a grunt he looks over towards another one of the hunched figures, a rather sharp eared looking wolfdog, his dark almost black coat marred by a single white mark on his chest. Like the horse he looked for all the world like some mix of man and beast who was haunched over and peering over the lip of the depression, ears erect and flicking. "See anything John?" The canine holds up a paw and gives it a wave for the big horse to quiet down. Peering just a little bit higher he scans the woods and ducks back down. "No Geoffrey looks like were clear for now..." The wolfdog whisper back and looks back over towards the group, "We should keep quiet though....Take our breathes and make towards the river...It flows south." Looking back over the group were three other figures. Sitting at the farthest end of the depression was a rather nervous albeit buxom rat with a dark black pelt of fur and a pair of pink ears and hairless tail flicking as she whispered her whiskers droopy with moisture. "And how do you think we're going to get past the border guard John?" She shoots angrily. "We'll be shot on sight...." The canine growls a bit, "I'll think of something Jess. We head far enough south though we'll eventually find ourselves in the contested territory..." A rabbits head nervously pokes inebtween the pair, "Are you two finished sniping at each other?! We need to GO." He whispers anxiously, voice breaking from the fear, he looks at the pair of them before turning to the large and rather calm looking Draught Horse. "Tell them Geoff! If they find us..." The small gray rabbit whispers as he tightens his paws into fists. The Big horse shrugs a bit, "Larry we need to take out breath here...And you need to calm down." He nods over towards a quiet figure that was panting tiredly, winded more than the others. The final figure of the group was fox, dressed a little more finely then the others what had started out as clothes of decent quality and make were torn, muddy and hanging in tatters on the slender frame. The group looks at the fox for a moment before turning their attentions once more to each other. Larry wincing, "Why did we have to bring him along!" he says shrilly, "He wasn't part of the plan! Hell with him gone they'll look for us for sure!" he says as his voice gets louder before a quick smack to the back of his head from the Rat quieted him. "Shut up Larry!" She hisses, "We couldn't just leave him...No one deserves." There was a loud crack and distant voices as the group freezes a bit. Slowly John turns back around and looks back over the lip of the depression and takes a peek, nose sniffing the air and ears flicking this way and that. The large black wolfdog shivers a bit, "Yeah I think they found our trail..." The Rabbit hisses and points towards the frightened fox, "Probably because the little tail raiser is wearing perfume! We should just leave him here while we get away! It's not like they'll kill him!" The Fox sits up worriedly and shakes his head, "P-Please no! I helped you guys out! You wouldn't have gotten through the gate!" John rounds back around and grabs the ragged shirt of the rabbit and hisses menacingly his lips pulled back to expose ivory white fangs as his hackles rose up , "Shut Up Larry or I'll break your legs and leave you here while we get away." The rabbits eyes widen in fright and he gives a nod, hands held out in a placating manner, "Se-Settle down John...Come on...Leggo..." he says as a big hand gently takes the wolfdog by the shoulders and gently pulls him back. "He's just frightened John...Let'em go and lets hoof it...Alright?" The wolfdog growls a bit and pushes the rabbit backward a bit, sending the smaller figure scrabbling back a bit over towards the opposite lip of the depression and scrambling out. Jess following behind him and shaking her head in consternation, "You really need to cool it John..." She whispers before crawling up the depression and waiting, helping the Fox out as finally the horse and dog hop out and begin to sprint once more.

It wasn't long after the sounds of pursuit began to approach, the loud whinnying of horses and baying of dogs announcing that their pursuers had finally begun to catch up. The sounds making the group once more panic and begin to sprint even faster. Suddenly there was a sound like a loud thundering crack as suddenly the trunk of a nearby tree exploded in a shower of splinters. "Shit!" John curses as he and the others dived for cover, splinters peppering their fur and skin. "They can see us...." The Fox gives a nervous blink, hands over his head as he rolls over just enough to look at John, "Sure about that? Maybe their just..." Jess pipes in, grabbing the fox by the shoulder, "Stay down! That was a fucking railgun! You want to get Misted?" The Fox's eyes widen as he shakes his head worriedly as Jess nods, "And yeah that was a warning shoot...." She mumbles as Geoffrey sighs. "Got any plans?" The big horse mumbles a bit as John gives a hapless shrug. "No...." Larry curled up in a ball had begun to mutter and shake, his gray fur standing on end as he seemed about ready to freak out, eyes looking from one to the other before locking onto the Fox. "I say we hand the fox over...Try and cut a deal!" He says frantically. John looks over and tries not to cuff the panicking rabbit, "Godsdamnit you little fucker! Shut up!"

Suddenly a voice sounded through the woods, a little bit of electrical feedback announcing that the voice had been artificially enhanced. "zzzzzzt-That was a warning shot, I'm giving you runaways one last chance to stand up and turn yourselves in. If you don't I'll have to take you in the hard way." The Fox freezes a bit as his eyes widen, "Shit that's...Muldoon." The other four freeze a bit before cursing, "They sent Muldoon after us?" Jess asks already groaning as she busied herself with a hip of her pants. Geoffrey nods a bit, "Figures...." He grumbles as he looks over the others. "Their probably surrounding us as we lay here you know..." The wolfdog nods, "Yeah..." He lifts his head up a bit and looks around as shadows began to move through the early morning mists. "Yeah I'm aware of that...And if they sent Muldoon after us..." "Fuck that..." The group looks back over to Jess who had torn a few ragged holes in the pockets of her pants, revealing false pockets that had been sewn in. In her paws were two small metal and thin metal tubes. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use these just yet....But I guess I don't have much of a choice now..." She grumbles a bit and unscrews the caps and draws out a little wick before pulling out some wax paper wrapped around a tiny book of matches. John's muzzle gapes, "Grenades? How did you?-" Jess shakes her head and looks up and looks around before looking back down towards the wolfdog. "I had access to the workshop...Snuck the materials and back to the barracks at lights out and assembled them there... John shakes his head, "But how did you actually know how to make them?" Jess gives him an exasperated look. "We'll talk later alright? Right now we need to bolt...Were still a bit away from the river so what I'm going to do is toss these grenades as a distraction and we make a break for it we only have one shot at this so we'll really have to make it count....Remember to Serpentine...." She says as she slowly unwraps the wax paper and takes out a match.

"What are you insane?! We'll never get away! There are probably dogs and Riders all around us! And Muldoon's out there with that railgun of his! I say we should just cut our losses and take whatever punishment is leveed towards us and try again....Geoffrey back me up!" The horse shakes his head. "Aint gonna work out like that Larry....They'll keep an eye on us from now on...And they might go to some lengths to make sure we never run again...And taking the Fox with us? Whatever punishment they levy is going to be real bad...." He rolls his big shoulders a bit. "Besides...I'm tired of being hitched to a plow or some haul wagon for twelve hours a day." John and the others nod in agreement while Larry gapes a bit and was about to say something when the voice of their pursuer rang out through the woods again, "Are you lot going to surrender or is this going to wind up getting violent?" the voice says clearly agitated as suddenly there was another hypersonic crack as another tree over forty feet away goes up. Sending more splinters everywhere. The rabbit yelps a bit, "Fuck you guys! I want to live!" he says he jumps up and holds up his arms, "I give up! Don't shot! Please don't shot! There over here quick! Please we have the Fox! We'll give him up just don't shoot us!" He cries out and walks in the direction the voice was coming from while the others lay there and curse. Jess merely sighs and lights the wicks before tapping John and Geoffery on the shoulders and crawling away from the Rabbit. Jess takes a deep breath, "Sorry about this Larry...." She says as she gives a gentle toss of one of the pipes. The little metal cylinder landing between the legs of the rabbit, "But you just became part of the distraction." She mumbles while she tosses the other one only a few feet away from the group.

"Close your eyes and ears everyone....And run as soon as you hear the stun grenade you get up and run like blazes alright?" She whispers as the group does as she says. Larry still yelling and ranting about giving up, the rabbit's words suddenly drowned out by the sudden and very loud crack and a bright pulsing flash of light that sent Larry falls to the ground holding his ears and screaming even while the others jump up and begin to run. The second grenade gives a milder cracking sound as thick gray smokes began to issue forth and cover the running mutant animals as they sprinted through the woods at a break neck speed. Barely paying attention to the ground before them as they simply wanted to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible, the Fox tripping over branches and debris until finally Geoffrey simply scooped the smaller fox up and threw him over his shoulder like a bag of oats and began to sprint faster. The sound of yelling and dogs barking coming from behind as their pursuers tried to follow. John sniffs the air and yells to the others as he sprinted in the middle of the group, "I can smell the river guys! Get ready to hold your breaths!" He yells as a few wild shots from a rail gun cracked behind them. Trees began to explode and the forest floor was cratered. Jess running like an Olympic sprinter looked behind her shoulder and then ahead, "It's clearing up ahead this is it!" She yells out as the tree's up ahead cleared out and the black water of the river flowed. The runaways finally found themselves running on air as the ground beneath them vanished as they fell crashing into the water and began to swim. The swift flow of the river already carrying them downstream and far away from their pursuers, a number of figures sitting on rather tall horses scanning the black water with rifle scopes for any sign of the runaways, one man wearing a duster and bandoleer sighs, "Damnit...No telling where they'll pop up now....Rourke...Call Muldoon tell him we lost them. He'll know what to do next" The man figure shakes his head and shoulders the rifle and grabs the reigns and pulls on them and presses his spurs into the animals flanks and rides back as another horsemen pulls out a radio.

Larry yelled as a pair of gloved fingers yanked him up into a kneeling position by the ears, this figure was different. The face of a rugged man looked down at the rabbit wearing a pair of bulky sunglasses, his head obscured by a wide brimmed hat and the upturned collar of a leather duster. Already the sky was lightening as dawn was swiftly approaching as the rabbit quavered beneath the lean figure. The man's horse whickering and stamping at the ground, the man's face leaning in a bit as he took the glasses off, revealing a pair of cold grey eyes. "Muldoon?!" The rabbit squeaks in fear as the man nods, "I'm surprised...Sacrificing yourself for your buddies like that." The rabbit yelps a bit and shakes his head, "I didn't! I was giving up! Honest!" The man frowns, "Oh? Interesting because that little stunt you pulled sure drew the attention of me and my men...And it seems your friends actually got away....For now." He says with a shrug as he straightens up and reaches into the duster. The rabbit shivers a bit, "I had no idea what she was doing!" Muldoon raises an eyebrow, "She? You mean the Rat?" The rabbit bobs his head, "Yeah! Yeah the Rat! Jessie!" Muldoon nods a bit lost in thought. "Interesting...." The man mumbles a bit and thinks as he pulls his hand out of the duster and reveals a revolver. The rabbits eyes widen as Muldoon inspects the cylinder and nods. "To be frank I believe you..." The rabbit relaxes a bit, though his eyes still are locked onto the revolver, "Really?" The man nods, "I've read your file...Your far too much of a coward to have willingly sacrificed yourself for the group and I think she knew it as well...Still...Them escaping has left me and my men in a very piss poor position....If we go back to the Colonel Walter without that Fox of his and the others? Well that wouldn't be very good for us....Bringing you back? It just doesn't reflect well on us that we managed to bring you back while the others got away....Sorry my little friend...Your expendable." He says as he levels the gun towards the rabbits head. A look of fear and panic filling his eyes as he opened his mouth...Whether it was to scream or protest it didn't matter. Before Larry could utter a word Muldoon pulled the trigger and planted a bullet in the rabbits heart, a look of pain and shock appearing on his face as he jerked a bit as the slug passed through his body before slumping over into the mud. Shaking his head Muldoon holsters the weapon and looks up as he hears the sound of hooves. Putting back on the sunglasses he presses a small button on the side of the frame as the world suddenly brightened and was bathed in green and black. Seeing the other four riders and their dogs approach he waves them over and takes the sunglasses off again. "Got a body...We'll bring it back for the Boss then feed it to the dogs." He sighs and rubs his eyes. "Fuck...More runaway slaves...." One of the men nods, "Plenty more Mutant Animals were they came from Sir...I hear there bringing more up from Uncontested Territory next week." Muldoon shakes his head, "Doesn't matter...If the Free Animal States keep pushing that well will dry up pretty quick..." The men looked a little uncomfortable at that as Muldoon shrugs. "Let's not worry about it now....Get a rope and tie it to the body, lets drag it back....Maybe it will deter the other slaves to not try and run." One of the men coughs, "And the ones that got away?" Muldoon looks at the men before getting onto his horse and wheels it around. "We'll talk to the Boss, inform the Empires Slave-Catchers that they got away and are probably heading South...Probably should pass a warning that one of them might be a problem..." A bearded man cocks his head, "Sir?" Muldoon nods and presses his spurs into the horses sides. "How many slaves now how to make smoke or stun grenades?" He says as he rides off.