Mad or Mundane
Feathers, Fur, and Shadows
02. Mad or Mundane
by Assilsasta
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Christmas 2011
Malcum sat in the dark, nearly crowded hospital room as the
sound of the steady beep and alternating hiss and wheeze of the machines
working to keep his daughter alive. His red and purple feathers clashed with
her muddy brown as he held onto her hand. Her small ten year old body was
obstructed by the breathing tubes and I.V. lines, making her look more like one
of his test subjects than his own flesh and blood. His eyes remained locked on
the EEG as the line stayed flat for the third day. In only a few moments his
life had collapsed as a drunk driver ran into the car that his wife used to
take their daughter to her dance recital. He blamed himself for the accident.
He had said he needed to work that night and was unable to go himself, when he
knew that one day away from the lab would not have made any difference. He
should have been in the car. He should have been driving. He should be the one
in the bed, not his little girl.
He remained motionless as the door opened behind him, and
the false hope faded as the EEG spike with the rough movement. "Get out," was
all he said without a care of who it was. He had heard all the diagnosis and
the prognosis of her condition. He knew all too well the state she was in. His
research as of late had centered around the biological aspects of near death.
He knew the odds of her returning were astronomical, unrealistic for him to
even hope.
"Dr. Nicholson," the voice behind him spoke.
"I said get out. I have nothing to say and you have nothing
new to tell me I will not let her go, not yet."
"You have my intentions confused, Dr. Nicholson," the
unfamiliar voice returned. "I am not here to talk you into letting go of you
daughter. I am in fact here to offer you something: A once in a lifetime
research opportunity."
The anger and contempt burned in his grey eyes as he stood
and spun on his feet. Several loose, molting feathers fluttered into the room
and to the floor as he looked the weasle in the face. "My wife was taken from
me before her time, my daughter lies in her death bed, to broken to survive.
And you have the nerve to come in here, into the room where death awaits even
me, to offer me a job. I don't care about your opportunity. I will not leave my
daughter's side. I will not abandon her again."
The well dressed weasel took another step into the room as
he spoke calmly, "My name is Victor Johansen, and what I have to offer is more
than just a job. What would you say if I was offering you your life back; If I
told you we can save your daughter?"
The purple finch took a step forward as the rage built
within him. His beak glinted in the moonlight as the girl in the bed screeched
a sound unnatural to the songbird. "She died, her brain is dead. Nothing can
bring her back. This is my research, this is what I know. She is damaged and
broken beyond repair. There is nothing you can offer. No, you can give nothing
to her to bring her back to me. Leave my sight before I show you what else my
research has brought to me."
"I can understand your pain, Dr. Nicholson. And I will leave
you to it," the weasel said as he held out his paw with a business card, "But
when you are ready to listen, give me a call. We can save your daughter, and,
through her, millions."
"LEAVE!" the Finch screeched, eliciting several spikes in
both her EKG and EEG systems.
As the weasel turned to leave, he set the card on a tray by
the door and said, "Bio-Gen's business is to help people like Daliliah, and you
can help us by letting us help her. Think about it, Dr. Nicholson, and call me.
And have a Merry Christmas."
As Malcum stood, his feathers ruffled in anger both at the
weasel that had just left the room and himself. The door slowly closed,
blocking out the light of the hallway, and left him once again in the eerie
glow of the monitoring equipment screens and LED lights of the machines that
feed the last sign of life in the young finch. He walked over to the tray where
the weasle left the card, ready to throw it away with all the others, when his
eyes adjusted to the almost non-existent light that he had lived in for the
past three days.
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Fall 2012
Malcum picked up the phone and dialed swiftly. After only
two rings, a feminine voice answered the line. "I need to talk to Mr. Johansen,
now," Malcolm said to the receptionist.
(Dr. Nicholson, to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from
our remote researcher?)
"It's failing. She's dying."
(What happened? Is the device damaged?)
"There was a fight. They say she put the others in the
hospital. She was never like this before. And now she is dying. It's as if
whatever happened is undoing all the healing that had been done."
(Where is she now?)
"She is in my home. I didn't take her to the hospital. You
have given me everything I need to take care of her, but what do I do?
Everything is failing... She is dying. You promised."
(Don't worry Dr. Nicholson, we will have two assistants and
a surgeon with the needed supplies to you in a few hours. We were expecting a
failure, but the information you have given us has been a great help and we
have improved the project greatly.)
"You'll fix this or I'll..."
(You'll what? You are as much to blame as we are. We can fix
our little Frankenstein's Monster.)
"She's not a monster, or some laboratory rat to be tested
on. She's my daughter."
(You forget your place, Dr. Nicolson. We will keep our part
of the deal and you keep working on the other projects we send you. Everything
you are doing is benefiting your daughter and helping us improve the technology
behind this life saving system. Now be a good birdy and do as you are told, or
we will have to let this project go, and you don't want to see that, now do
you?)
Malcum sat the receiver back on the cradle and sighed as the
sound of the grotesque screech echoed through the house. "I'm sorry Daliliah,
I'm doing everything I can."
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January 2014
Daliliah sat on the small exam table in the nurse's office.
The room was a quaint space, the cinderblock walls decorated with pictures of
cartoon animals and diagrams of the proper way to wash paws and cover your face
when sneezing. She waited for the nurse to return after he had cleaned the
wound again and left to get more bandages. She glanced across the small room at
the maned wolf that still followed her even after her warning. He sat quietly
reading a home and garden magazine.
"Why are you still here?" the finch asked as they sat in the
room alone together.
"This is where I am supposed to be, isn't it?" Jasper said
questioningly. "I said I would take you to the nurse's office, and here we
are."
"I told you to go away."
"You also said you didn't care where I went," the maned wolf
said as he looked back down at the magazine. "So I went where the instructor
thinks I am, and where I said I would be."
"Why don't you just avoid me like everyone else? It will
make your life a lot... easier."
"I don't care," he replied. "I don't have any friends. You
seem to not have any either..."
Jasper trailed off as the white bat walked into the small
room. He wore a light pink nurse's uniform and his white well groomed fur
glistened in the cold light of the nurse office, the uniform that he had on,
like all of his clothes had been modified to allow for his wings. Everything about the bat was well taken care
of, from the tips of his greenish yellow ears, to his nose, even to his well
manicured claws. "Well now, Ms. Nicholson, let's have another look at that
burn." He sat on a stool by the exam table, spinning round almost playfully, as
the seat lowered to get him on a better level to look at her injury. "It looks
worse than I thought. I guess cleaning it again will do the job. I'll wrap it
in some gauze and an elastic bandage. You should be sure to change out the
gauze after you get home... and let your dad have a look. He is a doctor, isn't
he?"
"Not that kind of doctor," she said as she watched him pull
the bundle of gauze from the side pocket of the pink jacket and begin to wrap
her hand with it. "He is a genetic biologist."
"He also holds a medical degree if I'm not mistaken," he
said as if trying to fill the idle time with conversation. "I've read many of
his published papers."
"I'll tell him he has a fan, Mr. Wilkinson," Daliliah said
as she watched his meticulous care of her wound.
"Jimmy," he said with a bubbly smile. "You can just call me
Jimmy. I also want you to remember that even though it doesn't hurt, this is a
pretty bad burn, and I still want your dad to look at it. If it weren't for the
special instructions, I would have said this needs to go to the hospital for
proper treatment. With your CIPA you really need to be careful."
"CIPA?" Jasper asked confused.
"Congenital
Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis," Daliliah answered. "It's a
genetic disorder that basically causes you to feel no pain. I don't have that.
I just don't feel pain. They said that my neural pathways for my brain are too
damaged to register pain. I still feel pressure, sometimes even hot and cold,
but never actual pain - Not the way you feel pain, anyway."
"Wait, so it really doesn't hurt?" Jasper looked at her
wide-eyed.
"No," the finch answered flatly. "Not since the accident."
"I'm going to call your father
and have him come pick you up," Jimmy said, his bubbly demeanor shining through
even with the finch's melancholy reaction to him. "I'll make sure you are
excused from your classes for the next two days."
"NO!" the young girl cried,
showing the first emotion from her that Jasper had seen. The look in her eyes
confused him; It was a strange mix of fear and anger. She glanced at Jasper a
moment before she spoke again. "No, I want to finish the day out. It's my first
day and I don't want to miss it, or the next two."
Jimmy looked her in the eyes as
he said, "This isn't up for discussion. You need to be at home, young lady.
This is not place for a wound like that. Even with how clean we keep it around
the school, it could still get infected. And I don't want that to happen."
"Then I'll fly home," she said,
back to the flat, emotionless tone she had used up to the point of her
outburst.
"You don't need to be flying
with that wing, young lady, and you shouldn't go alone," the nurse voiced with
an almost stern tone. "Someone should be there when you get home to take a
closer look at that and see if you need to go to the hospital."
"I'll walk her home, Mr.
Wilkinson," Jasper offered without much thought. He looked over at the finch
girl and added, "I can even stay until your dad gets home if you want."
Daliliah narrowed her eyes as
she looked at the maned wolf. The tall, lanky boy seemed set on escorting her
everywhere. "Fine," she said flatly as she dropped of the table.
With a smile on his muzzle, the
nurse rolled across the room on the stool over to the small desk. "That will be
great. Here, let me get you some excuse notes for classes." As he scribbled
notes onto the fill-in form excuse pad, he added, "You two make a cute couple."
The finch's talons clicked
loudly against the floor as she turned and said, "We're not a couple. If
anything, he's a stalker."
"Oh, so he's available?" Jimmy
asked as he winked at Jasper. As he turned and handed the two students the
slips of paper, he looked at the maned wolf and said, "Come back any time you
want something. Now don't do anything I wouldn't."
As the door to the nurse's
office closed behind the pair, Daliliah flatly said, "He was flirting with
you."
"Wait, what?"
"You are clueless," the small
finch muttered as she started to walk down the hall.
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"I see, thank you, Mr. Wilkinson," Malcum said as he held
the curtain back from the window. "I will be home when she gets there, and
thank you for the call." The day had not been progressing for his daughter as
he had hoped. The guidance counselor had called earlier to inform him that she
had passed out and admitted to having another blackout that she did not
remember. He was relieved that the nurse had sent her home after her injury in
science class. He hung up the phone as he returned to the desk in his home
office. He looked down at the report on his desk.
Subject
Delta has shown vast improvement after implementation of the latest version of
the system. Cognitive functions and problems-solving capabilities are off the
scales. Data storage and retrieval is now measured in gigabits per second.
Subject is performing well beyond milestones set in previous versions.
He took the glasses off his beak and rubbed his eyes as he
tried to think through his monthly report. Every week, he took the time to look
over the current stats, add to the report, and remove what emotion he could. He
continued to pen his notes as he waited for the return of his daughter.
Subject
blacks out and short term memory gaps continue. Subject also appears to suffer
from night terrors within the past two weeks. Night observations and recordings
have been increased to compensate for changes in subject's behaviors.
Re-introduction
of subject into social situations may have had negative impact on subject's
emotional stability.
He stood up from the papers and walked away as his
frustration built. He walked over to the book case against the wall and pulled
a small manilla folder from between two large books. He flipped it open and
started jotting new notes on the pages as he walked down the hall to the
workspace the company provided him to do his research. As long as he continued
to send in reports on Daliliah's progress, they continued to give him
everything he asked for, and he did whatever they needed to for 'Project Orion'
to continue. He stopped at the door and looked in at the many feral subjects he
had procured through the dealings with what he knew was a fringe organization
that used the medical technology company as a front to get to him. His own
research had progressed well beyond what it would have without the
organization's assistance, and if he continued, he was certain that it would
provide the missing link that would end his dependence on them for his child's
life.
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Jasper sat alone at the table, his cousin once again working
late. She had at least managed to keep the cabinets full so he could cook for
himself. The first thing she had to teach him was how to use a microwave:
something that you didn't find in the tribal communities of Africa. It didn't
take him long to understand how the simple digital cooking machine worked, but
he still prefered to just fix a salad with fresh, cooked bacon and chicken.
Getting her to buy the ingredients for real, home-cooked food seemed to be the
only issue.
He sat at the table in the dimly lit dine-in kitchen of the
apartment, the only source of light from the hood vent microwave over the
stove. Before him sat a U.S. History book and a simple mac & cheese with
hot dogs dish he managed to scrap out of the non-microwave meals his cousin had
in the cabinets.
He looked down at the works, barely paying any attention to
them, as his mind wandered to the finch girl he had tried to help. He had been
given an excuse from the office to escort her home, but as soon as they left
the main building, she had taken flight, leaving him there feeling like a fool.
Even though the nurse had told her not to fly, she did it
without a second thought, not even telling him goodbye or anything. The lack of
what he thought was basic etiquette was not unique to her. It seemed that every
one of his age didn't seem to care about proper respect or manners. But even
with the general lack of upbringing, he couldn't think of a better way to
describe it; Daliliah seemed different.
The finch's actions and attitude were more deliberate, as if
she was intentionally pushing everyone away. But what puzzled him the most was
the difference in the way she was when he first saw her and when she came to
class. It was almost like two completely different people. At first, he would
have thought her reaction appeared to be more out of fear and confusion, which
he could understand a bit better after dealing with other furs his age. He
really didn't think about how imposing he might be to someone so much smaller
and more fragile than him. But later in the day, when he saw her in class, she
was different. He wasn't sure, not having dealt with American teens before, but
she seemed more like she wanted to be left alone.
Then when he thought
about the stories and rumors that his lab partner had told him, everything just
seemed to fall apart. He knew the boy's stories could not be true, sure, like
everything else: folklore and legends. Some of the things may have had bits of truth
in them, but the stories as a whole just didn't fit together. What he could
piece together was that the girl was in a car accident a few years back and got
hurt pretty badly, to the point where she could no longer feel pain, and that
she may have other issues, like brain damage or something, that could explain
the differences in the way she had acted. Perhaps she had taken some medication
during the day, or was under the influence of one in the morning. Either
situation could explain the differences in her personality. Or she could have
just been frightened like he had thought when it was just her and him in the
courtyard. No matter what, she was an enigma and she stuck on his mind, even if
he didn't want her to be.
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Malcum jerked awake at the sound of the loud thud on the
deck outside the room. His eyes adjusted quickly to the low light of the
evening. He had dozed off some time while looking over the return reports for
the many prosthetic projects he worked on for Biogen: the projects that he had
to do to keep the funding for his real project rolling in.
The sleep was suddenly fully driven from him as the sound of
helpless flapping wings and a flopping body emanated from the nearby door. He
burst from his seat with an urgency reserved for life and death situations. He
slammed against the door, nearly putting his own wing through the glass as he
rushed for the sound. He flung the door open, slamming it hard against the door
stop, saving the wall from the doorknob, but not the glass panes from
shattering. The sight that greeted him was almost the worst he had seen,
pailing only to that of the sight of his wife on the operating table as he
struggled to save her and their daughter.
Before him was his flesh and blood, in more ways than one.
The small brown finch lay on the wooden deck that surrounded the house perched
in the trees, covered in blood. He couldn't tell if it was her's or something
else, but the sight was one he needed to get out of public view quickly. He
grabbed the girl in his wings and lifted her to his chest as he rushed back
into the lab, leaving the door open without fear of any non-avian getting in
without an invitation.
He placed Daliliah on the steel examination table and
quickly started to look her over. At first glance, he could see that one eye
was dilated and the other was not, sending him into an almost panic.
"Daliliah," he called out, "Dee-dee, can you hear me?" In
response, he heard an almost feral squawk. "Tap the table if you understand
what I am saying." Again he got a squawk, but he breathed a mild sigh of relief
as he heard the tapping on the table. "Is this your blood?" he asked, receiving
a single tap, which they had agreed at one point meant no, but then her wings
and talons began to tap and click uncontrollably as she went into convulsions.
With one hand, he swiftly wedged a nearby metal tool in her beak, while the
other grabbed a small hose and flicked on the water. He rolled her on her side
and restrained her only enough to wash the blood out of her feathers one limb
at a time, stripping her school uniform off as he looked for the source of the
blood. To his simultaneous relief and dismay, he found her only injury was the
chemical burn he had been informed of by the school.
More relieved that she was not physically injured, he then
worried about where the blood originated, he lifted his daughter's wet, not
limp body from the table and carried her over to the strange chair apparatus
and sat her in it. Her nude, feathered body looked so small in the device
designed for a full grown fur, it almost pained him to have to place her in it.
His fingers ran over the bare patch on her chest, covered with scars from the
accident and surgeries that she went through after they came in and Saved her. He could feel the rhythmic
beating of what was now her heart in her chest.
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Girl, 14, found brutally murdered
The body of a murdered teenager has been discovered by
members of her own family, shortly after she went missing.
The body of 14-year-old Beryl Stokes was discovered in a
wooded area behind a school in Jonestown.
Detective Superintendent Cordell Page. who is leading the
investigation, told a media briefing that the "violent" death was
discovered by family members, who had alerted police to her disappearance.
"It's one of the most violent crimes I have experienced
in my 28 years as a police officer," Mr Page told reporters.
He said Beryl had left home at around 5:30pm on Monday and
had been due back at 10pm.
When she failed to return, it is understood her mother
phoned round friends before contacting the police.
"She is one of a fairly extended family, and when they
were looking for her, they found this body of a young teenage girl, " he
added.
The body was found in a wooded area near a path behind the
Jonestown High School between 11pm and midnight.
Mr. Page said the girl's body was found on a path, known as
the Jonestown Dyk, which joined the high school to the near by swamp. He said a
positive identification had yet to be made, and a post-mortem examination would
be carried out later.
Beryl had left her home at around 5pm yesterday, heading for
her boyfriend's home around a mile-and-a-half away, Mr. Page said.
"She never arrived there, and at 10pm, her family
became aware of this and later reported her missing to the police." He
said members of the family came across the body shortly before midnight.
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Jasper read the news article as he ate his bowl of cold
cereal. It was shocking that such a thing could happen in such a small town. It
was even more frightening when he saw that the girl was just a year younger
than he was. Things like that happened all the time in Africa, but it was often
maulings by feral animals or the common abduction and rape. Most of the time,
the girls were kept alive if it was the latter, and often married off to who
ever had them for the customary exchange of livestock or goods. The thought of
a girl's life being worth not much more than a few pigs or goats was appalling
enough to the maned wolf, but the brutal murder of one made it even more
frightening when he thought about how he was supposed to be in a civilized
country.
His mind drifted back to the finch he had met yesterday and
just how easily it could have been her. He took the time to kneel by the door
and pray for the safety of those he had come in contact with. He even prayed
for those he didn't know by name. The practice was comforting, laying the fates
of those around him in the paws of God.
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Daliliah adjusted the bandage around her wing. The flesh
beneath had healed, but the feathers had not yet returned. The acid had left no
other sign of it's presence, but what worried her more than the other students'
questioning the lack of scars was the shadowy memories of a girl's screams and
the faint taste of iron still on her tongue.
She pulled her hood over her head again as she walked up to
the school. She dreaded being there as much as she wanted to be. She had gotten
to the school early again, in hopes of avoiding everyone, as she headed to her
homeroom class: one of the few she had with cubs her own age. The finch stayed
hidden beneath her black cloak as she navigated the nearly vacant halls. The
only others present were teachers and the students that stayed in the dorms on
campus. She held her books close to her chest and watched the floor as her
talons clicked against the marble tiles. Daliliah didn't flinch or change her
pace when she heard the pawsteps following her. The small group of cubs behind
her was mumbling to each other as they approached. This school was no different
from the public school, only better equipped to deal with her health issues.
Daliliah turned into the empty, dark room and headed toward
her seat in the back of the class without turning on the lights. She took her
seat, setting her bundle of books on the desk, as she heard the group
congregate at the door.
"You know, I haven't seen much of that bitch bat around
here," a short, stocky badger said as she walked through the door, flicking the
light on. "Well... It looks like someone is trying to get a jump on Halloween
next year," she said, looking over at the finch that was sitting in the back of
the room.
"Robin, move your fat ass." Another voice spoke up as the
badger was pushed into the room, a large black bear walking in behind her.
"Stuff it bitch, you like my ass." Robin said, turning to
look at the bear and then to the finch. "It looks like we have something fun
for this class," she said, walking to the back of the class and taking one of
the seats beside the bird, the bear taking the seat on the other side.
"Love the way that you fuckers wait for me," Amanda said as
the short, stubby looking pink armadillo walked into the room.
"Blow me," Brandy said, waving for her and the other girl to
come and join them.
"No, that's your job," she said, walking down the row of
chairs and stopping at the one in front of the finch. "Looks like you didn't
start anything without me."
As the group gathered around her, she continued to look at
the stack of old, worn books held together with the leather strap. Her hood
covered everything but the tip of her beak. She hoped that keeping silent would
work as well as the guidance counselor said it would. She could hear the blood
starting to rush through her ears as they continued their assault.
"So tell me; Are the rumors true?" Amanda asked as she
turned around in her chair. "Are you made of a bunch of parts that your father
put together?"
"Are you a monster? That's why your father's feathers are
red? Soaked in the blood of all the innocents that he killed to make you?" Brandy
asked.
"Would you look at that? It looks like she might be falling
apart," Robin said with a snicker. "So where did your dad get this arm from?"
The finch pulled her wings back under her cloak as the
badger pointed to the bandage. She didn't want to explain anything. All she
could remember fully was leaving the school the day before and waking that
morning in her bed. She looked out from under her hood, the world half blurred
and out of focus. She could feel the onset of the strange dizziness that preceded
her blackout, but this time she had no where to go.
"Would you look at that? I think she might be mutating on
us," Robin said, laughing as she watched the finch pulling her wings closer to
her body.
"Heh, it looks like it's time for your dad to find you a new
eye, the one there looks little tight," Amanda said, smiling and leaning in,
getting right into her face.
"You know, I might know something that will fix it. It might
be like an old TV; Just hit it," Brandy said, snickering as she cracked her knuckles.
"Want me to fix it for you, birdy?"
The chair scraped across the floor as she stood up clutching
the desk. She felt the gargled screech erupt from her beak as the lower half
trembled. She could feel the laminated wood of the desk creak in her grasp.
Daliliah paused as the group gasped and jumped back out of what might have been
surprise or genuine fear of her.
"Leave her alone." A voice came from the front of the room.
They all turned to see the older, red and brown maned wolf standing in the
door. He started walking into the room, his spindly legs and arms less
intimidating than than others his age, but his tall physique let him tower over
the younger cubs.
"Well it looks like we might have a white knight in the
room," Brandy said, turning to face the maned wolf.
"Fuck..... I got a face full of the bird's breath.... I smelt
death..." Amanda said, standing up. "So, you must be the zombie's boyfriend..... or
next meal."
"Maybe he's another monster that the bird's dad made; you
know, made her a friend 'cause she would never have any. He even had mismatched
eyes like her," Robin said, smiling, not bothering to get out of her chair.
"No," he said as he walked closer. "I just wanted to make
sure she was okay after the accident in chem lab yesterday." He looked around
the group as he added, "What are you? A band of nobodies with nothing better to
do than pick on smaller cubs?"
Daliliah watched the scene as it unfolded in front of her,
still out of focus and muted by the sound of blood rushing through her body.
The thought about how much of a fool the wolf boy really was, coming to check
on her even after her warning to stay away. "Go away," she screeched, some
bubbly fluid sound emanating from her throat as she talked. "All of.. you..." She
felt the world fading around her as her limbs started to shake. "Go.... away." A
moment later, everything was gone in darkness and the sound of the rushing
fluid in her veins, except the sensation of falling.
"I wouldn't stand in front of the dead bird..... She sounds
like a spitter about to puke," Brandy said, moving a little more to the side,
the badger doing the same.
"Don't worry about her..... We have something alive to have
fun with," Amanda said, smiling and glaring down at the maned wolf. "Robin, you
can handle the bird, right? Just grab her by the wrists."
"Fuck you both.... If she pukes on me, then I'm flinging it on
you," Robin said shaking her head as she walked up to the finch, reaching out
and grabbing at one of her wrists. All the while, the pink armadillo and bear
started walking up to the boy.
Jasper started to rush forward as he saw the bullies move,
the one taking hold of the finch as she started to look wobbly and off balance.
Everything seemed to stop as a monstrous sound erupted from the finch the
instant the badger touched her. He halted as the entire group turned to watch
in shock as the finch grabbed hold of her assailant's arm, ripping it free from
hers, then placed her taloned foot in the badger's chest and clutched the folds
of the fabric uniform, she started to flap her wings and lift off the floor,
lifting the girl inches off the ground with her.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck." The badger started screaming out as she
felt the claws digging into her shirt followed by being lifted up. "Get the
bitch or something!" she said, swinging her arms up at the bird, aiming for
whatever she could hit.
"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" The armadillo
barked out before turning to the maned wolf. "Get your monster on a chain or
something, now goddamn it."
"Don't worry; I got this," Brandy said, rushing up to the
teacher's desk, grabbing the globe that was sitting on the corner before
rushing back and throwing it with all of her might at the bird.
As the orb flew through the air and collided with the
finch's chest, she dropped the badger onto the desks and fell to the floor
herself. Jasper pushed past the group, not regarding their earlier taunts and
threats, as he tossed one of the desks out of his way. "Get a teacher; I think
they're hurt," he barked out when he reached the twitching finch.
"No shit." Amanda glared at him. "That bitch hurt one of my
friends..... I'm gonna make her dead again," she said as she started walking up
to the wolf and bird. "And you can get out of my way or get hurt too." It was
about this time that Brandy had turned tail and rushed out of the room and
started making her way to the nurse's office.
"Oh no, that bitch is mine," Robin said, sitting up and
glaring over at the bird, trying to get up from the pile of desks that she had
been unceremoniously dropped onto. "I'm going to start by kicking some sense
into her."
Jasper lifted the finch from the floor as he turned and
said, "If you're not going to help, get out of my way." The bird's body
quivered in his arms as the inhumane gargling sound continued to come from her.
"I need to get her to the nurse's office."
"Oh no..... not yet," Amanda said as she stood in front of
him. "She's not near hurt enough to see the nurse," she said as she thrust her
arms out, her palms hitting the wolf in the shoulder. "And I don't think that
you are, either."
Staggering back a few
steps, he steadied himself with the girl in his arms. He looked at the pair
that blocked his exit as he said, "I don't want to fight, and I'm sure you
don't want to get in more trouble than you will already get." The maned wolf
stood his ground as he watched the two younger students.
"Well that would make it easier on us," Amanda said, pushing
him again, this time a lot harder than the first. "Just sit back and let us
have the bitch..... and you can go cry to the principal or her maker.... who the
fuck ever," she said, stepping forward, now pressing herself against him.
"Your call there, white knight," Robin said, glaring at him,
stepping up beside him in an attempt to cut off another escape route.
Jasper looked down at the pudgy badger with as much resolve
as he could manage. Having learned how to gain his own place in the tribal
African villages, he knew that most furs back down when truly confronted, and
he hope the same would hold true here. He looked her in the eyes as he said,
"I'm taking her to the nurse and you can either get out of my way, or be
moved." He figured even with Daliliah in his arms, he could knock her off
balance enough to get past the pair, even if it came back to haunt him later.
"Oh..... Someone thinks they're a badass," Amanda said,
snickering. "Hey Robin, we got a badass here..... that's getting fucked up," she
said. No sooner than the words left her muzzle, she brought up a fist, swinging
right at the wolf's face.
"I thought that you were going to kick him in the nuts like
the last fight that you got into," Brandy said with a snicker.
The maned wolf rolled with the hit. It was hard, but not
quite what he had felt from some of the largest boys in the southern tribes. He
steadied himself as he planted a shoulder into the armadillo while still
shielding the quivering finch in his arms. He pushed forward, knocking the
girls off balance and continued for the door. "I don't have time for this. She
could be really hurt."
"The bitch could have killed me," Robin barked out as she
rushed alongside the fleeing wolf. She knew that she wouldn't be able to catch
him in the long run, but a bright idea hit her. She grabbed the closest desk
and, with all the strength that she could muster, she pushed it right in front
of the retreating boy, trying to time it just right.
"Hell, if you get away this time, you know that you have all
year long and then some left to deal with us," Amanda said as she got to her
feet, watching the events unfold.
Jasper took note of the movement out of the corner of his
eye, quickly tucking his paw under the leg of the desk and tossing it without
much additional movement of his upper body. Without turning or diverting his
course, he said, "I'll worry about that later; You're not worth my time right
now."
"Well fuck you too, princess," the badger said as she
watched him rushing to the door.
"The nurse is coming," Brandy said as she came around the
corner, just in time to see the wolf with the finch in his arm. "Oh, fuck
this," she said as she kicked her leg out, aiming to trip up the runner.
Jasper sidestepped the bear as she unwittingly warned him of
her move. He spun his body around her, keeping himself between the girl and the
finch, as he maintained his momentum for his target. He kept his eye on the
door as he moved, trusting his ears to keep track of the others in the room.
The group was obviously not as athletic as they thought they were, giving him a
slight advantage in his attempt to get the finch out of the room.
"Whoa there." A male's voice called out as he stepped to the
side of the wolf. "Running around like that is only going to get her and you
hurt more." The white bat said, reaching out to put a hand on the wolf's
shoulder.
"I... She fell and started having a seizure," Jasper said as
she turned to look at the nurse with the finch in his arms. The smaller bird
has stopped quivering him his arms as he held her out toward the bat. "I think
she might have hit her head on the floor."
"That's not the story that I was told, but it's not my job
to worry about that," he said as he shot a glance at the others in the room.
"Come on, let's get her to my station and get her looked at," he said, leaving
his hand on his shoulder and starting to walk down the hallway with him.
Jasper ignored the group in the room as he followed the
nurse back to his office. As he put her on the paper covered exam table, he
said, "I was checking on her after yesterday and those other kids were just
gathered around her. They were saying things but then she, um..." Jasper paused
as he thought about how much of the truth he could leave out with out it really
being a lie. "She passed out and fell." Not wanting to have to explain more,
unsure of what the bear might have told the nurse, he said, "I need to get to
class," then turned to leave the room.
"Like I said, it's not my place to find out what happened in
there, just to make sure that she is ok," Chad said, smiling. "Now get on to
class and I will handle everything here," the bat said, patting him on the
back.
°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°
Subject experienced a
blackout. Witnesses say the subject became violent and attacked near by furs.
One witness claims a group of individuals had become hostile to the subject
before the incident.
Subject's current
status is as follows:
Brain activity is
minimal.
Respiratory and
cardiovascular systems are normal.
Subject continues to
be unresponsive to pain.
Subject will be
removed from the general population until all physical statistics are back to
normal.