{"sf1_id":911819,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 19","author":"Baumarius","words":1958,"posted_at":"2015-09-17T17:08:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","mind","tf","uploading"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911819-victernus-chapter-19","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/911819","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=911819\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nAthius walked along the street to his school, hoping\nto find Namara before he found any of his friends. The way there was quite\nsimple, as the city wasn't very large - he simply had to take a left off of his\nstreet and then follow the next one to the school. It met up with the one that\nNamara had gone down. Fortunately, he knew that the wolf couldn't have gone far\n- there weren't many places he could\ngo.\nHis back still ached and stung terribly from his\nbeating, and he was still a bit sour about it. His belly stung more, but only\nwhen he or someone else touched it. Whenever he felt the pain again, he\nclutched the handle of his bag tightly in an attempt to ease it. In an effort\nto conceal most of his beating, aside from the lash across his face, he tried\nwalking normally - even though it hurt.\nWhen he neared the school, he saw some of his\nfriends waiting outside on a wooden bench. They were in the grassy courtyard,\nsitting under one of the hovering lights. He stopped to watch under a small\ntree, reluctant to engage them. Was he supposed to speak with them, or would\nthey just get him in more trouble? He shivered and turned around, deciding\nagainst it.\nWhen he turned, he nearly ran into Gala. He jumped\nand clutched his chest in surprise, only to wince and let go. She chuckled, \"You're\njumpy today. Is everything alright?\"\nAthius waved it off, \"Oh, it's nothing. I just wasn't\nexpecting you there.\"\nShe laughed and then asked, \"Hey, what happened to\nyour face?\"\nHe touched his hand to his face. \"Oh, that... It's\nnothing, I just tripped this morning.\" I\nwas also whipped more times than I can count...\nGala smiled sympathetically, \"Ah, well I guess it doesn't\nlook too bad.\"\nYeah, not bad at\nall. Not bad at all, Gala.\nShe pointed her thumb to their friends in the\ncourtyard, \"Why don't we go sit down while we wait for school to start?\"\nHe shook his head and waved his hands, \"Nah, I'm\nfine. I was just going to go walking for a bit.\"\nShe rested against the tree and offered, \"Would you\nlike me to join?\"\nAthius continued to resist, \"It's alright. I just need\nto think about some things.\"\nGala frowned and crossed her arms, \"Are you sure\neverything's alright?\"\nHe turned and walked away, \"Yeah. I'll be back\nlater.\" He heard her mutter an annoyed \"Bye\" before he moved out of earshot.\nAfter clutching his bag one more time, he realized that doing so could never\ntake away the emotional pain he was experiencing. Grumbling to himself, he\ntrudged along the sidewalk, staring at the ground.\nBecause it was still early in the morning, most of\nthe adults were not yet out and about. As exhausted as he felt, he used his chance\nto scout for signs of Namara. He focused on the road and his surroundings, not\nwanting to miss one sign of him. I guess\nif I'm going to leave for good, I'll need to give it my all... I must find him.\nHe broke out into a jog while trying to ignore the shirt that was rubbing up\nagainst him.\nWhen he came to the point where the roads\nintersected and led to the palace, he found him. Namara was standing there\nseeming a bit confused, looking down at a map in his hand. Athius slowed down\nto catch his breath and then called out, \"Hey!\"\nWhen Namara turned to face him, Athius saw his face\nlight up. They both smiled at each other for a moment before Namara approached\nand grew worried. He questioned, \"What's wrong? You look... hmm...\"\nAthius sighed, \"I'll tell you later... I need to find\na place to stay first. I decided to skip school today... I'm not going back\nthere.\"\nNamara smiled and acknowledged, \"Let's get going\nthen - I found a place,\" and then patted his shoulder.\nHe winced and sucked in air through his teeth. \"Don't\ntouch me, please...\"\nNamara retracted his hand and apologized, \"Oh,\nsorry. Let's go.\" \nAthius followed, watching the street to make sure\nthat nobody was near them. He didn't want to get caught with a strange creature\nthat wasn't supposed to exist, after everything he had already gone through. To\nhis surprise, they didn't walk very far. They travelled only a few houses down\nbefore stopping. When they did, he checked his watch to make sure that school\nhad not started yet.\nThree minutes. He was three minutes away from being\ndiscovered missing. He shook and then asked, \"Are you sure I'll be able to\nhide?\"\nNamara nodded and then knocked on the door, \"Nobody\nwill be able to find you - don't worry about it.\"\nThe door cracked open a few moments later and\nMahalia peeked through. She opened it wide and exclaimed, \"You're back already?!\nIs he here with you?\"\nNamara moved out of the way so she could get a good\nlook at him, \"Yeah. This is Athius. He kinda just found me again.\"\nMahalia saw the marks on his face and then gasped,\npulling him inside, \"Oh my goodness! What happened to you?\"\nAthius opened his mouth to tell her, but the more he\nthought about it, the harder it became to speak. He stared down at the wires on\nthe floor and stopped, not wanting to sound weak.\nNamara closed the door behind them and then said, \"Well,\ngo on. You said you'd tell me when we got here.\"\n He trembled\nand started, \"Last night, my dad...\" He paused. \"M...my dad... he-\"\nMahalia could not bear it. She placed her hand on\nhis back and tried to get him to sit down. \"Why don't we take it slow?\"\n            He cringed, clenching his fists and\nstiffening up. She saw this and then furled one of her eyebrows, directing\ngently, \"Athius, take off your shirt.\"\n            Athius trembled further and then\nslipped his arms through his sleeves, pulling both of his shirts off carefully.\nHe held them shakily, unsure of where to put them. His fresh back was exposed\nto them, and he felt like blood was still dripping down from some of the deeper\nbelt-wounds.\n            He heard both Mahalia and Namara\ngasp. Mahalia walked around him, inspecting how far the wounds reached. She\nasked angrily, \"Your dad did this?\"\n            Athius nodded, \"He just got really\nangry all of a sudden... He was waiting in my room when I got home. He wouldn't\nstop...\"\n            She grimaced at the sight. Each lash\nlayered over the others on his back like a lattice-topped raspberry pie. She\nremarked, \"That's not going to go away for a long time...\" and then headed\nupstairs. She told Namara, \"I'm going to get a towel so I can clean that up.\nWhy don't you sit him down at the table?\"\n            Namara agreed and then went to the\ntable where Theo and Kyon were sitting, preparing a chair and beckoning Athius.\nHe smiled, \"Come on! These are just two more of my friends, Kyon and Theo.\"\nLooking at Theo, he asked quietly, \"Can they find him if he's here?\"\n            Theo shook his head, \"If he can see\nall this stuff, they can't.\"\n            Athius sat down on the chair and\nbent his back a little bit. He felt self-conscious because his skin was showing,\neven though he wasn't particularly skinny. He glanced at Theo and Kyon and then\ninquired, \"So, I heard that you guys might be leaving somewhere... Where exactly\nare you going to go? I was taught that there was nowhere to go and that the surface was unlivable still.\"\n            Namara chuckled, \"I've been on the\nsurface, and that's quite the overstatement! But, I don't know what Theo has in\nmind.\"\n            Theo smiled at them and teased, \"Oh,\nI have something in mind, but that's a surprise.\"\n            Athius thought to himself briefly\nbefore remarking, \"Huh... I wonder how much of what I taught was wrong.\"\n            While they were talking, Mahalia\nreentered the scene with a hot, wet towel in her hands. She waved to get their\nattention and then smiled. \"You guys can keep talking; I'm just going to clean\nAthius up a bit. It might sting a little...\"\n            Athius put his forearms on the table\nto brace himself. Meanwhile, he queried curiously, \"So, what do you guys know\nof what it was like before New Selania? You are all from that time, right?\"\n            Theo affirmed, \"That's right. It was\nboth good and bad...\"\n            Kyon picked up when Theo trailed\noff. He twirled an orange around on the table as he told him dreamily, \"There\nwere billions of people, giant cities with buildings that reached up to the sky,\nall kinds of animals that are mostly extinct now... It really was something to\nbehold. Of course, a lot of people didn't care.\"\n            Athius' eyes widened, only to shut\nwhen he felt Mahalia press the towel against one of his lashes. He grunted and\nthen asked, \"How could people not care about something like that? That sounds\namazing!\"\n            Namara laughed loudly behind him. \"When\nit's what you are brought up with, you learn to take it for granted. The funny\nthing is that while people thought everything would be fine and that nothing\nwould change, they were all contributing to their own destruction. You wouldn't\nbelieve how lazy people became and how sick of all the 'Save the Environment!'\nmessages they got. A lot of people became addicted to entertainment... in the\ncountries that had it good, anyway. It really was disgusting to watch. They no\nlonger cared.\"\n            He raised one of his eyebrows and\nquestioned, \"Didn't you try to do anything about it?\"\n            Namara scratched his head and then\nanswered, \"I was searching for my own thing, as you know... I was going to do something, but then Theo had to screw up with the stasis\nthing.\"\n            Theo huffed, \"It doesn't matter now -\nwe're all here. I suggest you do whatever you have been planning, Namara, so\nthat we can get out of here.\"\n            He agreed, \"You're right... I should\nprobably go out again. Is there anyone else who you think might like to join\nus, Athius?\"\n            Athius sat up and stretched his\narms. His back was feeling much better. It was still sore, but it no longer\nstung or bled. While stretching, he asked, \"Could I come with you? There's\nreally only one person who I think might be interested... We could probably catch\nher on one of the breaks. Then next one is in about an hour. Perhaps you could\ngo to the forum first and talk to some of the people there? I'm sure they'd be\ninterested in you. Just come back for me when you're ready.\"\n            \"Sure! I'll be back soon, I guess.\"\n            Mahalia ran back upstairs briefly\nand then came back down with a clean black shirt. She handed it to Athius, \"Here,\ntake this.\"\n            He beamed at her, \"Thanks!\" Standing\nup from his seat, he stretched again and then put on the shirt. \"That actually\nfeels a lot better!\"\n            She smiled, \"I knew it would.\"\n            Namara grabbed his map again and then\nheaded for the door. \"I'll be back - don't get into too much trouble while I'm\ngone.\"\n            Athius\ngrinned and surveyed his new friends with a twinge of excitement. A sense of\nbelonging filled him for the first time in his life as he assured, \"I think I'll\nbe just fine.\"","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911536-victernus-chapter-18.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911967-victernus-chapter-20.json"}