FSE

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Chapter 1

I pulled up my hood as a light drizzle began to fall, dampening me and sending goosebumps down my legs. I ignored it since this was typical fall weather and instead busied myself by avoiding the various cracks and missing bits of concrete in the sidewalk.

There were lots of cracks and holes and not just on the sidewalk. The buildings, none of which were over three stories, were all like that. Always in some sort of disrepair with half-hearted patches made of timber and cheap concrete that stood out like scars on the buildings. The roads were worse, but no one drove around here except for the busses, which were free to use.

I didn't use the bus though. Everything I needed was within walking distance from my home at the Weatherford Housing Complex. Now I was walking back from the grocery store with my meager, but adequate ration of bread, salted beef, some root vegetables and a jug of water. Even as the bags weighed down on my arms, I could feel the lightness in my pocket where the ration slips had been.

Food was always a little bit of a worry, but I had never actually gone hungry for more than a day, yet I still thought about it constantly. I'm sure everyone did, but no one said anything because we were all aware that this was the best it could be for us, the Human race.

It had been nearly fifty years since the Exodus from our home in Lutria. Not even my mom had been born at the time, but all Humans, or Lutrians as we or even the Cainus still called us, knew the story.

There had been a war of extermination between Lutria and the neighboring nation of Taal, a nation of dragons. Neither side had like each other at any point in their existence and millennia of tension and small pointless border conflicts eventually boiled over into a war to simply erase the other from existence. It had been bloody with whole cities burned off the map with no survivors, soldier or civilian. It had raged for a decade, but eventually, the Taal had gained the upper hand and the Lutrians had to flee into the sea.

My little in mind history lesson was interrupted as I walked around a corner and was too in my thoughts go notice the person standing in front of me.

"Oof," I grunted as I walked fully into the larger body.

I fell back, luckily not losing any of my groceries on the way down and landed hard on my rear.

The person I had walked into looked down at me past his long, black-furred muzzle with his golden eyes. His lips peeled back into a snarl, revealing a set of stained canines from too much tobacco. His black, wet nose twitched, no doubt taking in my scent which I was sure was filled with fear and submission.

"Watch where you're going Lutrian," he snarled, but made no move towards me.

I cast my gaze away, not making the mistake of prolonged eye contact. Instead, I looked at his bare paws. Massive things, covered in the same black fur that covered the rest of his body. I could see his tail lazily drooping behind him, past the blue trousers of his police uniform, cut to fit the build of the large Cainus.

That's was what he was, Cainus of the country Cainus, a nation of canines. As redundant and unoriginal as that sounded, but the Cainus were never ones to beat around the bush on anything and I wasn't complaining. It was the Cainus that had ensured the survival of my people. They had allowed the survivors to land on their shores and set up. Sure there were regulations and all kinds of controls in place, but they took us in and there had never been a threat of kicking us back out even if it seemed just about all Cainus looked down at us with disdain.

"I'm sorry. I'll be more observant next time," I said as I picked myself up and kept my eyes cast down. I could tell

The Cainus snorted and looked away, already unconcerned with my existence.

I quickly went around the officer, giving him a wide berth and made the rest of my way home in the rain, not getting stuck in my thoughts again.

The complex was a massive concrete structure barren of color vice for a few trees and the grass out front. It was a large hexagonal building that had two hundred rooms on each floor, all of which could be easily accessed by going to the center courtyard first. I was near the front of the building on the third floor, so I walked into the dusty lobby, passed a couple of other humans that were busy sifting through their mail and went to the stars.

It was cold in the stairwell and smelled of mold from the leaky pipes a little bit of piss. That was nothing new. Cainus liked to mark their territory and it wasn't unheard of for the Custodians of the building to mark the floors they were in charge of managing, with stairwells being far enough out of the way as to not draw too many complaints from the tenants.

The door out of the stairwell opened to a long balcony that hugged the inside of the hexagon with railing on one side and plain, numbered doors on the other. I walked to mine, number 337.

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out my keychain that only had my door key and my mailbox key and unlocked the door.

The door gave a slight squeal when I opened it and I was met with the familiar smell of my home. It's hard to describe, but it was just that familiar smell that instantly made my shoulders relax and the tension vanish from my joints.

"That you, James?" One of my roommates called out from his bedroom.

"Yeah," I replied and kicked off my shoes and headed for the kitchen.

The apartment wasn't large with a half wall separating the narrow kitchen from the cozy living room. In the living room was a single couch for two, a short table where we ate and on the far wall were the two doors that led to two separate bedrooms. Each bedroom had a bed and a nightstand with a lamp and were both connected by a shared bathroom. The laundry was also in the bathroom making for a very tight squeeze. It was home though.

I set the bags of groceries on the counter and began putting the meat and vegetables into the refrigerator.

"Was getting worried," Thomas said as he stepped out from his bedroom. He was a shorter, but more heavily built man with disturbingly orange-red hair. He was wearing a loose grey shirt and a pair of baggy sweats which made him look fat rather than fit.

"It's not much rain out there," I said, guessing why he would be worried.

He shrugged and stood on the other side of the half wall from me and picked up a stack of papers, holding them out to me.

"Checked the mail," he said as I took the stack and began to flip through it. "Nothing interesting, except that seems that Barney got that Cainus grant to start up his construction company."

Looking down at the mentioned piece of mail, it was an ad looking for able bodied people to come and work. The pay wasn't great, but it was very hard to make any decent money, so that didn't bother me.

"I might swing by the address and give it a look," I said and began to look at the other mail. It was mostly just fliers for the various businesses that had managed to start up, looking for customers when there just wasn't enough money to keep most of them afloat. It was depressing to look at them all. People trying to build their lives up and despite all the good intentions and effort, failing.

It made me mad, pissed, furious, but I kept that down. We were alive and had to be grateful for that and even if the businesses failed, the stipend from the Cainus government was a living wage, though barely. Housing was paid for. Electricity and water was free from the state and the ration cards ensured there was food.

"How about you?" I asked and set down the fliers.

Thomas looked as if he considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, Cainus got some hydro project going on up north. The foreman says we may be picked as the crew to go up there and help."

I nodded in understanding. Thomas worked for the state as part of the Civil Infrastructure Department. He was a laborer, simply put, but it had benefits. Big projects meant bonuses for everyone who worked on it. Cainus would get the largest bonus and human laborers would get a pittance in comparison, but every little bit helped.

I went back to the groceries and huffed a bit.

"What?"

"Seems like it's going to be meat stew again," I replied. "Just like the past week."

Thomas shrugged. "Sure, it's boring, but it lasts longer than anything else. Plus if we wait for Makayla to come back, she makes it best."

Makayla was Thomas' girlfriend and the third and final tenant of our lovely apartment. It made for a cramped living place, but sharing our ration cards made life easier. Plus, she worked as a glorious paper pusher for one of the administrators which was a little more income. She tended to be the last one home most days, so it was customary for us to hold off on dinner until the evening.

Thomas went back to his room and I stayed around the kitchen, cleaning and setting up some pots with water on the stove, just to make the cooking a little easier for Makayla. If I did anything more, she'd chastise me instantly and jokingly claim that I had ruined it all.

It was only an hour before I heard the door open.

"I'm home," Makayla sang, always the one be in the best of moods.

"May bae," Thomas came from his room and quickly ran over to her to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, Tommy," the taller, brunette laughed and gave him a playful push.

I rolled my eyes at the show of affection, but said nothing. The two deserved all the time with each other they could get.

Once their little show was over, Makayla took a shower and began to cook dinner. She tasked Thomas and I with various tasks such as chopping potatoes, carrots and onions. I was glad to help out because there were times where I felt useless.

Of the three, I was the only one without a job. Even though most Lutrians were jobless and having two working in a single apartment was actually extremely lucky, I couldn't help but feel like a parasite especially since I used to be the one with a job.

There was a reason why so many were jobless. Sure, there weren't a lot of jobs in the Lutrian areas to begin with, but it didn't mean there weren't a lot of jobs in total, in fact there was one thing that could employ everyone, the military.

Cainus wasn't a country at peace. To the north was Alberdan, a dictatorial nation of a feline race and had never gotten along with Cainus. To the east was Pelitan, a rival canine nation. Could think of it as a rival pack and the borders between Cainus and Pelitan were always in conflict and always shifting slightly one way or another. Then of course to the west across the ocean was Taal, who still wanted to exterminate the Lutrians. The only border that wasn't under threat of attack was Emthiron, which was controlled by a rodent race of rats who were too busy fighting amongst themselves to be able to attack anyone else.

All of this conflict created a need for a robust military, one that the Cainus had opened up to Lutrians, however, like all other jobs, Lutrians were made into grunts. Naturally, only the most desperate joined and seven years ago, I had been desperate.

I was only twenty at the time and my mother had just died. I didn't know what to do, how to move forward... anything and the military just seemed like the best option and maybe it had been because I spent six years. Six years of being a grunt. Sometimes I fought, sometimes I just shoveled dirt and dug ditches, but at the end of those six years I was tired of almost dying so often and got out.

Now I was here a year after getting out, most of the money I had saved up gone, but it wasn't all bad as I listened to Makayla and Thomas start singing as the food was cooked. I just wanted to contribute even if I knew neither of them minded at all.

"This is delicious," I said as I spooned the thick broth into my mouth.

"I think it did come out better than most times," Makayla agreed as she soaked a piece of bread into the bowl.

We all sat on the couch made for two. Was on one side and Thomas was on the other. Makayla too her place on Thomas' lap as we all had a nice dinner.

"Any interesting news from the office?" Thomas asked.

"Well, Administrator Tyre approved the plan to begin redoing all the sidewalks in the northern parts of the district.

The Lutrian District was where we lived, all Lutrians lived. Some jokingly and not so jokingly called it the reservation.

"Bout time," Thomas said. "I can do without roads, but the sidewalks definitely have needed work for a long time. He then looked at me. "Should make getting the job from Barney easier."

"Oh, yeah. I remember Barney's paperwork getting approved for his construction business. I didn't know you were gonna apply for a job with him, James."

"I'll try," I said. "Bet there's going to be a lot of applicants."

"You'll get it no problem," Thomas said cheerfully. "You're strong and fit, plus your experience in the service will put you above most others."

I smiled at their assurances, but then spooked at the sound of someone rapping against our door loudly.

"Who could that be?" Thomas asked.

"This time of night?" Makayla added.

"Maybe there's going to be a power outage for some work and this is the notification," I guessed as I got up, not wanting Thomas and Makayla to have to go untangle themselves.

I walked to the door where I could hear the rain on the other side, coming down hard and opened it.

It was dark out, with the light above the door being almost burnt out, but I still instantly recognized the uniform.

"James Caldwell?" The soldier, a Cainus soldier that stood at what must have been almost seven feet tall, asked. He looked down at me with a neutral expression, but his ears at attention, listening.

"Yes," I said, knowing that this was a no bullshit moment. Cainus never personally went to a Lutrian's home unless it was important because they thought it beneath them.

The cainus held out his paw which held a small envelope.

I took it from the soldier who returned his paw to his side, but didn't move and kept his eyes on me.

I looked down at the envelope with had a seal on it. It was a feral wolf in a running pose, superimposed over crossed rifles. It was the insignia of the Cainus War Department. I felt the blood leave my face.

"You will report to the west mustering ground tomorrow," the soldier said and then, sharply turned and walked off.

I only barely heard him as I stared at the envelope shaking in my hands.

"Who was that?" Makayla called out from behind me.

I didn't answer. I just kept staring at the envelope as if that would make it disappear. I must have been there for a long while because suddenly both Makayla and Thomas were behind me, looking at the envelope as well.

"What's that?" Thomas asked. "Are you alright?"

It was then that I could manage to say something.

"I'm being drafted back into the military."