“NO!”
Henry’s visceral reaction to finding out that Lankey and Slag were killed early into morning, hit him like a punch to the gut. His fist landing on the muzzle of deputy Louis Whitefur as he told both Henry and Rudolph the news after the two deputies who followed the trial of the two human intruders from the supermarket parking lot. That trail lead away from the duo but did inform them of the added body count. A body count that the deputies so far know now stands at six.
“Stop Scabs,” Rudolph doing his best to hold the the Doberman fury back as the distraught teen tries to land another hit on the deputy. “Hitting a cop is not worth it.”
“Listen to him boy,” Louis getting up; his runes glowing as he prepares to deal with a second hit if it come; “so calm down! We have bigger issues to deal with than your grief!”
“I don’t care about my grief,” Henry snarling; his teeth bared as he wants to unleash his aggression on someone; “I want the assholes dead!”
Before Louis or Rudolph could react; the police sergeant who was already at the playground inspecting the latest victims, came up and knock out Henry with a makeshift cudgel.
“Help me put him in the back seat of the cruiser,” the Komodo dragon fury picking up the knocked out teen.
“He’s not going to get charged is he,” Rudolph helping to open the back door of the police cruiser.
“I’ll leave that to deputy Whitefur,” the komodo fury looking at the spotted leopard fury massaging his jaw; “check the area where the shots were taken. I’ll need to deal with some genuinely distraught mothers.”
“Come,” Louis talking to the Cardinal fury; “let’s see if they left anything to help us pick up their trail."
They returned to the small rise above the playground; observing the medical examiners placing sheets over the bodies of two small furies. Rudolph seeing the female beaver fury was at least ten years old, while the Rhino fury looked twelve.
“I wonder if they were related,” Rudolph thinking. While the fury virus was random in what anthropomorphic animal form a human took; it in no way made the furies incompatible with each other for the purpose of sexual pleasure or reproduction. Seeing many cross species couples together further proved such possibilities.
Turning back to the ground; Rudolph knelled closer to the ground to get a better look at the disturbed foliage. Noting a few broken branches and snapped twigs, he didn’t see anything that would indicated they got sloppy after taking out their targets.
“I’m not seeing anything of note,” Rudolph getting up; bushing the few twigs and dead grass that are clinging to his feathers.
“I agree,” Louis sniffing the area; “I still smell nothing but deer musk. You might be right in that they are covering their scent. Can you see where they went?”
“No,” Rudolph looking around; “I think they doubled back the way they came. But then we would have stumbled across them. Which leads me to believe that they found a place to hide,” Rudolph giving the ground another scan.
“Nothing around here but,” Louis’s thought trails off as he examines the various houses this small patch of wood backs up on. Immediately his feline face goes cold at the thought of two human’s hiding out on a home and the possibility of them taking hostages.
“Sergeant we may have a possible home invasion,” Louis speaking on the radio; “send up several deputies to our location. We need to start banging on doors checking to see if everyone is safe.”
“I got State troopers coming to help,” the sergeant growling on the phone; “they’ll be here in few hours. You just need to stay put until then.
“Roger,” Louis putting his radio away; “well this has turned out to be fun Saturday. I was planning on having a relaxing rut with my mate.”
“My day was going to be spent picking up litter off of the highway,” Rudolph walking the path back to see if he missed something; “to think I’d actually welcome that boring task right about now.”
“Why is that,” Louis following the Cardinal as he pauses and looks at a makeshift path to the backyard of a house.
“Because at least then,” Rudolph walking further along to the next break in the path; “I would perhaps have gotten Scabs to open up about what is eating him.”
“It’s about his mother,” Louis sighing; “he blames himself for her death. He tried to give her our gift and it killed the woman instead. But that is not the whole story.”
Rudolph stops to turn around and stare at the deputy; it was a look of being called at the poker table after going all in on a low pair.
“I suppose we got time,” Louis sitting down by a small tree. “Henry’s father didn’t run out on him and his mother,” deputy Whitefur exhaling; “I arrested him.”
“So he is in jail,” Rudolph looking surprised; but not entirely shocked; “must have been an assault or something to be gone so long.”
“I pulled Stanley Babbins over for diving with and expired tag,” Louis recalling the event’s ten years ago; “I was just going to issued him a ticket when the person he had in the passenger seat decided to pull a gun as he jumped out of the car. Stanley freaked out and drove off only to crash his car a short distance away. I got into a shooting match with the passenger and shot him. Took two slugs to vest and watched as the would be cop killer bled out. Getting my breath I limped towards Stanley’s car, not realizing I got shot in the leg and I saw Stanley passed out with a head wound and a lot of white powder in the back seat. So I arrested Scabs father not just for driving with an expired tag, but for evading, causing an accident, and possession of cocaine with the intent to traffic.”
“No wonder Henry went punk,” Rudolph shaking his red feathered head in disbelief; “so where is he now?”
“In federal lock up doing a life sentence,” Louis answering; “despite the charges I brought to Henry’s father, the state prosecutor also charged Stanley for accessory to attempted murder of a police officer. Meanwhile I spent a few months on medical leave before I went back to work for being shot at,” Louis summoning his phone and checking to see if there are any messages.
“Does Scabs know where his father is,” Rudolph watching the deputy stare at the phone before he puts it away. Watching it vanish into thin air and his runes fading from the simple summoning spell.
“I told his mother,” Louis answering; “I assumed she told him. I guess find out your spouse was supporting you and your son by running drugs hurt her harder than I could imagine. Because I never realized she became house bound afterwards and letting herself become morbidly obese as way to handle the pain.”
“So he doesn’t know,” Rudolph shaking his head; “you he has been going on about his father abandoning him and his mother. I just thought it was because of not wanting to deal the situation at home.”
****************
Meanwhile, not far from where Rudolph Rot-Feder and Louis Whiterfur were talking; the two humans who have been killing furies since arriving town were tucking themselves into a plate of fried eggs and ham courtesy of the home they are currently occupying. They carefully pulled the corpses of the four furies they killed earlier so as not to risk getting infected with the fury virus and deposited them in the basement. A teenage female otter fury, a baby fury that looks like a lynx as well as a male otter fury and a female lynx fury. The last two they assumed were the parents.
“How far are we from the hospital,” the first man speaking as he watches his partner examine the map they had of town.
“Too far,” the second man answering; “we may have to resort to plan B. And take out Denise from her home.”
“And where is that again,” the first man shoveling a forkful of egg into his mouth; “this town is oddly designed. Easy to get lost in.”
“Looking at some of these photos on her social media page,” The second man reading the odd numbers; “we can get there from here if we cut through the nearby high school and jog down this river leading away from the town center. We will need to cross through several streets so it is best to do this during the evening.”
“Then we should get some shut eye,” The first man nodding; “you take the first watch. We made a lot of noise despite using silencers. It’s only a matter of time before these freaks begin trying to hunt us down.”
“So much for a shower,” the second man finishing his meal as he watches the first man head to the living room and use the nearby sofa as a makeshift bed.