Anthro- Chapter Four

Chapter Four of my book, Anthro

NIGHT, IN A CENTRAL PARK OF TOWN

Burdock settled in a shadow beneath a tree, his back resting against the trunk of the giant as he leaned listened. A silent voice of intuition had led the gray wolf to that location, taunting him until he finally heard its words. Burdock kept still, scanning the grounds around him with his green eyes, only to jump as his eyes rested on a shadow not far from his standpoint. The shadow moved towards him, poised as though whatever it belonged to didn’t pose a threat. Light hit the figure and revealed Fox, holding his favorite gun to his chest. His multiple tails swayed behind him as he continued walking to Burdock.

“Isn’t it funny that my intuition led me here?” Burdock said, smirking.

Fox remained silent and stood just a few feet from Burdock. The gray wolf still had a stupid grin on his face, as though he wasn’t holding his supposedly “heavy burden” of “saving the world”, but rather, he was a child playing pretend. Fox regarded this childish behavior with a snarl, taking a defensive stance. Burdock waved him off with a lazy raise of his paw, which only angered Fox further. “Hey, Carcer, relax. There’s no danger around here,” said Burdock.

“You don’t know that, Burdock,” said Fox, and with a heavy British accent, he continued, “I could potentially be a threat towards you.”

“We both know that’s not why you’re here. Besides, you won’t get very far if you try to kill me.”

“What, are you that bully that hides behind his junkies? You’re a coward at best.”

“No, I assure you that they aren’t here. You just don’t have anything to gain. Besides, if you kill me, you’ll eventually die for it. This world is in danger,” said Burdock.

“You still haven’t told me what the danger is.”

“If you come with me, you’ll soon know.”

“What are you? Yoda? The whole riddle thing isn’t appealing,” said Fox.

“I just can’t tell you until I know that you can be trusted, understand, Carcer? You of all people should be able to understand that.”

“I’m not my brother, Burdock.”

“There’s still a connection,” said Burdock.

”You can’t be for sure about that. You never were sure.”

Burdock went silent. An eerie wind blew in rivers around the pair of anthros. Fox smirked and brought a cigarette up to his mouth. “See, Burdock? I won this one. You have to tell me what I’m about to face.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be smoking, Carcer?”

The young vulpine shrugged, but dropped the cigarette to the ground before he even lit it. “Just call me Fox and stop being so formal to me, old man.”

Burdock smiled, “That isn’t even your real name, is it?”

Fox’s eyes opened wide. The surprise in his voice was evident as he asked, “How did you know that?”

Burdock pressed a paw to the trunk of a tree. With one of his back paws, he smashed the cigarette into a pile of ash. With a sigh, he began to speak, this time his voice serious, “I’ve been researching the Carcer family for a long time. Though your father wasn’t a fighter, he was a good friend of mine and could tell a great story. He had a friend that was skilled in weaponry, and told me all about how he would let that friend teach you boys to defend yourselves. I happened to meet that friend of his and was lucky to see him use his skills. What your father told me was true. I had never seen such skill. And then I met your twin brother: Owen. I know a lot about you, Isiat.”

Burdock closed his eyes and smirked, only to open them and find a gun to his head. Fox was grinning, his sharp canines shining in the moonlight. “You know too much about me, Burdock. Now you get to tell me your story.”

“You’ll figure it out in time, Isiat. You just need to understand the complications. If I tell you now and you don’t like it, you won’t help me,” said Burdock.

“If you don’t tell me, I won’t help you regardless.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. You really are persistent, Carcer boy.”

“That’s just the way I am,” said Fox, grinning.

“Now, here’s what you need to know…”

WHITEWOLF MANSION

Rayne walked into the boys’ room silently, a small doll hooked under her arm. Other than the sliver of moonlight coming through a crack in the curtains, the room was completely dark. Skarii was asleep on one of the two beds, his snores deep and slow. “He’s so cute when he’s asleep,” said Rayne.

The wolf slid up next to her beloved dragon and smiled, wrapping her arm around his waist. The dragon stirred and opened his eyes, gazing at Rayne before a smile played on his lips. “Hey sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I had a horrible dream about that gray wolf. What did he want from us?” said Rayne.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m here to protect you, no matter what it takes,” said Skarii, kissing his darling wolf on the forehead. “If I go to sleep do you promise you’ll be okay?”

Rayne nodded and laid her head down next to Skarii’s, closing her eyes. Moments later, her eyes snapped open and she saw the other bed, empty and cold. A shrill scream pierced the night. Skarii sat up, alert and tense, his claws curved in anticipation. Heavy footsteps filled the house, and Rayne’s parents and Enya Ray were at the door. Mr. Whitewolf flicked the bedroom light on and, in his gruff voice, asked, “What on Earth is wrong here?”

The small wolf pointed to the empty bed. “Fox is gone!” she shouted.

Skarii instantly wrapped his arms around Rayne’s waist. His protective instincts threw a wave of adrenaline through his veins. “We’ll find him, no matter what it takes. He’s like a brother to us, and we will not leave him behind, no matter what.”

“What if we don’t find him?” asked Rayne.

Enya Ray spoke up. “We’ll find him,” she said, “Because I know where he went.”

The rest of the family turned to face the shy sisterwolf of the Whitewolf family. “Well, spill it, sis,” said Rayne.

“There was a gray wolf in the house yesterday night. I heard him walking around and peeked out my bedroom door to see what was going on. A few minutes later, I saw him come up the stairs and come into this room. There was a lot of talking. The wolf woke Fox up. After they finally stopped talking, I watched the gray wolf limp out of our house, wounded somehow. Then this morning, I noticed that Fox was acting strangely. When everybody else went to bed, Fox snuck out of the house. He was mumbling the same thing over and over again. He was saying something like, ‘they’ll never know.’”

Everybody looked at Enya Ray with wide eyes.

Skarii brought his fist down on the bedside table. “What has gotten into Fox? Where has he gone?” he shouted.

Rayne shook her head, whining softly in the back of her throat. “We have to find him.”

Author's Note

Please review to the best of your ability.