Zach’s eyes open after being in darkness for a while. The fox stretches and lets out a yawn, yet no other sounds are produced. He looks around the bus, only to see it’s completely vacant; not a single soul is around. “H-huh? Ralph? Emma? Winnie?” He slowly rises from his seat. “Where is everybody?” The fox eases down the aisle and makes his way to the windshield. Out through the glass, he makes out buildings at a maximum height of four stories and cars scattered about. “Oh no… Not Heroto…” He gets off the bus and makes it out into an intersection, yet no signs of life can be seen anywhere. “Wait, where is everybody? It’s so quiet… Why did we-” He pauses upon noticing a dark figure standing between two buildings. “Hello?” The silhouette steps into the daylight and reveals itself to be a tiger, half his size, wearing blue jeans, tape as a top bra, and a blue amulet. “E-Ezma?”
“You have dishonored all of us,” states the tiger. “You’ve become our enemy.”
“What? How am I an enemy?”
“You deserter!” calls a voice. Zach traces it to a grey wolf with a red armband to his right, walking toward him. “You left on your own accord! Couldn’t handle us anymore, eh?!”
Next to him, a sheep in a green vest appears. “How could you?! You’ve betrayed all of us!”
“I didn’t betray anyone!” Zach spurts. “I couldn’t handle it anymore! I left to pursue my own life! Besides, you all didn’t like me staying!”
“You traitor!” utters a monkey with a yellow mask, materializing on his left. He is joined by a cat in a red top and blue jeans with a flower by her ear. The last two animals appearing are a brown weasel with a lavender bowtie and a bat, same height as the tiger, with goggles. “How dare you defile us!” The seven animals converge on him, continuing to shout belittling insults at him.
“W-what are you all doing?!” The fox frantically looks for a way out, but his efforts are futile as there’s no escape. “Stay away from me! Please! Stop!” They then grab him and shake him violently. Zach shuts his eyes tightly and moves hysterically. “No! Let go! Get off of me! Stop!”
“Zach! Zach! Wake up!” The fox opens his eyes and lets out a loud gasp. He looks around and sees he’s back on the bus, alongside his new friends. He notices the warthog’s hooves on his shoulders as he looks into her eyes. “Oh jeez, are you okay?!” The rabbit and chicken look at him. “We’ve arrived in Anitropolis.”
“My God,” comments Winnie. “What happened to you?”
Zach’s heartrate slowly returns to a normal rhythm. “I… I thought we were somewhere else… The bus… it stopped in Heroto, my hometown… But there was nobody there… I got off, and then Team Rescuers appeared… They ganged up on me… I thought I was in big trouble… They called me a traitor for leaving…”
“You fell asleep,” Ralph tells him. “And you must’ve had a bad dream.”
“Listen, we’re here,” Winnie continues. “Let’s get off this tin can. If I have to spend another minute in here, I’m going to go crazy.” Zach stands to his feet and follows the others off the bus. The four animals step onto the grey concrete of the terminal. Once the bus fills with new passengers and travels off, their view is replaced with buildings towering to the sky. The noises of nature they heard before are now the loud horns of cars and noises of pedestrians pushing passed one another. “Huh, the ‘big city.’ I can see what they mean by that. Okay, where do we go next?”
“I’ve got it,” says Emma, twiddling away on her phone. “While we were on the bus, I managed to research a place that’ll suit our needs. It’s down this way.” She and her friends start down the street, weaving past other animals along the sidewalk. The three keep close to the warthog as the eyes of the other animals follow them, taking notice of fresh blood among them.
“I don’t feel comfortable about this,” Zach comments. He shuffles closer to his posse.
“Neither do I,” Ralph adds. “I think they notice outsiders.”
“They better not cause any trouble with us,” implies Winnie. “If they do, then there will be some broken jaws.”
“Let’s not pay any attention to them,” Emma tells them. “Perhaps everything will be better once we’re all settled.”
Just as they near a corner, Winnie collides into another figure, knocking her back slightly. The gang stop and ask if she’s okay. They then glance at the unknown pedestrian, who happens to be a dark grey wolf in a black beanie, red and black plaid jacket with white t-shirt, and light grey cargo pants. “Well, what do we have here?” His voice sounding rather brash and deep. “You’ve got quite a fine body.”
“Excuse you,” Winnie responds in a negative way. “Watch where you’re going next time.”
“Aren’t you a feisty one?” The wolf leans on the wall and continues to flirt. “I like feisty girls. How’s about I take you to my den and we get busy?”
“Sorry, Loverboy. I’m not the girl for you. Not on the market.”
“That’s too bad; you really have me interested.”
Winnie clenches her fists. “You interested in a huge smack across the face, Fur Fang?”
Zach steps up and puts his paws on her shoulders, stopping her. “Don’t let him get to you, Winnie. He’s not worth the trouble.”
“You her boyfriend?” asks the wolf. “Can’t imagine a fox like you would ever get a woman like her.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just a friend.”
“A friend? Yeah, right. You’re probably paying her to pose as your girlfriend. Probably paying her for a lot more, too. You’re such a loser.”
“Hey now,” Emma spurts, getting in between and looking up to the wolf. “That’s not very nice. Zach did nothing to you.”
“And what are you going to do about it, Short Stuff?”
“Come on, guys,” Ralph suggests, putting his paws on both Emma and Zach. “Let’s not waste any more time here. We need to get going. Emma, lead the way.”
The chicken extends her arm out, placing the palm of her hand on the wolf’s chest, before pushing him out of the way. “Beat it, Loser. Don’t ever cross my path again!” She presses on with her friends beside her.
“Damn, that’s cold,” utters the wolf.
As the four continue, Emma stops in place, prompting the others to as well; having made an additional five-minute journey, the gang arrive at a tall, grey-bricked building with several windows aligned up to the top floor. A sign above the canopy reads, “Relaxing Residence.” “This is the place. I’ve seen they have decent rooms for a reasonable rate. Should be perfect for us.” The four characters walk into the lobby. The entrance room itself is fairly small; roughly the size of a typical house living room. In the middle are a collection of black sofas and loveseats facing each other for any groups to sit on. Stairs and an elevator reside beside the main desk, leading upwards to the higher floors. As the gang cross the room and head for the desk, they draw short attention from other patrons, lasting a few seconds as they cross the room. They approach the front desk and are greeted by a grey-suited meerkat with a blue tie, who asks if they need help.
“Yes, hello,” begins Ralph. “We just arrived here and we noticed you’ve got some adequate rooms for a good price. We’d like to rent one for the four of us. Have anything that might suit us?”
“Hm,” goes the meerkat. “Let me look.” The tall mammal clacks away at the computer behind the desk, searching the database. “Do you have a specific preference?”
“What do you mean by ‘specific preference?’”
“Do you four prefer 2 rooms with queen-sized beds, four with full-sized beds? Oh, actually, I have a four-bedroom apartment with a kitchen, a living room, and two bathrooms. Should be enough to fit your needs.”
“Sounds good,” Emma adds. “Anyone have something different in mind?” No one says a word. “Guess we’ll take it.”
The meerkat smiles. “Lovely! Let me help you get started with your new pad. I’m going to need some things from you four before you head up there.”
***
After much conversation, proof of ID to show for clarification, and an initial payment collected, the four animals make their way to the sixth floor of the building via elevator. After stepping off onto the floor, the friends look around and find their number, “630.” Using one of the keys they obtained to enter, the door swings open, allowing the animals to walk into their new home. Upon entering, the gang get a full view of the living room in the center; showing two chairs flanking either side of a loveseat across from a flatscreen tv with a long, oval, chestnut coffee table to divide the room in the middle. Down their left and right are four bedrooms; two on each side with bathrooms at the end of the hallways. Each bedroom having its own full-sized bed with closets for clothing. Opposite the living room space is the kitchen with white cabinets adorned with black, marble countertops, a stove, a sink, a microwave, and a tall, silver fridge.
Emma lets out a whistle in one note, expressing how impressed she is. “Wow. This is quite a place.” The gang explores their new apartment before meeting up in the living room. “Haven’t been here for one minute and I already like it.”
“I agree,” Zach says. “This is a very nice place.”
“Yeah?” Winnie questions. “Well, if we want to stay here, we’re going to need to find some jobs and get a steady income. While this place isn’t too expensive, we need to make enough to keep living here.”
“Whoa, easy there, Winnie,” spurts Ralph. “We haven’t even got settled in yet, and you’re worried about finding work already?”
The chicken crosses her arms. “Unless you want to end up on the street because we couldn’t afford a cheap hotel apartment, I suggest finding a job.”
“How about we get settled in, first?” suggests Emma. “We’ve only been in the city for a hour. Yes, we need to start moving ahead, but there’s more to cover, first.”
“Like what?”
“Who’s getting what room and such.”
“It’s obvious.” Winnie points to the two rooms across the entrance. “Fox and Rabbit can have the two by the door, and you and I can have the ones closer to the kitchen.”
“Um, okay.” The warthog faces the boys. “You boys object to that?” Ralph answers with “no,” while Zach shakes his head. Both seem to agree with the suggestion.
“All right, that was easy. I call dibs by the bathroom!” Winnie heads down the hallway by the kitchen.
“I should start unpacking my belongings as well,” goes Emma. “I have a lot to sort through.” She walks into the room between Winnie’s claimed room and the living room.
“Okay then. But you two meet back in hereafter. We need to head out and go food shopping, pronto. We have no food and I don’t want to starve.” The rabbit faces the fox, seeing him sitting on the couch with his face turned to the beige carpet flooring. “You all right, Zach? You’ve been mostly quiet since we got here.” He takes up a seat next to him. “Something you want to talk about?”
“That wolf,” Zach begins. “What he said…”
“Forget about him, Zach. He’s just some punk on the street.”
“Yeah, but he reminded me of another wolf I used to know; Jay the Wolf of Team Rescuers.”
“He was a punk, too?”
“Yeah… He was… A big bully, as well. Would always belittle me; say I was never good enough to be Cindy the Sheep’s boyfriend, or even a member of the team. I was always pushed down or singled out because of my flaws… The worst part was, I thought he and the others were my friends…”
“I understand what it’s like to be pushed down.” The rabbit puts his arm around the fox’s shoulders. “But you shouldn’t worry about that anymore. You have new friends and you’re in a new city, away from those jerks. Now’s the time to take a chance to start all over. Be better than you ever were.”
Zach turns back to him and looks into his red eyes. “Yeah, I guess… Thanks, Ralph.”
Ralph takes back his arm with a smile, then stands. “I’m going to go claim one of the rooms and set my things down. Since the girls claimed the bedrooms by the kitchen, we’re left with the ones over here by the entrance. Which one do you want to claim?”
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
“How about I take the one by the bathroom and you can have the one adjacent to the living room?”
“Sounds good.”
“You should set your things down. You don’t want to be schlepping around extra weight.”
“I’ll do that in a minute. I just need some time.”
“Okay. Don’t take too long, though.” Ralph heads down the hall and into the room closest to the bathroom, leaving the fox by himself.
Zach remains sitting on the couch, looking out the window at the skyline before him. He then gets up and walks into the bedroom adjacent to the living room. The fox heads over to the bed, which sits in the right corner at the far end of the room by the window. Beside it is an oak wood end table with a light on it. Going over, he takes off his backpack and hat, setting them onto the bed. Examining the pieces of apparel before him, he then grabs at his blue bandana. His memory takes him back to the moment he left.
***
He stands outside the orphanage with his bag on his back and his cap fixed on his head. Before him stands a figure, covered from head-to-toe in a brown robe with a hood that resembles a medieval mage.
“All set?” asks the figure, toned in a female voice. The fox gives her a nod. “There’s nothing more I could do for you now except wish you luck.”
“I appreciate all you have done for me through the years,” the earlier Zach tells her.
“Let me walk you off the grounds.” She pulls alongside the fox as they head for the gate. “It’s a shame I couldn’t help you any more than I wanted… I really did fight for you, Zach. I wish I could’ve adopted you as my own son, but alas, I wasn’t allowed.”
“I wish you did... You would’ve been an amazing mother.”
“You got everything you need?”
“Yes… It’s all in my bag; my diploma, my id, some food for the journey, money, and all the other stuff.”
“Good. Once you head out of town, proceed down the road and go to the bus terminal. Once there, get on a bus to Anitropolis. I can’t really offer you any more guidance, so be careful.”
“I will. Thank you very much.” Once they stop at the edge of the gate outside the perimeter, the fox wraps his arms around the figure for a hug goodbye. After ten seconds, he lets go and proceeds out.
“Well, well, well,” begins a wolf with a red armband, stopping the fox. “What do we have here? I thought you were kicked out of the orphanage, Flawed Fox. Why are you over here?”
“Hi, Jay…” He starts walking away. “It’s not of your business.”
The wolf gets in front of him, stopping the fox. “Yeah, right!” His tone becomes more aggressive. “Everything you do is my and the team’s business! You need to tell me where you’re going, now!”
“Just leave me alone… You and your teammates got what you wanted. You don’t need to worry about me anymore.”
“You’re not going anywhere! Now, I order you to tell me!”
“You have issues!”
“You’re damn right I have issues! I do everything to protect this town, and you come along and ruin everything for everyone! It’s no wonder why everyone hates you!”
Zach turns away. “This conversation is over…” He begins heading off. “Goodbye, Jay…”
The wolf grabs onto the fox’s chest and lifts him up to face him. “Why you little punk! You’re dead meat, now!”
“Jacob the Wolf!” shouts the figure from nearby. “Put him down now!” The wolf growls. “You want me to report you to your mother and Master Ezma about your behavior?! You let Zach go right now and leave him alone!” The wolf keeps a grasp on the fox, not following orders. This prompts the figure to come over and grab him by the ear, forcing the wolf to release the fox.
Jay opens his paw, letting Zach fall onto the ground, landing on his seat. The figure then lets go of his ear. “You’re lucky, Flawed Fox! You won’t be so lucky next time!”
“Get out of here, Jacob! Scram!” Jay continues to growl, yet does as he’s told and wanders away, finally. The figure helps Zach off the ground. “You okay, Zach?”
“I think so,” Zach responds. “I think I’m going to have a bruised butt…”
“You’ll be getting worse wounds than that if you continue to stick around. You should go now, and be quick about it before more trouble comes about.”
“Okay…” The fox starts walking away from her. Once he’s twelve yards from her, he pivots back to her. “Thank you for-”
“Just go!” interrupts the figure. Zach remains silent, faces away and begins to distance himself from the figure.
***
Zach is brought back to reality when Ralph calls for him. “Huh?! Oh, sorry! I’m coming!” He turns to the door and leaves the room. He joins up with his friends in the living room. “I’m here! Let’s get going.” He follows as his friends head out the door. The fox is the last one to exit, but before he closes the door behind him, he stops in the doorway and turns around; taking a few seconds to glance at the new place and out the window before looking forward and taking in a deep breath. “Time to move forward.” He then starts ahead and shuts the door behind him.
