Man with Rage & the Girl with the Blade

1. In the Land of the Love, Nothing Hates.
-November 11th 2153-
“I love you, ya know,” Creek said to Fumi with his ears flopped and eyes like a puppy.
“Get away from me, I don’t have time for your bullshit now,” Fumi said with her sword drawn. She sliced forward. The punching bag had a clean cut, like a hot knife through water.
“You’ll practice yourself to death you know,” Creek said.
A smile came to Fumi’s face, “I know. It is the death I want.”
“Wait for the floor creek, and then I’ll bring the death you want,” he said crouching down to move away from her.
“You still use that stupid line?” she asked.
“I’m named for the way I kill. It’s an honor that most rats would die for.” He said with a nasty smile coming to his face. And with that he left the room and went out into the town square.
Fumi lifted her blade and swung at the bag a few more times then walk out as well. She lived in the sewer with Fredrick, Creek, and all of the other rats. The sewers of Berlin had lost the rank smell and become very appealing. The rats had built on and made many rooms, and extra piping for passageways.
There was a center to the rat network of tunnels; a row of shops/homes on both side of the largest pipe under the city. Fumi walked down the pipe and looked into the windows. Shopping was only for fun, as anything you really wanted you would go to the above world and find it sooner or later in the rubble, but as in the before time, women loved to shop.
Freddy was snuggled up to Sasha with a book in his hands when Fumi got home. He had his wooden leg perched on the broken TV and a worm smile on his face.
“Hey mom, Hey dad,” Fumi said as she put her sword onto its cradle.
“Shhhh, She asleep,” Freddy said lifting himself out of her arms and off the old worn chair.
“How was your day?” Freddy asked.
“It was good; creek refuses to leave me alone. Why can’t he just go after Nora, she actually likes him?” She said sighing, “I need a vacation, or an adventure. Like when we first met, remember?”
“I remember a freak of nature chasing us, and a bunch of rats hunting us, and I remember dieing,” he laughed, “is that what you want?”
“Kinda,” she replied. She just wanted an adrenaline rush, or at least a purpose in life. every day seemed to just bring the same things: shopping in a rat village seemed to just get old after you’ve got everything you could ever want.
“Hun,” Freddy pleaded, “I don’t want you hurt, and well, I don’t know what there is for you to do except to go exploring.”
Fumi fell onto her couch. A glum look befell her face, “that would only cause the same problems I’ve been having. I’ve checked every building in this damn city.” That was a flat out lie. She’d been through many of the buildings, but the city was huge, and there was still plenty of stuff undiscovered, just waiting for a rate to find it.
“I was talking about exploring other cities.”
Fumi, lifted her head. Another city, the thought hadn’t crossed her mind until now. She loved the idea, “Munich isn’t far from here, and I have my motorcycle, I’d be back in like a day or two.”
“Wait!” he yelled, giving Sasha a slight stir, “I’ve been meaning to get rid of the dragon,” he said walking to his bedroom. He came back with the buffalo rifle rapped in its silk blanket.
“Why would you want to get rid of it?” she questioned.
“Because, I’m not a violent man anymore. And I don’t trust anyone else with it. Take it out there and bury it in the ocean,”
“Um…dad, that sounds kinda’ big for me,” Fumi said with raised eyebrows.
“Think of it as a big walk. You said you needed an adventure; this isn’t half the trouble you had when we first met. You’ll meet new people, see what happened to the rest of the world, I think it would be fun,” Freddy always dose things like this, if he thinks one of his ideas are fun or exciting or would make a fool of some one then he puts everything he has into it.
“Ok,” she paused and stared at the gun for a while, “but I’m taking the Lugers.”
“Oh, shit…fine, take them,” Freddy had been given two World War II German Lugers, and enough ammunition to last a lifetime as a gift a few years earlier. They were his second most prized possessions (first of which would be Fumi, but he’d never admit to that).
“Sweet,” Fumi giggled.
“I’m never ganna’ see them again,” Freddy said as he went and fetched the guns for her. “Make sure to keep yourself safe, and bring these back to me.”
“Yea,” Fumi holstered the two pistols on her side. “This should be fun,” she said smiling brighter then she had ever before.
“Go before your mother wakes up,” Freddy said as he walked back to his seat with Sasha.
She sat there and thought about weather she should leave or not. If she didn’t leave then she would be forced to endure Creek and his annoying voice. If she did leave, she’d be walking into the unknown. The unknown it is. With a smile she left.
“I’ll be back,” she said as she left her house. She was careful not to cause a fuss as she left. She avoided Creek and made it to the over world safe and sound.
Besides her blade only one thing made her feel like singing, only one-thing makes her heart beat faster, wind in her hair while riding her million-dollar motorcycle. Nora had found it a few years back and had given it to Fumi as a birthday present. It had been damaged, and only ran at about 40 miles an hour (at best). And with it she started west on her jury to the Atlantic.


***


“Oh god, help me!!!” screamed a voice as Nora was tending to her garden.
Nora was an over world rat and stayed above ground most of the time. She had found a warehouse with a glass roof on the second floor. She had converted the top floor of the warehouse into her private nook; the biggest nook of any of the rats.
After she had heard the sound she quickly grabbed her staff and scampered over to the wall-less front of the warehouse (the front wall was damaged in the bombings, so Nora had removed what was left of it and made a huge window as she calls it). She peered out and saw a young man on his back crawling desperately to get away from a large polar bear.
“Oh my,” she said as she ran for her bow and arrow. She grasped it swiftly and was quick to take aim. “fhuthunk,” went the arrow as it flew through the air and penetrated the base of the bear’s brain.
The bear died that second, but in its death it fell and smacked the young man’s into the concrete ground.
“Oh dear,” Nora dashed for the stairs. She made it out to the collapsed bodies at the speed of the sound. The bear was dead, where as the boy was only unconscious.
Nora dragged him out from under the bear and hoisted him over her shoulder. She carried him up to her bed and tucked him under the covers. “I’ll get you some help,” she said in her sweet loving voice, “after I cook up some bear meat.” She smiled and ran back for the carcass that lay on the street.
It took her a few hours to get the body up stairs, and prepare it to eat. She also started the process of tanning the hide so she could wear it as a cape.


“Smells good mom, what’s cooking?” The boy in the bed said.
“Well it’s something very special, but I’m not your mom,” she paused, “You can still have some if you want,” Nora said.
“The boy blinked his eyes a few times and rubbed his forehead,” he had just woken up and didn’t exactly know where he was.
“Are you all right, you smacked your head pretty hard,” Nora said reaching a hand out to touch him.
The rat paw came at him and he screamed and fell off the bed. He brought his nose up to the rim of the bed and starred at Nora with frightened eyes, “What are you?”
“I’m human, only I took some magic drugs that changed me into this,” she said with a smile and putting her palms up.
“Oh,” he said getting back up onto the bed and looking her over. He crawled over to her and reached out his hand. His fingers tips just barely touched her whiskers, and she snapped at him. He yelled again and fell backward off the bed.
Nora laughed with content and spoke, “I’m sorry, but if you ask for it I’ll give it to you,” she laughed some more, this time he joined in, “would you like some lunch?”
“Ya, I’m starving,” he said getting back up onto the bed, “What are you making?”
“Your enemy, that bear you were up against,” she said.
“I’ve never had bear meat before,” he said.
“Well it’s good. There are usually smart enough to stay away from here so I don’t get to eat it that much,” she said turning the meat. “So what’s your name?”
“Its Boris, I think. My memory is a little fuzzy,” he said rubbing his head.
“Was it the hit you took on the pavement out front that made it that way?” she asked.
“No, I’ve had the problem for a while now. My first memory is of me standing an empty village in Russia,” He said, getting up, “that was like three or four weeks ago.”
“Well, I’ll take you to the underground city and introduce you to some of the people here. Or I can just pack you up some food and help you on your way,” she said with a smile. Nora was a very considerate person, and never did anything that could hurt any one. She looked at him and waited for him to say something.
“I’d like to stay in one place. That was actually what I was looking for, a city or some people. But…. you said something about underground?”
“Most of us are rats, so where do you think rats live?” she said looking at him with her eyebrows up.
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen a rat before,” he said.
“Oh, well most of us lie in the sewers,” she said putting the cooked meat onto two plates.
“Why do you live up here then?” he asked, Boris had a good eyes, he could catch things like that where others wouldn’t.
“I just don’t fit in down there, plus up here I can have an apartment as big as I want,” she said digging her claw into the meat. She handed the other plate to Boris and began to chow down on the fresh protein.
“Um… do you have any utensils?” he said staring at the plate.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. This must look so rude to you,” her hand dropped the meat, and she cleaned her hand off with a napkin.
“No, its fine,” he said as he gripped the fillet, “when in Rome,” he jammed it into him mouth and ripped off a huge chunk. They both smiled and ate their meals.

2. In the Land of the Hate, Nothing lives forever.
-November 12th 2153-
An evil that was buried under hundreds of tons of rock, that evil’s day has come where is will resurface and plague this planet again.

It was early mourning and the sun had just broken the mountain’s crest. Alex’s hand was wedged between various racks, it tensed and use what strength it had left and pushed upward. The surface of the rocks was splintered, and the bloom of evil glowed in the sunlight. Inch by inch the hand pulled the rest of its roots out of the rocks.
“I have been sent to my grave twice, I want what I deserve. I want this planet and everything on it,” Alex’s speech was more filled with rage and hatred then anything ever before. The dice had given him feeling again; a side effect of which was terrible pain.
He turned his head and glared at Berlin, “The rats have my weapon,” his blood covered legs started for the city. His teeth grinded together, and his fist gripped at the air.
The vein in his neck had been severed and was pumping blood out of his body, and continuous flow of the juices flowed down onto his chest. There was a long trail of blood as he walked to the city, it would be the longest and most painful walk any one ever would do, but he did it.


* * *


“I’ll find you,” as Nora’s game with Boris just started Alex honed in on Nora voice. “Boris where are you,” each word out of her mouth only brought Alex a step closer to her. She rounded a corner and saw the horrifying figure that stood with resentment in his eyes.
He flung his hand out and snatched Nora off her feet as if she was a paper doll. With one hand clutching her neck he pressed her tightly against the wall.
With what breath she had she spoke softly but very distinct, “My dice.”
He chuckled then spoke, “I knew I recognized you.”
“How did they replace your eyes like that?” terror had set in.
“You never rolled snake eyes, did you,” he chuckled some more then spoke again, “Your chest had grown quite a bit from the day you gave me these eyes.”
She smacked him, an open handed slap that shot his face to one side and blood to the ground.
Alex tightened his grip, “I would be smarter if I were you.”
As he finished his sentence a plank of wood shattered across the back of his head. Alex swiveled his head and saw Boris holding the broken end of the board. Alex dropped Nora and turned for Boris.
“Run!” Nora yelled as she ran as fast as she could away from the bloody creature.
Boris saw her leaving; he wasn’t stupid and fired off as well.
Alex saw the two running from him, “GOD DAMN IT!!!” He cried. He has lost his surprise attack.
In his rage he heard scuffling coming form a building close by, “Maybe not all is lost,” he said with a grin on his face. He walked over to the building and up the stairs to the second story where he heard the movement. It was an attractive little apartment building, and as he walked by the doors of the rooms the noise grew.
“Hey cool a gold ring,” Creek said as he pull one out of a jewelry box.
Creek turned and started toward the door, Alex blocked his path, “Hello Creek.”
“Alex,” Creek’s whiskers raised and his eyes widened.
“Where is the Gun Creek?”
“Huh?”
“The Gun, you know what I’m talking about, where is it?”
“Fumi has it,” Creek said without thinking.
“Where is Fumi?”
“She left,”
“Where did she go, Creek?” Alex’s words were very drawn out so that he would be precise and not haft to repeat himself.
“She headed west,” Creek’s fear was acting for him. Anything he said he only said to get rid of him, “Take my Car,” he said holding out the keys to it.
“Creek, you were always my favorite,” he said taking the keys, “Where is your car?”
Creek took him to the window and pointed out a small red SAAB, “it’s damaged, but it will still run.”
“Good,” Alex said and left. He went to the car and drove out of the city. Alex didn’t know how to drive a stick, so he couldn’t get the car to go faster then first gear, but it was all he needed for the time being.
Creek waited a few moments after he left before he dashed down the stairs, dropping the gold ring. He charged down the street and to the manhole that stood between him and the underground city, “Oh, god what have I done?” he asked himself as he raced to the rat collective.
“Alex’s is back,” he yelled as he entered the city center.
“What do you mean, Alex is back?” Freddy asked.
“He’s not dead,”
“How did he not die? There was an explosion that shattered a MOUTAIN!!!” Freddy’s eye twitched.
“The Dice replaced his eyes and kept him breathing,” Creek was panting and had a terrified look on his face.
“He’ll be coming here looking for the Gun,” Freddy said.
“No,”
“What do you mean, No?”
“I told him that Fumi has the Gun,”
“I’m not even ganna start a lecture on how bad you’ve just fucked things up,” Freddy took a deep breath and put his hands on his face then spoke again, “Me and you, were going out there to save her.”
Boris and Nora Came running in at this point and yelled the same thing Creek had yelled moments ago, “That psycho’s back!!!”
“We know,” Freddy said.
“Oh,” Nora said
“DAMN!” Boris said as he rushed his eyes over the different areas of the underground city.
“And you are?” Creek said, he saw him with Nora and didn’t like it.
“Boris,” Boris said with a smirk.
“Nora, Fumi left, “freddy explained, “She went west headed for the pacific. I sent her to destroy the Dragon. Alex knows she has the Dragon, so Alex is after Fumi,” Freddy was doing his slow condescending speech that made people listen. Also Nora hadn’t been seen in the past few days so she did know about Fumi’s little journey.
“Oh…Fuck!” Nora said
Boris leaned over to one of the by standers, “Who’s Fumi?” he whispered.
“She’s Freddy’s,” the rat was pointing him out, “adopted daughter.”
“Oh, thanks,” Boris said, then turned and looked at Freddy, “Were going to go get her right?”
“Ya, we’ll just take the only other working vehicle in the city; Creek’s car,” Freddy said looking at Creek. Freddy some how knew that Creek’s car was gone.
“Alex has it,” Creek uttered.
“Creek, you god damn weak little asshole!” Freddy was freaking, he didn’t want to lose Fumi. She had introduced him to his wife; Fumi had brought him happiness when he needed it most. He was losing his best friend, and he was helpless to stop it.
“I have a car,” Boris said.
“Thank God,” every rat said or thought at the same time.
“Pack light, we can grab food from where ever were going, were going to find Fumi before Alex dose, then we’ll destroy the gun along with Alex. This is a good plan, is there anything wrong with this plan?” Freddy paused for a moment looked at every one, “Good, we leave in 10 minutes, Who’s Coming?” Freddy looked at Creek.
“I’m madly in love with Fumi, I’m not giving up a chance to impress her,” he said chuckling.
“The Car can only fit 4…5 if you really squeeze,” Boris said.
“Good, that means you won’t haft to meet any one new, Boris,” Freddy said.
“I’m in,” Nora said.
All but Freddy ran for the exit; Freddy’s leg wouldn’t allow him to run. The disability was very painful to his ego, so of course every one knew that he couldn’t run but no one mentioned it, “You guys wait for me at the car, I haft to run and grab my sword.”
“That’s a good Idea, I almost forgot mine,” Nora said.
Boris and Creek both had their weapons so they ran for over world.
Freddy walked to his home where Sasha was standing there looking at him, “I don’t want you to go. But if you are, you bring back Fumi and yourself alive,” a tear come to her eye.
“I’ll be back, and I’ll have Fumi in my arms,” he stumbled to the desk and grabbed his sward.
“You can’t walk right, your not going,” she said taking the short sward from his hands.
Freddy stood and thought about his choices for a moment, then an idea hit him, “I can grow a new leg.”
“What?”
“The charm liquid Ingrid gave me when I first got here. It can rebuild me as a rat, and it would give me my leg,” He said walking in to his bedroom and bringing back the vial.
“It won’t work; you need at least a month to completely drink the vial. If you drink it all at once it will kill you.”
“How long would I have?” Freddy asked looking at his wife.
“You’d have about week,” she said.
“Then I have a week to save Fumi,” he said downing the potion.
“NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Sasha cried.
Freddy dropped the vial and pressed his hands to his face. He lost his balance and fell into Sasha’s arms.
“You bastard!” she cried.
His arm and leg muscles thickened and then the small hairs that covered his body grew to form a neat, shinny, dirty blonde fur coat. His face formed to it new rat nose, and whiskers spouted from his lips and brow. A new foot shot from his damaged knee. The force shattered the wooden limb.
“Get off me,” he snarled at Sasha. He didn’t say good-bye, he just grabbed his short sward and left.
Nora was waiting at his door, she gasped in fright as she saw the beast that Freddy had become. They walked to the exit and met up with Creek and Boris.
“Who’s he?” Boris asked pointing to Freddy.
“I’m Freddy, give me the keys I’m diving,” his voice was powerful, and filled with anger.
“No, only I drive this car,” Boris sat in the driver seat. Freddy growled and Boris tossed him the keys. “Should I get that upgrade?”
“Shhhh, no. I’ll explain later,” whispered Nora to Boris.
They all hopped into the car and they drove after Alex.

3. The Nazi and The Ape.
-November 13th 2153-

Fumi woke up to a cold, windy mourning. She had made it out of Germany just as night had fallen. She hadn’t found anyone, but the city of Luxembourg wasn’t too far off. She looked at her watch, “I can make it there before 9, and then on just after 10,” she said to herself.
She had been lucky the night before and had found a nice motel that had one room that wasn’t totally destroyed. It was comfortable to sleep in, and easily kept out any wildlife that might live near by.
She pulled her hair back and put it into a ponytail. Fumi pulled her shirt back on and tucked the tails of it into her pants. With her keys in hand she headed out the door and to her cycle.
The wind in her hair, and vibrations from the bike made the trip seem like seconds. She had made it to the edge of Luxembourg exactly at 9. She stopped and turned off the bike for a moment.
She heard gunshots in the distance. She pulled a Lugar and drove in slowly.
After a she was deep into the city, hidden by buildings, the gunshots stopped. She parked the bike and walked down the street.
The streets were long, and the buildings were tall. She felt alone; she wanted to see Creek again, or Freddy, or any one that would just back her up. She wanted some one that looked human to help her.
A giant gorilla crashed out of the window in front of her; another from the window behind her. They each wore one steel breastplate on the left side. They both roared at an ear piercing volume. They beat their breastplates and moved toward her.
She had slammed her hands to her ears and closed her eyes. When their roar had stopped and the single fisted beats started, she lowered her hands and gazed at the beast that advanced on her.
She looked at her hands; her gun was gone. She gasped and looked for it. It was right there in front of her on the ground. In the confusion she had dropped it. She dropped to her knees and reached for the gun, but the gorillas had grabbed her first.
One gripped her wrist and pulled her off the ground; the other placed its arm around her belly and held her close to his cold steel guard.
“It seems we have ourselves a peace of fresh new meat,” the gorilla chuckled.
The beast that held Fumi reached out its tongue and stroked it up the side of her face. Fumi responded with a loud, “uck!!! You bastards, let me go.”
The gorilla’s eyes widened and starred at each other, “She speaks our language!” The one that held her said, “How do you know how to speak the German language?”
“I grew up in Germany, I know that language and English,” she said struggling to get free. She was nothing compared to the massive arm the held her close, “Who the Fuck are you assholes anyway?”
“I’m Eh’cho, he’s Verk,” said the creature that stood with out a woman in his arm.
“Uh…. Hi,” she was caught speechless.
“You know English? So you’re a spy of theirs that has learned our language then?” Eh’cho said.
“I don’t even know who the fuck you gorillas are,” Fumi said.
Verk looked at Eh’cho and spoke, “She knows were gorillas too.”
At that moment Fumi pushed her leg into the right position and rammed the heel of her boot upward between Verk’s legs. The loud smack was followed by a gasp, and Fumi freedom.
She ran off and around a few corners. She pressed herself up against the one of the walls and listened for the apes. She waited for about 20 minutes before she was sure they were gone. See left the wall and started walking downs the streets. She was lost; when she had ran for her life she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. All of the street signs had lost the paint, so she didn’t get any help from them.
The grounds were littered with crashed cars, dancing newspaper pages and the bones of those who had died so long ago. She stopped for a moment (to see if anything sparked her memory), but all she found was the corpse of a young boy holding a dog. The boy’s face was nestled into the neck of the canine, and the dog had its mouth open (it was barking when it died).
Her heart pounded, she felt trapped. The rats of Berlin live underground for one reason. The sight of the dead curdles the blood. The blood in Fumi’s veins was far beyond curdled. She hated seeing children; a dead child has yet to live, has yet to accomplish anything worth remembering.
She walked on, turning random corners, finding nothing she could remember. But she found tents. She found tents, and what came and went into and out of the tents were people; normal people, no fur, no giant arms, no strange teeth.
She ran for them. She arrived and they looked at her, and pointed rifles and pistols at her. Fumi had been so excited she hadn’t seen the weapons.
“Who the Hell are you?!?!” One said in English.
“I’m Fumi, I came from the East,” she said.
“Toss you guns to the ground,” one commanded.
She did as they ordered and tossed the two Lugars to the man standing closest to her. As she reached for the Dragon in her back one of the five men she was standing against hit the ground kneeling.
“Dante, what the hell are doing?” said one of the men.
Dante spoke with hesitation and fear in his voice, “She carries a weapon of the gods…”
“Yea, and I’m the traveler from the east…” his gaze slowly turned to Fumi. He lowered his gun and walked over to the weapon that lay in front of Dante. There it was, the gun, the sign he’d waited his entire life to see.
Fumi looked around. She realized that the “men” were boys; the oldest was 14 or 15. There were only 6 of them (one had been in a tent until now and poked his head out to see the commotion. They all wore gray and red, two of which wore swastikas on their shoulders. “Who are you people?” she had heard stories about World War II, and about the Nazi raceme. It all didn’t add up just right. All of them weren’t Nazi’s: one was black, one had curly black hair, another had asian features, and none of them had blonde hair or blue eyes.
“We’re servants of the gods,” Dante said.
“Are the gorillas the gods?” she asked. She figured that maybe the older gorillas were telling these children lies, and using them as slaves.
“What’s a gorilla?” asked Eric.
Fumi just gave them all a blank stare. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, “Those big black things that wear metal things on their chests.”
“OH! You mean the Jews,” Eric said. Eric was clearly the leader of this little gang of ill-informed Nazis. He had very pale skin, long brown hair, and piercingly bright green eyes.
Fumi just sat there for a moment. She had been told stories, of how the Nazis were pure evil, yet this is what they were; A small group of children? Then a thought came to her head, “Are there more of you?” she asked looking at each one.
“Ya, the twins are out doing a scouting mission,” Eric said.
“So there are eight of you? That’s it?” Fumi was expecting quite a few hundred or something close to it, but eight? That just didn’t seem right.
“I told you the gods would be displeased,” Dante said.
“She’s not a god!” Eric yelled.
“Ok…STOP!!!!!!” All eyes set on Fumi, “What’s all this about gods?”
“You’re from the land of the gods right?” Dante’s speech was calm; he acted as though he was a scholar.
“Is Berlin the land of the gods?” Fumi said it expecting them to say no and realize she was as human as they were.
“Yes, it is,” Eric said.
“So…that makes me a god?” Fumi inquired trying still to sway their minds.
“No, you’re the traveler,” Eric said.
“The what?”
“The traveler from the east. He has left Berlin because his home is slowly falling in on itself. Two will follow him: the warrior and the army.”
“We don’t have any information on the warrior and the army, we were hoping you could tell us,” Dante said.
“No, I don’t,” Fumi said taking some steps away from them. She didn’t want to be there any more. She wanted to be back in the underground town, being eyed by Creek.
“You must be hungry, you’re the traveler, you’ve traveled far so you must need rest too,” Dante said.
They lead her inside the largest of the tents. There was a nice table set there where they all sat and ate some strange, but really good food. Fumi did most of the talking; she didn’t say anything about Berlin or the rat people. She didn’t want these weirdoes messing with her friends and family. Instead she told how she had gotten lost in the city and her motorcycle lost.
She looked at her watch; it was just past noon. She waned to travel again, and sitting there wasn’t helping her. “Dante,” she said, “I need to get to the Pacific Ocean, but with my bike lost, it would take me forever to get there.”
“You could take one of our cars,” Eric said. As the leader he was the only one truly aloud to speak out of turn, but because of what he said, it was welcomed.
“A car?” she said in shock. She had expected a bike, or something like it.
“Yea, a car. We have plenty. And all are in top shape,” Eric said, “we found some books on car repair a few years back and just had fun with it,” he jammed some food into his mouth and looked to Dante for support.
“I think the count is at 26, 27 cars,” Dante said.
“28,” said Eric, “I finished one up yesterday.”
“Well I don’t want to take a car without giving you something I return, is there anything you want for it?” Fumi said, she had learned from a young age that you haft to pay for things other’s own. It was mainly living with Freddy; he didn’t make her adoption official until 4 years after they had met (After Fumi had dug up Freddy’s lugars and gave them to him as payment for taking care of her for so long).
He had to gather everything till she was older and until he had adopted her he never gave her anything but scraps of food and water. When ever anyone would look back on the situation they would think it was truly for the better because Fumi was a powerful figure in the rat realm. Walking over her was a task not easily completed.
“There is one thing I think we all want,” said Eric, “some information,”
“I already told you I don’t know anything about the dude and the army, or what ever,” Fumi said kind of irritated.
“N-no, that’s not what I wanted to know,” said Eric, “I want to know what you are, and what those lumps on your chest are?”
Fumi choked on her food and spit up a bread roll. She looked at all of them in shock. Nothing in her life had stupefied her more then what they had said to her just then. “I’m human, I’m a woman,” saying those five words was hard for her. After an age a thought crossed her mind, their belief that the Nazi’s were good people, was wrong! Someone that’s never seen a member of the female species couldn’t be thinking strait.
“What’s a woman?” said Eric
“I know,” Dante said, “its that thing that was in the paper book thing.”
“Tails from the bedroom,” said Eric.
“Oh god,” Fumi blushed.


* * *


The blood had drained completely from Alex’s body so his skin had turned a pale white. He didn’t see it until he stepped out of the SAAB. The sun shined nicely off his arms and seemed to glare from his eyes.
The car ran out of gas so he was forced to walk. It was getting late in the day and he had just made it into Luxembourg. His steps were getting much slower now, he had moved fast in the car and it was set in his mind that he might have missed Fumi.
“Damn you, you little winch of a girl!” He said as he looked around.
A motorcycle was sitting there, in the middle of the street. It was shinny and new. Alex didn’t know it at the time that it was Fumi’s, but he knew that some one, some one of intelligence was near by.
His steps were slow, even the dead need blood to keep moving. His eyes were glossed over and he was getting dizzy. His body wouldn’t let him die, so with his tired muscles he moved on ward, as slow as it was.
(Step…………step………….step)
It wasn’t working, no matter how hard the mind wanted to trek on; it wasn’t able.
“I need help,” he thought to himself, even the thought of which was hard for him.
“Who do we have here?” said Verk as he stepped out and saw the dieing warrior, “Another trespasser on our turf.”
“I wouldn’t come near if I were you,” Alex said running his hands over his eyes. This action set the dice in his head rolling. Alex turned and went eye to eye with Verk. Verk gasped as the dice landed 7 (3 dots, and written 4). A blast from Alex’s eyes shot into Verk’s. Verk’s body turned pale and fell limp. Alex had energy to fight once more. He began bleeding from his neck wound again.
“What the fuck?!” Eh’cho was wide eyed and very frightened.
“Toss me your shirt,” commanded Alex.
Eh’cho did it and watched Alex tie the blue wrapping around his neck, “Who are you?”
“I am no one,” Alex said walking past him.
“Are you with the girl?”
“What girl?” Alex stopped and walked back to him.
“The one that speaks your language, she’s probably with the boys.”
“Take me to her,” Alex commanded.


* * *


(Sniff, sniff)
His nose was moving quickly across the ground. He could smell his child’s sweat on the ground. In his wounded days she held him close, and he remembered the smell she left on him each night. Without showers or baths for many years that smell could get pretty pungent. “She’s…close,” Freddy growled, “So is Alex, he was in this spot a few hours ago,” he sniffed the air again, “I also smell fresh gasoline.”
“That’s her Cycle right over there,” Creek had hopped out of the car and saw it lying near by.
Nora and Boris were waiting in the car for them to come back. It was quiet and dark out. Oddly enough the streetlights still worked.
“It must be solar powered or something,” Boris said looking up into the blinding light.
“Boris, you don’t sound alright, are you?” Nora was the worrying type.
“Would you be alright if one day you woke up, had no idea who you were, where your from or anything else, luckily you have a car you somehow know how to drive and have the keys in your hand, you drive for days until hunger makes you think a polar bear that escaped from a zoo looks like a giant pizza, the polar bear is killed by a giant rat thing who lives on the over world of a rat society?” Boris asked.
“No, no I probably wouldn’t,” Nora said.
Boris cracked and broke out in belly laugh. It was small at first, with just a chuckle, but it grew. Nora joined him and rolled off her seat.
“Are you alright?” Creek asked.
“No,” Freddy groaned. The poison that was pumping through his veins was starting to take its tolls. The streets started flowing together, his mind just could put objects together like it was suppose to. The smell of the burning car engine was just above the line of tolerance. His ears were just like his nose, upping the volume on everything.
Freddy gripped his hand into a fist, his nails broke the skin in his palm, “Lets move fast, Alex doesn’t sleep, and Fumi is already a great deal ahead of us.

4. The Belgium Dippers.
-November 14th 2153-

Todd was working hard (as he always did in the mornings). Many people in the town of Berry thought of him as more of a saint then an average worker. His job was that of burial. He was the man that stood between life and death. He traveled around collecting the dead bodies that had perished 14 years ago in the greatest of all wars.
He was still working on the dead of Berry for two reasons: Berry was a very large city, not many had survived, and he made each a coffin out of marble. Todd was always a strong believer that all bodies deserved a proper, clean, funeral.
“Hey, Mr. Furly,” Todd’s last name, “We found three more bodies on 5th St. where do you want us to put them?” Jeri asked. Kind and simple she was. She never minded the smell or the look of a corpse so it only fit that she should be Todd’s assistant.
“Any where is fine, you know that,” He said digging out more the marble, “What are you up to today?” He asked.
“Oh…probably Lisa, Jessie and I will go out and about searching for more jewelry,” she smiled.
“Sounds like fun, would you mind on your way out telling Jason that I’m ready to ship out and drop off a few more bodies?” He uttered, and then she replied with a nod and she left.
He stood up from his work and took a deep breath. The air was fresh and full. The North Sea was quiet, as it always was on a day like this. The boat he lived on sawed only a little. It was very nice.
He walked off his boat, past his empty coffins and his full ones. The cart Jeri had brought back creaked as Mr. Furly pushed it up on to the boat. He left the fresh bodies in the cart and decided to walk into town for the day, “I’ll tell Jason my self that I’ll hold off until tomorrow,” he thought to himself.


* * *


The almost limp arm dragged over the cold side of the bed, she had never felt it colder, even before Freddy had filled the spot. A tear crawled down Sasha’s face. She pulled her claw back into her chest and held it with the other. She shivered just a bit, even though it wasn’t cold out. The day before had been one of the hardest in her life.
(Knock, knock)
The rapid tapping on the door broke her silence. She got up and answered it.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Robert barked.
“Why wouldn’t I be here?” Sasha said puffy eyed.
“Because your husband and step-daughter are out there, DIEING!” He dragged out the “I” in dieing for dramatic effect, and it worked.
“Well, what the hell am I suppose to do about it? I don’t have a car,” She barcked back at him.
“You can borrow mine, if you want,” He said comfortingly.
She grabbed her machete off her dresser, and looked at Robert, “Let’s go,” she commanded.
Robert had been camping for the past few days and just got home. He would have barked at Sasha the moment Freddy left if he had had the chance.
“Here she is,” Robert said pointing to his land cruiser.
“Get in, and let’s get moving,” she said.
“No,” he said walking up to her, “You’re going without me.”
She smiled at him. The thought of asking him ‘why’ went through her, but she decided not to ask. Robert was kind of crazy, so it might be that, or it could have been the fact that Robert was always in love with her, before and after Freddy had came. She could speculate all she wanted, but she didn’t care, she revved the engine and tore off.


* * *


Boris’s car drove by and Alex stood from his seat. His eyes were wide as he ran to wake Eh’cho.
(SMACK!)
Eh’cho fell from his bed and stood at attention, “What the hell was that for?” he bellowed.
“Zip it bitch, my adversary and a small army just rode by in a tiny car. You’ll take me to your warriors now!” he commanded.
“Alright,” Eh’cho said standing up.
They walked outside and toward the gorilla camp. Eh’cho was too tired to carry on the whole way, so he gave Alex the directions and he walked the rest of the way there, alone.
“Where is Eh’cho, he was calendared to be here a least an hour ago,” a random gorilla said in earshot of Alex.
“Eh’cho is going to be a bit late,” Alex said with his mighty entrance.
“Who da fucks are you?” the gorilla next to him asked.
Alex didn’t answer, at the time he didn’t think he needed to. He saw a car, a nice white one. He strode up to it and got in (not with out the protest of his audience). The door was locked, so Alex merely yanked at it and tore it from its socket; silencing the crowd. Alex didn’t start the car like they all expected. He instead got out of the car and walk up to the silver back. “Where is the KEY!?!?!” Alex screamed at him, holding him close by the tuft of fur at its neck.
“Hidden,” the silver back said, as though Alex was one of his peons.
“Do I have to kill you to find the key, or are you going to play it smart and give it to me?” said Alex
“Your going to kill some people for me, and then that lame ass car you want, is yours,” The gorilla smiled and waited for Alex to continue his game.
“I like my idea of killing you better,” Alex smirked.
“I’m the only one that knows where the key is, it’s hidden in this city some where, killing me will get you no where. You’ll have to do my bidding or enjoy being late to what ever it is you’re in a hurry to.”


* * *


The wind had been serene all day, and had finally started to pick up. Sasha only hoped that it would be enough for her to use her charm dust; a small bag of sand that she carried with her. It can’t do much, but it can point the direction of her husband if the wind was strong enough.
She reached into the bag and pulled out a hand full, she tossed it into the air and yelled, “Where is Freddy?”
The dust swirled in the air then fell to the ground. Sasha almost gave up and left, but she waited, one of the longer 600 seconds of her life. The wind picked up and tossed the sand back into the air.
Sasha quickly pulled a map from her pack and laid it on the ground. “Where is Freddy? She cried once more. The sand piled nicely on the little town of Berry. “Belgium,” she said. She grabbed the map, and tossed the dust from it. She got into the car and drove thinking to herself, “Why would they go to Belgium?”


* * *


Boris turned to Nora; she was eating some bear meat she had bagged a few days ago. The car was silent and Boris hated it. He could hear the sound of Freddy gritting his teeth, his evil rat teeth. Boris hated Freddy. Freddy was driving, which was another thing Boris hated.
“Do you want some?”
“What?” Boris asked.
“Some meat, do you want some meat?” Nora repeated.
“Yes please,” he said grabbing the chunk of the bear.
“Can I have some too?” Creek asked from the shotgun seat.
Nora passed so up and then looked at Freddy, she thought about not asking him, but something in her told it was wrong to let that pass, even if she knew he would snap at her. “Freddy?”
“What?” he snapped at her.
“You want some?” she asked frailly.
He slowed the car to a stop then looked at her, “I’d love some,” he smiled, “one sec though…” Stumbling out of the car Freddy fell to all fours.
“Are you alright?” Boris asked.
“No, he is not,” Nora pointed out as Freddy ejected the remains of his lunch from his stomach.
Creek came over and rubbed his back. It was another hushed moment that they all hated. They sighed, and then got one with their trip.


* * *


Alex’s hands now had the blood of children on them. He enjoyed their deaths a great deal, much more then he had expected. His steps were much more vibrant then usual. He smiled in his glory as he entered the gorilla base camp.
“You took care of them then?” the gorilla asked.
“That I did” Alex replied.
The gorilla smiled a very excited smile and handed the car keys over to Alex.
“Thank you,” Alex said.
“The pleasure is all mine,” the gorilla said giving Alex a pat on the back.
“No! Its mine!” Alex uttered before tearing the arm off the gorilla. “I will not let you live to make me late for anything else,” Alex said with a vigor to his voice and a rage in his eyes.
The gorilla pleaded for a moment, but was silenced. Alex stood over the corpse then looked up and the others. He slaughtered all but one of them.
“Ec’cho, you will come with me, and help me defeat my rivals. You will do it, or I will kill you, it’s your choice, don’t take long,” Alex was much more serine then anyone had ever seen him before.
“What are we w-waiting f-for,” the gorilla said, letting a few words show his fear.
They entered the car and turned on the engine. Alex cracked his neck and muttered a few words under his breath, “Bitch I’m coming for you, and the start of my army has already begun.”
Alex started the car north toward Belgium. Freddy’s crew was setting up camp for the night, half way from Luxemburg to the small town they were headed to. Sasha was driving as fast as she could with a pack of no-doze on her shot-gun seat. And as for Fumi and Eric, they had just reached the small town of Berry. They were in a hotel, and didn’t know of the people that lay just around the corner. All the players are coming together, all stories are about to collide and it was just blind luck that it started to rain for dramatic effect.

(The Last chapter had to be posted as a different item because this short story was a bit too long as a whole, it's title is, "Chapter 5")