“I take no joy in sending you to God. It is my just duty.” The metallic voice was void of all humanity. The Missionary had me in his grasp now.

  I chuckled, spitting up blood on his helmet. “And it’s my duty to kick your ass.” I was close enough now. He never saw it coming, dumbass. I swung with all my might, aiming right at his chest. The sword cut deeper into me as I let my body weight drop, but it was worth it.

  The armored giant tried to react, but he let his guard down. The gauntlet hit true, all its force bsted into the giant, sending him reeling back, flying through the air. I dropped to the ground, blood spilling to the floor. I grabbed my stomach and winced.

  The Missionary smmed into the pilr, bsting clean through it. The building shook and shuddered. The ceiling began to crumble down all around. If I was going to be buried here, so would this dipshit.

  He tried to speak out, but all I gave him was a middle finger.

  Dust filled the air around me as I sat and watched, bleeding out on the floor of the falling building. I smirked as the Missionary tried to sit up, but was crushed underneath a rge sb of concrete. He wouldn’t be getting up from that. To add insult to injury, more and more of the building cam caving down around him, burying him in a stoney grave.

  The rocks soon came falling around me. I looked down at my wound. It was bad, blood was seeping past my hand and pooling below me. Well, looks like this is it. It was a fun ride. Rubble started to crash down, burying me under its cold, hard surface.

  I wish I could have seen everyone just one st time before I had to leave them all. There was so much to do. They needed me to get through this, and I needed them. I just wanted to see Uwu one st time. Just to hold his fur one st time. Just to see his smile.

  My body was cold and going limp. I was dizzy. The shuddering of the building continued. Soon, darkness was all around me. I couldn’t tell if it was me getting buried, or my eyes just shutting one st time.

  I smiled. At least, I got out of that shit hole pirate gang and found my own purpose in life. At least at the end, I was happy. I was myself.

  The rubble around me began to shake again. Something muffled, I couldn’t tell what was happening. A small light hit me in the face. I warily looked at the light as it grew and grew. I was hoisted out of my grave. I could see shapes moving around.

  “Get the trauma kit!”

  I focused in on some anthro. It looked like some type of rat, with a spyed nose. I wasn’t sure what the hell it was. My eyes weren’t working right.

  “You saved us, Miss. Now let us return the favor. It’s not everyday you see a human take on a Missionary.” The anthro chuckled. “This is gonna sting.”

  Something hit me in the stomach. Icy cold shot through my torso. It felt uncomfortable, yet, somehow pleasant. Another hit. I could feel the haze slowly starting to fade.

  “This stuff ain’t legal, Miss, but it’ll get you up enough to move around. Clear out guys!”

  Something slipped around my nose, and a wave of air shot through my lungs. A sweet, lemony aroma filled my nose, followed by a sharp, bitter bite that stung. My eyes shot open and I sat up, pain racing through my body.

  I looked around with a new found urgency. Everything came flooding into view. A rge crowd of anthros were sitting about, staring at me like I was some freak at a carnival attraction. The rat like anthro, pulled me up into a chair, patting me on the back.

  “We need to get moving soon. We found a sewer access. As soon as we find out its safe, we are getting the hell out of here.”

  I looked around at the faces of the scared anthros. All of them huddled around in what looked like a basement. Emergency lights filled the room with a dim glow. Fshlights streaked here and there as the wounded were tended, and murmurs filled the air.

  “What happened?” I couldn’t quite tell what was going on. I looked at my stomach. The stab wound was filled with a blue foam-like substance.

  “That ain’t gonna st. Just temporary until we can get you to a proper doctor. I fill in as a nurse on my days off.” The antrho smiled.

  I could tell it wasn’t a rat now, but a type of Mole with star shaped nose. Definitely one of the strangest anthros I’ve seen.

  “Some of us thought that we couldn’t let the woman who saved us from the Gellical Collective shouldn’t be left to die alone. We dug you out.”

  I looked around at the puffed chests, and proud faces of several anthro cats, rats, and another mole.

  “Now, we just hope that you can stay alive long enough to get you to safety, like you kindly treated us to.”

  “I know a Doctor.” I didn’t like the thought of running to Slizz to patch up the hole ion my body, but they were the best surgeon I knew. “We got to get to the warehouse district. The Meowtw Stars have my friends there.”

  There were some gasps in the crowd as they heard me speak the name. Some of the Anthros whispered, “To the stars.” Others started to distance themselves from me.

  “The Meowtws aren’t liked much here.” The mole looked around, “Some folks here think they are terrorists.” The Anthro-Mole was keeping as quiet as he could.

  I looked around the crowd. They shied away, not making eye contact with them. I gnced back at the Anthro-Mole, “Didn’t the Meowtws build this pce? Didn’t hey forge a world for all anthros to exist in peace?”

  The Anthro-Mole shrugged, “That was a long time ago…”

  “Fuck that.” I stood, almost falling over. A wave of fatigue and dizziness took over.

  “Miss, sit down, your wounds…”

  I silenced him with a wave of my hand. “There’s a small army of Gellys out there on the surface, killing your family, killing your friends, executing every Anthro they find out there! You may have different reasons for not liking the Meowtw Stars, but they are the only fuckers out here doing anything for you. Right now, they’re pnning to fight back against the Gellys, against the corporations that have stolen your nice lives from you, all for a pretty penny! The Meowtws fight so you can have a world worth living in, something in this fucked up Gaxy that is worth a damn.”

  I could see some of the Anthros looking me in the eyes now. There was a fire lighting in their asses. That’s what they needed.

  “I’m here, a human, fighting that same fight because I believe that we can have, and deserve, something good in this life. I fought that Missionary to save you, now pick up the fight to save your neighbors, your family and friends, and leave something worth a damn for the next generation! You don’t need to pick up a gun. They need drivers, spies, doctors and nurses,” I gnced at the Anthro-Mole to make sure it hit home, “You can sit here and hide, hoping something bad doesn’t come your way. Or, you can get off your asses and fight to make something good!”

  “Fuck yeah! To the Stars!” One of the anthros in the crowd shouted. Several others began shouting as well.

  A muffled explosion shook the basement. The crowd went silent as gunfire and explosions could be heard from outside. The ground shook.

  “Looks like they are out there fighting right now! What are you going to do?” I could see the hope filtering through their eyes. They needed that hope, and soon it would turn into a fire that we needed to rid the pnet of Gellys.

  “The sewers are clear!” An Anthro-Cat came running up from a small access hatch in the corner of the room.

  “Alright everyone!” The Anthro-Mole started ushering people to the hatch, “Keep it clean, keep it simple, and we’ll all get out alive! Line up!” He turned to me and slung my arm over his shoulder before I colpsed. He smiled at me, “Thanks for the pep talk. We all needed it.”

  “Anytime.” I smiled back as we shuffled over to the hatch, “My name’s Vixie, by the way.”

  “Donald DeBlind, at your service.”

  The whole crowd entered the sewer line, following the Anthro-Cat to another doorway into the subway access. We all entered the subway route and crowded around, waiting for the next move.

  Donald sat me against the wall. I was happy for the rest. I felt like my body was about to give out completely. The crowd began to get nervous as a light started moving down the tunnel. The roar of engines was echoing down the subway. The light blinded us all. I shook my head.

  Couldn’t we just catch one break? What was it now?

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