Crow's Wallow

Today was a relatively quiet day, well deserved from the long nights of scratching and screeching beyond the gates, reminding them all of the ever looming threat of what lies beyond them. The city was hardly the same as they were over a century ago, the concrete was bumpy with cobblestone and the several of the buildings, especially shops, were more closer to glorified wood huts and cabins, the city limits were abruptly cut off by massive wooden walls, reinforced with steel bracers.

The citizens carried about their activities, trying to keep some semblance of civilization alive by commerce and communion. The air filled with the sweet scent of baked goods such as bread and pies. This sweet scent was not just attractive to the citizens however, but also a calling card to a clever little interloper...

"That's mine ya lil' shit!" a voice roared over the chatter of the populous. Various items are flung down the street, including a trash can that dents itself against a street sign, as a certain medium-sized stripe-tailed bandit came scurrying out, dodging each piece of trash and stone. In her middle set of claws, held tightly against her, was a kind of small meat pie. Behind her, flying out like a bat out of hell, was the source of the roaring voice, chief hunter Anselm Ermengilde, with white hair flailing wildly in the and the eyes of a madman. People scatter out of the way as the mutant raccoon, who has come to be named Skitters by the children for... obvious reasons, scurries up the side of a watch tower, utilizing some level of parkour to use her running momentum to flip herself onto the highest part of the roof, then look down at Anselm. "Drop it or beef isn't the only thing goin' in th' next one."

Despite his threat, he earned only a short hoarse cackle from the creature. Skitters sat down and teasingly pokes one of her hand-like claws into the crust, and then held it up to her mouth under the handkerchief mask, audibly licks it, looking satisfied with herself. This cheeky toying only lasted a moment, until the pie's flavoring hit her, tail bristling up before gagging and choking up with a snort. With a loud yelp, she kicked the pie away and holding all her claws over her mouth as it falls off the tower roof. With quick reflexes, Anselm dives in and recovers his lunch before it splatters on the road.

"Wha's the matter? Dun like the gumbo? Fine wit' me," he says with a smirk, dusting off himself and the pie. Not amused, the animal huffs, casting him a glare before vaulting over the edge and rolling across another roof, quickly getting out of sight. Anselm chuckled fiendishly at the critter's discomfort, quickly dismissing it for his lunch, now cooled some thanks to the rush. "Whatever, bon appetit," he muttered, digging out a chunk of the pie and turning around, only to be met with a peace officer, in shoddy uniform, fidgeting nervously with a piece of paper, actually afraid to get on Anselm's bad side. Looking over behind the man, Anselm eyes the damages his short rampage has done. "Ehhhh... I'll fix it later," he says with a dismissive shrug, shouldering through the man.

It was an eerily quiet day, the calm before the storm. Ein had learned the hard way that the Wilds were never truly quiet, only prowling in hopes prey would wander into it. She stabbed the fork into her salad, swirling it around the bowl to catch the vinegar and oil mixed at the bottom. Kids ran past, cackling and yelling about Skitters latest heist. She gave them a wry look, finishing the last bit of her lunch and dropping the fork into the bowl.

The elderly shopkeeper rushed from across the empty shop, in uneven hurried steps, to take her bowl and set it in an empty sink. Ein smiled as she left, "Thank you Gina, lovely meal as always. See you tomorrow." Gina nodded as Ein left, but didn't say anything. That's why Ein liked her shop, it was quiet and efficient.

Most of Crow's Wallow, however, was not quiet. With monsters lurking outside the front door, too many people crammed into a small space, mutants servings as lifelines, and being one of the last cities to still stand, how could it be? When the noises outside the city went quiet, it would thrum with the activity of its people. It was a unique sound, one that Ein's Father would often sit and listen to her with until late in the night, back when he was alive. It was one of few sounds she'd grown to love, and it almost made the chaos afterwards worth it.

Anselm voice echoed throughout the city, and there was an uproar of children cheering for their impromptu mascot, Skitters. Normally she would be upset about the mutant taking up residence in her town, but the children loved it and if it kept them away from her... Well then maybe he was a necessary evil. After all, it kept Anselm on his toes, which was more than she could do.

Ein checked her twin-blade, making a minor adjustment so it sat comfortably but was also still seamless to draw. She adjusted her collar and started heading in the direction of Anselm's voice. Hopefully he's not terrorizing the people again. Though I suppose with all those scars... The thought elicited a smile from her and she hummed to herself as her boot-heels clicked along the uneven pavement.

The streets were a mess, things strewn about, signs dented and people clamoring to each other. Anselm stood in the middle of all it, speaking to a peace officer. To the poor man's credit he was trying his best to deliver the ticket, but it wasn't wise to upset a Hunter. Anselm shouldered through the man, ignoring him almost entirely. Ein frowned, clicking her tongue as she walked over to address Anselm. "Skitters again? You know you cause more damages than he does. It would probably be easier on your wallet to just start buying the thing lunch." Her lips turned up at the corners, unsuccessfully trying not to smile while she teased Anselm.

It was late in the afternoon before Akina woke up. He heard the commotion of the other children and he looked out his window to see Skitters running away with some sort of food in his hands again. He put on a pair of shorts before running outside to see if he could get a better view of what was going on. The walls surrounding Crow's Wallow were a great place to get a view of the city so he ran for the nearest one. He climbed the wall as if it were covered with hand and foot holds invisible to all but him, but in reality it was the work of his claws and nothing else. The wall was his sanctuary, the place he came to get away from it all. The other children didn't take to his mutation the way they had taken to Skitters. Because of this he wasn't allowed to attend school with the other children and was taught by his parents at home.

As Akina stood on the huge wall, he watched as Skitters climbed up the tower before running off out of sight and the angry man on the street who had caused a lot of damage while chasing her.

"People are strange." He muttered as he walked along the wall. He looked over both sides of the wall, the small city inside the walls and the vast unending sea of green that spread out on the other side. He'd been out there a few times, though never very far, for hunting. It seemed hunting was the only reason some of the purists in the city even tolerated him. The wilds seemed to call to him. He often wondered what things were like on the other side, apart from the monsters that lurked.

Anselm stopped eating for a moment after being addressed by Ein, and responded with a short grunt. "Yeah? And then what, a moonlit dinner?" He responded with his mouth still somewhat full, ending with a short snorting laugh. Uncouth as usual. Swallowing, he frowns up and sighs, looking more serious and contemplating, rubbing off a flake of crust from his chin. "Besides, experience dictates if it's smart an' ain't human, then there's grounds fer worry, no matter how harmless it seems," he says in a rather low, somber tone. He then grins, stretching his scarred face. "So, best t' remind em who's da alpha, 'ight?"

He then stopped, glancing around as if he's lost something, and began itching at his face, casting a glance to Ein. "What 'bout you? Ya notice it, right? The quiet outside? Th' feelin' somethin' ain't right. Makin' me all itchy." He then shrugs his shoulders and clears his throat. "Also, I'm preeeetty sure that cat dun jumped da fence."

The mental image of Skitters and Anselm sitting down to a romantic candlelit dinner under the night's sky was enough to make Ein chuckle, covering her mouth with a gloved hand to poorly hide the fact. Anselm's opinion on being careful around inhumans was more than a little ironic, Ein mused over the thought as she evaluated the damages Anselm had just caused on his chase. "Aren't us Hunters smart and not human? Perhaps you've not noticed, since you're not quite smart."

She bit her lip, looking uncertain as she continued. "They worry though... I've heard the way some of the town talk about us, we aren't human to them. I saw Akina being made fun of by a group of children a few days ago, he was on the verge of tears. This isn't an unusual occurrence." Ein leaned against a nearby ramshackle wall, sighing about the state of the world in general.

"To be an alpha among predators, one must also become a beast, after all." She mused while eyeing Anselm, unimpressed, he was more bestial than Akina but also more or less a stable adult. Not like Akina, he was young, wild, and a tiger could take the average human's head off with a lazy swipe. Akina was practically a time bomb waiting to happen.

The Chief Hunter brought her back to her senses by addressing the unnaturally quiet Wilds. "Ah, but of course, the calm before the storm." A free hand instinctively touched the guard of her saber, ensuring it was there and ready to be drawn, a calming motion.

"Also, I'm preeeetty sure that cat dun jumped da fence."

"WHAT!?" This was bad, a veritable publicity mess. Not only was a citizen alone in the Wilds, but it was a very impressionable hormone-addled teenage Hunter. Ein wasn't sure who to be most fearful for; Akina, or anyone in the Wilds he might come across while startled. "Finish your meal, then, Chief. We're going to get him, there are a thousand good reasons he shan't stay out there." Without waiting for an answer, she marched to the Northern Gate, boot-heels clicking determinedly as she marched with her hands held behind her back.

As they charge through the gates, something immediately felt off about Crow's Hollow, it seemed... unusually quiet and empty. Already on edge, Anselm stopped at the town square, catching his breath as he looked back at the others, then the smoke rising above the treetops. Everything is going crazy, he should have stayed home, should have heeded his gut. Today was a bad day, and it was getting worse. He could sense a threat was even here, with them. Then he heard a slow clap. He turned his head and some men in armor had positioned themselves around the center, holding some of the residents hostage.

"Well, lookie here, boys, the cavalry arrive," one man says, before getting a good look at Anselm. He furrowed his brow and spat on the ground before him. "Get a gander at this one, ugly as sin. T'think they allow mistakes among them."

Anselm looked around at the men, armed with blades and a few even had guns. Annoying, they must have snuck in while they were out. Of course the people would trust them, by their looks they were perfectly human. Anselm scoffed and cracked his neck.

"Don't imagine any of ya ugly bastards've looked in a mirror lately," he retorts, causing some of them to mutter amongst themselves and reach for their weapons. "The hell do you want? Raiders right?"

"Please, we ain't no raiders, our cause is a righteous 'un. We are liberators, purifiers," the man responds, letting a woman hostage go and scramble back to her house. "Case and point, she was clean. The clean have a right to live. You, on the other hand, do not. You see, these people let us in, knowing our cause righteous, and now we will free 'em. Besides, our cause has... outgrown our sanctuary, so we will erect another one... here."

"Great, a whole bunch of holier-than-thou psychopaths," Anselm responded, slapping his hand over his face. He then slid his hand down a bit, a thought coming to his head. He could work with this. He grinned and paced around the invaders. "Hah, well, suppose you want to pry it from us then? I don't give a shit what happens to this place anywho, bein' surrounded by you humans all day makes me sick. Weak, sniveling, afraid to take two steps outside their little dens liked scared little bunnies. But I'll tell you this much, this is our property, and you ain't takin' it."

The apparent leader who spoke before twitched. "So that is how it is, eh? Maybe this will be easier than I thought! Well then, let em go boys, looks like we'll just have to kill these'uns." With that he waved his hand out, and, with a battle cry, his men charged at the three hunters. The first charging at Anselm got a knee to the gut, his tougher body allowed him to dent in the sheet metal.

Above on a roof, the thieving critter peeked over the edge and watched quietly at the ensuing battle for dominance. Contemplating what to do, and if these new people would make her life more miserable than it is worth. In her mind, obviously far outgrowing her body, this was her domain... whoever won was going to be in the way.

Of course raiders had appeared in the hunter's absence, well-outfitted ones too. Such a shame they were dumb as rocks. Anselm's bluff worked and they released the only thing keeping them alive. "Listen brutes, it has been a painfully long day, if you would?" The first one that rushed her as she spoke received a saber through the eye, a well-placed thrust that ceased upper brain functions. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Leaving the saber in the man's skull, Ein cut her hand open via the dirk on the other end of her blade. Violently outstretching the bleeding hand sent a stream of blood onto another man, which promptly covered his face and congealed, cutting off air flow. The man scratched at his face to no avail, and began to wave an axe wildly, striking one of his compatriots who cussed before turning and putting a bullet into his doomed friend's head.

"You know, it's ironic really. As you are here to liberate us, and yet we end up having to liberate you... from life!" Lady Ein chortled, covering her mouth with her free hand.

"You bitch!" The man who had just had to kill his comrade fired off a shot at Ms. Crowley but blood shot up from her hand, almost in sync with the gun, and created an impromptu shield that the bullet was harmlessly absorbed into. "Now, now... The more munitions you waste, the less we can scavenge from your corpses before dumping you for the buzzards."

Dahlia turned her head left. Then right. Then sighed tiredly, lifting her hammer and shield up. "You all have dug your own graves coming here" She said offhandedly as she twirled her hammer and charged in bearing her shield in front of her and bowled a cluster of the invaders over and trampling over them without a care or second glance. Showing through as a brute in every sense of the word. What she lacked in technique was made up for using overwhelming force like hitting a nail with a sledge hammer to avoid missing.

A swing of the hammer here. The sounds of cracking bones followed. A swing of her shield and the soul unfortunate enough to be caught by it was sent flying 15 feet to tumble across the ground. She let out a frenzied growl as she turned to her next target and grabbing them by the ankle before doing a Hulk Vs Loki with them and then throwing what remained at some of their fellow invaders.

The invaders, what remained withdrew back to their leader, speckled in the blood of their colleagues. The man looked to them, a mixed expression of disgust and annoyance. Things did not go as he had planned, the others were supposed to keep them preoccupied long enough for reinforcements to arrive, but where are they? What is keeping the other party from getting here?

Anselm, having brutally beaten one of the raiders with only his bare hands, threw him to the leader's feet. He barely broke a sweat during this, it was easier than dealing with mutated wildlife, and it felt... weird. Before today, he had never killed a man, yet here he was, tearing them apart, almost like an animal. Still, he gave a cocky smirk, and spat at the ground before the men.

"Ya really think yourselves some real something, huh? Yer all sick, an' you dun realize it, the world gets worse because the world is sick!" the man exclaimed, holding his arms in the air. "How long do you think you can remain yourselves, with that devil in your veins?"

"When th'ell are you preachin' about? Nature just got sick of man's shit," Anselm responds, approaching them. The remaining men back away, reading their weapons, but their superior signals for them to hold.

"We found where the world ended, and this hell began," the man continued. "In a pit we even got a piece of the devil. Maybe ya'd like to join it, I know it'd love to join with you."

"What?" he hesitated for a moment, staring the man in his eyes. The man was confident, why? He had something to this whole thing, but at the same time, that pissed Anselm off. "Why should I give a shit what you have in a hole?"

"Because I know, even if you kill us here, yer all damned in the end, and what we offered was far more a mercy," the man said, a bead of sweat running down from his brow. "How long you think you got? How long will y'hearts remain y'own?"

This day was too weird. First that creature comes after him like she was his mother, now these guys come and... this guy. Anselm hated thinking too much, and now this day has made his head hurt. Then a sharp cackling sound cracks through his ears, somewhere between a laugh and hacking. The animal atop the roof now roared with laughter, standing upon its hind legs, mocking them.

"See? The devil exists among you as well!" the man exclaims, one of his comrades pulling a knife out and throwing it at the animal. Skitters, seemingly hit, shrieks and falls back. Mere seconds pass before the creature pops back up, knife held in her mouth, tilts head, taking the knife out slowly and continues to chuckle madly, looking around at everyone below.

Anselm turns to look, looking bewildered at the thing he thought just a minor . "Th'ell..?"

"So, let me help you... avoid its grasp," drawing out a gun, he pointed it at the back of Anselm's head, but Anselm bit his thumb and flung it at the man, splattering blood in his eyes. He screams and stumbles back, wiping his eyes. "You piece of shit! I'm trying to save you! You better not have infected me!" the man yelled aiming his gun again. Anselm looking fed up with this, without warning slammed his fist right into the side of his own stomach. Grunting, he took in air sharply through his nostrils and glared at the man, who right after coughed loudly, dropping his gun and buckling over holding his stomach. His few comrades still living ran to his side, helping him back up. "So... you too are a devil..?"

"Thanks for the story, but we don't need yer kinda help," Anselm said, slightly winded, his voice rumbling almost a growl. "Die out there, die here, it doesn't matter to me. I'm finished with you."

They looked at each other for a moment, before they quietly began to drag away their captain towards the gate. Anselm watched their every move with an unbroken glare.