Kou's Story

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This day was far from average. It had begun with a crash and bang, the cause was an earthquake that rocked the tiny apartment and caused glass to shatter and things to fall out of place. Earthquakes were not unusual in their tiny city, they occurred about one time a month and were usually nothing more then a tremble in the ground so the fact that things actually fell was unusual. Octavia was already gone for work, her bed made neatly as always. Reyna crawled out from under her covers, avoiding the smashed photo of the two girls and Father and going to get the broom. It was her favorite picture of them all that she kept by her bedside. It was rare that Reyna got to see Father these days although Octavia seemed to be summoned by him almost every week. Reyna was jealous of course, but she understood that Father was a very busy man and taking time out of his schedule was most likely not an option.

After sweeping up the shattered glass and finding a new place to hang the picture, Reyna prepared herself a breakfast of scrambled eggs over the little fire in the kitchen. They had an oven and stove, but electricity was scarce and so lighting a fire to cook was the easiest option. Most electricity was used to keep the food in the fridge from spoiling, but everyone used theirs differently. Every house had power shares for each month; if you didn't use all of it your shares would carry into the next month, giving you more. If you used more then your allotted shares then you would have less the next month. Food was distributed evenly and depended on the size of your family and water was something that everyone had and there was no need to preserve. In fact, there was an overabundance of water and using it was encouraged.

Next on the list was preparing her lunch, a sandwich and bottle of juice was what she normally packed but today there was no bread. Reyna made a mental note to pick some up and grabbed a container, then put her leftover breakfast in it and stuffed the container into her bag. Finally she got dressed, pulling off the big shirt she wore as pajamas and putting on a pair of drab olive shorts with a hole for her tail and a white shirt. She laced up her boots and ran out the door, prepared to scavenge near the wall today.

There was even more excitement when Reyna got to work. The fox was minding her own business, doing what she did best when hear ears twitched, picking up the sound of paws on tile. Slowly Reyna turned to see a beast and began to walk backwards inside of the abandoned building, trying to stay silent. Crunch! Reyna looked down to see the bones of a human hand underneath her boot. The beast turned, its hideous maw pointed in her direction. A guttural cry erupted from the animal and it charged, gnashing its huge teeth. The pink haired female hesitated for only a second before drawing out the knife she kept strapped to her thigh. Such a small weapon would make little difference against one of these wolvaines but it would buy her time. She leaped out of the way of the wolvaines attack and ran forward, jabbing it in the eye and dragging her knife down. The beast howled in pain and snapped its mouth open and shut, turning in circles in an attempt to reach her. The wolvain shook its head with the intensity of a hurricane, but Reyna held on. Suddenly the beast seemed to smarten up and ran against the wall, smashing the girl between itself and the concrete. He snapped at her, biting her leg between its huge jaw and trying to crush the bone. Reyna screamed in pain and clawed at the beast, prying its mouth open with her fingers. Its teeth were like razors and cuts formed on her flesh as she pulled herself out and limped to the staircase.

The wolvain was on top of her once more, but this time Reyna was prepared. She jumped up, stepping onto its head and climbing the great beast's back. It jerked, not expecting her to sit on top of it and attempted to shake her off once more. Reyna grabbed her knife out of the beast's eye and tried to stab it through the head. The steel blade bounced off once, twice, three times before she struck a soft spot and the wolvain buckled, sending Reyna flying once more across the ground and straight into a hole. Dirt clouded the air and filled her lungs, causing a coughing fit that made the female curl up onto her side. Reyna had always had a weak heart; Octavia had insisted for her to become something safe like a healer or collector, but Reyna had insisted on becoming a scavenger. No time to pity herself or listen to Octavia's imaginary I told you so's. She had to find a way out of this hole.

The sun had set well below the horizon, the only light Reyna had was coming from the moon. If she could reach one of the vines crawling across the building walls she could pull herself out, but it seems that even the trees were smart enough to grow around the hole with nothing but dead soil. Claw marks were scratched into the dirt, blood was caked beneath her fingernails from trying to climb up or dig her way out. Things were beginning to seem hopeless when an idea struck her. Reyna took off her bag and pulled out a few articles of clothing she had found upstairs then tied them together, making a lasso type loop and swinging it upwards towards a vine with a hooked end. She missed the first time, and the fifth time, until finally she got it and pulled the cloth taught. With aching legs she began her ascent, her work painstakingly slow until finally she neared the top. Tear! Her smile of triumph quickly turned to an expression of horror as her makeshift rope broke and she clawed and scrapped up the last few inches as the clothing fell below her. Reyna pushed upwards, grabbing onto a branch as the rest gave way. A laugh of hysteria and relief rose from her throat, but she wasn't safe yet. Nighttime was the most dangerous part of the day, it was when the beasts were most active.

The fox was outside now, with nothing to show for today's work but a bite mark that went down the entirety of her left leg. Father was not going to be pleased. She had reached the edges of the city when her body could go no further and Reyna collapsed, weak from blood loss and tired from escaping the hole.