The Wild Side of Us

Chapter 15 - Welcome to True Fear

I immediately halted, terrified of the sudden gun in my face. Low sounded laughter ensued, and my ears tightly pressed against my head when Mayor Longhorn walked around the corner, holding the gun. A black bear appeared behind him, bulkier and taller than the mayor. He held a shotgun in his hand, and a thirst for vengeance in his eyes. Mayor Longhorn was dressed in a fancy brown suit as usual, but his ears seemed more perkier than usual right now.

"Good evening, Frost," sneered Longhorn. "I am surprised an experienced thief like you fell for a trick like this. A diamond in an abandoned mansion, seems a little odd, doesn't it? But that doesn't matter now. You fell for it, and now you are the bug caught in my spider's web."

"Go to hell, sheep," I growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I would catch and keep your tongue locked up if I were you. You know why I'm here, Frost. If you comply, I'll let you go with a few charges and years in prison. But if you continue to fight back, well, it won't end so nicely. Come with me to my office. You tell me everything I need to know, I finish my business, you accept whatever fate has in store for you, and everything will be balanced again."

"Nothing is balanced as long as you're in charge. I know what you've done." My teeth gritted against each other so hard I wouldn't be surprised if they shattered right then and there. But Longhorn only laughed at me, as if I were telling jokes.

"Tell me, Frost. Where is the human boy? Lead me to him, and forget about all of this tomfoolery. Why, I might even let you continue your thieving business if you come with me. However, your monkey buddy won't. He's as guilty as you are, but since he supposedly has no ties with the human boy, he's completely guilty with no chance of a lesser penalty. Don't worry, we'll take good care of him and the human boy. You won't remember him once we take him away. Besides, it'll be easier for you on your part, with no stress of managing for yourself and a runaway."

I stepped back, but the gun edged closer to my face. My eyes darted to the scenes all around me. No one stood behind me or to my sides, but I did not want to chance it with the mayor and that bear. More and more lights flashed outside, and voices continued to fill the hallways. Even if I did run, there would be too many surrounding the entrance. Nothing but static sounded in the microphone, so I had no idea what happened to Bobo or what he's doing. I could only wrap my tail around my legs and hope he was okay. Still, I felt the need to distract the mayor. I had a feeling someone crazy enough was coming to save me.

"What will be in it for you," I asked the mayor, sternly. "Why are you working with humans, if you desperately wanted to get rid of them all?" I managed to sneak a hand into my pocket, where my phone rested. Since I knew my phone well, I knew how to turn on the camera and hit record. I did so, and shook my hand out of my pocket.

His ears perked up, and his grin widened. "I suppose there's no need in hiding it from you, since your little nose has been buried in so much already. The human boy's family was the last full breed humans on this planet, and we kept them to see if fish or bird humans were possible. Yet, the experiments ended in failures, leaving the last human boy by himself. So, scientists used him for other, safer experiments. Instead of letting the boy mourn for his losses, they forced him to read and study instead, for we all want a brighter generation ahead of us. We do not have time to cry over failures and mistakes. Then they tried to see if they could use his reproduction cells and genes to make another full human in the lab, but they failed at that as well. Just when they were ready to give up and turn him into a half-animal, a scientist came up with a new formula. The new formula included using mass amounts of his blood and genes, so of course they had to cut through his skin. What they did to the samples, I will not tell, but know that the process was going smoothly. Until the little brat escaped."