Breaking Barriers

The World We Knew

Squirt Octus:

"The Puricians?!" Pinto screamed. And all of us hastily attempted to quell his shouts until Jane had the sense to slap her paw over his beak.

"Callarse, estupido." She whispered to him, elbowing him gently in his ribcage, he was her surrogate baby brother after all, "Vas a hacer que nos atrapen!"

"Bien, bien, idiota." he responded, dark eyes sparkling with mischief. He was always excited to be up late with us in our pyjamas. Uncle Inkling wasn't a fan of these gatherings though, so we had to do them after he fell asleep. 'A man shouldn't see a woman in her nightdress!' He had scolded Pinto and I time and time again. Only thing, he never said anything about a woman in pyjama PANTS. As you can guess, we took full advantage of that one.

Usually, these nighttime gatherings occured in my room in the library; we'd be stupid to try and do them in either Koshi's and Jane's, or Pinto's room, since all of them shared with their caretakers.

"So what else did they say about the Puricians?" I asked, ignoring those two.

"They said the Puricians might be coming here. Now." Koshi answered with a grim expression that was most uncharacteristic of her. I didn't want to believe it; it had been inevitable since the moment the Puricians took power. We were in danger. How big? I don't know.
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The Puricians began forcing their absurd policies on us the second they stepped into the city. First, they closed the port so we couldn't leave. As we were about to learn, that would be both the least and the most of our worries. We weren't being murdered, but at the same time, we were trapped, and Alonso Helmute's soldiers had us within a paw's reach. Our real troubles came with the Purenkorps, soldiers that worked under the Puricians to weed out "impure creatures." One night after I'd gone to bed, and was on the brink of sleeping, a loud knock that practically shook my room jarred me awake. I rushed out of my room, nearly jumping a foot in the air at the sound. Uncle Inkling groggily got out of his chair, and we stepped out of the library to see the Captain rushing towards the Launch Bay.

"Tweak! Don't open the door, do you understand me?" He thundered, louder and more worried than I'd ever seen or heard him. I saw Shellington step out of the lab worriedly and make his way over to me. I myself was frozen in fright. Uncle Inkling came up to us, and looped one tentacle around me and the other around Shellington, trying to soothe us. 

We made our was down to the Launch Bay hesitantly where everyone else was gathered, unsure if we would be taken away to wherever the Purenkorps took people. The Captain glanced at all of us gathered in the Launch Bay, squeezed Peso's and Kwazii's shoulders tightly for a second, and then leaped into the water to answer the door. Inside of me, fear and curiosity fought a long and hard battle that curiosity finally won. I slid into the water despite my uncle's whispered protests of

"Squirt! Come back at once!" I pushed myself farther and farther down into the belly of the Octopod, and when I reached the door, I saw the Captain talking to a cat, what breed? I'm not sure, but his fur was short, his features seemed to be etched out of stone, his hair closely cut to his scalp, and to my horror, he was in the navy-blue uniforms of the Purenkorps.

"Here's the list of all breeds and their classes," He grunted to the captain, "We expect everyone in this residence standing out on the port by dawn." I began to tremble. I had seen an elderly couple of the soldier's species standing outside of their home as soldiers drove up to their house, and I haven't seen them since. I could only imagine us sharing that same fate. What would become of us?