Backbone: Walk The Line

Ramble On

Icy rain hailed down like gunfire from the black heavens hanging in the midnight sky. A nasty storm had rolled in carrying hundred foot waves that crashed along the great walled city in thunderous succession. Cracks in the concrete structure threatened to flood the streets on the other side where a kaleidoscope of flashing red and blue lights surrounded an access point leading into the tower stretching up and over the crumbling barrier. A steel hatch lay on the ground, ripped from its hinges. The doorway'd been peppered by copper jacketed kisses.

A blue tail-finned sedan rolled up onto the scene. Its canine driver already had his badge at the ready for the miserable sopping wet officers shouting in his face. "CPD! CPD!" The dog managed to scream over the angry pack and wiggle his way through the small sea of cops armed to the teeth with rifles, machine guns, and riot gear.

"Inspector Cooper! Over here!"

The dog made his way to the officer calling his name. "Swarts! What's going on?"

"Some shit's going down on the wall. Gunfire, screams, the whole show with everything but Yul Brogart."

The officers stirred all of a sudden, pointing their guns at the opening above the mangled door. "Freeze!"

Cooper saw a flash of orange and red fur. "Wait! Don't shoot!" He clawed past them all until he reached the source of their alarm. "Renee? Is that you?"

The fox finally looked up from the shadows of the access way into the blinding spotlights of all the police vehicles. She was drenched from head to toe despite the tattered trench coat that was too big for her. It was ridden with rips and bullet holes. Her puffy bloodshot eyes swam with turbulent whirlpools ready to burst at any moment, just like the wall behind her.

"She's got a gun!" One officer cried out.

Her hand death-gripped the massive pistol. Its barrel smoked like the remains of a spent cigarette tossed into the gutter, refusing to die.

Cooper stepped past the line of cops, offering his hands to her. "It's going to be okay. Just put the gun down."

Renee began to cry, hissing through the cold stinging rain her tears were lost in. "No... no... no... I-." Her voice devolved into airy incoherent mumbles.

He inched his way up to her and wiggled the gun from her grasp, catching her as she collapsed against his shoulder. Flipping out the revolving cylinder to the strange pistol, Cooper noticed that only one of its five shots had been fired. Now close to Renee's face, he could see little droplets of crimson splattered across her fur. "Renee." He brought his voice down. "Who's blood is this? Renee, answer me."

She didn't speak. She watched the blur of lights swarm her, cuff her, and read her rights as she was stuffed into the back of a car. How did it all come to this? She couldn't quite recall at first. It was like waking from a horrendous nightmare, trying to remember the gruesome details solely out of morbid curiosity.

The sirens broke through the haze. Reality set in, and it didn't hold its punches. "Where did it start?" It wasn't at the very beginning. It was somewhere in the middle. Only one part of the story had been told so far and she was the key to unfolding the rest so everyone could know what really happened. She remembered. Nearly a month had passed since Howard disappeared.

ACT I - "A Fox and A Hound"

Renee awoke to the soft whispers of air whistling past her window. She expected the thrumming pitter patter of rain, but when she looked to the window there was instead a flurry of frosted white flecks gathering against the glass panes. Beyond the sight, crying seagulls wailed over the distant ring of buoy bells gently bobbing in the harbor. Her waking mind drifted in and out like the snow outside until the growing banks of sobriety held her eyes wide open. The fox shivered at the thought of an early winter.