Soldiers And Beasts

5. Affluence City

 ―John―

"Oh, man! We did it!―we did it!" Sable clamored ecstatically as he drove the wheel, driving on the road to Affluence City, pumping his fist in the air repeatedly. "Holy shit dude! I never thought that it was going to work!―I thought Lt. General Hoffman would appear out of nowhere and take John away and pop our fucking heads off our shoulders with a headlock!" Everyone turned to look at Hogan with wide and confused eyes, each of us sharing a glance that told us that we were all questioning what kind of barbaric imagination he has in his head.

They couldn't exactly see my face, and I couldn't exactly see anything with this stupid mask still on. "Why do you still got that stupid fucking thing on?" Dario razzes, clutching the mask by its top and snaring it off of my head. "Oh, finally! I can fucking breathe again!" I sighed, taking small breaths, thankful that I no longer had to hear my breathing in my ears. As Sable drove the car, he faced the rearview mirror and looked at Dario and me sitting in the back. At one point, Sable explained the next step of the plan. "Alright, here's the plan everyone―when we get to the front of the hotel, we're going to put those bandages on John's face and tell the receptionist that he's just a friend that we brought along to take him to see his family and that Lt. General Hoffman gave us the "okay" to bring him with us. By the end of this whole thing, we'll bring him back to the hotel so we can all check out and go back to Fort Taurus. Then, when we do, Dario and John will sneak to the back while also avoiding the snipers at the top of the fort walk―seriously, watch out for the snipers, those assholes will shoot at anything, anthro or not―once you both make it to the back entrance, you'll both split up once and part ways so no one suspects a thing. Dario'll go in another direction and John'll go back to his cabin. That way, Lt. General Hoffman won't suspect a thing!"

We were all impressed by Sable's plan, and we were confident that it would all work and go as planned if we all didn't try to screw it up. "Holy shit, you got it all planned out well!" Dario said, sitting on the passenger side seat next to Sable as he continued to drive. Sable nodded, "Of course I do! I planned it all out myself, no thanks to you useless fucks―I was the one who had to plan the whole thing out!" Sable said at the two, glancing at each of them. "Wait, won't Lt. General Hoffman know I'm gone if she asks me to meet her in the planning room?" I ask them. All three of their heads turn in my direction, staring at me wide-eyed.

"Oh my god! I can't believe I forgot about that!" Sable screamed, nearly shattering our eardrums as we all covered our ears. "Jesus Sable! Watch the fucking wheel, you crazy son of a bitch!" Hogan managed to grab onto the wheel as Sable was having a brief panic attack. "It's so dark. Sure got dark real fast." I muttered, remarking on the darkness that was inside the car and the darkness outside of the road even when seconds earlier we nearly crashed into a tree because of Sable's sudden panic attack.

"Oh, man! I can't believe I forgot about that!" Sable stopped the car on the side of the road, clapping his hands against the sides of his head, shaking it erratically before slamming his forehead into the wheel. "But that's alright―that's alright." Sable calmed down after taking a few breaths. "John, it's okay, you'll let us worry about that. After all, she'll want us to answer for what we did, not you. We're the ones who are gonna take the fall for this. And goddammit, I brought you with us and I'm gonna fucking take the punishment even if it means sacrificing my goddamn career." Sable banged his fist hard on the wheel. After finally getting his act back together, Sable said, "Come on everyone. Let's just get to the hotel and then we'll go on from there." And resumed the drive to Affluence City.

"Hey, John, whatchu say?" Hogan said, turning his head to look at me rather than looking at me through the rearview mirror. "Say? Say about what?" I ask him, keeping my arms crossed and my body leaning against the door, looking outside. Instead of turning my head to look at him, I looked at him (at his reflection in the window, and although it was blurry, it was him). "Something about something being dark?" He said. At that second, I realized he heard what I had said seconds before we almost crashed into a tree (I'm still shaken about it and questioning how we even dodged that).