Soldiers And Beasts

4. Ironfield Cantonment Pt. 2

(Gore Warning)

John Pov.

"So, y-you're a spy for The New World Leadership?" the deer anthro who I rescued earlier asks me as she and I remained in the same spot. She was slowly pacing back and forth with her arms crossed, her body and her shoulders were shaking like a leaf. The trembling could have been a reasonable reaction to being in the cold or because of what had happened to her; it's safe to say that it could have been the latter.

I was leaning against a tree, which was next to the corpse of the grunt whose throat I had slit earlier. His blood seemed beyond dry, it was still wet from the looks of it, which explains why the pool of blood circulating his body was still becoming wider. 'I guess that telling her that I'm a spy isn't enough for her, and I can't blame her. If I was in her shoes, I would have wanted more information instead of just a simple response like that.' I thought to myself.

"Well... I'm not exactly a spy, ma'am." I said, taking my beret off, and keeping it gripped in my hands, although not tight enough to crinkle it. "I'm also a soldier for them. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reveal any other information other than that. All I can tell you is that the information that I have told you before is the one I believe is enough: I am a spy, a soldier, and we're here to help. Me, and the T.N.W.L" This response made her stop in her tracks. She slowly turned to me, her face contorting into a look that could have been a mixture of shock and confusion.

Her reaction was understandable, as I knew that any anthro would be confused and shocked at the same time to find that there was a human fighting under the ranks of an anthro army.

"I just... don't get it-" "Is it because I am a human?" I stopped her, not at all bothered if that was the reason why, I wouldn't be surprised if it was either. "I understand if that's the reason why-" "W-what?! N-no! I promise it's not... it's not... it's just... I just never thought that a human would be fighting for the anthros. I... oh god, I just don't know... I don't know how to feel about humans anymore," she said, quietly sobbing as she hugged herself, standing beside the corpse of the grunt.

"They... they..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, instead, she broke down crying, almost collapsing on her knees while she struggled to keep herself standing. In the back of my mind, it felt as if I knew what she was going to say, and I couldn't blame her for not being strong enough to finish it. If I was her, I wouldn't have the will to finish it either. I would be too afraid to even spend it.

I slowly came behind her, and she gasped and swiftly turned around, backing away from me. "Woah, woah, woah, it's okay, ma'am! It's okay, I'm backing away... I'm backing... away." I said, making gestures to reassure her that I wasn't trying to hurt her. I backed away, staying a few feet away from her.

"What did they do to you?" I ask, glancing at the bruises all over her body which were somewhat discernable beneath her fur. Her grim expression turned into a scowl. "I don't think I need to tell you, of all people, what they did to me," she said, adding all of the venoms that she could convene into the end of her response, still scowling at me. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am. I-I-I d-didn't mean a-anything by it." I felt like an idiot for asking her a question like that, especially when the answer was unmistakable once you see indications of what kind of hell she was put through at the hands of Dr.Attwell's private army. I regret asking her, and I wished right then that I could have gone back and stopped myself from asking her that question. 'John, you are such a fucking idiot'.

Her scowl slowly started to break down, and gradually became a painful apologetic grimace. "I... I-I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to call you out like that. It's just... I don't know what to think of your people anymore. After what they did to us, after what they did to them, and after what they did to me, it's hard to understand what it is that lies beneath their barren skin: hate, or evil."