War Fever

Chapter 5

After a long walk, I finally broke through the treeline and could see the town in front of me. Thoughts about what had happened here earlier today came to mind, but I forced them aside. I had a gun, and any anthro soldier I come across would be respectful to me this time around. It all still felt ominous though, our simple adventure turning out like this.

Entering the town, I slowly made my way to the other side, keeping an eye on my surroundings since I didn't want to be ambushed by some resistance members or something. I considered checking out the area where we first encountered the anthro soldiers, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Something about revisiting that exact area just felt off, so I just decided to cut through the town as soon as possible and make my way to the other one.

I couldn't stomach being in this place for too long.

Fortunately, I left the town without trouble and encountered new, uncharted territory. The road ahead led somewhere I didn't know or didn't remember, and I didn't have the same group to explore it with. I'd have to brave this new world ahead of me alone and without any kind of guidance.

My stomach churned momentarily, I felt nervous. When this trip started, I had other people to rely on, and I didn't know how bad things could get. Now alone, and having experienced how sudden things can be, I was having second thoughts. This was my one opportunity to turn around and leave, to head back home. I could see my parents again, be in a safe place, and have food. Yeah, I'd get punished for leaving, but I could be safe and comfortable.

Then I thought about Calv. He was still out there. He didn't die in the initial anthro attack, I vaguely remember him running away. I couldn't just leave him out here. Compared to everyone else in the group, he was an actual friend. He and I spent time together instead of just attending the same things together, and unlike me, he was actually a decent person, so if anyone deserved to make it back to the bunker, it would be him. I couldn't be selfish here, I had to make sure he was alright. If I ended up saving anyone else from our group, that'd be nice too.

Now dead set on doing this, I started to follow the road ahead.

The walk was nothing interesting. Same as the other roads, it was mostly empty, only the occasional EMP-affected cars from a decade ago being the things I came across. I didn't even bother to search them, some had their windows broken from previous looters, and the ones that were intact I assumed had already been searched.

I passed by this massive truck, one used for transporting goods, broken down on the side of the road. Its back doors were open, and this one I decided to search, only because the worn and peeling art on the side of it was for coffee, something that our bunker had run out of. Even though I had expected it, there was no coffee in the truck.

For a second, I considered asking Cass for a thing of coffee to bring back to my bunker if I were to ever see her again, but it was both unlikely, and I didn't want to see any more anthros.

Continuing on my trip, I travelled for an unknown number of kilometres since I had lost track after a certain point, and I had started to suck on my spare lollipop for my ankle. Thankfully, I had reached an intersection in the road next to a sign, which, according to my map, meant I was nearing the town.

I carried on.

After my long trek, I had finally reached the town. It was pretty small, and when I reached the outskirts of it I could sorta see the crevice of the North Saskatchewan river that ran through the town. This was the place that the bear had marked on the map, and the town people in my group were sighted as heading toward.

I was unsure what to do if I couldn't find anyone here, or if I couldn't find Calv here. I'd either have to blindly search for them, or I would have to head home. Maybe some people had made it back to the bunker already, I don't know.