How I Died As A Cow

Old Minds, War Times

PART TWO
CHAPTER 2
"Old Minds, War Times"

Once I had joined the Liberty Species, I started walking just like the humans did. My legs and feet were sensitive at first, struggling to grasp it's proper balance, waiting for me to get hinder than the wind that stood still in dead nights. It was one dry night where all the bugs in the sky fluttered briskly with brimming energy, and post lamps never kept an area shadowed. My location was irrelevant, just a small park like Dawson's Creek. Then, I stood.

My heart convulsed contently as I watched my legs dwindled beneath me, twitching ever so slightly to the point it became unnoticeable. With one leg, I stepped and stepped. One silent hoof after another. A cow with hind legs, no one would ever bat an eye. But oh they would. I was different. The thing pumping in my chest finally calmed slowly as I stretched to a post lamp, trying to wrap my arms around the rim.

Instead, I hugged the body, regaining balance I had lost earlier. I stood, walked, and talked like a human. What was happening to me? I shook my head in frustration, returning to my four legged stance, prompting in some direction away from the small park. The scenery was unpleasant anyways.

Not only tiny bugs surfaced the atmosphere with a certain cause but the flighty fireflies followed my trail of enlightenment. Where I moved, where I stayed with the Liberty Species, I felt like I was avenging my mother, fighting for her. Fighting for a glory that's actually mine. So their tiny wings wavered and wavered, hovering me like a motioning camera, stalking my every move like food. Though, they were a harmless kind, a catalyst to the dark that engrossed the vast forests I had to travel to reach one destination.

The fireflies danced away heavenly fast from the entrance I approached. A city of moss caved around the door and the dainty wooden textures held the structure of the house together, though I could see its time settling in soon. I felt fatigue from all the walking I did earlier, I needed some rest.

The door brushed open, almost inviting instantly as the cat behind perked his ears. His mouth lifted momentarily before uttering a mass of sentences.

"Ah there goes the cow. The cow that acts as wolf. Tough and prowls. Welcome back home." His words hissed like a rattlesnake, perhaps he was a sly one.

I shook my head, smacking my mouth in spite. Yes, I felt like I was fighting but the people I was venturing with made this quest seemed it was out of spite, like I was blind to the corrupt reasons I joined Liberty Species. No one in this house was innocent, including the peeping mouse that would hide in holes planted along the living room. She would bolt like lightning, dodging the eyes of whoever walked through the front door. Like me, she was scared of what the outside held.

For days, we grouped in the deepest forests that took journeys to get through, and would meet in the heart of all the greenery that surrounded us. The abandoned cabin apparently held the last bit of these people together, including their cause that was starting to stick back like glue due to me popping up out of nowhere. There were five of us, the silent but deadly mouse, the grumpy house cat, a flighty chirping mockingbird, a jumping lemur, and a seemingly wolf who appeared merely a sullen cow.

Tonight, we decided to make our move, our final steps to becoming what we always wanted; noticed. It started with the silence among the planning table we hovered, then the tightness of our throats expressed the true feelings felt when we learnt we had to take more than one life. If death to the humans meant the voice of a minority, it was worth every last minute of its bearing time.

Although the mouse was quiet, she pondered the situation from afar, but it wasn't long before I could tell she was on board. The grumpy cat had his regrets, saying "We're gonna die! Oh how the dominos would fall if one of us had been ridden!", I paid no attention. It was now or never. The end wasn't near, it's here.

But then the lemur interjected our presumed thoughts, questioning everything all together. "Is this really the route of Liberty Species? We jepordize more than just our image here if we get caught...but our lives."

The mockingbird plopped on the nearest arch of the table chair, resting his droopy wings that had exhaust with work. "We lived on for many years, but to no avail. We've fought a war that never shed tears but blood. Action starts when seeker seizes opportunity; this is nothing but a sign for us all. Not as a unity, but as animals ourselves."

"The flying creature chirps truth. But I squeak the harsher truth." The mouse said breifly. "People die in war. It's inevitable. And you both know we are fighting a long Cold War."

The room was now dead, not another utter of another word. For years, this group thrived, for years they've been silent for too long. I peered at the planning table one last time, just to see what it took for our voices to be heard clearly. The battle positions didn't seem to difficult to understand, in fact I could easily replicate what I had to do if I visualized the scene. I imagined more than my mind expanded to the idea of winning, it just filled me with determination.

The jumpy lemur jumped on the chair below the mockingbird, and the grumpy cat groaned a mighty sound, finally agreeing to the terms. Once everyone was actually on board, the mockingbird took lead and gave us positions to hold during our attack. I was the support, I guarded the people who went guns blazing while keeping the animals together. The lemur and the mockingbird would stealthily enter the building we'd attack, and the mouse would bite the guards to infect them with her vile teeth. Her teeth were nothing but vermin.

After planning time was over, the cat had one last thing to say before he left the cabin astray.

"You hold the balance of a life not only yours, but mine. I joined because I believed the cause. Not war."

Vote for no war.