I'm Not an Animal (Slow Updates)

Chapter 10

I, somehow, managed to fall asleep as I cried. I was so exhausted that my body must have just shut off. I woke up to a strange buzzing sound. It sounded wrong in the half-dazed state I found myself in, and I tried to pass it off as a ringing in my ears. That worked for a bit, until Ruby shook my shoulder and told me to wake up.

"Your Viewer is ringing!" She called. I rubbed my eyes, stifled a yawn and dug through my satchel. There were some stray pieces of string in one of the pockets. "You could have used that string, instead of the grass." Ruby pointed out. I shrugged and pulled out my Viewer. Misha's face filled the screen.

"Misha!" I cried, fully awake. "Good God," no one believe in religion any more, and the Lord's name was now used to express feeling, "what's wrong?" Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She sniffed loudly, and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Tora! Are you alright? Why didn't you pick up?"

"Pick up? I did!"

"I called you fifty times!"

"Her Viewer only just started ringing." Ruby pointed out.

"Who's that?" Misha asked.

"This is Ruby."

"Oh, so you've already replaced me? Is she a run-away too?"

"No one could ever replace you, M. Now, what's up?" Her eyes filled with sadness again.

"Tora, it's your parents! They... They..."

"They're dead, I know." A lump began to rise in my throat. I forced it down.

"How could you-" Misha's eyes went wide and she looked straight into mine. "Oh, Tora, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. There was nothing you could do. It's all my fault." I hung my head. I could have saved them!

"Did your family tell you to do anything?" Ruby asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"My mum told me to run. So I ran."

"And you did as you were told. There's nothing more you could have done. They probably would have killed them anyway." She said. I nodded quietly and looked up, tears blurring my vision. I wiped my sleeve over my face and drew away my tears.

"Tora, where are you?" Misha asked. "You have to get far away. They want to take you away, Tora. Tell me you're safe."
"I'm about one hundred kilometres away, according to Ruby." A dull throb started behind my eyes. My vision blurred, the lights of the Viewer stretching out. I blinked rapidly as Misha sighed in relief. My legs started to wobble and the throb increased.

"You okay, T?" Misha asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." I pinched the bridge of my nose as the throbbing turned to an ache. My stomach whirled and my knees buckled. I fell, and Ruby reached out to grab me.

"Tora!" Misha and Ruby cried simultaneously. I slipped into darkness.

~#*#~

Something hard pressed against my lips and I swallowed the cool water that flowed into my mouth. A little, soft, round object was pressed between my lips and I swallowed it whole. It was a blueberry. Ruby sighed in relief as I opened my eyes.

"Feeling better?"

"What happened?"

"Running one hundred kilometres on an empty stomach then not eating isn't very good for you. Who knew?" I shot her a look and she laughed. I lay my head back down, planing to go back to sleep. "Tora!" Ruby snapped. "Don't go back to sleep. We have to go!"

I mumbled something - even I didn't know what it was - and rolled over. Ruby stood up and walked over to me.
"Tora. I'm giving you three seconds." I grunted as Ruby started counting down from three. My eyes burned as I was reminded of the Official counting down, but I closed my eyes. "One," Ruby said, before her hand slapped my cheek. She slapped me again and I slapped her back, rolling over.

"You wake me up like Misha." I said, rubbing my raw cheek. Ruby rubbed her chin, where my hand had landed.

"You're not so bad yourself." She replied.

"So, where do we have to go?" I asked, taking another swig from the water canister that Ruby passed me.
"To the Home Base." She said, tossing a blueberry into the air. She tried to catch it but missed, and it burst on her forehead. I laughed gently and took another sip.

"What's that?"

"It's an old Society base. They cleared it out years ago, thinking no one knew. But Zaki fell down the entrance and our group has been using it ever since. There are twenty-nine of us, including me. If you join us, that'll make thirty. We're trying to reach the Resistance. They're a massive group of Big Cats, plus a few other types of animals, and they're fully against the Society. We want to join."

I was silent for a minute, then I looked up at Ruby. "I could be a Society spy. I could lead them here and slaughter you all. How do you know I'm not?"

Ruby looked into my eyes and smiled widely, a lopsided, toothy grin that made me feel warm inside. "You're not. I can tell. You're not that type of person. You're just not. I don't know how, but... I have a knack for telling. It's in the eyes." She looped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a side hug.

A drop hit my shoulder, then there was a sudden on-pour as water pounded into the ground around us. Ruby screamed as water ran down her shirt and I yanked my satchel open, pulling out an umbrella.

A crack of thunder made me nearly drop the umbrella, and almost instantly a bolt of lightning slashed across the sky. Ruby and I huddled under the umbrella and walked through the wet ground. I was never more happy to be wearing flats, and not high heels.

Another crack of lightning slashed across the sky, lighting the trees, illuminating every individual leaf, splitting the sky in half. Birds took off from the trees; real birds, not human birds like Ruby. We trekked for quite a while through the soggy, muddy ground. After what seemed like an hour we reached a tree. It seemed like a normal tree, but Ruby reached out and knocked on it. She pushed a part of the tree, and a door opened.

Ruby pulled me into the tree and we slid down a chute, into darkness. When we hit the ground, I found it spongy and soft. There was a mat there. Ruby pulled me along through a twisting set of halls, corridors and rooms until we finally reached a control room. A boy with sandy blonde hair was sitting behind a computer.

"Zaki?"

"Hmm? What is it?" He didn't turn around.

"I brought a girl. She's a Tiger." He shot up from the seat and spun around.

"You!" I cried, taking a step forward. His eyes widened with recognition.

"So they found out, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. They found out alright." Ruby slowly backed out of the room and I choked on my laughter.

"So, you're here to join? Will you join?"

"You can find pictures of the Officials on here?" I sat down and clicked through files.

"Yeah. Now, my question. Are you going to join us." I smiled as I found the picture, then spun the chair around.
"One condition."

"Normally I make the decisions, but since I'm asking you, go ahead."

"This woman?" I pointed to the screen, where a photo of my Leopard Official was displayed with the name Alyssa Mullan written under it. "If we see her, you tell me. And I kill her."