Animal

Olives

I remove my hands from the pockets of my black hooded sweatshirt, and skim the white gloved digits over the water's surface. It is a warm November day and I find myself sitting at a fountain in a park I had found on my first day 'off ', this is my fourth day coming here (I have no other places to go). I tried going to the coffee place that Oliver had taken me too, but I couldn't make myself walk inside and ended up here. So here I am.

I don't understand why I was allowed to come here, have free time, but I don't argue. I guess whatever the good news Ms. Adams had on her tablet must have been really good news. They haven't stopped smiling since that day. I even had actual pork yesterday.

This park is a nice enough place, I like this fountain. I like to watch the people run for exercise and the children play at that place with the big metal structures and swings. No one says anything to me, and if I glare hard enough no one approaches me.

Its nice but... I'm bored.

I stand up off the fountain and decide I'll wonder around a little further today. Its been four days... obviously whatever is going on isn't a trick like I had originally considered. I wrap my arms around myself and head right towards the crosswalk and busy road.

I move quickly, my boots scuffing across the dark-stone sidewalks. I gaze up at the buildings as I move underneath them, craning my neck to see the tops.

After awhile, the buildings start to look haggard and worn, and instead of glistening glass and metal, each building is made of faded brown brick. They change from skyscrapers and luxurious apartment building to squat buildings and rundown apartments.

This interests me, I had no idea there was poor parts of the city. The people hanging out on the streets stare at me as I pass – long, sizing you up type of looks. My shoulders stiffen as my guard raises. Alright... I found the shady part of town, I note.

I keep walking. I smell water, so I'm hoping to reach the river if I keep walking. I'm not going to stop because of a couple of... stalkers. Someone's following me now, I can hear their footsteps. Its three men, there footsteps suggests its three men.

I sigh. All I want to do was go to the river.

I pick up my pace and they pick up their pace. They're diffidently following me. I turn the corner, stop, and wait.

When the first one turns the corner, I grab him, careful of my claws, I slam him against the wall. "Why are you following me?" I hiss and stare into his wide brown eyes. The other two are further away and... another pair of footsteps are rushing towards me on my left. That one hadn't been following, it must have been an ambush.

Well...

My captured prey grunts angrily and struggles.

"Stop moving..." I warn slowly, "If my claws dig in to deep you'll die."

He freezes.

The man approaching on my left reaches us first and my ears pick up the sound of a gun clicking. I freeze this time.

Shit. I turn to stare the short, dark-skinned man down. He looks nervous. "Are you alright, Jake?" He calls out.

"I'm peachy, man!" Says the one underneath my claws. "I'm just seconds away from getting my lungs torn out."

"It could be worse." The man shouts back.

The other guy scoffs. "And how could it be worse?"

"You're lungs could already be torn out."

I grunt in pain as a bolt of electricity shoots through my body, when something hits me in the back. My knees buckle and I grunt.

Damn it, they were distracting me! I can't believe I fell for it. I hit the ground, a growl ripping from my chest. Out of the corner of my eye I see something black, a zap-stick, come at me and hit me in the back and once again electricity runs through my body.