Alex Reynard
The Library
Alex Reynard's Online Books
--Chapter Twelve--
Cody was taken to the medical building. Tina mumbled under her breath the whole way; all the things she wanted to say to him but couldn't allow herself to, because they were far too repulsive to say to a child. Even a little monster like this one.
Cody let her lead him with no resistance whatsoever. Truthfully, he was as appalled as she was. What the hell had happened back there? Yes, he hated that little prick Walter for what he'd said earlier, and he did plan to land a punch or two on him next time he saw him, but... He'd thought if he was gonna get revenge, he'd at least be in control of it. Instead it had been like sleepwalking. Like autopilot.
Inside the medical clinic, Tina located Vera in one of the labs, watching some other GPAs working on the damaged Newbrain chair. The lioness shoved Cody in her direction.
"This little thug just turned Walter Bennect's face into tomato sauce. You were the one who said leave him alone and maybe he'll cool off, so YOU get to be the one to deal with him now!"
Vera stood there, stunned, as Tina turned and walked straight out of the room. Her body language was clear: 'I'm done with this.'
Vera needed a moment to deal with what she'd just heard. Her mouth opened and closed helplessly a few times. Then she turned and saw Cody, standing there like a statue, expressionless.
Then the vixen changed. A grimace of bottomless disappointment and revulsion spread slowly across her features. Every atom of it directed at Cody.
He briefly looked up to meet her gaze, then immediately turned away. Those eyes blazed hotter than the sun.
Vera crossed the floor and grabbed Cody's arm. "Come with me right now," she snapped.
Cody allowed himself to be led. No resistance.
Her shoes tap-tapped on the tile as she led him swiftly down the white halls, deeper and deeper into the building.
Cody stared down at the floor. "Can I have a glass of water?" he dared to ask.
"NO," was the immediate reply.
He didn't say anything else to her.
Finally the vixen stopped at an ordinary metal door. It was unlocked, so she opened it a crack and pointed Cody towards it. "You are going to walk in there and sit down. You are not going to say another word to me, Cody St. John. I wish you had any idea of what I went through this morning after you threw your little tantrum. Damn near every single one of my colleagues was against me, but you heard Tina. I stupidly argued on your behalf. I keep thinking I'm going to reach the limit of your destructiveness and find a way to get through to you, but I guess I'm just dreaming."
She gave him a small shove. "Now get in there and sit down. I'm going to find out exactly what you did to Walter, and then I am going to introduce you to someone I think you really ought to meet."
Cody was too pinned to move. Her words were quick and sharp and they cut him to the bone.
"I said get moving!!" Vera exploded.
Cody managed to wrench himself loose from the floor and scamper into the room.
She slammed the door behind him and he heard her stomp off down the hallway.
*****
Cody slowly turned around, staring at the floor. Shame weighed him down and made his movements slow, like walking in increased gravity. Normally he would have spat in Miss Vera's face for treating him like she just had. But he couldn't deny he'd earned the scorn, no matter who it came from.
When he got his first look at the room in which he now found himself, a bit of fear pierced his self-loathing and began to wedge itself deeper. Everything was stark white and silver. The floor was white. The walls were white. Gleaming white. Not-a-single-speck-of-dust white. In the middle of the room was an all-metal table, with two uncomfortable looking all-metal chairs.
But the worst part was the top half of the room. Mirrors. From halfway up the wall, the whole thing was mirrors except for the ceiling which was a single huge rectangular light. And they leaned in too, the mirrors. Not quite like a capital 'A', but like a barn roof. The mirrors reflected the table and chairs and everything else, making Cody feel small and trapped. A specimen on display.
Worst of all, the room itself was mirrored. At the opposite end of the room there was a door identical to the one he'd just come through. It was enough to make him doubt his own perceptions for a moment.
Cody looked up and saw his own face reflected. He looked like shit.
'It might be two-way glass,' he thought.
'Of COURSE it's two-way glass, you fucking moron. Why would it be anything else?'
The room wasn't completely empty apart from the table and chairs. Tucked in the near corner, Cody noticed a small wooden bookshelf full of magazines and picture books. Nearby was a basket of toys. It reminded him of the same setup he'd seen in doctor's offices; stuff for little kids to play with so they wouldn't get bored.
And right next to the shelf and basket, Cody thought he was hallucinating for a second, was a water cooler.
He rushed over. He pulled out a paper cup from the dispenser so hastily he tore it in half. No problem, there were lots more. He extracted a second one more carefully, filled it and knocked it back. Oh, BLISS! It was so COLD!! Holy shit, was that ever refreshing! Cody closed his eyes and just let that wonderful coldness shiver all the way down his throat. He drank another cup just as quickly and kept them coming.
Plus he used the water to wash Walter's blood off his hands. He couldn't get it off of him fast enough.
When his thirst was sufficiently slaked and his paws were as clean as they were going to get, Cody walked back over to the door he'd come in through. At least he thought it was the right door. This damn room was disorienting. He stood there, shifting back and forth. He hoped Vera would come back soon. He actually wanted to try to explain to her what had happened with Walter. Yes, she was a Pred and a liar and blah blah blah. But that look she'd given him had hurt. He didn't want to be looked at that way by anyone. Like he was something so evil it was repellant to the senses.
He began to wonder why she'd brought him here. Who was this mysterious furson she wanted him to meet. Maybe an interrogator? An insane hope flashed through him that maybe the Preds had brought in his father like they had with Yola's.
'No, stupid. No. I would have seen the helicopter if they had. Don't give yourself hope like that. It'll just hurt worse.'
Cody didn't have to wonder much longer. The room was not soundproofed, and from the opposite direction he heard echoing footsteps and a shrill voice steadily growing in volume.
The door across from his suddenly opened. "You are still not LISTENING TO ME!! Mrs. Lyubov, I am NOT going in there! Not until you explain what's going on! I am telling you I didn't DO anything this time!!"
Fucking hell, that VOICE! Cody instinctively shrank back. It was like a train whistle's screech!
The door opened wider and a pleasingly plump mousewoman in a white GPA uniform shoved a young fox girl into the room. The mouse glared at her with damn near the exact same look of exasperated contempt Vera had given Cody. "For the last time, that doesn't matter! This is not a punishment, Petra. You are here to learn something and you are not coming out of that room until you do! We'll be watching."
And with that she slammed the door shut loudly enough to make the small fox jump backwards.
Cody looked her up and down as she started pounding on the door, demanding to be released. She was about his age. A red fox, with deep crimson fur matched by creamy white. 'She looks like a red velvet cake,' he thought. Cody also noticed that this girl's fur and hair were kept in a state of fastidious, almost pathological, neatness. She had on a typical blue Pred's uniform top, but had kept her pleated green skirt from The Box.
Cody blinked. Whoa. No, no, no. That was a dizzying moment of unreality. This Pred chick had most definitely NOT come from The Box like him. It must have been just a coincidence that her skirt was the same color as the girls' uniforms there. And on closer inspection, it wasn't even quite the same color. Just close enough to make Cody briefly think he was going crazy.
He took a step forward and she swiveled around instantly at the sound.
'Shit!' The look in those eyes of hers! The yellow orbs in the fox's skull glowed with all the malice of a mad, petulant queen about to execute a few dozen of her servants.
"Ewwwwww! There's one of those THINGS in here with me!!" she screeched.
Cody blinked. Had he actually just been referred to as a 'thing'? "My name is Cody," he insisted warily.
She gave him a look like she could not possibly have been more grossed out. "ExCUSE me? What are you doing? What is your problem? Do you actually think you have the right to speak to a Pred when you haven't been spoken to first!?"
Cody stared at her. He was surprised his jaw hadn't hit the floor.
"WELL!?" the fox blared.
A tiny grin came to Cody's lips. He said nothing.
"ANSWER ME!!!"
He blinked at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I didn't have the right to speak to you," he said nonchalantly.
The fox fumed at him. Keeping her eyes locked to his, she left the door and walked around the table, closer to this uppity Preyboy. Not close enough to be within punching distance though.
"What kind of a name is 'Petra' anyway?" Cody said with a snort.
She tilted her head. Her lips drew back in an ugly, ugly snarl. "You don't get to talk to me like that." Her voice had dropped from a storm to a growl. "You're just food. All of you. Just. Fucking. Food. I tell them that and tell them that. And then they stick me in here with you. I guess they're trying to test me and see if I really mean it."
She suddenly turned and ran straight at the wall. She banged her fists on the glass so hard Cody honestly expected it to shatter. "IS THAT IT? YOU WANT ME TO KILL HIM SO YOU CAN WATCH? CALLING MY BLUFF, YOU STUPID ASSHOLES!? I'LL DO IT! I'LL DO IT!!"
Cody's eyes bulged. He inched backwards until he hit the door. "She's completely insane..." he muttered.
"I heard that," she spat. The vixen turned and crossed the room towards him, still keeping herself out of attack range. "And I'm getting sick of hearing it. From the Weak Predator Army. From my 'friends' who've turned their backs on me like little shriveling shits. They all think I'm crazy because I don't wanna go along with their sweet little campfire singalong where everyone's friends and we all get along happily ever after the end." She looked for a second like she was going to spit on the floor. "You're FOOD," she screamed, pointing at Cody. Then she looked back at the mirrored wall. "...And you're not going to change my mind no matter what you do to me, do you HEAR ME!?"
Cody put his hands up in a calming gesture. Was he actually afraid of this girl? Maybe. And maybe that didn't make him a wimp either. This girl had a set of lungs that could knock airplanes out of the sky. "Hey, let's just-"
Her muzzle sliced through the air like a rapier. Her eyes locked on his. "Are you trying to talk to me again, food? Are you forgetting the natural order of things? I'm looking right at you and I don't see a real thought in your head or a soul in your body. I just see cuts of meat stacked on top of each other and tied up with fur."
"Well, you're cheerful," Cody quipped.
She gave him a simpering smile. "Nothing you say can change my mind either, food. You're an inanimate object."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Can an inanimate object call you a bitch?"
She was unfazed. "A tape recorder could. Or a computer or a Talkcard. You haven't proved a thing."
Cody shook his head and laughed. "Boy, I'll bet at your First Prey you didn't even wait until your daddy dragged it into the room for you."
That got a reaction. Petra gave him a hideously dirty look for daring to know that ritual existed. "For your information," she enunciated venomously, "I haven't had my First Prey yet."
"Bet that pisses you off," Cody said.
She gave him a 'no shit, sherlock' smile. "Oh look! The inanimate object can state the obvious!" Then she turned to stare up at the mirrors. "I'm going to have my First Prey! Like I deserve! And you can't keep me in here to stop it from happening!! I earned it! I'm Pred and I'm proud, and I'm going to take my place in my family and you can't keep me from it!!!"
She suddenly grabbed one of the metal chairs from beside the table and tried to throw it up at the glass. It was far heavier than she expected and it just ended up skidding across the floor. But it made a helluva noise.
Petra was glaring up into her own raging face as she ranted. "It's MY FAMILY! You have NO RIGHT! My mom and dad could catch a stupid Prey any day of the week! They could catch a dozen! I'll have one for my First Prey! And when I look into its eyes as it dies, all I'm going to think is, 'Good riddance'!!"
Cody's fear was starting to ebb. This loud, spoiled princess-thing had startled him at first. But now he thought he was seeing through to her real self.
He cooled himself down from his state of wariness and gave her a calm, challenging little smile. "I hear a lot of talk," he said quietly. "Well... I'm standing right here. Kill me."
Petra turned around.
It was his turn to lock eyes with her. "Sorry your family's not here to see it. Why don't you stop whining and prove your words? Or are they just words?"
"You shut up," she ordered.
"I don't have to do a fucking thing you tell me to, fox."
She held up her hand, claws up. "You do if you don't wanna start bleeding," she replied.
Cody held his hand up. "I got those too. Mine can climb trees. You really wanna find out whose is stronger? I might mess up your hairdo."
Petra snarled at him, breathing heavily. "When I kill my First Prey, it's gonna be in my own home, surrounded by my family, like it should be. I'm not gonna waste that on you!"
He chuckled. "Yeah, I thought you were just talking shit."
"I only said I wasn't gonna kill you," she corrected. "I didn't say I wouldn't carve you up and paint this room red."
Ooh, she was good at this. Cody took a step forward and crossed his arms. "Try it, stinky."
Petra flinched as if slapped. "What!?"
Oho, had he just struck a nerve? Cody grinned. "You stink. What's there not to understand? All you Preds stink."
Petra stamped her foot. "I do NOT!!!"
"I can smell you from here," Cody said nonchalantly. "You canines smell like you wash yourselves in your own shit every morning."
"That's disgusting! YOU'RE disgusting!!"
Cody cupped a hand to his ear. "I didn't hear a denial!"
Petra seethed. She stepped to the side, circling him, trying to decide from which direction she should lunge to bite out this little prick's throat and put him on permanent mute. "Do you know who my father is?" she asked in a low growl.
"Another smelly fox who smells like shit?" Cody guessed cheerfully.
Petra did not take the bait. She kept circling, forcing Cody to start moving sideways too. "He's got more money than your nonexistent mind could imagine. He's one of the richest Preds on the planet. He owns a shipping company, seven manufacturing plants and a hospital. He could buy your entire family and have them boiled alive on our front lawn if I asked him to."
Cody laughed soundlessly. "My dad's a four star general. If he was here, he'd gun you down without blinking. Make your pelt into a rag to wash his car with."
That one got to her. Just a little, but he could tell. Probably the thought of her gorgeous fur being used for something so dirty.
Her scowl uncurled into a smile. "He might. Assuming he could get the Pred dick out of his mouth long enough to aim."
Cody took two quick steps forward and his fist was up in the air so fast it was a blur. "Apologize for saying that. Now!!" His tone made it clear he was not giving her a choice.
Petra's smile darkened. She'd hit a nerve. "Your dad sucks Pred cock. If he's off at war right now, I'll bet he let himself get captured so he'd get a different dick up his ass every night."
Cody took another step towards her. His fist trembled slightly; his arm muscles were tensed to bring it down at a millisecond's notice.
"You're going to regret saying that," Cody whispered to her.
Then Petra's smile fell. The gleeful malice in her eyes turned to fear. She backed up a step. "You can't hit me!"
Cody's murderous expression didn't change. "Oh really? I think I can."
Petra swiftly turned and ran towards the door. "Mrs. Lyubov!! Let me out now!!!"
Cody began to grin. He advanced towards her. His fist was still on a hair trigger and it wanted something soft and whiny to sink itself into. "Oh, NOW you're scared? Where's your 'Preys are just food' now?"
Petra was banging on the mirror. "LET ME OUT!" she shrieked.
He winced at her sheer volume, but didn't stop advancing on her.
"You can't!!" she insisted, starting to panic. "They won't let you! That door'll open and they'll drag you off before you can even touch me!"
He tilted his head to the side. "Oh? You're sure?" He started getting his other fist ready, figuring it might want some fun too. "You think maybe the reason they stuck you in here with me was because they're fuckin' sick of your MOUTH? Maybe they can't beat the piss out of you, but they know I'm just psychotic enough to not give a shit!?"
Utter horror was reflected in Petra's wide eyes. "MRS. LYUBOV!!!"
Cody grinned. After her hysterical little performance a moment ago, her fear was absolutely hilarious. Fists at the ready, he took a run at her.
He wasn't really intending to hit her. He was just gonna pound the door or the wall right next to her face and give her a good scare. Make her scream.
Petra had other plans though. As soon as Cody was close enough, she buried her shoe in his stomach.
Cody bent double and stars sparkled in his vision.
His fist, primed for action, did what it was expecting to do and headed straight for Petra's jaw.
She flinched just enough to catch the punch in the side of the neck. She stumbled away, gasping for air.
Gulping, trying not to puke, Cody wobbled backward and saw her slinking away. "NO!" he roared. "GET BACK HERE!"
Petra ducked into a run, throwing the other chair at him to try to trip him up.
Cody used one hand on the table to vault perfectly over it. Not even trying to, his jump landed him directly on the tip of her tail.
The vixen's unholy squeal of pain was so loud and piercing, Cody thought his skull had shattered.
The next thing he knew, five claws raked across his cheek. Five little rivers of blood were created. From the sting, Cody knew she had cut deep. He hissed in pain and threw a few wild punches. One of them connected weakly, but he didn't see where.
Petra ran to the opposite end of the room and Cody kept chasing her. She knocked the bookshelf over into his path but there was plenty of room to dodge it. Magazines spilled all over the place.
Cody caught up and grabbed Petra's collar. She yowled ferally and twisted around, slashing blindly in his direction. Cody ducked most of her swipes, but one caught the inside of his ear. He hollered. That stung like a fucking hornet!
With her enemy distracted, Petra took the opportunity to kick him in the nuts as hard as she possibly could.
In the movies, when a guy got slammed in the junk, they played a wacky sound effect and then he made a funny face. This was nothing like that. In reality, the amount of pain that shot through Cody's body had felt like it annihilated his entire nervous system. It felt like all the broken glass in the world had just teleported through his crotch. Cody fell on the ground, unable to breathe or see. His ears rang. He threw up a little in his mouth. This was pain from another fucking dimension.
Petra was standing behind him, screaming something at him, but he could barely make anything out.
'Mind if I take over for a moment?' he felt his rage ask.
'Go right ahead.'
And just like that, the pain lessened. It didn't go away completely. It dropped by maybe half. But it was enough for Cody to think and move again. Or rather, for his rage to get back in the driver's seat and kill that little fox bitch.
Cody watched from the backseat of his mind, looking out through someone else's eyes, and giggled at the overwhelming shock on Petra's face. She said something about it being impossible, him getting up after what she'd done.
But he was getting up. And now he was walking towards her with his hands out. And now he had them around her throat and was slamming the back of her head into the nearest wall.
Cody's fist curled itself into a perfect wrecking ball. He drew back his arm like an archer about to fire his bow.
From behind him he heard the door flying open and adults running into the room.
But they couldn't move faster than Cody's fist.
It soared with perfect aerodynamic precision through the air and hit Petra's eye-socket like it was trying to plow straight through the wall behind her. Cody didn't know exactly what, but he'd sure as hell felt something break in there.
Cody felt a dazzling, terrifying satisfaction. Like roasting in a Hell made of fireworks and adrenaline. Like all he wanted was to let his rage take over forever and annihilate his true self if he could just feel like this all the time.
And then suddenly, all of that was gone. Someone was pulling him away. Someone was shouting in horror at what he'd just done.
Cody heard another sound too. A sound that cut through everything else in his malfunctioning mind.
Petra had sunk to the floor with her face in her paws and was crying in pain so hard she could barely breathe. She sucked in wet sobs and wailed. She trembled all over, completely helpless, unresponsive to anything but the unthinkable pain she was in. It was one of the most pitiful, heartbreaking sounds Cody had ever heard.
'And you caused that,' his conscience reminded him.
Cody's heart crumbled.
Vera and that mousewoman were standing on either side of Petra while the little fox shook with sobs. The mousewoman gently lifted one of the girl's paws away and Cody saw blood dripping from her eye.
'That's where I punched her. As hard as I could. So hard I wanted to kill her.'
Suddenly, this was no longer a battle of wills between two fierce, proud opponents. It was two kids in a room, beating the crap out of each other for the stupidest of reasons: none at all.
Cody felt all the air rush out of him as he sank to the floor too. And he also cried.
*****
That same look of hateful disappointment was on Vera's face as she tended to his wounds, but now it was joined by an even more overwhelming emotion: humiliation. She spoke to him roughly, even as her fingers applied soothing cream to the cuts on his cheek, making sure Petra could overhear too. "You two are worse than I ever could have imagined. I'm running out of ideas, do you realize that? Mrs. Lyubov had been telling me stories about a little miss Petra Penmark, who hated Prey more than anything else in existence, and I told her stories about a little mister Cody St. John: vice versa. I thought that maybe bringing you together... Maybe you'd see how foolish and repugnant you two can look sometimes. When you've got that look in your eyes like you want to kill the whole world. I guess I should have known better. You two don't want to learn anything! I'm not sure you can!"
To Cody only she asked, "Can you stand up? I saw where she kicked you." Her voice was softly caring now. Cody felt his emotions all shattered inside. Her scolding made him flinch, but her concern made him almost want to hug her.
He tried to stand. The moment his groin muscles engaged, he felt like he'd been stabbed with an icepick. He fell over on his side, clutching himself and hissing through his teeth.
Mrs. Lyubov was dabbing Petra's face with gauze. It appeared the boy had torn something internally. Petra's right eye was red as a cherry.
The plump mouse cast a look at the writhing boy on the floor. "See there, Petra? Can you see with your one eye? Look what you did to him. Are you proud? Are you happy? You got what you wanted, what you've been bragging about almost since the first second you got here. You finally hurt a Prey. Good for you."
The words stung nearly as much as the pain wracking her whole throbbing face. Petra's tail was tucked between her legs. This was a world of difference from her boasts and fantasies. In her mind, hurting Prey had been no different from punching a pillow. They were nothing like her. They didn't feel pain the same way. Yet here was the chipmunk boy curled up in a ball, shaking and drooling on the floor he was suffering so much.
'Are you proud? Are you happy?'
It was an effort for Mrs. Lyubov to mask her concern for this poor girl. As she cleaned up the trickles of blood, her heart begged her to just hug Petra and do everything she could to make the little fox's pain go away. 'But not yet,' her mind insisted. Petra needed to hurt now. She needed to hurt so she could learn.
"That pain you're feeling?" she told the girl, loudly enough so the boy could overhear too. "You might as well have inflicted it yourself. You might as well have been standing in this room alone, punching and clawing at yourself like crazy people do. All we did was put you in a room together. Everything else that happened, you decided it. You made all the choices."
Vera nodded as she gave Cody a pain pill. "Exactly. You could have sat down together at the table and talked out your differences. You could have read magazines at the opposite ends of the room. You could have ignored each other completely. And even if you absolutely HAD to fight each other, you didn't have to be so vicious! I still can't believe how much you two managed to do to each other before we could get down here and stop you!"
"And how far would you have gone if we hadn't?" Mrs. Lyubov asked pointedly as she placed a bandage over Petra's eye.
The foxgirl gulped, not knowing the answer.
Vera took Cody's hand and began helping him to his feet. He had no idea what was in that pill she'd just given him, but damn, did it work fast. His whole crotch area was just a prickly, numb void now. Though he knew he was probably gonna be too sore to walk tomorrow. He wondered if he had anything left down there but mush.
He realized the fox girl was looking at him. He met her gaze only for a fraction of a second, then looked away. He'd seen too much of his own emotions there.
The two adults began to lead the two children out of the mirrored room and down the hall. The young ones followed silently, too ashamed to speak.
Cody noticed he was limping with each step, walking like he was carrying a watermelon between his knees. He was really, really glad Vera had given him that numbing pill.
Petra was stumbling too. She kept bumping into her teacher's leg. It was awkward and frightening to have half of her vision suddenly turned dark.
Petra and Cody were led to a small room down the hall, much cozier than the one they'd just left. It looked like a doctor's office. It was dominated by one single machine at its center with a bright light above. The big white plastic table looked brand new. It had a double headrest at the top with blue gel cushions. It seemed a lot more complicated than a simple table though, with panels all over that looked like they might open up and reveal hidden compartments. Both Cody and Petra assumed it was some kind of healing device, so they did not struggle as Miss Vera and Mrs. Lyubov helped them up to lie down on it, side by side.
The fox and chipmunk were not exactly comfortable to be so close though. They shuffled their limbs and tails around to make sure no parts of themselves were touching.
Mrs. Lyubov went over to the small leather chair in the corner to sit and smoke an e-cigarette. Puffs of odorless vapor emerged from the little tube. She glanced to her colleague. Vera glanced back and nodded. They had already discussed what was to happen next.
The grey fox reached underneath the white table and swung around a strange, thin rectangular device. It was about the size of a TV screen; white plastic at the bottom, metal and glass on top. Cody and Petra both began to feel a bit wary as Vera positioned the rectangle directly between their heads and bodies. They flinched when she clicked it into place. Plastic cushions inflated to seal the spaces between the machine and their necks.
It was just like being in the stocks.
"Wh-what is this?" Cody hesitantly asked. "Is it going to heal us?"
Vera blinked at him and cocked her head to the side. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"WHAT?!" Petra barked. "What's it gonna do!? Let me out of here!" She reached up to push against the neck restraint, but it was completely immovable.
"It's locked to the table with two steel bolts. I don't think you're going to budge it," Vera informed her.
Cody had forgotten his pain. The bright light directly overhead bit at his eyes as he watched Vera walk slowly and deliberately around the table towards him, her heels tap-tapping on the floor. "What are you going to do to us?" he squeaked.
She looked down into his eyes with an expression of sad, tragic compassion. She patted his cheek. "I'm terribly sorry, Cody. But you made this decision necessary."
"What decision!?"
The grey fox walked around behind them. She leaned down to position her muzzle directly between her two captives. Her voice was calmly casual. "Well, you see, this was an experiment. And we'd planned for several contingencies depending on the results. Unfortunately, you two had to go and pick the worst one possible."
Petra's tail started to twitch anxiously.
"You have both said, multiple times, that you hate the other's genus," Vera continued. "Cody hates the Preds and Petra hates the Prey. So much so that nothing we say could ever change your minds. Well, we finally believe you. You've convinced us. You've won."
Mrs. Lyubov still sat in the corner, saying nothing. Cody and Petra could occasionally hear her exhale.
Not really wanting to know the answer, Petra asked, "What did we win?"
Vera smiled. "Why, you've won a free trip out of here!"
The two young furs relaxed a little.
"Unfortunately, it's not in a way you'll like."
The two young furs tensed up even more than before.
Vera flicked on a switch at the top of the rectangular device. It hummed for a second, then a brilliant sapphire glow appeared at the top of the glass. A perfect blue line. "See that?" Vera pointed out. "That is an incredibly powerful and efficient medical laser. When I push the little green button on the side, it will start to descend. In exactly three minutes, you will both be decapitated. Don't worry though, it's perfectly painless."
Cody gulped as he realized he was trapped in the world's slowest guillotine.
Petra's lip quivered. "You can't do this," she whimpered.
Vera patted her hair. "I'm sorry, but I can. Actually, I have no choice. You have both made it incredibly clear that you will never assimilate. You'll never go along with the GPA's plans. So, we've chosen to respect that. We'll stop trying to persuade you."
"Why can't you just let us go!?" Petra wailed.
"Because you might give away our position," Vera replied sensibly. "You might bring the army right to us. For the sake of our secrecy, plus the safety of all your friends and fellow campers, we certainly can't let that happen."
Cody's breathing was coming in shallow, wavery bursts. "What if we promise not to tell anyone?"
Vera leaned over him, looming. Her face was huge and upside-down and painted with a condescending smile. "But Cody, this is all about our inability to trust you!"
The vixen folded her arms and leaned against the end of the table, kicking her foot in the air behind her. "It's not all bad news though," she told him. "After the laser decapitates you, dozens of tiny robotic arms will start carving up your bodies. Both of you." She pinched the chipmunk's cheek. "Cody, you are going to become dozens of yummy hamburgers to feed all the kids on the Pred side of camp. They'll love you, I'm sure. Doesn't that sound nice?"
She turned towards Petra and curled a bit of the girl's hair around her finger. "And you, Petra, will be transformed into a lovely, luxurious pelt. You'll make a gorgeous winter jacket for someone."
Both the fox and chipmunk were too paralyzed with terror to respond.
Vera stood up then, and her tone lost its playful edge. She sounded cold as ice now. "But you know what the best part is? The table won't just take your meat, Cody, or just Petra's pelt. It'll take Cody's fur and Petra's meat too. You see, this is just a machine. A butchering machine. It doesn't see your species. It doesn't see Predator or Prey. It is completely genus-blind. All it sees are two potential sources of raw materials."
The vixen leaned in just a bit closer to make sure they heard and understood. "To the machine, you are both perfectly equal."
And with that, she pressed the little green button.
The machine buzzed. The laser started descending.
"Three minutes!" Vera said cheerfully.
The hum of the machine broke the spell Vera had woven over them with her cruel, true words. Cody and Petra both started struggling and screaming with everything they had. Fighting for their very lives. Cody slammed the flat of his palm over and over into the side of the rectangle. It barely moved a millimeter. Petra was scratching all over every surface she could reach, desperately trying to find a panel she could pry off. Maybe there was some circuits or wires she could rip out.
As much as they tried, all they accomplished was making a lot of noise. Both of them grunted and screamed and yowled and pleaded. They flailed and kicked, making the table shake but accomplishing nothing more.
Vera stood by, leaning against a medicine cabinet, watching impassively.
The blue beam descended slowly. Maddeningly slowly. It had a long way to go, but nothing the two condemned furs did deterred its progress.
Cody stomped the table as hard as he could. The pain in his crotch was nothing now. Even if he felt it tearing rips at the edges of the pain pill's numbing effect, it didn't matter. Cody damn well knew he'd rather be in agony than dead.
On one of his stomps, his foot came down by complete accident on Petra's tail. She screeched in sharp pain. Cody remembered having stepped on it before, back when he was trying to hurt her on purpose. "Sorry," he said reflexively.
Petra was actually startled for a second by his apology. She didn't think it was possible from someone like him.
And that gave her an idea.
"What was your name again!?" she burst out. Desperation was clear as a bell in her voice.
"Cody," he replied. "Why?"
"Cody, I'm SORRY!!" she shouted.
It was so close to his ear it hurt a little. Not to mention that her sudden repentance baffled him.
She drilled into him with her eyes, forcing him to listen to her. "I'm sorry about fighting with you. I'm sorry for kicking you in the stomach and the balls and clawing your cheek open. I'm sorry for all the things I said. I'm sorry for saying your Dad sucks Pred dicks."
Cody looked at her perplexedly. "That's nice. But none of it matters because WE'RE GONNA DIE IN LESS THAN THREE MINUTES!!!"
She growled at him. He wasn't getting it. "Cody, I just Said. That. I'm. Sorry." She ground out every word like she was hitting him over the head with them. "Now don't you have something to say to me too!?"
He blinked. Then he got it. She thought that maybe this was all a test. Maybe if they reconciled, Miss Vera would turn off the machine and let them go. It made sense. It was certainly the kind of thing that was right up the GPA's alley.
But when Cody opened his mouth to respond, he hesitated. Was he actually sorry?
After all, while he'd definitely done some awful shit to her, he hadn't started the fight. And she'd hurt him first; he was only planning to scare her. Was he sorry? He was ashamed of how far he'd gone, yes, but was that the same thing as sorry?
Petra stared at the glowing blue line steadily approaching their necks. "Cody..." she hissed urgently.
He looked into her eye and made his decision. He couldn't lie, even to save his own life. It was dishonorable. "I can't."
"WHAT!? WHY!?" she exploded.
The chipmunk's eyes reflected sadness and acceptance. "Because I'm not sorry. You're my enemy. There's still a war going on. I get what your plan is, but I can't just lie to get out of this."
She sucked in a deep breath and growled it out. "Well I will, you dumbass!" she screeched. "I still hate you too, but that doesn't mean I wanna see you die!"
Cody was stunned. Not just by what she'd said, but the look in her eye too. She believed it. She completely believed it.
Even if she still hated him, just like he still hated her, she didn't want to watch him die. Just like, he now realized, he didn't want to watch her die either.
The laser's hum was growing steadily louder. They didn't have much time left.
So, Cody lied. "I'm sorry, Petra. I'm sorry we fought. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I said hurtful stuff to you."
Petra immediately craned her neck backwards to seek out the two adults in the room. "There!! See!? Mrs. Lyubov! Whoever you are, other fox! Did you hear him? Let us go now!! PLEASE!!! WE PASSED YOUR TEST!!!"
Mrs. Lyubov closed her eyes and took another slow drag on her cigarette.
Vera stepped into Petra's field of vision, looking regretful. "What test? I'm sorry, dear. I think you misunderstood me."
Petra's heart froze. Her face went perfectly slack.
"I told you I was going to kill you and I meant it. There is no way out of this."
There was a moment of near-total silence. The only sound in the room was the incessant hum of the killing beam.
Cody felt something strange inside of him, and realized it was the dull shock of his hope dying.
Petra listened to her breathing for a second. Felt her heartbeat. Watched the blue beam drop out of sight inside the white plastic half of the device, meaning it had reached the point of no return.
"Cody," she said softly.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Hold my hand."
He'd never heard her voice so quiet before. He understood. Even though she was Pred, even though she was his enemy, he couldn't deny her request. They had too little time left to care about anything else.
His paw reached across the table to find hers. Softly-furred fingers entwined. They felt each other's warmth.
They were both silent as they waited for the laser to finally do its work. And it took a long time. Much longer than they'd expected. Three minutes had sounded so short when they'd first heard it. But these last seconds were an eternity. They couldn't even see the beam anymore. They simply had to wait until they felt it.
They did not look at one another, but Petra held Cody's paw tighter, and he squeezed it back.
Then they felt it begin.
There was no pain, like Vera had promised, and that somehow made it worse. There was only a horrible, cold, electrical tugging that separated flesh from flesh. The laser had mercifully sped up from its previous descent. They didn't have to wait another three minutes for it to finish. From throat to nape only took a few seconds. Suddenly, everything from the neck down was numb. Simply gone.
But they could still hear and see. It was terrifying. Impossibly wrong.
'How many more seconds of this is there,' Cody wondered, 'before I end forever?'
It wasn't over yet though. Miss Vera and Mrs. Lyubov stepped forward. They tenderly, silently, lifted the children's heads up. Very gently, they turned them upright to face one another, then sat them back down on the table.
The bright light above illuminated every whisker on the fox girl's muzzle. Cody could see the surface of her little black nosepad in perfect detail. Every hair of her fur. Each line of her iris, as her un-bandaged eye stared back at him.
Her mouth was hanging open slightly, as was his. She seemed to be trying to say something to him, but he'd never learned how to lip-read.
He didn't need to anyway. He was sure she was thinking the exact same thing he was. How stupid they both were. Their hatred had led them here. Vera had pushed the little green button, yes, but her explanation had been inarguably solid.
Hadn't he gotten his wish? Hadn't he been trying all this time to prove to the Preds how much he hated them? That he'd never, ever, ever wear their armband? That he'd never allow a future where the Fences came down and the two sides integrated? Wasn't he getting everything he wanted?
His hate had led him straight to this moment. His hate had killed him.
'I'm sorry,' he thought towards Petra. He meant it this time.
He watched her eye. It was still moving. 'Not for long,' he knew. It was only a matter of seconds before their brains would run out of oxygen.
Then it would all be over. Permanently. He'd thought about death a lot since his kidnapping, but of course it had never seemed TRULY real. It was just a fear, not a possibility.
And now it was an inevitability.
There was no way out of this. Nothing he could do to save himself. Nothing. No words he could say. No daring escape. His body was over there being cut up into hamburger meat.
It was over.
He saw tears on Petra's cheeks. He felt them on his own, too.
Sparkles began flitting at the edges of his vision. Like little microscopic fireflies. He felt his nerves telling him that something was terribly, terribly wrong here. Systems were shutting down. His hearing started to fail.
Cody watched the lights in Petra's eye go out. She died looking at the wounds she'd made in his cheek.
Then his own vision began to dim. The lights receded. He realized the last thing he'd ever see in the world would be her face. If they'd only chosen differently, they would have seen tomorrow together.
'I'm sorry,' he thought again. Not just to her, but to his father, and Aunt Cherise, and everyone else he'd ever known and loved. He wouldn't be seeing them again.
He felt very, very sleepy now.
And then everything went dark. It was, in an odd way, peaceful.
*****