Despite how things play out in the movies, I certainly felt as though I had plenty of time to react to what was happening. Three figures were approaching me from the darkness, their lights shining in my face, with some one thousand feet between us as a buffer. How far could their guns shoot at this range? A few hundred feet is impressive for a pistol, right? But if these were military personnel, they'd likely have rifles. If I didn't react at all, it was likely they'd just kill me on sight regardless of faction. After all, I'm undeniably a beastfolk out here. I don't have the luxury a squirrel or rabbit might have of blending in with the native fauna. I'm a massive white lion with an ankle monitor, for goodness' sake.
Oh, time goes by faster than you think it does, I thought to myself, as the men were now somehow at half the distance they once were. Then, there was gunfire. Bullets whizzed by me, making my ears ring and adrenaline kick in. This glove I had been given was a weapon, wasn't it? Something was telling me now would be the time to use it. I reverted back into my human form and, very suddenly, the gunfire ceased. What?
They were clearly speaking amongst each other. As a lioness, I might have been able to make out what they were saying, but as a human, I hadn't a single clue. Every thought that buzzed through my head was another step they drew near with. Maybe… I'm saved? They had stopped shooting, after all.
"My, my, look at that! Fresh blood!" One of the figures spoke up. Over the sound of approaching vehicles, his voice boomed without interruption or hesitation. "You're a cute lil' thing, aintcha?" The shine of the flashlight prevented me from getting a look at his expression, but his tone was surprisingly soft. While the earlier stranger had sounded on edge and quick to get things over with, this man seemed ready to sit down and have coffee with me. It was hard to imagine this gentle tone belonged to the same man who had just shot at me moments before.
"Yeah, that some kinda pussycat?" The silhouetted figure on the right spoke up. He sounded far older than the man in the middle who had spoken first. They both had the same twang at the end of their speech, which indicated to me they were likely related, or perhaps from the same region.
I looked over to the figure on the left, expecting him to chime in. Nothing. Before I could muster any words to speak, a rifle poked out from the barrier of light and pressed into my stomach. If there had been anything left to throw up, I would have done so then and there. Fear had returned to me in an instant, and my whole body ached with it.
"Look at that. What'd you do? Beat up your boyfriend for not buyin' you a purse? Steal from daddy's trust fund?" The middle voice prompted a chuckle from the other two men. "What's got a city kitty all the way out in Old Country?"
"I… I killed someone," I stammered. I would have left it at that, but a silence hung in the air, causing me to nervously continue speaking despite my better judgment. "He was hurting my friend, and I couldn't take it anymore." I must have looked pathetic—lying in the dirt, my eyes welling with only remnants of liquid left in my body, covered in all sorts of unknown matter, and reeking of filth. "I-it just happened, I didn't… I d-didn't plan to kill him…!"
They looked to each other, mumbled something, then turned to me again.
"And what's that on your hand there?"
I hesitated, getting a good look at my new accessory for the first time. It was a large black claw made of metal. It hid my skin entirely, bore the shape of a claw, and was equipped with several layers of what I could only describe as miniature torpedoes with bladed heads on the top. It seemed they sensed my bewilderment was genuine, as the men didn't wait for an answer.
"You don't know, huh? Where'd ya get that?"
"Some…" I struggled to find the words, "guy with a hat put it on me. Do you know him?" My eyes widened, hoping that perhaps everything would magically come together and I'd find a new life out here.
"Oh, that narrows it down," the leader laughed. "We're gonna need more than that to go off, darlin'." I could imagine his smile clearly as he extended his hand to me, helping me up and then catching me as I immediately began to fall again.
As he held me up, he looked down on me. Dark blue eyes that matched the night sky behind him pierced through me. His dark hair was clean—silky, almost. If a man as clean-cut as this existed here, it must be that civilization did as well. From this angle, I could see the other two in the group as well: to the left, a shorter boy with the same dark hair and features, and to the right, an elderly man with salt-and-pepper hair but the same blue eyes. They were certainly all related, though I wasn't certain if the man I was clinging to was the father of the younger man, or if they were brothers.
"Let's get you washed up and fed, hm?" The man placed his hand on my head, treating me the way an older brother might.
As if on cue, two ATVs pulled up to the scene. They were painfully loud—at least to me. I'd never heard one in person before and could have never guessed they'd be so violently thumping. The drivers of each wore helmets and heavy clothing, obscuring my ability to determine details. The boy and elderly man loaded up into the first ATV, a large green monster of a vehicle on wheels. Myself and the man—who briefly informed me his name was Von—loaded onto the back of the second. For what I assumed were safety reasons, I was placed at the front of the bike, in the arms of the stranger with what could only have been bulletproof attire. I shuddered at the implication.
Something caught my eye on the vehicle in front of us—something I didn't notice until we had already started driving. Small text on the flank that read…