>There ain’t no laws against stealing shopping carts and pushing them halfway across town
>And if there were, you don’t care
>Through a combination of sheer luck and well-placed garlic bulbs, you and your crew managed to leave the cheerleaders and Lydia in your wake, somewhere along the road, stirring in the wind like beaten flags
>Now you push your ‘chariot’ aimlessly up a steep road, sucking in lung fulls of cold
>The air is scented with sweat and garlic (two very unpleasant aromas), and the lingering scent of Jenna’s cherry blossom perfume
>No longer being pursued, Alex and Jenna walk behind you while you struggle the cart up the hill against the steadily mounting wind
>Bright orange maple leaves slap you in the face, reminding you that you’re in the shit now
>On the plus side, their sharp colors contrast quite nicely with the steely-gray skies looming overhead
>If you were Sam you’d probably try drawing this scene
>All of you struggle-pushing a cart uphill, silhouetted against the darkening gray skies, orange and light brown leaves billowing in the cold
>Your current state is less than poetic or artistic. You suck down frigid air, sweat stinging your eyes
>Frankly, you need a rest
>After your Vietnam-style ‘tactical retreat’, you’re sweaty, exhausted, your nerves are fried, and you’re getting hungry
>Not just for blood, either
”Where are we even going?” You call behind you
>Jenna is quick to answer, though she appears just as exhausted as you are without having done anything but walk up this steep hill
>Her sharp ears are pasted against her skull, likely to guard against the wind
>”The old church,” she says, pausing to take a labored breath
>Despite fox’s nimble and cunning nature, Jenna Orthorn is as nimble as a freight train
>Though she’s got the cunning part down
>The old white oak door church would be a great place to lay low…
>…Provided you aren’t somehow prevented from going inside, which would present a number or problems on top of genuinely annoying the piss out of you
>The old church was built some time ago, its age evident in the flaking, egg-shell colored paint and its lean wooden construction.
>There’s also a white steeple housing a rusted bell — though its chimes have long since gone quiet
>The train tracks are just down the hill, where freighters roll by in the night
>You’re not sure why people slowly stopped coming to the old church
>Perhaps because it was on top of a massive fucking hill?
>Or because it’s an old and unpleasant reminder of the town’s heritage, sharing more in common with the poor, stooped houses of Ranchview’s outskirts than its landscaped and gentrified center
>Now only teenagers come up here on ‘ghost investigations’ or to drop acid
>Sometimes both
>You veer off the main crossroad once you’re on top of the hill, to a more narrow, one-lane affair that dives further to right, terminating at the old white oak door church
>Its parking lot is small, decrepit, and unsurprisingly empty
>The sight of the church makes you gag
>The closer you get, the more nauseous you become
“I-” Your sentence is cut off by a choking feeling tight in your throat
>Between the garlic and your proximity to the church’s towering crucifix, etched in stained glass, you can’t go any further than the parking lot
>It would probably take a lot of exposure to the church to get closer
>But you would, over time. No fucking way are you going to stand out here
“God, fucking- guys, I can’t do this.” You shove the cart forward
>It coasts harmlessly across the shattered, weathered blacktop
>”So it’s true then, isn’t it?” Jenna remarks softly, watching the cart traverse the uneven pavement
>Her voice has no tone other than exhaustion
>”Alex wasn’t lying about the vampires, the werewolves, the moon, the ritual. It’s all true?”
“What more proof do you want? You just saw Lydia Penferth make a snack out of your engine block. We just got chased halfway across town by a bunch of demonic cheerleaders. Look at my eyes for fuck sake!” you cry
>Why are you so angry all of the sudden?
>There is no need to be upset
>”It just… goes against every natural law, every scientific principle, and just plain common sense. I’m struggling here.”
>She marches past you and plants herself on the concrete steps leading up to the white oak doors
>”We’re all struggling,” Alex chimes in. “You, me, Alex… Anon and Sam to be sure.”
”Anon and Sam…” you hum their names like an old song you know
>God, you really kind of miss them both right now
>Anon’s ability to generally keep up with you
>And… You guess Sam’s social retardation
>Especially the way it flusters Anon
>Those little pieces of your past life? You want them back
>Jenna narrows her eyes at you
>”Mike… What happened between you and Anon? Last time I saw him he was bruised, beaten and bloody.”
>Your eyes pass between Jenna and the crucifix she’s sitting under
>The sight of the cross makes you wince, but when your eyes pass over Jenna…
>You feel calm
>Even tranquil
”Why did you come looking for me?” You ask
>Her posture is stiff and serious
>”Because I was worried about you,” she says softly. “You were acting so strange for so long… I couldn’t stand the thought of you sulking… in so much pain…” She points her eyes towards her feet. “You’re so reckless, and I was so scared you’d hurt yourself-”
>Even from your short distance you can see her eyes shimmering with tears, like glassy green pools
>You can only stare like some star-struck idiot
>Was she actually crying on your behalf?
>”All of us were worried about you. Even Anon,” Alex says with a type of weakness. “Remember on Monday night? He kept trying to get a hold of you. Why didn’t you just pick up the phone?”
“I- I lost it when I was running away from the Lydia-” you stammer
>Jesus, you feel like you’re on trial right now
>You… really fucked up, didn’t you?
>”And when you came back to Anon’s house, and you scared the hell out of us, you should have seen Anon’s face when he first saw you. He was so relieved.”
>Yeah, you really fucked up
>You hurt a lot of people — physically and emotionally
>And maybe financially, since you practically cost that poor convenience store clerk her job
>”Answer the question,” Jenna commands, still unable to look at anything but her shoes. “Did you hurt Anon?”
>You can hear the knot in her throat as she fights tears
“Yes,” you say, without a snarl, without anger, without contention
>Just honesty
>You instantly feel like you’ve got a hole in your chest
“I did. We fought, and I kicked his ass. I thought he could cure me — stop me from becoming a vampire — but he didn’t. And I lost it.” You flick between the vixen and Alex
>Alex gives you a hard stare
>You don’t like seeing him like this. It’s not his natural state
>But you deserve it
”I hurt him. And I’m sorry,” you continue. “I wish I could take everything back, but I can’t. The damage is done. The damage is…” you trail off, casting your gaze skyward into the featureless clouds
>The damage is done
>The wind rips through you all like you were full of holes
>You’re all cold — the chilled air sapping your warmth
>But nobody speaks. You all just sit there, shivering, waiting for someone to say something
>It feels like there’s nothing to say
>At least, not until the lone anthro among you, her voice resolute despite the tears splitting down her fur, opens her mouth
>”Don’t apologize to us.” She extends her phone out to you. Her face is hard, not out of anger, but determination. “Apologize to him.”
>”Anon, y-you’re hurting my h-hands,” Sam whines
>You don’t care
>You really don’t care
>You’re never going to let go of this faggot
>Which is what you tell yourself, as you drag him down the hall
>You keep throwing glances over your shoulder
>Why didn’t they follow you?
>You highly doubt they got lost in the tunnels
>Oh god oh fuck
>Your heart skips a beat as you mull over the possibilities of what they could be cooking up
“What’s your next class?” You demand sharply, trying to distract yourself and focus on the task at hand:
>Protecting Sam
>”Sc-Science?” Sam stutters. “R-Room 185.”
“Good. I’m going to wait with you,” you say resolutely
>”Why? I-I don’t know if the t-t-teacher will be o-okay with tha-that.” He sounds like he almost doesn’t want you protecting him, which is weird
“Science with Mr. Bolm?”
>”Y-Yes-” Sam starts, but you cut him off
>No time for his whimpering
“Good. He knows me personally. He’ll be okay with me just hanging out in the back.”
>Your attendance score be damned. You can miss class, you’ll take the GPA hit for missing math
>Hell, you didn’t even have your backpack with you
>You left that in the car
>What’s the point of even going to class this week?
>”I-Is everything o-okay?” Sam says. “Where’s G-Gloria?”
>You toss another glance over your shoulder
>Nobody but other students behind you
>And jocks
>Two, to be precise
>One human, rugged dark hair and a wood-carved face
>And a gray wolf, his fur bristled with rage, ears flat against his skull
>Both stereotypically decked out in red letter jackets
>The swing of their arms, the synchronization of their steps-
>You’re just being paranoid, you assure yourself
>Yet you can’t help but move a little bit faster than before
>Justtttt being nervous, this is totally normal
>They’re walking to class, is all
>”Anon, I t-t-think those g-guys want to talk to u-us,” Sam says
>You look over your shoulder again
>Just paranoi-
>Oh fuck
>How did you not notice it before?
>The two jocks’ eyes are bright blue, like glacier cores had been drilled into their skulls
>They narrow hateful glances at you, and it’s only then do you see that the human has a dark bruise on his cheek
>It’s swelling up like rotten fruit
>Ah yes, your knuckles still ring with pain from having clocked that werewolf in the face
>Well, it’s time to run now, isn’t it?
>Your muscles tense up, and internally your nonathletic soul groans in agony
>You’ve done so much running already
>You’re tired
“Sam, when I say run, I want you to start sprinting as fast as you can down the hall, okay?” Your voice is barely beneath a whisper
>Sam’s ears twitch like two sensitive antennas
>”O-Okay,” he says with a bit of resolution. “I tru-trust you.”
“Good. On three. Ready?”
>The bunny nods and pushes his hair back with his free hand
“One.”
“Two.”
>Suddenly there’s a commotion as no less than four students descend upon the pursuing jocks
>It’s a group of punks
>How can you tell? Well, they make it obvious
>They’ve got ‘teenage rebellion’ practically patched on their studded denim jackets
>And it’s all humans
>With fury and energy, the mowhaked gang of students leaps out from the shadows and swarm the jocks like ants
>Two punks per hulking body
>Eight pairs of fists and eight pairs of kicking, stomping boots swing wildly
>The jocks roar with frustration, but pry off the skinny vegan anarchists and begin pummeling them
>A crowd quickly gathers around them, obscuring your view of the fight
>Anonymous, this is the PERFECT opportunity for you to make an escape
>And escape you do, by calmly walking Sam to class
>When you get to the door, you realize that your hand is still interlaced with Sam’s
>Feeling a little more than gay, you gently untwist your fingers from his and smile
“See? Safe and sound. Now, let’s get in there-”
>You pause as you feel your phone weakly pulsing in your pocket
>A phone call? Right now?
>The caller ID reads ‘Jenna Orthorn (Fox from Science)’
>Ah, that’s right, you had a project with her earlier in the semester
>You slide to answer and put the receiver your ear
You mouth to Sam, “I’ll meet you inside.”
>The bunny nods
>He lets out a huge knot of air held in his chest
>Relief is plain across his features as his shoulders slump and head droops, lacking tension to keep it stiff and rigid
>The rabbit quickly opens the door and slides inside, letting it shut behind him
>You’re not exhausting him, are you?
>Like, he’s not tired of you, hopefully?
>Ah fuck it. He owes you big time for saving his life (even though he has no idea you did)
>You clear your throat
“Hi Jenna. This is Anon.”
>”Anon?” A male voice crackles on the other end of the line
>Your heart sinks in your chest
>You know who this is
>”It’s Mike.”
The Leaves of Fall Act 2: Fear the Nobodies (Part 23)
You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.
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About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
4 years ago
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Estimated reading time
10 Minutes
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