Rainfall

By: Domus Vocis

          It was forty degrees windy outside, my crappy coat didn't keep the pounding rain out, my tail and fur was drenched, I was even fixing a damn transformer on top of a sea barrier in East Triad, and all I could think about was when my shift ended.

        That, and the view from where I struggled to stand, the view that overlooked No Man's Land. Through the misty breeze and howling winds of rain, my eyes could barely make out the tall structures jutting out of the water. What used to be suburbia and city life now was nothing but the rotting decomposition of dead fursons and flooded streets. In the distance, I could make out where the water got deeper, where the flooding was most ravage among the remains of civilization.

Then there was Triad behind me, where other fursons struggled to survive on the urban streets and in the constantly pounding downpour. God, has it already been over two decades since the rain began?

          “Hey, you almost done with the wire box out there, Alley?" came a voice from my com link. It was Markus, a fellow wolf with a temper similar to mine.

          I dared not to look down, but instead turned on my com link to reply, “I'm almost done, buddy. Just need to replace a few wires before we can go to the Noah's Ark, okay?"

          “Well hurry the hell up, man!" he shouted through the channel. “You know I can't stay sober forever!" I heard laughter followed by dead air, soon replaced by thunder and flashes of lightning.

I needed to hurry. Let's see, righty tightly lefty loosely, I thought through rapidly. One wire goes here, another there, red wire replaces blue wire and breaker gets switched on. And…done! I quickly closed the lid, grabbed my tool box, and bolted for the door.

I sighed as soon as I closed it, and pulled my hood off to shake the remaining water out of my ears and whiskers. “God damn I love my job," I laughed, then turned on my com link. “Barrier control, this is Alley Wade. I have Transformer Five fixed and ready to run."

Dead static, I could only hear that for a few seconds. “Good work, Wade," came a stern male voice, probably a wolf or fox. “We now have power returned to that area. You are free to leave from your post now."

I immediately headed to the locker room, where it was crowded and smelled of sweat, spit, and dark grease. Not that many were in the place, only a few employees and workers.

One of them was a coworker named Darren, a tiger two-thirds my height and a new to Pipeworks Repairs for only a few months. “Afternoon, boss," he said while putting on pants. “Rough out there?"

We were only a few lockers away, so I shrugged and decided to make quick conversation. “Pretty bad out there," I replied back, pulling my soaked work uniform off onto the tiled floor. “Nearly drowned today in the tunnels while fixing a pipe." I kicked them aside and shook my fur a bit. “How about you?"

“Nearly dropped a wrench over Sea Barrier Three while fixing the lifting mechanism," Darren tried to counter while wagging his tail. “Man, someday this job is gonna kill me, boss."

I chuckled before grabbing a towel. “Amen to that one," I wagged my tail too.

I decided to take a shower, which was unoccupied at the moment, so I was able to hear everyone else speak in the locker room. While everyone talked about how hot a few female coworkers were or where they were gonna go and drink after their shift, others spoke about how bad it was getting in Triad's slums.

“I can't believe it," said Darren to a dressing coworker. “Did you hear what happened in the Aurora District? Because of there being too much rainfall, the electricity there overloaded and caused some houses to catch fire

“Damn," replied an aging dingo everyone called 'Bolt'. “You think that's bad, guy? My family is starving because some bastards broke into my home and took all our ration cards."

“Same here," added Jud, a fox from North Triad. “Now I need to work overtime to get all the ration cards I can for my parents!"

It felt amazing to get the get rid of the grease from my paws and nose, as well as the sweat on my muscles from today's hard shift. Besides the transformer on the sea barrier, some water power stations in the Red District needed some repairs, not far from where my home was. Luckily, no power lines fell nearby it.

And by the time I was finished showering, I went through the steam and saw half of the remaining workers already left, leaving only a few new guys changing into their regular clothes. But still, I couldn't find Markus, meaning he was already at the Noah's Ark.

“Damn wolf couldn't wait, could he?" I swore silently. “Oh well." I took my towel off and quickly pulled my jeans on, making sure my wolf tail fit through the hole in the back. “Alright." I went through my locker and found it, my St. Christopher's medallion. For safe keeping, I tucked it in my shirt. “Safe keeping."

“Hang on a minute!" I heard something loud hit the floor behind the row of lockers, something like a fist connecting to a jaw. “You're dead mother-" Again, there was the sound.

I whirled around the corner and saw a black dog on top of a small coyote named Blitz. Instead of laughing and goading them to continue fighting like everyone else was, I barged through and pulled the two fursons apart.

“Stop it right now!" I shouted in my authoritarian voice. They didn't stop trying to thrash their claws at each other, so I slammed them both against a locker with all my strength. “This is an order."

The black dog and coyote were now shaken up, and I held them by the collars as they knelt down in pain. I never saw the black dog before, so he was probably a job drifter. “Unless you want both your asses thrown out over the walls of Triad and into No Man's Land," I raged, “both of you will not be fighting like a bunch of animals."

“B-But Captain…" the black dog stuttered through bloody teeth. He was in his thirties, just like me, and probably carried enough muscle to pull half a ton over his head. Still, I wasn't intimidated; I had twice the muscle mass and skill. “He-"

“I don't care if Blitz here called your own mother a whore," I interrupted loudly. The thing with coworkers was that they were sometimes hard-headed, meaning I needed to talk rough to get through their thick skulls. “I am co-manager of this place, so get along or you and your family will starve for another month. Got it?"

I let them go, seeing that the black dog was an inch smaller than me, a good set of muscles to have crushed Blitz. “Yes, sir!" they shouted in unison.

“That's more like it," I nodded them at ease. “Now get cleaned up and go home." I was about to turn when I saw the muscled black dog eyeing me the evil look, so I shot one at him. “Fight again, and I'll personally make sure you drown outside the walls of Triad." That set him straight right away.

A while later, as I walked out the dreary front doors and onto the elevated streets, through the pounding rain and cold warmth, the electric smell of trash and the city mixed into my nose distastefully. I pulled my hood on through my ears when the drizzle became a downpour, battering against my tail and shoulders as I traversed through the stink and neon lights of the high rises. I was used to the smell, as were other pedestrians that walked by me.

          “God, it's freezing," complained a man of unknown species. “Better get the groceries before the rain get's even worse."

          A cold cough followed by a laugh broke through the watery wall. “When has it ever gotten better?" his companion asked cynically.

          A slight pause. “Good point, love," he said. “But did you hear that North Triad is almost underwater?" I walked away from them, their voices becoming only an echo to the storm.

          For a while, I started to doubt Triad was gonna make it through the night, that the sea walls and the barriers would fall and everyone would drown. It sent shivers down my heavy tail, and not just from the cold.

          I mentally slapped myself. Triad was made up of three provinces each as large as the former state of Rhode Island. If they could hold together for two decades, they can hold for another two.

          I soon made it to the elevators that led from the high streets to the lower ones. It wasn't far from the subway station, so the road shook while a shining train passed by.

          As the packed elevator went down, I looked at the TV. “And now it's time for the 5:00 news," spoke a female wolf reporter. “Today in World News, the Brazilian Colonies of South America are currently facing two opposing hurricanes from opposite oceans, with each cyclone reaching speeds as far as 95 MPH. Residents of the Colonies have been evacuated to shelters and preparations for the hurricanes have already begun. BCSA, the citizens of Triad wish you good luck through the end."

          “And in other news, both the Western Australian Province and the Archipelagoes of Europe are currently facing ration shortages as resources-" My floor came, resulting in half an inch of water pouring into the elevator box. I piled out along with other species entering rush hour, and turned a left.

          I skimmed through the waters as it kept falling all around, the wind kissing my muzzle in every direction. The lower streets were filled with people trudging through the six-inch deep water, through the muck and mud that floated atop it all. The water kept turning different colors from the neon lights that shone on the buildings, sparks of life that still emitted from the darkness. And several blocks down the street, I could see the massive sea wall that stood between the flooded No Man's Land, and the people of East Triad.

          While I kept walking through the water, two figures came into view in the middle of the outlying street. They were two small tiger cubs, both dressed in blue rain ponchos and carrying a plastic bag.

          “Where are we going?" one was a boy, who I could see had green eyes filled with worry. He carried a bag tightly with his small paws. “Sister?"

The other was an older girl, maybe by a year. “I…I-I don't know, Ty," she sounded sad, almost like she was crying in the rain. “I…I don't know…" I passed the two as they started to walk in the opposite direction.

          I lost sight of them down the boulevard. “Poor kids," I sighed. There wasn't anything I could do for them though.

At last, I saw the Noah's Ark Bar straight ahead.

          The Noah's Ark. Originally a small motel that helped house refugees during the Great Struggle, it was now turned into a two-story bar where the rooms on the top floor were best to get 'friendly' with local women. That, and the alcohol was unbelievably strong, powerful enough to knock a wolf out after several drinks.

          I made it through the crowds of people and past the doors. “Finally," I pulled my hood off, ears twitching as I heard a familiar voice at the end of the circular bar, where he sat. “Markus!"

           “Hey there, Alley!" he laughed while giving me a quick hug. “I'm more drunk than a sailor on Saturday!" He and the other wolves around us howled with laughter.

          “Yeah, yeah," I sat down and chuckled. We both sat in a table that encircled the bar area, a perfect view of what choices a worker could have for liquor.

          And the furson in charge of the place was Noah, a lion in his mid-thirties with a tongue as tough as nails and a humor equivalent. “What'll it be, Alley?" he asked me. “The regular?"

“Gimme what he's having, Noah!" I called, my tail wagging like crazy. He gave me a bottle, and I raised my glass. “Thank you," I turned to a laughing Markus, “bottom's up, Marky!"

The rest of the night was all about me, Markus, and every worker from today's shift partying like there was no tomorrow. Markus went on and on about some she-wolf with a 'rack large enough to topple Triad's walls', and everyone laughed and raved through the women on the top floor while it got darker and darker outside on the damp streets.

However, while everyone got drunk off their asses, I retained focus and decided not to drink for some unknown reason. Maybe it was because of the two cubs that passed by me in the street, the fight that happened in the locker room, or something else.

“Damn," the alcohol I managed to get in my system left some aversion in my mouth. I couldn't get drunk, not tonight.

My mind instead went astray, and focused across the bar to the TV on the wall. “In local news," the reporter spoke, “today marks Triad's 20^th birthday in what was once Denver, Colorado, a city now in ruin. However, residents aren't celebrating tonight as the weather front has risen over the triple-city and is now . Officials say that the storm front will be overnight, and curfew has been extended to be at 9:00 sharp."

God, has it really been twenty years already? I asked myself. Twenty long years since this damn place was built, years since the planet has gone all to hell.

Suddenly, memories awakened. I was eighteen years old, graduating from high school with an honor's degree. I had a family, two parents and a future ahead of me. Back then, I thought I was on top of the world, I thought anything was possible.

But then, everything changed instantly. Storms across the globe struck everywhere, from hailstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, typhoons; it was like Mother Nature was having a continuing nervous breakdown. Sunlight started to become rarer to see, because when one storm ended, another began instantaneously.

Because of the constant rain and the lack of peace, survivors went deeper into land and built strongholds. Europe became an archipelago of islands held together by walls, Africa became a superpower overnight, half of Australia and South America was flooded by typhoons and rainfall, and most of Asia desperately clung to the looming Himalayas for protection against rising tides.

As for the United States, half the East Coast was lost from the raging wrath of storms. I distinctly remember when it disbanded into separate provinces. I was with my dying family, who caught the plague and forced me to abandon them in a refugee camp outside of Chicago.

God, I could still hear their voices, their screams to make it to the rescue helicopters and leave them behind. And the look in their red eyes, they were crying so much.

I pulled myself together by checking the time on my watch. “7:59," I spoke to myself, still shaken up. It took half an hour for me to get to my home. “Might as well leave while I can." I stood from my seat and paid my tab. I turned to see Markus gone, and a familiar gray tail going up the stairs with a woman. “See you later, Markus."

I walked out of the bar and put my hood on, immediately feeling the winds that swayed with the rainfall. The drops were bigger, but the winds weren't powerful enough.

The streets were getting even quieter, less packed with fursons and more packed with rats. Some cabs still worked, but I decided to walk instead since I didn't have enough to get home. Instead, I went by a food shop that hadn't closed and got some pastries (Little secret, I had a sweet tooth).

I kept going deeper into the Red District, past the waterfalls that cascaded on the sides of buildings and past the fursons either doing something illegal or getting out of the rain. And as the minutes went on, I passed alongside edge of the district, where a sea barrier wall stood tall and firm. Walking beside it would eventually lead to my place. Through the rain and mist, I could see the bright beacons of light that shone on its top. For a while, I marveled at the misty spray of seawater that spewed through the beacons.

But suddenly, I heard a scream ahead of me.

Shaken, my legs bolted through the flooding streets and toward the indistinct sound. It came from an alleyway to my right, one dry of rainwater yet cursed with an awful smell.

Before instinct could get the best of me, I stopped and slowly glanced around the corner. And in the alley I saw five figures, two small cubs and three tall fursons. Two of the assailants were feline, one of them I could make out as a leopard, while their leader was a muscular black dog. And in front of them was…

Oh God!

It was the kids from earlier, huddled in terror against the alley's wall.

“Jaeger!" the black dog barked. I noticed he was carrying a knife. “Go through their stuff whiles me and Jordan…" Even with his smug face turned, I knew his intentions, and it made my stomach lurch. “…have a little fun here." He and one of the felines, probably a muscular cougar, were looking directly at the two cubs.

“Leave us alone!" the girl screamed as the black dog grabbed her. “L-Let me go! Let me go!" The cougar grabbed at the boy violently, his other paw reaching for his pants. “Leave him out of this! P-Please!"

As the girl and boy tried to fight, I took the opportunity to sneak behind the rummaging leopard and placed a knife over his throat, nearly slitting it then and there. By the time he noticed, I grabbed his arms tightly and barked, “Stop!"

The black dog and cougar jumped their heads to me, still holding the cubs by their arms like shields. I instantly recognized the black dog. “You again?!" he screamed dumbfounded. He was the black dog from the locker room fight, not surprising.

Without daring to see the cubs' petrified muzzles, I stared at the black dog intensely. “Let those kids go or I'll spill so much of your friend's blood even the rain won't wash it out!" I firmly ordered, my eyes piercing them with anger. “Now!"

The black dog and coyote paused, looking at each other and probably screaming into each other's eyes on what to do. “Let the brats go, Connor!" Jaeger pleaded with a struggle out of my grasp. “Please!"

Giving me an evil look for what felt like eternity, the black dog released the cubs, and they huddled behind me in fright. “Face the wall," I barked at the assailants. “You're both gonna be-" I felt the cougar's elbow connect to my ribs, and helplessly watched as the trio darted off. “Get back here you bastards!" I attempted to stand, but they were already done in the foggy rain.

          For a while, I allowed the boiling adrenaline in me to steam out, dissipate away from my system like the bolts of lightning above the buildings. The perverts got away, and one of them was right under my nose the entire time. God, if he ever showed himself at work again, I'd-

          I heard crying behind me, and I remembered.

          After putting my knife away in my pocket, I craned my neck to see both the cubs hugging each other closely, their heads staring down at the wet floor while I heard them sob. I pulled my hood off and knelt down with a soft smile.

          “Hey," I whispered calmly to them. “You alright?"  They didn't respond; couldn't blame them after what almost happened. “Hey, hey, it's alright."

          I scooted over in front of them and lifted their heads up. Initially stricken with fear, the tiger girl turned her back from me and shielded her brother. To show I wasn't a threat, I reached into my pocket and took out a pastry bar I got from earlier.

          “Here," I quietly handed it openly. “You probably haven't eaten in a while, have you?" I scooted another inch closer. “My name is Alley," I broke the pastry bar into two pieces and still hung it out, “What is yours?"

          Finally, the girl lifted her head up, sniffling while looking at me with that pair of emerald eyes. I saw wet cheeks under them, and it wasn't the rain. I held the pastries closer to the girl, and with success she gently grabbed them and gave a piece to her little brother.

          “You're safe," I assured her by patting her head. “I promise those people won't hurt you again." I paused for a moment as they gobbled it up. “So…can you tell me your names or do I have to give you two new ones?"

          The tiger girl perked her ears back up at me when she was done. “M-My name…is Cassie," the girl sounded more than traumatized, but freezing. “This is my brother Ty." The boy looked up with crumbs on his nose and slightly smiled.

          A flash of lightning was seen and a crack of thunder followed. Ty appeared startled and grouped closer to Cassie's arms. I even saw his tail curled up around them, almost like a protection barrier.

          “Do you have any parents?" I asked them. I instantly regretting asking as I saw their jade eyes again, giving off a look of grief and misery.

Ty gave off the most, as he could barely look me in the eye. “They're dead," Cassie spoke softly. I could feel her pain.

          As a bolt of lightning passed a mile over our head, an idea came to me. I stood up and turned to pick up the bag behind us. It was mostly torn clothing and several empty cans of food, but I still reloaded them into the bag before handing it over.

I held out a paw to them. “Come with me," I asked kindly. “I've got a place to stay that's not far from here." I gave Cassie and Ty a smile, and hoped they'd trust me enough.

At first, Cassie was hesitant. However, she grabbed onto my paw and influenced Ty to grab my other. Still smiling broadly, I walked them out of the dirty alley and gently guided them through the heavy rainstorm to my neighborhood.

My watch read that it was five to nine, and we finally reached our destination. Resting underneath an old concrete highway, a series of old campers lined up together like suburban houses, each distinct in color and design. But what really stood out was the wiring that engulfed each power line along the street, giving everyone electricity and warmth in their homes.

We eventually ran into my camper, an aging and broken motorhome without the wheels to bring it places. Instead, it rusted where it sat, like an abandoned dream of grand design.

“My gosh," Ty's eyes suddenly lit up like sparklers. “You live here?" I nodded. “This is so cool. You actually live here?"

I smiled. “Yep," I answered. “And you do too." I could see Ty's small tail wagging alongside mine.

We went inside the motorhome, and I locked the door. The rest of the night was in silence. Cassie and her brother put their stuff in one corner of the camper, I allowed them to use my shower, dried their clothes, and offered them to sleep in the pull-out bed.

“Hope this will do for you both," I asked of them. “Any of you still hungry?"

Cassie raised her paw. “I am," she said. Ty also nodded in response.

I quickly rummaged through the fridge and found some bread and slices of meat I got from my work bonus. After quickly heating them up and wrapping the tiger cubs in a blanket, we ate dinner while the patrol cars sped by and the rain battered on outside like rocks on a windowsill.

“This is so delicious, mister!" Ty finally spoke up in delight and I had to smile at him. It was hard to believe they'd still carry innocence in them even after it was almost taken away.

Taken… I lowly growled. As Cassie and Ty happily ate their food, I stood up from the couch mumbling, “Excuse me, I have to make a call."

I walked into my bedroom and cleaned it up a bit, soon finding the number for my lady friend in the Triad Policing Agency. I gave her a quick call and, while awkward at first, Janet promised me they'd find and prosecute the black dog and his accomplices.

“One was a black dog who worked once today as a volunteer shift; I think his name was Connor from what one of his friends said, but I'll give you a full name tomorrow at work registration," I whispered. My other ear picked up the clattering of rainwater and giggled laughter farther down the motorhome. “Another was a cougar I had a knife on named Jaeger, but I think it's just a nickname; he was a feline, I know for sure. As for the black leopard, he had some tan fur with black streaks on his muzzle…I'm not sure it was dark."

I heard a sigh on the other end. “Is that all, Alley? Because we have cases like this all over Triad," Janet spoke in that husky voice of hers, causing me to grow a small smirk despite the situation. “Still, what you've given me is better than other descriptions. We don't have that many leopards or black dogs anyway, so it won't be hard to track them down."

“Thank you so much Janet. Those kits probably went through more shit than you and me, and I wouldn't want those bastards still on the street," I spoke strongly. She chuckled and told me I was overreacting, so I replied with, “Hey, I should know. I've been in their position with having no parents."

Janet, with her husky voice, chuckled shortly. “How are they doing anyway, papa wolf?" she asked with curiosity ringing through my ears.

I craned my neck and took a peek to see Cassie and Ty, with their fluffy tails and orange striped fur, dozing off on the couch. “They're asleep right now in their little blankets," I answered.

“Aw, I never knew you had a soft spot for cubs…"

My muzzle smiled. “I love you too," I said. I checked the time, and realized how late it had gotten since curfew. “I gotta go Janet, but I'll give you that black dog's name tomorrow."

“And perhaps I can meet your new wards?"

My ears couldn't help but perk. “And yes, you can meet Ty and Cassie," I smiled with a wagging tail. We exchanged good nights, and I hung up before the night's rainfall and thundering shook me back to the real world.

“Alley?" a soft voice came.

I turned around to see the two tiger cubs standing by the doorway, with Ty's fragile body trembling under his new clothes. “Ty's scared of thunder…" Cassie looked up at me worried.

I flicked my tail, and a kind smile formed again across my muzzle. “I'm scared of it too," I said. I turned to the bed and brought them over. “Don't worry. You're safe. I'm here…"

As soon as they fell asleep, I laid there on the bed, watching out the window and glancing at Cassie and Ty as they slept. And by dawn's break, I swore I saw a gleam of sunlight crack through the clouds and into the motorhome, but maybe it was nothing more than a passing car.