We managed to escape that godforsaken city and set up camp in the middle of the woods again. I was able to save Trace's life, by stopping the bleed, covering the wounds, etc. Night came and, Flora, Euchre, and Trace were in a tent while Keith was in another tent. Trace was laying on a makeshift bed while I was next to him, tending his wounds, and Flora and Euchre stood behind me. His shirt was removed and I wrapped a bandage roll soaked in cold water so his body could reach back to normal temperature. I took out a yellow, palm-sized casing and opened it. Inside was a series of small needles with anti-biotics. I took one out and placed the casing down. I held onto Trace's arm and injected the needle into his veins, which released the anti-biotics into his bloodstream to fight off any bacteria.
"He's sufferin' from a fever. I injected some antibiotics to fight off the bacteria, but it's gonna take a while." I announced and Flora seemed visibly panicked.
"Flora, relax. I'm sure he'll be fine... Tell me, why do you feel you need to help this human?" Euchre asked.
"...I don't know. You know I've always felt that humans weren't all that bad." Flora answered.
"Mmmhm... You sure have fallen for this guy, haven't you?"
"What?! No! I... haven't even thought... well... we're just friends!"
"Hmm... I seem to remember you being "just friends" with a human once before. And you know how that turned out, don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah... But I was young and stupid back then. I won't make the same mistake again..."
"Heh, so you're saying you aren't young anymore?"
"Oh hush..."
"Flora listen to me. You know you're like a sister to me. But I'm getting old. I'm twenty-one. If I'm lucky, I may live to see another few years, but I can't protect you forever."
I turned my head around and saw Euchre had his paw behind her shoulder. They both seem happy together, and after hearing their conversation, I could tell these two have history. "Ah, look at you, your fur is in knots!" Euchre announced.
"Euchre I'm fine-" Flora insisted.
"I know, I know," Euchre said.
I got up and let out a sigh before speaking. "It's gonna take a while for Trace to recover. In the meantime why don't you take a bath in that river not that far from here? It's been a long, intense day and you look pretty beat. I'll take it from here." I said.
"Oh, okay," Flora muttered.
"I'll be in my tent if you need me," Euchre said and both of them left the tent. I grabbed the casing and closed it. I got up and strolled over to my Kevlar vest and opened the medical pouch. With it open, I put the casing in and closed the pouch.
Minutes rolled by and I was sitting on the ground, playing with my unloaded carbine rifle until I heard a couch beside me. I looked over and saw Trace starting to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "Welcome to the land of the living, want a burger?" I joked.
He then sat upright and slowly rubbed the back of his head. "What happened? Where am I...? Why am I not wearing a shirt?" He uttered.
"You had it pretty rough. Those Templar's fellas, they used the tower to try to uh... control you. Lucky for us, it exploded. But you tried to kill Flora and in turn, you got clawed and shot. Good news, you're still alive. Bad news, Flora is kinda upset at you." I said.
"Oh no... where is she?"
"She's takin' a bath at a nearby river. Just straight from here, can't miss it."
"Got it, thanks, Marcus."
Trace got up, using his hands as support, and immediately walked out of the tent. "Oh man, this won't end well..." I whispered and got up. I exited the tent and followed Trace while keeping a distance so he won't notice me.
Instead of a direct approach, I went to the left side, and despite it being dark, I could tell where I was. I saw Flora, in the river, with her back turned against Trace's direction so I crouched beside the tree and watched them. She must've heard Trace coming before she turned her body around. "Huh? Euchre? Is that you?" She asked then Trace came out of the tree line.
"Uh, hi Flora." He greeted. Flora blushed hard and proceeded to cover her fur covered breasts with her arms. "Ah! Trace! I uh... erm... Don't come in here! I'm naked." It took her a second to realize she was always naked. "Oh, wait..."
Trace then got into the water and slowly approached Flora. "Trace, I'm glad you're... okay. I was... afraid you might bleed to death from when I clawed your arm and when Marcus shot you." Flora said.
"Yeah, it still hurts, but it's not too bad now." Trace retorted and reached out an arm to her, with an open hand. "Flora, I..."
Flora immediately jumped out of fear and shifted back a bit from Trace. "Nyaaah..." She then turned her back against him and crossed her arms.
"Wait, Flora! Flora, I'm really sorry." Trace apologized.
A few seconds passed by without one of them uttering a word. Trace slowly rubbed his arm and turned around while I could tell tears were forming in Flora's eyes, but Trace couldn't see it. Trace turned around and slowly walked away. "Well... Goodbye, Flora."
"Neh? No... wa... wai..." Flora muttered as she turned around. "Wait!" She cried out and pounced on Trace, wrapping her arms around him really tight. "Please, don't leave me!" She cried.
"Claws... digging into my back... pain...!" Trace uttered in pain.
"Jesus seems like nothing can separate those two," I whispered.
Flora's eyes widened as she proceeded to cover her mouth with her paws and got off Trace. "Oh, no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to jump on you again. Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah. I'm kinda used to it now." Trace brushed off. "So, does this mean you forgive me?" He questioned.
"Hm... I suppose. But only on one condition!"
"Name it! I'll do anything!"
"Then hold still..."
I watched as Flora handed a comb to Trace and asked him to brush her fur. I thought nothing much of it until I noticed, in the corner of my eye, was Keith. I got up and slowly made my way to Keith, making sure I don't make a sound. "You here to watch those two?" I asked as I crouched next to him, watching Flora and Trace. "No! I was just going to use the lake." He responded.
I nodded and listened in on their conversation again. "How's that?" Trace questioned as he was done with brushing her fur.
"That's better. But you could still brush harder. My fur isn't that fragile." She said. "Uh... Trace... I've been wondering. Do you think of me as just another Keidran?"
"What? Of course not. I don't think of you as a Keidran at all."
"Really?"
"But then again, you're really the only woman I know... I have nothing to compare with."
"Oh... right. So... you want me to keep brushing?"
Flora lets out a sigh. "No, no. I think I feel better-" Flora was about to leave the river when Trace grabbed ahold of her arm. "Wait...!" Trace announced.
"Huh?"
They both got close to each other, like really close. A moment passed without neither of them making a move. Then, Flora puts her paw on Trace's chest and tried to push him away. "Flora?"
"Trace, I can't..."
She hesitated at first until she turned to Trace and pounced on him, this time, she had her lips made contact with his lips as she pounced. I smiled and slowly nodded, proud of Trace. "Way to fuckin' go, legend," I whispered.
"That can't be!" Keith said. I looked up at him with a confused look. "What?" I questioned.
"It's just not right! This goes against the basic principles of every known race! I have to stop them!" Keith declared. I got up and was about to stop him with suddenly a voice rang from behind him. "No."
I looked over and Keith turned around and we saw Euchre then, with his cane. "You?! What do you mean by "no"? Didn't you see what they did?" He angrily barked. "Geh! Can't you see what they're still doing?!"
"Let them be. I'll talk to Flora later." Euchre announced.
"Oh, yeah? Do you really think you can stop me?"
Euchre crossed his arms and smiled happily as he towered Keith not even by half while I just stood behind Keith. "Imma head back to camp. You two have fun." I said as I walked off back to camp, with my hands in my pockets.
I walked back to Trace's tent and entered the tent. Once there, I grabbed all my gear, my plate carrier, my HK416, my M9, my pistol holster, etc, and got back out again. With all my heavy equipment weighing down on my arm like I'm holding rocks, I strolled to my tent and got into it. Inside, I carefully placed my gear down and without asking, hopped into my makeshift bed and slowly drifted to sleep.
Morning arrived and I woke up to the sounds of something being cooked outside. I lifted my head and sat upright. I crawled out of my tent and the sun's rays immediately stung my eye. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light and I got up on my feet. I stretched my arms and looked around. I noticed a pot with hot boiling water was on top of a lit campfire, then I saw Keith who had bags underneath his eyes. "Jesus, Keith. Are you good? You don't look so well." I commented.
"I got up early this morning and caught some fish for breakfast. I've already had some so you can take it." He responded. I looked over at the pot and saw a dead fish inside all ready to be eaten. "Oh, that's good," I added.
I saw a slab of wood nearby and thought I could use that as a plate. I walked over to it and picked it up from the ground. I headed back to the pot and scooped the fish with the slap so I won't have to dig my hand into that boiling water. I then saw down on the ground, crossed my legs, and let the slab rest on my lap while I used my bare hands to take apart pieces of flesh. I ate a piece and nothing was special about it, just tasted like ordinary fish.
As I was digging into my meal, I heard both Trace and Flora getting out of their tent and being approached by Keith. "Good morning, Keith!" Trace greeted.
"Morning, Trace. Morning, Flora. We should get moving soon. Do you mind looking over the map with me again before we leave?" Keith asked.
"Sure."
Then Flora was approached by Euchre and both of them started to speak in Keidran, which I did not understand. So, I didn't think much. After eating half of the fish, I decided it was enough and placed the slab down. I got up on my feet and walked over to Trace and Keith who were looking at a map of the area. "So, we'll be leaving Human Territory soon and reach the sea from here," Keith announced.
"Sounds good." Trace said.
I walked over and looked at the map. There was a large piece of land to the right with a blue symbol of a face on it. There was a piece of land that connected it and it had a green symbol of a wolf, which is Keidran territory, and a separate island below with the yellow symbol of the Basitin. Because it looked similar to Keith. "Mind if I see?" I asked.
"Sure," Keith said and handed me the map. "Trace... I need to talk to you about Flora." Keith announced and I eavesdropped on them. "What do you mean?" Trace asked.
"I'll be blunt. It won't work between you two. I saw what you two did yesterday and I don't care. It's your business, but... I think I should warn you. Keidran aren't like your human females. They aren't monogamists – they don't commit to a single partner. Flora may not even realize this about herself yet, but one day she will be drawn away from you. Even if you overcome your differences, it won't last long. She'll just end up hurting you."
I'm surprised Keith knows so much about female Keidrans, despite being a Basitin. It just seems weird to me. Maybe he's had experience? I don't really know.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Trace protested.
"I know better than you might think!" Keith retaliated and walked towards me. I handed him the map and knowing we were going to leave soon, I had to get my stuff ready so I walked over to my tent and grabbed my gear from the inside. I put on the plate carrier, strapped it tight so it won't fall, and slammed my fist into the plate carrier three times to make sure there was a plate inside and there was. I strapped the pistol holster onto my right thigh and slid my M9 into the pistol holster and slid two pistol magazines into the pouches on the holster. I then grabbed my HK416 and wore the sling over my head and checked everything from the sights to the PEQ-15 to the foregrip and the rail. With everything set and ready, I re-grouped with the rest and saw Euchre leaving and Flora waving. Guess he wasn't coming with us.
Two solid weeks passed and we still have not found the city we were looking for. Me, Trace, and Keith was starting to get cranky while Flora was having the time of her life. Seriously, with this heat, the smell of the jungle, and with my heavy equipment, I was ready to just collapse. "We're lost, aren't we?" Trace asked as Keith looked at the map.
"No, I just need a landmark..."
"Landmark? The only God damn thing I see on that piece of shit paper is the word, Forrest." I barked.
Thirty minutes past and it was quiet, nothing but the sounds of birds singing in the distance. As we were walking, I had a strange feeling something was off. I looked around and noticed Trace wasn't with us. "Guys, where's Trace," I asked and Keith and Flora stopped in their tracks and turned around.
"Trace? Trace!! Oh, how could we lose him?! What if he's in trouble?" Flora muttered.
"Flora! I'm sure he's fine. We just need some way to find him. Do you know his scent well enough to track it?" Keith asked.
"There's at least a thirty-minute window he could've gone missing," I commented.
"Oh, of course! But I've never tried this before. Let's see..." Flora said as she got into all four and sniffed the ground. I looked at the sea of trees with my Carbine rifle up high. "I think... he's over there!" Flora said and I turned around and saw her looking to the left. She got up and I followed her as he made her way. "Come on, Keith!" She called.
"A-alright... lead the way, Flora," Keith said and caught upon us. More minutes flew by and seem like we were lost. Flora kept calling Trace's name but no one responded. We made a stop and I mounted my weapon against a tree, leaning against it, and scanned what's ahead of me. "Um... Keith?" Flora uttered.
"Hm? Find him?" Keith reacted.
"Er... no... I just wanted to uh... ask you... why do you um... hate my kind?"
"It's nothing personal, Flora. It's just that we're different races. I'm not supposed to even be talking with you."
"Ah, so I guess 'Keith the Basitin' hates me? So... what about Keith the person?"
A moment of silence pass until Flora broke it. "Oh, no!"
"Huh, what is it, Flora?" Keith asked as I lifted my weapon off the tree and turned around. "We got hostiles?" I asked.
"I smell it... a.. a Feral Keidran!" She said with urgency. "Hurry, we have to find Trace, quickly!" With that, they both started to run, I was confused and ran along with them. We ran for a minute and saw Trace was being held against a tree and... being humped by a feral. The feral looked similar to Flora except for the fur on the feral is darker. "Hey, you!" Flora yelled and threw a punch on the feral, sending it to the ground. "Stop humping my boyfriend!" She added.
Flora then immediately checked Trace from head to toe for any scratches or any injuries. "Trace! Oh, no! Did she hurt you?" Flora asked.
"I-I'm fine, Flora!"
"Are you sure? How 'bout here? Or here? Or down... here..."
"Hey, get out of there!"
"Grrr...!" The feral growled and was about to pounce when Keith drew his sword and aimed it at the feral. "I wouldn't if I were you," Keith said and I aimed my HK416 on it too, putting my finger on the trigger and ready to fire. "Wait, Keith! Marcus!" Flora called and we both lowered our weapons. She tried communicating with her in Keidran but all the feral did was a growl and took off into the woods. "No, wait! Come back!" Flora cried while I aimed my weapon where she was last seen running off.
"Should we... go after her?" Trace questioned.
"No... it's... too late." Flora sadly announced and I lowered my weapon, sighing.
A few hours later, we made camp once more for the night. With a little tent and a campfire in the middle. All four of us sat around the campfire, eating away whatever food we have left. I was still thinking about what had happened, with that feral. I was surprised to see that feral Keidran, I didn't expect them to turn feral at all. "Hey, Flora. Could you uh... explain what we encountered earlier, that feral." I said.
"The feral Keidran... When a normal Keidran experiences a lot of mental trauma, sometimes... Their minds will shut down and they revert to their primitive selves. Occasionally, they will snap out of it, but... After a day, it becomes impossible. They become just any other animal, relying only on their instincts. It's something I've always feared... becoming a feral." She said.
"Jesus, that's... that's fuckin' rough," I commented.
"Well, you don't have to worry, Flora. Not while I'm here to help you." Trace said as he puts his hand on her shoulder. "By the way... I was kinda wondering, why did that.. Feral... you know..."
"Oh, the humping thing? That didn't cause she was a Feral. It's something that happens to all of us female Keidran do now and then." Flora uttered.
I raised an eyebrow and looked at her for a second before looking back at the campfire, thinking about what she said. Is it because of heat? I know animals have it, but I didn't expect Keidrans or female Keidrans to have it. Well if that's the case, I should probably stay away from Flora in the meantime.
The next morning came and we were all up and preparing to abandon camp. I was with Trace, waiting for the rest to be ready when I saw Flora approaching Keith. "Oh, good morning, Keith." She greeted but Keith jumped and shifted back immediately. "Gah! Sorry For a I-I'm kinda in a hurry!" Keith said and zipped as far from her as possible. Then Flora must've thought much about it and approached us. "Morning Trace! Morning Marcus!"
"Morning, Flora!" Trace greeted.
"Mornin'," I said with a nod.
Before I knew it, we both were in an instant, pulled way by Keith away from Flora. "Why did you pull us away?" Trace asked.
"I was saving your life! I should've explained it to you before...." Keith answered. "Okay, female Keidran have this thing called 'heat'. Which occurs a few times every year. And during this time... They pretty much have sex with anything that moves." That just makes things more clear now. But I don't get how he knows this.
"Wait, what about Basitins? Do y'all go through the heat?" I asked.
"...no, why?"
"Well 'cause you know so much about this stuff, figured you guys would also go through it. So how do you know?" Keith just looked upset and turned away. "Keith?"
"That's none of your business." He stated as his ears flopped down. Now he's keeping secrets, I'll have to keep an eye on him. I sighed and turned to Trace. "You heard him, you gotta avoid her for the time," I said.
"I really don't want to avoid her. She might take it the wrong way. But we can't just... I don't think we're... Ah, this is confusing. Chances are it's not even possible."
I was about to speak when Flora immediately came from the back and pounced on Trace once again. "Dear Lord, not again!" Trace cried and Flora began licking him as she pinned him to the ground. "Noooo! Don't I'm... ah... saving myself for marriage!"
"Aw, silly Trace. What's the matter? I pounce you all the time."
"Yeah, but you... Keith... told me about you... uh..."
"Oh, he told you about that?"
"Then you know this means we'll have to make the most of our time right now."
"Right... now?"
"You two have fun!" I said as I speed walked away from there. "Wait, Marcus! Help!" He called out but I just kept my distance. "Come back, Trace! I wanna huggle you some more!" Flora declared.
"No! Wait- Ah!"
A few minutes later, turns out Flora's heat doesn't happen within a couple of days so that's fine. Flora was taking a nap in her tent and we were preparing to break camp. "Trace, we need to get going. Where's Flora?" Keith queried.
"Uh... sleeping in her tent." Trace answered.
"Well then go and wake her, we need to go."
"Well, why don't you wake her yourself?"
"What?!"
"Don't worry, it's safe. She's not how you thought she was... for now..."
"Fine. I'll go get her."
Keith walked right past up and onto Flora's tent. I did a weapon check, making sure the chamber was clean, basically checking to see if there's any dirt on my HK416. But then we heard shouting in the tent. Trace was the first one to make his way to the tent, with me from behind. Trace opened the tent entrance and peeked inside. I went beside him and pushed the entrance more for me to see. "Hey, what's with all the shout-" Trace asked but was cut when we saw Keith about to throw a punch to Flora and Flora already with blood running down her nose.
"No, don't hit me again!" Flora pleaded as she flinched with her paws up.
"...what.. do you think you're doing to Flora?!" Trace yelled.
"What the fuck is happenin' here?" I asked.
"Uh... n-nothing?" Keith responded.
I looked over at Trace and one thing's for sure, he's pissed. Blue aura started to emit off him and his eyes slowly became red. "How... dare you! I oughta rip you-" He was interrupted when Flora suddenly clanged onto his legs. "No, don't!" She begged.
"Huh? Flora? I can't get revenge if you cling to my leg like that!"
I looked around and he was gone. I looked ahead and saw the other entrance was wide open and figured he must've run. "Where'd he go?" I mumbled.
"Wait! Listen to me. He didn't do it on purpose! Really, he was helping me." Flora stated.
"But, your nose!" Trace pouted.
"It isn't bad, really!" She countered.
"Here, let me see..." Trace said and walked over to Flora, then the whole tent was being engulfed in a blue aura. I was confused about what was happening until I saw those two. The blood coming out of Flora's nose began to levitate and disappear. "Uh... Trace? T-Trace? What are you doing?" Flora asked.
The blood was completely gone and Flora patted her nose a couple of times and was dumbfounded. "M-My nose! You fixed it!" Flora cheered.
"How..." I mumbled.
"I'm... I'm not really sure. These powers are so amazing though. I never dreamed I could do things like this. And yet, it feels so natural... I need more..." Trace muttered.
"What about Keith...?" Flora uttered and I almost completely forgot. I shook my head and walked out, looking around. "Must've gone back to his tent," I said and turned around and saw the tent was once again engulfed in blue for a second and poof. I looked inside and saw both of them gone. "You gotta be shittin' me," I whispered and brought my head back outside and ran towards Keith's tent.
I got there and I saw Trace and Flora just magically teleported in-front of Keith. "Hiya, Keith!" Trace announced.
"How the hell...?" Keith mumbled.
I then ran up from behind Trace and brought up my Carbine rifle and aimed it at Keith. I switched the fire-mode to semi-auto and placed my finger on the trigger. "Hold it right there," I said. But Flora came from beside and in front of me. "Trace, Marcus, cut it out!" She demanded and I lowered my weapon.
Once my weapon was down, she turned to face Keith. "Keith, please don't be mad at me for reading that note. It's just... you... were you... married?" Flora asked and Keith responded with a sigh. "If you really must know, then..."
I switched the fire-mode on my weapon back to safe and let it hand in-front of my chest and crossed my arms while Keith explained. "After arriving on the mainland nearly starved to death, a group of Fox Keidran happened to find me. They helped me for some reason. Gave me some clothes and let me live with them as if I were their son. I was young and took all the help I could get. After a few months with them, I fell in love with their daughter. I asked the parents if I could court her, and they agreed. It wasn't all that unusual. They did warn me about the ways of Keidran females. But I ignored them, and three months later asked her to marry me. She agreed whole-heartedly. Then... two days before the wedding, she went out and never came back. I left after I had heard she was sleeping with another Keidran. And that was that. Happy now?"
My whole heart sank. It wasn't normal for me to feel this way, but after hearing his story. I wasn't quite sure. All this time, I had a perspective on him, like he was your usual asshole... But now, now that I've seen his end, I feel bad. Both for aiming my weapon at him. I just let out a sigh and looked over at Trace and Flora, both of them felt bad for him, and their face says it all. "Trace, I feel so bad for Keith. I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." She stated.
"I know you didn't Flora, and I'm sure he does too." Trace said.
"It's just that... if she loved him, why would she do that?"
"Well, Keith told me something a while ago... that Keidran can't..."
"I know what he meant. My mother once told me... Until I turned 14, I'd never been able to devote myself to just one person. I didn't really believe her... but... I think it may be true. I... I was supposed to be married before I met you. Sythe... I've almost totally forgotten him. What... what if the same happens between us?"
"I don't want you to be unhappy, Flora."
"I know... But I'm happy with you!" Flora said and brought Trace into a hug. "Trace, I promise, I'll never hurt you like that.. never! I swear!"
"Okay, okay, Flora! I believe you."
I watched them hug one another and turned my head to check on Keith. He had his back turned against us, his ears flopped down and his body gesture slightly slanted and a tear rolling down his cheek. I guess whatever he's hearing from Trace and Flora, must've been similar to him and his fox partner.
"Keith, I love you. I promise, Keith. I'll never leave you... Keith... You know I'll never do anything to hurt you."