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Skip down to part three if you've already read 1 and 2. ","description_bbcode_parsed":"More scraps turned official.  Skip down to part three if you've already read 1 and 2.  ","writing":"[b]Part 1[/b]\n \n \n \nIt was spring. The snows in the colder climes had retreated and I could finally point the RV northbound. I like southern states just fine, but in the summer I found the Great Lakes to be more comfortable for outdoor living. Lots of cool water, milder sleeping weather, less sunburn. I was thinking of pushing hard north this year, up to the Wisconsin and U.P. Michigan region to spend the summer instead of my more normal Chicago through Buffalo haunt.\n \nStill, even with winter fading away, I was going to miss this particular South Carolina boondock. It was private and out of the way. I had spent most of the winter there. It was not as warm as Florida by far, but outside of a handful of freezing nights it had been mostly mild. There was a leisurely river nearby where I had enjoyed fishing and just hanging about. \n \nI locked up the RV and decided to make one last trek to the river. I guess to say good-bye and thank it for the hospitality and quiet company. It was not an easy walk, but an enjoyable one. There was an old trail through the woods to get there, but it was mostly overgrown. Apparently this property was owned by a utility company and the trail had been put in with the idea that power lines might go through. That meant technically I was trespassing. However, nobody in an official capacity had come out to harass me about temporarily squatting there.  \n \nBefore long I could hear the sound of occasional traffic on the bridge crossing the river. A minor highway cut through this swampy and mostly uninhabited stretch of land. There was a small town nearby, but it was largely abandoned and boarded up. There was still a gas station and a drug store keeping a brave vigil on the main street, but little else of note. The town was a sad reminder of the rich textile industry that had been lost.  \n \nThe river greeted me with its normal choir of frogs and birds. It was wide, but not terribly deep. The black water slid by with all the intensity of a manatee sunning itself. It embodied the charm of southern life, not exactly lazy, but moving at an easy pace.\n \nI felt a sudden foolishness that I didn't bring my fishing rod. A couple of casts would have been a more suitable farewell than standing pointlessly on the shore. I pulled out my phone and took a handful of photos to help stir the memories of pleasant days on the shore.  \n \nI pointed the phone toward the bridge and happened to spy movement. It looked like a couple of people. I zoomed in as far as the phone was capable for a better look. It was three people. Two young men and a woman. The men were chasing the woman, who appeared to be wearing a fur coat. One of the men grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the ground. She fought and kicked at him and managed to get away to flee under the overpass.\n \nMy stomach gripped at me painfully as I jammed the phone back into my pocket. I started to run toward them. I was no hero, but I damn well wasn't going to stand around and do nothing.  \n \nIt was hard going. Earlier in the winter the water was low enough that I could easily move up and down the muddy shore of the river, but after the spring rains the river was all the way up to the trees. Picking my way through the tangled undergrowth was difficult to do under normal circumstances, now that I was rushed I stumbled ungainly through the trees, falling down many times.\n \nI was scratched, dirty, and breathing hard when I made it to the bridge. I could hear laughter echoing in the underpass. I stopped for a moment, trying to catch my breath. It wasn't going to do anybody any good if I had a heart attack here. I finally stumbled out from the trees and under the highway. I wasn't entirely prepared for what I saw.\n \nThe two men were in a state of near undress. The both looked shocked to see anyone else in the remote location. One of them was sitting on top of the struggling woman and keeping her from getting away.  \n \nOnly it wasn't a woman.\n \nIt was most certainly female, but not a human one. What I had mistakenly assumed was a fur coat was actually fur. Her naked body was covered head to toe with red and white fur. Her face was dog-like, right down to the wet nose and pointy ears. She had a long, fluffy tail. She was one of Benson's chimeras. I had never seen one in person before, but I had seen them on television.  \n \n\"What the hell, old man?\" One of the young men exclaimed.\n \nI was still trying to catch my breath and couldn't formulate a proper sentence.\n \n\"Stop!\" I gasped. \"Just... stop.\" \n \n\"What the fuck is wrong with you?\" The man asked.\n \n\"Fuck him, man.\" The other said. \"He look like he about to pass out.\"  \n \n\"He gonna be dead in a minute if he don't fucking git!\" The first said as he took a menacing stop toward me. I finally noticed that he had a knife in his hand.\n \nI backed away. This was not what I was expecting. I don't even know what I thought was going to happen. Maybe that they would run away, perhaps while saying: \"Golly, sir. Shucks, I sure am sorry.\" I had somehow forgotten that I wasn't in my prime anymore. There was a time when I would have jumped on a guy like this and beat his brains in, knife or no knife, but that time was past. I'm no match for one of them, let alone two. I'm just an old man about to die under a highway running through a swamp.\n \nI put my hand in my vest pocket and remembered that it wasn't me that was outclassed.\n \nA shot rang out and echoed off the underpass like a like a sledgehammer, making everyone, including me, flinch from the sound. It was stupid loud and made my ears ring painfully. There was a smoking hole in my vest pocket where the thirty-eight special snub barrel was poking out. Between the knife wielder's feet a trench had been ripped in the mud by the slug.  \n \nThe man stumbled back. \"Fuckin' Christ, man!\"\n \nThe second one jumped off the chimera, now more concerned with me than her. She glanced at them and then at me, trying to decide which was the greatest threat. She decided I was more to her liking and ran behind me.\n \n\"Are you kidding me, man?\" The knife said defiantly. \"You gonna shoot us to save that... that thing?\"  \n \nI drew the Smith and Wesson out of my pocket. Sort of pointless since I had already blown a hole in my vest, but I wanted them to see it. To know that I meant business. The revolver was an unfortunate necessity of living on the road. Someone living alone in a camper might be seen as an easy target. I had two encounters where the presence of the firearm had defused a dangerous situation, but this was the first time I had discharged it outside of target practice.  \n \n\"I'd rather not shoot anyone,\" I told him, \"but I will if I have to.\" My voice was trying to catch up with me, and it sounded tight and strained. I raised the small revolver toward them.  \n \n\"I want you to start kicking dust,\" I said, \"and I don't want you to stop until you're in your mama's kitchen.\"\n \nThey hesitated and I turned the gun on the river and pulled the trigger again. A second report thundered and the bullet slapped the water, spitting up a shower that created a temporary rainbow in the sunlight. The young men took the hint and ran off into the trees. I stood watching for a while in case either one of them tried anything stupid like doubling back.  \n \nI turned back to the way I came and found that the chimera girl was still there. I was surprised that she didn't get while the getting was good. She was hiding behind some bushes, but her bright fur gave her away. She was regarding me suspiciously with flattened ears, her tail held low between her legs.\n \n\"Are you okay?\" I asked her. The ears on her head perked up for a second before dropping down again.\n \nNow able to get a good look at her I noticed that she was young. She appeared to be an adolescent, having the same general build as a girl somewhere between ten and twelve. From the little I knew about her kind I would have to guess she was only about half that age. Chimeras age at a much faster rate than humans.\n \nIf there ever was a real life \"mad scientist\", then Dr. Julian Benson fit the bill. Twenty years ago he headed an experiment to create a life form expressly for the purpose of exploitation. The goal was to make something that was smart enough to develop the skills to do menial labor, but not smart enough to understand that it was being subjugated. Most of them were canine hybrids, since loyalty was a trait deemed necessary.\n \nThe practice was ended by the United Nations after it was discovered that the chimeras were indeed hybrid with human dna. This meant that they weren't simply and advanced animal being exploited, it was unabashed slavery. Dr. Benson was tried for crimes against humanity and nature. As far as I'm aware he's yet to spend a day in prison.  \n \nNot that the UN came out of all that squeaky clean. The practice had been approved by them in the first place under the pretext that there was no human experimentation involved. When it was finally banned there was the small matter of what to do with over fifty-thousand living beings that were not allowed to be owned, but also didn't enjoy the rights that humans have. The first solution was horribly inept, as euthenasia was determined to be the best way to move forward. That was soon nixed due to public outrage, but not before roughly twenty-five percent of them had been put to sleep. The second try was almost as bad. They simply released them into the world with little more than: \"We're terribly sorry, good luck, and oh, by the way, you've been fixed.\" Knowing that a combination of a short life span and sterilization would sort everything out eventually.\n \nAll of which raised questions regarding the young vixen I was now faced with. Where the hell did she come from?\n \nShe cocked her head at me. The girl was probably unaware of the embarrassing history that surrounded her existence. I had a feeling that she wasn't wise to a lot of subjects. She looked wild and feral. Her hair was long and unkempt. She was naked and didn't appear to have any shame about that. \n \n\"Who are you?\" I asked. \"Do you have a name? Can you talk?\"\n \nThe furry fox girl cocked her head the other way, her ears swiveled toward me. She made a quick \"huff\" noise before putting her hands – or I suppose, paws – over her ears.\n \n\"You can't hear?\" I asked before noticing her eyes were on the revolver.  \n \n\"Oh! The gun!\" I exclaimed. \"I'm sorry, that must have been deafening to you.\" I stuffed the thirty-eight back into my pocket. That seemed to ease her a bit and she ventured out from the bushes. It was a surreal experience to see something like her, both human and inhuman. Something that should be walking on four legs carrying herself like a human despite her digitigrade legs. Down her white furred chest to her belly ran two rows of nipples, eight in all. Between her legs was the protruding, fortune-cookie shaped vagina that was characteristic of canine females.  \n \nI realized that she was frightfully thin, I could even see the ribs on her chest through skin and fur. I searched my pockets and found a protein bar. The girl's eyes brightened as she heard the crinkling of the wrapper. She raised her nose and sniffed the air.\n \nWhen I stepped toward her to offer the food she panicked and bounded back to the bushes. Crouching on all fours she regarded me with wide, terrified eyes. Even with food she wasn't going to let me approach her. I would have to let her come to me.\n \nI crouched down and held the unwrapped snack bar out to her. She looked at me for a moment before glancing around wearily. She shook her head and scratched herself behind the ear with one of her hind legs. She looked back at the food I was offering and whined.\n \n\"It's yours.\" I assured her. \"You can have it.\" \n \nThe enticement of the food proved to be too much for her to resist for long. She slowly crept up to me, keeping her head low and her eyes on me for any sign of aggression. To my surprise, instead of taking it with her paw she tentatively took it with her teeth. Pulling away from me once obtaining it, she consumed it quickly and noisily with a pleased look on her face.\n \n\"I guess you like peanut butter.\" I observed.\n \nI glanced at the sky. The sun was going down. \"It's going to be dark soon.\" I told her. \"Do you have a family around here? Do you have a mother?\"\n \nHer ears perked up at the word and she looked at me brightly.\n \n\"You know that word? Mother?\" I asked. \"Where is your mother?\"\n \nHer brow furrowed and she looked away. The fox hybrid's posture suddenly appeared dour.  \n \n\"I see...\" I said quietly, \"I'm sorry.\" That must mean the girl was all alone out here, surviving God knows how. She looked malnourished and her hair was matted. Her fur was shedding in unhealthy clumps. I didn't know how long she had been living like this in the wilderness, but I didn't think she could do it much longer.\n \n\"If you come with me to my camper I have more food.\" I told her.\n \nThe chimera cocked her head and her tail swayed back and forth. She seemed to understand my meaning. I hoped she would come with me willingly since it would be challenging for me to take her out of the wilderness by force. Although I would have done that if I had to. She might have been wild, but she wasn't a wild animal. This wasn't where she was supposed to be.\n \nWhere was she supposed to be? The thought abruptly nagged me. She was a member of an unnatural race that was dying off. Those that remained were among the poorest and most abused people on the face of the Earth. They could be refused work, refused services, and even refused critical care by a society that is just waiting for them to perish so that page in history could be put behind. Even the murder of one barely qualifies as a crime. If I hadn't happened by those young men may well have killed her once they grew bored with her. The irony was that if I had shot one of them I would have been committing a crime punishable by execution to prevent a crime usually punished with a fine and a few months in jail.  \n \nI stood up. All that was something to worry about later. Right now I wanted to head back to the RV before it was too dark to walk these woods safely. There were snakes here, some of them even venomous.  \n \nThe fox girl scratched herself again. I wondered if I should offer her my shirt to wear, but she didn't appear to be uncomfortable naked. I had thought for a moment that maybe those men had torn away her clothes, but she didn't seem like she ever actually owned any.\n \n\"Let's go, girl.\" I said as I started back. She didn't follow at first and I whistled. Her ears shot up in alert and she bounded after me on all fours, switching to walking on her hind legs as she got closer. She kept a respectable distance from me the whole time. Sometimes lagging behind, sometimes running ahead. Often she would stop and give a noise unheard by me her full attention before continuing on. On two occasions she ran off outside of my view, leaving me to wonder if she had decided to abandon me, but both times she returned.\n \n\"So I guess you aren't going to tell me your name.\" I said, trying to make small talk with someone who didn't talk. The chimera looked at me brightly, but without understanding.\n \n\"I suppose I haven't even told you my name yet so that puts us on an even footing.\" I reasoned. \"My name is William.\"\n \nI stopped to face her. \"William.\" I repeated, pointing to myself. She cocked her head.\n \n\"Yip!\" She huffed.\n \nI shrugged. \"Eh, close enough.\" I said as I continued walking. \"I don't wanna just call you \"girl\", that seems disrespectful. You remind me of Hendrix, you know, Foxy Lady? No... I don’t suppose you would. It's a good song though, and according to legend it was about a girl named Faye.\"\n \nI paused again. \"What about that? Do you like Faye?\" She wagged her tail and I took that for a 'yes'. \n \n\"Alright, Faye it is.\" \n \n \n \n[b]Part 2[/b]\n \n \n \nIt was nearly dark when I staggered out into the clearing where my camper was parked. I was relieved to see it since I had managed to lose the old trail and had gotten a bit turned around in the undergrowth. It wasn't a monstrous recreational vehicle, just a humble twenty-two foot class C, but it suited my needs just fine. What's more she was built on a four by four Ford frame, so she was capable of going places that other campers found inaccessible. \n \n\"Home sweet home.\" I said proudly to Faye, but when I looked for the fox girl she wasn't with me. I glanced around and noticed her crouching at the edge of the clearing, not appearing comfortable with going out into the open.\n \n\"There's nobody else here.\" I explained to her. \"You don't have to be afraid.\"\n \nShe let out a yowling cry up at the twilight sky before laying down in the grass. I guess it was a good sign that she had made it that far on her own free will. I'd have to coax her the rest of the way. I was pretty sure I knew how to do that.\n \nI unlocked the RV and turned on the lights, illuminating the outside under the awning. For the moment I didn't have to run the generator. It had been a sunny day and the solar panels should have charged the batteries to capacity.\n \nI stepped inside, leaving the door open behind me. I didn't want her to think I was shutting her out. Any mosquitoes that took that as an invitation would have to be dealt with later. In the small fridge I found the hamburger patties I planned on having for lunch the next day. Somehow I doubted she could resist them. I put a frying pan on the stove and lit the fire. In a moment there was the sound of frying accompanied by the smell of cooking beef. It didn't take too long to catch a glimpse of Faye peeking in through the open door. She wasn't willing to come in, but her alert ears and posture indicated that she was very interested in what I was doing and what was starting to smell so good.\n \n\"I'm a little worried about those two guys I shot at coming out here and looking for revenge.\" I told her while I flipped the patties. \"If they're local they probably know about this place. If they show up here with a posse and all I have is this little pocket pistol we could be in some real trouble.\" \n \nAfter a minute I pulled the burgers off the pan and put them on a plate. They were still a bit bloody, but she looked like she would appreciate rare meat. I chopped the burgers into smaller bits.\n \n\"Even if all they do is go to the police, I'm not sure what would happen.\" I sat down on the bench seat across from the door with the plate in my lap. \"Likely I'd get arrested for assault and brandishing a deadly weapon. I don't think there's precedent involving someone quite like you. There are laws regarding chimeras, sure, but you were born after the sterilization. That means you're probably capable of breeding. That would frighten people. When the law isn't clear on something it can get scary. Hell, even when the law is clear it can get scary. Either way I don't want to risk staying here.\"\n \nI picked up a piece of ground beef and blew on it. Faye licked her lips.\n \n\"I don't think you should stay here either.\" I said as I popped the hamburger into my mouth. I hadn't spiced it, so it was bland, but it was juicy. \"Mmm... not bad. Want some?\"\n \nThe fox girl shuffled her feet anxiously outside the door, but was unsure about entering. She put a paw on the linoleum floor and pulled back, not liking how it felt. She whined and her tail wagged low and with uncertainty.  \n \nI held out a piece for her. She lifted her nose, eagerly sniffing the offering, but still wary of entering my home. Faye dropped on all fours and paced around before lifting herself back onto her hind legs. She was torn between what she knew and what I could offer her. Torn between her animal and human instincts.  \n \nEventually the smell of food was too much to resist. She tentatively entered, but hedged her bets by keeping one foot on the ground outside. Again she reached to take the food with her mouth instead of her paws, stretching herself forward with her ears and head low and submissive. I pulled it away from her slightly, trying to coax her into committing to entering the RV. She was a bit too canny for that and decided to snatch the food with her paw before quickly exiting.\n \nShe gobbled the morsel outside the door, but the plate on my lap enticed her back inside. The first few pieces went the same way. Snatch and run. Soon she started to warm to the idea of being in the camper. Taking the food and retreating only as far as the doorway. A few minutes later she decided it was fine to sit on the floor at my feet and let me feed her, gently taking the pieces with her teeth. \n \n\"You're such a good girl, Faye.\" I told her. Her bright eyes were alert and her ears were up and attentive. She was starting to trust me.  \n \n\"Would you be mad at me if I touched you?\" I wondered aloud. I decided to take the risk and put my hand out to her. She shied away a bit, sniffing at my fingers before licking at the bit of beef fat stuck to them. That seemed to me to be a good sign and put my hand on the side of her face. It appeared to confuse her for a moment, but when I scratched her under the ear she quickly melted. Her eyes fluttered and she pressed her head into my hand. She allowed me to pet her for several moments with her eyes closed contently. Eventually she pushed away my hand with her paw, her gaze going back to the hamburger. Petting was nice but the food was better.\n \n\"Okay, Faye.\" I said with a smile. \"Maybe after dinner?\"\n \nI offered her the plate so she could finish and she looked bemused, not sure how to eat from a plate. Finally I just put it on the floor and let her figure it out for herself. She ate much like a dog, wolfing down the remaining food and licking the plate clean, even turning it over in case there was more underneath. While she was distracted I took the opportunity to carefully stand up and pull the door shut.\n \nWhen she heard the latch click behind her she freaked.  \n \nFaye spun and made for the exit, slamming into the closed screen door with a crash. Her head darted around in frustration at the escape route that had been lost. She gave me a look of extreme betrayal that seemed to say \"I knew I couldn't trust you.\"  \n \n\"It's not like that...\" I tried to reason, but she couldn't understand. Even if she could, she probably wasn't about to listen.  \n \nFaye dove between my legs and into the kitchen. Her paws slipped on the linoleum floor and she skittered around ungainly. She jumped up onto the table and attempted to go out the window, only to be defeated by the screen. The fox girl fell back, but not before grabbing my curtains and ripping them from the wall. The curtains falling on her only urged on her panic and she clambered over the kitchen stove, knocking the greasy pan onto the floor. Luckily it had cooled enough not to burn her or me as it splattered oil all over.  \n \nShe jumped off the counter and made for the rear of the camper. Into the small bedroom she fled, looking for an escape. There was a second door there, but the girl seemed to be unfamiliar with door latches, not to mention that one was always locked. After bounding around and attempting all the windows she tried to flee to the front of the RV, only to come screeching to a halt when she saw me. Seeing no other place to go she scrambled into the tiny bathroom.  \n \n\"Faye,\" I softly urged as I carefully crept to the bathroom, \"I'm not trying to hurt you.\" I peeked in to see her huddled behind the toilet. There was almost no space behind it and I was at a loss as to how she got back there. When she saw me she gave a growl. It was supposed to sound threatening, but it was such a high-pitched noise it was almost the opposite.  \n \n\"Alright, you can stay right there.\" I told her. \"I have to break camp anyway.\"\n \nI locked her inside and busied myself with getting the RV ready for travel. When in a rush I could do it in less than ten minutes, and I was feeling the need to leave. I rolled up the canvas sunshade and folded up the chair and table. I climbed up onto the roof, unplugged and lowered the two solar panels to the ground. The furniture and the panels went into the storage compartments under the camper. A quick look around with a flashlight and I was satisfied that everything was in order.  All I was leaving behind were tire tracks and the remains of a small campfire.\n \nI was careful upon entering the vehicle in case Faye was lying in wait to attempt an escape, but she was nowhere to be seen. I buttoned up the inside, closing all the windows and making sure everything was secure. I made a cursory attempt at cleaning the greasy mess in the kitchen with a paper towel, noticing a few small specks of blood scattered in her muddy footprints. I assumed that she might have cut herself in the panic and I checked on Faye. She was still behind the toilet. She narrowed her eyes at me and gave me another cute little growl, but she didn't appear to be in any pain. I would have preferred to have her buckled up in the passenger cockpit seat, but I didn't think she'd be talked into that. Once we were someplace safe I'd try to coax her into coming out so I could check her over for injury.\n \n\"We're gonna go now, okay?\" I told her.\n \n \n \n[b]Part 3[/b]\n \n \n \nShortly afterward I steered the RV into a truck stop. It was not a long way away, maybe fifteen miles from the campsite, but far enough that I felt I had left any trouble that might be looking for me behind. Truck stops were a great place to park since there was usually tons of space and access to facilities. Most importantly many have  someplace to empty the gray and black holding tanks. They normally weren't averse to an RV stopping for a day or two. Though on occasion they did attract unseemly types.  \n \nThrough the entire ride I kept a light on in the back of the camper and kept a close eye on my mirror. Faye never emerged from the bathroom. I was worried she'd run around in a panic once we were underway, but she never made a peep.  \n \nI slipped the RV into an inviting parking space and killed the engine. For a moment I sat there in silence and thought. There was a powerful sense that I might be doing something wrong. I had essentially kidnapped her, taking her against her will from everything she knew. Maybe I was wrong, maybe she did have a family hiding somewhere out in the swamps. I had to shake that feeling. She was better off with me. She was practically starving and I doubted she would survive long. Even if she did have a family out there I couldn't do anything for them, but I could do something for her. One can only do what one can do and hope that's enough.  \n\nI closed up all the curtains, doing my best to rehang the one she tore down.  The last thing I needed was some lookie-loos peering into my windows. I hadn’t quite figured out how I would explain her to anyone yet, or even if I should.  If someone in authority got wind of her they would almost certainly take her away. What would happen to her in that case? Probably nothing good. They would almost certainly sterilize her just to ensure that the genocide was going as planned.  \n\nI made a more thorough attempt at cleaning up. Getting a bucket and some rags to mop up the paw prints.  I wiped down the table, stove and counter top before washing the few dishes in the sink. Finally I got down on my hands and knees to scrub the floor.\n\nWhen made my way to the bathroom I glanced in.  Down there I was at eye level with Faye. She looked less irritated with me than she had been, though still hiding behind the toilet.\n\n“You know, I’m going to have to use that eventually,” I told her, “and I’m not the best aim.”\n\nHer ears tipped up before flattening down again.  She made a soft, halfhearted growl.\n\nI grunted as I tried to find a comfortable position to sit in the cramped space between the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.  I had to give up and resign myself to being constricted and aching.  \n\n“Not sure how you can stand this.”  I said to her. Faye glanced around, double checking that there was indeed no escape route.  She eyed the small vent window near the ceiling, but even the skinny little fox girl wouldn’t be able to fit through such a small opening.  She’d have to suffer my company. I sighed, but beyond that we sat in silence for a while. Outside the noise of heavy trucks lumbering by vibrated the RV and headlights threw moving shadows as they passed.  Faye put her head down on the floor, letting out an irritated exhale. The silence was painful, which for me was odd since I’ve been alone for so long. My life was nearly all silence. \n\n“I wish you could talk.”  I said in an attempt to break the tension.  “I’d like to know your story. Where you came from.  How you survived.” I tried to adjust my position on the floor and leaned against the wall, but it didn’t help much.  \n\n“I suppose you might be wondering about me.”  I ventured. “You know, I didn’t used to live like this.  I used to be like everyone else. I had a hell of a good nine-to-five job.”  I scratched my overgrown beard and grinned. “I even used to shave every day.  Had two houses, four cars, a million boxes full of crap I didn’t need… I had a wife.” \n\n“My wife would have loved you.”  I mused. “She loved animals. I mean – not that you’re an animal – just that she was the most generous and caring person I had ever known.  She was beautiful too, simply amazing. I remember the day I met her like it was yesterday. I was a freshman in college, and she was a junior.  I was just a punk kid that didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground that decided to make the moves on an older woman. She had no reason at all to give me the time of day, but she was kind to me and gave me a hell of a smile.”\n\nI chuckled softly.  “Of course, she also turned me down, but she was gentle about it.  I don’t think she had a stern bone in her body. We became fast friends, and – spoiler – eventually we did start dating.  It wasn’t even my idea that time, she actually asked me. Felt like I won the lottery. She was my first time, and the only woman I had ever been with.  Even after she graduated and I was still in school she stayed with me. Found herself a great job near the campus and we lived together. God, those were simple days!  Better days. They just kept getting better all the time. Life was so good and I couldn’t imagine anything could stop us.”\n\n“For a time, that’s exactly how it went.  We were invincible. In typical fashion, it was her that asked me to marry her.”  I couldn’t help but laugh. “We were at a nice restaurant to celebrate my graduation and she got right down on her knee in front of everyone.  My mom, my dad, everyone in the restaurant. I didn’t notice it at the time, but my mom later told me that Dad looked like he was about to die from embarrassment!  If he could have willed himself to explode he would have!”  \n\nI wiped my eyes.  “By the time the wedding rolled around Dad had gotten over it, or at least he got good at pretending.  I think he was worried he’d have to pay for the ceremony since she asked me. It was a beautiful wedding.  Everything went perfectly, even the weather was perfect. She looked… well, she looked amazing. Seeing her walking down the aisle was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  That feeling of: “[i]Oh my god! This is really happening![/i]” Even to this day it’s fresh in my mind.”\n\n“We had always intended to have children, but not yet.  We had to get our careers and our finances solidified. We both had significant financial burdens due to college.  We figured we had a lot of preparing to do and a lot of time to do it. After all, our whole lives were ahead of us and there’s always tomorrow.”\n\nI looked up at the ceiling.  “And then there’s a day where tomorrow never comes.”  I told her. “I was at work when I got the call. My wife had collapsed and she was taken to the hospital.  I rushed there as fast as possible, but it didn’t matter. The doctor said she was gone before the ambulance even arrived.  A brain aneurysm. The only comfort he could offer was that she didn’t suffer. That wasn’t comfort at all. It would have mortified her to know she went so quickly.  No opportunity to say good-bye to anyone.”\n\n“When your life changes in the blink of an eye, you don’t register it correctly.  If someone you love is dying over the course of months or years, you can prepare yourself for it.  You can build up a construct around yourself and plan for the eventual absence. Not that it’s easier, it probably isn’t, but you aren’t caught unaware.  I remember the next day I woke up and went through my normal morning routine of getting ready for work. It was only when I went to kiss her as I always did before leaving for the day that it registered.  I wasn’t getting ready to go to work, I was getting ready to plan her funeral and take care of all the legal issues surrounding a death.”\n\n“I was alone.”  \n\nThe pain of all of it came rushing back and I found myself crying.  After a few moments I composed myself and continued the story: “I barely remember the following days and weeks.  It was like living in a haze – like being drugged. After the funeral I had a simple schedule. Go to work, go home, eat, and go to bed.  Sometimes skipping the eating part. One morning I looked at myself in the mirror as I was about to shave. [i]What the hell was I doing this for?[/i]  I asked myself.  I had no answer.”\n\n“So I dropped the razor in the sink, called my boss and quit.  Called a real-estate agent and put my home up for sale. Sold or gave away everything I had of value.  All this… [i]stuff [/i]was what I had collected for my life with [i]her[/i], but she was gone.  It was meaningless to me without her.  Worse yet, it was a reminder of what I had lost.  My life was different and I couldn’t deny it anymore.  I needed to leave.”  \n\nI looked down and realized that I was absentmindedly stroking Faye.  At some point in the story she had taken pity on me, crawled out of her hiding spot and put her head in my lap.  She looked up at me with sympathy and I wondered if I had sold her short by assuming she couldn’t understand me. The very least I could do was finish the story.\n\n“So I bought this custom home on wheels.”  I said to her. “I suppose, in a sense, I’m homeless.  I’m not poor, though. This RV cost a pittance compared to my house, and my wife had left me a substantial life insurance settlement.   It’s amazing how little you really need to live. By my calculations I have enough to live like this, even adjusting for inflation and assuming I never work again, for one-hundred and twenty years.  I hardly expect to live that long.”\n\nFaye yawned and rolled onto her back, legs unabashedly open.   Now that I had a good look at her I knew exactly where the blood was coming from.\n\n“Oh, geeze!  You’re in heat!”  I noted. I pulled my hand away from her and saw a number of black flecks moving around on my palm.\n\n“And you’re covered with fleas!”\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Part 1
 
 
 
It was spring. The snows in the colder climes had retreated and I could finally point the RV northbound. I like southern states just fine, but in the summer I found the Great Lakes to be more comfortable for outdoor living. Lots of cool water, milder sleeping weather, less sunburn. I was thinking of pushing hard north this year, up to the Wisconsin and U.P. Michigan region to spend the summer instead of my more normal Chicago through Buffalo haunt.
 
Still, even with winter fading away, I was going to miss this particular South Carolina boondock. It was private and out of the way. I had spent most of the winter there. It was not as warm as Florida by far, but outside of a handful of freezing nights it had been mostly mild. There was a leisurely river nearby where I had enjoyed fishing and just hanging about. 
 
I locked up the RV and decided to make one last trek to the river. I guess to say good-bye and thank it for the hospitality and quiet company. It was not an easy walk, but an enjoyable one. There was an old trail through the woods to get there, but it was mostly overgrown. Apparently this property was owned by a utility company and the trail had been put in with the idea that power lines might go through. That meant technically I was trespassing. However, nobody in an official capacity had come out to harass me about temporarily squatting there.  
 
Before long I could hear the sound of occasional traffic on the bridge crossing the river. A minor highway cut through this swampy and mostly uninhabited stretch of land. There was a small town nearby, but it was largely abandoned and boarded up. There was still a gas station and a drug store keeping a brave vigil on the main street, but little else of note. The town was a sad reminder of the rich textile industry that had been lost.  
 
The river greeted me with its normal choir of frogs and birds. It was wide, but not terribly deep. The black water slid by with all the intensity of a manatee sunning itself. It embodied the charm of southern life, not exactly lazy, but moving at an easy pace.
 
I felt a sudden foolishness that I didn't bring my fishing rod. A couple of casts would have been a more suitable farewell than standing pointlessly on the shore. I pulled out my phone and took a handful of photos to help stir the memories of pleasant days on the shore.  
 
I pointed the phone toward the bridge and happened to spy movement. It looked like a couple of people. I zoomed in as far as the phone was capable for a better look. It was three people. Two young men and a woman. The men were chasing the woman, who appeared to be wearing a fur coat. One of the men grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the ground. She fought and kicked at him and managed to get away to flee under the overpass.
 
My stomach gripped at me painfully as I jammed the phone back into my pocket. I started to run toward them. I was no hero, but I damn well wasn't going to stand around and do nothing.  
 
It was hard going. Earlier in the winter the water was low enough that I could easily move up and down the muddy shore of the river, but after the spring rains the river was all the way up to the trees. Picking my way through the tangled undergrowth was difficult to do under normal circumstances, now that I was rushed I stumbled ungainly through the trees, falling down many times.
 
I was scratched, dirty, and breathing hard when I made it to the bridge. I could hear laughter echoing in the underpass. I stopped for a moment, trying to catch my breath. It wasn't going to do anybody any good if I had a heart attack here. I finally stumbled out from the trees and under the highway. I wasn't entirely prepared for what I saw.
 
The two men were in a state of near undress. The both looked shocked to see anyone else in the remote location. One of them was sitting on top of the struggling woman and keeping her from getting away.  
 
Only it wasn't a woman.
 
It was most certainly female, but not a human one. What I had mistakenly assumed was a fur coat was actually fur. Her naked body was covered head to toe with red and white fur. Her face was dog-like, right down to the wet nose and pointy ears. She had a long, fluffy tail. She was one of Benson's chimeras. I had never seen one in person before, but I had seen them on television.  
 
"What the hell, old man?" One of the young men exclaimed.
 
I was still trying to catch my breath and couldn't formulate a proper sentence.
 
"Stop!" I gasped. "Just... stop." 
 
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The man asked.
 
"Fuck him, man." The other said. "He look like he about to pass out."  
 
"He gonna be dead in a minute if he don't fucking git!" The first said as he took a menacing stop toward me. I finally noticed that he had a knife in his hand.
 
I backed away. This was not what I was expecting. I don't even know what I thought was going to happen. Maybe that they would run away, perhaps while saying: "Golly, sir. Shucks, I sure am sorry." I had somehow forgotten that I wasn't in my prime anymore. There was a time when I would have jumped on a guy like this and beat his brains in, knife or no knife, but that time was past. I'm no match for one of them, let alone two. I'm just an old man about to die under a highway running through a swamp.
 
I put my hand in my vest pocket and remembered that it wasn't me that was outclassed.
 
A shot rang out and echoed off the underpass like a like a sledgehammer, making everyone, including me, flinch from the sound. It was stupid loud and made my ears ring painfully. There was a smoking hole in my vest pocket where the thirty-eight special snub barrel was poking out. Between the knife wielder's feet a trench had been ripped in the mud by the slug.  
 
The man stumbled back. "Fuckin' Christ, man!"
 
The second one jumped off the chimera, now more concerned with me than her. She glanced at them and then at me, trying to decide which was the greatest threat. She decided I was more to her liking and ran behind me.
 
"Are you kidding me, man?" The knife said defiantly. "You gonna shoot us to save that... that thing?"  
 
I drew the Smith and Wesson out of my pocket. Sort of pointless since I had already blown a hole in my vest, but I wanted them to see it. To know that I meant business. The revolver was an unfortunate necessity of living on the road. Someone living alone in a camper might be seen as an easy target. I had two encounters where the presence of the firearm had defused a dangerous situation, but this was the first time I had discharged it outside of target practice.  
 
"I'd rather not shoot anyone," I told him, "but I will if I have to." My voice was trying to catch up with me, and it sounded tight and strained. I raised the small revolver toward them.  
 
"I want you to start kicking dust," I said, "and I don't want you to stop until you're in your mama's kitchen."
 
They hesitated and I turned the gun on the river and pulled the trigger again. A second report thundered and the bullet slapped the water, spitting up a shower that created a temporary rainbow in the sunlight. The young men took the hint and ran off into the trees. I stood watching for a while in case either one of them tried anything stupid like doubling back.  
 
I turned back to the way I came and found that the chimera girl was still there. I was surprised that she didn't get while the getting was good. She was hiding behind some bushes, but her bright fur gave her away. She was regarding me suspiciously with flattened ears, her tail held low between her legs.
 
"Are you okay?" I asked her. The ears on her head perked up for a second before dropping down again.
 
Now able to get a good look at her I noticed that she was young. She appeared to be an adolescent, having the same general build as a girl somewhere between ten and twelve. From the little I knew about her kind I would have to guess she was only about half that age. Chimeras age at a much faster rate than humans.
 
If there ever was a real life "mad scientist", then Dr. Julian Benson fit the bill. Twenty years ago he headed an experiment to create a life form expressly for the purpose of exploitation. The goal was to make something that was smart enough to develop the skills to do menial labor, but not smart enough to understand that it was being subjugated. Most of them were canine hybrids, since loyalty was a trait deemed necessary.
 
The practice was ended by the United Nations after it was discovered that the chimeras were indeed hybrid with human dna. This meant that they weren't simply and advanced animal being exploited, it was unabashed slavery. Dr. Benson was tried for crimes against humanity and nature. As far as I'm aware he's yet to spend a day in prison.  
 
Not that the UN came out of all that squeaky clean. The practice had been approved by them in the first place under the pretext that there was no human experimentation involved. When it was finally banned there was the small matter of what to do with over fifty-thousand living beings that were not allowed to be owned, but also didn't enjoy the rights that humans have. The first solution was horribly inept, as euthenasia was determined to be the best way to move forward. That was soon nixed due to public outrage, but not before roughly twenty-five percent of them had been put to sleep. The second try was almost as bad. They simply released them into the world with little more than: "We're terribly sorry, good luck, and oh, by the way, you've been fixed." Knowing that a combination of a short life span and sterilization would sort everything out eventually.
 
All of which raised questions regarding the young vixen I was now faced with. Where the hell did she come from?
 
She cocked her head at me. The girl was probably unaware of the embarrassing history that surrounded her existence. I had a feeling that she wasn't wise to a lot of subjects. She looked wild and feral. Her hair was long and unkempt. She was naked and didn't appear to have any shame about that. 
 
"Who are you?" I asked. "Do you have a name? Can you talk?"
 
The furry fox girl cocked her head the other way, her ears swiveled toward me. She made a quick "huff" noise before putting her hands – or I suppose, paws – over her ears.
 
"You can't hear?" I asked before noticing her eyes were on the revolver.  
 
"Oh! The gun!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, that must have been deafening to you." I stuffed the thirty-eight back into my pocket. That seemed to ease her a bit and she ventured out from the bushes. It was a surreal experience to see something like her, both human and inhuman. Something that should be walking on four legs carrying herself like a human despite her digitigrade legs. Down her white furred chest to her belly ran two rows of nipples, eight in all. Between her legs was the protruding, fortune-cookie shaped vagina that was characteristic of canine females.  
 
I realized that she was frightfully thin, I could even see the ribs on her chest through skin and fur. I searched my pockets and found a protein bar. The girl's eyes brightened as she heard the crinkling of the wrapper. She raised her nose and sniffed the air.
 
When I stepped toward her to offer the food she panicked and bounded back to the bushes. Crouching on all fours she regarded me with wide, terrified eyes. Even with food she wasn't going to let me approach her. I would have to let her come to me.
 
I crouched down and held the unwrapped snack bar out to her. She looked at me for a moment before glancing around wearily. She shook her head and scratched herself behind the ear with one of her hind legs. She looked back at the food I was offering and whined.
 
"It's yours." I assured her. "You can have it." 
 
The enticement of the food proved to be too much for her to resist for long. She slowly crept up to me, keeping her head low and her eyes on me for any sign of aggression. To my surprise, instead of taking it with her paw she tentatively took it with her teeth. Pulling away from me once obtaining it, she consumed it quickly and noisily with a pleased look on her face.
 
"I guess you like peanut butter." I observed.
 
I glanced at the sky. The sun was going down. "It's going to be dark soon." I told her. "Do you have a family around here? Do you have a mother?"
 
Her ears perked up at the word and she looked at me brightly.
 
"You know that word? Mother?" I asked. "Where is your mother?"
 
Her brow furrowed and she looked away. The fox hybrid's posture suddenly appeared dour.  
 
"I see..." I said quietly, "I'm sorry." That must mean the girl was all alone out here, surviving God knows how. She looked malnourished and her hair was matted. Her fur was shedding in unhealthy clumps. I didn't know how long she had been living like this in the wilderness, but I didn't think she could do it much longer.
 
"If you come with me to my camper I have more food." I told her.
 
The chimera cocked her head and her tail swayed back and forth. She seemed to understand my meaning. I hoped she would come with me willingly since it would be challenging for me to take her out of the wilderness by force. Although I would have done that if I had to. She might have been wild, but she wasn't a wild animal. This wasn't where she was supposed to be.
 
Where was she supposed to be? The thought abruptly nagged me. She was a member of an unnatural race that was dying off. Those that remained were among the poorest and most abused people on the face of the Earth. They could be refused work, refused services, and even refused critical care by a society that is just waiting for them to perish so that page in history could be put behind. Even the murder of one barely qualifies as a crime. If I hadn't happened by those young men may well have killed her once they grew bored with her. The irony was that if I had shot one of them I would have been committing a crime punishable by execution to prevent a crime usually punished with a fine and a few months in jail.  
 
I stood up. All that was something to worry about later. Right now I wanted to head back to the RV before it was too dark to walk these woods safely. There were snakes here, some of them even venomous.  
 
The fox girl scratched herself again. I wondered if I should offer her my shirt to wear, but she didn't appear to be uncomfortable naked. I had thought for a moment that maybe those men had torn away her clothes, but she didn't seem like she ever actually owned any.
 
"Let's go, girl." I said as I started back. She didn't follow at first and I whistled. Her ears shot up in alert and she bounded after me on all fours, switching to walking on her hind legs as she got closer. She kept a respectable distance from me the whole time. Sometimes lagging behind, sometimes running ahead. Often she would stop and give a noise unheard by me her full attention before continuing on. On two occasions she ran off outside of my view, leaving me to wonder if she had decided to abandon me, but both times she returned.
 
"So I guess you aren't going to tell me your name." I said, trying to make small talk with someone who didn't talk. The chimera looked at me brightly, but without understanding.
 
"I suppose I haven't even told you my name yet so that puts us on an even footing." I reasoned. "My name is William."
 
I stopped to face her. "William." I repeated, pointing to myself. She cocked her head.
 
"Yip!" She huffed.
 
I shrugged. "Eh, close enough." I said as I continued walking. "I don't wanna just call you "girl", that seems disrespectful. You remind me of Hendrix, you know, Foxy Lady? No... I don’t suppose you would. It's a good song though, and according to legend it was about a girl named Faye."
 
I paused again. "What about that? Do you like Faye?" She wagged her tail and I took that for a 'yes'. 
 
"Alright, Faye it is." 
 
 
 
Part 2
 
 
 
It was nearly dark when I staggered out into the clearing where my camper was parked. I was relieved to see it since I had managed to lose the old trail and had gotten a bit turned around in the undergrowth. It wasn't a monstrous recreational vehicle, just a humble twenty-two foot class C, but it suited my needs just fine. What's more she was built on a four by four Ford frame, so she was capable of going places that other campers found inaccessible. 
 
"Home sweet home." I said proudly to Faye, but when I looked for the fox girl she wasn't with me. I glanced around and noticed her crouching at the edge of the clearing, not appearing comfortable with going out into the open.
 
"There's nobody else here." I explained to her. "You don't have to be afraid."
 
She let out a yowling cry up at the twilight sky before laying down in the grass. I guess it was a good sign that she had made it that far on her own free will. I'd have to coax her the rest of the way. I was pretty sure I knew how to do that.
 
I unlocked the RV and turned on the lights, illuminating the outside under the awning. For the moment I didn't have to run the generator. It had been a sunny day and the solar panels should have charged the batteries to capacity.
 
I stepped inside, leaving the door open behind me. I didn't want her to think I was shutting her out. Any mosquitoes that took that as an invitation would have to be dealt with later. In the small fridge I found the hamburger patties I planned on having for lunch the next day. Somehow I doubted she could resist them. I put a frying pan on the stove and lit the fire. In a moment there was the sound of frying accompanied by the smell of cooking beef. It didn't take too long to catch a glimpse of Faye peeking in through the open door. She wasn't willing to come in, but her alert ears and posture indicated that she was very interested in what I was doing and what was starting to smell so good.
 
"I'm a little worried about those two guys I shot at coming out here and looking for revenge." I told her while I flipped the patties. "If they're local they probably know about this place. If they show up here with a posse and all I have is this little pocket pistol we could be in some real trouble." 
 
After a minute I pulled the burgers off the pan and put them on a plate. They were still a bit bloody, but she looked like she would appreciate rare meat. I chopped the burgers into smaller bits.
 
"Even if all they do is go to the police, I'm not sure what would happen." I sat down on the bench seat across from the door with the plate in my lap. "Likely I'd get arrested for assault and brandishing a deadly weapon. I don't think there's precedent involving someone quite like you. There are laws regarding chimeras, sure, but you were born after the sterilization. That means you're probably capable of breeding. That would frighten people. When the law isn't clear on something it can get scary. Hell, even when the law is clear it can get scary. Either way I don't want to risk staying here."
 
I picked up a piece of ground beef and blew on it. Faye licked her lips.
 
"I don't think you should stay here either." I said as I popped the hamburger into my mouth. I hadn't spiced it, so it was bland, but it was juicy. "Mmm... not bad. Want some?"
 
The fox girl shuffled her feet anxiously outside the door, but was unsure about entering. She put a paw on the linoleum floor and pulled back, not liking how it felt. She whined and her tail wagged low and with uncertainty.  
 
I held out a piece for her. She lifted her nose, eagerly sniffing the offering, but still wary of entering my home. Faye dropped on all fours and paced around before lifting herself back onto her hind legs. She was torn between what she knew and what I could offer her. Torn between her animal and human instincts.  
 
Eventually the smell of food was too much to resist. She tentatively entered, but hedged her bets by keeping one foot on the ground outside. Again she reached to take the food with her mouth instead of her paws, stretching herself forward with her ears and head low and submissive. I pulled it away from her slightly, trying to coax her into committing to entering the RV. She was a bit too canny for that and decided to snatch the food with her paw before quickly exiting.
 
She gobbled the morsel outside the door, but the plate on my lap enticed her back inside. The first few pieces went the same way. Snatch and run. Soon she started to warm to the idea of being in the camper. Taking the food and retreating only as far as the doorway. A few minutes later she decided it was fine to sit on the floor at my feet and let me feed her, gently taking the pieces with her teeth. 
 
"You're such a good girl, Faye." I told her. Her bright eyes were alert and her ears were up and attentive. She was starting to trust me.  
 
"Would you be mad at me if I touched you?" I wondered aloud. I decided to take the risk and put my hand out to her. She shied away a bit, sniffing at my fingers before licking at the bit of beef fat stuck to them. That seemed to me to be a good sign and put my hand on the side of her face. It appeared to confuse her for a moment, but when I scratched her under the ear she quickly melted. Her eyes fluttered and she pressed her head into my hand. She allowed me to pet her for several moments with her eyes closed contently. Eventually she pushed away my hand with her paw, her gaze going back to the hamburger. Petting was nice but the food was better.
 
"Okay, Faye." I said with a smile. "Maybe after dinner?"
 
I offered her the plate so she could finish and she looked bemused, not sure how to eat from a plate. Finally I just put it on the floor and let her figure it out for herself. She ate much like a dog, wolfing down the remaining food and licking the plate clean, even turning it over in case there was more underneath. While she was distracted I took the opportunity to carefully stand up and pull the door shut.
 
When she heard the latch click behind her she freaked.  
 
Faye spun and made for the exit, slamming into the closed screen door with a crash. Her head darted around in frustration at the escape route that had been lost. She gave me a look of extreme betrayal that seemed to say "I knew I couldn't trust you."  
 
"It's not like that..." I tried to reason, but she couldn't understand. Even if she could, she probably wasn't about to listen.  
 
Faye dove between my legs and into the kitchen. Her paws slipped on the linoleum floor and she skittered around ungainly. She jumped up onto the table and attempted to go out the window, only to be defeated by the screen. The fox girl fell back, but not before grabbing my curtains and ripping them from the wall. The curtains falling on her only urged on her panic and she clambered over the kitchen stove, knocking the greasy pan onto the floor. Luckily it had cooled enough not to burn her or me as it splattered oil all over.  
 
She jumped off the counter and made for the rear of the camper. Into the small bedroom she fled, looking for an escape. There was a second door there, but the girl seemed to be unfamiliar with door latches, not to mention that one was always locked. After bounding around and attempting all the windows she tried to flee to the front of the RV, only to come screeching to a halt when she saw me. Seeing no other place to go she scrambled into the tiny bathroom.  
 
"Faye," I softly urged as I carefully crept to the bathroom, "I'm not trying to hurt you." I peeked in to see her huddled behind the toilet. There was almost no space behind it and I was at a loss as to how she got back there. When she saw me she gave a growl. It was supposed to sound threatening, but it was such a high-pitched noise it was almost the opposite.  
 
"Alright, you can stay right there." I told her. "I have to break camp anyway."
 
I locked her inside and busied myself with getting the RV ready for travel. When in a rush I could do it in less than ten minutes, and I was feeling the need to leave. I rolled up the canvas sunshade and folded up the chair and table. I climbed up onto the roof, unplugged and lowered the two solar panels to the ground. The furniture and the panels went into the storage compartments under the camper. A quick look around with a flashlight and I was satisfied that everything was in order.  All I was leaving behind were tire tracks and the remains of a small campfire.
 
I was careful upon entering the vehicle in case Faye was lying in wait to attempt an escape, but she was nowhere to be seen. I buttoned up the inside, closing all the windows and making sure everything was secure. I made a cursory attempt at cleaning the greasy mess in the kitchen with a paper towel, noticing a few small specks of blood scattered in her muddy footprints. I assumed that she might have cut herself in the panic and I checked on Faye. She was still behind the toilet. She narrowed her eyes at me and gave me another cute little growl, but she didn't appear to be in any pain. I would have preferred to have her buckled up in the passenger cockpit seat, but I didn't think she'd be talked into that. Once we were someplace safe I'd try to coax her into coming out so I could check her over for injury.
 
"We're gonna go now, okay?" I told her.
 
 
 
Part 3
 
 
 
Shortly afterward I steered the RV into a truck stop. It was not a long way away, maybe fifteen miles from the campsite, but far enough that I felt I had left any trouble that might be looking for me behind. Truck stops were a great place to park since there was usually tons of space and access to facilities. Most importantly many have  someplace to empty the gray and black holding tanks. They normally weren't averse to an RV stopping for a day or two. Though on occasion they did attract unseemly types.  
 
Through the entire ride I kept a light on in the back of the camper and kept a close eye on my mirror. Faye never emerged from the bathroom. I was worried she'd run around in a panic once we were underway, but she never made a peep.  
 
I slipped the RV into an inviting parking space and killed the engine. For a moment I sat there in silence and thought. There was a powerful sense that I might be doing something wrong. I had essentially kidnapped her, taking her against her will from everything she knew. Maybe I was wrong, maybe she did have a family hiding somewhere out in the swamps. I had to shake that feeling. She was better off with me. She was practically starving and I doubted she would survive long. Even if she did have a family out there I couldn't do anything for them, but I could do something for her. One can only do what one can do and hope that's enough.  

I closed up all the curtains, doing my best to rehang the one she tore down.  The last thing I needed was some lookie-loos peering into my windows. I hadn’t quite figured out how I would explain her to anyone yet, or even if I should.  If someone in authority got wind of her they would almost certainly take her away. What would happen to her in that case? Probably nothing good. They would almost certainly sterilize her just to ensure that the genocide was going as planned.  

I made a more thorough attempt at cleaning up. Getting a bucket and some rags to mop up the paw prints.  I wiped down the table, stove and counter top before washing the few dishes in the sink. Finally I got down on my hands and knees to scrub the floor.

When made my way to the bathroom I glanced in.  Down there I was at eye level with Faye. She looked less irritated with me than she had been, though still hiding behind the toilet.

“You know, I’m going to have to use that eventually,” I told her, “and I’m not the best aim.”

Her ears tipped up before flattening down again.  She made a soft, halfhearted growl.

I grunted as I tried to find a comfortable position to sit in the cramped space between the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.  I had to give up and resign myself to being constricted and aching.  

“Not sure how you can stand this.”  I said to her. Faye glanced around, double checking that there was indeed no escape route.  She eyed the small vent window near the ceiling, but even the skinny little fox girl wouldn’t be able to fit through such a small opening.  She’d have to suffer my company. I sighed, but beyond that we sat in silence for a while. Outside the noise of heavy trucks lumbering by vibrated the RV and headlights threw moving shadows as they passed.  Faye put her head down on the floor, letting out an irritated exhale. The silence was painful, which for me was odd since I’ve been alone for so long. My life was nearly all silence. 

“I wish you could talk.”  I said in an attempt to break the tension.  “I’d like to know your story. Where you came from.  How you survived.” I tried to adjust my position on the floor and leaned against the wall, but it didn’t help much.  

“I suppose you might be wondering about me.”  I ventured. “You know, I didn’t used to live like this.  I used to be like everyone else. I had a hell of a good nine-to-five job.”  I scratched my overgrown beard and grinned. “I even used to shave every day.  Had two houses, four cars, a million boxes full of crap I didn’t need… I had a wife.” 

“My wife would have loved you.”  I mused. “She loved animals. I mean – not that you’re an animal – just that she was the most generous and caring person I had ever known.  She was beautiful too, simply amazing. I remember the day I met her like it was yesterday. I was a freshman in college, and she was a junior.  I was just a punk kid that didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground that decided to make the moves on an older woman. She had no reason at all to give me the time of day, but she was kind to me and gave me a hell of a smile.”

I chuckled softly.  “Of course, she also turned me down, but she was gentle about it.  I don’t think she had a stern bone in her body. We became fast friends, and – spoiler – eventually we did start dating.  It wasn’t even my idea that time, she actually asked me. Felt like I won the lottery. She was my first time, and the only woman I had ever been with.  Even after she graduated and I was still in school she stayed with me. Found herself a great job near the campus and we lived together. God, those were simple days!  Better days. They just kept getting better all the time. Life was so good and I couldn’t imagine anything could stop us.”

“For a time, that’s exactly how it went.  We were invincible. In typical fashion, it was her that asked me to marry her.”  I couldn’t help but laugh. “We were at a nice restaurant to celebrate my graduation and she got right down on her knee in front of everyone.  My mom, my dad, everyone in the restaurant. I didn’t notice it at the time, but my mom later told me that Dad looked like he was about to die from embarrassment!  If he could have willed himself to explode he would have!”  

I wiped my eyes.  “By the time the wedding rolled around Dad had gotten over it, or at least he got good at pretending.  I think he was worried he’d have to pay for the ceremony since she asked me. It was a beautiful wedding.  Everything went perfectly, even the weather was perfect. She looked… well, she looked amazing. Seeing her walking down the aisle was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  That feeling of: “Oh my god! This is really happening!” Even to this day it’s fresh in my mind.”

“We had always intended to have children, but not yet.  We had to get our careers and our finances solidified. We both had significant financial burdens due to college.  We figured we had a lot of preparing to do and a lot of time to do it. After all, our whole lives were ahead of us and there’s always tomorrow.”

I looked up at the ceiling.  “And then there’s a day where tomorrow never comes.”  I told her. “I was at work when I got the call. My wife had collapsed and she was taken to the hospital.  I rushed there as fast as possible, but it didn’t matter. The doctor said she was gone before the ambulance even arrived.  A brain aneurysm. The only comfort he could offer was that she didn’t suffer. That wasn’t comfort at all. It would have mortified her to know she went so quickly.  No opportunity to say good-bye to anyone.”

“When your life changes in the blink of an eye, you don’t register it correctly.  If someone you love is dying over the course of months or years, you can prepare yourself for it.  You can build up a construct around yourself and plan for the eventual absence. Not that it’s easier, it probably isn’t, but you aren’t caught unaware.  I remember the next day I woke up and went through my normal morning routine of getting ready for work. It was only when I went to kiss her as I always did before leaving for the day that it registered.  I wasn’t getting ready to go to work, I was getting ready to plan her funeral and take care of all the legal issues surrounding a death.”

“I was alone.”  

The pain of all of it came rushing back and I found myself crying.  After a few moments I composed myself and continued the story: “I barely remember the following days and weeks.  It was like living in a haze – like being drugged. After the funeral I had a simple schedule. Go to work, go home, eat, and go to bed.  Sometimes skipping the eating part. One morning I looked at myself in the mirror as I was about to shave. What the hell was I doing this for?  I asked myself.  I had no answer.”

“So I dropped the razor in the sink, called my boss and quit.  Called a real-estate agent and put my home up for sale. Sold or gave away everything I had of value.  All this… stuff was what I had collected for my life with her, but she was gone.  It was meaningless to me without her.  Worse yet, it was a reminder of what I had lost.  My life was different and I couldn’t deny it anymore.  I needed to leave.”  

I looked down and realized that I was absentmindedly stroking Faye.  At some point in the story she had taken pity on me, crawled out of her hiding spot and put her head in my lap.  She looked up at me with sympathy and I wondered if I had sold her short by assuming she couldn’t understand me. The very least I could do was finish the story.

“So I bought this custom home on wheels.”  I said to her. “I suppose, in a sense, I’m homeless.  I’m not poor, though. This RV cost a pittance compared to my house, and my wife had left me a substantial life insurance settlement.   It’s amazing how little you really need to live. By my calculations I have enough to live like this, even adjusting for inflation and assuming I never work again, for one-hundred and twenty years.  I hardly expect to live that long.”

Faye yawned and rolled onto her back, legs unabashedly open.   Now that I had a good look at her I knew exactly where the blood was coming from.

“Oh, geeze!  You’re in heat!”  I noted. I pulled my hand away from her and saw a number of black flecks moving around on my palm.

“And you’re covered with fleas!”
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