The Wind in your Hair

October 7, 2023

Cole appears inside of a room with a large metal, spiral staircase in the center. Cole looks around as he adjusts his gloves and M50 gas mask.

Cole sighs as he heads up the staircase, "Same old, same old huh?"

The steps creak as he heads up. There's a layer of dust on the steps and railing as he walks through a spider web halfway up the stairs. Cole groans as he dusts off his charcoal gray jacket and pats down his black jeans as he leans against the railing, his 6'1 statute allowing him to get a good look at the horizon. "Now....where the fuck is the most important looking building."

The building is a lighthouse. The light is off and looks to have seen better days. On looking out at the horizon he is met with a sea of red and yellow trees with dried leaves. Past the trees in three directions are distant mountain ranges. In one direction however, he can faintly make out the buildings of a rather large town. The air is slightly chilly.

Cole points to the town, "THAT, I need to go there." Cole vaults the railing and rolls as he hits the ground then starts making his way towards the large town.

On his way towards the town he can see that the forest is mostly made up of the same type of tree and the ground is already partly covered in dead leaves. The woods have a lot of bushes and weeds in the way but it isn't enough to stop someone who was set on their destination. Just getting close to the town and he can already smell food from stores and outdoor grills. he walks onto the sidewalk of a suburb on the outskirts of town. The houses look simple enough with common decorations and plants in their gardens. He sees a nonferal checking their mailbox. The nonferal looks like a dog but standing on two legs and fully clothed. If it wasn't for the nonferals, one could easily believe they were still on Earth with humans.

"...I really hope I don't stand out," Cole mumbles as he looks around, looking for any important looking buildings.

As he makes his way past the suburb he finds downtown. The area is covered in small shops and starting up businesses. More nonferals are walking along the sidewalks or riding in modern vehicles along the streets. He sees nonferal cats, lizards, and even goats. But none of them seem to pay much attention to Cole. In down town he can better see which direction the center of town is as a large marble bell tower sticks up out of the trees. Surely a historical monument or form of town hall.

Cole locks onto the marble bell tower and starts heading towards it as he mumbles, "Bingo."

As he makes his way down the sidewalk, a nonferal rabbit wearing a similar gas mask accidentally bumps into Cole's shoulder and stutters as he quickly responds but keeps walking, "S-sorry-"

Cole waves his hand dismissively, "It's fine, no big deal." Cole looks them up and down as subtly as he can, trying to see if they are wearing a uniform for somewhere important.

The rabbit was wearing an old gray sweatshirt with stains and a pair of purple shorts. On the front of their sweatshirt is art of a basketball and a sports team. The rabbit continues to walk away as Cole is almost to the building he spotted.

Cole notes how they look as he continues walking while mumbling, "...Interesting."

He reaches the base of the building. It's a large bell tower coming from an older style building made of brick and marble with steps leading up to the doors. A few people are leaving the building wearing formal attire. One wears a more slim version of a gas mask over their nose and mouth but no one pays them any mind either.

Cole walks inside of the building as he mutters to himself, "Hopefully this building has what I need in it."

On walking in he sees a polished floor with traditional designs and high ceilings. Several documents and old paintings line the walls like a museum. There's a few groups of nonferal people chatting amongst themselves in hushed tones to keep the room as quiet as possible. Further ahead are doors along the walls and a wooden desk with a receptionist in modest clothing.

Cole takes a deep breath, walks up to the receptionist, and speaks in a hushed voice

"Do you know where I could find documents about the history of the world?"

The receptionist looks caring at first but seems taken back by the question, "...The entire world? Or do you just mean Cherrywood?"

Cole keeps his hushed tone, "Depends on what you have, do you have the entire world or just this town?"

"Honey, if you're looking for history books on all over you might have better luck at the library two blocks down the road. If you're looking for more on Cherrywood though you're free to look around here."

Cole thinks about it for a second then nods, "Thanks for your help." Cole briskly makes his way out of the building, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he starts looking around for the library that was mentioned.

"Stay safe," The receptionist adds before he leaves. He notices a simple library within view just down the road with open doors and a few cars parked outside. Cole walks down to the library while keeping an eye out for anything that sticks out. The library sits between a local gym and a paint can store. Kids drawings line the insides of the windows and the faint scent of lavender seeps out from the library doors. Cole heads inside and starts searching for books about world history, trying his best to keep a low profile.

On entering he sees there's only a librarian and one older man in the building. The librarian looks over at Cole but the older man stays wrapped up in a large book in the corner. Cole is able to easily find a section filled with various history books. Many of them are familiar locations across the globe but only a few are unfamiliar, seemingly fictional places.

Cole raises an eyebrow at the seemingly fictional places as he grabs one of the books and skims through it as he mutters, "Now we're getting to what I came here for..."

He picks up a book titled, "The founding of Haze Borough." It looks like a well worn book that's been checked out a lot. Many pages depict nonferals in modern attire and half built buildings. Other pictures show hilly fields with tall mountains nearby.

"Hmm," Cole hums as he puts the book back and grabs a different one.

The book is a lot thinner and titled, "Herring hills, the founding of Haze Borough." Alot of its contents are nearly the same. It seems the topic might be popular.

Cole puts that book back and sighs as he looks for a general history book. He finds a general world history book with the globe printed on the front. It looks identical to Earth except for an extra landmass out in the Atlantic ocean that is centered on the image.

"Weird..." Cole opens the book and skims through it, looking for anything that sticks out.

He sees a familiar history of the world in each flip. The United States, Japan, Russia, China, Italy, Canada, about any place he can think of is included. The only extra thing he finds is a section towards the end of the US state named New Atlantic. With it, the picture of the landmass in the Atlantic from the cover.

Cole raises an eyebrow as he looks through the New Atlantic section. Its separated into two larger sections titled, "Cherrywood," and ,"Haze Borough."

Cole groans in annoyance as he mumbles, "There's nothing in this book that I want to know...are you fucking kidding me?" Cole sighs as he skims through the sections, looking for anything that sticks out.

He sees a map with the locations of Cherrywood and Haze borough marked out as well as a few noteworthy locations. There's a carnival, boat docks, camping grounds, and rock climbing in Cherrywood. Then there is an observatory, highest mountain peak, hand gliding, and caves in Haze Borough. Haze borough is in the herring hills while Cherrywood is surrounded by Wicket woods. Three different mountain ranges surround the island. There is a trench called Solar chasm pass to the right of the middle mountain range and a thin strip of valley named Lunar pass to the left. Based on the locations he can tell Cherrywood is directly East from the lighthouse. On the map they provide there is another city depicted but it's never labeled or named.

Cole smirks as he mutters, "Perfect, this is amazing." There's a camera shutter noise as Cole takes a picture of the map then continues skimming for anything important.

Anything that ever mentions how many towns are in New Atlantic always say three but never specify the name of the third one. Other than that it's all useless information like the names of people with businesses and how the towns prospered with all of the natural resources around them. Cole shuts the book and puts it back then starts heading out of the library.

"Have a good day," The Librarian gives a passing wave as she continues working. On walking out he hears someone from around the corner make a sound at him like trying to draw in the attention of a cat, "Pspsps-"

Cole pauses and snaps to looking at who's making the cat noise, slightly glaring. Now walking towards him is a nonferal elk about his height with trimmed antlers. He keeps his hands in the pockets of a brown leather jacket and greets him with a smirk and a slight accent, "You new around here man?"

Cole looks him up and down, still glaring slightly, "...Why do you need to know?"

The elk tilts his head slightly, "Pff, a big guy like you going to a dusty old library? That makes you stick out a bit, man. Why don't we have a quick chat over hear where we aren't blocking the entrance to this place huh?" He nods his head towards the alley between the gym and the library. His clothing is a bit sloppy and there's a few subtle cuts in his shirt and fresh scarring on one ear. As he talks there's a distinct stench of alcohol.

Cole rolls his eyes as he follows him while mumbling, "Oh boy, can't wait to get jumped"

They enter the alley where two other guys are standing. One of them is a nonferal jaguar. He wears striped pants and a short sleeve shirt with a collared shirt underneath. The other nonferal is a nonferal black bear in a sleeveless striped sports shirt that stands at a towering 8 feet. The black bear has the worst case of a resting bitch face as he watches them enter the alley. The jaguar looks over and raises an eyebrow. The elk gives a scoff as he stays near the exit of the alley, "We ain't ones to jump people for no good reason."

Cole rolls his eyes as he folds his arms, "Whatever, what do you need from me?"

The bear nonferal looks down at Cole as he speaks, "You looked crazy enough to help us out," He gestures at Cole's gas mask, "If there was something you wanted then maybe we could do a trade?"

Cole raises an eyebrow at the bear, "...So just because I'm wearing a gas mask you think I'm crazy?"

The jaguar nods before being swatted on the back of the head by the bear. The bear growls some at the jaguar before returning his attention to Cole, "Crazy as in stubborn. Seeing as you're willing to put up with that," he gestures to the mask again, "and not look like you're on pins and needles constantly, you must have some nerves of steel in there."

"..." Cole glares at them more strongly but then relaxes and sighs, "You could say that."

"We need you to beat the shit out of someone-" the jaguar begins before being hit in the head again by the bear.

The bear growls at him, "Again. Learn to be a bit more subtle," The bear sighs and looks to Cole, "I apologize for him. But yes, we need someone taken down a few pegs before they think they can walk all over us like his doormat. Put him back in his place."

Cole cracks his neck, "And you want me to do it so that the cops won't think it was you guys, got it."

The elk tilts his head some while pulling out a wallet from his jacket, "And what's your price?"

"I don't have a use for money, trust me if I wanted your money it would already be in my hand by now," Cole sighs, "I want knowledge on the world, at least as far as you guys know."

The bear looks over at the jaguar, "Morse. Are you still taking those classes?"

The jaguar quickly nods. The bear looks back at Cole and holds out a large hand-like paw with claws. He gives Cole a smile, showing several missing or chipped teeth, "You got yourself a deal."

Cole shakes the paw with a tight grip, "So where is this...guy?"

The bear points down the road, "He's been showing up where we usually meet up, trying to run into us again. Should be out behind the locker rooms of the old baseball field down Morter Street."

The elk scoffs as he shakes his head and puts away his wallet, "Man almost took my ear off when I showed up one day...not cool."

Cole nods, "I'll be there." Cole starts briskly walking towards the old baseball field.

The elk steps out of the way as the jaguars eyes widen slightly. The bear is a bit surprised as well on seeing him instantly heading out. The elk goes to make a peace sign but forgot to put up a second finger, accidentally flipping Cole off, "Have fun getting wrecked crazy man!"

The jaguar promptly grabs the elk's hand and puts the second finger up. The elk chuckles, "My bad."

Cole smirks as he continues walking and mumbles, "I won't get wrecked, but alright."

He makes his way through town as the sun is starting to set. Out past a public playground is an overgrown baseball field with short chain link fences and small locker room building. On the other side of the locker room building is the tree line that leads back into the woods. It's late enough that no one is at the park or baseball field.

Cole leans against the chain link fence as he waits, looking out for said guy. As he waits he starts to get a faint feeling like being watched or in danger, but it's quiet. Cole tries his best to hide his fear behind the gas mask as he puts his head on a swivel. It stays quiet for an uncomfortable period of time. Only a faint breeze tossing up leaves could be heard.

But suddenly breaking the silence from behind the locker room building is the pulling of a cord handle and the rumbling of a chainsaw. Stepping out from behind the locker room building is a large figure about Cole's height. The figure holds a roaring chainsaw and his red eyes shine in the dark, filled with rage and staring through Cole with malice.

"...oh fuck," Cole quickly moves away from the fence as he panics slightly, "Listen I'm sure we could work something out."

"I know who sent you and I'm not backing down," the figure's voice has low growls behind it as one of his arms slam into the concrete wall beside him at a light switch. The concrete cracks from the force as the stadium lights turn on. He puts the arm back down. With the stadium lights now on Cole can see dashes of fresh blood on the leaves on the ground between them. The figure starts taking steps forward. Now in the light, the figure looks to be a nonferal albino alligator with scar across his nose and sharp eyes. He wears an unbuttoned baseball jersey and ripped black jeans. He is missing his right hand.

"...Oh god damn it," Cole looks even more panicked as keeps one of his hands near his jacket, ready to draw his knife or revolver. "Look I really don't wanna hurt you, I just want knowledge of the world, you wouldn't hurt a nerd would you?"

The gator growls, "If you were just another nerd you would have already run screaming-" The gator lunges forward, towards Cole, thrusting the chainsaw in front of him with his one left hand and a strong grip.

Cole quickly moves to the side to dodge the lunge as he draws his combat knife, "I'M NOT ANOTHER NERD, WE COULD TALK ABOUT THIS"

"IT'S WELL PAST FUCKING TALKING-" the gator yells over the chainsaws roar as he turns to face Cole. Smoke starts pouring out of the chainsaw.

Cole also yells over the chainsaw roar as nervously stands there, "I DON'T THINK IT IS, THEY JUST HAVE TO THINK I BEAT YOU UP ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS NOT HANG AROUND HERE ANYMORE!"

The gator lunges again, this time swinging diagonally with the chainsaw, "I'M NOT FUCKING LEAVING!"

Cole tries to quickly move out of the way but is caught out by the diagonal swing, cutting him across his chest as he winces and groans, "FUCKING- GOD DAMN IT, WE CAN TALK THIS OUT, PLEASE!" A mixture of blood and coolant starts leaking out of Cole's wound, he grips his knife tighter.

The gator steps closer as he pulls the chainsaw back to jab forward at Cole's chest. Cole ducks out of the way of the jab. As Cole yells he aims to tackle the gator's legs, "CALM DOWN, YOU HUNKY ASS BITCH."

The gator snarls as he tries to kick Cole off. Cole is kicked as he groans then rolls off of his legs. Cole yells again, "WE COULD STILL TALK THIS OUT, I JUST WANT KNOWLEDGE."

The gator shifts his grip on the chainsaw and goes to jab it straight down at Cole, "I SAID I'M FUCKING DONE TALKING."

Cole rolls out of the way and aims a punch at the Chainsaws motor, hoping to disable it or shut it down. The chainsaw is jabbed into the ground as dirt and leaves are tossed into the air. After punching the chainsaw there's a loud crack and the smoke pouring out from the vents turns black. The chain stops turning as the gator yanks it out of the ground.

Cole huffs as he holds his chest wound and stands up, "Look, this was more than I bargained for. I just wanted to do like a little deal with you and then you stop bothering those fuckers and I get my knowledge." Cole's shirt is starting to get covered with blood and coolant.

The gator snarls, "They should have spoken to me BEFORE leaving me in a ditch to DIE." The gator uses the chainsaw like a sword despite the chain no longer spinning and lunges at Cole. The gator's aim is getting more sloppy as the fight continues.

Cole aims to block the attack with his knife, "Okay well they didn't tell me THAT, that's really CRUEL."

The attack is blocked as the chainsaw quickly hits the side of the knife. The chain on the chainsaw now has a slight cut in it. The gator throws a slow but powerful swing at Cole with the chainsaw as he still sounds outraged, "YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT!"

Cole quickly moves to the side of the swing, "I THINK YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN MORE, WE'RE BOTH RATIONAL ADULTS." Cole twirls the knife in his hand, getting slightly woozy due to his blood loss.

The chainsaw slams into the side of a pole as the chain breaks and the bar is bent. The gator huffs as he grabs the chain and lets go of the chainsaw. He swings the still smoking chainsaw over his head and down at Cole using the chain as a rope. Black smoke puffs out from the gators nose due to breathing it in from the air, "FUCKING DIE ALREADY."

Cole tries to catch the chainsaw, "YOU CAN'T KILL ME IN A WAY THAT MATTERS, SO FUCKING TALK"

He manages to catch it as the gator yanks to get the chainsaw back, "FUCK YOU"

Cole still tries to reason with him, "TALK TO ME, YOU CLEARLY CAN'T WIN THIS."

Cole lets go of the chainsaw with a huff. The gator yanks without realizing Cole had let go, slinging the chainsaw straight at the gator's face with great speed. There's a loud smack as the chainsaw drops on the ground. Blood drips from the gator's nose as he falls forward onto the leaves.

"...Shit," Cole quickly moves to the gator's side, "Are you good man? I didn't mean for that to happen."

The gator is unconscious as the chainsaw's engine finally gives out. It finishes spitting out black smoke.

"...I feel so bad for him," Cole sighs as he stands up and walks back to where he met the group of nonferals.

The sun is down by now and he finds the three of them sitting in the alley still. The elk is drinking from a glass bottle while the bear and jaguar are sitting in front of a pile of spray paint cans. They haven't noticed Cole yet.

Cole rolls his eyes, "Ahem" Cole folds his arms, conveniently covering his wound.

The jaguar's ears perk up at seeing Cole as he starts tossing the paint cans out of view. The bear raises an eyebrow at seeing Cole. The elk coughs some and puts the bottle down, "Bro, Am I seeing a ghost?"

"Well, I do often say that I am the wind that blows through your hair." Cole cracks his knuckles, revealing his chest wound. "Tell me what I wanna know."

The jaguar's eyes widen more as he scoots back some. The bear grabs the jaguar by the back of the neck and shoves him forward towards Cole. The jaguar's eyes stare at the wound with fear, "Er- uh- what kinda things do you want to know?"

The elk returns to drinking.

Cole folds his arms, hiding the wound again while applying pressure to keep himself from bleeding more, "Just some basic things, one did you expect me to survive and two what do you know about this continent?"

"Uh- no I didn't sir. But uh this continent is called New Atlantic, it's the state of wickheck of the United States of America and uhhhmm," the jaguar nervously fidgets with his bracelets, "It has a lot of nonferals from all over the world and also some loons-"

Cole stares down at the jaguar, "When did it become a state?"

"Uhm back in 19 uhhh... 1900s?" He winces as if he thinks he is being quizzed and fears getting an answer wrong.

"Interesting that it became a state so late, do you know any reason for that?" Cole continues to stare down the jaguar.

The jaguar continues sounding scared for his life, "They had to finish building it and it took a long time to coordinate and to make sure it was safe and get the right permits and purchase the land- well heavy quotes on land but you understand me...right?"

Cole leans down as he narrows his eyes, "What do you mean by heavy quotes land?"

The jaguars ears fold back, "U-uhm like it's all a floating island of trash basically. Well anchored cause they had some issues with everyone getting sea sick so it doesn't move any... I mean I guess that means it's an island on stilts and not floating... like a table?"

Cole glares at the jaguar, "Interesting, now how many people have you sent to their deaths?" As Cole glares his eyes briefly flicker to pink then back to hazel.

The jaguar starts to breathe a bit heavier, "Me?!? No No! None! None!! I couldn't-" He takes a step back. The bear keeps a close eye on Cole.

"Then why did you think I wouldn't survive?" Cole steps forward one of his eyes flicking to stare at the bear.

"I-i just I haven't seen anyone come back yet- and uhh-" the jaguars breathing worsens as he steps back again, now standing right infront of the bear. The bear grumbles as he stands up.

Cole doesn't show any fear as one of his hands moves to the inside of his jacket, "So you just kept sending person after person? Those people are dead."

The elk gets up as well as the jaguar is on the verge of tears, "Please- I didn't mean to- I- I was forc-" the jaguar suddenly goes quiet as the bear calmly puts one paw on his shoulder. The bear speaks towards Cole, "Do we have a problem here?"

Cole draws his revolver and points it at the bear, "Do we?"

The elk draws a pistol and aims it at Cole.

The bear narrows his eyes at Cole, "Let's not do anything we might regret."

Cole scoffs, "What? Like sending people to an untimely death? All because you thought it was some sick joke, I'm willing to bet that pistol isn't loaded and even if it was you wouldn't be able to kill me in a way that matters." Cole cocks the hammer back on his revolver

The bear maintains his tone, "This isn't a joke. It's simply personal matters that I'm resolving in the way that I see fit." The jaguar stays frozen in fear while the elk mumbles towards the jaguar, "Hey is it loaded?"

Cole raises his eyebrow at the bear, "By sending people to a death they didn't expect nor deserve?"

The jaguar doesn't answer as the elk shrugs, "Guess we'll find out heh."

The bear continues, "It's not my fault if they didn't run when they had the chance. At that point it's natural selection."

Cole doesn't look scared as he grips his revolver slightly tighter, "It's not natural selection, it's being an accessory to murder and something tells me you know that."

The bear quickly gives a glance to the elk who pulls the trigger.

Cole pulls the trigger on his revolver.

There's a click from the elks empty gun. The bear is shot in the face as he collapses backwards. The jaguar jumps at the sound and stays frozen in fear.

The elk lowers his gun and looks at it, "Well fuck me."

Cole quickly moves his aim to the elk, "I figured it was empty, do you have any explanations for your actions?"

The elk looks a bit drunk, "Which actions?"

Cole sighs as he lowers his aim to the Elk's knee caps, "...You are fucking wasted aren't you"

The elk laughs while digging in his pocket for his bullets, "I wasted like 6 guys, a few chicks, and my last girlfriend."

"Cool," Cole shoots the Elk in the knee cap.

The elk stumbles back into the wall and his eyes widen some in pain, "-wwwoah-woah."

After a moment he shakily tries to load the pistol with a bullet.

Cole aims at the Elk's face, "Don't. If you wanna keep your life, you will drop the pistol."

The elk finishes loading the gun, "Pff, like anyone's survived tellin me that-"

Cole sighs as he flicks the revolver to aiming at the elk's arm that's holding the gun and shoots, "Well now you're fucked."

The elks arm lets go of the gun and he yells in pain, "FUCKING HELL-"

"I hope you learn from your actions," Cole starts walking away as he holsters his revolver.

The jaguar stays frozen and the elk holds his arm. Cole walks out of sight.