Their World Ch.1

Summer was a glorious season. The air let you feel it. It didn't attack you like it did during colder seasons. It was your partner. The Summer sun beamed down on Nathan's head as he walked about the neighborhood, filling him with a comforting warmth. He walked on the sidewalk, passing between freshly mowed lawns. A couple kids riding bicycles passed him across the street. He let out a relaxed sigh. What a crazy, wonderful world he lived in.

He left the network of houses, and he began to make his way downtown. There was a furniture store, pawn shop, and a diner. Across the street sat a woman sipping coffee at the café. People came out of the bar adjacent to that. Just like Nathan, they sought to enjoy the pleasant weather conditions. There was a pizza place ahead. The smell coming from there made hunger grow steadily.

Pizza was not the mission today. Pizza was hot, too hot, for a day like this one. Nathan's eyes were set on a different objective further ahead. He tread lightly, pulled the door open, and walked in. Nathan shivered as the air suddenly cooled. There was quite a line, but that was to be expected. He had been pondering this choice since the moment he deviated from his neighborhood course. It was a difficult one, but in the end, he knew just what he wanted. When he made it to the front of the line, the man behind the register smiled and asked what he wanted. His nametag read Michael. Nathan responded with, "Cookies and Cream," his favorite flavor.

"Coming right up." Michael wore gloves that ran past his elbows to cover his coat. He had a tight-fitting hair net and loose pants. He stood taller than everyone in the shop. Everyone in town knew him, so he wasn't that much of an oddity. He grabbed the scoop and a plastic cup. The freezer door slid open, and he put three large scoops of Cookies and Cream ice cream into the cup. "There you go," he handed Nathan the cup and pointed to the register, where the cashier waited patiently, "The spoons are over there if you'll be needing one. That'll be six fifty." Nathan pulled out his wallet and paid in cash. The cashier gave him his change and he grabbed a spoon. He smiled and took a bite, leaving the shop. His walk home was brightened by his sweet treat.

Michael was one on a list of many unusual people in town. He was part of a race that mysteriously separated from humanity a couple decades back, before Nathan was even born. There was a hidden sanctuary somewhere in Europe for people like Michael. They were revealed when a vast portion of humanity transformed in a single day, at a single moment. Scientists were still desperate to discover what caused it. The sanctuary publicly announced their presence and were working with everyone else to discover what happened.

People were unsure what to identify themselves as in the months following. Terms like "furries" and "anthros" were thrown around. But the official political decision named them Humals. People became all sorts of different animals, but they always remained somewhat human in appearance. Every humal retained their personality and self. Though living a new lifestyle shaped them into different kinds of people.

Nathan had grown up with family that had changed. His grandparents became a deer and a snake. They never seemed used to it, but it didn't bother him. They were still his grandparents. Thanksgivings were a bit odd though. They still had rights just as every human did. They just looked different.

Nathan turned a corner three blocks away from his house, and stopped. There was a little pink bike, the front wheel was bent, and it was upside down in a bush. He heard shouting. Worried, he kept walking. Then he saw what the ruckus was.

An older kid, roughly Nathan's age, was standing over a little girl who appeared to be crying. He was shouting, "Go back to the forest, where you belong! Go piss on a tree and eat your own shit!" The girl just kept whimpering. She was a humal. She looked like a little huskie.

Nathan dropped what remained of his ice cream. Without thinking, he ran up to the attacker and shoved him aside, "HEY! What do you think you're doing!?" The kid wore a black shirt and jeans. He looked Nathan over.

"This is none of your business, go away," he glared threateningly.

Nathan said nothing. He was speechless. This guy was harassing some random girl because she was humal? No, that couldn't be it. He seemed beyond upset, huffing like an angry dog. Nathan considered his words carefully, then spoke, "What do you really want, hmm?" The guy gave a more confused glare. Nathan continued, "This girl isn't bothering you. She's just riding her bike... She was, anyway, before you came along." Nathan turned his head to the girl and mouthed "run." The guy saw and tried to get past him.

"Hey! I'm not finished with you, oof!" Nathan grabbed his shirt by the shoulders and slammed him into a tree. The girl got up and ran, disappearing quickly around a fence. The guy turned his head to Nathan, rage in his eyes.

"Shut up idiot, my turn to speak. You were harassing someone who couldn't defend themselves for no good reason. Heck, you're probably jealous of her! Do you not belong? Huh? Maybe you wish you could frolic in the woods, pissing on trees and eating shit. You would like that, wouldn't you? WOULDN'T YOU!?" The guy leaned on the tree mouth gaping wide open, stuttering.

"I... I.." Nathan slackened his grip. The guy grabbed his hands and pulled them forward, kneeing Nathan in the stomach, then pushed him to the ground, "I said it's none of your GODDAMN BUSINESS!" He breathed out in an exaggerated sigh. Nathan clutched his stomach, curled up on the sidewalk, and struggled to regain his breath. The guy kicked a nearby trash can and let out a yell. He pointed at Nathan, "Don't EVER get in my way again. You'll regret it." He was breathing heavily.

"You even... pant... like a dog," Nathan struggled with every word, but he got it out. In response, the guy strode over and stomped Nathan's knee right onto the concrete, and it HURT.

"Never again you idiot!" With that, the guy stomped off, huffing angrily. Nathan struggled to his feet, and, limping on his hurt knee, walked home. Some people, he thought, are too unfortunate to think straight.