Your Life In An Anthro's World

For a while, no one said anything. They just sat there, staring at you. The silence stretched on, becoming unnervingly long and awkward. Finally, the lion spoke. You couldn’t get over his sheer size—he was all muscle, wrapped in denim jeans and a red t-shirt.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, clearing his throat. “It’s just, we’ve never seen a human before.” He glanced at the others, then back at you. “I guess we should start by introducing ourselves. I’m Russel, a regular at the gym where you ended up last night.” He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Though intimidating, he exuded a relaxed aura. Still, it was hard to believe, considering he looked like he could bench-press a truck. His mane had four braided tassels that draped over his broad shoulders, and his brown eyes regarded you with a friendly warmth. You didn’t feel comfortable exactly, but you felt safe.

The cheetah sitting in the desk chair was next to introduce herself. She wore yoga pants that cut off just above her ankles, paired with a white tank top. As she stood and approached the bedside, you noticed her tail swaying behind her. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail, with bangs framing her face. Her golden eyes scanned you as she made her way over.

“I’m Felicia,” she said with a nod, her tone curious as she looked you over.

Before you could react, you sensed movement on the other side of the bed. Turning, you found another cheetah standing over you, offering a small, shaky smile. “Hi there,” she greeted with a nervous wave. “I’m Kara, Felicia’s twin sister.”

Kara’s demeanor was starkly different from her sister’s. Her hair was cut short, with her bangs partially obscuring one of her golden eyes. She wore a loose-fitting blue long-sleeve shirt and baggy denim jeans, presenting a much more modest appearance than Felicia. In personality, she seemed her sister’s polar opposite.

“How are you feeling?” Russel asked, drawing your attention.

“I… I feel okay, I guess. Just a little run-down.”

Kara placed a paw on your forehead, her touch gentle. “But how are you feeling mentally?” she asked softly. “You’ve been through a lot. It wouldn’t be surprising if you were close to a breakdown.”

You blinked, unsure how to respond. “Er… okay?”

Before you knew it, Felicia had taken your arm, carefully inspecting it. She ran her fingers along your wrist, pressing her thumbs gently into your skin. “It doesn’t look like you broke or fractured anything, so that’s good. But there might be some minor muscle damage.”

“Cause?” Kara asked.

“Extreme muscle fatigue,” Felicia replied.

“From a fight-or-flight response?”

“Most likely.”

Both cheetahs looked down at you. “How far did you run?” Felicia asked.

“Um... not sure. A few miles?”

“Did you climb at all?”

“Yeah, I climbed to the top of a building to get away from the police.”

“And when you dropped, how did you land? Did you twist anything?”

“I’m not sure, honestly. I actually fell through a skylight. I don’t remember much other than—”

“Wait, you fell through a skylight?!” Felicia interjected, wide-eyed.

“What did you land on?” Kara asked, equally surprised.

“I think I hit a shelf... It’s still kind of hazy—” Before you could finish, Kara started rolling up your shirt while Felicia continued inspecting your torso. They didn’t remove the bandages Mako had applied, but Felicia pressed gently against your ribs, conducting what seemed like a visual inspection.

After a moment, Felicia sighed and nodded to her sister, who nodded back before carefully rolling your shirt down again. “Thankfully, it doesn’t look like anything’s broken or fractured,” Felicia said. “And from the lack of blood on the bandages, I’d say you got lucky—no major piercings from the metal rods.”

“But the mental stress of your situation could be serious,” Kara added, her voice soft but firm. “You need time to rest, recover, and process what’s happened.”

You sat quietly for a moment, looking between the two cheetah sisters. “Are you two doctors or something?”

“I’m training to be a doctor,” Felicia replied.

“I’m studying psychology,” Kara added.

“That… explains a lot,” you muttered, slowly processing their roles.

Just then, Mako entered the room. “How’s he doing?” she asked, her eyes flicking between the sisters.

“Remarkably fortunate,” Felicia answered, standing up. “I’m surprised, but nothing’s broken or fractured.”

“Any signs of mental trauma?” Mako asked, turning to Kara.

“None that I can sense right now. But it’s too early to say for sure...” Kara locked eyes with you, as if peering into your soul. Eventually, she broke the gaze and looked at Russel. “What do you think?”

Russel scratched his chin. “I think we should ask the human for his opinion. It’s his welfare we’re talking about, after all.”

All eyes turned to you. You shifted uncomfortably in the bed before speaking. “I feel fine. Honestly, I’m a little anxious to get out of bed.”

“No way,” Felicia replied firmly.

You shot her a look. “Excuse me?”

Russel and Mako exchanged amused grins as Felicia explained, “Look, I’m glad you’re feeling better, but after everything you’ve been through—and seeing the bandages around your torso—getting up is the last thing you should be doing.”

“And don’t forget the police are still hunting for you,” Kara added. “Being outside isn’t an option, and whether you like it or not, you need to rest.”

“You can’t seriously expect me to just sit here,” you argued.

“Actually, we do,” Mako chimed in. “We saw your escape from Deluma on the news. Given how stubborn you seem, I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried to leave the moment we turned our backs. So, to make sure you stay safe, we’ll be watching you in shifts.”

You sighed, frustrated. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Then think of me as good company, because I’ve got the first shift,” Felicia said, her tone unyielding.

“And you do need protection,” Russel added. “Mayor Deluma isn’t going to wait for you to resurface. I’m sure she’s hunting for you as we speak. Even if you weren’t injured, you wouldn’t stand a chance against an anthro police officer.”

He was right. You barely escaped a pack of German shepherds the night before, and you’d almost drowned in the process. You were alive thanks to Mako and the others.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” you muttered.

Russel stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “I know it’s not ideal, but you’ll get through it. I won’t be around for a couple of days, but I’ll check in on you when I can.”

You nodded, offering him a small smile as he left the room.

A couple of weeks had gone by now. Your life at the moment basically consisted of being under house arrest with one of the four anthros watching you. They were very kind to you, they even went out of there way to spend time with you to keep you entertained. But no matter what they did, you were still in a prison.

Felecia called you into the kitchen where she was slipping a pair of shoes on. As you entered the kitchen she glances up at you with a smile, “Hey, I’ve got to run out for a second. I won’t be long, but i need to sign off on some paperwork for my schooling.”

“Okay,” You replied.

“So do me a favor,” The cheetah said as she stood up and approached you, “Stay. Out. Of. Trouble.”

“Yeah, no problem,” You replied.

“I mean it,” Felicia insisted as she stared you down.

“Okay, I promise I’ll stay out of trouble while you’re gone.”

“No answering the phone, no going outside and absolutely under no circumstances do you answer the door,” The feline warned.

You sighed in annoyance as you rolled your eyes, “Yes mom.”

Eventually Felicia relented before heading to the door, “I’ll see you in a bit.”

You heard the front door close and lock. This was actually the first time you’d been left alone since your arrival. You contemplated taking a look around the neighborhood, but quickly decided against it as you recalled Russel’s warning about the mayor.

You were about to turn the television on when you heard rustling in the bushes outside of the house. You carefully inched your way over to the source of the noise, which appeared to be a window on the side of the house where some shrubs had been planted in the back yard. You positioned yourself near the window with your back against the wall. You waited for the sound to come back, eventually you were rewarded as you heard whispering and more rustling as someone moved about in the shrubs.

You moved over to the back door. You looked up at the doorknob and lock which stood at about chin level to you, given that anthros tended to be much taller than the average human. “This is such a bad idea,” You muttered under your breath as you reached up and unlocked the door. You turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. The backyard stretched out before you, bordered by a wooden fence that was much higher than you were. You couldn’t help but think that if you ever had to climb a fence like that quick and in a hurry, you’d have a problem.

You waited to see if anything happened, but nothing did. You inched away from the house, your senses were on full alert as you scanned the yard. A few trees here, some bushes there... Nothing seemed to really stand out. Just as you finished that thought, something leapt out of the shrubs and began running at you. Your initial reaction was to turn and face your attacker. You got a brief impression of a black furred predator as you dove to the side to avoid the attacker. As you got to you’re feet you found that your attacker was a black fox. He had bright blue eyes and wore a navy blue t-shirt with denim jeans. You slowly took a step back and turned to look back at the door. However, you found three more foxes guarding the door. One was white and the other two were orange and red.

“I should’ve stayed inside....” You muttered to yourself.

The white fox looked to be female wearing a pink shirt and black jeans. She had brown eyes and long blonde hair that ran down to her shoulders. She looked at you with awe, seemingly stunned to see you.

The orange one had blue eyes with short black hair. She was dressed in a green tank top with a pair of tan shorts. She didn’t seem surprised to see you, but she was looking at you like you were her prey or something.

The red one was wearing green camo cargo pants and a black shirt. He seemed to be having a hard time believing what he was seeing. He blinked his eyes, rubbed them and stared at you as if he expected you to fade out like a desert mirage. When you didn’t he turned to the other two female foxes, “I can’t believe it! You guys see him too right?”

The orange fox sighed in irritation, “Yes Alex, we all see him.”

“I can’t believe it,” The white fox commented, “An actual human!”

“Why are you two acting so surprised?” The orange fox asked, “It’s not like I didn’t tell you about it.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been coming by for days now and haven’t seen a hint of him up until now,” Alex; the red fox replied, “So you can’t blame us for being skeptical when we didn’t see him and surprised when we caught him out.”

As they were talking you started to inch your way toward the fence line, hoping to get around the curious vulpine trio and into the house. It seemed that this particular group of foxes were teenagers, probably still in high school. Still, that didn’t change the fact that they had you cornered and you didn’t have a clue what their intentions were.

You’re movements were quickly noticed by the black fox who stood behind you, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Don’t be mean to him Hunter!” The white fox exclaimed.

“I’m not! But he’s scooting over to the fence line while you guys argue! You don’t want him to disappear again do ya?”

“No! But I don’t want to scare him either,” She replied as she approached you.

You froze up, not sure what to expect as the vixen drew closer. The size difference between you two was obvious. She was at least a good two heads than you. But you were an adult and she was a teenager. It was reasonable to assume that in another few years, she be just as tall as all the other anthros that you’d interacted with up until now. Her tail flicked excitedly as she got closer. She began to kneel when her eyes widened and you could hear the other fox running up behind you. Again, you dove out of the way. You could feel that he just missed you, the wind that rushed by as he overshot you position was enough to confirm that. You leapt up and started running for the fence.

“Don’t let him leave the yard!” Alex shouted. All of the foxes gave chase. You weren’t sure where to go. The fence was too high, and the foxes were fast. The orange fox dropped down to all fours before she launched herself at you with frightening accuracy. She had aimed herself low to take out your legs. Out of sheer reflex you threw your body over hers in a less than graceful flip. The landing was rather painful as you came crashing down on your side. You groaned as you sat up to find Alex and hunter leaping at you simultaneously from your left and right. Just like in a cartoon, you scrambled to your feet and made a haphazard dash out ahead of them just before the two anthros collided with each other. You could practically feel the shockwave as their skull crashed into one another.

The white fox approached you cautiously from the front, “I don’t want to hurt you, none of us do.”

“Funny way of showing it,” You grunted.

She seemed momentarily stunned that you had spoken to her, but she quickly composed herself, “You’ll have to forgive us and understand that some of us are a little... overly eager.”

“That’d be easier to believe if your friend wasn’t pouncing on me at the moment,” You replied as you observed the orange fox in the reflection of the glass back door running at you with her arms outstretched to grab you. You quickly lay down in the fetal position, causing the vixen to trip over you and stumble into her friend. However, that moment of success was short lived as you were hit from behind. You tried to stay upright, but there was no hope of that. You tumbled to the ground with the fox known as Hunter. You were able to break free from his grip as the two of you bounced along the ground, but you were quickly wrapped up in the white fox’s arms. She definitely wasn’t as strong as Mako, but she was stronger than you. Maybe not by an overwhelming amount, but her size over you made up for that, it was like trying to break out of a straight jacket.

“Now all of you calm down, I’ve got him,” The fox said as she locked her hands around her own arms to keep you from breaking her grip. You tried brute force at first, then you allowed your weight to pull you down in an attempt to slide out of her grip. In the end, you simply tired yourself out. The other foxes gathered around the two of you.

“I can see how you escaped Deluma’s custody. I don’t think we would’ve been able to catch you had it not been for the fence,” Hunter admitted.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” A new voice shouted. This one was feminine, but much older. Everyone, including you looked to the back door to find an orange fox standing next to a black fox. The orange one was clearly female. She had green eyes and long red hair tied back into twin ponytails. She was wearing a green dress with a blue apron tied around the front of her torso. She was much larger than the fox that held you. She was as tall as either Felicia or Kara.

The fox next to her had brown eyes and wore a grey button down, long sleeve shirt. His build was similar to that of Russel’s, though he was a fair bit smaller in comparison. He wore denim jeans and was a head taller than the vixen next to him.

“Mom! We found the human!” The Hunter exclaimed.

“Put him down Annika,” The mother ordered.

“But mom, he’s a human!” The fox holding you replied.

Her mother’s nose twitched indignantly, “Yes I can see that. Now release him.”

The fox reluctantly released her hold on you. Once free you scrambled away from the teenage vulpine and started for the fence line. You didn’t make it far though before the large black fox grabbed you by the arm. You looked at him, and then back to where he was. The distance he covered in such a short time span was unreal. He knelt to your level, his eyes scanning your body as he kept a grip on your arm. After a few moments, the fox stood back up, “He seems to be alright.”

The mother of the teenagers sighed in relief, “Thank god for that.” She then turned to her children, “What were you thinking!? You could have hurt him!”

“We just wanted to see him...” the orange fox muttered.

“So you broke into someone’s back yard, lured him out and attacked him?” The mother snapped.

“We should continue this inside,” The father suggested as he pulled you over to the back door. The mother nodded and motioned for her children to follow.

As you all walked in through the back door, Felicia came in through the front with a familiar female wolf in tow.

Felicia looked down at the four younger foxes with a quizzical expression, then to you with a frown. She sighed and ran a hand down her face, “I’m not sure what’s going on. I’m honestly not even sure I want to know, but we have bigger problems.”

“Hello Kiba,” The wolf spoke, “It’s good to see you again.” After hearing her speak, you were almost instantly able to identify her as Luna. You ran forward and hugged her, you were happy to see another familiar face and thanked her for her help. The large wolf knelt down and returned the hug, but soon after that her face darkened. “We have a problem, Deluma has stepped up her search. Her tactics have become more aggressive. She’s become impatient, police are going door to door and searching homes for you.”

“Then I’ll have to find a hiding spot,” You replied.

“It’s not that simple,” Felicia interjected, “They are tearing entire buildings apart. When they get here, and they will get here... they will find you if you’re still here.”

You sighed and ran a hnd down you’re face, “Okay... I’ll expose myself. I’ll make sure they see me and then make a run for it.”

“Are you insane?!” Luna barked.

“They can’t know that you were involved,” You replied, “If they see me, they’ll forget everything else and come after me.”

“But they’ll almost certainly catch you,” The female fox noted with concern in her voice.

“So I’ll run fast,” You replied.

“Even with a head start, they’ll still catch you,” The male fox replied.

“Maybe, maybe not... er... who are you?” You asked.

“My name is Alan, and this is my wife Serene. You’ve already met our children; Hunter, Annika, Alex and Tara.”

“Nice to meet you...” You replied pleasantly, “Now I’m going.” You turned to the door and found Luna and Felicia blocking your path with stern expressions darkening their faces.

“I’m not sure you understand the nature of the situation,” Alan continued, “We’ve all made an active choice to involve ourselves. You do not get to dictate our decisions for us human.”

“He is right though, if we stay here we’ll end up in a cell right next to his if they catch us,” Felicia noted.

“But we can’t all just leave...” Luna replied.

“I think I have an idea...” Serene mused as she put a hand to her chin.

It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door. Felecia answered the door to find Deluma standing with her arms crossed and a pair of police officers behind her.

“Mayor Deluma!?” Felicia exclaimed, “We weren’t expecting you! Um... to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Good afternoon,” The Mayor replied, “We’ve been looking for a human who seems to have quite the knack for evading me. We have reason to believe he’s in the neighborhood, would you mind if we came in and had a look?”

“Ah... well it’s not actually my house per say and I really don’t think-“

“Oh my!” Deluma laughed, “You don’t seem to understand how this works. I wasn’t asking, I was just being polite,” She smirked before nodding to the German shepherds. The two canines pushed their way past Felicia and into the house. Deluma gracefully strode up the stairs with a sly grin as she brushed past the cheetah, her tails calmly swaying as she entered the house, “We’ll only be a moment,” She commented as she passed, “Oh! And thank you for you’re cooperation~”