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Age of Destruction
...I worry about you while you're gone.



The three days she was gone felt much, much longer to the young pooka, who had wandered aimlessly in search of her human bonded. She asked everyone she came across, and they all said roughly the same thing: they didn't know anyone by that name, hadn't seen anyone who looked like her, couldn't help her. Most had been quite surprised to be questioned by a creature like Enekpe; in more than one instance, she'd had to tell them to look down, please, she was down here! One person had offered to take her home with them, but she'd declined. One nice man named Colin had bought her a sandwich, and she'd accepted. He might have been fun to stay with for awhile, and a part of her had been tempted to ask if she could, but she couldn't lose sight of her mission to find her beloved bonded.

At last, unsuccessful and dejected, utterly exhausted from what for her had been a very long trek, she trundled up the path to the back door of the familiar house, the sight of which lifted her spirits just a little. As she approached, though paused for a moment and sniffed the air, little nose wriggling busily. Was that...did she smell cooking? Pizza? Could it be? Instantly refreshed, she scurried up the stairs and through the cat door, crying, "Anna!"

An answering cry of "Enekpe!" greeted her, and she was promptly scooped up and cradled close. "En, where have you been? I was so worried!"

"I was looking for you," explained Enekpe, trying to wriggle closer still. "You didn't come home, and I...I didn't know what else to do."

"Oh, En." Anna stroked the top of her head, between her small horns. "Didn't you hear me leave you a message?"

The little creature sniffled. "No."

"I'm so sorry, En. I should have left more than one. I'll teach you how to check them, okay? Just in case. But I think you need a bath, first...you're filthy!"

"But I'm so hungry!" the pooka protested, even as her human put her in the sink. "Can't we eat first?"

Anna chuckled fondly, turning on the faucet and testing and adjusting the water temperature until it was just right for her poor, precious little pet. "No, you know the rules. You have to be clean to sit at the table!"

"I could eat on the floor..." En drooped her ears when the bath started despite her insistence that she wanted to eat first, but she soon gave up. Besides, she was awfully dirty, and baths always felt nice!

"Now now, just be patient. We'll be done before you know it! How about you tell me what you've been up to, hm? You must have had quite an adventure, you silly thing."

"Well, it was kind of cool!" I met a lot of people..." As she proceeded to chatter on about where she'd been and what she'd done, time did indeed seem to pass more quickly, and before she knew it, she was not only clean, but stuffed full of pizza, and comfortably curled up on her favorite pillow for a well-deserved nap.

Week of Envy
Where do you go with your broken heart in tow?

Maybe she should have stayed in the house. Maybe she should have stayed where it was familiar, where it was safe, but she simply couldn't bear it. The smell of death, of rot, once practically unknown to her, was overwhelming, almost as much as the sadness and sheer loneliness. She had to leave - to get away, to try to find something to hold onto. There had been friendly strangers before, surely there would be now...someone like Colin, or even Colin himself, not that she knew how to find him. She could only wander wherever her longing and tiny feet took her, down winding and seemingly endless streets, until her legs ached with every step she took.

Should she go into the houses that lined these streets? The were still people in some, she could see them in the windows, but in others there was no movement. In others, there was that same death-smell. But the ones with the people in them...oh, she wanted so to be let in! And yet, for some reason, those nameless people made her angry. They had home, and family, and food, and she had none. It wasn't fair! Why was she lost and hungry, why was her Anna gone, when these people were still alive? Why couldn't they have died, and not Anna?

This inexplicable emotion, however, proved to be nothing in the face of her growing hunger. In the first week after Anna's death, she'd lived off of the food left in the house, but when she'd left, she hadn't even thought of how she would get food while she was gone. Finally, the wafting smell of food from one broken window was enough to move her to act. She trotted into the yard, the dead yellow grass crunching under her hooves and paws, and called up at what was certainly the kitchen, "Hello? Hello, are you there? I...I'm really hungry!"

A woman appeared in the window, looking angry, ready to tell this trespasser to go away, but hesitated upon seeing that it was an animal, not another human being. Just a fuzzy, completely unthreatening, cute little thing. Her face softened at the 'puppy eyes' it was giving her, and she sighed. "Alright, alright. Come around to the door, I'll let you in."

"Thank you!" Enekpe rushed to obey, and was brought into the house, where she enjoyed her first meal in what seemed like forever to her. More important still, she received attention. The woman - Lucy - listened to her, talked to her, petted her. And just when she thought it couldn't possibly get better, Lucy's friend came home, and he was nice too. After a short discussion between the two humans (which En could hear, although she pretended to be sleeping), they decided to keep her. She was adorable, after all, and who had ever seen such a thing? If they didn't take her, certainly someone else would, and they couldn't bear the thought of it.

She would be theirs.

Week of War
I hold a little tighter to my flashlight and the fighter inside of me.

After that, Enekpe had stayed away from the houses, from the people, although not too far. She had to eat, after all, and food was most easily found where there were people. She'd tried begging once, the day after she'd run away, but no one had wanted to give her anything. It was theirs, and she had better stay away! After hearing one speculate about what nice fur she had, she'd decided it was safer to keep her distance, and had had to learn how to scavenge for scraps. It was hard, and it was gross, and sometimes they made her sick, but it was that or not eat at all, and that was not an option.

But as that week had come to a close and a new one began, things got harder. She was not the only creature skulking around and stealing food. The humans were not much of a problem, preoccuppied with each other, but the other animals, they were trouble. They wanted the scraps too, and they were better-equipped to get them, or to take what she managed to find from her. Many had already been feral, and were infinitely more practiced in matters of survival; in all cases, they were far more dangerous. The dogs were bigger, and to them she was potential food. The cats were her size, but they had claws, and their teeth were much sharper than hers. The only advantage she had over either was flight, and it didn't take long for her to learn that turning tail was always the best option.

Eventually, she took to hiding instead. En would rather be safe and hungry than bloodied and still hungry. She found what she thought was a good spot, a literal hole in a wall, and had all but shoved herself inside it, finding herself in the space between floor and basement ceiling. There wasn't much vertical room to be had, and she had to squeeze in and crawl, but it was good enough for her. The pooka only emerged now and then to find water to drink, and maybe grab a morsel of something semi-edible if she could find it. These little excursions were as brief as possible, and she was always anxious to get back to her 'den,' as small and uncomfortable as it was.

Even this miserable peace, however, was short-lived. Returning from an expedition to the outside, En hunkered down to re-enter, and was only halfway in when she was met by a warning yowl, followed immediately by a stinging swat to her nose. The pooka yelped and backed out, staggering away from the hole.

"Oww," she complained mournfully, but had no time to do anything more. The cat, not content with driving her out, followed her into the open, intent on a fight. This once, the pooka did not run. She was tired of running. This spot was hers, and the stupid cat couldn't have it! En ran at her opponent with a yell, hoping at first to scare it off, but when the animal didn't budge, she ran headlong into it. She shoved it against the wall, knocking the wind out of it with the impact, with her solid little horns. The tabby was momentarily stunned, but was soon on its feet again, and a desperate battle ensued.

In the end, Enekpe got to keep her precious haven, and the cat left having been battered by tiny hooves, but En was covered in scratches both deep and shallow, and was left utterly exhausted. It was all she could do to crawl back into her hole, but it was still with the satisfied thought that this was hers, and she had won.

Week of Hell
There are no broken limbs or bruises, only the poor soul who loses his way tonight.

After losing her bonded, finding new humans only to be betrayed by them, having to defend her pathetic sanctuary from a would-be invader, eating bugs to survive and nearly being eaten herself by someone who once would have cooed over her, Enekpe was certain that her life couldn't get any worse. Every bad thing that could have happened to her had, and all that was left to do was wait for it to be over, but she was wrong. Her shelter had begun to crumble, bit by bit, and finally she had had to abandon it, fleeing a cave-in that would surely have trapped her had she not woken in time to escape.

Desperate and terrified, absolutely paranoid of being out in the open and sure that every shadow she saw out of the corner of her eye was something or someone come to eat her, she searched and searched for a new hiding place where she could stay safe from a world gone absolutely mad, but what little remained was claimed and fiercely guarded by others every bit as desperate as she. Now, now she thought, this was the worst things could possibly get, when she had nothing.

She was wrong again. As she skulked along, clinging close to the shadow of a crumbled wall in hopes that she would go unseen, she was seized by a pair of clawed hands and brought face to face with the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. It had the shape of a person, the key features, but it was horrible and twisted, with dark, cracked skin and sickly-glowing eyes, and a too-wide grin that showcased wicked, crooked fangs too large for its own mouth. Enekpe shuddered and quailed at the sight of it, breaking her days-long silence to shriek in pure terror.

The thing laughed at her fear, hands grasping her tight and claws digging into her skin. "What have we here," it cackled, "What sweet little morsel is this?"

"Let go of me!" En cried, flailing at her captor and striking it in the face with her cloven hooves.

The blow split the skin of its lip, but it did not bleed. It hissed sharply at her, squeezing her harder until she thought she might break. "It talks! And it fights. How fun! But you will pay for that, little morsel..."

The demon brought her close, holding her against its stomach with one hand, and used the other to clasp and smash the pooka's delicate brown wings, eliciting a cry of pain and horror. And then, one by one, as Enekpe sobbed and begged for it to stop, it plucked off her wings a crumpled segment at a time. "So much better than a fly," it said with glee while En shook and wept in its arms, "So much sweeter, such despair..."

In those moments, Enekpe was certain she would die, and even hoped it - she was done, she had had enough, let it just be over - but though she shut her eyes and waited, the end did not come. Her tormentor released her, dropping her to the pavement to land in a heap, and was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

En curled into a tight little ball and wept, wishing she was dead, wishing all her suffering was over.

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