[OLD] Fast Food Furries Book 1

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking one. Ned Acorn had her trusty scooter and was skrrting in circles around her mom, Alba. Her deep fear of scooters wanted her to demand that Ned stop, but she and everyone else in the parking lot of Stinky's Sandwich Shop knew she wouldn't listen.

If only Alba could time it right, she could escape Ned's swirling vortex of scooter doom, but she couldn't manifest the courage. Instead she closed her eyes and waited for the metaphorical storm to end.

She did her deep breathing exercises that she so often did when Ned was on her scooter, but the attempt was largely futile. The scooter was squeaky and hard to ignore.

By the time the clocks struck two, Ned had gotten bored. She swerved off and abandoned her scooter just outside the front door of the diner and rushed in without her mom.

If she was this dreadful at five years old, Alba prayed Ned wouldn't make it to her teens

♦️ ♦️ ♦️

Ned coughed violently as she jolted awake. It was dark, and she couldn't see. Because it was dark. She scrambled around in the debris, the lacerations all over her body roaring to life with pain as the numbness of having fainted drifted away.

She figured out which way was up and assessed her current situation. Trapping her in here was a mangled slab of concrete, unbudging and solid. There was no way anyone could lift that.

Especially not a ten-year-old.

"Is someone there?" asked a voice from the darkness, startling Ned.

She couldn't decide whether to try to hide her presence or answer. She needed help, certainly, but the "people" of this city weren't exactly trustworthy.

"I don't know why I asked," the voice continued. "I can see you."

Dang, thought Ned. They must be one of the ones with night-vision.

Nervousness began to overtake her. "Please don't hurt me," she begged.

"Wh—why would I hurt you? Hey, I had a flashlight when the storm rolled in. It's around here somewhere, can you find it?"

Ned did as she was asked and began feeling around the concrete cavern. Luckily, her hand grazed over the handle of the flashlight, and she grabbed it.

She clicked the button, and nothing happened.

"Oh right," the voice said as Ned heard the sound of them smacking themselves in the face. "I was changing the batteries right when it happened. They're probably around here somewhere too."

Ned found the batteries and took another minute or so unscrewing the flashlight and putting them in, wondering all the while why the other person couldn't have done this themselves.

When the flashlight was ready, she clicked it on and immediately was unsurprised at her surroundings. Concrete and dust. She turned to face the voice and was frankly disturbed with what she saw.

Sonic the Hedgehog, his face splattered with a golden cream, wedged under a crumpled piece of concrete complete with twisted rebar, awkwardly waved hello. "Can you help me?"

Ned hesitated, but ultimately figured it was the right thing to do. She lifted the scraps away before grabbing a piece of protruding rebar and heaving the bulk of the debris off Sonic's lap.

He stood up and had a good look around their location as Ned did the same.

Then, a voice. Muffled through what must have been metres of smashed concrete and mangled steel, but a voice nonetheless.