Trackstar Antelope

Trackstar Antelope Volume 5

Chapter 29: Sam Reveals All

Sam and I are now walking back to school from the Aerodrome Fields. I feel so tense. I'm on edge after the attack, but also tired from the race. A mixture of emotions flurry around my head as I walk back with a tiger right beside me. As we are about to leave, we hear someone calling for us.

"Sam, Jamel! Wait up!" We turn around to see the husky from our race. It looks like he has something to say.

"Jamel, there's something you have to know. You would have seen Ricky talking to me when we were walking back to get changed, right?" I nod slowly. Sam looks on, a bit curious. "Well, basically... he wanted me to help attack you. He thought that if I joined in as well, others would start, and you would be..."

Wow. Ricky really did not want me to get away with beating him. "Jamel, please forgive me. I should have spoken up or stopped him. I just..." He says as he begins to tear up. Who said that all carnivores are vicious, bloodthirsty monsters? Well, other than that weird alpaca guy from town.

"Uh... Hey. It's OK. I don't blame you. You did the right thing to avoid and ignore him." I think of ways to calm him down. "Um, I think you and the Border collie should have won. You were doing so well." I say encouragingly.

"Yeah... well. I'm still happy to see you go to the District Finals as well. To think I raced against the first herbivore ever to go to a District Final in the history of Werrina! Anyway, I better get back to the track. See you later, and good luck. I'll be supporting you all the way!" He says before he turns around and walks back to the ovals.

"Now, what is it that you were saying, Sam? Something important you wanted to talk about" I look up at Sam while beginning to walk along.

"Oh yes... Now, this is pretty serious, and I hope you don't think of me any differently, but... I'm going to share my past." He said sternly. His past? What could he mean by that?

"Now I understand that there might be a few rumours going around about my shy and very cautious behaviour, something about me being a killer. Well... They're not true... entirely." Entirely? Did he eat meat or not? Is there something else he's hiding?

"I... used to live in a small town called Yillanga, along the southern coast. When I was about nine or ten, there was this massive anti-carnivore movement that swept through... you might remember it" he tells me. I think I do, to be honest. But my parents might have more info on that.

"Anyway, they swept through the towns along the coast, spreading their propaganda. No one thought much about it at the time, until there were mysterious attacks happening around the towns. This group categorised us as "meat junkies" and "uncontrollable killing machines". It really pissed me off" he tells me. I can't imagine discrimination like that, especially labelled as a "potential victim"

"Throughout the entire region, there was only one university. There weren't many carnivores, but they were appreciated for who they truly were. Protesters tried to segregate them, but they were no match for the university... my brother, Ben, was also an advocate for equal treatment too. When he was 20, I was 12 years old... that's when we moved here" he explains. Weird, I never knew he had a brother. "He teamed up with an herbivore; a zebra. She and Ben were so well connected, and no one cared that they were a couple, which we know is taboo in some parts"

I notice he was happy to mention the zebra, but he's having trouble with this next part... here it comes

"O-one night, after a peaceful counter-protest... he went to visit the zebra in her dorm room to tell her about their success, but..." his lip starts to quiver. "H-he opened the door, and she wasn't there... the room was covered in blood, damaged furniture, claw marks on the wall... Ben panicked and broke down on the floor, crying. Some of the anti-carnivore protesters found him, and turned him into police... despite his friends saying he was innocent!"