“Wai da fuk it smeww wike ded Fwuffies in hewe?”
Jonathan glanced over towards Scarlett in the passenger seat, a curious and angry look on her face. He sniffed the air and caught a whiff of decay emanating from somewhere in the car.
“Well this is my brothers car, and he often took his work home with him, so it’s likely something got stuck in somewhere, I’ll gut it out once we find a place to rest up.”
“Gud, cos it smeww wike shit in hewe.”
Jonathan smirked, it had been just over a day since he met Scarlett by chance and he was enjoying her company. Granted she was still a Fluffy and he was still iffy about them, but her general Fuck You demeanour made her so unlike any Fluffy he’d ever met, save for perhaps her father.
He was beginning to understand why Josef enjoyed Crimson so much.
Jonathan gazed out of the window, in the distance he could see the dawn sun rising, it had been a long journey, and was even longer still until their destination. In a way it was easy for him to leave, he had no home, no belongings save for the few items he carried in a duffle-bag, he had even sold his rifle to a pawn shop to get a little extra cash-flow behind him. But in another way, it was difficult, back in his mad bomber days he didn’t mind venturing out into the world because he knew he had Josef or – as a very, VERY last resort – his parents to keep a roof over his head, now he had nothing, nothing keeping him in this city but nothing worth returning too either.
He had travelled further than this before, but this was the farthest he’d been from home without the intention of returning.
He glanced over at Scarlett, surprised that she was still awake. “It’s late, so late that it’s early now. If you wanna take a short nap I’ll wake you when we’ve stopped.”
“Scawwett am ok, nu am tiwed.”
The yawn she gave told Jonathan otherwise, he reached over to turn on the radio.
“Here, why don’t we find something relaxing to help you nod off.”
Jonathan pressed the on button and immediately the car was bombarded with heavy guitars and thrashing drums.
STEP RIGHT UP, MARCH, PUSH! CRAWL RIGHT UP ON YOUR…
Jonathan quickly turned the radio off. “Fuckin Joey and his edgelord bullshit.”
“Dat nu fukin wewaxin Jon.”
“I know, I know, forgot this was Joey’s car for a second. Hold on, let me see if there’s anything else.”
Bypassing the CD player, Jonathan fiddled with the dial, listening into to a bunch of stations until he found a low-key guitar strum that suited him just fine.
Well I’m a crawling king snake baby, crawl up on your door.
Scarlett’s ear perked up at the easy, bluesy rhythm. “Wha am dis? Scawwet wike dis.”
“This? This is the blues, well more specifically blues-rock but it’s close enough for me. My wife got me into the blues back when… well anyway, it’s much more my style than whatever that last song was.”
I do anything I want to baby, crawl up on your door.
Scarlett eyed Jonathan suspiciously, this wasn’t the first time he had mentioned a wife than immediately changed the conversation. But she was too sleepy to question him on it, instead she just nodded along to the rhythm as her head slowly lowered down onto the car seat and she drifted off to sleep. Jonathan watched her nod off and turned the music down just a little so as not to wake her.
There was still a long way to go, she could use the rest.
“Scarlett, Scarlett wake up.”
“WHA? Scawwett nu knyo whu num da babbeh, Scawwett… wha da… am we dewe awweady?”
Jonathan chuckled at her groggy confusion. “Not yet, I just stopped for some food, you want anything?”
“Jon got Fwuffy nummies?”
“Do you mean food for Fluffies or Fluffies AS food?”
“Da second wun.”
“Nope, sorry. I might be able to find you a sausage roll though.”
“Da fuk am a saw-sige woww?”
“It’s processed meat wrapped in hot bread, won’t be Fluffy meat but… actually, I’ve not looked into the economic climate since I broke out of prison. There’s a chance some of it might be Fluffy meat, either way it should hit the spot.”
Scarlett pouted for a moment, disappointed she couldn’t eat any Fluffies, but she quickly realised she wasn’t getting a better option so she shrugged her shoulder.
“Ok, wet’s twy saw-sige woww.”
“Glad to hear it, you want me to carry you?”
“Wike poopies. Yu nu touch Scawwett, wha am Scawwett, a fukin wittew bawkie-munstah?”
Jonathan smirked at her. “No, but how are you gonna climb out of the car if I can’t touch you?”
Scarlett peered over the driver’s seat and through the open driver’s door, the drop wasn’t much for a human, but for a Fluffy it was dangerous, if not outright lethal. And Scarlett knew this.
“Shit. Awwight, awwight, dummeh Jon can cawwy Scawwett, bu jus tu da gwound, anee mowe an Scawwett cwy bad-speciaw-huggies.”
“Duly noted.”
Jonathan reached into the car and picked Scarlett out of her seat, he briefly thought about messing with her but they still had a long way to go, no point pissing her off now. So he gently placed her onto the concrete car-park.
“There, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?”
Scarlett grumbled but Jonathan picked up a reluctant ‘Thanks’ amongst her mumbling. Together the two of them made their way into the rest stop; it was a run-down little place, held together by spit and hope. The stone exterior looked about 20 years too late for a refurbishment, the windows faded by sunlight to the point where not even shadows could penetrate their foggy appearances, and graffiti reference topics from before Jonathan even went to prison had been half-heartedly scrubbed then left as a reminder that nobody cared about this place.
It was a dump, but it was all the duo had at the moment.
Jonathan opened the front door, immediately the harsh florescent lights, combined with the dull greenish-grey tones of the walls and floor, gave both him and Scarlett a headache. There was a sour stink in the air that Scarlett picked up on immediately.
“How da fuk du dis pwace smeww wowse da da cah?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think I want to know. You still want to walk by yourself?”
Scarlett looked onto the laminate flooring, a thin, oily sheen covered the floor, the intended shiny effect marred by old crumbs and loose hair.
“Scawwett fink can make ek-cep-shun. Jus dis wunce.”
Jonathan chuckled as he picked Scarlett up, letting her sit in his arms in a somewhat dignified manner before stepping further inside. Almost instantly Jonathan noticed they were the only people in the store, he expected there to be no customers given the state of the place and it’s awkward location, but there was no cashier either, no-one to take orders or guard the place from shoplifters.
Why anyone would want to shoplift here he had no idea, but apparently here was free for the taking.
Jonathan got the cashier till and looked around, nobody anywhere around there either.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
From the back corridor, an older woman’s voice piped up. “Just a… goddamn it, fuck off ya little rat-bastards… just a minute.”
After some battering and sounds of slamming doors, the women appeared, she looked to be about early 60s, skinny and pale but surprisingly energetic, with a wide smile on her bony face, thick glasses on her face and a mess of a bird’s nest for her greying hair.
As she got to the till counter, Jonathan glanced at her name badge, it read ‘Sandra’.
“Hey there, welcome to the Slop Stop, you folks from outta town?”
“We that obvious?”
“Well you’re here for one thing, and ya gots yourself a little pal there, most folks round here don’t go for the little critters.”
“Trust me, neither do I usually, but Scarlett here’s a little special. Say hello Scarlett.”
“Fuk yu.”
Sandra jumped a little from the shock of hearing a Fluffy curse so casually, then she burst out laughing. “Hoo boy, ya weren’t kidding, that is one special Fluffy alright. Hot damn, if I had more like you round these parts this place might be in better shape.”
“What do you mean?” Jonathan asked curiously.
“Ah it’s the location sonny. We’re the last stop for supplies for about 20 miles, so most folks who want rid of their Fluffies but don’t have it in them to kill them just dump ‘em round here. At first it weren’t too bad, just dealing with some whiny little bastards asking for food, but then one of them decides he’s smarter than the rest, gathers them all together and starts demanding food, shits on anyone who refuses to give into his demands. After a year the place got a reputation and the business dried up, a year after that, the other stores sold off their lots and left, I’m the only one still here.”
“Wai yu nu gu tuu?” Scarlett asked.
“Maybe cos I’m old, maybe cos I’m stubborn. Maybe cos being the only store still open means the few customers I do get like y’all don’t have anywhere else to go. Or maybe it’s cos my late husband opened this shop and I’d feel like I was pissing on his memory if I sold the place just cos of some pain in the ass Fluffies. Besides, I’ve almost got enough saved away for the exterminators to take them away, that should help a little.”
Jonathan looked around the store, his wish for a hot meal disappeared the moment he stepped into the rundown mess, but he had spotted some name-brand packs of sweets and crisps, if nothing else a few snacks would tide him and Scarlett over until they found their next meal.
“I got a proposition for you, I’m not very liquid at the moment, we’re kinda living out of the car at the moment. If we help get rid of those Fluffies for you, how’s about a discount?”
Sandra’s face lit up. “Well shit son, you get rid of those little bastards, I’ll let you have your supplies free of charge, within reason of course.”
“Of course, we’re only looking to stock up on some light snacks for the road.”
“Wha bout saw-sige woww?” Scarlett asked, looking up at Jonathan.
“Do you really want to eat a sausage roll from this place?”
“…Gud point.”
“Besides, if we’re getting rid of some dickhead Smarties, maybe you could afford a nibble on one or two.”
Scarlett’s face lit up with thoughts of brutal murder and tasty flesh.
“Awwight, Scawwett on boawd.”
“Excellent…” Jonathan smirked as he picked up a box of matches. “…Let’s do this.”
Sandra led the pair out of the front door and around to the back of the shop. “Now thankfully we don’t got that many, most of the Fluffies abandoned here were families, either a pet stallion or mare who ‘done the deed’ and were left here as a pair. The Smarty gathered up all single Fluffies into his herd but the families all ran off to protect their kids, last I counted there were seven of them still here.”
As they rounded the corner, Jonathan heard the Smarty herd before he saw them, and he smelt them before he could hear them. Sure enough there were seven of them, four stallions made a semi-circle around the back door, clearly the Toughies of the herd due to their expanded muscles, one green earthie, one blue Pegasus, one orange earthie and one black unicorn. Two mares sat on the outskirts, one a lilac unicorn with a white mane, a pregnant belly and a superiority complex judging by the stuck-up look on her face, the other mare a monochrome brown earthie, already whimpering and crying from the Smarty’s banging on the door.
The Smarty himself was in the centre of it all, smacking his hoofs on the back door, trying to get someone’s attention. Jonathan eyed him up and felt a little disappointed at how basic he was, a red unicorn for a Smarty, how daring.
“Fucking Smarties, why are they always red?”
“Hey, Scawwett am Wed Fwuffy, nu am wittew dik Smawty.”
“I said all Smarties are red, not all red Fluffies are Smarties.”
“Scawwett knyo wha heaw.”
Jonathan shushed her and they moved in closer to the herd, the Smarty kept smacking on the door, he probably wouldn’t stop until he got hungry.
“Dummeh hoomin, wet bestesh Smawty in, gib bestesh sketti nummies fow hewd an tummeh-babbehs ow Smawty gib wowstesh sowwy-poopies.”
Sandra turned to Jonathan and Scarlett. “He says that, or something similar, pretty much every day. I’ve seen them on the camera waiting on me to open up, but I just give it an hour and they get bored enough to wander off. Still gotta be quick taking the bins out mind.”
The trio moved ever closer, getting close enough to see the shit-stains on the herds backsides before one of the Toughies noticed they were even there. The black unicorn tapped on the Smarties back, trying to get his attention.
“Gu way dummeh, Smawty twy git hewd sketti nummies.”
“Smawty, hoomins am hewe, an dey hab own Fwuffy.”
Intrigued, the Smarty let up on his door knocking and marched in front of his herd, puffing up his cheeks to try and intimidate the intruders.
“Dummeh hoomins, dis am Smawty wand nyo. Gib bestesh sketti nummies ow Smawty gib yu aww foweba sweepies.”
Scarlett grimaced at the Smarty’s demands and looked up at Jonathan. “Am dis kunt fow weaw?”
The red Smarty immediately locked eyes with Scarlett. “Yu, dummeh mawe, yu pawt of hewd nyo. Come wiv Smawty ow Tuffies gib wowstesh bad-huggies.”
“Fukin twy it coksuka, dey come neaw Scawwett and Scawwett wip off their wittew diks an beet dem tu foweba sweepies wiv dem.”
The lilac mare gasped and shook with anger. “Yu am bad Fwuffy, say wowstesh meanie wowds wound tummeh-babbehs, speciaw-fwiend, gib hew foweba sweepies nyo.”
Suddenly the Smarty and all four of his Toughies started to inch forward, all of them readying themselves to attack, only the brown mare seemed frightened. Scarlett turned back to Jonathan.
“How yu wan du dis?”
“Well, we could do it the way my brother and your dad did it, where we slowly and methodically destroy them all mentally and physically until there’s nothing left but blood stains. Or…”
“Ow wha?”
Jonathan pulled out the box of matches from his pocket and let one up. “Or we do things my way.”
Without any pomp or flair, Jonathan tossed the lit match at the Smarty, instantly he went up in flames, his Fluff igniting like paper as he started running around, screaming and shitting from the agonising pain.
“SSSSCCCCCCCRRRRREEEEEEEE!!! WOWSTESH BUWNIE HUWTIES, NU WIKE, NU WIKE! HEWP SMAWTY, HEWP SMAWTY!”
The Toughies all looked round in shock at how easily this human had reduced their fearless leader into nothing. The Smarty ran around the back alley for just over a minute before blindly crashing into an errant skip and knocking himself out, his body still burning him to death.
There was a beat of shocked silence as the rest of the herd gazed in horror at their dead leader, a beat broken by the brown mare escaping towards safety.
As soon as she moved, Scarlett took the opportunity and pounces, crashing into the green earthie and tearing out his throat, robbing him of any final words out of his blood filled mouth.
The other Fluffies tried to escape, but they were too scared and stupid to do anything but run in circles. The black unicorn thought the best escape was between Jonathan’s leg, but that just allowed him to easily grab the idiot by the tail and hoist him up.
“Pwease, nice mistah, nu huwt Fwuffy, am gud Fwuf…”
Jonathan didn’t give him the time to speak, instead he whacked the unicorn against the edge of the open skip, bisecting him at the waist. His top half landed in the trash heap moments before Jonathan tossed in his bottom half with him, it would take him another 2 minutes before he finally died.
The blue Pegasus run over towards Sandra, jumping up and resting his dirty hoofs on her shins. “Nice wady, sabe Fwuffy, be nyu mummah an hewp Fwuffy nu gu foweba sweepies.”
“You want me to be your new mummy?”
The Pegasus nodded, smiling widely as Sandra scooped him up, believing his life was finally changing.
“No.”
And before he could even register his rejection, Sandra lobbed the Pegasus at the wall, his brain crashed into his spine which crashed into his hips which blew out of his asshole in a violent display of blood and shit.
While Jonathan dealt with the final Toughie, the orange earthie, by stomping on his head, Scarlett turned her attention to the lilac mare, she was waddling away but too heavily pregnant to get very far.
“Dummeh tummeh-babbehs, hewp mummah gu fasta, nu wan munstah tu git…”
Scarlett bashed into the mare’s fat side, knocking her onto her back where all she could do was waggle her legs helplessly in the air.
“HEWP, SUMWUN HEWP, MUNSTAH HAB SOON-MUMMAH!”
“Nu-wun can heaw yu, yu dummeh kunt. Yu am aww awone nyo.”
The mare shit herself as she stared up as Scarlett’s demonic grin.
“Pwease, am soon-mummah, nu huwt tummeh-babbehs, jus wan be mummah.”
Scarlett grin grew wider and she licked her lips. “Scawwett WUB soon-mummahs, yu wna knyo Scawwett’s favouwite fing bout soon-mummahs?”
“Wha?”
“Nummin deiw babbehs.”
The lilac mare could only scream as Scarlett tore into his stomach, ripping open flesh and muscle until she could dig his snout in and start pulling out her unformed foals, chewing on them right in front of the bleeding dam. She would watch Scarlett chew and swallow four of her brood before she finally bled out and died.
Scarlett dug her nose in deeper, trying to find more unborn foal to chew on, when she heard a whimper coming from her left, she looked up and saw the brown mare, cowering behind the dumpster, covered in tears and shit as she tried to cover her eyes, hoping that the bloodstained monster wouldn’t see her if she couldn’t see it.
Scarlett smirked and moved in closer, ready to tear this one to shreds as well, but as she got closer she noticed a lot of things off about the mare’s appearance. Even by the filthy standards of a feral herd, the brown mare was disgusting, her Fluff caked with dirt and shit, not only around her backside but up her back and even some stuck near her face. There were cuts and bruises all along her body, mostly situated around her face and the back of her neck. Most notably of all, despite her face being rather skinny and malnourished, there was a bump in her belly, not as pronounced as the lilac mares, but enough for Scarlett to recognised that she was pregnant.
Although since none of stallions claimed her a special-friend, Scarlett could guess the level of consent that led to her pregnancy. Even still though, she hid with her back to Scarlett, her soft belly hidden from view as though, in some vain attempt, that would save them.
Scarlett lost all wind in her murderous sails and took a deep sigh before turning and leaving the brown mare alone. She returned to Jonathan and Sandra, both wiping the blood off their clothes and dumping the bodies in the skip.
“Jon, dewe am mawe oba dewe. She nu am pwobwem, jus a scawdie wittew dummeh, nu point gibben hew foweba sweepies.”
Jonathan was taken aback slightly, considering Scarlett’s similarities to her father he expected complete annihilation, it appears he was wrong.
“Are you sure? What should we do with her then?”
“Da fuk yu ask Scawwett fow? Send hew to shewta pwace, take hew inside tu be fukin shop Fwuffy, Scawwett nu fukin cawe.”
Scarlett kicked the ground and stormed off. “Scawwett wait by cah, huwwy up wiv nummies an wet’s fukin gu.”
Jonathan watched Scarlett leave before turning back to Sandra. “Well that was unexpected.”
“Seems the little lady’s got something on her mind, might be worth talking to her.”
“I dunno, I’m not the best at talking to folks, can’t give out sage advice when I’m a tad fucked in the head myself.”
“Maybe so, but she’s trusted you enough to come this far with you, perhaps just talking is all she needs right now.”
“Perhaps, I’ll see what I can do with her later. Until then though, what you want done with that mare?”
Sandra waved off Jonathan’s concerns. “Leave her, if it’s that brown one like I think it is, I’ll take her in, clean her up and drive her to a shelter after closing. Give the poor thing a second chance.”
Jonathan followed Sandra back inside to discuss payment, he took a final look back at the aftermath of their work, and he wondered if second chances really were for everyone.
A short while and a bag of snacks later, Jonathan returned to the car, finding Scarlett laying by the driver’s door, chewing on one of the cooked legs of the dead Smarty. But even eating the burnt flesh, her mind still seemed miles away.
“Hey.” Jonathan smiled at her. “You ok?”
“Nu wan tawkies bout it.”
“You sure, it might help you to get this off your chest.”
“Scawwett tawkies bout it wen Jon tawkies bout speciaw-fwiend. Yu fink Scawwett nu notice? Yu tawkies bout hew, bu den yu awways tawkies bout sumfing ewse, wai Scawwett twust yu wiv finkie-pwace huwties if yu nu twust Scawwett.”
Jonathan took a moment to process what she was saying, but then he silently sat down beside her, resting his back against the car. He said nothing for several minutes, just letting the silence wash between them both.
After a moment, he spoke. “My wife is dead Scarlett, her and my son. They died… god must be 12, 13 years ago now. And until recently I blamed Fluffies for their death, it’s a long, complicated story and I promise I will explain it all to you someday but the important thing to know is that I blamed Fluffies for their death, I STILL blame Fluffies for their death in a way because for the longest time I was trying not to accept that it was my own fault they died. I held onto that lie for so long that it became truth, a poisonous truth that fuelled a toxic hatred and I took that out on any Fluffy I saw. But it took one of my closest friends, one of my only friends, to tell me I was full of shit and threaten to hate my guts for me to finally start accepting the real truth, that my family’s death was an accident, that blaming myself or blaming Fluffies is just misplacing my anger because I couldn’t accept how simplistic the truth was, that shit just sometimes happens.”
Jonathan took a moment, emotionally recovering from his confession, when a though hit his head and he started chuckling. “You want to know the funny part?”
“Wha?”
“After Ted convinces me that I need to sort my head out better and stop hurting Fluffies for the crime of existing, the very first Fluffy I meet just happens to be the daughter of my brother’s pet. I don’t believe in a higher power Scarlett, I can’t after what I’ve been through, but shit like that does make me wonder.”
Scarlett was silent, her mind racing with concepts she didn’t fully understand. After a moment she kicked the half-chewed leg away in frustration.
“Scawwett nu undastan own fukin finkie-pwace.”
“That’s alright, you work it out and when you’re ready, I’ll be here to talk with you about it. Now come on, we best get moving.”
“Howd on, Scawwett need git weggie bak fow nummies.”
“You know that’s just gonna make the car smell like dead Fluffies even more, right?”
“Dat sound wike a yu pwobwem.”
Jonathan laughed as he picked Scarlett up and placed her in the passenger seat. With their friendship now formally set in stone, the two of them set off towards their new future together.
