"How many times have you heard about a macro wolf attacking a city, prancing about, and one normal [i]always[/i] lives that tells the tale of the attack? How many times has the attack been by a wolf? And how many times has the normal that survived been portrayed as an 'average Joe', with nothing special about them that is for some reason suddenly able to think clearly in a panic? They always are dominated by the macro; in fact, most of those stories you hear are from normals that macros let go after using them as some sort of play toy. Does this sound familiar to you? Would this say this annoys you some? That all the news ever carries about macros are stories like this?" "Well you better get used to it, because that's all your going to be hearing on the news about macros for a long time. Spare, possibly, my story. It fits some of the criteria for breaking news commentary drivel, but, in life, not everything is as the news wants it to be." Charles stated in a deadpan tone as he stared straight into the camera, his jaw set, he looked as if his face was carved of stone. A sad statue was he, but damned if he was going to show that on national television. He dropped his face of stone and mask of extreme solidity once the camera swung up to the vixen reporter who was already chatting up the underground news anchors, answering questions about the attack, smiling to mom at home. When he looked over to the small group of tech-minded dragons, most were looking at the screen displaying which channels had been hacked into and which were still in the process. He grimaced and motioned for one to come over to him, which the confused green dragon did. "How many are you into yet? There's no point to keep rolling if we don't have any viewers." Charles managed out. The dragon frowned and looked back to the panel, then up into the back of his head to calculate the number of viewers on the channels they had at primetime. He mouthed out numbers as he calculated, only slightly moving his finger up and down, as if counting something invisible, before he declared confidently, "We currently have 48 million views and more channels are coming on in a few minutes." before he walked back to the others, leaving Charles stunned. 48 million with more on the way... Charles watched the dragon walk away then turned to see the camera again fixed on him. He was about to push it away before the overeager vixen reported practically shoved her microphone up his nose. A few glances up to the vixen, then back to the camera Charles took the microphone slowly, arching his eyebrow, and began to tell his story. [center]***[/center] Charles looked up to see the sun glistening reflection off the towering skyscraper that rested diagonally across the street. He stared at it for a few moments, taking it all in, until the bus he had been waiting for pulled up to the curb and flung its doors open. He waited for the others to board before stepping up and swiping his pass through the card reader, just like every other good citizen. He nodded to the bus driver who closed the doors and started to continue the route as he looked down the aisle for a seat. Charles saw no open seats, but there was an anthro gopher female sitting in the back. By law he could force her to stand up and take her spot, but Charles wasn't a bigot. He walked down the bus and took a standing position two rows ahead of the woman. The gopher saw Charles, a human, board the bus and expected to be pushed out of her seat. When the man didn't do force her to move and instead stood she started to fidget excessively. If he hadn't seen her, then keeping her seat could land her in the slammer, or worse. She looked at her drab brown dress; it blended into the brown seats, nothing she could say that would make her stand out. The inner debate was finally decided when the bus made its next stop, but not by her. The unibrow toting man with a briefcase wore a permanent scowl on his face, and when he saw the other man standing with the gopher sitting, his scowl deepened. He swiped his card angrily through the reader and moved swiftly to the rear. Charles saw the man staring straight at the gopher as he maneuvered through the crowded aisle. A quick glance back at the gopher revealed a detail he had missed, she had a splint on her left leg. She couldn't stand long if she wanted, and that was just what this perma-scowl man intended to make her do. Charles took the initiative and placed his hand in the man's way. When the man turned to scowl at him Charles sized up the man. Finding his voice Charles returned the man's scowl with equally sharp words, "I don't think so. Can't you see that she cant stand if she wanted to?" When the man glanced down at the splint his scowl turned to a pointed grin. He looked back up at Charles and replied, "I do," before he pushed past Charles to force the woman from the seat. Charles was about to spin around and grab the man by his shoulder when the rear end of the bus suddenly disappeared from his sight. There wasn't any time to gasp before all other sounds were drowned out by the sounds of buckling metal. Charles was thrown back into other stunned passengers and landed on his bum. Within seconds the buckling metal was replaced by crunching metal accompanied by a diminuendo of popping and squirts. Charles looked to see a giant, grey, furry wall where the man and gopher had been. On the ground lay the briefcase, still attached to the man's arm. The other hand had apparently unclasped the case and was reaching in when he died. Charles crawled forward to look at the contents of the briefcase, he figured if he was going to die in a few moments that he could at least see what was in there. The briefcase offered no resistance to being opened, and to Charles's disbelief, was filled with medical supplies. The second had been clasped around a handful of cards; it looked as if he was going to give her free medical care. Charles stared at the hands when the furry wall again made itself known. The crunching sound returned as Charles scrambled back into the confused mass of humanity. He looked up to see a massive paw vacate the area, the underside of the paw was already liberally covered in a red paste of blood, to which were added small bits of glass and metal. The others in the bus locked their eyes on the paw and followed it as it disappeared. Once it did a general "phew, that was close" spread throughout them. Only Charles was scrambling to escape, it would seem, in retrospect, that he was the only one capable of rational thought. Charles made a mad dash out the rear end of the bus, jumping over the mangled mess of scraps and people to relative safety on the sidewalk, which he noted was already clear of bystanders. He gazed at the pair of paws that occupied most of the inner city street before him. He followed the paws up the legs, up the torso, to the cutting eyes of the macro wolf that they were attached to. Charles knew enough from the training classes in school and the stories to know that his life was about to meet a bloody end. He was about to beg for his life when he noticed that the eyes were not staring at him, but rather at the bus. Glancing back and forth from the wolf to the bus the implications slowly came to him. As he opened his mouth to warn those on the bus the wolf reached down and grabbed the bus by its front. A violent shake sent passengers flying. Most landed close by, relatively unharmed, and an unlucky few were sent flying down the street, the landing was sure death. The wolf dropped the bus to the ground and smirked as he slowly crushed the remainder of the bus. The screams of those that had clung to the seats in hopes of survival reached their peak and slowly died off. Those that were still alive gawked as the bus was pressed into the ground. The others didn't fare as well as Charles. The wolf quickly turned from the bus to the main group. A woman holding her baby was first. Her screams of terror seemed to entice the wolf as he pressed one of his toes to her face and pushed her down to the ground. Permanently. [center]***[/center] "I looked away. I couldn't force myself to look at her, but I heard her." Charles recounted solemnly as he closed his eyes and let a tear roll from his cheek. "The sound of two lives extinguished... No person should ever have to hear that sound and live" [center]***[/center] Charles, and many of the others, finally came to their senses and finally decided to run. Those who could run did, those who couldn't, tried. Looking back, Charles tripped and saw the wolf moving deliberately from person to person. Each time the person would see a shadow above them, the wolf would wait for them to spin around, and when they did, they were met with the final sights of their lives. A scream, then he would move onto the next one. The speed at which the people on the bus died was nearly unbelievable, even with his consistent pausing for the people to look up, he worked the crowd quickly. Scream, thud, rinse, repeat. Charles eventually realized that there was no way to outrun the wolf, so he decided to play dead. A nearby corpse allowed him to roll around nearby and coat himself with blood. Once done he lay down nearby, and closed his eyes. The screams and pleas for life finally ended with a last, significantly more violent, crushing sound. Pavement giving way, and bones breaking in to tiny splinters. Charles heard the wolf sniff the air, and dared a peak. It stood nearly above him, glancing to the left, the head of the most recent victim stared at him, eye wide and skull broken in, its mouth agape, the ghastly image engraved into Charles retinas. While glancing Charles noticed the wolf lowering its head and sniffing suspiciously at him. The wolf finally decided that he was dead, or decided to spare him, and moved on. One problem though, as he lifted up his left foot to move away he stopped mid-stride and slammed it down on Charles' bottom half. The sudden cut-off and pain caused Charles to scream out in pain, but the wolf was already leaving and seemed to not notice him. [center]***[/center] "I've been told that the force and speed at which it happened was what kept me from loosing too much blood." Charles concluded, "In fact, if the cameraman would zoom out so you can see..." Charles muttered as the camera moved back to show his bottom half a pulp in the ground. Unknown to the crew or Charles, that moment in time when the then hacked global feeds simultaneously syndicated him image, would be later called "the moment the world gasped." The vixen moved the microphone from Charles and finished the communication, "This has been the 'World Alert News Group', live. This message is available online at our website, which you see on the screen now." The cameraman hit a button on the camera and aimed it down, the dragons started to frantically pack the equipment while the vans scrambled into place. The vixen crouched down and whispered to Charles, "Thank you so much. This is going to make a huge impact in laws for decades to come." Charles smiled and replied softly with a request. She stood up, nodded and walked over to one of the vans, and stepped in. Moments later she padded out, walked back over to Charles, and handed him a gun. Charles smiled and asked for her to look away.