Rat and the world that she inhabits belong to me until some sort of medication can be found.  Lupa (who should have turned left at Albuquerque) is the property of VladimirsAngel and is merely holidaying in the area!

Autumn had descended upon the Necropolis.

Basically, this meant that that now the refuse that usually blew across the streets was now mixed with dead leaves as well.  People wrapped up slightly warmer, and walked with more care in the lengthening nights.  Other than that, everything was dragging by as normal.

Rat shifted in the warm musty dumpster and settled down to sleep.  She’d got used to many things since coming here; That there were worse things out there than her, that she was the only one of her kind living here, and that despite what her friend Luke had told her, Tabasco sauce was a bad thing to drink neat from the bottle.  Sleep came.

She woke with a start to a noise outside that was unfamiliar to her.  Different to the sirens and screams usually penetrating the filthy dark. 

It was a hum similar to one she’d heard before. 

Low at first, building to a high-pitched climax that made her ears want to burst.  And then, almost as deafening as the explosion she expected came the silence.  A dull bubbling sound like a bomb exploding beneath the ocean.

She stuck her head out of the dumpster to see what the source of the strangeness was, and there, at the end of the alley, built into the wall like it had always been there, was a door.

Rat climbed out of the dumpster and, eyes transfixed on the rather innocuous looking wooden door in front of her, brushed a burger wrapper from her shoulder.

She moved closer, jaw agape.

The door swung ajar and unbolted.  It looked like it had always been there, a part of the wall since it had been built.  There was even faded graffiti on it…and yet Rat was sure it wasn’t there a moment ago.  It had the look of a door that you see in very old walled gardens rather than is generally found in the back alleys of a city.  The wood was very old and carried remnants of a rather nice shade of turquoise paint.  The lintel was a thick piece of old timber that had been the home of many a happy woodworm, and through it was drifting the scent of a garden.

Rat edged closer.  Mist was rolling out of the bottom of the door in cotton candy drifts and evaporating when it hit the fume-laden air of the alley.  She reached out to push the door further open, checking over her shoulder for possible spectators but the alley was, with the exception of a few of her namesakes skittering about, empty.

So quiet.

Which was why she jumped do much when the door was pushed from the other side and someone walked out.

Rat leapt back and landed, wide eyed in a half crouch.  With hindsight, it was not the best position with which to strike a good first impression, but sometimes these things can’t be helped.  Her unblinking blue eyes fixed on the figure striding through, bringing the smell of fresh rain with it. 

The tall, long legged figure stood with its hands on its hips taking in the foetid alley in all its grim magnificence.  One of the pointed ears on the top of it’s head twitched at the same time as it’s tail and it turned to fix Rat with deep amber eyes.  The muzzle opened and it said:

“Is this Disneyland?”

The tall wolf woman regarded Rat with an appraising look.

“Well, you’re sure as hell not Mickey Mouse either, not again!”  She turned around and delivered the doorway a sharp boot “I’ll kill him when I see him…”

Rat remained in the crouch position and watched the annoyed woman in fascination.  She was tall, much taller than Rat, although at just over 5 feet tall, being taller than Rat wasn’t hard.  More unusually perhaps was the way she looked…

She certainly wasn’t ugly, far from it.  Her pale silver fur, long leg and wide feet had all the trappings of a Wolf from the snowlands.  Her elegant muzzle and well-furred tail smacked of good breeding in Rat’s eyes, and Rat was no clothing connoisseur but she could tell that the ones that this wolf was wearing were a lot nicer than hers…less holes for a start.

Rat once more stared, trying not to gape like a trout.

She had seen the shape before of course, in passing when her kind was going from one to the other.  They certainly didn’t go around like that…too much attention would be drawn to them if they went around like that…and there she was, muttering something about a mouse and kicking a door that wasn’t there a few minutes before.

“My Uncle always said I had a talent for getting myself into situations” Rat muttered to herself.

“What?”  Snapped the annoyed Wolf.  “And I suppose next you’re going to tell me that there isn’t even a souvenir shop?”

Rat shook her head.

“Great.  Another day wasted…” She looked around “Still, it could be worse…”

Rat raised an eyebrow

She looked at Rat “It could be worse, right?” Her ears flicked back briefly.

Rat shrugged.

She sighed and folded her arms “Alright then…where exactly am I?” 

“Most of call it the Necropolis” Rat’s voice was hoarse, partly due to shock, mostly due to the mixed emotion of finding another one like her…

“Necropolis huh?”  She sniffed “I can well believe it, the place reeks like a…” She looked at Rat and tilted her head to one side.  The edges of her mouth turned up in a small smile “Hello Wolf” She said.

“My name’s Rat” Ventured Rat, finally standing back on two legs.  “What’s yours Wolf?  And a word to the wise, don’t show too many people what you are round here, some of them spook easily.   And carry guns.” Rat rubbed her shoulder absent-mindedly.  “Are you from the mountain folk?  I don’t see many of our kind down here…well… none in fact except for you…. and how come you can walk through walls?”

“I’m Lupa, and I walked through the wall with the aid of a door” The other wolf laughed.

“Yeah but…”

“And no, I’m not from around here.  Now, as lovely as this place looks, I really should be off now.”  She turned with a whisk of her silver tail and headed back for the door…that was no longer there.

Her jaw dropped.