Eli was panting heavily as he ran through the subway. Normally he was quite claustrophobic, and being in the subways would've reduced him to a nervous wreck. However, he was so desperate to get away, that he pushed the fear into the back of his mind. He had ditched his pursuers a while ago, yet still he ran, knowing that they would keep looking for him. He clutched his right side, feeling a sharp pain, but still he kept pumping his legs, making sure to avoid the third rail.

"THERE HE GOES!!! GET HIM!!!"

How'd they catch up? he wondered as he continued to run, the pain in his side getting worse. His breathing was ragged, and he could hear their steps and taunting voices getting closer.

Is this it?! Eli thought with hot tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, he saw a door that he figured was for maintenance workers, open just ahead of him, and it had a lock!

Just a little further! Eli thought as he pumped his legs even harder than he had previously. He got to the door, slipped inside, and engaged the lock. He even found a deadbolt, and quickly locked that too! Then he covered his mouth to silence his breathing, and listened with his ear to the door. He suddenly heard their footsteps quickly run past the door without even slowing.

Please don't let them find me! he thought. Hoping that they would just continue on, he felt around for a light switch. Not finding any near the door, he felt around the other walls. Still not finding a light switch, he did discover that the room he was in was much bigger than he had previously thought. He started feeling his way in the darkness down what he now believed was a long corridor. He then spotted a light further up ahead and began to make his way towards it. He stopped dead in his tracks, however, when he heard the knob of the door he had just come in through start to rattle.

"I bet he's in here!" came a muffled voice. Soon the sounds of someone kicking the door were heard, and Eli started to make his way to the light even faster. He looked behind him as he heard the door be busted in, and saw five dark figures with flashlights enter the small room. They flashed their lights around, searching the room. Their gazes just sliding over the dark hall Eli was still running down. Unbeknownst to Eli, all they had seen was a solid wall where the opening to the tunnel he was currently running down once was.

"Alright, he ain't here! He's around somewhere, and when we find him, we're gonna let him REALLY have it!"

"Yeah!" the other four cheered excitedly.

Eli was puzzled as to why they weren't chasing him down the hall, but he didn't stop. He kept going, the light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter and brighter. Eventually he emerged from the tunnel into a busy intersection beneath an overpass. Eli was now even more confused, and turned to look at the tunnel he had just come out of, except that it had disappeared completely. It was just solid concrete now. He felt the wall, trying to see if maybe it was just a trick of the light, but it was just a solid wall.

Eli turned to take a better look at his new surroundings. The buildings were in odd shapes and sizes, and that went double for the cars passing by.

Are some of those remote controlled? Eli wondered as he saw one of the really small cars pass by. He looked inside, and saw a mouse in a suit and tie driving inside. He looked at some of the other cars, and saw all kinds of different animals driving, all dressed in clothes. It was just as a family of tigers passed by in a minivan that he snapped out of his trance.

Eli quickly made his way to the crosswalk, and flipped up his hood. His side was still hurting, but he ignored it in an attempt to not stand out. He pressed the button at the light, and was soon crossing. After he had crossed the street, he kept his head down while he walked. He passed by several animal people, all of whom stopped and stared at him. Eli noticed this and continued to walk with his head down and hood up. It wasn't until he had walked a few blocks that he started to hear sirens. He immediately ducked down an alley. He heard the siren stop as a car pulled up nearby.

He hid behind a dumpster as he heard the sounds of two car doors open and then shut.

"Just try to take this seriously Nick! Several witnesses claimed to have seen a shady guy in a hoodie covered in blood! This could be really dangerous!" a female voice whispered exasperatedly.

"I seem to recall us getting a similar report last week." said a laid back male voice. "And that ended with us questioning some poor old badger who spilled lasagna on his shirt."

"This could still be different!" the female voice said.

"Alright, carrots, alright." said the male voice. He heard the two start to get closer to his hiding spot, while Eli tried to make himself as small as possible. In doing so, the pain in his side flared up, causing him to make a sharp intake of breath.

"Nick! Behind the dumpster!" the female voice whispered, just barely loud enough for Eli to hear. He tried to run, but he was already so exhausted at this point that he only managed to flop over face-down on the pavement.

"Hands where I can see them!" he heard the female voice say authoritatively. Eli complied by placing both hands on the back of his head. His side felt like it was on fire now, and he let out a low groan. He looked up to see a gray rabbit, and an orange fox, both in police uniforms, with two dart guns pointed directly at him. They both looked at him with what was pure shock on their faces.

"Uh carrots? You ever see anything like this?" the fox asked.

"No......I haven't." the rabbit said as she slowly put her gun away. Then she looked him up and down and gasped.

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"Call an ambulance!" she said to her partner, who immediately whipped out his radio to do just that. The rabbit looked him over, her eyes full of concern.

"Don't worry, we'll get you to a hospital ASAP!" she said, gently putting a paw on Eli's shoulder. The moment she did that, Eli broke down and started to cry. He couldn't make himself stop. Then he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around his neck, and gently hug him. He saw that it was the rabbit cop.

"I promise, everything's gonna be alright." the rabbit said while hugging him.

"The ambulance is just around the corner!" the fox said, and Eli could hear the siren. He then blacked out with the rabbit still comforting him.

Later...

Eli slowly opened his eyes, to see that he was laying on a hospital bed. He felt very weak, and quite tired still, and assumed that he was drugged. The door to his room was slightly ajar, and he could hear voices.

"I'm sorry officer, but I have absolutely no records of any kind of Animal like this one! I have no idea as to what to call it!"

"Him!" he heard the voice of the rabbit cop. "Whatever he is, he's a person!"

"Easy there Judy, I'm sure that the good doctor here meant no offense by it." the voice of the fox said.

"Yes. It was honestly just a slip of the tongue officer."

"Fine, but how's he doing?" said the rabbit, named Judy.

"Well..."

"Is it bad?" Eli heard her voice with a tenderness that immediately started to make him tear up. He forced the emotion down, and listened more intently.

"We were able to stitch up his side. We determined that he had been slashed with a knife. There were also a few more stab wounds near the area, but those were actually minor."

"So he was attacked?" the rabbit asked.

"Yes... but not just from the stabbings."

"What do you mean?"

"We also found evidence of previous injuries. Broken bones, bruising, scarring... wherever he came from, he's had a really rough time of it. What's more, after several different examinations from several different doctors... we have all come to an agreement that the patient is just in the early stages of adolescence."

The was an audible gasp. "He's just a child?"

"Yes officer... a child that has seen a very long history of abuse."

"When will he wake up doctor?"

"He should be awake shortly officers. If you would like, you could wait in the room he's sleeping in."

"Thank you doctor." the rabbit's voice was already getting closer. Just as the door started to be pushed open even more, Eli quickly closed his eyes tight. He heard the sound of a chair being dragged over next to his bed.

"Thanks Nick." the rabbit said to the fox.

"Anytime carrots."

Eli was surprised by the feeling of two small paws gently take his hand. He just laid there for a few moments, his mind slowly becoming less foggy, all while the rabbit gently stroked his hand. After a few more moments passed, he opened his eyes.

"Hi there!" the rabbit said happily. "Can you understand me?"

Eli nodded, making the rabbit smile more.

"Can you tell me your name?" she asked, excitement in her voice.

"I'm... Eli" he said quietly.

"It's nice to meet you Eli. I'm Judy, and this is my partner in crime fighting, Nick." Judy gestured to the fox, who was currently sitting in a chair with a pair of aviators on, sipping from a styrofoam cup. He casually waved.

"Now, we just spoke with the doctor, and you're going to be just fine!" she said.

"However... we're going to need to ask you some questions. I know that maybe you're not in the mood to answer them, but that's all I'm asking you to do right now." Judy said, her eyes pleading.

Eli thought for a moment, and then nodded his head.

"Alright." Judy said as she clicked a carrot shaped pen and flipped open a notepad. "Eli, what's your full name."

Eli took a few moments before answering.

"It's only Eli..." Eli said while looking down.

"Just like Gazelle." Nick said while lowering his shades.

"Nick hush!" Judy scolded him before turning back to Eli.

"Alright... we'll just leave that blank for now." she said as she scribbled some more in her notebook.

"Okay then... um... what are you?" she said, clearly feeling awkward for asking the question.

"I'm a human." Eli said while looking down.

"Hu-mann" Judy said, testing the word.

"Uh... okay..."

"So... who attacked you?"

Eli remained silent for a minute, still looking down.

"A... gang... from the orphanage..." he mumbled. Judy's ears drooped and Nick also took more of an interest.

"You're from an orphanage?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Yes... New Paths, New Homes Orphanage." he mumbled.

"New Paths, New Homes... got it." Judy said, her eyes still showing concern. "So... how old are you?"

"I just turned thirteen."

"Where... do you come from?" she asked him.

"Somewhere where humans are the only dominate life forms." Eli said.

"Wait... do you mean?" Judy started.

"I think that I'm now on a different world than the one I was on earlier."

Everyone in the room was silent as this new piece of information sank in.

"Huh." Nick said. "I always thought something like this would involve little green mammals."

Judy shot him a withering glare, and he just held up his hands in surrender.

"Eli....are you saying that you're an alien?" Judy asked seriously.

"... I... guess I am." he said.

"So... how'd you get here?" Nick asked, now up and walking over to stand by Judy.

"I don't know." Eli answered. He then began to relate to the two officers everything that had happened from when he was running away from the gang in the subway to how he had stumbled out here on this world to how they had found him hiding behind the dumpster.

"Wow... and here I thought that the Night Howlers being flowers was a bit of a stret-OOMPH!" Nick said before Judy elbowed him.

"Eli..." Judy started, "The doctor said that after having you tested, he found a lot of signs of... past abuse... did this happen back at the orphanage?"

Eli stayed silent again. Then he looked up and nodded. Judy looked at him, tears in her eyes, and just hugged him again. Eli sniffled, and held back his tears. Nick rested a paw on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Judy broke the hug to finish scribbling in her notepad.

"Okay then... I think that's enough questions for now Eli." she said as she clicked her pen and put the notepad away.

"So... what happens now?" Eli asked, his voice making a slight croak.

Judy took his hand in hers again and looked him dead in the eye.

"First, you're going to get some rest, and then later some food. We're going to start to enter you into our system, and then we're going to see about finding a place for you."

"Will it... be another orphanage?" Eli asked, dread creeping into his voice.

Judy looked him right in the eye. "Eli, I promise you, things are going to be different!" she said firmly.

Eli nodded, though doubt being deep seeded into his mind.

New world... same promises... same rules, Eli thought.

Judy gave him one more hug, and Nick ruffled his hair. Both briefly made him smile.

Maybe...

They all exchanged their goodbyes, and the two officers left the room.

Eli laid in the hospital bed, and thought about what just happened. A zebra nurse came in carrying a tray of food. She nervously said hello and set the tray up for him, and then quickly exited the room, actively keeping her eyes cast down.

I guess I'm pretty weird looking to them. Eli thought glumly as he looked down at his food. It was some kind of soup, with a side of crackers, and a pitcher of water. He took a spoonful and tasted it, immediately grimacing.

New world... same hospital food.

Eli took a few moments, and started to eat more of the soup. He was pretty hungry. In a short while, Eli had finished the soup, and poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher on a table next to his bed. He then noticed a remote, and saw the T.V. on the far wall. He turned it on, and started to flip through the various channels. He stopped on a news channel.

"Once more, we are showing you this amateur footage of a strange being sighted, taken away in an ambulance by two members of the ZPD!"

Eli was amazed at what he was seeing. It was himself, unconscious, while a bobcat EMT had him loaded onto a stretcher while Judy and Nick were saying something to the driver. The footage was then stopped as a giraffe anchor woman appeared on screen.

"So far, the ZPD has not released any information as to what this being is."

At least she's not calling me a creature.

"They have issued a statement that the being in question has been taken to seek medical treatment, and that he will be questioned at a later time. Which hospital he's been taken to has been withheld. Leaving us to wonder, is this being a new undiscovered species of animal? Is it an alien? And why was it injured? We here at ZNN will keep you up to date on this story as it unfolds."

Eli switched off the T.V.

Eli rolled over in a huff. He started to feel sleepy again, and let out a yawn.

She just had to call me it! he thought as he drifted off to sleep.