I made my way back into the forest and circled around back towards the warehouse. I was annoyed, tired, and stressed. But Mousethief was right, I couldn’t stop a job halfway and the hiding out portion in the middle had dragged things out.

Now wasn’t the time to start thinking about my poor life decisions. Now was the time to kill everything. ‘Avatar,’ I mentally called out and Mes appeared. They were frying a dog head on a grill, I felt a bit sick at that.

‘User Mittens, planning to use your EXP now?’

‘No, point out the remaining dogs, so I can kill them as quickly as possible, please,’ I asked.

‘Hmm, can’t do that. And there is nothing boss level around here that I can see, so I can’t make an exception. Sorry,’ Mes replied.

‘Alright, that’s it then,’ I mentally thought, a bit annoyed and Mes disappeared. Taking a deep breath, I raced to the warehouse through the forest and then the fields. It was time to get this over as quickly as possible.

I heard a lot of crying as several dogs were sorting out the corpses. The two dogs with guns looked really young. But that didn’t matter. I pulled out my last gun and aimed it out of the wheat field. Four shots later, and both dogs with guns had collapsed to the ground.

I raced forward as shouts went up. One dog scrambled for one of the guns that had been dropped. I fired the last six shots and she dropped dead to the ground. My aim was terrible while moving. Only the close distance allowed me to hit her. Tossing the spent handgun to the side, I kept moving forward.

My claws extended, I had to force myself to not fall into a blood rage. Each dog I killed, more blood splashed down on the ground, my fur, and my paws. I wanted to kill. Kill more. One dog wielded a knife. I easily deflected it to the side and ripped half her head apart as she screamed.

I ignored the dying screams. They were nothing. I had a mission to complete, and creatures to kill. There were no dogs left near the warehouse. Looking around there were none left alive. I began to check building after building, but they were empty.

Checking an empty dormitory, I paused. I heard a slight cry from underneath the floor. I extended my claws on my hind paw and pulled back a dirty rug slightly. There was a decently concealed hatch to a basement level. I was about to open it when I noticed the children’s toys laying around. The red haze lifted slightly from my eyes and I trembled.

I was not the Covenant Church. I wasn’t. I was a good creature. If I opened that basement floor hatch, then I would have to follow through. “Well, that is probably all of them. If there were any left, they probably fled during the fighting and didn’t plan on returning. Since if they did, they would be tortured and killed,” I said loudly.

Stomping out of the building, I made my way back to the dirt road that was the only vehicle access to this community. Mousethief was outside the car, smoking some nip. I had smelled that on other kids at Wilbur Highschool.

“Really nip?” I asked.

“These missions are rough. You want some?” Mousethief asked.

“No. Cats can’t handle that stuff at all. It really messes us up,” I replied.

“Hmmm, well your loss.” He threw the half smoked joint away and we both got into the vehicle. He spun it around.

“Do you want to talk-“

“No. Let’s get going to the next mission,” I curtly replied, cutting Mousethief off.

“Well, good job finishing. No one left?” he asked me.

“No creatures that I could see. Too many, and they have been living there too long to make out any scents. Most of their fighters are probably dead,” I replied tensely.

“As long as you didn’t let anyone go, there won’t be any problems. Maybe some will slip away and join new communities,” Mousethief said.

“And their hate of the Covenant Church?” I asked.

“Will either fade, or they will die. Just like countless before them. It isn’t our job to question the missions, Mittens. What? You thought it would be all Apostates and Snakes?” he asked me. I looked away as he was driving a bit slower. Apparently, nip slowed down Mousethief’s insane driving habit. Who would have thought?

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I kind of did. I didn’t think there would be missions like this,” I replied.

“Get used to it. The Covenant Church are unrepentant bastards, but they pay out the credits and create stability. If those dogs sold bombs, it would destabilize the entire region,” Mousethief countered.

“I know. I know. I just didn’t really get it, alright. I just want to get cleaned up. How long till we are at the next mission?” I asked.

“This evening, no time for a shower unfortunately,” Mousethief said.

“What?” I asked.

“You can rest once we need to change cities. That is when you can do the paperwork. Work is piling up and you wanted to go at it like your father. Well, this is it, Mittens. Back-to-back missions. If you were faster, you could have gotten a nap.”

“I…I need a moment,” I replied, trying to hold back from crying.

“There are tissues in the armrest,” Mousethief said and opened it up with one paw. I pulled out several tissues. I blew out my nose, but I just felt miserable, tired, and sore. “Just throw them out the window, no one will care if you litter out here.”

I didn’t have the energy to glare at Mousethief. I tossed the dirty tissues out the window and then rolled it back up. I sat there in silence as I digested everything that had happened. This job wasn’t what I thought it would be in the slightest. Well it was, but it wasn’t. I was finally seeing the darkness of the Covenant Church for the first time.

I knew that Mousethief had killed ducklings while I had been fighting the three Apostates. All that HMG fire would have mowed them all down. I just never thought about it before. I had passed out and it wasn’t something I had to confront. I felt weak and stupid for not realizing this before.

Well, I had done what I thought was right, and the mission was completed. If the Covenant Church didn’t like it, I wasn’t about to tell them. I felt my heart firm up along with my resolve. I was tired, but I wasn’t about to lose myself to a blood rage or the darkness of the Covenant Church.

Once we got back to a paved road, I felt more settled after coming to the realization, I was in control of my life. No one else. “What is the next mission?” I calmly asked.

“Some sort of tree cult, a couple of towns over. It would normally be considered a kiddie cult, but I picked it up. So, get ready for some action. I also brough napalm in the back of the car in case you need to burn down a tree or two,” Mousethief replied.

“There are Ancestral Spirit Trees?” I asked.

“You never no. Tom Cat once killed an Ancestral Spirit Vine. Hence the napalm.”

“So what happened after I got off the motorboat?” I asked.

“Alerted the local guard. Went back to the city, returned the motorboat, and got the vehicle. The next mission and then some napalm. What do you think I do while you are off running and killing things?” he asked me.

“Oh. That is a lot,” I replied.

“It is. It might not be glamorous, but it is my job so you can do your job.” I nodded at this. Mousethief was right. I needed to be better, stronger, faster. I wanted to be the best. To chart my own path away from the Covenant Church. To kill the truly evil creatures, like the snakes that ate other creatures. I wanted my dad to be able to retire happily and safely.

Feeling sorry about my choices, or the difficult situations I was faced with, would just drag me down. I was a cat, I needed to be light on my feet. That meant leaving the emotional baggage behind. I made my decisions, and that was that. If some dogs got away and caused trouble, it wasn’t my problem anymore.

Time for the next mission. “Alright, this Ancestral Spirit Tree, then what comes after that?” I asked.

“Good to see you get your head into this. After that, we will regroup, and I will find the next mission in the area. Depends on how quickly this tree situation is sorted out. We already have a location, for this kiddie cult. We pull up, you kill them, I burn the tree down. Easy,” Mousethief said.

“Well, I will need food and a break to recover after this,” I replied.

“Well once this mission is wrapped up. We will go back to the container. You can rest up there while I figure out our next destination.” That was good to hear. I could really use a fresh fish right now and a shower.

“Thanks for the support,” I finally said to Mousethief.

“Not a problem Mittens. I know I was harsh. But I am busting my tail off here as well. Mousethief is the best, but being the best is hard work,” he replied.

“Well, when you get your island, you will have to invite me over at least once for a vacation,” I replied.

“Of course. Just wait, you will be cutting down snakes in no time,” Mousethief said with a slight chuckle.

I nodded at this. “Hopefully it is that easy,” I muttered. I closed my eyes and leaned my chair back. “Wake me up once we are half an hour out,” I said.

“No problem. You want music?” Mousethief asked me.

“Put on what you want. Nothing too loud,” I replied.

“Alright. Some Dirty Whisker,” he said and put in a cassette into the car. They were a punk band.

We're Dirty Whisker, a band of mice

Living life like it's one big heist

We sneak around, always on the prowl

In this world, we're just a bunch of small mice

We may be tiny, but we're loud and proud

Our music will never be drowned out

We may be undermice, but we'll never back down

Our songs will be heard all over town

Dirty Whisker, we'll never be tamed

Our spirit can never be claimed

We're punks, through and through

Nothing can stop our punk rock crew

We may not have much, but we've got each other

Together we'll fight and we'll never surrender

Our music is our rebellion

Against a world So raise your paws up high

And let out a mighty battle cry

We're Dirty Whisker, the punk rock mice

And we'll keep fighting 'til the end of our lives. That wants us to be silent

The music washed over me as I listened to it and dozed off. The beat of the music in the background washed over me as Mousethief drove to our next mission.