New West IndiesBoard

Charlotte, Piedmont Province, New united carolinas

My name is Marie Padilla, and I'm one of three directors of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Animal Control and Care. You'd be surprised how many animals find themselves in areas they don't belong in a city this size. I've worked my way up through Animal Control for almost two decades now, so I've seen it all. Everything from Coyotes infiltrating apartment buildings, to lost black bears wandering some suburban streets, to snake dens being built school janitorial closets.

Of course one of the hardest parts of being part of animal control is when an animal becomes too dangerous to be kept alive. I've always valued the lives of animals as comparable to that of humans. However, society as a whole doesn't view it that way. Part of our job is to eliminate animals that have been deemed too deadly to remain around humans for any reason. This is generally very situational, and I've personally only had to do it once. It was a Racoon that was extraordinarily aggressive for almost no reason that we could find at the time. It had, however, broken through an open window of a house, with a family member who was vulnerable to the diseases Racoons tend to carry. It was simply too risky to neutralize such an aggressive critter in such enclosed spaces.

However, like most stories that tend to begin this way, I'd of course find something that's kind of unprecedented. It was a call from the Myers Park area concerning a Siamese cat exhibiting strange behavior. The cat had been completely normal only 2 days ago before it started tearing up the family's furniture, and walls. Somewhere along the line, it scratched their 14-year-old daughter so badly, she was currently in the hospital getting stitches. It was a deep wound. Shortly after that, the cat got out of the house by mistake, and that's when we got the call.

I sped over in one of my precinct's vans, weaving around the light traffic trying to get to the scene. Once I arrived, I was shocked to hear they had sent out a squad of officers, around four or five vehicles were already parked outside as if there was a manhunt for a serial killer. No wonder they had called me out here. This was certainly out of the irregular.

I put the van in park and quickly went to the scene director, who was currently scratching his head in confusion while staring at the house in question. It was the house the call originated from.

"Good evening officer. I'm Marie Padilla, a director from Animal control." I said, introducing myself. He instead gave me a weird look. I know CMPD officers and Animal Control officers weren't used to collaborating at scenes like this, but a proper greeting was still preferable.

"Ms. Padilla... what the hell are we dealing with here?" he asked. He sounded bewildered. I gave him a confused look.

"Slow down, I only just got here. What even happened?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation. I looked at the lawn to see what I presumed to be the family speaking to officers about the events that took place. The mother was crying waterfalls, while the father held her in his arms, attempting to translate her words through her immense sorrow. My heart dropped at the sight. What could've possibly happened with that house cat?

"Their cat went insane." The officer began. "It ran off not too far from here, maybe about a 300 meters away from the house. After that..." his voice trailed off as he took another look at the notes on his phone. He looked up and finished his statement. "The cat killed a deer. A full-grown buck."

Now it was my turn to give him the weird look. A Siamese cat reported to have been 8 years old, managed to kill a buck? How could this be?

"Pardon me...?" I asked. But apparently, the officer wasn't finished.

"The cat, according to some of the Animal Control guys managed to bite the deer's neck. The two of em' were in a neighbor's backyard. After the deer collapsed, the cat suffered a seizure and died alongside the deer. They put the corpses in that van over there."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Without saying goodbye, I walked to the van he was referring to. Less of a walk, more of a disoriented jog. There were two AC&C officers staring at the two bodies, analyzing what had happened. I interjected, trying to get a better look at them myself. Sure enough, the corpse of the deer laid on an animal stretcher, it's sides covered in deep scratch wounds. I took a look at the neck area and was surprised to see how deep the wound was! It was incredible! A cat with a mouth so small managed to make a tennis ball-sized wound in the neck, which was more than enough to cause intense bleeding. I quickly took a look at the cat. Its fur had become mangled, with twigs, dirt, and leaves stuck to its a body. It's the nose and mouth area was a deep red from its attack on the dear.

"Do you have any gloves?" I asked one of the two officers. One offered one to me without saying a word. Clearly, they were just as mortified as the officer I had spoken to earlier. I took the gloves and began to analyze the cat and the dear. The cat had actually lost its front fangs. If I had to guess, the bites were too big for the little guy, and he lost his teeth in the process. A cat this size wasn't made to take on an animal like a deer.

Other than that, that was the only damage to the cat I could find. There weren't even puncture wounds from the Deer's antlers. The cat just straight up had a seizure after attacking the deer? Talk about timing; it might as well have been a murder-suicide. I took another look at the deer, this time analyzing the wound in its neck and the scratches on the chest cavity. These weren't surface-level scratches, these looked comparable to a Coyote's. It was surprising considering how tiny the cat's paws and claws were. The more I thought about it, the more disturbed I became.

I took a step back. This was... indescribable. The only thing I could think of was rabies, but that disease had been eradicated decades ago. What I had just seen combined with what I had heard, it sounded almost like some sort of super rabies. That girl was... actually lucky to survive. I wonder why the cat didn't go to such extreme measures with its owner.

I quickly wrote these notes down on my phone. I had to report this to the Department of Wildlife and Environmental Protection. Surely they'd have to know about this. I began to wonder: were there any other cases like this in the country? On the continent? I wasn't sure, but I knew I had to take action.

New Raliegh, Old North Province, New united carolinas

Ariana couldn't sleep. She hadn't been able to sleep comfortably for weeks.

Things were going fine in the NUC. The country was just about complete with its recovery from the Hurricane, the military was stronger than ever, and the development of the New Provinces was going smoothly. But that's just it. That's what was going on in her own country.

What made her so anxious was what happened in the outside world.

Nationalist German Empire had completely decimated both Cymiopolis and Ventus Prime. In but a few months, her two greatest allies had damn near completely collapsed. And Ariana felt it was her fault.

It's funny how in historical wars, she and her peers were always taught that the good guys always came on top, like WW2 and WW3, the Korean War, etc. It was clear to see who was good and bad, especially in hindsight. However this war, this reality, it felt as if a darker timeline had just begun. The Carolinian Armed Forces might've not been as strong as the superpowers they could've faced, but dammit, at least she could've said she tried for them! Some considerable damage could've been inflicted. Yet would it be enough? Even if she sent the entirety of the Space Force, there would be no doubt that thousands of young soldiers would be killed in an instant. On top of that, there would be no doubt that the NUC would've become yet another puppet state of the NGE, a reality she could not even fathom. In the end, she could've helped her allies and failed trying, or helped her own people and preserve the dwindling amount of Democracy in the world for their sakes.

She hated the fact that such evil nations could still exist. How could such horrible people come to power? After all the past mistakes, you'd think humanity would've learned by this point, but to no avail. Have they not realized that actions like this have nearly caused the demise of the planet we all originate in? Hell, they even destroyed an entire another planet in this foolish power grab! The thought of this angered her. She wished she could obtain the power of whichever God's oversaw humanity, and destroy the entirety of NGE and its alliance in an instant. She wished she could reform Cymiopolis back into the unstoppable military powerhouse she grew up believing it was. She wished she could reform Ventus Prime, and it's equally immeasurable fleet. But alas it wasn't that simple. And once again she found herself between a rock and a hard place.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Homeland security had made it a point to accept the new waves of Cymiopolitan and Venutan refugees looking for a place to live. It was the least she could do for her allies in their time of need. This was actually the first major wave of backlash her administration garnered. People criticized her for not supporting key allies enough, something she too criticized herself for, and could not live down.

As she laid in bed, tears began to stream down her face. What if the people could see her now. The President of their country breaking down under the pressure of the unknown. But who wouldn't cry in a situation like this? She was afraid of what NGE would do next. Would they set their sights on the Carolinas despite her general lack of intervention in German affairs? What about her other key allies, some of which lay in the heart of Europe?

As she cried, she felt the warm embrace of her husband, Demarcus, who had heard her quiet sobs and woke up to comfort her. He kissed her neck and held her tight; a physical indication that things would be okay. Her lips quivered, and she quickly turned to face him in bed, burying her head into his chest. Her mind had completely shut off for around 2 minutes as it began a reset process.

Europe. Scherzinger. The counterthesis, yet unlikely ally of the New united carolinas. If there was anything the two nations had in common, it was their hatred for fascism. Scherzinger had helped with the Hurricane recovery crisis as well. Given the nation's close proximity to Nationalist German Empire, and how the country had managed its own against NGE despite the extreme distaste they had towards each other. The people of Scherzinger doubt, a fervent and heavily opinionated people. People who were completely set in their ways with no indication of changing. She knew that a Scherzingerian would rather choke on their own vomit then collaborate with an enemy. And that, Ariana knew, was the type of spirit needed to face such a belligerent power.

Like magic, Demarcus' hug had reactivated Ariana's presidential brain. Like clockwork, she began reformulating the foreign diplomacy between the NUC and Scherzinger. The ultimate plan was to find a way to encourage the liberation of Cymiopolis and Ventus, whether it be through diplomacy, supplying rebels, or sheer force.

No longer was NUC going to be a pushover nation. Ariana hated war, always has. But the NUC had a particular spirit or code that it has utilized since it's inception.

It is common knowledge that the Palm Tree is a staple of the New united carolinas. The Palmetto Republic, as it has been dubbed, has been sprinkled with various species of palmetto trees for decades in order to solidify this fact, and their growth has been facilitated by the subtropical climate that slowly transitioned over the old southern United States.

Palm Trees have evolved to survive the rough hurricanes that have plagued the region for decades. Their long and flexible trunks allow them to bend with the wind, so they do not collapse as easily as a normal tree would. After some time, the trees would straighten out, their root systems becoming stronger during that phase. That is what made the Palmetto Tree so important to Carolinians: it's the ability to bounce back after being knocked down. Not only that, but it comes back stronger than it was before.

The hurricane knocked back the NUC as a whole. As a result, the country had to rebuild, losing key allies in the process. Now it was her time to come back, stronger than ever.