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You let out a sigh. You weren’t an animal whisperer or an empath like Abe, so your only option was to take this squirrel’s gestures at face value if you wanted to figure out what it was that they were trying to tell you.
<span class="mu-r">“Alright, alright. I got it. Thanks for the heads up.”</span>
You were about to swing off in the direction she’d pointed you in, but a sudden outburst of frantic squeaking locked you firmly in place. The squirrel was jumping up and down, thrusting her arms towards you.
<span class="mu-r">“You…want to come with me?”</span>
She nodded with her hands on her hips, clearly satisfied with your quick understanding of her situation.
<span class="mu-r">“Are you sure? It’s probably going to be dangerous.”</span>
The female squirrel confidently puffed out her chest and cheeks and struck a heroic pose.
You couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
<span class="mu-r">“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”</span>
You offered her a hand, and she quickly clambered up to your shoulder and sank her claws into the suit’s fabric to anchor herself.
<span class="mu-r">“Hang on.”</span>
As carefully as you could, you pushed off of the tree and fired another webline at a nearby building. By now, the other Pixel Punks had noticed your presence, and some tried to shoot you out of the sky. None of them were quite good enough to manage it, though. You strained your spider-sense to account for the passenger on your shoulder, not wanting anything to happen to them.
A particularly close plasma bolt managed to singe some of the fur off her tail, and you heard a terrified peep leave her mouth and you swung around the corner of the building to give yourself some cover.
<span class="mu-r">“Sorry. Trying my best here.”</span>
The squirrel waggled her fist at you and chirped angrily.
<span class="mu-r">“I’ll pay for you to visit a hair stylist after this is all over. Deal?”</span>
The squirrel’s tone changed markedly at that, and she began rubbing at your face and squawking gently as you made your way towards your destination. But the closer you got, the more you realized that your new friend hadn’t been exaggerating in the slightest.
Perfectly square, smoldering holes had been cut out of the walls of this building. And as soon as you entered through the open door, you saw clear signs of a struggle. As far as you could tell, there wasn’t anyone left to rescue here. But if they were, they were most definitely in hiding. From what you remembered, this was ESU’s engineering department building. Most of the students should either be hiding in their dorms, staying off-campus, or are stuck in their classrooms. Anyone left here probably would’ve been working in a lab before the attack began, or are just here to take shelter from the turf war taking place outside.
(Cont.)
