Bloody Savannah:
Shortie by Lone Wolf
Ashley Williams "Origins" series

~Gimme a light~

	Savannah has always been a respected collegue. The lioness is a very 
shrewd, very tactful young woman who is deadly if you cross her. She doesn't 
like confrontation, but will definately get all up in your face if you fuck 
around with her. It's a constant joy when I hear there's a mission that she 
needs my help to take care of.

	However, she has one tradgic flaw - Rhye. No, she is not a user. 
Otherwise, she wouldn't be a member of the Hunters. As a matter of fact, 
she's the exact opposite case. She hates it with a passion and will stop at 
nothing to see that the last stalk is burned to ashes. Her story of how she 
came to the Hunters should be enough to explain it.

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	My name is Savannah. I am a child of the Rhye. I can remember my 
parents using it as far back as when I was only a child of five. It was the 
same case with my brothers and sister. One by one, they got hooked on the 
foul plant. They would spend every spare cent they had on obtaining the few 
blossums and stalks they craved. I was the only one who was clean. I 
constantly felt alone.

	My tale is of how I lost most of my family, my innocence, and part of 
my ear to the foul plant.

	The air was slick with the scent of smoke when I got home from school 
that day. That was usually from my brother, Tyrone. He was the smoker of the 
family. He was also the only one in the family who could cough and hack 
"Karn Evil 9" unintenionally. I found him and a group of his loser friends 
sitting around the living room. "Hey Sava," he said. "How's it going?"
	"Fine," I muttered as I started for my room.
	"When are you going to take me up on my offers?" He was always 
offering to share a puff of Rhye with me. I wasn't about to let that happen.
	"I already told you, I don't want to. Please just accept that."
	"You really should try it. You don't know what you're missing."
	"Believe me," I muttered. "I do." I walked past him and his little 
click. One of them chuckled and gave me a pat on my rear. Seconds later, he 
was tasting my fist, as well as Tyrone's. "Don't you DARE touch me like that 
again," I growled at him.
	"Jesus!" he sputtered. "Sorry." I frowned, turned for my room, and 
slammed the door shut.

	I put my books down on the chair by my computer and threw myself on my 
bed. It was my daily routine. I was going to spend a good ten minutes 
recovering from the walk home. Why did I need to recover every day? I was 
living in one of the small "Rhye colonies" that dotted the landscape of the 
country. The only ones not hooked on the stuff were the dealers and a few of 
the clean citizens, such as myself. That number of Cleans, as we were 
nicknamed, was always thinning. My ten minute rest would be enough to keep 
me from falling from my clean state.
	"Hey Savannah," a weak voice called to me from the other side of the 
room. "How was schoool?"
	I rolled onto my back. "It was fine, Joyce." Joyce was my big sister. 
She was a snorter. She ground the plants up into powder and pulled a cocaine 
on it. It did the trick for her, but it left her constantly weak after she 
came down from it. She must have just hit bottom as she spoke to me. "How 
was your day?"
	"Oh...fine. I think I need another hit, though."
	I sat up and looked at her. "Why do you do that stuff, anyway?"
	She shrugged. "I don't know anymore. It's just so routine for me." She 
took a deep breath. "I really wanna quit sometimes..."
	I smiled. "Don't forget, I'm always here to help." That's why I 
admired my sister. She was the only one in the family that was sane. She 
wanted to get off of it. But, for some reason, she never could. The pains of 
withdrawl were often too much for people. We've had many suicides because of 
it.
	"Yeah." She came over - slowly, might I add - and gave me a hug. 
"Thanks sis."

	Dinner was always interesting at my house. It would always be the six 
of us around the table for take out. It never changed. Tyrone, my mother 
(who popped the rather expensive Rhye pills), and my father (the shooter. 
Rhye seemed to make excellent solutions with water) were always on one side, 
while Joyce, my other brother (who was still too young to use the stuff), 
and I sat opposite them. It was always quiet, too. It was the one time when 
they weren't high.
	But it was a Friday night. Our evening meal was usually interrupted on 
Fridays by a guess I didn't like at all.
	"Good day people," his foul voice called out as he came in our front 
door.
	"Rex," my father called back. "Where have you been? Our supplies are 
drying up."
	He stepped into the dining room doorway, all 6 feet of pitbull, decked 
out in his gang's colors. "I had to go deal with some other clients who 
weren't paying up." I winced. We'd be hearing about this the next morning in 
the newspaper. "So, what can I do for you and your fine pride today?"
	"Just our usuals," Tyrone said.
	"Okay." He put his dufflebag on the table, purposely in front of me, 
and opened it up. "For the Ty man..." He reached in and pulled out a bundle. 
"Twenty stalks." He handed the bundle over. "For the lovely Joy...." He 
handed her a smaller bundle. "The lightweight five stalks and five 
additional blossums." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
	"Ah..." She handed him the bundle. "Can I just...have the full stalks? 
I really don't feel like the buds this time around."
	He nodded and removed them. "I understand." He smiled. "Trying to 
quit?"
	"Y-yeah." She looked at me with a smile.
	"Okay." He pulled a medicinal bottle from his bag and handed it to my 
mother. "Here's your stash, beautiful."
	She smiled. "Oh you!" She gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek.
	"Thank you kindly, Miss. Hey, Jonsey." He tossed a couple of liquid 
filled vials to my father. "Will that do you fine until the next time I pay 
a visit?"
	"Oh yeah," my father responded as he caught them. "What's the damage?"
	Now came the reason I hated Fridays.
	"Nothing at all...provided..." He tuned to me and caressed my cheek. 
"Your daughter-"
	"Don't start with me Rex," I said, pulling a wad of cash from my shirt 
pocket. "Here's the money. Keep the change and leave me alone."
	"Just one night. That's all I ask."
	"No. Just take your money and go."
	But tonight he decided he was going to be a little pushy.
	"Nah, baby. I don't want your money. I want you." He leaned in closely, 
trying to steal a kiss.
	That's always been a fatal mistake for men who've dealt with me.
	"No!" I brought the palm of my hand clean across his face. He reeled 
back a bit, touching his face. He frowned and brought his fist across mine, 
causing me to fall to the floor.
	"Rex, calm down," my father said, standing up. "She didn't mean it."
	"Don't you ever hit me, bitch," Rex growled, getting ready to kick me.
	I'm very rarely violent. But if you keep pushing me....
	I looked up at him, tears starting to cloud my eyes. "Get out!" I 
jumped to my feet, grabbed the broom that we always had near the table, and 
started to wail on him. "Get the fuck out of this house!" He wanted to move 
to strike back, but I was enraged. All he could do was grab his bag and make 
a hasty retreat for the front of the house. I wasn't about to let him go 
that easily. I chased after him, beating him down with the broom. Eventually, 
he got onto our porch. It was there I bashed him in the back of the head. He 
tumbled down the stairs, but leaped to his feet and took off into the late 
evening. "Don't you ever let me catch you near here again, you understand?!" 
I knew he couldn't hear me. He was long gone.
	Joyce came over and tried to calm me down. "Don't worry," she said 
softly. "It's all over now." I tried to catch my breath, watching an omnious 
black jeep that was parked across the street start up and move away.

	Joyce and I were in our room when it all started to collapse. She had 
put the Rhye aside for the evening, now convinced that, for my good, she 
should quit. It was around eight when we heard the doorbell ring. My little 
brother, who was an adventurous child, went and answered it. He then said 
the three words that I didn't want to hear:
	"Hiya Unca Rex!"
	I stood up quickly. "No..."
	"Hiya sport," I heard Rex say clearly. Then there was a scream and a 
gunshot.
	"Rex!" my mother shouted. "What are you-?" There was another gunshot.
	"No!" my father screamed. Joyce and I got closer to the door to 
listen. There was a short scuffle and another gunshot.
	"What's going on?" Tyrone said, exiting his room. He walked down the 
stairs a bit before the shock hit him. "Mom! Pop!" He fell silent for a 
second. "No Rex...not me. Don't shoot me. I didn't do anything. Please, 
don't-" Another gunshot ended his sentence, and his life.
	"We have to get out of here," Joyce said. We started to the window. It 
was a long drop, but it was better than waiting for Rex. We were getting 
ready to throw it open when the door flew open. And there was Rex.
	"You go on, Savannah," Joyce told me. "I'll be fine." She turned and 
tried to rush the pitbull. But she was still weak from her last hit of Rhye. 
She was easily thrown aside. I tried fruitlessly to open the window. But Rex 
pulled me away from it.
	"I'm gonna have my way with you before I kill you," he told me. He 
grabbed the collar of my nightgown and ripped it off my figure. His hand 
then reached over and ripped into my right ear, tearing off a nice chunk of 
it. "Don't you forget that bitch."
	"Rex," Joyce said softly. "Please don't do it to her."
	"Quiet bitch," he responded. One hand reached down and started to 
touch me, harshly. He used the other to aim at my sister.

	Suddenly, the window shattered. Rex was hit in the back and sent 
sprawling across the floor. Both Joyce and I looked to see a negaskunkette 
land on the ground. She wore all black, and carried with her a crossbow. She 
leveled it on Rex. "Freeze, asshole," she said. "Agent Tabby of the Hunters. 
Put your hands where I can see them."
	He slowly got to his feet. "Not before I do what I came here to do." 
He aimed his gun at me. But he didn't get very far with what he wanted to 
do. The Hunter had fired. I watched, a little horrified, as a crossbow bolt 
imbedded itself in his neck. He dropped his weapon and grabbed his neck.
	It was then I noticed the Hunter carried a spare firearm - their 
special issue weapons - in a holster at her side. She started to reach for 
another crossbow bolt to load. But it was taking too long for me. I grabbed 
the weapon at her side, pulled it on Rex....and lost my innocence.
	"What are you doing?" the Hunter shouted as I pulled the weapon from 
her. But I was totally ignoring her. I fired off six rounds. Four of those 
shots hit him in the chest. The last two hit him in the head. "That's for 
ruining my family," I said as I walked up to him. He was still breathing, 
though very faintly. He was going to die very shortly. "And this..." I 
totally fried his crotch. "Is for touching me." He winced in pain, looked at 
me, and died.
	The Hunter put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" I said nothing. 
I handed her her firearm back and went over to Joyce. "Miss?"
	"Joyce," I said. "You okay?"
	"I'm fine," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "But what of the rest 
of the family?"
	Another Hunter came in through our door. "We've got four confirmed 
dead," he said. "Four lions." 
	That was it for me and Joyce. We hugged each other and started to cry. 
We wailed like little children, totally ignoring what was going on around 
us. I couldn't tell that they were putting a blanket over me and helping me 
and Joyce out of the house.

	I woke up to the stale bunk at Hunter headquarters. I sat up, still 
not dressed in anything, and looked around. "Wh-where am I?" I got out of 
the bed and looked around.
	"Good morning," a familair voice responded. "Welcome to my home." I 
turned around to see the skunkette who busted through the window and saved 
our lives. She smiled. "At least you're all right." My senses started to 
kick in. I suddenly felt a pain in my groin. I sat down on the bed, holding 
my private parts. "Yeah, the doctors said he really hurt you."
	"I'm sorry for taking your firearm," I said quietly. "I was a bit..."
	"Pissed? That's understandable."
	"That man ruined my family and their lives. Then he took those lives."
	"Well, you did a good job killing him."
	I looked up at her. "Where's my sister?"
	"She's with the doctors. They're helping her kick her Rhye habit." I 
slammed my fist into the wall. It shocked the both of us. "What's wrong?"
	"Please," I found myself saying. "Don't mention that word to me right 
now."
	She nodded and stepped closer. "My name is Tabitha Evans. What's 
yours?"
	"I'm...Savannah, Miss Evans."
	"Please, just Tabitha will do." She smiled. "Welcome to the Hunters 
base camp." She knelt beside me. "We're only here to help you." She took my 
hand. "We're not going to hurt you."
	I looked at her and smiled. "I don't think that you were going to in 
the first place." I gave her a hug. "Thank you for taking me in."

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	I approached Savannah in the mess hall one day. She was pretty down in 
the dumps this particular day. I sat down across from her silently and 
started to eat. We were like that for five or six minutes. "Three years," 
she finally said, breaking the silence.
	"Three years?" I asked.
	"It's been three years since I lost my family." She sighed. "Joyce and 
I went to our family's graves yesterday to pay a visit. We cried ourselves 
almost to death."
	I nodded. "How's Joyce doing?"
	"She doing fine. She's thinking of signing on with the Hunters as a 
supply manager or something."
	I smiled. "That's good."
	She looked at me. "It's been three years since I lost my family, and 
my innocence." She smiled. "But between then and now, I've destroyed what 
the boys in stats say is about 200 acres of Rhye." She smiled. "It may not 
bring back momma, or pappa, or Tyrone, but it certainly soothes the pain."
	I reached across the table and took her hand. "I may not have known 
your parents, but I'm sure they're proud of you."
	She smiled. "Thank you Ashy." She got up and leaned over. I leaned 
over to, giving her the hug I knew she needed.

	Savannah has always been, and will always be, the biggest destroyer of 
Rhye in the Hunters. We all get the feeling that she will not die until she 
sees the last bit of it destroyed. It's a bit scary to see her when she's 
burning the fields, but it's also very reassuring to see that she's taking 
care of it. At least someone is. It's always a pleasure to work with her.

End
Ashley Williams, Tabitha Evans, and Savannah are © Lone Wolf and <([ Lone 
Wolf Studios ])>

See you next time,
	-Ashley Williams and Savannah