At some point in the early 80's a way before I was born, someone made the executive decision to assign an animal to each child at birth. These were animals that could be "domesticated", which means they were generally small enough to fit into a duffle bag. Dogs and cats were the most obvious choices, but some kid's got pet raccoons, exotic frogs, domesticated foxes, and monkeys that didn’t have it in their blood to rip your face off. There were plenty more I just can't think of them off the top of my head. Much of this was based on how wealthy your family was...my parents were very well off and I was an only child. Because of that, I was gifted a flying squirrel.

I named my flying squirrel Rory. I don't know why I chose that name, I can't recall any movie, Tv show, or book that had a character named Rory, I just went with it. As I got older I got into the habit of telling people that I'd named him Rory because I hated my name, Elmo. That's right, my loving parents named me after that stupid red muppet on Sesame Street. I never found out if it was through an act of love or hate, I never got a chance to ask them. Nevertheless, when I hit my late twenties it didn't matter what my name was, the world was so far into the shithole that it's in now that it didn't matter what you were called. At that point you could change your name to whatever you wanted, I never did...I just stuck with Elmo.

From what I was told, things were just right in the beginning. Children were developing an inseparable bond with an animal from birth. It increased their intelligence and humans adopted a level of responsibility unlike any generation before. From what I'd gathered in the history books, it wasn't just an incredible development for humans but animals as well. This was how things were for decades, and then at some point, some genius gained the idea of accelerating an animal's intelligence to coincide with humans.

At the time it probably wasn't a bad idea, but the geniuses behind all of this forgot one major pitfall. Animals began to learn everyday human activities to the most minuscule detail. Ever seen a dog type out over a hundred words per minute on a computer? Didn't think so. How bout a bunch of cats that can cook a full-blown meal that tastes fantastic? Pretty common, and it's not just the cats that are good cooks. Ever hear of the gaming league Raccoon Eyezz? I'm sure you haven't, but they were one of the best video gaming factions in the world, and it was a team of raccoons. Animals hit this level of intellect a few decades ago, and this is right around the time when I was born.

Things with the animals started to take a turn for the worse around 2067. It was around this time that they began to exceed the overall intelligence of human beings. Not long after that was when the uprisings began. Monkeys were the first ones to rebel against their human counterparts. There were always reports of monkeys' viciously attacking their owners, but it was around this time that they became more common and far more violent. Soon after, other uprisings began to happen with other animals. Chickens would attack humans in droves, pecking at their Achilles heels and leaving them to bleed out in the streets. Pigs would eat their owners in their sleep, consuming every last bit of them. Cats would claw out their owner's eyes, then strategically swipe at vital veins throughout their body. Every form of animal would uprise against the humans, but not every animal partook in the uprising.

Rory for example continued to be my loyal companion. While other flying squirrels left their owners to wage war against the humans, mine stayed with me, and for that I am grateful. It's been six years since the animals waged war against the humans, and in those years was violence and death on both sides. I’d lost my parents and countless friends. It’s been just Rory and I for a couple of years now, and we’re doing just fine. We just got word of a civilization where humans and animals live in harmony, and we aim to get there. To get there we’re going to have to cross The Concrete Jungle, one of the most dangerous locations in the United States. I believe we can do it, I believe we’re strong enough.

We move at dawn.