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Note: Although told from the first person, the narrator is not me Also, the chapter is a rough draft, not final

Chapter 1

Escape.


In an older age, rumors of super soldiers coming into existence and being trained to conquer all opposition leaked across the world. The tool for creating them? Genetic engineering. Researchers accepted volunteers and those who were not so lucky to have been seized by opposing forces for aggravatingly painful projects. Large needles containing the blood and other samples of animal DNA were mercilessly thrust into the arms of what would hopefully be the future all powerful warriors that would dominate on the battlefield. The researchers did not expect such disastrous results from their “perfect” experiment. The bodies of the afflicted began to react very ferociously. A great majority of the effected bodies rejected the foreign substance in a very violent matter, some more than others. The lesser group lost all sense of good and evil, starting to attack everything in sight. The smallest group lost all will, motivation, and sanity, deciding to cower in a corner and mumble incoherently. The project was ultimately considered a failure by all who performed it and was forever lost from history. No human believed the story anyways. The pictures and videos that were the only records of the project happening appeared incorrect and without a doubt fake.

Inspired by the stories of mixing animal DNA with a human‘s, people went on to create fantasy stories about gene-splicing and creating part animal, part human super-beings. Of these fantasy characters, furries have become massively popular. Yeah, they were receipted with adoration by many and hatred by even more. On the furry hating side, you had me and all of my friends. We couldn’t stand the idea of something so unreal and strange. The idea of a human with the ears and tail of an animal that also had abilities superior to that of your above-average human, was complete and utter nonsense; and the fact that some idiots were attracted by such things made our skin crawl in disturbance. I won’t hate you for liking them, but I just have one question. Why? How can you stand the sight of those things?! The worst kind of furry however, were the ones who had human qualities and shape, but had the features of an animal. These abominations had hair at the top of their heads to cover their fur, usually wore normal clothes, could speak human languages, and were very well capable of thinking for themselves and experiencing and expressing human feelings and emotions. On the other hand, they had the eyes, nose, teeth, claws, tail, fur, ears, and instincts ( which sometimes overpowered the free will of the furry) of a certain animal. The appeal to this type drove us absolutely mad, and we began to pity and lost hope for those infatuated with this invasion, especially with more suits and drawings rearing their ugly heads to the world. Finding a rather distasteful drawing of the latter type abandoned on the bus stop bench, I cast it aside into the road, unaware that the artist was nearby. I was about to continue my dreadful walk to school when the artist forced me to retrieve his work against my will. Reluctantly, I trudged into the street. I should have looked and listened for that one car that decided to speed up as it rounded the corner.

*******************


I awoke blindly in an unknown location. The lighting was terrible, I couldn’t make out a single thing. I tried to move, and instantly regretted my choice. Pain swelled in every single one of my limbs. My body was racked with the pain of hundreds of swords piercing every single nerve in my body. I fell back onto something metal and cold in pure torture. Questions raced through my mind, overloading my poor pitiful brain. As I sat rocking back and forth, pondering my fate and next option, my eyes adjusted to the ghostly light. I’ll admit that this threw me for a loop. My eyes adjusted much faster than ever before. Every move I made caused me to cringe, but the pain slowly subsided after every action. The basic shapes of objects came vaguely into view . I stood up, the swords in my legs have been removed. I took two steps; and my brain exploded with intense pain. “Auuch- ahhhh!” fled from my mouth. Like any sane person, I grabbed my head, kinda instinctually. That’s when I noticed two quite fuzzy objects sticking out the top of my skull. They felt soft and hairy. I yanked on them, expecting them to detach. Instead, it was like getting your head stuck in a vacuum. I allowed some distasteful words to escape me as I feel to my knees. Looking up, my surroundings had become much more clear. There was a trash bin in a corner, a single shelf above my head, a…toilet… near the trash, a metal bed beneath my bottom, a sink, above the sink, a mirror, and, strangest of all, freakin’ prison bars to my right. I tried my best to remember the events of last night, but everything was too blurry to make out. No clear memory was willing to return to me. A sudden chill froze me to my resting place, stopping all immediate thoughts. I looked down and embarrassment filled my veins. A small “heh” ran through my mind as I realized that I had no shirt on any more. I was left in shorts, nothing else. My body was then fully under my control. All numbness and pain had left my body. I bent my legs and elbows. It felt too awesome for words. I prepared my self, bent down and jumped. Thank God the prison cell was taller than the average one. I leapt extremely high. Too high. No one my size or having the same amount of muscle mass (I regrettably confess that it is little to none) should have been able to do that. I landed softly on my feet, my sanity dying as feelings of amazement and ecstasy took over. I jumped again and again, relishing the rush it brought me. I suddenly remembered my original thoughts. I tried once again to recall memories. All I can remember though, was the image of two elderly men, wearing winter clothing during the summer, stepping out of the car to come to my aid as I lie, broken in front of the bus stop, before passing out.

The mirror reflected the swinging light as the ground mildly shook. I may have been mistaken, but I thought a dull thud echoed from a distance away. The gleam caught my eye. My interest increased as I thought how dangerous broken glass could be in a prison cell against my captors. I took one look in the mirror, and was filled with a terrible mixture of horror and disbelief. On the lesser side, my eyes had changed color from a nice green to a golden-amber-ish color. My jet-black hair had transformed into blood-red. However, I noticed more critical changes. Bare skin was now in place where my ears once resided. In-instead they were- No. This had to be a mind trick. There is no way science or any thing worked that way. Furries do NOT exist. This had to be a dream. I shook my head as hard as I could with my eyes closed. Faint memories returned of the pain I experienced not too long ago. Pain does not occur in dreams. I had to accept. it, weather I liked it or not. My real ears, however unreal they appeared, were now black tipped fox ears. My sorrow and fear were heightened by the fact that I could move them slightly. Then I became newly aware of an additional body part that no person should have. I unconsciously swished around in a circle. The fact that I had a tail was very sickening. I watched my tai- wow. It feels so weird saying that. I took one last disturbing look at the fox tail that I now owned, gave it a couple of flicks to either side, and my world flipped upside down, fading to black.

I awoke in a cold sweat on the floor. Looking back in the mirror grimly, I saw what I expected; two fox ears drawn back a little from their neutral position, and a tail connected to my body strewn across the floor. Like some cruel, demented joke, someone or something has turned me from the every-day-average-student, into a monster, the thing I hate most: a furry. Unstoppable tears of hatred, confusion, and utter torment came flooding to my eyes, overwhelming my vision. Trying to pull myself together and stop my quiet weeping, I searched for the positives that came from this. Sadly, the only one I could think of was that I wasn’t a complete furry. My human features still existed, save for a few. Although this was a huge positive, it didn’t out -weigh the negatives. I was no longer human, I had no idea where I was, and I started to get really cold and hungry. I know that the last one sounds very childish but, mind you, I have no idea how long I was asleep. It felt like days. The room was as cold as a bad snow storm in Antarctica! Being shirtless did not help me here. I sat in the corner, waiting for food and wondering who exactly locked me up. No guard came, but several echoing knocks and thuds occurred occasionally, and the ground trembled once more. Something was coming. Something big. More chills shivered down my spine, as I realized that the monstrous thing was heading in my direction. More embarrassment left an uncomfortable warmth in my face as I looked back and noticed that the tip of my tail started to frizz out. A loud, sudden knock revealed itself outside my cell. I squinted as I rushed out to the prison bars and firmly grasped them.

The lighting was even worse outside of the cell than it was inside. Fear. A strong sense of fear ambushed my senses. The sound of heavy gunfire screamed by very closely. The sound became painful, and I had to flick my ears to deflect the noise. As soon as the sound happened, it was over just as quickly. There was a dreadful silence. “Well, what ever was coming was just stopped by the weapons,’’ I mumbled under my breath, just to make sound present, “I guess that even something as big as th-” My voice was cut off by the shriek of a rusty door slamming open. Two misshapen figures flew through the opening and crashed into a wall, not far away from my cell. I studied them for a while and realized that they were the bodies of two unconscious guard-like men. Maybe I could just reach out and find a key. As I reached however, a dark intimidating figure stomped into the hall and halted my progress. It was tall, and nothing else was really visible. The door slowly shut, taking all light with it. Upon noticing my arm , the figure advanced on my position. I quickly drew back, trying as fast as I can to make myself hidden. The closer it got to my cell, the faster the unknown creature accelerated. Fear welled up inside me. The creature was now directly in front of me, standing still as if to taunt me. I came to the realization that this figure could sense my cowardice from miles away. Forcing myself to calm down, I jumped up to show my new athleticism, hoping to intimidate the figure. When that didn’t work, as the figure didn’t even twitch. I attempted to hide my fear with an angry threat. I shook my fist menacingly above my head and said with a firm tone” Go away! Don’t take another step, or you’ll regret it!” The figure actually stepped back and appeared more human than the blob it was before. Fear had finished it’s short visit to me. I couldn’t help it. I had to flash a my signature victory smile. I just had to, no questions or second thoughts. What I was hoping to accomplish was the opposite of what actually occurred. I was hoping the figure would turn around and walk away quietly. Instead, the figure stepped forward, obviously ticked off. I held my ground. No way would I let this thing scare me again. It raised both of it’s arms slowly up next to its head and turned the palms to me. The tips of its claws gleamed as the light caught them. Wait. Claws? I had no time to think further as the figure moved effortlessly, quickly pulling its arms down diagonally. After a brief second, a large portion of the bars fell to the floor, creating a booming echo. I must have had the most stupid look on my face. I grew angry at this and shouted: “Wrong choice!” I rushed the figure, fists somewhat flailing. The figure simply ducked under my attack. I could barely make out a grin as it jabbed its hand forward, catching my arm right above the elbow. I couldn’t hold back a quiet growl of anger. This seemed to make the figure relish the moment more. Being as monstrous as I imagined it to be, it lifted me of the ground with little effort. With a flick of its wrist, I was set flying through the hall. It happened too fast for my brain to even register what just happened. As soon as it did though, I screamed and was cut off shortly by the wall greeting me with open arms. Funny thing about hitting that wall. It barely hurt. Both an exciting and haunting feeling rose within me. The damage from a blow like that should have been much greater than my body should have received. That also brought memories back of the news of the super soldiers and their ability to take more punishment than the traditional battle-ready warrior. Someone wanted me to fight a battle. Before I could dwell on it any longer, the figure stepped into the better lighting.

I could see her more clearly now. She had to be around eighteen. Her build was a little attractive, but I wouldn’t say she’s hot. Her eyes were a nice, soft blue. I regrettably admit that I found myself lost in them, despite what she had just done. I shook myself out of it. I continued analyzing my opposition. She wore no sort of armor. She was instead wearing a white tank top and the same generic white shorts I had on. Rising to my feet, her head reached a little closer to the ceiling than my own did. Her long hair, a little bit deeper blue than her eyes, fell neatly around her face. Looking further up gave me quite a shock. Pointing out the top of her hair were two pointed ears. I would have said that they were wolf ears, but the blue fur struck me a little odd and confused. Looking down, my suspicions were confirmed. Swishing gently behind her was a short bushy tail. Maybe I could trust her. She could be in the same boat that I am. Maybe she was just fighting in self-defense when I charged her. She probably was just trying to free me from that terrible prison cell. I stood up ready to apologize for my rash decisions. Then she smiled, and stopped me cold. That smile. It was my own victory smile. All feelings of forgiveness and regret had disappeared. Instead madness had taken its toll. Anger was my best friend at the current moment. How dare she steal something that was never hers? For all I know, this furry could be responsible for my current body! That’s it! I don’t care anymore! I’m going to take out my stress on her, guilty or not! It’s about time I teach her that no one messes with me and can get away with it at all. I planned on going in with a single jab, feigning, and then sliding under her legs to dodge her counter attack. I would then twist my body around and grab her tail. Then with all my strength, launch her into next week. That would tell her. I chuckled to myself. Could I be any more clever? I jumped to my feet and let out a valiant shout. I charged her head on, ready to carry out my masterful plan. I’d like to say that my plan went smoothly, and that my execution was flawless, striking fear into her heart, but I won’t lie. I was stopped before I was at arm’s reach of her. As soon as I jumped up, she threw an awkwardly shaped projectile at my face as a professional baseball player would throw a fast ball in the last inning. It wasn’t hard, but the surprise of being instantly blinded knocked me off my feet. A small, barley audible chuckle did not help my self esteem. I tore the object from my face and muttered, “I am not amused.” in my best deadly serious tone. Looking down at the object, I cursed under my breath. The brief period of darkness caused the necessity of my eyes to re-adjust to the terrible lighting. I thought of something. Maybe if I hold the hair covering my right eye up, I could probably see this item faster. Turns out I was right, as my vision almost instantly returned. Maybe I should cut that lump of hair off. Nah, I thought as I let my hair fall back over my face, I’ll stick with my signature look. I was surprised that during all this, the wolf woman never attacked me. She strutted forward, a strange thing to do to an enemy, and spoke the words “please put them on,” pointing to the bundle of clothes she tossed at me earlier and putting her hand under my chin. Her voice was quiet, comforting. A sweet voice that was very unfitting for someone with her power. I could see how her voice itself could be used as a weapon to disarm foes. I found myself dumbfounded. Could I trust her or not? Her actions seemed very bi-polar to me, and was not making things any easier. Maybe it was because of sheer confusion, but I decided to put on the questionable looking clothes when she politely turned away. It was a hassle at first, but the grey jacket with a stripe down the center, the scarf, which fitted tightly around my neck, and the white pants all provided a very welcome warmth and still left a lot of mobility, not hindering any actions. I looked up to see the woman look back at me with a pleased look on her face. “Good,” she said in that wonderful voice of hers. “Now, come with me.” She indicated me to step closer with a shake of her index finger. I was about to, but I then snapped out of it, remembering everything she had done to me. I stopped abruptly, and she noticed. “What’s wrong?” I fixated my stare on her and said as modestly as I can, “Thanks and all, but I am going to stand right here until I’m told what I want to hear. So? Would you be so kind…?” I smirked unconsciously. Yeah, that happens a lot. My innermost feelings get the best of me from time to time. That upset her. There was a subtle tone of hatred as her voice grew louder. “You can’t be serious! Of all people, you don’t trust me?! Look, we’re in the same predicament aren’t we? You and I are obviously not ourselves anymore! Or did you forget about that thing jutting out of your rear?”

“Exactly my point,” I said back, trying my best to keep my tail out of sight, “You seem to know a lot about what is happening around here, so you have no right to remain silent!”

“We are not at the right place for this, nor do we have a lot of time. You should use what little common sense you have and think! You could at least do a favor for me after releasing you from your cell. Come on, why deny such a pretty face?”

“Because I can. You aren‘t that pretty.”

She froze in place. It would have been funny, if it were not for her facial twitch. I must warn everyone now who hears my plight. You never want to irritate a woman. And then there is the wolf-woman. Pray that you never have to see the unholy terror that is the rage of a furry woman. I’ll leave out the details, as they are pretty gruesome. I was almost thankful that she was interrupted. If only the sound that stopped her wasn’t so ominous. “Stay right where you are!” shouted the gruff voice from behind the heavy iron door. I glanced at the woman, and she seemed as scared as I was. If something scared her, I knew we would be in big trouble. Her fear was replaced just as quickly as it had come by anger. “Damn it, Kid! See what I meant?!” She turned and misinterpreted the look of shock on my face. “Really,” she sighed, seeming to forget the current problem, “ you can’t take a little foul language?” I sighed and pointed at the door bulging from attempts to break it down while slapping my hand to my forehead. She looked sheepishly at the door and gave a nervous laugh as she understood. The door flew open and light crawled in to the midnight black hall way. The next thing that appeared in the door way was, without a doubt, the barrel of a gun. The gruff voice repeated its statement. The owner of the voice had to duck in through the doorway to see us. He was a tad higher then we were. The man was battle ready. Thick pads covered his shoulders. A large helmet combined with goofy sized goggles and a face mask hid the man’s true identity. “Good.” He groaned in a monotonic voice. He pointed at the my cell, not seeming to notice or care that that woman had shredded it minutes ago. “Now get back in th-” He looked past me and what he saw must have cut him off. I looked back and noticed what he was so shocked to see. The two guard-like figures were, believe it or not, actual guards. They bared a creepy almost identical resemblance to the man who stood guard at the entrance now. He rushed forward and grabbed be my scarf. I was a real light weight, but the man struggled to lift me. When he finally did , I started to run out of air a little quickly. “Did you do that?” he asked, pointing to the still guards. I responded with sounds you would expect from a choking person. “It was you, wasn’t it?!” he shouted, shoving his gun to my face. Let me tell you, a barrel looks completely different if you are the one looking down it. Before I could plea for my life the best a choking person could, I felt a slight wind behind me as something zipped into the air. The next thing I saw was the woman’s foot directly above my head, a split second before it smashed the guards face in. I gaped in awe at her sheer stupidity. “He had a gun! He could have killed you! If he knows we escaped, and there are two more just like him, and they are sure to know about us as well and-”

“You whine like a little girl. You really should talk less.” She interrupted. Under her foot, the guard stopped quivering in pain and lay still. “If I did nothing, Mr. Trigger-Happy here would have blown your brains out.” She stomped a couple times on his back to persuade him to behave. “I’ll be surprised if you haven’t noticed it by now, but our abilities are far greater than what they used to be. You don’t have to take yourself so lightly anymore. And if you think these toys can kill us,” she picked up the man’s gun and looked it over, “then you are sadly mistaken. Just try to avoid any close encounters with them. Also, they might not be able to kill us, but I’m not too sure the same can be said for them.” She stood and the light caught her perfectly. Her hair just glistened like seeing the light of the world for the first time, when every thing was kind and innocent. And her eyes… I felt something drop from my nose, snapping me back to reality. I touched my hand to my upper lip and noticed it was a liquid. When I pulled my hand back I noticed the liquid was red. She looked up at me and started a laugh. Her laugh did not help me. I turned away, covering my nose in shame and embarrassment. “Sh-Shut up!” was all I could muster, causing her to laugh even harder. Why did I find it so attractive?! I searched myself for an answer, but nothing came to me. She stopped laughing and became deadly serious. “Go grab a gun from the guards and take a clip from the other.” We’re getting out of here.” I stiffened. Terrible memories returned to me unwillingly. Her forgiving face, her last breath… “No.” I said firmly, clenching my fist. “Never again.” I tried to keep my emotions under control, but I could feel the regret beginning to flood my eyes. The woman must have sensed it as well, and solemnly stated that I did not have to take a gun if I choose not to. “All right! Let’s go! Here we come, world! Look out!” the woman screamed and charged out of the room. I sighed and grabbed my head. “You dork.” I rushed after her. It was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from her, and I actually bumped into her at full speed, causing me to fall on my behind and smash my tail. The woman was absolutely still. I looked around her. To my horror there were two humongous rows of guards, each heavily armed. “Don’t move! Their vision is based solely on movement.” she growled under her breath. I rose my finger and began to object. “GET ‘EM!!” shouted the two guards in front. The small army drew their weapons in a flash.
I started to retreat. “Oh, shi-” BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Each guard was meaning to kill us. “I told you not to move!” the furry behind me screamed. “I’m not to blame for this,” I replied, “You had the gun!” Bullet’s whizzed here and there, forcing us to jump and dive every which way to avoid getting hit. A bullet scraped my cheek. Fires danced on my face. It felt horribly bad, but ended pretty quickly. I started to see what the woman meant. The cut had already healed. I let out a surprised gasp and stopped, but more bullets flew by and we had to run again. “Why don’t you use that gun of yours?” I yelled at the woman. “I’m on it! I’m on it! Give me a break!” she screamed back. If she didn’t use it soon, we were gonna be six feet under. I glanced at the woman, and learnt something horrible. She was panting, exhausted and had trouble turning the gun towards the guards. She finally managed to turn the barrel in enough time deflect a bullet from nailing her arm. She took aim and…click. The world stopped to laugh at the us. I almost tripped over my own feet. “You cold have checked how much ammunition was left in the gun!” I shouted. “This is the most stupid thing you’ve done yet!”

She begun to rage, then decided against it. She perhaps was letting me have a victory. That or she figured it would be better to argue outside. She tossed the worthless gun backwards, hitting one of our adversaries below the belt. No time to laugh. We had reached the end of the hallway and entered a massive room with tons of empty cells and even more doors leading to many hall ways. More bad news. We were several floors up and the stairs were on the opposite side of the room. The wall at the end of the path was getting awfully close. I was about to swear and seek a good door to rush through, when I felt a small tap on my shoulder. “Like me.” the woman whispered. Before I could question, the woman grabbed the rail and with great speed, swung herself down and started diving to the bottom floor. Both the group pursuing me and I stopped in shock and leaned over the rails to see if she would go splat. She twisted and flipped with the grace of an Olympic gold medalist diver and hit the ground perfectly, both feet flat on the ground, no stumbling. She looked up at me with a sly smile and pointed at her wrist repeatedly, as if she was pointing at a watch. Then without any words or hesitation, she bolted out a door and disappeared. I can’t believe it. She ditched me. “Ah-hem.” I heard a gruff voice cough. Looking behind me, one guard had taken a leadership role. He pointed and spoke very quietly. All but he and another guard had left to the opposite side to pursue the lucky woman. I took a step backwards, and the guards raised their arms and fired. Diving and then rolling to evade the painful projectiles, I smacked into a door and scurried inside the dead-end hallway. Cells, cells, and more cells lined the narrow hall. Not too long afterwards, a guard appeared directly behind me. There was nothing I could use to hide me from the bullets. I was pressed against the wall at the end, which felt very uneven. The gun was aimed at my chest. I cursed my terrible luck. I didn’t even get to figure out who, what, when, where, and why. I closed my eyes and sighed, waiting for the inevitable.

Click. Click, click. I opened my eyes to see the guard struggling to get his gun to fire. He let out an angry growl and tossed the empty firearm aside. He undid a pocket protector on his vest and pulled out a knife. He flashed it to the light, and then decide to do a little showboating. He spun the knife around his hand with expert finesse, occasionally switching it from his left to his right hand and back again. He stopped and stared into my soul. Without warning, he clenched his fist and began to run. Scared, my hands scraped around the wall and found a ledge jutting out of it . It was just enough and I decided that that was what I could use here. I rushed forward, somewhat stunning the guard and slowing him down quite a bit. I turned around before reaching him and he rushed forward faster than before in a rage. He fell for it, and I couldn’t help but smile. The poor idiot didn’t know that I had possessed some decent free running skills. With enough speed I could grab a ledge and use it to propel myself a little vertically, before back flipping and letting the guard smash face first in the neglected obstacle. I grasped the ledge and pulled up. The guard’s face directly below my foot, he bumped into it and released his grip on his blade. He bounced back, but I wasn’t about to allow him to rest. Like planned, I back flipped, but instead of immediately landing, I kicked my left leg out forcing the guard’s face back into the wall. He slowly sunk to his knees and fell backwards. He lay there, not moving , but still breathed. I nodded, panting a little, satisfied with my work and headed back out. Big mistake. The guard who had become leader had waited outside the door, prepped for assault. His fist grazed my nose as I sensed him at the last second. I jumped back, wondering what to do. I glanced down at my fist, unsure . I’ve never been in a fight before, so I lacked proper street-smarts. Like his friend back there, he wanted to show his skills. He showed off numerous martial art moves, but I didn’t stick around to see much. I dashed past him while he was in mid-somersault and headed for the stairs. When I reached the stairs, I flew into the air; and was quickly caught by the back of my scarf. The leader had caught up to me, and was strengthening his grip with every passing second. Now I know this is the end. I’m going to die here. “This is what was taking you so long?” a cold, unforgiving, but familiar voice sounded. I looked back, shocked to hear it. Suddenly the guard’s grip disappeared and the next thing I know, he lands at my feet and moved no longer. The woman had returned. “Honestly! Can’t you take care of yourself you little brat?” she taunted. “Don’t mess with me right now. You left me alone to die.” I muttered. She growled. “If I wanted you to die, I would have never saved your sorry butt would I? Enough childish games. Let’s get the hell out of here. The faster we do, the faster I’ll tell you what I know.’

That was enough motivation for me. I rushed down the stairs to the next flight, and then the next, excited to actually learn the reason behind all this. The woman was an unexpected long distance behind me. I was forced to let her catch up. No point in going somewhere if you don’t know where you’re going right? She was panting a little when she finally caught up. Out of breath, she muttered something inaudible. “What was that?” I leaned in to hear her better but then a brain-crushing alarm screamed through the room. It was like standing directly next to the fire alarm at school, but when you have animal ears, it’s a thousand times worse. Neither of us could move for several seconds, let alone speak. Once we could though, the questions started flooding out. The first, and probably the most notable, was me shouting, “What the heck is that?!” She responded with a painful howl and tried to muster up the energy to talk. “They just now found out about our escape? Why so late?” she managed. I glanced at her. “Why?” I whispered. My question would have to be answered later as a steady march boomed through the halls of the massive room. Struggling to my knees, I grabbed her arm to try to encourage her to move. Too late. The march transformed from a steady walk to a rhythmic run. We were spotted and our short reprieve was uncomfortably ended faster than desired. After getting the woman on her feet again, we gave it our all to get out of there. I leaned in real close to her wolf ears and said a simple “Hmph.” Grabbing the rail in the same manner she did, I leapt over it and enjoyed the ride down. It’s unlikely, but if you ever wind up like me, I highly recommend jumping this way. It brings such a satisfying feeling. The woman landed without a sound. It came to me that maybe whoever did this to us was doing us a favor and was now testing the result’s of their experiment. There was a large garage-like door at the end of the room that I hadn’t even noticed until it opened and a group of the guards came charging out. Each one took cover and aimed FBI style. I stood, sure I had seen through the ruse. “It’s all right,” I shouted to the “guards” who surrounded me and the woman, “You can drop the act now! I get what you’re doing. I would like to speak to your boss.” I threw my hands up as to surrender. One guard directly in front of me lowered his gun and looked at a co-worker. The other guard still aimed his weapon at us, but he nodded and allowed the first one to proceed over to us. “Hey, how’s it going?” I asked nonchalantly as he approached. He reached out for us, probably to congratulate us. Then it happened. The woman, faster than the human eye could track, jabbed her foot under the guard’s chin, crushing his windpipe. The group then went into action firing directly at us, only taking cover to reload. The woman and I dashed to opposite side of the room, taking cover behind two dumpsters from the hailstorm of bullets heading our way. “Why the heck did you pull that stunt off back there?!” I ended up screaming at her to be heard over the roar of gunfire. “What went on in that damn head of yours?! Why would you surrender to them? That would have been the end of you!” the woman was not happy. More and more gunfire. Occasionally, a brave fool would wander from his cover, only to be dropped as soon as he entered the woman’s reach. Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and left an eerie silence in its place. Peering around the corner, I saw that the guards had dropped their weapons and were now holding a saluting position. They had cleared an isle. A more intimidating figure had approached the room. His mask resembled more of a creepy, horror-movie-like gas mask then the goofy goggles the others were equipped with. His weapon was also quite different than his counterparts. The sky-scraper of a man had two giant black tanks strapped tightly to his armor covered back. A cord attached the tanks to an unnecessarily gigantic gun that the guard held with pride in front of him. The woman’s ears drew back and her eyes widened. “Move, move, move, move, move!” was the only thing she yelled before taking off like a rocket. I was beginning to miss that quiet voice I heard the first time, as that last quote was cringe inducing. She traveled directly in front of the massive gun’s sights. Many of the guards huddled behind the new guard as he smirked. I don’t know how, so don’t ask, but I could feel that guy’s evil intentions. There was a click. The woman dived to the right to avoid what was going to come out of that strange weapon. I grabbed my head in panic and ran for the wall to the left to avoid it. Nothing was happening. I looked up to see what went wrong. I was wrong. The weapon didn’t fire yet. Well, not until I stood to see what had happened. No bullet of any kind had hit me. Instead, hot air grabbed me by the arm and launched me backwards. I landed on my face, a few feet away from my standing point. “Kid!” At that, I struggled to my feet. Through half-closed eyes, I could see something quivering in a wall. A small dart had burst it’s way through the wall at the end. I recognized it from all those comics and movies I’ve seen before. It was a tranquilizer dart. But, why would he need such a large gun to fire a single dart? I mean, ser- wait. What? The area of the wall hit by the dart collapsed (loudly, mind you) and revealed several darts spread out in the hole it created. That black gun was a freakin’ super tranquilizer shotgun with demonic knock back. An explosion of cheers erupted from the guards surrounding their fearless leader. This leader only growled. “’old stile lit’ urkins!” Great. He was terrible with English. Where in the world were we anyway? It seemed that the weapon had to cool down in between shots. I took the opportunity of silence to rush over to the woman for advice on what to do about that guy with the huge ego. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one guard lift his pistol, but this leader pushed his arm down and chuckled. Upon reaching her, I was greeted with the oh so kind words: “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Any fool even as dumb as you would at least know to stay separated to make a harder target for the gun to hit! Get it? Stay. Over. There!”

“Well, excuuuuuuse me, princess. Yeah. That’s fair. Let’s all blame the new guy for everything. World hunger? Check. Global Warming? Mmm-hmm. Wa-”

She responded with a quick jab to my jaw. “You done? Good. Now stay quiet until I think of a way to get past this jerk.” She leaned over to check out the situation. “Okay you little brat, since you worked so hard to get over here, here’s the plan.” I didn’t want to listen, mainly because of her nasty remark, but I got a pretty good idea of what she wanted me to do. She claimed that I was faster than her, so the job of live bait would be perfect for someone like me. I wasn’t too fond of being a bullet- er; dart sponge, but the promise of new info motivated me to try though. While I was luring the guard’s fire, she would sneak around ever so carefully and use a firearm as a club and smack the power-happy guy in the back of his skull to incapacitate him. I asked what incapacitate meant and was rewarded with a bonk on the head. I was reluctant at first, but after a morale boosting “Do it!” and a shove later, I was running straight for the staircase. The new guy aimed his weapon directly at the back of my head. More evil intent. I sprinted straight, not changing direction or even preparing to jump out of the way. She was a pain, but I had almost complete faith in the woman’s ‘fool-proof plan.’ Almost. Doubt began to take over after I heard a deadly click and I had to resist turning back to the woman and shouting at her to speed up her process. I couldn’t take it any longer. I dove under the stairs and peered back. The woman was in mid swing with a pistol. None of the guards even noticed her until the blow had landed and knocked the freak out. The guards turned in shock to see their superior fall after a single attack. The woman took advantage of this to take several of them out with no competition. When the others finally got a grip, they attempted to reach for their firearms. Too bad all of their faith was put into one person that they were cocky enough to think this was over. I rushed over to her in time to see the last guard fall. Panting, she said nothing but only pointed to the now open hall where the guards had just entered through. “Exit” she managed to say. I disliked her and all, but she was pretty handy to have around. My steps quickened and joy was known again. I’ve done it. I doubt she was lying about this being the exit. A cool wind blew and greeted me. The air smelt fresh. I almost ran off, but then remembered about my current condition. Furries did not exist out there. There would be no way I could pass this off as a costume. Maybe in the woman’s info, she would tell me how to reverse what had happened to us. I walked in circles. Could it take her any longer to catch her breath? She nodded at me and stood after what seemed like forever. Staying close, we headed towards the opening. It was black as night in there, but light from the room behind us revealed that the roof was curved and made of compacted dirt. I was about to ask her why that was when a frightening click echoed through the hall.

Looking back, a guard stood with that horrible giant gun in his hands. He struggled to lift it and was shaking a lot, but he managed to pull the trigger. The recoil sent the meek guard flying backwards, but his shot was accurate, as needles closed in on us. I tore out of there without a second thought. Closing my eyes, I embraced the pain I was certain to feel. Thunk, thunk, thunk. I didn’t feel any pain, causing me to open my eyes to see what the needles had stabbed. When my eyes re-adjusted, I was left to see a horrible sight. The woman was standing over me, arms and legs stretched out to as far as they would go. I looked away as fast as I could, but not before I saw the tips of three needles sticking out of her arms and one of her legs. “Be a little bit more careful next time you little brat.” She was trying to hide the pain in her voice, but she wasn‘t doing it too well. She began to slowly pull the needles out, grimacing with each one and inhaling sharply through clenched teeth. I tip-toed over to her, trying not to show compassion, but failing ultimately. “You all right? Look, we can sit down and rest if you like.”

“Idiot. We can’t rest here. We would just be captured again.” I decided that arguing would be pointless. We continued up the path, as it began to incline. The woman’s breath was becoming a pant again, even though we were just walking. The hall had become dimly lit and the light was getting brighter with each and every step. I broke into a run when the cold wind hit my nostrils again. Closer. Closer. Brighter. The stomping of my feet had turned into soft crunching. A flash of pure white blinded me for a second, but I didn’t care. I had made it out. I was apparently in the middle of some winter wonderland, and a light snow storm was brewing. The area before was underground, and this place, despite the cold, was just the way I like it. Right on the surface. Panting echoed from a slit in the earth and the woman appeared not too long after that. I walked over as soon as she broke free of the under ground. To my surprise she fell to her knees, clutching her chest and breathing heavily. I knelt beside her, ready to help her but she held up a hand. I was about to protest, and then she spoke. “You got a name little brat?” I felt that I could trust her enough. Besides, it would be better than being called “little brat” all the time. I nodded “Yea-Yeah. My name is Granet.”
“Granet? Like the rock? That sounds so… fake.”
“No no. Its my real name”

She was breathing harder now and I bent forward to help her. After a while she responded, “Okay Granet. I’m Ice Flower.”
“Talk about fake sounding names.”
“Like you, I’m serious. That is my name given to me on the day I was born.”
“Seriously? Ice Flower?”
“Yes. Really.”

She looked up at me. I couldn’t detect any sign of lying in her eyes. She chuckled and then fell onto her back into the snow. Naturally, I panicked. “Hey! Ice Flower! Get up!” I grabbed her arm, and she touched her hand to my face, sending shivers down my spine. “Granet.” Her hand may have been freezing, but her breath and sweet quiet voice was hot and heavy. “I’m cold.” With those words, Ice Flower turned and passed out. No amount of shaking would motivate her to move. In a state of fear and confusion, I hastily looked around for any thing I could do to help her. The warmth from her body was fading fast.

*******************


- Report: Pacan 2/23/12 -
Today was quite an upset. During my patrol for the two missing children we lost four months ago, we lost the two remaining children in my absence. The one known as Ice Flower (C-002) had caused great property as well as life damage. Many guards are hospitalized with major wounds. A small group has died in our intensive care ward. Those who have survived her onslaught speak hopeless mutters of her strength. Perhaps you have gone too far this time, Father? The newest child (C-001) had escaped with her before his briefing and performance test could be issued. Troops that confronted him though, claim that his skills were great, but he pales in comparison to C-002. Improving her skill further than even you have ever expected from her, in a matter of minutes, and in one attack, C-002 took out one of our best Pacifists. However, it wasn’t done without her suffering injury. Troops found a blood trail leading out of the main room to the exit. They followed it to locate C-002, but upon reaching the exit, the blood had suddenly disappeared. There were no visible footsteps in the snow outside. I have never questioned your location choice before, and I actually strongly agreed with our current position, but the large area of the city, and constant massive snowstorms hurt us as much as any of the escaped children. I myself am starting to doubt our good luck. C-002 knows far more than she should, and if she finds a way to reveal our work, our battle will be lost and our corps forever shut down. Forgive me Father. I must take another shift and search for the four escapees before it is too late. I pray you understand.

-Reply: Father @ Pacan: -
Yes.