Parallels

Chapter Fifteen: Are You, Are You? (Coming To The Tree?)

Trying to ignore the shame that I feel and the wet spot right there, I take a deep breath and try to calm my nerves, which are shot to the point that I don't think that they'll ever ever recover from, trying, trying, trying not to look even more like a complete fool and knowing that there's no hope of that ever happening, especially not when I look like this...

"So what's the consensus? Have all of you made up your minds, or am I going to have to make them up for you?" Matthew Aspen says, and I really, really, really just want to leap on him and have it done with, but I can tell that he's a lot stronger than me, and besides, I'm pretty sure that he isn't entirely Terran anymore... he'd make mincemeat out of us.... Damn it, now I'm hungry.

"Well, are you going to answer me or not?" he asks, his voice higher and angrier this time. "I don't have much longer to wait, so either make up your minds and answer me or I kill you all. Plain and simple, it's as easy as that. So what's it going to be?"

"We'll come with," I say, looking everyone in the eyes, hoping that they'll be able to see that I'm telling them that they'll be okay, and they all not.

"Oh, and to think that I thought that this was going to be difficult," he says, smiling maniacally, and I can't help but wonder what the fucking hell happened to to him. The last time that I remember seeing him, he was just going off to war, and he was so much saner, to say the very least, and I dread to think that I'm probably going to end up meeting the thing that screwed him over, yeah, I'm not really looking much forward to that.

"Oh, it might be, Dad, it might be," I say, hoping that I've managed to keep my voice quiet enough so that nobody's going to hear us, and even my own sharp ears can barely pick up the sound of my own voice. I'm not complaining, of course, because like I said, him not being able to hear me is exactly what I want.

Fuck, and here I thought that I was going to have a nice reunion with my father, who, need I remind anyone, I thought was dead. I even wear his fucking dog tags around my neck, and you know what? I really, really, really want to just tear these damn things off, but you also know what? I won't, because they remind me that I can and I will be a better mammal...

Don't be like him, in other words...

"What was that, Mister Aspen?" my father asks me, and I curse under my breath. Flock, he did hear me...

"Other than I'm not Theo Aspen anymore, you son of a bitch," I say, unable to contain my temper any longer, "I'll fight you to the end!"

"I'd welcome that," he says, pointing the barrel of his gun right at my head, and I can see the little red dot of the laser pointer right between my eyes, "but you won't really be able to fight if you're missing half of your brain and nearly all of your skull. I'm going to give you ten seconds to decide, Theodore Michael," he says, and for whatever reason, the cuts on my cheek choose that moment to hurt, making me yelp in pain.

Apparently, the son of a vixen who calls himself my father takes that as a sign of weakness, and he laughs. "That's what I thought. You should know better than to let your guard down, now, come with me, or I'll go for your friends and your girlfriend. Oh, wait, no... he says, his eyes catching sight of the silver band on my finger, "she's your wife, isn't she? Where is she? Is that her?" he asks, pointing a finger at Mrs. Neve, who cowers in fear, and that shocks me. Well, if she can't be strong, then damn it, I'll do it!

"NO, father," I say, my voice harsh and biting, I'm sure, and really, I don't have any flocks or fucks left to give, I ran out forever ago, "she's my mother-in-law!"

"Oh, so you finally got to fuck someone, how nice," my father says, and it's all I can do to keep my cool, and I can tell that he knows it. "So who's the lucky lady? Or guy? Heaven only knows, Earth could've bent you in more ways than one..."

Damn it, how is such an asshole of a mammal my father?

"Oh, no, it's a lucky lady," I say, trying to keep his attention as long as possible, because I can see out of the corner of my eyes that everyone's trying to sneak away, and I can't fault them, if it wouldn't get me killed, I'd be doing the exact same thing, but no, it'd get me killed if I tried to run away right now, so yeah, I'm staying where I am and giving them the chance. Maybe they'll be able to distract him eventually, and then we'll all be able to get away... yeah, no, that'll never happen...

"Well, I'm glad to hear it," I hear him say, but I'm not really paying attention, because I'm more interested in whether or not my friends and family get the flock out of here alive. "You know, father, one of my best friends is gay, so.... What the fuck's your problem?"

"Oh, I've got plenty of problems, Theodore," he says, snarling at me, and I try not to wince or yelp in shock, "and you're definitely starting to prove to me that you're going to be one of them. Why can't you just accept that things are the way they are and just get the fucking hell out of my way? Why can't you be a good boy and just sit and roll over like the dog you are? That's right, I'll bet you didn't even think about that, did you? They've got you all trained and ready to fight, and they give you rewards if you do well, and I see you even wear a little silver collar there. Well, Theodore, news flash, you've been a bad boy! Now, here's your list of options: behave like a good little foxy, and get the fuck out of my way, and then I might- I might think about sparing the lives of all those you hold dear, or option number two, which is the option I'm leaning towards right now, if you want to know what's on my mind, and that option's just that I shoot the hell out of all of you right now, so how's that sound?"

"Just take me," I say, putting my hands behind my head and kneeling down on the ground, hating how the cold dampness of the ground and the water from the still-cold morning dew seeps through the knees of my uniform, and I can't help but to feel completely weird, especially considering that I'm not wearing my uniform top.

"That's the smart choice," he says, coming over to stand in front of me. "I always knew you were smart, Theo, it's why I helped you get approved for the Venturing Program, they never would've taken a fox otherwise. Too damn shifty, too freaking untrustworthy, they said, we can't ever trust a fox. As if they didn't realize that I was a fox, and I was the one paying them off to let you into that program.

"Damn, mammals are idiots sometimes," he says, squatting right in front of me, and I can smell smoke on his breath, Camel cigars, just like Mister Marlboro. Of fucking course...

"You're certainly a great example," he says, gloating in my face, pressing the barrel of his gun into my shoulder, and this time, I don't have to fight back a yelp, I'm used to that abuse.

"You're right, father," I say, smiling, hoping that all of my teeth are on display, sharp and white, a stark contrast to the brown and blackness that are my father's teeth, rotten just like the freaking rest of him.

"Well, my son," he says, words that send chills right through my core, ""I'm glad to see that you and I can finally see eye to eye about something." Then he pauses, realizing something. "Wait, what exactly are we seeing eye to eye about again?"

"The fact that you're an idiot who's easily distracted," I say, raking him across the face with my claws, and of course, because they're dull, they don't shred his eye out like I would have wanted to, but the pain serves its intended purpose, to distract him and get his attention mostly off of me so that I can throw him to the ground, and thank God that works. Now just to see how long it takes me to strangle him to death....

Before I get that opportunity, though, he bucks me off, throwing me to the side, and I hit the dirt, groaning as my shoulder rams first.

I try to roll over, but even with years and years and years of experience in paw-to-paw combat, the bastard's still faster, and now he has his knee in my back, and I can see out of the corner of my eye that I'm giving everyone the distraction that they all need to get out of my psychopath of a father's gun's shooting range.

"So, Theodore," he says, the bayonet of his gun digging my back, "when are you going to learn to be submissive like a good son of a bitch, hmm?"

"I'm not a son of a bitch!" I yell, heaving him off just enough so that I can turn over to face him head on. "My parents were married, though I have no fucking idea what happened to my father. Do you, Corporal? You know, don't you, you were with him when he died, weren't you? You were there when he decided to sell his soul, to give up on his family. Do you even know what happened to Mom? Huh? Do you? I bet you don't!" I say, sneering at him, fighting the tears out of my eyes and I can smell iron... damn it, my nose is bleeding, and I'm sure that that's far from the only place where I'm bleeding.

"Oh, I know what happened to her, sure I do, Theodore," my father says. "I sold her the gun, but she wouldn't have recognized me, she was too busy grieving over my jar of ashes.... Stupid vixen.... Of course, those were real ashes, I had to convince some guy to drive his car through a store to get the resources I needed, and well, another orphan wasn't going to be suspicious, no, not at all, not when Terra was full of them. Who would miss the Lupas?"

"Their daughter," I say, kicking him right where I know that it'll hurt, right where it'd hurt any guy. "You know," I say, racing for the gun that he drops as he crumbles, clutching his nuts in pain (honestly, I'm surprised that he still has any, given how much of a ball-less ass he is), "if anything, Dad," I sneer, "I can thank you for one thing," I say, aiming the pistol right at his head, more than ready to return the favor.

"What's that?" he says, choking on his blood.

"Other than teaching me how to be vicious? Thanks for the sister, asshole, those wolves you killed? Those were Alaina's mom and dad."

"So what- gk- now, Theo? You have what you want, an opportunity to kill me, I'm not going to fight you. Believe you me, I know when I've been beat."

"Whipped is more like it," I say, taking his gun from where it's lying on the ground next to us, and he doesn't try to stop me. I know where I'm going to aim this, and believe me, it's going to hurt a hell of a lot more than if I were to shoot him dead.

See, I said he had no balls, and now-

Bang!

-he really doesn't.

"So, father," I say, deciding to hold onto the gun this time. "Look, I really didn't want to do that, but, well, here's the thing- maybe you can learn to quit screwing around, hmm?"

With that, I leave him behind, and my mind decides that it wants to call a halt to what's going on here. Okay, wait, whoa, just wait a damn minute now here, Theo, what the hell are you doing? You're not that kind of mammal, are you, the one who leaves those they hurt to die?

For one thing, brain, I reply, shut up. Right now, yeah, I know, but you think I care? He would've killed me!

Gah, this is hard....

"Theo, wait!" the corporal cries out as I turn to walk away and leave him behind.

"What do you want, Matthew?" I ask him, hoping he can see that I really don't want to listen.

"Don't leave me here!" he says, trying to patch the hole and stop the bleeding. I don't know whether it's a good thing or not whether he's managing to stem it, but I kinda hope that he does manage it, so that way the lack of anything below can remind him how much of a coward he is.

"Why shouldn't I?" I ask him, snarling and hating how it makes me feel; hate how it makes me feel just like him, a royal son of a bitch, and really, what makes me feel worse is that that feeling isn't wrong, because I really am acting nasty, I'm a better mammal than this, I swear that I am...

"B- b- because I'm your father..." he says, and yeah, that's just pathetic.

"If you wanted to be my father, Matthew, you shouldn't have fucking abandoned me and Mom, okay? I was a fucking orphan for years until I left for Earth, that's my home now, with my Mama and Papa, my sister and my mate... that's home, not here, not with you. What the fuck even happened to you, anyways? You were a good mammal, now, what are you? Are you even the same mammal in body? You're sure as hell not the same in spirit... so what's the answer?"

"Honestly, Theodore-," he begins, but I cut him off.

"You were always the one to insist I was Theodore. It's Theo, father dear, just Theo... Theo Neve-Aspen. Get used to it. I'm not your little kit anymore, and you know what? I never really was. Maybe if you'd been around more, you know, but you weren't, you were 'dead,' so yeah, I don't really think that you have the right to say you were my father. You know, I used to think that you were a good mammal. Now, though, I've been wondering whether or not you're even a mammal at all, or just a hollow, rotten out shell of something whos just pretending to be a mammal.

"I'm not going to hurt you any more, just think about it. Believe you me, I really, really, really want to, but unlike you, father, I have the restraint to not just always attack out of fear and anger. Have a great life, Matthew, and I'm sure we're going to be seeing each other again some time later. So long, and next time, I'm aiming for your head."

With that, I uncock the gun and put the safety on, and then shove the damn thing in my pocket. A horrible place to put it, for sure, but I don't really have much in the way of better options, and I head back to where everyone's staring at me in shock.

"What?" I ask. "What's the big deal?"

"You shot your father, that's the big deal!" Mrs. Neve says.

"And he would've shot me first, and in the head! I was just doing what was right!"

"Doing what's right is completely different, Theo," Mrs. Neve says. "You know, shooting someone? That's usually not the right thing to do..."

"But it was either him or me!"

"And there's going to be a lot more situations like that, Theo," she says, "and pretty much all of them are going to be a hell of a lot harder than the one you just got out of. You know, he won there, not you. He got a reaction out of you, and it wasn't that hard for him to do. I'll bet you pretty much anything that he'll go back to his buddies, wherever the hell they are, and he'll tell them that you're going to be an easy target. Prove them wrong from now on, okay?"

"Yes, Mrs. Neve," I say, hating how my tail decides that it wants to tuck itself between my legs like I'm a kicked dog. I'm not a dog, I'm a freaking fox, but whether or not we're known for not being entirely together (which, by the way, need I remind anyone, we're not), I need to stay strong here. "Sorry.... I wasn't thinking..."

"Damn straight you weren't, Theodore," Isaac says, growling at me, teeth bared, and I gulp. He's stronger than me, he's bigger than me, and level-headed to boot, way, way, way more so than me. Yeah, okay, don't cross the wolf.

"Isaac!" Mrs. Neve says, looking at him sharply, but Isaac doesn't flinch. "Watch your mouth!"

"Sorry, it's kinda hard to do that when people are being fucking shot, you know!"

"I said shut it!" Mrs. Neve says, lifting a paw to smack him, and Isaac flinches.

"Mama, please," he whines, putting a paw to his head to protect the back of it from Mrs. Neve's paw, which is hovering about six inches from his ears, "I didn't mean anything, I'm a good boy, please don't hit me, please no, I'm a good boy!"

"Bianca," I say, sighing, "please, listen to him... he's not wrong, I was the one who fucked up, if anything, I should be the one getting smacked, not him, please, Bianca, leave him alone! Why do you keep taking everything out on him? I'm the one who fucking shot my father, hit me!"

"What?" she asks, obviously confused, just like everyone else, who are all looking at me in a mix of shock and surprise.

"You have better ears than me, Mrs. Neve, please don't tell me that you didn't hear me..."

"N- no, I heard you just fine, Theo," she says, frowning slightly, just barely, leaving the slightest wisp of sadness there and a slight crook to her ears. "But-"

"I screwed up, right? I'm pretty good at that..."

"Yeah, you screwed up, I don't doubt that, but even still...."

"Leave Isaac alone, Bianca, okay? You're as much of a good person as all of us. Paws off of the wolf, please, he didn't do anything," I say, pleading, feeling desperate. "Look, I get it, we're stuck in a situation that none of us want to have anything to do with, but we're here, and it's all my fault, okay? I accept that. Isaac shouldn't have to bear the brunt of your anger with me..."

"Is she always like this?" James asks, trying to hide and cower behind me, even though he's taller than me.

"Only when she's pissed off, and that doesn't happen very often," I say.

"G-good," James stutters. "She's gonna be my aunt, isn't she?"

"Yep, that's her," I say.

"Oh, boy..."

"So what then, Theo?" Mrs. Neve says, and I don't say anything, and she sighs.

"Damn it," she curses, realizing something, panting heavily. "I- I- I just lost it again, didn't I? I just snapped.... See, and this is what I get for what I did..."

"What did you do?" I ask, feeling a surge of panic rise up within me.

"One, it's a little painful changing back and forth between species every night. Your body really starts to hate you, two, do you know that I killed tons and tons of Sturgmen? Yeah, I did, and one of my missions was to take out the head honcho, we all know who that is, and you can probably guess how that went, because now he wants his revenge..."

"You tried to kill Mister Marlboro?" I say, my voice nearly a shout, and I feel a stone drop hard into my stomach when she nods.

"Great, and you didn't tell us?"

"It wasn't important at the time!"

"Yeah, well it's important now!" I say, and then sigh. "I know I did the right thing there..."

"Yeah, you did," she says. "You know what? I don't know why I'm so on edge right now...."

"Because you're a cat, okay? You've also been a human for forever, believe you me, if I try to cram my instincts down my throat, I gag on them. Isaac, are you okay, man?"

"A little hurt, that's all, I'm used to it," Isaac says, looking at his paws, and I can hear him start to cry.

"Isaac, what's wrong?" I ask, going to sit next to him.

"I'm stuck on an alien planet, I'm scared, my anxiety won't stop and shut up, there are crazy creatures trying to freaking kill us, I think I'm going to wet myself, my mate is a whole Universe away.... Oh, and I feel like a freaking failure because I can't keep my head screwed on straight. Maybe you know the kind of feeling that I'm talking about, Theo?"

"All too well, Isaac," I say, "all to freaking well. Do you want a hug?"

"Stupid wolf here," he says, "but what's a hug?"

"This," I say, wrapping my arms gently around him and patting him on the back, "is a hug."

"See, and I knew that, too," he says, sighing. "Told ya I was stupid, just your normal dumb wolf..."

"And my brother-in-law, and Mrs. Neve's son, and Alaina's mate, and Jenna's sister, and a wolf, and an all-around great mammal and great person, so take this advice, and I'll take it myself, because you should always follow your own advice- relax, Isaac.

"Oh, and Mrs. Neve-?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't hit him... believe you me, we're all freaking stressed out and beyond our limits already, I can see that, okay?"

"I'm hungry," James says, interrupting me and Mrs. Neve before either of us get the chance to finish our conversation.

"And none of us brought any food with us, did we?" I ask, and Mrs. Neve sighs again and shakes her head.

"Yeah, no, no we didn't," Mrs. Neve says. "Alright, my bad... Theo, Alaina, do you have any idea where we can find food on this freaking planet?"

"Um, most Terrans grow gardens, maybe they'd be willing to share? Either that or my parents were insane doomsday preppers and there was a huge bunker in our back yard... if we're lucky, it could still be safe to use whatever's inside....," I say.

"So how far to your house?" Tony asks, and I point a finger right down the road that we're on towards the collapsing brick two-story at the end of the road. Not that far... that's it right there, actually. I betcha we could make it there in ten minutes if we ran..."

"Well, then I'll race you!" James says, popping out from behind me. "I used to run for my school's track team, back when, well, back when there was a school and a track to be run on... it got blown up a few years ago..."

"I'm really sorry to hear that James," Mrs. Neve says, letting out another sigh. "Come on, let's go... well, no, you guys go, I need to keep taking care of Tony here, so..."

"It's alright, Mrs. Neve," I say, sighing myself this time, "I'll take care of this, you can stay here with Tony, okay? I'm taking Isaac with me, if you don't mind..."

"No, not at all," Mrs. Neve says, and I can see the look of relief on Isaac's face as he runs over to join our little group, and we set off down the road, James taking the lead.

I wait until we're out of Mrs. Neve's earshot (which is a pretty long way, by the way) until I decide to ask Isaac the question that's digging at me. "Isaac, why does your mom keep doing that to you? You didn't do anything to deserve her being angry and you, and this isn't the first time that she's been like this.... Is she usually like this? I don- I mean, I like her, she's my mate's mom, she's your mom, and you're my sister's mate, so... I don't like seeing her treat you like that, Isaac... is there anything I can do to help? Believe me, I know, getting boxed upside the ears hurts like freaking hell... so why do you let her do it?"

"Maybe it's because you didn't have a family, really, Theo," Isaac says, and then notices the hurt look that I have on my face. "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it."

"Yeah, I guess I do," I say. "But you were saying, Isaac? It kinda looks to me, at least, and please, correct me if I'm wrong here, but it kinda looks to me like your mom just takes out all her anger on you... how the heck is that fair?"

"Like I said, Theo, maybe you've never had a family, but my family, at least the small one that I have, my mom, me, my sister, but we stick together. We're a pack, really, and not for lack of a better term there. Wolves do that, and we treat everyone the way they deserve to be treated."

"So that includes-"

"Yes, the alpha putting people in line. It hurts, but she wasn't wrong to do it... believe me, I've heard of worse... you know, alpha wolves used to actually bite, but that's illegal now... look, believe me, I know you think Mrs. Neve- my mom, she still is my mother, you know- I know you think she's harsh, and believe me, she can be, but there's never anything that she does without a reason behind it. Can we just, you know, drop this whole subject? I hate talking about it, because, well, everyone always assumes the same thing you did, okay? Most everybody, seriously, if they don't know us... I can't tell you how many times people have threatened to call the police on all of us..."

"That must be awful," James says, and Isaac nods, smiling sadly at the wolf, who looks almost like a carbon copy of his sister. "Yeah, more or less. Anyways, can we get going here? This whole freaking planet is freaking me out."

"We're all freaking out, believe me," I say, trying to hide my panic. I hate it that I can't, though, and James puts a paw on my shoulder.

"You alright there, Theo? You're freaking out and it's making me freak out, and believe me, we're all freaking the flock out!" James says.

"Yeah, um, I'm pretty good at that, just ignore me, come on, let's go....!"

"Where are we even going?" James says, the smallest hint of a whine in his voice.

"Dude, aren't you supposed to be leading us to your house?"

"Ugh, yeah, sorry, I'm a bit of a dumb wolf, you might've noticed that..."

"Hey!" Isaac says, hackles raised in anger. "Knock the scat, man! You're fine the way you are, okay? You're not stupid, far from it!"

"Yeah, right," James says, stopping and taking a seat in the grass, not caring that he's sitting on his tail and probably putting a crimp in it that'll hurt like heck eventually. "I'm a wolf, nobody expects anything different from me... I've been dealing with it for all seventeen years of my life. Probably why I still act more or less like I'm a little it. It's kinda hard to grow up when everyone automatically sees 'oh, well, he's a wolf,' and then goes right to talking to me like I'm a baby. It's been hard enough to learn human, too, so thanks for not judging... I hope my stupid accent's not too hard to pick through..."

"Accent? What accent?" I ask. "I've been on Earth long enough to hear plenty of people, so you sound pretty much like all of the ones I'm used to hearing... but completely different than Tony, though... and he grew up on Earth. He and Calvin sound a lot alike, though..."

"They're from the same area, though... so that makes sense. Do even the accents here on Terra mirror those on Earth? Not that it really matters, just sayin'," Isaac says.

"No idea," I say. "But seriously, it's cold out here, and I don't have a winter coat, so can we get where we're going, please, and get there quickly? Hmm?"

"Yeah, sorry, told ya I was stupid," James says, sticking his tongue out as his tail wags. "Come on, we're almost there," he says, tearing off, and we follow after him as quickly as we can, past the ship and over the next few ridges. As we run, I take a look around us, and it sickens me. The ground is covered in enormous potholes, potholes and impact craters, all of them scorched black around the edges, and the air smells like smoke and sulfur and another scent that I can't quite place, but whatever it is, it sets my fur on edge.

Trying to blot that feeling out, I follow James to wherever he's going, and it turns out that where he's going is the shell of a house that's barely standing, and quite honestly, it looks like it's going to come crashing down on all of our heads soon enough.

"Are you sure this is safe, James?" I ask him as he leads us around the back, over shards of glass that have shattered and fallen out of the windows and shingles from the roof with rusty nails sticking out of them. I'll pass on the lockmuzzle; thanks, nails, but I'm good.

"Safe or no, Theo," James says, kneeling down next to a set of rusted iron bull-cow doors and unlocking the padlock on the chain that's holding them shut with a small key that he fishes out of one of the pockets of the jeans that he's wearing, and it's then that I realize that the bottoms of his pants are stained with blood.

"James, what's with the blood?" I ask him, hoping he'll answer me, because from the look of things, he's in a shitton of pain.

"You try walking through glass slivers when you don't get out much. It's nothing, just some cut-up paws, nothing to worry about."

"Dude, your sister would want us to help you out," I say, and James whirls around, hackles raised and teeth bared, and holy fuck I hope he doesn't attack me...

"Yeah, she would've, hmm? Then why the freaking hell is she not here to help me herself? Oh, wait, I know the answer, because she freaking abandoned me and went to Earth and never looked back, that's why. She never loved me, so why should I give a flying fuck?"

"Because she thought you were dead, James, that's why, damn it! She thought that you had been killed when your mom died too, okay? She had no idea, so why would she have come back? She had nothing to come back to!"

"Is that really it, or did she just feed you all that line to give to me so that way you could try and force me to work with all of you? How do I know that any of you are even Terrans? How do I know that any of you even know Alaina?"

"Because for one," Isaac says, "I'm her mate and the father of our her kits- our kits, second, Theo here," Isaac says, pointing a finger at me, "has always been there for her."

"James," I ask, putting my paws out placatingly to try and calm him down, "do you even know how Alaina and I met?"

When James shakes his head, I continue. "We met just around the time you would've been born, maybe a Terran year after, and she had been out on the streets because your parents had just died, and my mom ate lead after my own dad died. We were both out on the streets, you know the museum down on Banyan Street? Yeah, I used to live under those steps, I did that for more than a year. It wasn't any flocking fun, let me tell you. But anyways, one day it's pouring out, and along comes this sopping wet gray wolf and she sees me, and she asks if she can join me to stay dry, well, drier than she would've been. That wolf became my best friend pretty quickly, and we both ended up in the Venturing program another year or two later, and then we got sent to Earth, and then our host family adopted us, and well, that's the first part of the long story short.

"So, James, if you don't mind me asking, how well do you know your sister? I'm not trying to be mean, I just want to know..."

"Not that well," James says, his paws slipping up to cover his face as we enter the basement of what I'm assuming used to be Alaina's home, that is, before all hell broke loose. As we go down, James flips a switch on the wall, and two ancient lightbulbs hum to life above us.

I look around the room really quickly, and geez, it's not much. Old cinder-block walls, concrete floor, a musty cot and bookshelves and a desk with a candle in a holder, as well as- geez, a typewriter? on top. There's a tub and sink in the back in what looks like an old bathroom, but I don't see any heating system or anything like that. What I do see is piles of old rags, all pushed to the end of the bed, and the gravity of the situation sinks in. He's barely getting by, barely avoiding starving to death...

As if to support the conclusion I've come to in my head, a few drops of water leak through the ceiling, better known as the rotting old floor of the bombed-out shell of a house above us, making sure to splash me right on the tip of the nose, which, of freaking course, causes me to sneeze. Not that it really matters, of course, just that it's annoying.

"Is that embarrassing, James?" Tony asks, speaking up for the first time in forever. "It would be for me, at least."

"It is a little bit," James says. "Wolves, we're pack mammals, we treasure our family, and when someone who we don't really know knows our family better than we do? I don't know i- if it's just me, but that kinda rubs me the wrong way, and well, yeah, I want off this planet as soon as possible.... Can you guys take me with you?"

"Only if we get out of here alive first," Tony says, and that shuts everyone up.

"Yeah, that's kinda a good point, actually," James says. "You guys wanna hang down here for a while? I mean, I have nowhere else to be... do you guys?"

"No, not really, other than at home with my family and my kits, but yeah, nowhere better to be," I say, sneezing as yet another drop of cold water splashes on the edge of my nose. Damn it... I hope I don't catch a cold, that'd probably kill me.

Anyways, though, focusing on the positives, right? Yeah, I'm positive I'm going to die.

Um, that wasn't the kind of positive I meant.

Really, though, I need to stay positive.

"Does anyone else have anywhere to be?" James asks, and all of us shake our heads. "Good. Look, I'm not going to kill anyone, I promise, I'm sorry about that, okay? I don't want to have to. Do you mind introducing yourselves, by the way? I don't think we ever did.... and since, well, we're kinda going to be spending a lot of time around each other for the next who even knows how long, so, um, who wants to start? Actually, you know what? Since I'm the crazy wolf whose basement home we're all hiding in, I'll start. No, I'm not actually crazy, just tired and stressed, but anyways, hi, I'm James... James Lupa."

"And we all know each other, of course," I say. "But I'm Theo."

"I'm Calvin," Calvin says, chucking Tony on the shoulder, "and this here mammal is my boyfriend, Tony."

"Hi," Tony says, blushing nervously.

"Dude, it's okay, we all get it, you're nervous, it's fine, we all are," James says, lighting a few candles around the edge of the room.

"Oh, I know, I'm just a little frazzled is all. Anyways, yeah," Tony says, brushing the just off of his pants, "I'm Tony, and yeah, I know, I'm weird, but then again, I don't think that any of us could ever really have been called normal... yeah, such is life."

"I'm Isaac," Isaac says, raising his paw. "I'm Theo's brother in law, and please don't call me a good boy, that's my one pet peeve..."

"Pet peeve? Really?"

"Geez, Calvin," Isaac says, laughing. "But seriously, I hate it when people do that."

"Why?" James asks, head cocked. "I always thought it was a compliment..."

"Oh, it is, it is," Isaac says. "But, um, I know you wouldn't get the context, so let's see if I can explain it. On Earth there's a kind of dog that's called a golden retriever, and if you don't know what those look like, just look at me, I'm pretty much a carbon copy of one, except I'm not a dog, I'm a wolf.

"See, the thing is, nobody can tell the freaking difference, and I've lost track of how many times some darn human's given me a pet on the ears and called me a good boy. I'm freaking sick of it..."

"That's the life wolves have here these days, too, Isaac, believe me, you have it a lot better on Earth. I'm kinda lucky I haven't had to find a street corner yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Isaac asks, and Mrs. Neve leans over to whisper in his ear, and he goes bright red. I know what it means, and that line of work would be the end of me. It'd break me apart, I know, and well, guys get it rougher.

No pun intended, but seriously, that's the way it is. I had to help in a center years ago as part of the Venturing program, and what I saw there...

It wasn't pleasant... mammals would come in all shredded up and bleeding... thank god James managed to escape that, I've heard they start as soon as possible.

"You're lucky, James," Isaac says, still blushing red from embarrassment. "Geez, I'm sorry... and lemme guess, people have tried to make you-?"

"Yeah," James says. "Just this morning, actually, that's what I was doing outside when you guys got here, running away from all of the soldiers who want a piece of me in that way... everybody just seems to think that wolves are just good for a fun time or a quickie or something like that. Well, you know what I say to that? Fuck it! No wait, don't do that, that's what I want to avoid..."

"Damn," Isaac says. "And here I thought I had it good...."

"Well, maybe you do back on Earth, but here on Terra? Life's shit, and that's nothing new. As much as it drives me up the wall that Alaina hasn't said anything, like you said, she thinks I'm dead, and well, that makes sense. So, anyways, um, seriously, what's the plan now?"

"Do you have any sort of idea what Mister Marlboro could be up to? Or even how to kill him?"

"Um... how did your dad kill him, Theo?"

"For one, James, he's not my father. He abandoned me, but in the interest of keeping myself calm, let's not talk about that. Honestly, I have no idea how he killed the damn thing, but... wait a second," I say as a memory floats to the surface of my mind, one of when I was a little kit, and I have no idea why I remember this, but I do.

"What is it?" James asks, tail wagging in curiosity.

"Hang on a sec and I'll let you know. It- it's my dad, arguing with my mom. I remember hiding in the closet 'cause it was one of the ones that got bad, bottles thrown and all, and this was before she ended up as a wretched drunk, but she was crying about how my dad had to leave us, 'cause he had just been drafted by the army, and she didn't want him to go. We all know how that went, but she'd been yelling at him because she was afraid that the Sturgmen would come for him, just like they did... But he was convinced that they wouldn't be able to, because the Army had been working on a gun that would take care of them, but that they wouldn't be able to waste any bullets, they were too expensive because- that's it!"

"What's it? Did you figure it out?"

"Yeah, the bullets were- shit, they were bone.... and not just any bone, but Sturgman bone... where are we gonna find a dead one?" I wonder, and then I want to smack my face because I'm so stupid I can't even believe it, but damn, it's going to mean bloody paws... shit...

"Um, no offense, Theo," Mrs. Neve says, looking at me with eyes that seem as cold as ice, "but a, that means that we'd have to leave here, b, I don't want all of us to die, and c, can't you think of a better option?

"Sure!" I say, trying to smile as wide as it's possible to do, hoping I look screwy and sarcastic, and it works. "Yeah, I have a better option- we all wait for Mister Marlboro to come get us, how's that sound?"

"Pass, thanks," everyone says.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, so who has a better idea?"

"How about we lock the doors here and crash, okay? It's getting late already, and I'm tired," Tony says, yawning.

"If he's going to take a nap, I'm joining him," Isaac says. "I don't care about the floor," he says, dropping to his knees and curling up in a little ball on the floor, and just a few second later, I hear him start to snore, right along with Tony, who finds a spot in the back of the room, right near the bathroom door.

"And it's a good boyfriend and mate's job to stay with their partner," Calvin says, curling up next to Tony and putting a protective arm around him.

"Are they-?" James asks, and I nod.

"Gay? Together? Yeah, both, why? Got a problem with that?"

"No, I'm just curious," James says. "My cousin Emma has a girlfriend and my uncle Carmen is bi, so, yeah, no complaints. Yeah, okay, I'm wiped. Good night, Theo," he says, yawning and curling up himself, tucking his tail over his face and falling asleep too, leaving just me and Mrs. Neve awake, and even she looks tired.

"I'll stay awake, Mrs. Neve, if you need to go to sleep... do you have a gun on you, maybe? If I'm going to stay on guard all night, I'm going to need to be able to defend myself...."

"Yeah, I wish," Mrs. Neve says, "but I left mine back at the school... shit, I didn't even think about it, I just left the damn thing behind, shit.... That's what got me sent to Earth in the first place..."

"What's that mean, Mrs. Neve?" I ask.

"I got shot on the front lines because I managed to leave my gun behind on a mission and I got put on desk duty. I got sick of that and asked for another job. Terra wanted a spy, I said sure, why not, and off I went. I kinda got sick of that job eventually, told my supervisors I quit, and got married. He died doing the same thing I nearly died doing, fighting on the front lines. I guess I'm thankful that that bracelet makes it so you age even slower in the inside..."

"You really are just what? Twenty-eight?"

"Yeah, that's it. Not really anything more than that. You know, it's hard to act like you're just shy of double that when you're not..."

"So I'll take guard duty then...," I say, grabbing a bottle of water off of the shelf next to me, as well as a lantern, and set myself to watching.

Foxes may be nocturnal, but it's been years and years and then some more since I've actually been up all night, so it's going to be a scat-ton of fun trying to push myself even farther than I've gotten used to.

As the night wears on, it starts to get cold, and, well, I don't have a freaking winter coat, damn it!

Eventually, the light that's glowing from the lantern starts to flicker until it goes out, leaving me in darkness. No worries, though, I can see in the dark.

It is pretty freaking cold in here....

Flock flock flock I freaking hate this!

'Course, it was my own damn fault that got us sent here, so...

Yeah, I'll just deal and freeze.

That sounds about right...

Okay, yeah, I need to shut it, I think as I rub my paws down my arms, trying not to freeze, but it's so dang hard not too, and the cold is making my head feel thick...

I can't stay awake any longer... no, no, no! I can't fall asleep, I can't!

That's the thought that sticks in my head as I manage to fight myself awake time and time and time again until I see the sun start to rise through the knot hole in the door, and I see that everyone's starting to wake up.

I know my mom (when she wasn't crazy as flock, that is) used to love waking up to the sun, so I go to open up the door and then think better of it.

NO! That's just asking to get everyone killed...

"Morning, everyone!" I say, yawning and stretching, feeling my joints crack from not having moved in nearly ten hours.

"Hiya, Theo," Isaac says, stretching out like I do and yawning as well. "Sleep well?"

"Um, no, Isaac, I've been up all night, your mom asked me to guard, so, um, here I am. Can someone else take this job? I need a nap..." I say, and then snapping awake again when my head hits the dirt because I've tipped out of my chair... fuck, now I've got a headache, oh, and damn it, I'm bleeding, I realize as I take my paw away from my head and see that it has blood on it.

"Take a nap, Theo, you've earned it. I'll guard," Isaac says, and we trade places.

Before I realize it, I'm asleep again, and oh, it feels good, but then, after what feels like just a split second, a banging on the doors snaps me right awake again. I look around, and everyone looks panicked. Scat, this can't be good.

"Who is it?" I call out, knowing the answer already but dreading to hear it.

"That's none of your business, Mister Aspen," comes the voice from the other side, and nope, I was mistaken, it's not Mister Marlboro, but it sounds like it's going to be even worse.

"It's not?" I ask. "Why not?"

"Because unlike me, your life matters to the whole, and believe me, you're going to want to be part of this as a live fox, Mister Aspen."

Oh, okay, that doesn't bode well for me...

"What about the others?" I ask. "Leave them out of this!"

"No can do, Theodore... they've got to come too. The prices on all of your heads..." the voice from the other side says, and I gulp.

"What if I refuse to come out?" I say. "What can you do then? Kill me?"

"You're smarter than I gave you credit form, Mister Aspen," the voice says, and I gulp again. I hope I don't wet myself again... I thought we were only going to be here a day or two, and well, I only brought one pair of clothes... and yep, still wearing 'em! I'm sure I smell awful...

"I'd hope I am," I say, steeling my nerves. "So what do you want? These are not the mammals you're looking for..."

"Fur Wars reference aside, Theodore," the voice says, growing colder and harsher, which sends a shiver down my spine, "I think they are. I'll give you two choices."

"And those are?" I say, hating the way this is going and hoping that I wake everyone up with the sound of my voice.

"Either you surrender and all of your friends come with us, or I'll break this door down and kill you while your friends watch. Your choice...."

"You can have me," I say, "but leave my friends alone!"

"Oh, no, no, they're in this with you, they're coming along as well. Wake them up, I can hear them snoring.... Damn animals..."

"O- okay," I say, hating that stupid, stupid stutter that I've been getting when I'm nervous, and then going around to wake everyone up.

"Wh- what is it, Theo?" Mrs. Neve groans.

"T-they're here for us, Mrs. Neve," I say, tail flicking back and forth, back and forth behind us, and I hate it, hate the stupid stutter, hate the fear, hate that I'm in this whole situation.

"What?" Mrs. Neve says, springing out of bed, hackles raised. "What? And you just let them come here?"

"Mrs. Neve, please, I've had enough of that. I didn't do anything, I was up all night watching, nothing came. Isaac took over for me because he wanted to- don't think that, it wasn't his fault either- he was even better at the whole job than me, I'm sure... please, just help me wake everyone else up, and let's just go. I- you know I'd fight if I was sure that it wouldn't end up getting all o us killed, you know that, right?" I ask, dropping my voice and hoping that the soldier (or even soldiers) outside haven't heard us talking.

"I know, Theo, I do," Mrs. Neve says. "Now come on, let's go and get this done and over with. IF they're after anyone, it's probably going to be me... I did their numbers some fair damage when I was in the Terran army all of those years ago..."

"No, you know what, Mrs. Neve, they're probably after me, too, and if they're after both of us...."

"They're going to be after all of us," she says, realizing. "Of fucking course, and no offense to James there, but-"

"Are you all coming or not?" comes the voice of the soldier from outside, and I try to get a picture of the creature on the other side of the door. It doesn't sound like a Sturgman, but then again, how the freak am I even really supposed to know what those damn things sound like?

"We'll be out soon," I say, tapping Isaac on the shoulder, roughly shaking him awake.

"Mmph, what? What is it?" he asks, sitting up and wiping his eyes groggily. "Is everything okay?"

"No, Isaac," I whisper, pointing a finger at the door. "And it'll be even worse if you can't get up and get your clothes in about the next two or three minutes or so. Random question, by the way- why are you sleeping in the fur? There are other girls around, dude..."

"You noticed?" Isaac says, blushing hard and covering himself as best as he can with his paws. It doesn't go well.

"Just- just get dressed, mammal," I say, going to wake everyone else up. Thankfully, Tony and Calvin are already stretching out groggily, and Tony nearly freaks out when he realizes what's going on.

"Um, no, no, no no no no no.....," he whines. "Do you know what they'd do to someone like me?"

"No...," I say, wincing. "But I can't imagine it's a good thing..."

"Let's just say that I'd better get used to getting fucked in the ass..." Tony says, wincing. "Calvin wouldn't fare any better... you and Isaac and James? You'll be fine... us, though? We get to be playthings..."

"Not on my watch, Tony," I say. "We're coming, we're coming!" I nearly shout, and that wakes James up, who looks at me with panicked eyes that are wet with tears. "Are you two dressed?"

"Yeah, we're decent, we're moving...."

"Everyone else nearly up?"

"We're all good," Mrs. Neve says, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "I'll get James."

"Here, let me help you," Mrs. Neve says, scooping the still-sleeping gray wolf up and hoisting him onto my back. He may be tall, but he's light... too light, he's probably starving... damn, and it won't get any better for him any time soon, especially not if he's going to be coming with us, and I wouldn't dare leave him behind for the wolves, for lack of a better term.

"Are you damn mammals coming or not?" comes the voice from outside once again.

"We're coming," Mrs. Neve says, unlocking the chain from the doors and letting it drop to let the rusted doors swing open, the brightest sunlight that I've ever seen blasting me in the face as soon as I do, and I can get a good look at the mammals who are to be our captors, and I realize that it's not any Sturgmen, but instead, it's an enormous pack of wolves, and my stomach turns over.

Thankfully, I don't throw up (except for inside of my mouth, the acid burning my throat, damn it!), but the thought of Terrans, especially a Terran species that's held in just a high regard as wolves working with the Sturgmen makes me sick, both figuratively and literally, because wolves, like I said so long ago on my first day of school here on Earth, are respected and honored, especially by us Terrans.

Apparently their loyalty can be swayed to the other side, too... I wonder what made them decide to change...

"So we can do this the easy way or the hard way," one of the wolves, an older one with rust-red fur and a patch over one eye, says. "The easy way is easy, all of you pelts just come with me. The hard way is well, hard, and yeah, I don't think you want do go through this the hard way, because, well, you'd probably all be dead, and we're not getting paid if we don't bring us to our boss alive... I kinda need the money, got to feed the mate and kits, you know..."

"And so do I!" Isaac says, and I nod. "Me too."

"Both of you sons o' bitches are fathers? Damn, you're no more than pups... you've got to be scatting me..."

"I swear, sir!" Isaac says, dropping to his knees and pressing his face into the dirt in a gesture that anyone recognizes. "Please..."

"Well, I ain't gonna kill ya," the wolf says, sweeping his gun towards all of us, "not keeping in mind that you've probably got kits to go back to, but I still need the money. I can't let you go... come on, all of you out, the sooner we can get this over with, the better..."

"Please!" I hear myself plead, and I'm shocked at how pitiful and little and weak I sound. "Please, leave us be....!"

"No can do, fox," another wolf says. "You guys escape and we all die... we all want to live, believe me..."

"Who's paying all of you?" Tony asks, eyes pleading, paws together like he's praying.

"A certain slippery fella, don't know his name, don't care what it is," another wolf, this one taller and even skinnier, his ribs showing through his white fur, and I realize when I look up that his eyes are red...

"W- what's with the eyes?" I ask, trying to a, stall, and b, calm my nerves so that I don't have the full-blown panic attack that I can feel rising up inside of me.

"Every freaking time..." the wolf says. "I'm an albino... everybody thinks I'm either a ghost or a demon wolf. Either's correct, depending on how you look at things, I guess. Name's Casper, by the way."

"You fool!" the first wolf says, and for once, I have to stifle a laugh when the first wolf, whose name I don't know, whacks the second, Casper, with the back of his paw. "You know we're supposed to be taking the damn animals as captives, right, not talking to them? You weren't ever good at that, you dummy... you know what, you like them so much, you can join them."

"Fine with me," the wolf, Casper it seems that his name is, says, dropping his gun as everyone's jaws, including our own, drop. "You can have me, Jackson, I've gotten sick of this shit."

"Oh- okay, then," the first wolf, Jackson it seems his name is, says. "Go on, get over there."

Casper does as he's told, and comes over to join us, leaving us all standing in shock.

"So now, are you all coming with us?" another wolf asks, his teeth set in a snarl. "Damn coward, Lupa, what a coward... come on, all of you with us."

We do as we're told without complaint, and Casper falls to the back of the group, right near me.

"Um, Casper?" I whisper.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asks.

"Why'd he call you Lupa?"

"Lupa's my last name... why?"

"Because it's mine too," James interjects. "Um, were you in a car crash as a kit and everyone told you your family was dead?"

"Yeah, actually, why?"

"Because," I interject, "lemme guess, you two are brothers, and that makes both of you my brothers because your sister, Alaina, she got sent to Earth on exchange with me."

"Um..."

"Yeah, maybe... what was your mom's name, Casper?" James asks.

"Emily, why?"

At that, James doesn't say anything, only nods, and the rest of the wolves all look at us like we're crazy.

"And what was your dad's name?"

"Lukas," Casper says, and at that, James wraps him in an enormous hug.

"I... they... they told me you were dead...."

"Are- are you sure?"

"It was three weeks after Dawnbreak, wasn't it? Three weeks to the day?"

"Yeah... it was... where the flock have you been?"

"Oh, just a few tryseu away from here, that's all, not far..."

"I- I- come here, you," Casper says, and James dives into his arms again, and all of the wolves clap.

"So are you going to come back to Earth with us eventually, Casper?" I ask.

"I will if I can," he says. "For right now, though, we need to go with them..."

"As long as we're all together," Tony says. "I'm not abandoning my family..."

"I wouldn't dare take you away from your family, but we need to go..." Casper says. "I'll help keep you safe... if you're Isaac and James's family, you're mine."

"If you don't mind me asking," Isaac says as we head out, following the wolves, "why is your name Casper?"

"I never really had a name, and everyone just called me 'Ghost.' That turned into 'Casper,' 'cause he was the friendly ghost, and I'm a lover, not a fighter, and well, that name just stuck..."

"Was the 'ghost' thing 'cause you're white and have red eyes?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So, um, if you don't mind me asking, where the heck are we going?" I ask a little while later.

"Well, I think I've managed to convince big guy there not to haul us straight to you know who..." he says, with a look in his eyes that makes me understand perfectly why they called him 'Ghost.'

"Um, so then where are we going?"

"Great question... you're asking the wrong mammal, bro."

"Somewhere away from here," says another one of the wolves, overhearing a snippet of our conversation. "If we're going to escape from whatever the freaking hell that thing is, we need to get going...."

"Um, does anyone have any weapons?" Isaac asks. "We're going to need them, you know, and um, we left our behind when we ran away... well, we're screwed..."

"If you're-" Tony starts to say, but then Calvin cuts him off with a glare.

"Not funny, dude, really?"

"I was just trying to lighten the situation here, that's all..."

"Yeah, we know, but seriously, sex jokes? Dude, can it, okay?"

"Fine," Tony mutters, his voice barely audible.

"So, um, then what should we talk about instead? I'm sorry, and um, yeah, I've got nothin'." Isaac says, wringing his wrists. "Stupid anxiety sucks..."

"You're telling me!" Casper says, smiling sadly at him. "Are all wolves anxious wrecks, or is it just me?"

"Most foxes are too, Casper," I say, shivering as another cold gust of air ruffles my fur. I'd really, really been hoping that it would've warmed up a little bit by now, but, yeah, no luck...

Besides, don't we all know that luck is never on a fox's side?

Yeah, but that's going to change.

"You look fine, Theo," Casper says. "I'm the one who's always been the screwball here..."

"You get to know your brother-in-law well enough, by the way, that's Isaac I'm talking about, not me, but um, anyways, I'm going to be one... anyways, though, yeah, Isaac's a screwball..."

"No, I am?" Isaac asks, sticking his tongue out at all of us as we keep going, and I'm starting to wonder how long it's going to be, because it's starting to get even colder and the sun is starting to set....

"Yeah, you are..." Tony starts to say, before he stops, cutting himself off suddenly. "I- I think we're here..."

"You're right," Jackson says. "So do you guys know what this place is?" he asks, gesturing with a sweep of the paw to the building in front of us, a rather imposing several story building with a yard fenced in barbed wire.

"Um, no, yeah, I have no idea what it is, so, um, if you wouldn't mind telling me where the heck we are?"

"Sure!" Jackson says, smiling, well, more wincing than anything, more a wince with a hint of a smile. "This is where all of us live. It's cold and freezing and smells like, well, mold and sweat, but it's all we have. We're lucky, I guess, the government built us this place to get us off the streets. Being homeless freaking sucks..."

"Yeah, I know, I know how it feels," I say, and Casper looks at me with his head tilted sideways and ears perked, and I have to stifle a laugh at how much he looks like his brother-in-law when he does that.

"You do?" he asks, and I nod.

"Yeah, believe me, how do you think I ended up as part of the Venturing program to begin with? It wasn't because I had any sort of family to come back to..."

"Oh," he says, and we all head up the stairs to the front door of the wolves' house. After one of the other wolves, a shorter black one, fiddles with the lock and he finally gets the door open, much to the delight of everyone else, because it's not only starting to get dark right about now, not only cold, but damn it, it's starting to rain, too, and not just the normal 'clean up the world a little' sort of rain, no, the rain that comes brings thunder and lightning, booming and sparking through the sky, bringing wind that howls like an anguished wolf's howling cry. Needless to say, I guess, but I'll say it anyways: I'm freaking terrified, and yep, that furry thing between my legs is my tail.

Damn it.

"So what now?" I ask as the same wolf closes and locks and bolts and shuts a heavy metal plate over the door behind us as we all head in. Dang, they really take their security seriously here...

"Welp, seems like we have two real choices here, either stay here and wait for them to come for us, which I'm sure that they're going to be more than willing to do, or, um, we can go out and try to find them and fight them there. How's that sound?"

"Pretty awful, honestly," Casper chimes in, and I can see the other wolf try and fail to suppress a growl.

"Lupa," he snarls. "You remember that we only let you join our group because you had no other pack. They're here for you now, you're one of us no longer, and really, you never were. We're not going to kick you out, that'd mean that we all die. Just... just keep to your own side from now on, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Casper says, dropping his head in submission and going off on his own.

"Wait!" I say, following him down the hallway, hoping everyone else can find us, too. "Wait, please, where are you going?"

"My room," he says. "They let me stay, but yeah, no, they don't like me. If you guys are going to stay here with me, you're going to want to stay in my room. Don't worry, it has plenty of space, they don't like me. It's the eyes, I'm sure.... They think I'm a demon, I'll bet..."

"Your eyes are kinda creepy," Isaac says, and then realizes what he's said. "I mean that in the best way possible, you know.... sorry if it didn't come across that way... damn it!"

"Isaac, relax, it's okay, bro," Casper says, giving Isaac a pat on the back, and I see all of the air go out of a certain tan wolf, and his tail even starts to wag slightly as he smiles.

"I don't know if I quite believe that, bro," Isaac says, returning the pat on the back. "So, um, nice room," he says, gesturing to the space around us. It really is huge, with a high ceiling and paint on all of the walls instead of the bare gray slab of concrete that I was expecting, and there's even a little carpet on the floor beneath our paws, which feels great after walking on hard gravel.

"Thanks, man," Casper says, smiling sheepishly, paw behind his ears.

"I thought that that was just a me thing," I says. "You know, the paw behind the ears when I got embarrassed...."

"No, it's a thing that pretty much all canids do...," Casper says. "I hate it, really, I think it makes me seem like I'm just a little pup, tiny and submissive, like 'oh, please don't hurt me or bite my neck or anything like that, I'm just a little defenseless wolf. Dam it, I'm more mature than that..."

"And we all fall down sometimes, you know. It's really not the end of the world," James says.

"No, that's going to be coming up plenty soon enough, and if we're not careful, probably the end of both Worlds..."

"So, um, about that- you have to kill Sturgmen with bone bullets? That's what I've been told, at least," I say. "Granted," I whisper, "the person who told me that was- is- slightly crazy, so, um... yeah, can I trust him? Probably not, but what choice do I have, really?"

"You don't really have a choice there, Theo," Tony says, and I jump a little bit in surprise. "You heard that?"

"I'm a cheetah, Theo, I have sharp ears too, believe you me."

"The fact that I'm startled a little aside," I say, "what do you mean, I don't have a choice."

"What I'm trying to say, Theo, is that he's given you the only real clue as to what we need to do to defend ourselves, so whether you freaking trust him or not, we don't have any fucking options, okay?"

"But that raises a whole other set of questions," I say, putting my paws to my temples and rubbing them in frustration. "Like this- how do we even get Sturgman bone? How do we not die when we try to kill them? Sorry, that probably sounds really awkward. You know what I'm trying to say there, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Casper says. "So, um, yeah, uh, the thing is that you can only kill them with their own bone..."

"There's got to be a better way than that....," I groan. "Seriously? There's nothing else, nothing in the Two Worlds that could kill these dam things? So how are we supposed to go home?"

"Um.... great question, really..." Casper says. "Um, you know, I have an idea... wait, nope, never mind, no I don't..."

"What was the idea?" Calvin asks, saying something and making himself heard for the first time in a long time..."

"Oh, it was nothing," Casper says. "Honestly, I don't even remember what it was now.... Sorry about that, guys... "

"It's fine, Casper," I say, making myself heard, truly, for the first time in forever. "Look, we've got to come up with a solid plan here, not just keep snatching at straws, that kinda wears down my grip even more than it already is, and, yeah, I'm probably going to need those eventually. "So, yeah, seriously, though, we need a plan, and I don't think that we're going to be able to really count on any help from the rest of the wolves here, you?"

"Yeah, no," Isaac says. "We'd be screwed trying to get any help from them. Tony, don't say anything, we get it, spring is cat fun time, but chill, mammal, okay? Calvin, would you mind reining in your mate there, please? I don't want to sound condescending or anything, but..."

"No, it's okay, really," I say. "So our only way out of this shithole isn't even possible, we have a creeper species on our tails, and um, yeah, that's pretty much the way things are going right about now.... it's soooo much freaking fun, I wish I could do it every day..."

"Nice sarcasm, Theo," Mrs. Neve says. "You've been practicing a lot, haven't you?"

"Yeah, actually," I say, blushing and hating myself for it, especially given that we're in the middle of a mess that I managed to get us into....

I still can't let that go, for some reason. I swear, I drive myself nuts most days, and yep, nope, still not a squirrel. Plenty squirrelly, but I'm a fox... Anyways, though...

"Yeah, I have been," I say, a little bit louder this time. "Yeah, I have been."

"You're pretty good at it," Mrs. Neve says. "And no, I'm not being sarcastic this time, Theo."

"Thanks, Mrs. Neve," I say. "So, um, Casper, where do we find food around here? None of us have really eaten since yesterday, and even then, it was barely anything... um, we didn't think we were going to be here very long, so, um, yeah, I didn't pack anything..."

"Well, add to that the fact that we were fleeing an attack on Earth and didn't really think about the fact that we were going to be here on Terra for very long....," Tony says. "Yeah, we're not in good shape..."

"Well, I hate to say it, guys," Casper says, smiling sadly, "but um, we're not really in much better shape here on Terra, unless you guys like eating vegetables and things like that. Me, I don't mind, but, and yeah, it's gonna sound stupid as hell, but most wolves hate vegetables, and well, that kinda means that they're starving themselves because meat is damn near impossible to come by..."

"So there are veggies?" Calvin asks, smiling. "Sorry, yeah, no I like them..."

"Me too," I say, nodding. "I think everyone else likes them too, as far as I know."

"You guys are the oddest mammals I've met...," Casper says, smiling. "I love that, don't get me wrong, just saying."

"Oh, believe me," I say, "I know. Believe me, no sane fox ever stays that way for very long, and you know, I'm starting to see the merits of that..."

"Believe me, Theo," Casper says, grabbing a few blankets off of the floor and trying to turn them into beds of sorts, "I know what that's like, believe you me."

"The fur doesn't help anything, does it?"

"It's more the eyes than anything else, really... I'd wear some tinted lenses if I could find them, but yeah, nope, those are a human invention, and- oh, shit!" Casper says, looking out the window in shock.

"What is it?" I ask, and Casper dives for the bed, trying to hide underneath it.

"M- m- missiles," he stutters, and I look out the window in shock, and yep, he's not wrong. They look like they're smaller, the trails of white that they're smoking out behind them aren't as long as the other ones that I've seen and oh my god we're about to be bombed what in the fucking hell am I doing just staring here, those are going to hit the ground in less than a minute, shit!

"Is there any place we can go?" I ask, feeling that now way, way, way too familiar panic start to creep into my voice again. I really hate that, but hell, at least in this case, it's deserved and not just the byproduct of a freakout panic attack.

"Yeah, here, in this room," Casper says. "This is the original base in its entirety, so it has the-"

He can't say anything else, because we're all knocked to the ground as an enormous fireball roils outside, charring the windows and damn it, I can't hear anything... that's new... ," I think, and then the panic starts to set in... what if I'm deaf... that can't be good, what use is a fox if he can't hear anything?

I don't know, probably nothing, but at least I can still smell, and what I smell more than anything, other than the piss smell that is me and the ash in the air, is blood. Lots and lots of blood, and it's disgusting... Maybe if I were a vampire bat, I'd like this sort of thing, but yep, nope, still a fox here.

Oh, shit, this isn't good, I realize as my brain's gears slowly start to get themselves going again, slowly, slowly as slow as is probably possible for what feels like forever, but eventually, they get themselves back going again, and I'm thankful that I don't smell any more smoke than I already do and damn it, I need to get up...

With that in mind, I push myself to my paws, yelping as I cut them on the shards of glass that are all over the freaking place, and I only know that I yelp because I can't hear any noise coming out of the end of my muzzle, which hopefully won't turn out to mean that I'm deaf...

Okay, scene check... white dust all over the place, ash.... Looks like a bomb hit it...

Oh, wait... one did...

Everyone's moving, thankfully, but there's a lot of red in here too, soaking the carpet of the floor and sticking to the dust.

Calvin looks like he's helping Tony out, and both of them are getting up slowly as well, Isaac, despite him always ragging on himself and thinking that he's weak, is, like I remember thinking what feels like so long ago, probably the strongest one out of all of us. Alaina's lucky to have him...

The only problem is that both Mrs. Neve and Casper aren't moving... let's see, I can't help them both at the same time...

"Calvin?" I ask, hearing my voice, cracking and weak, and it sounds awful but thank god I'm not dead...

"Yeah... what is it, Theo?"

"Will you check on Casper? I'm going to check on Mrs. Neve..."

"Oh- okay," I hear him say, but I'm not really listening because I'm sprinting over to Mrs. Neve and oh my god she's covered in blood and she's all pale and oh, my god... there's a piece of glass sticking out of her chest... god god god god god and Karma...

"Th- Theo..." I hear her rasp, and this really doesn't look good.... fuck, please no...

"Don- D- Don-," I say, my voice coming out as even more of a rasp, because I can't bear to think of what this is probably going to mean...

"Don't what, Theo?" she asks, calmly just pulling the piece of glass out of her chest as blood slowly seeps around it.

"Um... please don't do that, Mrs. Neve," I say, trying to fight the rising bile that's burning the back of my throat, and yep, that doesn't go very well as I throw up all over the floor, the smell of smoke still burning the insides of my throat and nose and lungs, and now we can add the smell of bile to that as well.

"Why wouldn't I take it out, Theo," she says, the blood still pouring, and yep, I'm gonna hurl again...

Urrgh!

By the time I look back up from throwing up all over the floor, Mrs. Neve's pulled a bunch of bandages out of the pockets of her pants and stuffed the wound and wrapped it and taken care of, and why does this world keep playing with me? Either world? Both of them keep freaking doing it and it's starting to drive me loopy, I swear...

"I- I- I- I-," I try to say, but every single stinking time that I try to make my mouth form any sort of coherent anything, let along whole words or, Karma forbid, a whole sentence maybe, it doesn't happen, not until I take a second to calm myself down all the way and take deep breath after deep breath after deep breath after even more deep breaths until I manage to calm down.

"I thought I was going to lose you, Mrs. Neve," I say, and Isaac comes over, blood coating his teeth, and he nods and smiles at her, and it just so happens that at pretty much that exact moment, one of the drops of blood drips off of the end of his front fangs, and I can't stifle my laugh.

"Dude, are you sure that you're not a vampire wolf?" I ask him, reaching out a paw to help Mrs. Neve get back to her paws, the shard of glass that was just sticking out of her chest now wrapped in a scrap of bandage and tucked in her pocket. It's a great idea, use it as a weapon later.

"Um, maybe I am," Isaac says, licking the blood off of his arms and the paw pads on his fingers. "Yech," he says, spitting all the blood and other crap out. "I taste like iron, and, oh my god, Mom, are you okay?" he says, finally noticing that there's a bloody bandage or four around his mom's chest, and that she's not entirely the healthiest looking mammal right at the second, because she's even paler looking than she normally is, and there's blood on her hindpaws.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mrs. Neve says. "Really, I am, no, seriously," she says, noticing all of the 'you sure you're not crazy, mammal?' looks that we're giving her. "Guys, I'm fine... come on, we need to make sure everyone's okay..."

"Sounds good to me," I say, sighing, trying more than anything to shake my stress, but I just can't, I nearly watched my mother-in-law bleed out in front of me, and I was almost too damn scared to do anything... oh my god, would that have made me a murderer if I had been?

Okay, I really need to derail this train of thought before it gets too nuts...

"No, wait," Casper says. "Mrs. Neve, Isaac, you stay here, okay? I need to get out more, anyways... stay safe, don't let anyone else in until we come back, okay?"

"No, we'll come, I swear, I'm fine, okay? Seriously, you put a cat in a cage and you're going to end p with a pissed off cat. Don't do it."

"Fine, then, but if you get hurt, Mom," Isaac says, going to hug her but then thinking better of it, "you can't say I didn't tell you..."

"Yeah, yeah, Isaac," she replies as we head out, trying our darn hardest to avoid getting our paw pads shredded to pieces. "Why don't you let me do the parenting, hmm?"

"Because you're only eleven years older than us, Mom," Isaac says. "Believe me, I can take care of myself..."

"I'm still your mom, Isaac," Mrs. Neve says. "I think I know what I'm doing."

"Fine, if you insist," Isaac says, coughing as he gets a lungful or to of smoke, and I start coughing too, just like everyone else.

Once all of our coughing fits are over, after what feels like forever, we keep going, back down the path that we took to get here, trying to find a high spot that'll let us see how bad the damage is. From the smell of smoke that's everywhere and from the crackling and rustling sound of fire that's coming from somewhere ahead of us, I'm going to bet that it's pretty dang bad.

"So where's the highest point around here, Casper, James, do either of you know?" Mrs. Neve aks, her voice soft and hoarse. No, not like the animal, that took me forever to learn how to keep straight.

"Not too much farther from here, actually, Mrs. Neve," Casper sys, pointing a finger at a tall wooden building on a hill nearby that I'm really kind of surprised hasn't burned down yet.

"What is that thing?" Isaac asks. "Sorry, I've never seen anything that looks like it. Is it a siege tower? Are there crossbows and arrows inside? Please tell me that there are crossbows and arrows inside, please please please please please..." he says, his tail wagging like a little pup's.

"No, sorry, Isaac, there aren't any crossbows or arrows in that thing, it's just supposed to be a spotter's post, where people can go and watch and make sure that there's nothing or no mammal or creature or anything that's coming this way that's not supposed to be coming this way."

"Aww, darn it, I was really hoping there was going to be like arrows or grenades or something like that in there..."

"You never asked me anything about grenades, but, um, yeah, there are grenades, just not arrows and crossbows...."

"Oh, yeah!" Isaac says, shouting and pumping his fist in the air, and everybody shushes him.

"Isaac!" Calvin says, looking around in fear and panic. "What the hell are you doing? There could be people watching us, dude..."

"Sorry," Isaac says, wincing. You know I didn't mean to cause any trouble, right, Tony? Please don't hurt me..."

"Dude, it's fine, really, so just relax, okay?" Tony says, smiling and patting Isaac on the back. "Believe me, we're all on edge here, so relax."

"Oh, I'm not as much on edge as I am excited!" Isaac exclaims, more quietly this time. "You know, those things would give us a fighting chance..."

"So let's go get the grenades!" James says, but Casper shoots him down a harsh look.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, let's get ourselves blown up, why don't we?" he asks. "I think I'll pass on that."

"Dude, I wasn't going to use the grenades on you... geez...," James says. "I may be a screwball that everyone thinks is an idiot just because I'm a wolf, but, um, only half of that statement's actually true. I'm a screwball, but I'm not an idiot... seriously, we could stand the weapons..."

"Fine, but let me lead," Isaac says, looking around nervously, his ears splayed flat against his head, which is all dirty and his fur, which is normally perfect and pristine, is smeared a crusty-red brown with dried blood.

"Um, Isaac, are you okay?" I ash him. "Dude, the entire back of your head is covered in blood, you don't look too hot, man, are you sure you're okay? You're sure as freaking hell not looking the part right about now...."

"Theo," he says. "You have to believe me here, okay? I hate this freaking planet... I just need to go home, but yeah, I'm fine, you know? Just kinda freaking covered in my own blood, nothing to freak out about..."

"No, I know that's not anything I need to freak out about Theo," he says. "Believe me, but, um," he says, pointing with a shaking finger out towards the horizon, where we can all see that there's something coming up over it, something bigger than anything, any spaceship that we've ever seen before, and believe you me, the mammals that grew up on Terra, so me and Alaina, plus Mrs. Neve, too, I guess, we've all seen plenty of them, but yeah, like I was saying, this one's bigger than I've ever seen...

"What the freaking hell is that?" I ask, my jaw dropping as it gets closer, and it kinda looks like all of us are just frozen in fear here, and I really can't blame them...

"T- t- t- that's a Sturgman ship, Theo, in case you were wondering," Mrs. Neve says, shaking like a leaf caught in the gusts of a hurricane, and that strikes fear straight to my heart, seeing her so afraid when she neer is, or if she is, she'd never let any of us catch on to the fact that she was.

"So should we be running away and screaming in fear as we flee for our lives, Mrs. Neve?" I ask, knowing the question's foolish, because there's no way that any of us are going to be able to move, we're too freaking terrified.

Damn it, and this is one of the cases where I really could stand to have my brain listen to me...

"So, it looks like my entire life ends now..." I hear myself mutter. Where the freaking hell did that come from? I have no idea, if I'm being entirely honest, I just know that oh my fucking god I'm going to die I don't want to die, please no don't let me die why am I standing here and not running why why why why why???

That's a question that I have no answer for, though, as the panic that has a stranglehold on my sense and sensibility isn't letting go right now as the ship flies overhead, and I let out a breath, thank goodness, it's just going by, not stopping to kill us oh than god, maybe we'll even be lucky enough that it won't have seen us and will just leave us alone...

That doesn't turn out to be the case, though, as the relief that I eel that the ship's gone by and flown overhead drains away as quickly, if not even more quickly than it came as the ship flies back our way, black exterior steaming and creaking and clanking as it lands in front of us, sending out a shockwave that sends all of us flying onto our backs, and damn, it really freaking hurts!

So yeah, this isn't going to go well....

"Issac, run!" I say. "Get the grenades! Now!"

"But-!"

"Just do it, you'll be fine!" I shout, fighting myself as hard as I can to keep myself here, where everyone's going to need us, I'd be better off dead than feeling in terror, which is, like I've said, what I really, really really really really want to be doing right about now. What keeps me here, though, facing down what I'm more that ready to bet is pretty certain death is the fact that this is my family, and even more than that, I know that they would do the same thing, and what would Jenna think of me if she were to find out that I high-tailed it (no freaking pun intended, damn it!) out of the most dangerous situation that I ever found myself in? Well, she probably would congratulate me for making it out of there alive, but then if I were to tell her the cost it came at, everyone else dying, well, I know for a fact that she would actually kill me...

I think I'm going to pass on the whole dying thing, even if it is just going to be for today.

That's not going to be easy, though, considering that the spaceship's doors are opening, and I don't know how much more cliche you can get, what with the doors swinging open wide and then white steam billowing out...

Damn it, why can't I keep my mind on track here?

I have no idea, but what I do know is that Isaac is back with a box or three of grenades, and thank god and Karma, whoever up there in the heavens that could possibly be listening to this poor fox, and he's passing them out to each of us. They look like they're pretty much brand new, which is good, because this is going to have to be an all-out fight, and that's kinda pathetic.

I have no idea if these grenades are even going to be enough to do in one stinking Sturgman... especially not the damn Sturgman that I know is going to be on that ship, along with hundreds and hundreds of his friends, probably, and all of them are going to be out looking for Terran blood.

I'm going to have to pray that I make it out of this mess alive... and from where we're standing, I think we might actually have a pretty decent fighting chance. We can do this, we will do this, we will win, and none of us are going to freaking die, that would be bad and should kinda be avoided at all costs, except at the cost of one's own life, that kinda defeats the whole purpose of staying alive.

Damn it I drive myself nuts, why can't I just have a normal brain like any sane fox would have?

Oh wait, that's impossible, I don't think I ever really was well and truly sane, or if I was, I lost the last little remaining scraps of that so-called 'sanity' when a certain Sturgman decided to throw me across the fucking hallway and then down it and then smash my ribs in, that was No. Freaking. Fun!

"So what's all this?" comes a voice from over by the ship, and I realize that there's a rather large figure walking down the ramp of the stairs, even bigger than the first one we saw, but it has the same voice, Mister Marllboro's voice, gravelly and filled with hatred. "Are all of you hear just to die, or are you going to surrender? Believe me, I think you'd probably better surrender, or I'll whip all of your asses, and oh, I'll whip them so badly that all of you are just going to be bloody, pulpy red stains on the ground. How's that sound?"

"Oh, I don't know, Mister Marlboro," I say, trying to project a shit ton more confidence than I feel. "I really don't know, it sounds like a lot of over-blown chatter from a creature that just deserves to die..."

"Speak for yourself, Theodore," he says, and it's then that I can see that there are more shadowy figures behind him, every single one's eyes glowing that same terrifying red-orange, like a coal straight out of the heart of a fire. If I had one of those, that would be great, maybe I'd be able to blind Mister Marlboro, whatever the fuck he is, and then we'd be able to get ourselves the freaking hell out of here. That sounds like a good idea to me.

"I am speaking for myself, Mister Marlboro," I say, and I can see that he even has the damn Camel cigar in the corner of his mouth. I'd say he was smoking his life away, but then again, a, he doesn't even really count as a living thing, and b, I really don't give a flock if he were to smoke his life away, that'd take care of him and I wouldn't have to, but that'll never happen. We're at the crux here, where only one group gets to walk away mostly whole, because we all know that we'll never walk away from this entirely whole again.

"Really?" he says, taking the damn cigar out of his mouth and crushing it on the ground, with what, I can't tell, because it doesn't look like he really even has feet anymore and why does this matter oh right it freaking doesn't!

"Yeah, really," I say, holding my ground, clutching a grenade in both paws, hoping I won't have to pull the pins on them, hoping and praying and knowing that my prayers won't ever be answered...

"Fine then, Theodore," Mister Marlboro says, grinning wickedly, sharp, crooked pointed deadly teeth glinting in the light. "We'll just have to do this the hard way, since you can't seem to grasp the concept of sense...."

"Oh, enlighten me, wise master," I say, trying to distract him so everyone can escape why aren't they running away to safety like they should be?

"Oh, so the fox finally gets it," Mister Marlboro taunts back and I can't fall for it I won't fall for it..., "he's an idiot in need of guidance from someone wiser, and thankfully for him," he says, putting a hand over where his heart would be if he even had one, "I'm a great guide," he says, taking a few steps closer as we all shrink back, "I am a lot wiser than him, and you know what, here's my advice, Theodore: grovel like a dog, get on your knees and grovel like a fucking dog like you are. Maybe you could ask your friend Isaac here how you good, after all, he is such a good boy oh yes he is, just like a golden retriever. Stupidest dog ever, but if you kick 'em hard enough, they'll behave. So Isaac, teach your friend here how to be a good boy and listen to his master, and then I'll get you both nice collars," he says, whistling. "Come here, Isaac, come here good boy," he says, patting his legs like a human trying to call a dog, trying to egg Isaac on, and I can see that Isaac's fighting as hard as he can to stay calm, and Mister Marlboro frowns and stands up, putting his hands? to his sides.

"What, nobody ever taught you to listen?" he laughs, pulling a whip out of nowhere to hold in one hand and a dog collar attached to a leash in the other. "I guess then I'll have to teach both of you fucking mutts how to listen, hmm? Maybe I'll kill your family first, have your kits killed. It doesn't take much to get a hit placed on somebody, not when half of people on that basse are my kind, all ready to kill, and believe you me, both of you, they'd more than gladly do it, I'm their damn king, for crying out loud. So are you going to kneel down, you damn fools, or am I going to have to kill you?"

"Just kill me," I say, trying to hide the fear that I'm feeling as I drop to my knees in front of him, hoping, praying that he doesn't see that I'm eying his knees, planning to tackle him.

"Oh, so foxy here finally sees sense, does he?" Mister Marlboro says, snarling as he spits in my fur, and it's all I can do to keep myself from crying, then he would just kick me again. I don't know how he still has feet, but yep, he does, and yep, there's steel toe boots on them, yep yep yep holy fuck I'm going to die...

"Y- y- yes sir, I do," I say, pressing my face into the ground, hoping that he'll leave me alone, I'm submitting, I'm submitting! We aren't pack mammals, us foxes, but we sure as fuck know know grovel for our lives! It's saved most of us time and time and time again, so why not use it here to save all of our lives? Well, it probably won't save my life, but then again, though, why does it really matter? Oh, wait, that's right, my life doesn't matter, what matters is that my family gets out of this alive, and well, let's just say that it'd better happen pretty freaking soon, because those bandages that Mrs. Neve stuffed in her wounds aren't going to last forever.... Damn, I've got to act, and I've got to act fast, or we're all gonna die.

Course, I'll be the one to go first, but I really don't care. If this is how I go our, with a bullet through my head from the gun that's currently pressed right to the nape of my neck, then, well, then I'll be happy in my own way.

"I'm glad you do, Theodore," Mister Marlboro says, taking the opportunity to spit another gob of phlegm and spit and blood into my fur, and I feel the barrel of that gun digging into my back again, but you know what? It's nothing new to me any more.

"So," he says, snarling and spitting in my fur again (I won't break, I won't break I'm not going to flocking break!), "do you want to die now or die later?"

"How about later?" I ask, forcing a smile onto my face and bending forwards a little bit to give myself at least a little bit more of a fighting chance to survive this.

"Nah, I'm good, I don't think so, Theodore," he says, and all of a sudden, instead of the barrel of a gun, I feel the hard, cold, sharp tip of a sword, a freaking enormous sword, pressing it into the back of my freaking neck even harder, and this time, I can't keep myself from crying out in pain (and actually crying, too.... freaking hell, I'm going to die please Karma don't let me die...)

"Please, Mister Marlboro, please!" Mrs. Neve pleads, pulling his focus off of me for a second, and I lean forward, shocked to find that he's not paying attention, and I dive for his knees, throwing him off balance, which gives me the split second that I need to be able to get back on my paws and try and kick the sword away. The first part of that whole goal works, and I dash away as quickly as possible, but still not quickly enough as Mister Marlboro manages to get a hand on my tail.

The pain starting to overwhelm me, I just turn around and sink all of my fangs into Mister Marlboro's leg, and I'm pleasantly shocked and surprised and really, really pleased that it works, and he yelps in pain.

Actually, if I'm being entirely honest-

Oh, shit, never mind, he's coming back at me, and he's got a bigger weapon this time and holy fucking shit!

Damn I need to watch my mouth but how is that important right now? I'm too freaking busy trying to save my hide, rather literally, and then also not to die and holy crap that was close! I think as Mister Marlboro manages to get back on his feet and then starts out swinging that damn enormous sword at me, the blade swishing as it flies through the air, and I'm starting to feel really nervous, because even though I'm still on my paws, I'm barely staying alive here, barely avoiding losing some serious fur and skin off of my back and head and oh my god I need to run.

That's exactly what I do, and there's only one problem with that- everything works great when you have a way to go and enough space to get there, but when you have your back to a cliff, kinda like the freaking mess that I'm about to find myself in, what with Mister Marlboro and his goons starting to surround me and nothing but an enormous cliff and death and trees at my back.

It's so much damn fun!

Okay, let's see, what are me options here? I think, fear flooding my mind even more than it already had. I could climb the trees, I suppose, but then that damn sword would do me in because it looks like it's a heck of a lot more powerful than a single tree.

Before I left this freaking planet the first time around, before I went to Earth, I had to practice climbing trees all the freaking time, and sometimes, they'd send some cat teacher over to our school to chase all of us students up them.

That's kinda backwards, actually, now that I think about it... the cat chasing the fox, not the fox chasing the cat.

Life's weird like that, I guess.... And yep, I'm definitely trapped here, and every single damn Sturgman has a gun, and they all have those guns trained right at my damn nose, as if a shot to the nose would stop me...

I'm a freaking hell of a lot tougher than that, and I still have two bone grenades strapped to my belt that I'm of course more than willing to use it the occasion calls for it.

"Are you going to take your death now or later, Mister Aspen?" Mister Marlboro asks, struggling to his feet once again and damn it, he has another gun, I realize as he pulls another gun out of his pocket, and damn it, where to all of these guns keep coming from?

"Like I said, James," I say, shivering involuntarily as Mister Marlboro's red-orange eyes drill into me, "I don't really give a flying flock or even a flying fuck, only to my mate, not to you, I don't roll that way. Tony and Calvin are gay, but, um dude, you're a freaking creepy beast and they're already each other's mates, so, yeah, if you're looking to fuck with someone, dude, not now, that's just icky. Gross, man, aren't you supposed to be paying attention?"

"Theodore, that was supposed to be your job," he says, shaking a finger at me. "Didn't they teach you anything in class back here on Terra before they sent you to me? Don't fucking underestimate me, fox, or I'll put one through your head. You know, it doesn't take much work to get a fox to off themselves..."

"And how would you know?" I snarl, gripping this damn sword even harder in my paws, my knuckles blanching out from how hard I'm holding the handle, feeling my hackles rise in anger, and even more than that, though, out of fear, to try and puff myself up and keep myself cool and collected.

"Why do you think your mother killed herself, Theodore?" Mister Marlboro asks, smiling wickedly, his teeth looking even sharper in the light, glinting bright and pointy and even deadlier, if that's even possible.

"Out of grief more than anything, so I've been told, asshat," I say. "Or are you trying to tell me that-"

"It was my idea? Yeah, it was, the damn bitch, I'm surprised she even managed to live as long as she did what with how mentally fucked up she was. She was weak, though, and it only took me helping your father cover up his death to get what I wanted- you and your mother. Her out of the way, you safely on your way into my welcoming arms and into certain death. Who do you think the Army messenger was that day? It wasn't an actual army soldier, that's for sure. You know, being like me is pretty great, Theodore-"

"Stop calling me Theodore," I say, letting an angry growl slip my throat. "If anything, just call me fox. Theo's what my friends and family call me, and you're sure as freaking hell not on any of those lists.

"Fine then, fox, if that's what treatment you want, then fine, I'll give you that small liberty at the very least. If you want to die, then I'll give you that to. You have my sword, so go right ahead, but know this, fox- Isaac's going to be pretty damn sore come the next several years if he isn't dead, James and Alaina too, and if all the rest of them haven't died of STDs, well, I'll be damned. The rest of them? Heh, like hell if I give a fuck. I'll feel awfully sorry for them if they're not dead by then. Why don't we start off now? I'll feel awful for you if you don't..."

"Yeah, you will be," I say. "But only a coward backs his enemies to a cliff. Dude, that's not even fair, didn't they teach you that? If you're going to kill someone, which I can tell you really want to do to me, you have to at least let them get a fighting chance, you know?"

"Oh, I know, but who gives a fuck about the Geneva Convention? Rules of war? I don't give a shit, Theodore, so make up your mind or I'll sever your fucking head from the rest of your body, and then your mind won't work."

"So what are my options, then, Mister Marlboro?" I ask, snarling at him, holding the handle of the sword even more tightly in my hands now, readying myself to swing it to defend myself.

"Oh, I'll give you a shot, Theodore," he says, and I sigh. Some people, or creatures, I guess I should say, really, don't ever learn... it's Theo, asshat, Theo Michael Neve-Aspen, so get it right...

"So when's that going to happen?" I ask, leaning against the hilt of the sword, feeling my palms start to sweat and hating it and hating that they have pads on them, they're annoying, and again, what does this have anything to do with the fact that I'm going to die if I don't act quickly.

"How about now?" Mister Marlboro asks, throwing his cigarette butt at me, and I dodge it, only to have the flat side of yet another weapon slammed across my back, and by this point, I can barely see anything because I'm crying so badly, and there's no way that I'm going to be able to see what with the way that these damn tears are fogging up my eyes...

"Damn it!" I snarl, fishing with my belt to pull a grenade off of it and managing to get one off of it before Mister Marlboro slams his sword down across my back again, but I don't let go of the grenade. Instead, I pull the pin, and I manage to throw it right behind us.

Now normally, I wouldn't do that, because, well, you know, it's a freaking explosive thing, but screw it this time, it's a bone grenade, it'll hurt him a damn lot more that it'll hurt me, that's for sure.

A few seconds of us trying to strangle each other later, trading leads every few split seconds, the grenade goes off, spraying shards of metal and bone and light from the explosion out with it, and I hit the ground, feeling sharp little pieces of metal dig into my skin, and Mister Marlboro ends up blown backwards by the bang of the grenade and the pieces of bone and metal, thank god and Karma, but shit, he's still moving and I don't think this sword'll kill him...

Regardless of whether or not it's going to kill the damn thing, though, I know that my back freaking hates me right now on account of all of the teensy, tinsy little pieces of metal that I'm sure have torn up my back and shredded my skin, but that's really the least of my concerns right now, because I have the upper paw now- Mister Marlboro's on the ground, and something in me just wants to drive the sword that I'm holding between my paws through this damn thing's head after what he's done to me, and I think it might actually be able to kill him this this time....

He's down on the ground, and I have the sword.... But should I? Not that I give a flying fuck about his life, just that I'm freaking surrounded by all of his buddies...

But then again, I have another grenade, and I have a pretty freaking awesome sword that I'm going to use!

That's exactly what I'm going to do, that is, if I can manage it, I think, feeling my paws shake as I try to keep a grip on the sword, and shit! Of freaking course! Ow! is all I have time to think as Mister Marlboro's legs swing around to knock me off my paws, and as I fall, I jam my ankle, and the sword slips out of my grasp, barely, just barely, but that little more than an inch is enough to keep it out of my paws as Mister Marlboro jumps on top of me, and I can see his eyes glow brighter and more maniacally, and I try not to freak out any more than I already am right about now at the very, very, very real possibility that I'm now going to die. He could've just just pushed me off of the cliff that we're at the top of, that would've worked too.

What it means for me right now, though, is that, if I'm going to try and roll myself over to throw him off of me, I'm going to have to be really, really really really really careful to make sure that I don't get hurt, or worse, much, much worse, roll off and fall to my death. That would just be plain stupid and pitiful, considering what I've managed to get myself through alive, or at least mostly so.

"So are you going to just give up yet, Theodore?" he asks, deciding to be kind and pull the gag out of my mouth to let me speak before then dropping an armored knee into my crotch, and I howl in pain oh holy freaking fucking hell that HURTS, it fucking hurts like no pain that I've ever felt before and I can't say that I really ever want to have to ever ever ever feel again, thanks but no, I'll pass!

"No, James, no, I'm not," I say, gritting my teeth against the pain of having myself nutcrackered... let's just say I'm happy I'm a dad now, 'cause I don't know how likely it is that I'm going to be able to have any more...

"Why not?" Mister Marlboro asks. "Why not? My men are all waiting for their fun times with you and your family, so why don't you just make it easier on yourselves? Give up now, and maybe, just maybe, I might even let them go... think about that... but of course, you'd have to turn yourself in first, so it's your choice, either you live or they do..."

"No, I think I'll take all of us," I say, squirming, trying to fight him off of my chest, and why is he putting something over my mouth oh holy shit he's going to try and suffocate me because he's stuffing a piece of fabric in my mouth... and I can't even move because there are more Sturgmen pinning my paws down.... Holy freaking shit, I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"Theo, here's the thing," Mister Marlboro says, ramming those steel toes between my legs once again, "you still haven't realized that you're not worth anything more that the pelt on your back. You know, for some reason, fox pelts, tod pelts particularly, they tend to sell better if the fox in question's been fixed."

"Well, Mister Marlboro," I say, trying once again, and again to no avail, to break out of the bonds that I'm trapped in, "it's too bad that nobody's ever really been able to say that I've been entirely together, so yeah, my pelt's not going to sell really well, why don't you just let me go, you bastard?"

"Bastard? My parents were married, but yours? Yeah, I don't think they were. I've heard it's true what they say about foxes," he says, bending over so that his face is just inches away from the end of my snout, his teeth nearly spearing the end of my nose.

"And what's that, tailhole?" I ask, taking the opportunity to spit in his face to try and distract him and get his attention off of me.

"That they just screw all winter just to stay warm? How true is that, hmm?"

"Couldn't tell ya," I say. "Not with my mate, at least, and besides, you asshole, she's pregnant. You leave her alone, I see that fucking look on your face, or can I even call it a face? I really have no idea," I taunt, "because it's so fucking ugly that I can't really tell. Can you tell me if it's your face or not?"

"It's my fucking face, you pelt!" Mister Marlboro says, losing his cool and going to take another kick at my crotch.

Thankfully, for my sake and the sake of any of my future children, I've pissed him off, and he misses, the kick catching my leg, instead, which I wrench out of the grip of the damn creature that had decided that it wanted to cling onto the end of it, and I manage to get ahold of his leg and pull him to the ground, and lucky, lucky, lucky for me, I have my sword again, and I'm now the one putting a knee into his back and holding a sword to the back of his neck, and nope, that won't work. Only one thing will- another grenade, I think, and yep, I have one more, and ooh, lucky me, his mouth is open, so I pull the pin and stuff it in, and run away, only to find myself trapped by all the rest of his buddies. Shit shit shit shit shit, I'm screwed I've only got maybe ten more seconds or so, not even that long until the freaking thing goes off, and welp, my back is about to be even more full of metal shards-

Kaboom!

Another enormous explosion sends me flying backwards, over the edge of the cliff and through and apparently, this grenade was one of those that was way too powerful and that someway, somehow, the best of us are still alive, but that also means that I'm surrounded by what looks like it's more than a hundred replacements, and if I'm being entirely open and honest about this whole thing, I'd have to say that the replacements, seeing how they're more than twice the size of and with mouths full of even more, even sharper teeth than the original, are even more intimidating than Mister Marlboro, and I'm surrounded by a freaking scat ton of them... and I don't know if Mister Marlboro's even dead, because I'm barely standing, feeling the sting of even more teeny tiny bits and pieces of shrapnel digging into my back, shredding my skin open, and really, I'm fighting myself here, I can fight, it's really just a question now of whether or not my body's going to be able to handle it.

It's going to have to, though, because I'm currently a flying fox for the third time in my life, and from the looks of it, I'm going to hit the ground in a second or three...

The next second feels like it drags on for a million Earth years, a million overly, terrifyingly, painfully agonizing Earth years, but then it's over, and I slam hard into the ground, and my brain decides that it really wants to call it quits right now, but no, I can't fall asleep I can't I can't I can't, yet despite my protests, my eyes shut, and the world goes dark.

When I wake up, my head is pounding, my eyes hurt, my tail is definitely broken, and I can't move. When I try to, I can't, and I feel the chafe of the thick ropes that bind me to whatever I'm tied up on. From the chafing behind me, against the skin on my back, I'm going to take a wild stab at it and say that it's a tree, and yep, I'm still surrounded by Sturgmen. I don't see the large one with the brightest eyes, though, so that gives me a little bit of hope, at the very least, a hope that I'm going to cling to as long as I can, either until I die, which isn't going to happen here, or I get free, but even then, I'm going to need that hope to help me carry myself back home.

"Oh, so the damn bastard's finally awake," I hear one of the voices say, and I look around to see who says it, and it looks like it was yet another Sturgman, this one's filthy fur covered in patches of scars and burns, and it's dressed in rags, rags that look like they could've once been part of an Army uniform but wait a second, that's a human's Army uniform, rather, an Army uniform for someone from Earth. I wonder where that would've come from....

"Yeah, I am, no thanks to any of you," I say, trying once again to get my arms free from the bindings that hold them and failing for a third straight time, no third time charm for this fox...

"No, you should be thanking us," one of the creatures snarls, coming up to me and pressing one of its claws into the middle of my throat, and I gulp. "Silly fox, you thought you could leave Terra and leave it behind? You're a freaking animal, you weren't ever a person, and you never will be, you never can be. You're a fox, and you'd be surprised how horribly we can treat people and mammals. Wanna find out?"

"I'll pass, thanks," I say, fighting my bladder from letting go and a few seconds later, the warm spot tells me that it didn't go well.

"You'll piss yourself too, I see, you mongrel bastard," the Sturgman says. "How dare you come to our planet and try to get us to go away? You're not from here anymore, so I've heard through the grapevine.... You're a filthy Earthling pelt... you don't deserve to live, you're nothing, fox, nothing..."

"And that, you bastards," I say, another harsh snarl slipping out of my throat, and the Sturgmen don't flinch, not even the teeny, tiniest little bit, "is why I'm going to prove all of you filthy freaks wrong..."

"My, my, my, such awfully angry and strong words from a fox who's tied to a tree... you need to learn to think twice, you son of a vixen, otherwise I'll put a bloody gash through the middle of your throat. Think before you speak, Theodore, it could help you stay alive for more than the next few minutes. That sounds really like it'd be a good idea, right, staying alive for a few more minutes... your kits aren't going to want to grow up as orphans, and I think you'd be able to speak out of your own personal experience just how awful that is, right?"

"Oh, I sure can," I say, fighting to keep myself calm and the anxiety out of my mind where I can feel it, burning away my reason and sense but no, I can't let it do that and I won't let it do that. I am in control of my feelings here, I am Theo, I rule my mind, my mind is not me, it is not in control of me, I in control of it, I am strong and I am a fox!

"So when would you like me to start lecturing? I ask, plastering the Worlds' most smart-assy grin on my face that I can manage to conjure up. "I'm pretty good at yammering if you want to try me out. Maybe I should practice first?" I quip, stalling for time, hoping that they won't notice that I'm trying to use my claws, as dull as they are, to cut the ropes that are tying me on here.

"Never, you flea-bitten son of a vixen," I hear one of them say, and I smile.

"So, now then? So what should I yammer on about?"

"What is it about 'never' that you damn Terrans never fucking get? Damn, you guys are idiots..."

"Maybe that's what I could talk about!" I say, and one of the Sturgmen, the one who just cursed me out, loses his temper and comes over to me with my new sword, tossing it between his two hands. Wait, can you even call them that? Ah, it doesn't matter.

"You say so much as another word, you bastard, and this sword's tip is going to go right through your damn head."

"You wouldn't kill me," I say, sticking my tongue out at him, trying to piss him off even more.

"And why the fucking hell wouldn't I? You're a fucking Terran, the scum here, you shouldn't even have been born. Lemme guess, your mom liked standing on the corner?"

"You damn bastard, how dare you say that about my mother?!" I growl, trying to cut the ropes again, and failing again, only managing to get a few of the strands of rope cut through...

"I do and I will, and you know what? I'm not really leaning towards being nice to any of your family members after I kill you, you know, and your family and friends back on Earth? Believe me, we will find them. Barre, was it? I hear that's where our dear friend Mrs. Neve settled down after I killed Mister Neve, so do you know her?"

"Know her? Yeah, of course I do, she was my math teacher..."

"Too bad you'll never get to go back to that life, Theodore, and what are you keeping from us? What else do you know, fox, that you're keeping from us? And don't say nothing, you won't be fooling anyone, you pelt..."

"Pelt? What pelt? You're not going to be able to get much of anything for mine, considering that I'm barely staying conscious right now because my back's been all torn to shreds, so unless you like the idea of cleaning the floor with me, well, then, just cut me down and let me go."

"Well, sure, since you're offering to be our mop, then sure, we will, like you said, it'll be the only use that we're going to be able to get out of your damn pelt, I think...," the Sturgman says, slicing the ropes that bind me to the tree with a few quick flicks of a long claw, leaving me crumpled and aching on the ground. It's then that all of them decide to start to kick me, not in the ribs, not this time, but right in the back and legs and holy flock I can't fight them I'm too sore to move, and then they're shoving me around, and it's at that point that my brain decides to call it quits, and the black that's been swimming at the edges of my vision takes me whole.