Fines Malum

By

foxgamer01

Ch. 1

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *Click*

I lifted my head from the pillows and looked at the alarm clock at my bedside.

5:20 AM

'Time to get up,' I thought.

People might think, 'What the heck? 5:20 in the morning? That's too early.' Well, the

reason is that my high school, known as Abraham Lincoln Prep School or, in short, ALPS, starts

at 8:00 AM and I don't drive, even though I'm old enough to. Instead, I take the public bus and

experiences told me, 'The earlier, the better,' when it come to using it. So, I take the 6:49 bus.

I rolled off the bed and took a look at the closet for shirts to wear. I reach in for the

yellow polo shirt and black pants. ALPS has an dress code policy that makes the students wear

an polo shirt, either black or khaki pants with a belt, and black or brown shoes. At least the dress

code policy has gotten less strict since two years ago the polo shirts have to be solid color and

the shoes have to be dress shoes, but now the polo shirts can have stripes and the shoes can be

casual as long as they're either black or brown.

After I got all of my clothing for this school day I went out of my room and went to the

restroom. There I put on my school clothes and other morning ritual in there. After all that, I left

the restroom and walked towards the back room to turn on the computer. While it's starting up, I

went to the kitchen to make my breakfast, which comprise of toast and orange juice. After I

finished making my breakfast, I took it to the kitchen and ate it there. I've just finish my

breakfast when my older sister, Margaret, walked in with her breakfast.

"Good morning Daren," Margaret said.

"Good morning," I said. "How did you sleep?"

"Ok," she said.

Margaret went to the table to eat as I went to the kitchen to put the dishes into the sink. I

then went to the computer to check for updates.

'Nothing new on Serebii,' I thought.

I went to DeviantART to check out if there were any stories about foxes submitted over

the night. There were some, but not the right kind of foxes.

'Megan Fox, someone who's conveniently named Fox, and someone who put the word fox

on their comments,' I thought.

I then look at the time at the computer.

6:20 AM.

'Better double check if I got everything I need for the day,' I thought.

I closed the links and turn off the computer. I then went to the fridge to get my lunch I've

made last night and put it on the couch with my binder and backpack.

'Ok,' I thought. 'Backpack, binder, lunch, belt, shoes, watch, and a wallet that have a

twenty-dollar bill. I've gotten everything.'

I put on my backpack, binder, and lunch and look at my watch.

6:25 AM

I walked towards the front door.

"Good day Margaret," I said.

Since she leaves later than me on Thursday for college, I'll be going to the bus stop alone.

"Goodbye," she said. "Oh, and you'll be taking the bus home?"

"Yes," I replied.

Usually, dad would pick me up after school since I don't drive, but he's busy. Dad work

for the Department of Corrections and his job's to check on phone lines and others electronics

things. Because of that, he sometimes have to go out of town to repair some things and usually

last for days. This is one of those trips and he won't come back till Saturday.

I walked out of the house and headed out to the bust stop. It's amazing that I have many

chances to skip school for a day with all the distractions heading towards it, but I never did.

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I got off my second bus, since I need to take two buses to reach ALPS, and walked on to

the school grounds. ALPS is a small school, having at least one hundred ninety students. Small,

but clever since it's one of the best of the State.

I checked my watch for the time.

7:10 AM

'Early, as usual,' I thought. 'At least I can read my book, The Spy Who Spent The War In

Bed, in peace.'

The school days are usually hectic days for me. American History, ok. Classic Literature

is fine. Chemistry and Pre-Calculus, a bit tricky. Visual Arts, I hardly even tried and still get at

least an ninety on a test. Latin, that's an killer. In fact, if it weren't for the mercy of my teacher, I

would've failed now.

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'Interesting day,' I thought. 'So far.'

It's lunch time right now and I'm doing what I usually do at lunch time, paced around the

gazebo area while eating. I hardy eat with my friends or sit down, except when it's raining or

they're doing something interesting.

While I eat my lunch, I thought about what's going to happen at the end of the day.

Today, after sixth hour, we have a guest speaker. They're from a corporation known as Rego

Exitium Atra or, in short, REA. Not exactly an small corporation, In fact, they practically own

this city. Every product we buy is provided by the REA.

'I wonder what they're going to talk about now?' I thought.

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At 2:25 PM we, the students of ALPS, went to assembly to hear our guest speaker from

REA. When we went in we set up the chairs so that we have a place to sit. It's three columns of

chairs with eight rows of eight chairs each at both columns sides and ten rows of eight chairs

each at the center column for our thirteen homerooms. Since we sit in alphabetical order in our

homeroom, I usually sit at the end of the row because my last name begins as a V. I didn't mind

at all sitting there since I can just put my stuff at my side and not at my front, putting them in the

way of my feet and legs.

We're all sitting at 2:30, which's good timing since less than half of the students actually

set up the chairs and not stand up and talk. It usually takes more time for the chairs to be set up. I

guess everyone's eager to hear this guest speaker. After all, we don't really get much guest

speakers here at ALPS.

I put on my glasses to see the guest speaker more clearly(I don't wear them regularly,

since they tend to get lost if I do wear them all the time). The guest speaker's a fairly tall person

with dark hair and brown eyes. He's wearing a dark green suit with a dark green tie to go with it.

He' thin and have a friendly smile, but that smile seem fake to me. I guess I think it's fake

because he work for REA.

The thing about REA is that there're rumors about what they're doing there. They say that

there're doing some inhumane testing there. I'm not the type that pay attention to rumors like

that, but this rumor bother me. It's because that, two years ago, my friend had run away from

home without a trace. But, before he disappear, he called me and told me that he's going to sneak

into the REA building to look for a cure for me. Maybe he was joking, but I can't let it the idea

that he might be serious about it out of my mind.

Ch. 2

"Good afternoon," he said. "I'm Mr. Timeo, Zak Timeo father. You may know him."

'How can't I?' I thought.

Zak is a classmate of mine with black hair and orange eyes. He's always trying to be all

brave by doing stupid things like jaywalking and others stupid things, but he's really a big

coward. But the strange thing is that I haven't seen him for a week, perhaps more. I wonder what

happened to him.

"As you know, I work for REA and I'll be representing them as I tell you its history," he

said.

'Please don't,' I thought. 'I've heard it before and it was boring.'

"REA was founded in 1972 by three men," he said. "They are Earh Rego, Thanatos

Exitium, and Douglas Atra. With Thanatos massive wealth, Douglas genius business ability, and

Earh politics ability they manage to make REA one of the world largest corporation..."

He's continues on as the minutes slowly goes by. History may be one of my favorite

topic, but this isn't one of them. It also doesn't help if Mr. Timeo isn't really enthusiastic. I look

among my classmates to see what they're doing. Some of them are listening. Some of them are

playing with their calculator. And some of them, like my classmate Ethan, are nodding on and

off.

Finally Mr. Timeo said, "And that concludes REA history for now."

'About time,' I thought.

"And here's a little something for being such a good audiences," he said.

He wave his hand to the back of the room. The students, including me, turn around and

saw two women carrying rather large boxes to Mr. Timeo. When they got to him, they put them

to the table next to him and he open one of the boxes, reach in, and pull out what seem to be a

chocolate bar. But this one plastic covering is green, which is an unusual covering to me.

"This," he said, "is our new product. We called it MiracleX because it is miraculously

satisfying. We assure you that once you eat it, you'll be very happy."

'Until we want it again,' I thought.

"We'll be selling it to the market next week," he continues. "But we thought to give you

free samples. After all, you will all be good c-citizens."

'Huh? Why did he choke off there?' I thought.

I look around and saw that my classmates have dropped what they're doing and are

paying attention now, especially Ethan.

"Now then," Mr. Grant, our school director, said, "we'll arrange a line by homeroom. The

first one will be Mr. Roberts."

'That's us,' I thought.

I put away my glasses, put on my stuff, and went to the line.

"Thank you," Alex said to Mr. Timeo after he got his MiracleX.

"Thanks," Ethan said to Mr. Timeo

"Thank you for the MiracleX," Rachel said to Mr. Timeo.

"Dziękują," I said to Mr. Timeo.

"Sorry?" he said.

"It's polish," I said, "for 'thank you'."

"Wonderful," he said in a sarcastic tone.

I put the MiracleX in the now empty lunch bag and went out the door. I walk to the bus

stop, which is now too far out from the school. When I reach the bus stop, I put down my stuff

and sat down on the open bench, waiting for the bus.

Then two people walk here to this bus stop. One of them is a friend of mine who went to

another school named Kyler Sapiens. He have long black hair, blue eyes, and is wearing a black

shirt with a wolf picture on it, jeans, and white sneakers. The other person is someone I don't

know, but he have bright ginger hair and is wearing sunglasses so I don't know his eye color. He

appears very muscular, so much that I don't want to mess with him. He also have on a white shirt

with a sport jacket over it, jeans, and red trainers shoes.

"Hey there Daren," Kyler said when he got here. "How's life treating you?"

"Not bad," I said. "How about you?"

"Good," Kyler said.

"Anyways, who's he?" I said, motioning to the ginger person.

"He's Chris Potens," Kyler said, "a new student in our school. A bit on the quiet side,

though. He hardly participate in class and it's hurting him."

'You're a bit quiet yourself,' I thought, 'when you're around people you're not use to.'

"Hey D-man, how's it going?"

I turned around and saw Ethan Libertas with his younger siblings Tim and Jon. They

were born a year apart from each other so we went to the same school, with Ethan's a Junior,

Tim's a Sophomore, and Jon's a Freshman. Ethan have short blond hair, orange eyes, and is

wearing a black polo shirt with khaki shorts and black dress shoes. Tim have long dark brown

hair, yellow eyes, and is wearing a stripe brown and gold polo shirt with black shorts and brown

dress shoes. Jon have short, yet curly, dirty blond hair, purple eyes, and is wearing a stripe blue

and white polo shirt with khaki shorts and black sneakers.

"Molto bene," I replied. "You guys are going to take the bus home today? What's wrong

with driving the truck?"

"Nothing," Ethan said. "It's just that the truck needs checking up. It keeps making this

squeaking sound."

"Ah, ok," I said.

I look to the road and thought about what has happened these years. So much had

happened, yet I know so little. I then wonder if our future is really bright or something might

happen that will turn all of our lives upside-down.

"Hey Daren?"

I turned my head around to Jon who called my name.

"Did anything happened a couple years ago?" he said.

"How many times do I have to say it?" I said. "No and it will always be no."

"Are you sure?" Jon said. "You seem to have gotten a bit more somber since that time."

"People change when they get older," I said. "This is one of them."

"Are you sure? You seem to be hiding something."

I turn to the person who said that and my heart skipped a beat. It's Anna Amor, another

one of my classmates. She have blond hair, blue eyes, and is wearing a dark red polo shirt with

black pants and black dress shoes.

"N-n-no Anna," I said. "I-I-I'm not hiding anything."

"Just making sure," she said with a smile.

I smiled and look at the road again, thinking. Jon has been nagging me about what had

happened at April 6, 2009 for a bit more than two years now. That day and the day after that is

when I've stayed home from school with no explication when I went back on the 8th. Jon thinks

that something had happened then even though I keep telling him that nothing happened.

"Hey Daren?"

I turn around and saw Karson Ecclesia, who's another of my classmates. He have long

black hair, green eyes like mine, and is wearing a blue polo shirt with khaki pants and black

dress shoes.

"Are you going to the meet early tomorrow morning?" Karson said.

"Yes," I said.

The meet is about DV8 which we have every morning on Friday. Which we usually do is

pray before school start and, in a sense, I'm their unofficial member.

I look back to the road and thought about what Jon and Anna said earlier again. How they

sense that something happened two years ago. Though I wanted to tell them the truth about what

happened at that day, I couldn't. I don't know why, I just couldn't.

All eight of us, Kyler, Anna, Karson, Chris, Ethan, Tim, Jon, and I, are waiting for the

bus when I notice some man walk down this sidewalk. He really stand out from because every

feature of his skin and hair are cover. He have a long black selves shirt that covers his arms and

wore gloves to cover his hands. His black pants are down to the point where I can't see his shoes,

if he's wearing any. He's also wearing a black cape and a hood so I can't see his face. Under his

right arm is some type of cardboard box.

He walk up to us and stares at us for a while until I said, "Sir? What's with the clothing?

It's not Halloween. It's only the 28th of April."

He didn't respond. Instead he drop his box and run away from us.

"Hey!" I said.

I jumped up, pick up the box, and try to catch up to him. Though it should've been easy

since I'm one of the best runner, if not the best, in the school. But he's more faster than me, in

fact he makes me look slow. He quickly gotten away, but his cape lifted up just for a second and

what I saw makes me stop running and one thought enter my mind.

'Is that an tail I saw?' I thought.

Ch. 3

As I walk back to the others at the bus stop with the box in hand, I thought about that

man with that tail. It looks like a jaguar tail, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's a fake tail or I've

imagined it, especially since I'm not wearing my glasses at the moment.

'No, I've definitely seen a real tail,' I thought. 'And it looks like it's a part of that man.'

"Daren, what's wrong?"

I quickly went back to reality and look at Anna who said that. I was so focus thinking

about that man I haven't realize that I'm back at the bus stop. Maybe now's not a good time to tell

them what I've saw.

"W-well," I said, "he got away before I could give him his box back. He's so fast, I

couldn't believe it."

She looks thoughtful for a moment and said, "Is there something more you want to tell

us?"

'She using that ability she have on me again,' I thought. 'She always seem to sense that

someone's hiding something from her. I don't know how she could do that, she just do. But can I

tell her what I've saw?'

"T-to tell you the truth," I said, "there's something about that guy that's bothering me, but

I don't know if what I saw is real."

"We'll listen," Ethan said, overhearing what I'd said. "We're all ears."

Everyone here seems to be interest about this. Even Chris, ever so silent, look at me with

a look of interest.

I sighed and said, "During my chase, that man cape lifted up enough for me to see what's

underneath it and it wasn't normal. It was a tail and I don't mean a human tail if we really got

one, but a cat tail."

They all looked at each other, but I quickly said, "But I'm not sure if it's a real tail or not.

It may just be a fake tail in the end."

"Whatever you've saw," Tim said, "he's gone now. What's that package he dropped

anyways?"

I look at the top of the package and raise a eyebrow. On the top of the box is a piece of

paper tape on it and on the paper is written, 'To whoever picks this up.'

"It's seem like that package is send to us," I said.

"You're kidding, right?" Tim said.

"No," I said. "This paper says that it's to whoever picks it up."

"Open it, then," Tim said.

I went to my backpack and opened up the pouch to get my house key. With this key, I

poked a hole into the tape and cut it. I opened the package and inside is two stacks of chocolate

bars, but one stack of chocolate bars plastic covering is red and label as Animam while the other

is blue with the label Anthro.

"Chocolate bars?" I said. I took one of the Animam bars and flipped it over. On the back

it said, 'REA'. I then checked the Anthro bars and it also said on the back, 'REA'. "REA made

them."

"REA?" Anna said. "If they made them, then shouldn't they mention them when they told

us MiracleX?"

"Yeah," I said. I went to my lunch bag and pull out my MiracleX bar. "If they mention

one chocolate bar, why not the others?"

"You didn't eat the MiracleX yet?" Ethan said.

I rolled my eyes and was about to say something, but Kyler said, "Hold on a second."

Everyone here, with the exception of Chris, stared at Kyler in confusion.

"Kyler?" I said.

"REA went to your school too?" Kyler said.

"What do you mean?" Tim said. "Did they also-"

"They also went to our school," Kyler said. "And they also give us MiracleX."

He dug into his pockets and pulled out an green chocolate wrapper. I raise my eyebrow

when I saw that the label's "MiracleX".

"Why?" Kyler said.

"Yeah," I said. "Why would they go to both of our schools without mentioning their other

visits?"

"Not only that," Kyler said. "Why did they give us the samples of MiracleX and not the

other two?"

"Maybe it wasn't ready," Tim said.

"It have to be ready," Kyler said. "If it wasn't, they wouldn't package them like they're

about to sell them."

'He does have a point,' I thought.

I looked at the two chocolate bars and thought how they sound familiar, like I've heard of

them before, but I can't remember where.

I said to Kyler, "What does Animam and Anthro mean?"

"Animam," Kyler said, "is the Latin word for 'life' in its accusative case and Anthro is 'of

or relating to humans'."

'Of course, Latin,' I thought. 'But I don't think that Anthro is Latin.'

"How did you know that?" Jon said.

Kyler's taken aback, realizing what he had said and his shyness is taking control of him

now. He's not use to talking to anyone he's not used to. I grinned as I kept thinking about Anthro,

trying to remember where I've heard of it before. If only I could remember...

"Hey D-man?" Ethan said. "Are you going to eat that MiracleX or not? It's very good"

I sighed as I look at the MiracleX bar. I was planning to give it to my sister, who

appreciates chocolate more than I do. But, might as wall eat it here. Besides, the temperature's

getting warmer and the chocolate bar might melt by the time I've reach home. I peeled the

MiracleX opened and tooked a bite from it. Other than the fact that it's a bit soupy due to the

heat, it's the best chocolate bar I've ever ate in a long time.

"It's better than I've expected," I said out loud and ate the rest of the MiracleX.

"You see," Ethan said, "it's not that bad. Now, how about the other chocolate bars before

the heat ruins them?"

'Good point,' I thought.

I went to the box and handed around the two chocolates bars to Kyler, Anna, Ethan, Tim,

Jon, and Karson, 'till there's only two of each.

I looked at Chris and said, "Say Chris? Would you like a couple of chocolate bars?"

He nodded and I've gave him the two chocolate bars. We've all open up the chocolate

bars and ate them. I got to admit that they're just as good as MiracleX.

"Too good to be true," Jon said.

"Yeah," Karson said. He look at the left and said, "Oh, here comes the bus."

I looked at the point that Karson look at and, true to his words, the bus is coming.

'Perfect timing,' I thought. 'Just as we've finished eating the Animam bars and the Anthro

bars.'

"Alright then," I said, "allons-y"

"What?" Tim said.

"It's French," I said with a grin. "For 'let's go'."

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"So they went to your school too?" I said on the phone.

"Yeah," Dylan said with the 8bit sound from the phone.

It was nighttime here, around 9:05 PM, after my dinner time. My sister was a bit unhappy

when I told her that I, along with the others, ate all of the chocolate bars. But I was able to

convince her that if there was extra, I would've save them for her. I've also told her about the

man, without telling her the tail part of the story, and she said that it's a bit odd that some man

just gave them free candy for no reason and that I may never see him again.

I've already taken my shower and dressed up in my pajamas, which is a large white shirt,

dark red wool pants, socks, and my black with red stripes robe. After that I went to my computer

in the back room to try to read some stories of foxes on DeviantART and after a few minutes, I

decided to take a break and called one of my friends in another school. I've told him about the

REA visit and he told me that REA visited his school as well.

"Do you think there's more schools that REA visited also?" I said.

"I've already called a few and they also said that REA visited their school as well," Dylan

said. "I think that REA visited all of the high schools in the city."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know,"

"By the way, did they mention Animam and Anthro chocolate bars?"

"What the he-ooooooooooooohhhhh"

"What's wrong Dylan?"

"Oooooh. For some reason I got this major headache. I got to go. Good bye,"

I then hear a click and a low humming sound. I look at the phone for a few seconds and

then hand up too. I gave a sigh and look at the computer screen, specifically at the DeviantART

page. Looking at the side of the page, I see the links to the sections Literature, Resources &

Stock Images, Cartoon & Comics, Manga/Anime, Flash, Fan Art, Anthro, Community-

'Wait a minute!' I thought. 'Anthro!'

Before I could ponder over this, I've felt a excruciating pain in my head. It's unlike any

I've ever felt before. I slowly got up from the chair and, while having my left hand on my

forehead, I turn off the computer. I walk out, having both hands on my forehead, and passing by

Margaret in the process, who looked at me in confusion.

"I'm going to bed now," I said without looking at her. "I'm not feeling too well."

"Um, ok," she said.

I went to my bedroom, opened it, and entered my room. I closed my door behind me and,

while having my hands down for just a couple of seconds, I looked at the window and saw a

orange cat at the other side, looking at me. The cat quickly fled when he realize I've saw him.

Then another jolt of pain courses through my head and I put my hand on my head again. I didn't

even bother to remove my robe. I just got on my bed, turn off the lights, and went to sleep.

Ch. 4

I stood in the middle of the desert, with cactus at every direction I look at. It's a clear

night with a full moon and stars staring down at me, yet it's a bit hazy. My feet press down on the

ground with only my socks on, yet I don't feel any pain. I'm dressed in my night clothes along

with my robe that I was sleeping in.

I looked across the desert and I saw a figure, a small animal, walking towards me. As the

figure gets closer and closer, it's get more clearer and clearer. This animal muzzle is, what I

could tell from here, fairly acute and its tail is large and bushy. As the creature comes more

closer, I could see, with the best of my night vision, that it's red with the lower half of the muzzle

and the tip of its tail white while its paws are black from the joint. It came to no question that the

animal is no doubt a fox since I've seen so many pictures and videos of foxes that I don't even

count how many I've seen anymore.

The fox stopped walking towards me and sit about five feet away from, with his golden,

cat-like eyes staring at my own green, human eyes. Suddenly his eyes start to glow and jumped

towards me. I didn't even try to move away as he made contact with my body. He then merged

into me as I stand there dumbfounded.

I suddenly felt uneasy with my head spinning and my stomach turning. I've gotten to my

knees and vomit to the ground along with my canine teeth. I quickly felt my mouth and instead of

empty slots where my canine teeth was, I've felt longer and sharper canine teeth in their place. I

then felt a sharp pang at my lower back as the area suddenly gets hotter. As I look at the back of

my hand, I saw it becoming more hairier and it's not a dirty blond color like my hair, but jet

black color. I felt another sharp pang as I hear a ripped sound from the seat of my pants. I've use

my right-hand to feel what has cause the rip and I felt a large bushy tail. With a great fear, I tug

the tail and felt a tug-like pain. I guess I've really grown a tail.

The increasing heat that I'm feeling is becoming more unbearable now, which is odd to

me since I usually am able to tolerate the heat. I ripped off my shirt with strength I never know I

have and look at my chest, which is now cover in white fur. I look at the shirt I've ripped out in

confusion since this type of shirt is not an easy one to rip off unless there're holes in them, which

I'm sure there isn't.

My hands then feels a whole lot of pain. I watch as I see my fingernails growing longer

and sharper with the passing seconds. They've grown 'till they've become claws, but that wasn't

the end of the pain. I look at the other side of my hands and there're pads growing there.

Perhaps the same is happening to my feet, with claws and pads.

I then felt a pulling kind of pain on my ears, like they're being pulled upwards. My hands

went up to my ears and they felt more pointy and higher on my head. The pain continues as my

ears become more pointy and move to a higher part of my head 'till my ears are like a fox.

My face then feels like it's being stretch out of my head, especially at my mouth and my nose. I

put my hands at my mouth and it feels more longer. I try to push my mouth back to its original

position, but it seems like I'm only delaying the inevitable. It stretch out 'till it has become a

acute muzzle, with whiskers nonetheless.

Then my legs and feet felt the greatest pain I've ever felt. I watch as my feet actually

ripped through my socks and became digitigrades-like feet. My legs grown to the point that my

red wool pants ripped apart 'till they're shorts now. I then loses all senses at this point.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've regain my senses after some time and some time it was, especially since it's daytime

here in the middle of the desert. The whole view here is a whole lot more clearer since last night,

when it was hazy. It's a bit strange since it's a bit more clearer since I can only see this clear if

I'm wearing my glasses and I'm not wearing them now, am I?

I lifted up my hand to check if I'm wearing my glasses and I was startle when I saw that

it's a hand/paw hybrid with jet black fur. It took me a moment to remember the events from last

night when I've been changed by that fox somehow and this is my hand now. I quickly gotten up

to see what I've been changed into.

It seems that I still have a human-like body since I'm standing on my two legs, but apart

from that, my body had changed a great deal. My hands, apart from having jet black fur, pads on

the grasping side, and having claws for nails, is the same. The same black fur goes up to my

elbows and form there my fur is red. The chest area of my fur is white up to possibly my neck,

down to my waist, and one fourths on my sides. I lift up my robe to see my tail and it's long,

bushy, and red with a white tip. I put my hands, or rather paws, to my ears and felt that it has

moved up my head and it's pointy. I then put them on my face and felt that my face have an

muzzle now with whiskers. My legs are more bulker which makes my red wool pants into shorts

that goes to my knee. Down from the knee is black fur with digitigrades feet.

I'm a bit upset that my legs had gained more muscle than my arms 'cause I felt that they

don't need to that much larger since my legs muscle were large to begin with. After all, I could

do a leg press with more than two hundred thirty pounds. It's just a part of being in the Virtus

family, especially on the male side.

Then I saw another figure across the desert, this time a female human. She have an blue

Hawaiian shirt, blue jeans, and black slippers. She have dark hair that has been dye and, from

her face, she's around fifty years old. She have an gentle smile with white teeth cover in tar. But

the most notable thing about her to me is her glasses that looks like my own, oval shape.

I shed a tear when I recognize her, the one person who could be able to have a heart-to-

heart conversation with me. The one person I wanted to meet again, but never will. I said one

word. Just one word.

"Mom?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *Click*

I lifted up my head somewhat weakly and look at the alarm clock at my bed side.

5:20 AM.

'Ugh, not feeling good,' I thought. 'Especially after that dream.'

I laid my head back down to the pillow, thinking about that dream. That transformation

into a anthro red fox felt so real, I could swear that it wasn't a dream. I guess that dreams do that,

makes things seem real. But the dream ended so soon. I just want to talk to her after that-

'Hold the phone,' I thought. 'Is that an muzzle?'

My eyes open up real wide now. That is an muzzle I'm seeing and it's mine from that

dream! I throw off the blanket onto the ground and have a look at my body. It's that anthro fox

form I have from that dream I had, not my human body. My shirt had been torn off by me while I

was sleeping, my pants, or rather shorts, have an hole for my tail which is long and bushy, and

my legs and digitigrades feet ripped my pants into shorts and socks apart completely.

'This have to be a dream,' I thought as I'm getting up. 'It just have to be a dream.'

I look at my mirror on my door and it reflects an anthro fox wearing my robe and my

ripped pants. Somehow, I've turned into an anthro fox while I was sleeping.

'What, what, what?' I thought.

Ch. 5

'Ok,' I thought to myself. 'Just try to calm and don't attract any unwanted attention.'

It's been about forty minutes when I've realize that I've been turn into an anthro fox-like

creature. I've been spending the time trying to stay calm and figuring out what to do. I can't go to

ALPS nor let Margaret see me like this. Maybe I can sneak out of here and-

'No, I can't do that,' I thought. 'Not without having Margaret seeing me. It's Friday and

that's when we both go to the bus stop.'

At Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, my sister goes to college around the same time that

I go to ALPS, so we usually go together to the bus stop at those days. To do that, she wakes up

around the same time that I do. That would mean she should be up by now.

"Hey Daren, are you up?"

'Oh dogs,' I thought. 'She's up.'

"Yeah," I said. "Why?"

"Because it's about six o'clock," she said. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Er, no," I said. "I'm not feeling well enough to go to ALPS today."

"Are you sure?" she said. "You sound ok."

'It's not how I sound ok, it's how I look like an anthro fox,' I thought.

"Yes, I'm definitely sure I'm not ok," I said.

"Well, just to be sure," Margaret said.

I then heard her touch the brass doorknob.

I quickly grabbed the doorknob and said, "Please don't come in."

"Daren? What's wrong?" she said.

"It's just that I don't want you to catch what disease I got," I said. "Besides, I've already

check the thermometer and it said that my temperature's 102.3*F."

"Oh," she said. "Ok. I guess you can stay home today."

I heard her removed her hand from the doorknob and her walking away. I locked the door

so that she cannot get in and see me like this. I then went to my bed and sat on it with my hand

rubbing my head.

'Sigh, that was close,' I thought. 'Good thing Margaret's not the cleverest person on this

planet.'

As I sat there on my bed I wondered what happened that cause my transformation into a

anthro fox. Could it be that someone sneak into the house and inject something that cause this? I

search my body to see any puncture wounds. I didn't saw any, but with all this fur it's makes

seeing my own skin very hard.

I thought about last night, when I was talking to Dylan and looking at foxes at

DeviantART, especially the anthro-

'Wait a minute,' I thought. 'Could it be those chocolate bars from REA have something to

do with this?'

"Hey Daren," Margaret said at the other side of the door. "I'll be going to college now.

Oh, by the way, ALPS called and told me that school's cancel for today."

"What?" I said.

"Apparently, there's a large amount of missing students. Not just at ALPS, but at all high

schools around the city as well," she said.

"What??" I said.

"In fact so many, that it would be pointless to open up to only five or more students that

didn't disappear overnight," she said.

"What!?" I said.

"So have a good time home today," she said. "See you later."

I heard her walked down the hallway and heard the front door open. But I heard her

picked something up, went back in, and walked back to my door.

"Here's a package for you, Daren," Margaret said through the door.

'What? I didn't order anything,' I thought. 'So who would send me an package in the

middle of the night?'

"J-just leave it at the door," I said.

"Ok," she said.

I heard her put the package in front of my door, walked down the hall, and leaving the

house. I waited for a moment then looked out the window. The windows are darker than the

average so, with my lights off in my room, it would be hard, if not impossible, for someone at

the outside to looked at the inside. It's when the lights in my room are on that someone could

looked inside here. I looked at my sister walking down the sidewalk and she's still normal, unlike

me, who's been changed into an anthro fox.

When she's out of sight, I unlocked my door and opened it. This box is large, about 2ft^3,

but when I picked it up, it's not that heavy. I carried the box to my room and put it on my bed. I

then try to find my pocket knife and, after awhile, I turn on the lights and spotted it on the

bedside. I sighed, flicked it opened, and cut it opened. Inside of it is some type of clothing, like

the one that man wore yesterday afternoon, and a cell phone.

I looked out the window and saw a orange cat, like the one from last night, staring at me

from the other side. The cat jump off when I've spotted him. I went to the window and watch the

cat run down the street 'till he's out of sight.

'Could that be the same cat from last night?' I thought.

Before I could ponder over this, I heard the phone from the back room ringing.

'That's strange,' I thought. 'Who would call at this time of the morning?'

I ran out of my room, through the hall, across the dining, and into the back room where

the phone's ringing.

I picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Daren?" the female caller reply.

"Anna?" I said. "What's wrong?"

"Something happened over the night and now I can't go to school today," Anna said.

"Let me guess," I said. "You were changed into something you cannot believe."

"Yes. The same happened to you?"

"Yeah. No joke."

"Because of the this, I don't think I can face even my own family now."

"I know the feeling."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not calling from home."

"You're not?"

"No. I'm calling from Salus Park."

"But that's an public place! People can see you!"

"True, but I'm wearing clothing someone gave me this morning."

"Are they similar to the ones that man was wearing yesterday?"

"Yes. It seem that someone did the same to you."

"Yeah. Makes me feel like someone knew that this would happened."

"Yeah."

"How about the others? You know, Kyler, Karson, Ethan, Tim, Jon, and Chris?"

"I've already check with Ethan and the same happened to him and his brothers. They're

coming here to Salus Park too. I'm not sure about the others. Why did you asked?"

"Because, all eight of us are connected by one, or rather three, things."

"The REA chocolate bars?"

"Exactly."

"Do you think REA have something to do with this?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did."

"It make sense, but maybe we've only escape their plan, if they're the ones behind this

chaos."

"Chaos? What are you talking about?"

"You don't know, do you? About the missing teenagers all over the city? It's all over the

news."

"I've heard of that. Quite a shock to me. I guess the same happened to them-"

"Not really. If REA did something to the MiracleX, it doesn't makes them into some type

of human/animal."

"What?"

"It changed them into animals, with no knowledge of their previous human life."

"W-what?? W-what makes you say-"

"On the way over here at Salus Park, I saw many animals of all types. Foxes, wolfs,

badgers, you name it."

"What!?"

"Ple-- --me he-- at Sal-- Pa--."

"What Anna? You're breaking up."

"Da---."

The connection died and our conversation ended there. I guess Anna didn't have her cell

phone completely charged up or there was some interferences with the signal. As I sat there

gritting my teeth in frustration, I thought about the streets filled with animals when the students

from all high schools in the city disappear overnight. I doubted if anyone could drive in this

condition if there are animals of all types on the-

'Margaret!' I realized. 'If the streets are filled a lot of animals, then the streets would be

close! There's no way she can go to college in that condition! In fact, she would just come home!'

I then heard the front door being unlocked and opened.

"Daren, I'm back," Margaret said as she moved towards the dining room. You should've

seen the condition of the street-"

She stopped when she saw me as an anthro fox.

"Wow!" Margaret said. "Who are you!?"

'Wow,' I thought. 'For a moment there, I thought she would freak out.'

"Margaret?" I said.

"You know my name!?" she said.

"Margaret," I said. "It's me, Daren."

"Daren!?" she said. "How- I mean, can you prove that you are Daren?"

I thought for a moment, then said, "You're a cat person. In fact, most of the cats are

yours, like Binky and Luckylady. But there's one dog you loved and his name was Foxy."

"Daren," she said. "What happened? Is this the reason you didn't come out of your

room?"

"Yes," I said, "I admit that's the reason. I didn't expect that school would be cancel nor

that you would return."

"I can understand that," Margaret said, "but how this happened?"

Ch. 6

I explained to her the dream that I had last night and what I’ve discovered when I’ve

gotten up. I’ve also explained to her about that called from Anna and our theory that REA have

something to do with this. When I’ve finished, Margaret explained about the condition of the

streets outside. She also explained that, due to the streets being filled with animals, thus jamming

the roads, she decided to skip college for today.

When she finished, I said, “If REA have something to do with this, what would they

gain? Streets full of animals?”

“Don’t look at me,” Margaret said. “I’m not the mystery reader of our family.”

Just then we’ve heard something, like a cell phone ringing. It can’t be Margaret’s cell

‘cause she keeps her cell on silent. I then realized that it must be the cell phone that was in the

package along with the clothes. I rushed to my room with my sister following me.

I picked up the cell phone, flipped it opened, and said, “Hello?”

“So, YoU’vE rEcEiYe ThE pAcKaGe I’vE sEnT yOu,” a man voice said. “GoOd JoB.”

"Ok, who are you?" I said.

“NeItHeR eNeMy NoR fRiEnD.”

“Ok, cut the MGS reference now, really. Who are you?”

“YoU sHaLl KnOw Me By ThE nAmE KEmE.”

“So, you are the one that sent us that package this morning?”

“YeS. I’m AlSo ThE oNe ThAt SeEt YoU tHe PaCkAgE aT yEsTeRdAy AfTeRnOoN.”

“You did? You were that guy with that tail?”

“Er, YeAh. I FiGuRe YoU mIgHt NeEd ThEm.”

“How? What’s the point?”

“To SaVe YoU.”

“Save me? How does turning me into an anthro fox save me?”

“MiRaClEX TrAnSfOrM a PeRsOn InTo An AnImAl. AnImAm AnD ATtHrO wAs

AbLe To ReTaIn WhAt HuMaNiTy YoU hAvE.”

“MiracleX? So REA-“

“ArE tHe OnEs BeHiNd ThIs CrIsIs? YeE, tHeY aRe?”

“But why? What could they gain from all of this?”

“I’lL tElL yOu OnCe YoU aRe WiTh ThE oThErS tHaT I’Ve SaVeD.”

“You mean… How will you know that I’m there with them? Will you be there too?”

“I HaVe My AcCeSs To SuCh InFoRmAtIoN? GOoD bYe.”

He then hanged up on me with no way for me to call him back. I closed the cell phone

and put it down on the bed. I then turned to Margaret who has a worried looked on her face.

"What do we do now?” she said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked down the sidewalk, wearing the clothing Keme gave me, towards Salus Park

with Margaret by my side. As we entered the park, I thought about that happened earlier.

After that call from Keme, I’ve called Kyler and Karson and told them to get Chris and

head to Salus Park. Margaret and I waited until it was 9:00 AM, when the streets are open now

that animal control had gotten the animals. It’s interesting how they’ve reacted, as if they were

expecting it.

When we’re about 15 feet into the park, I said to Margaret, “What time is it?”

She glanced at her watch and said, “Half hour after nine.”

“Good thing there are not many people in the park today,” I said.

“It’s sure is a good thing,” a familiar voice said.

We turned to our right and saw Kyler dressed in that same black clothing, with a hood

and a cape to cover his face and tail. He motioned his hand to followed him into the basketball

court building. I guessed that’s where we’re meeting. We went to the doors of the building with

Kyler leading the way.

He opened the door and said, “Come in, quickly.”

As my sister went into the building, I turned around to see if there was anyone there

looking at us. I then saw that same orange cat from earlier, staring at us. The cat then ran out of

the park.

‘That cat again,’ I thought. ‘Could that cat be-‘

“Daren, hurry up.” Kyler said, interrupting my thoughts. “We don’t have much time.”

“Uh, coming,” I said.

I went into the building while Kyler jam the door with a metal rod so that no one else can

come in. I looked around and saw eight people in here, including Kyler and Margaret. I’m

guessing that the others in the same clothing as I’m in now are Anna, Ethan, Tim, Jon, Karson,

and Chris.

“What took you so long,” one of them said, probably Anna.

“W-we’ve waited ‘till the streets are open,” I said.

“Your sister’s here too,” another said, I’m guessing Ethan. “Does she know about this?”

“If you mean about you guys being turned into were-creatures, then yeah,” Margaret said.

“I guess we’re free to remove our hoods now that everyone’s here,” I’m guessing Tim

said.

We all removed our hoods and, for the first time, I saw what they’ve been transformed

into. Anna’s a red fox, like me, except that her fur is silver, Kyler’s a grey wolf, Ethan, Tim, Jon

are ethropian wolf, gray fox, and golden jackal, respectively, Karson’s a long hair gray color cat,

and Chris’s a coyote. We’ve looked at each other for a while, in silences.

Karson finally broke the silence and said, “What do we do now?”

“We wait until he calls again,” I said. “Does anyone have speakers for a cell phone?”

“Yes,” Anna said. She pulled out a small portable speakers set from her cloak pocket.

“Why?” Jon said. “Who will call?”

Just then the cell phone that I got from Keme rung again. I took the speakers from Anna

and connected them to the cell phone.

I then put them on the ground, flipped the cell phone opened, and said out loud, “Hello?”

“So, YoU’rE aLl HeRe.” Keme said from the cell phone.

“How did you know-?” I said.

“AlL wIlL bE aNsWeR iN gOoD tImE,” he said.

“Who the heck are you?” Ethan said.

“He calls himself Keme,” I explained to the others. “He called me earlier and explained

some things to me. He’s also the same man who sends us the Animam and Anthro bars

yesterday.”

“What do you want from us anyways?” Tim said.

“I wAnT yOu To HeLp Me StOp REA,” Keme said. “I wOuLd StOp ThEm MySeLf,

BuT hE’s ToO pOwErFuL aNd He HaS a CoUpLe Of ThInGs ThAt CoUlD mAkE mE

dIsApPeAr.”

“Who do you mean?” Ethan said.

“EaRh ReGo, tHe HeAd Of REA,” he said.

“But he’s like over sixty,” Kyler said. “What could he do-?”

“ThAt DiDn'T sToP hIm In HiS fIrSt AtTeMpT aT sOmEtHiNg LiKe ThIs,” Keme said.

“First attempt?” I said. “Something like this happened before?”

“NoT eXaCtLy,” he said. “I DoN’t KnOw AlL oF tHe DeTaIlS eXcEpT tHaT iT eNdEd

WiTh DoUgLaS ATrA dEaTh At HiS hAnD a YeAr AgO.”

“Who’s hand?” Ethan said.

“He’S kNoWn OnLy To Us As SOlId FOx,” he said.

“Solid Fox?” Karson said.

“He’S tHe GrEaTeSt ThReAt To REA.” he said. “He HiT tHe REA So HaRd LaSt YeAr

WhEn ThEy TrIeD tHeIr SeEmInGlY pErFeCt PlAn, ThAt ThIs Is ThE oNlY bAcKuP pLaN

tHeY cAn UsE.”

“But why get us to help you?” Kyler said. “Shouldn’t you get this Solid Fox instead?”

“I dOn’T kNoW hOw To CoNtAcT hIm.” He said. “I dOn’T eVeN kNoW hIs ReAl

NaMe.”

“So you’ll use up instead?” Tim said.

“CoRrEcT,” he said. “Of CoUrSe, ThOsE fOrMuLaS dId MoRe ThAn ChAnGe YoUr

ApPeArAnCe,”

“What do you mean?” Kyler said.

“YoU’lL fInD oUt SoOn EnOuGh,” he said. “NoW, I WaNt YoU tO gO tO tHe REA

BuIlDiNg ThRoUgH tHe BaCk. DoN’t WoRrY, tHe DoOr WiLl Be UnLoCkEd. OnCe YoU

eNtEr, Go To ThE rOoM tHaT dOoR’s MaRkEd ‘RoOm 101’ AnD wAiT tHeRe UnTiL I CaLl

YoU aGaIn.”

There was a clicked and the call ended. I looked at Margaret, then Anna, Kyler, Karson,

Ethan, Tim, Jon, and finally Chris. They all have a mixed of feared and determination in their

faces.

“We don’t have much choice, do we?” Tim said.

“Nope,” Kyler said.

“Well then,” I said, “allons-y!"

Ch. 7

After Keme had called earlier, we’ve headed towards my place to drop off Margaret

there. Though I told her that it is for her to attend college for what classes she didn't missed, it's

really to make sure that she doesn't get in danger with us. We then headed to Kyler's place to

snagged his parents SUV without their noticed and used it to headed to the REA building.

We've reached the REA building at about 11:30 AM and parked it at its public parking

place, which is empty excepted for a few cars. It's hard to missed this building since it's the

biggest one in the city.

When we've got out of the SUV, I said, "Come on, allons-y."

"Oui, mais ne nous menez pas à mort," a unknown deep voice said.

I was startled by that remarked and said, "Who said that?"

"I did."

I turned around and saw Chris. He had his hood down so that we can see the coyote

grinning proudly.

"You can speak French?" Kyler said.

"And Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, and a bit of Japanese," Chris said.

"That was French?" the jackal said.

"Yeah. Might a well since he has been speaking a bit of French himself," the coyote said

while looking at me.

"Well then," I said, "you should put your hood back on before someone see you."

Chris put his hood back on while grinning, proud at speaking French. We then walked

towards the REA building and then waking around it, passing by its TV display.

We could hear the TV said, "In the Lycan news, the largest mass disappearance had

struck the city. At least three thousand peoples had vanished without a trace overnight. The only

thing that all of the people have in common is that they're all high school students throughout the

city of Lycan. Along with this crisis is the appearance of animals that appeared overnight all

around the city, but this is under control thanks to REA, who are surprisingly ready to combat

this crisis."

'That's because they were ready for that, since they're the one that causes this to

happened,' I thought. 'I swear that we'll save them and restore them as much as we can.'

We then walked through the alleyway between the REA building and another building

without attracting too much attention, mainly because there weren't too many people outside

today. When we reached the corner of the REA building, I turned around and saw that orange cat

again. The cat once again runs away at soon as I saw him.

'This cannot be a coincidence now,' I thought. 'That cat is following me, but why?'

"Daren," I heard Anna said.

I quickly got out of my thoughts and looked at Anna. “W-w-what is it?”

“Look at this,” she said.

She then lead me to the back door of the building, which should be the entrance was for

us. It’s like any other backdoor of a big building like this, sturdy and has a window on it. The

anthro vixen pointed above the door to the red light there.

“It’s,” I said, “a red light.”

“That means the door have a alarm active on it,” Kyler said. “We can’t get in that way

without getting caught.”

“But he told us to go in that way,” Jon said. “He said the door will be unlocked.”

“He said the door will be unlocked,” the anthro wolf said. “He never said anything about

the alarm now, did he?”

The anthro jackal sighed in irritation as Anna said, “So, what do we do now?”

Just then the light above the door become green.

We all looked at it for a second and then Tim said, “What does that mean?”

“That means,” Kyler said, “that the alarm is deactivated and we can go in now.”

“But how?” Ethan said. “Who did it?”

I then heard the cell phone in my pocket ringing. I put my hand in my pocket and took

out the cell phone.

I flipped it opened and said, “Hello?”

“SoRrY,” Keme said. “I FoRgOt To DeAcTiVaTe ThE aLaRm EaRlIeR, bUt It ShOuLd

Be Ok NoW. ReMeMbEr, Go To RoOm 101.”

He then hung up on me.

I turned to the others and said. “Shall we go into the building now?”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We’re walking through a dark hallway, looking at the walls for the room that Keme told

us to go into. Surprisingly, there’re no types of security here. No guards. No security camera.

Not even a janitor. Nothing could prevent us from walking through here in this hallway.

“Isn’t it odd that there’re no protections here?” Tim said.

“Perhaps that’s why Keme told us to come through here,” Kyler said.

“Room 105. Room 104,” I said, reading the door numbers. “Room 103. Room 102. Room

102b. Ah, Room 101.”

It’s like any other door here, steel with no window. I turned the doorknob and we entered

the room. The room has a table with eight chairs surrounding it at the center the room. At the

other side of the room are nine doors with eight of them with a name on it. The doors says

Daren, Ethan, Chris, Kyler-

‘Wait a minute,’ I thought. ‘I’m not wearing my glasses. So how could I read them from

here?’

“I guess Keme planned all of this in advance,” Karson said.

“But how could he do all of this in advance without being caught?” Kyler said. “Getting

those Animan and Anthro chocolate bars and giving them to us, disabling the back door alarm,

and setting up this room for us, I doubt that anyone from the outside could do all of this.”

"Are you thinking that he's a mole in REA?" I said.

"The more I think about it, the more I believe that he's a mole of theirs," the anthro wolf

said.

"You've seem to have overcome your shyness," Anna said.

'Now that you've mention it,' I thought, 'he has been talking more than usual. He only

talks to people he could really trust.'

I looked at Kyler and he looked surprised by the comment Anna made. I guessed he's just

as surprised as I am about this. He then flustered a bit, like he's trying to think of something to

say, but cannot get the words out of his mouth.

"How about we check out those doors over there and see what's in them?" I said quickly.

"Ok," The others said.

As everyone except Kyler and I headed towards a door with their names on it, Kyler went

up to me and whispered to my ear, "Thank you. I owe you one."

'Any time,' I thought.

I went to the door with my name on it and opened it. Inside of it is a small dressing room

with clothing, which comprises of a red Hawaiian button-up shirt, a green t-shirt, and blue jeans,

and a Diet Pepsi. I'm surprised and a bit nervous that Keme knows about my clothing habits and

my favorite drink. In fact, it's creepy that someone other than my friends and family on Earth

knows about them. I entered the room and closed it behind me so that I could changed my

clothing privately. I'm getting tired of these clothing's I'm wearing anyways.

After a few minutes, I exited out of the room, now wearing those clothing. I have to say

that the jeans are some special type since it has a hole where I could put my foxy tail through.

Just around the time I've exited it, Chris also exited the room that have his name, now wearing a

sleeve-less tan shirt and khaki pants. I noticed that he's not wearing his sunglasses he was

wearing earlier, so I could see his eyes now, which is red in color.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, what do we do now?" Karson said.

At this time, which's 1:00 PM, we've finished changing our clothing, which is like our

street clothes, and we're now sitting on the chairs. Anna's wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans,

Kyler's wearing a blue t-shirt with a wolf on it and blue jeans, Karson's wearing a yellow t-shirt

with blue jeans, Ethan's wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, Tim's wearing a white t-shirt with

blue jeans, and Jon's wearing a blue t-shirt with black jeans.

"How about those three talk about themselves for now," the anthro jackal said, pointing at

Chris, Kyler, and I. "At least, until Keme calls again."

I was about to protest when Chris said, "Ok, we'll do it. We'll start with me."

'Please make it long until Keme calls,' I thought. 'I know what Jon wants from me and I

don't want to talk about what had happened two years ago!'

Ch. 8

“My name is Chris,” the anthro coyote said. “Chris Potens. Sorry about being all silent

until now. I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything. I was afraid that you won’t be able to

understand me like most people couldn’t.”

“Why couldn’t we be able to understand you?” Anna said. “You’re talking just fine.”

“You see,” Chris said, “My voice’s deep. Deeper than most people. It’s harder to

understand a person with a deep voice than a person with a high voice.”

‘True,’ I thought. ‘It’s harder to get a person to notice something that’s flat than

something that’s sharp.’

“Of course,’ Chris said, “that’s was only half of my problem. The other half was my

terrible pronouncing skills.”

“Wait a minute,” the anthro ethropian wolf said. “You’re pronouncing your words

flawlessly. What makes you think that they’re horrible?”

“That’s the strange part,” the anthro coyote said. “I couldn’t pronounce like this

yesterday. It wasn’t until this morning that it has improved to my surprise.”

“What happened?” Ethan said.

“Maybe it was those chocolate bars we all ate yesterday,” I suggested.

“What makes you say that?” Anna said.

“You see,” I explained, “my eyesight was terrible yesterday, even from reading

something from six feet away from me. But now it has improved to 20:20.”

“Really?” Karson said. The cat then pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and

showed it to me. “Can you read this?”

I said as I read it, ““Count it all joy my brethren when you fall into various trials that’s

knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its complete work

that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4.”

“That’s correct,” the anthro cat said as he puts the paper back to his pocket. “So your

vision has improved.”

“So those chocolate bars repair any impairment,” Kyler said.

“Maybe,” the anthro jackal said. “Could you continue with your story Chris?”

“There’s really nothing much to say,” Chris said.

“How about you talk your relationship with your parents?” Jon said.

“I,” the anthro coyote said, “don’t really want to talk about that.”

“Why not?” the anthro vixen said.

“Well,” Chris said, “it’s not very good because I don’t agree with them.”

“What do you mean?” Jon said.

“I mean,” Chris said, “I don’t believe what the newspaper have to say and they do,

despite all of their lies throughout the years.”

“Lies?” Tim said. “What lies?”

“The news comprises of two things,” Chris said. “Propaganda and lies. Yet those fools

don’t see them.”

“Care to explain?” I said.

“You see,” Chris said, “you know the New York Times?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“In 1932,” Chris explained, “one of their reporters covers the USSR and declared that

“Uncle Joe’s” a benevolent leader and he is ruling his country flawlessly.”

“What?!” I said. “That’s a bunch of lies! That dictator murdered at least 30 million

people during his whole reign.”

“Yet people believe it,” Chris said. “Not only that, they also gave him the Pulizer Prize

and, even now, they proudly display it. That’s the problem with people and news today. That

news people knows that the best way to manipulate a person is by using their emotions. If they

blame a person for their hard times, even if that person didn’t do anything to cause it, they’ll

believe it. They also did it in the Vietnam War.”

“The Vietnam War?” Ethan said. “How so?”

“You remember the Ted Offensive?” Chris said.

“Ah, yes,” I said. “The turning point of the war.”

“What about that battle?” Ethan said.

“Those news people,” the anthro coyote said, “Claimed that the battle was a completed

defeat to us.”

“That I know is a lie,” I said. “We, militarily, won that battle. The North Vietnamese and

their Vietcong may have held a few building for some time, they weren’t able to keep them and

by the end of the day they were defeated.”

“But they lied,” Chris said. “Because of their lies, the opinions of war turned from for it

to against it. In the end, we’ve lost the Vietnam War not by bullets, but by news.”

“True,” I said. “But the whole war was run by stupid people who thought they could win

by fighting their enemies to a stalemate. So we would’ve lost either way, the timing would’ve

been different.”

“How so?” Chris said. “How was it run by idiots?”

“I’ll way it so that an illogical person would have to agree with me,” I said. “Let’s say

that you’re South Vietnam any I’m North Vietnam and you’ve drawn you line as your border

that separates us. I cross over to your side and punch you. You can punch me back, as long as

I’m within your side. Once I’ve cross over to my side, you can’t punch me.”

“That’s a stupid rule,” Chris said. “I don’t care about that border line; you’ve crossed

over that line to hit me first so I have every right to cross it and retaliate.”

“Yet that was how we fought in that war,” I said. “Whether it was by news or not, we still

would’ve lost that war.”

“I,” Chris said, “see your point.”

“You seen to know a lot about the Vietnam War,” Ethan said to me.

“My aunt was in the war as a field nurse,” I said. “So I got some details of the war from

her.”

“A relative of yours was in the war?” Anna said.

“Yeah,” I said. “She was one of the many.”

“What do you mean by ‘one of the many’?” Anna said.

“I meant by one of the many Virtus who joined the military,” I said. “My family usually

joined the army, especially in times of war. Maybe there was one who fought in the Crusades.

I’m pretty much expected to join when the time comes.”

“Wow,” Anna said. “That’s truly patriotic of your family.”

“Yeah,” I said embarrassingly, “But it’s not like my family actually fought in combat.

My grandfather was set to go in WWII, but it ended before he fought in a battle and, in the

Korean War, he was just a trainer. As for my dad, he checks the nuclear power in his ship.”

“Oh,” Anna said.

“Like I said,” Chris said continuing on with his story, “the news was always filled with

lies and always will, yet my parents believe them. Even all of those recent ones. I just want to

knock some sense into them."

Ch 9

“That’s the end of my story,” Chris said. “Who wants to go next?”

“He’ll go,” both Kyler and I said.

“How do we settle this problem?” Karson said.

“Rock, paper, scissor?” Jon suggested to Kyler and I.

“Ok,” I said.

“Very well,” Kyler said.

We faced each other for our game. We got our hands/paws ready and we both said while

hitting our fist onto our open palm hand, “Rock, paper, scissor!”

When we said, “Scissor,” I put my hand in the rock position while Kyler, unfortunately,

have his hand in the scissor position, making me the winner.

“Two out of three?” Kyler said.

“Sorry, but no,” I said.

“Darn,” Kyler said. "I don’t really want to talk about myself.”

“Just do your best,” Anna said.

Kyler gave a big sighed and said, “My name is Kyler Sapien and I am the shyish type of

person.”

“You didn’t act shy earlier,” Tim said.

“Maybe it’s because of those chocolate bars,” Kyler said. “I don’t really like to talk to

other people, except to my parent and Daren here.”

“You two have some history together?” Ethan said. “Could you tell us about it?”

“Kyler and I met in preschool years ago,” I said. “He was alone and I gave him some

companionship. Throughout these years we were as close as brothers to our parents and teachers.

We have similar interests, like in video games and stuff.

“Then, five years ago, at sixth grade, my parents, after that school year had ended,

transfer me to ALPS. They wished for me to have a good education, even if it means leaving

Kyler behind. But we do meet occasionally. I got to say that you haven’t change throughout the

years.”

“Yeah, well,” Kyler said, “I think you changed too much, especially since two years ago.

Before then, you would drown yourself in video games, but now you would drown yourself in

your computer, while occasionally play video games.”

“Perhaps,” I said.

“People would always think that I’m brilliant,” Kyler said.

“Yeah,” I said. “You always were able to memorize every single word you’ve read or

heard and when you feel that something’s wrong, you’re usually right.”

“But,” Kyler said, “I’m wrong. I’m always wrong.”

“What are you talking about?” I said. “Your answers are the ones that are usually

correct.”

“It’s not how I don’t have the right answer to a problem,” Kyler said. “Its how I’m wrong

in person. Do you see any disorders in me?”

We all looked at Kyler. Five fingers in each hands/paw, five toes in each feet/paw. Other

than the fact that he’s an anthro grey wolf, there are no visible disorders.

I said to Kyler, “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“That’s because it’s not a physical disorder,” the anthro wolf said. “You guys think that

disorders are always something about messed up faces, extra or missing fingers, or even missing

limbs. But this disorder I have is actually a mental disorder. It’s called asperger syndrome. Ever

heard if it?”

“You have asperger syndrome?” I said.

“Yes,” Kyler said. “You’ve heard of it?”

“I did a paper on it for psychology,” I said. “Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum

disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along

with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.”

“So your shyness,” Anna said, “was more than just shyness.”

“Yes,” Kyler said.

“But you never acted like you have asperger syndrome,” I said. “In fact, I’ve never given

a thought that you’re one.”

“Like that disguise,” Kyler said. “It’s so perfect; I’ve fooled even myself for years.”

“Hold it,” Ethan said. “You didn’t know about you disorder ‘till recently?”

“I’ve always thought that the reason I’ve stay away from people and their groups was

because I’m shy,” Kyler said. “I’ve taken some classes that dealt with asperger syndrome, but

I’ve always thought that I was in it so I can deal with my shyness. It’s wasn’t ‘till last year that

I’ve discovered the truth. I’ve taken a look at my school files and I’ve found out that I have

asperger syndrome. I didn’t know what that word meant ‘till I’ve gotten home and researched it.”

“How did you felt when you’ve found out?” the anthro jackal said.

“I’ve felt hurt that I’m socially impaired and didn’t know about it,” the anthro wolf said.

“My dad, my teachers, they all knew about it and didn’t tell me? I’ve felt betrayed by those that

are close to me.”

"But I didn't know 'till you told me right now," I said.

"I know," Kyler said. "You were just as in the dark as I was. I know you won't betrayed

me because you're my greatest friend. I know you would tell me this if you knew."

"Wait a minute," Karson said. "You've only mention your dad. What about your mom?

Does she know?"

"I don't know," the anthro wolf said. "I can only guess on that question. But I think she

know."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" the anthro grey fox said.

"It's," Kyler said, "not that simple."

"What do you mean?" I said

"It's something that I didn't told you about," Kyler said, the tears forming on his eyes.

"It's something I couldn't told you about. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Didn't tell me what?" I said.

"My parents," Kyler said, "are divorce."

"What?!" Anna and I said at the same time.

"Sorry?" Ethan said.

"You mean?" Chris said.

"I'm so sorry, Daren," Kyler said. "You said it yourself; we were as close as brothers

years ago. Yet I couldn't tell you what had happened at first grade. I'm so, so sorry, Daren."

"What happened?" Anna said.

"My mom," Kyler said, now the tears rolling down his cheeks, "was a brilliant person.

When she went to college, she was the top in her class. She met my dad and they married a year

later. They later have a son, which's me, and it seems like everything's well.

"But, as the years goes by, my mom life has gotten very stressful for her. She was

working twenty hours a day for five days a week. It was too hard on her. So, she did the

unthinkable. She took drugs to relieve the stress in her life, but as the result, she'd changed. She's

no longer the person she once was.

"My mom had gone to court several times, but the judge was merciful and gave her a

chance to break the drug habits. But she always go back to her habits. My dad did, and still do,

love her, he knew that she would only gave me an bad environment for me to grow up in. So he

have no choice but to divorce her just as she was sent to the rehabilitation center."

"What happened to her afterwards?" Ethan said.

"While I was in third grade, my mom was finally sent to prison for her habits. She left

when I was in fourth grade and I've never seen her again. The last time I've heard of her, she was

in Mexico with a new husband."

Kyler then turned to me and, with tears still going down, said, "Daren, I'm sorry for not

telling you this. I've always wanted to tell you, hoping that you can help me, give me suggestions

on what to do, but I never did 'till now. Can you forgive me?"

I've been silent for the whole story he had told, trying to sort out the facts. He look at me

with those sad, teary eyes, upset about not asking me, his closest companion, for all these. While

I admit that I'm hurt about this 'cause, like he said, I would help him if he did told me, I

understand why he couldn't told me. It's because I know that same feeling.

"Kyler," I said. "I forgive you."

Ch. 10

Kyler smiled to me and said, "Thank you."

Kyler then wiped away the tears from face and said to the others, "That's the end of my

story so it's your turn, Daren."

'Great,' I thought.

"What's your story Daren?" Chris said.

"What's there to tell," I quickly said without thinking. "My life's fairly open, so you all

know what I'm going to tell."

"I don't," Chris said.

"True," Anna said.

"You don't have to tell all of your life," Jon suddenly said. "You can just tell us what

happened two years ago."

"I told you so many times already Jon," I said with a hint of anger, "and my answer will

not change! Nothing happened!"

"It's interesting," the anthro jackal said. "You've changed a great deal, yet you said

nothing happened. I don't believe that."

"It's true," Ethan said. "You had changed significantly Daren. You were once a great

student with an 3.3 average, but now you've let that slipped down."

"Until two years ago, you've asked us to come to your house," Tim said. "Now, you

hardly asked us now."

"You didn't go to our retreats and morning prayers before two years ago," Karson said.

"But now you've go, as if something had happened."

"And I did said earlier that you used to play video games before two years ago," Kyler

said. "Now you just go on the computer and read stories."

"All of these things suggested that you've retreated into yourself and become more

private," Jon said. "If you just reveal what happened we could-"

"Stop it!" I said, clearly angry. "How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing had

happened!"

"Daren," Anna suddenly said, "you're hiding something, aren't you?"

"W-what!?" I said.

"I can see it inside you," Anna said. "The chains and locks that binds onto your heart.

They look so cold, so hard, and so deeply within you, clinging onto that secret. It's to the point

that it's hurting you."

'Did those chocolate bars actually enhance her ability to see secrets a person's hiding?' I

thought.

"So tell us," Anna said. "What's hurting you inside? We're your friends, so we'll

understand. Alright?"

I didn't counter her argument. How could I, since they're completely true? I don't really

understood her abilities to sensed a person secrets, if they have any, but she always gets it right.

It must be fitted that she would be the one that would convinced me to revealed the truth. I guess

it's time for me to revealed it, after holding it off for two long, painful years.

I sighed and, resignedly, said, "Alright, I'll tell."

Everyone, except for Chris, who didn't really know me, are paying attention to me now,

especially Jon, who's been nagging me for two years to talk.

I gave another sighed and said, "Well... two years ago... at April 6, 2009... my mom

died."

Silence. Just pure silence. It's strange because if one got Ethan, Tim, and Jon in the same

room, the talking will never stop if no one above them tells them to stop. Everyone that I'm

looking at right now have a shocked and surprised look in their face, even Chris have one. Jon's

especially shocked about this information, maybe because he expected another explanation on

what had happened.

After a few seconds, I said, "Might as well tell you the full story, which started five

months before her death.

"It started when my mom seemingly has a cold, but, unlike the other times when she got

the cold, which would last a couple of days, this one was persistence. Though she tried to deny it,

we, my dad, sister, and I, knew it was something more serious than the cold. It became obvious

when it still remained at Christmas time.

"She was stubborn about things like this, but my dad was just as persistence and, after a

couple of months, she finally admitted that it was more than just a 'cold' and agree to visit the

hospital when dad promised to be more active around the house and help with the household

chores more. As the time went on, with the doctors trying to learn what's wrong with her, my

mom gradually gotten worse. She had been getting backaches and would had dad rubbed her

back to feel better. She would drink grapefruit, which would somehow ease the pain. And her

stomach had been expanding, but not due to pregnancy.

"It wasn't 'till March that we heard from the doctors what was wrong with her. She had

lungs cancer, but this type was unusual. 'Normal' cancer would just grow and grow and grow, but

these remained small, but no less deadly. They traveled down from the lungs to the liver, doing

damaged. This caused the liver to expanded, thus making her stomach expanded. By the end our

spring break, she was at the hospital, ready to take treatment.

"The doctors plan was to gave her chemotherapy while injecting her the medicines for the

liver. They had thought they had calculated the correct amount of both to help her live. But...

they were wrong.

"At April 5, while cleaning up the house, as a dirty one's unhealthy for someone who had

been treated for chemo, that had called us... that my mom liver had failed... and she was dying.

We had never cried as much before that called and never as much two days later.

"We were with mom as she was dying to give her some comfort for a great deal of the

night before we have to leave. I remember that she kept saying, "Oh God, help me." We returned

the next morning and all she did was groan in pained. She was moved to the Hospice to gave her

more comfort in her final hours. By that time her relatives that was able to come were there with

us. She then died with her family and friends around her at April 6, 2009 at 3:10 PM."

That's the end of my sad story; the story that I was hiding for two long years. Everyone

there was silenced, with shocked looks on their faces.

Anna then said, "Was it an surprise that she had gotten cancer?"

"In a way, no," I said. "My mom always did smoke at least a couple of cigarettes' a day,

so it was only fitting that she had gotten lungs cancer. Also, her side of the family usually died of

some type of cancer related problem, so that would also make it more appropriate that she did

too."

"She was special to you," Anna said, "wasn't she?"

"Yes she was," I said. "She was... the only one that could be able to open me up

completely. When you guys said that I used to asked you all to come over to my house, it was

because mom encourage me to do it. Also, she doesn't take what I had wrote and make rude

remarks like my dad did, even if they were sarcastic. She would encourage me to write better."

"Did anyone else at school knew what had happened?" Anna said.

"The teachers knew, since Mrs. B had been told of what's going on and when my sister

and I wasn't at school that day and the day after, she realized what had happened. The other

students, like Ariel and Mandy also figured out what had happened."

"Daren," Jon suddenly said. "I'm sorry. I thought that you were doing something else, like

ditching school or something and I wanted an confession, not an sad story."

"Jon," I said as I stood up. "Stand up please."

"Daren?" Jon said. He stood up and walk around the table to me. "If you're going to hit

me, that's fine."

"Jon," I said. I slowly walked towards him and suddenly hugged him.

"Daren?!" Jon said with an shocked tone in his voice. "What are you-"

"It's me that should be sorry, not you," I said. "I... wanted to talk to someone about it, not

just my family, but... I didn't. You are my friend and I'm sorry for not telling you."

I let go of Jon and faced the others there. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The others, including Chris walk up to me and Kyler said, "Daren, I forgive you, like

you've forgiven me."

"We forgive you," Anna said as she walked up to me and hugged me. "We all forgive

you."

Ch. 11

The cell phone in my pocket rungs once more. Anna and I stopped hugging, with both of

us embarrassed by this. I reached into my pocket, pulled the cell phone out, and flipped it

opened.

I said to it, "Hello?"

"It'S tImE," Keme said.

I looked at my watch and it said 7:09; more than seven and a half hour since he last

called. It's amazing how much time flies as times.

"ThErE's An DoOr WiThOuT a LaBeL, rIgHt?" Keme continue.

"Yeah," I said. "So?"

"I wAnT yOu To Go ThRoUgH tHaT dOoR nOw," he said.

I looked at my friends for a bit and went to the door he specified. Slowly, I opened it and

at the other side is some type of hallway, about ten yards long, with a metal door at the other

side. I waved my open hand to my friends to signal them to follow me. We went to the other side

of the hallway to the other door. When I looked at the door, I could see that it's not part of the

hallway. I opened it and there's a room that all eight of it could fit into, but nothing more. Just a

dead end, with no way to continue.

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" I said to the phone.

"YeS. SoMeTiMeS, tHe OnLy WaY tO gO fOwArD iS tO gO dOwN," Keme said.

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"YoU'lL sEe," Keme said. "EnTeR iT nOw."

He then hung up without giving an good answer. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at

my friends right behind me. They all look nervous, but determined to continue this.

"Well then," I said, "allons-y."

We entered the room and looked at the walls, trying to see if there's a way to continued,

but there was none.

After a bit Tim said, "Where do we go from here?"

Suddenly, I heard a door being closed behind me. I turned around and saw that the door

we used to entered is now closed, but none of my friends were near that door. Anna rushed to the

door and tried to opened it, but to no avail.

"What happened?" Anna said worriedly.

"Do you think that this was a trap all along?" Tim said.

Everyone here is starting to panicked now. Ethan is trying to reassured his brothers, but

it's clear that Ethan is also scared. Kyler's trying to stay calm, but he's breathing harder and

harder with each passing second. Anna ran up to me and hugged me, as if she was scared. Even

Chris, who's usually calmed, is starting to attack the door to break it down. The only ones here

that are calmed now is Karson and myself, though we're slowly losing it.

Suddenly, we felt the floor being lower. Everyone stopped momentarily and look around

the room. This continued for a minute 'till it stopped and the door opened by itself again. We all

rush out and saw that we're not in that hallway we used to get into here, but a wholly different

hallway. Unlike the hallway we've used, which was straight forward, this hallway stretches from

side to side that seems to lead to more hallways and doors.

"That wasn't a room," Kyler said. "That was a elevator."

The cell phone that's on my hand rung again.

I flipped it opened and said, "Hello?"

"SoRrY aBoUt HaNgInG uP oN yOu A fEw MiNuTeS aGo," Keme said. "I nEeDeD tO

uSeD bOtH hAnDs To OpErAtE tHe CoNtRoLs."

"So this is the labs," I said. "I was somewhat expecting it to be guarded."

"It Is. ThE sEcUrItIeS aRe nOt As HeAvY aS iT uSeD tO bE. It'S mAiNlY bEcAuSe

ThE fIrSt PaRt Of ThEiR pLaN hAs BeEn CoMpLeTeD aNd So ThEsE lAbS aRe NoW

iRrEvErEnT tO tHeIr PlAn."

"The first part of their plans?"

"ThAt'S tHe PaRt WhErE tHeY tUrNeD tHe TeEnS oF tHe CiTy InTo AnImAlS aNd

ThEn CaPtUrE tHeM. ThEsE lAbS wErE tO dEvElOpEd ThE mEaNs To TuRnEd ThE tEeNs

InTo AnImAlS. BuT, bEfOrE tHeY pRoCeEd To PaRt TwO oF tHeIr PlAn, ThEy NeEdEd To

ShIpPeD tHe AnImAlS oUt Of ThIs CoUnTrY."

"But what are they planning?"

"FinNeS MaLuM."

"What does that mean?"

"ThAt'S tHe CoDeNaMe Of ThE pLaN. I cAn'T tElL yOu AnYmOrE tHaN tHaT, bUt

He MaY cAn."

"Who's he?"

"ThAt'S mY nExT pArT oF mY iNsTrUcTiOnS. I wAnT yOu To Go To ThE nExT

fLoOr BeLoW uS aNd Go To RoOm 201. OnCe ThErE, yOu'Ll MeEt-WhAt'S tHe MeAnInG

oF-"

I heard sounds, like a struggled, and then nothing.

"Keme?" I said. "Keme!"

"What happened," Anna said.

I closed the cell phone in frustration and said, "He got caught."

"We should head back," Tim said. "If they got him, they might find out we're here and

look for us."

"And how do we get back?" Chris said. "'Cause I didn't see any buttons or switches in the

elevator."

Tim become quiet for a few seconds, then said, "Keme did it. So there's a room where we

can control it."

"But that could mean one of us is going to be left behind," Ethan said. "So who's willing

to be REA new test subject?"

Everyone's quiet with no one willing to volunteer.

"There's only one way to go and that's forward," I said. "We'll go to the floor below us

and go to-"

"Room 201," Kyler finished.

"Y-yes," I said, startled by Kyler answer. "But how did you know?"

"I overheard your discussion," the anthro wolf said. "Didn't anyone overheard the

discussion."

"The only part of the discussion is Daren side," the anthro cat said.

"That's all I heard too," the anthro jackal said.

"Only two people should know the entire discussion and that's Daren and Keme," Chris

said. "So how did you overheard it?"

"It was clear as crystal," Kyler said. "Why you guys didn't heard it too is beyond me."

"Like Kyler said," I said, "we should go to room 201 to meet someone."

"And where's that room?" the anthro coyote said.

"Well, er," I said nervously. "It's somewhere in the lower floor, but, apart from that, I

have no idea."

"So how are we suppose to go there if we don't know where it is?" Chris said. "Especially

since we don't where's the way to next floor is, let alone how big this place is. Do you guys have

any ideas?"

"Simple," Ethan said. "We search this whole floor for the way to the next floor, then go

from there."

"But-" Chris started to said.

"There's no time for 'buts'," I said. "It's either we stay here or we search the whole floor

and I'm not going to stay here."

"Very well," Chris said, no longer hesitating. "We'll find the room, even if we have to

search the whole two floors."

"Ok then," I said. "Allons-"

"Hold it," Kyler said.

"Kyler? What's wrong?" I said. When I looked at his face, I saw his ears are flatten back

and a looked of worried in his face.

"The guards," Kyler said. "They're coming."

"They're coming?" Anna said. "But I don't see anyone coming."

"I'm not seeing them," Kyler said. "I'm hearing them coming."

"Let's get out of here then," Tim said, with his face filled with fear. "Before they kill us or

worse."

"Too late," Kyler said. "They're coming from both sides of this hallway. There's no way

out now."

True to his word, the guards appeared in the hallway from both sides, armed with M4

custom, sixteen in all. When they see us, they've aimed their weapons at us, ready to fire. We

have our hands up, surrendering since we are caught with no way to escape.

I heard one of the guards said, "Fire."

“Hold it!”

It was a new person here that had said that. The guards immediately put their weapons at

their sides and stand straight. The guards at the right end of this hallway, where the voice who

said that earlier comes from, moved out of the way showing us their superior in the progress.

He’s like us, an anthro animal, perhaps in his mid-thirties. He looked like a leopard, but

not completely like one. He has blue eyes, blond hair with black spots, and he’s wearing a black

suit, a black tie, and a black overcoat that’s covering his tail. Also, due to his feet being

digitigrades, he’s not wearing shoes.

“What do we have here?” he said. “You’re not our test specimens, so how did you got in

here?”

“Why should we tell you?” Ethan shouted.

“Because I clearly have the edge over you all,” he said. “I’m Incertus. Adam Incertus.

I’m the head of the security here and right-hand man of Earh Rego.”

“So?” Tim said. “That doesn’t mean you have the right to order us around.”

“Forget it,” Mr. Incertus said. “I’ll say my reasoning on how you all got here and you’ll

tell me if it’s right. Since you’re not our test subjects, you’re someone from the outside. Perhaps

you’re among those who’re supposed to be transformed into an animal, but something, or

someone, had prevented that from happening. That would mean someone from here gave you the

Animam and Anthro and the means to get in here, especially since that,” he pointed at the

elevator, “was only known by the people like me in the REA. So tell me, who helped you get in

here?”

‘It’s a trick,’ I thought. ‘If we say something like ‘Keme’ than that would only support his

whole theory.’

As I was thinking about this, I heard Jon said, “We-“

I quickly stepped on his foot, trying to shut him up.

He looked down in shocked and pained and said, “Ow! Daren! What are you-“

“So,” Mr. Incertus said, “the red fox doesn’t want him to talk. How about a fight red fox?

If you win, you and your friends can live. If I win, you must tell us all we need to know from you

and then leave you to Mr. Rego mercy. Is that a deal?”

"How do we know you'll not go back on your word?" I said to him.

"I'll show you," he said. He then turned to the guards surrounding us. "Disarm!"

The guards lowered their M4s onto the floor along with their sidearms. They then pulled

out a single-edge knife and lowered them onto the floor. Mr. Incertus then pulled out a revolver

and tossed it to the side of the hallway.

He turned to me and said, "You see, just a simple fistfight. No weapons. Is this more

agreeable?"

I looked around the room, starring at the guards. They may be unarmed, but they still

outnumber us two-to-one and professional at this sort of thing. Mr. Incertus deal is the only way

out of this jam. I then turned to my friends and they all have a look of feared and determations in

their faces.

Anna walked up to me and said, "You know what you must do now. Just be careful."

I nodded and said to Mr. Incertus, "I accept."

"Excellent," he said.

He motioned me to come to the right end of the hallway, where there're no guards to

interfere. I nodded my head and followed him over there. Once we've reached that part of the

hallway, we've stopped and stared at each other.

"Tell me," Mr. Incertus said, "what's your name?"

"My name is Daren," I said. "Daren Virtus."

"Very well then Daren," he said. "Let's begin."

He didn't wasted time on fighting. As soon as he finished talking, he threw a punch to my

face. I quickly moved to the side and threw one of my own. But he grabbed my fist and threw

another punch at me. I was able to grabbed it in time. He then grunted and kicked me to the wall.

A feeling of pained ran through my body from that kicked and the hit at the wall. I grunted as I

got down to my knees.

"Come on Daren," I heard Jon said. "Don't let that leopard beat you!"

Mr. Incertus turned to Jon and angrily said, "I'm a ocelot! Not a leopard!"

I gotten up, mostly recovered, took advantage of Mr. Incertus being distracted, and

punched him at the face. He stumbled back a bit before he tried to kicked me again, but I've

moved to the side. He then, with such speed, punched me at the face and the stomach. The forced

was very hard to the point that I was in my knees again, grunting in pained.

"Ha!" Mr. Incertus said. "Some fighter you turned out to be! I might as well beat up that

silver vixen over there!"

'No! Not my Anna!' I thought.

Raged, long untouched for a long time, since that pool incident, began to filled up my

body. The pained begins to fade away as I stood up slowly. I looked at his face, glaring at him.

"So," Mr. Incertus said, "you want some more?"

He lifted his fist, saying, "This'll finish you!"

Time seem to have gone slowed now. The once fast fist heading towards my head is

going slower and slower. I grabbed his fist and, before he could be able to reacted, I gave him a

hard punch to the face. He stumbled back a few steps and, before he could recovered, I punched

him at the stomach. He held onto his stomach, clearly in pain. Finally, I kicked him at his chest,

sending him flying across the hallway and hitting the wall at the other side.

“Sir!” one of the guards said.

Four of them went to their fallen leader, trying to help him get up. The rest of them ran

up to me and surrounded me at all side, ready to avenged his loss. I could handled three at best,

but this is too much for me, even in my rage mode.

“Daren!” I heard Kyler said.

My friends come up to help me in this fight. Chris easily knocks out two by crashing their

heads together. Anna was able to kicked one of them on the head. Ethan gotten on one of them

and beat up the heck out of them. Tim grabbed one of the guards arm and threw him at the guard

next to him. Jon kicked another guard at his Johnny. Karson shoved a guard and chokes him with

his arm to unconsciousness. Kyler picked up one of the guards and tossed him to another while I

finished off the last two by kicking one of them at the chest, sending him flying to another. By

the time the rest of the guards and their leader realized what had happened, all twelve guards are

down.

Two of the guards helped Mr. Incertus up from the floor while the other two protected

him from us.

Mr. Incertus lifted up his head and said, “You were lucky! We’ll meet again!”

As the other guards took him away from us, the anger that flowed through my body

started to fade away. Now, without the rage feeling, there’s nothing that would prevented me

from feeling the pained from that fight earlier. That fight injuries took me out more than I

realized because, as soon as I calmed down, I felled onto the floor and slipped into

unconsciousness from the pained.

Ch. 12

“He’s coming to,” a voice said.

“Are you sure?” another voice said.

“Yes, look,” a female voice said.

I opened my eyes to my foxy muzzle and to all of my friends. I moved my head, trying to

looked around the room I’m in. This room seems to be a type of resting room where people have

a break when they’re tired. There’s even a couch, which I’m on right now.

I slowly gotten up, trying to remembered what had happened earlier. It then slowly comes

to me, the captured, and the fight with Mr. Incertus, and even that rage mode I was in. Guilt had

filled up my body, but I had hidden it well.

I looked at Kyler and said, “How long I was asleep?”

“About four hours,” the anthro wolf said.

I looked at my watch and it said 11:39PM.

“What happened?” I said.

“When you’ve collapsed from that fight, we all rushed in to help you,” Chris said. “We

knew that if we stayed there, then the guards would find us, but we don’t know where to take

you since we don’t know this place, being unknown territory to us all. That’s when we found

this.”

He hold up some type of papers and said, “This is the map for the underground labs. We

think that one of the guards must have dropped it in those fights. So, using the map, we took you

to room 115, one of their break rooms for their researchers. We then waited until you’re up.”

“Daren,” Ethan suddenly said, “why did you collapsed then? You were doing well

before.”

“I think it’s because of that fight with Mr. Incertus took more of a toll on me than I’ve

realize,” I said.

"I've always knew that you were fast," Kyler said, "but you were like sonic speed when

you've gave him that three hitter."

"I was?" I said. "But that was my usual timing. Twelve seconds."

"Daren," Anna said, "that was one second when you've finished him off."

"One second!?" I said. "B-but that's couldn't be! I may be fast compare to some, but that's

too fast for me!"

"That was definitely one second," Chris said. "I should know, I've been to many fist

fights in my life."

'But one second?' I thought. 'Then again, thinking about that fight right now, Mr. Incertus

did became slow when he was trying to hit me. But how did that happened?'

"Come on guys," the anthro jackal said. "We have someone to meet now we have a map

of this place."

"One moment Jon," I said. "I need to rest a bit more."

"Is anything troubling you Daren?" the anthro silver vixen said.

"I'll help Daren now," Karson suddenly said. "Just leave us alone for a bit."

Everyone, including me, looked at Karson for a couple of seconds. Then the others left

the room, leaving just us two here.

As soon as the door closed, Karson said, "Is anything bothering you?"

"It was that fight," I said.

"You mean how you managed to defeat Mr. Incertus in one second flat?" Karson said.

"No," I said. "It was how I let my anger get the better of me again. People may think that

I'm a cheerful, funny kind of guy, but they don't realized the type of anger I have. I know... that if

I let my anger get ahead of me... there's no stopping me."

"I guess you have a bad experience with your temper?" Karson said.

"Yeah," I said. "It was during a game of Marco Polo at my friend, Mason, pool. I don't

remember what had happened, maybe they were teasing me or I'd got something on my eye. But

whatever it was, I gotten angry about it. I've intended to hit the pool wall with my fist, but what I

hit... was Mason little sister. I was so ashamed of myself for what I did, I-I left and never

returned again."

"What did your friend think of it?" Karson said.

"Mason and his little sister had forgiven me," I said. "But the only one who couldn't

forgive me for that event seven years ago... was me. I swore to myself to never let my anger get

the better of me again. But, at that fight, I let it happened again. Even if it was to protect my

friends. I'm a beast to let it happened."

"Daren," Karson said, "It's ok. Just because you have a temper, doesn't mean you're a

monster. Monsters are those who does evil things without regret. You've regretted those times

you let your rage, so you're more human than monster, even though you're a anthro fox."

"Hey," I said.

"You know what I mean," Karson said.

We're silent for a moment, then I said, "Karson, thank you."

*Knock* *Knock*

The door opened and Kyler pokes his wolf head through the opening. He said, "Are you

finished talking?"

"Yes," Karson said. He then turned to me and said, "Ready?"

"Lead on, cat boy," I said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We're walking down the stairway linking the two floors together. While we’re doing that,

I kept thinking the same thing over and over again. Why haven’t we encountered any more

guards? Sure, this lab is useless to them now, but I doubt that they’ve taken all of the secrets out

of here yet; secrets that would be better off to them if the public did not know. I would expected,

because of that, they would’ve gotten more guards to stop us intruders. But why haven’t they?

“Daren?” the silver vixen said.

“Huh?” I said, jumping out of my thoughts. “”W-what is it?”

“Nothing, it’s just that you seem to be lost in your thoughts for a moment,” Anna said.

“Well,” I began.

“Ok, we’re at the next floor now,” Ethan shouted to us.

“Shh,” Tim said. “Keep your voice low. We don’t want to be capture,” Tim said to Ethan.

“Sorry,” Ethan said.

The next floor is like the last floor, filled with branching hallways that seems to go on

forever, but there’s something different. The doors here are all wooden here; unlike the last floor

which doors are made of steel. Some of the doors here have a corn symbol that’s a part of the

wood of the door.

“Ok, now where’s room 201?” Jon said to Chris who has the map.

“According to the map,” Chris said, “room 201’s in the right hallway from here.”

“It’s strange how the doors here are wood,” I said.

“Different tastes,” Tim said. “Come on.”

We walked down the hallway to the right for about five minutes until we founded a door

that’s label 201. It’s a wooden door, like the entire doors here on this floor, and one of those that

doesn't have the corn symbol on it. In fact, I now founded this idea very odd. I mean, if this place

is really a lab, then why should the doors here be made of wood? I mean, couldn’t that add in any

extra variables?

The anthro jackal knocks on the door and said, “Hello?”

“Please,” a familiar voice on the other side said. “Go away.”

“That voice,” I said. “I heard it before.”

“Ok,” the anthro gray fox said. “Since this door is made the wood, then that would make

it possible for us to break it down.”

“Who’s ‘us’?” the anthro coyote said. “Yes, I can break it down.”

Chris walked up to the front of the door and cracked his knuckles. He then punched the

door, which then makes a rather large hole on it. He then pulled out his arm, ready to punched

the door again.

"How could you-?" the man at the other side said. "That door is made of oak, so it's

impossible for anyone to make a hole on it with just a punch!"

"Oak?!" Chris said. He then looked closer at the door. "Why, it is oak! I may be strong,

but not that strong! I shouldn't be able to make a hole on that door!"

"You just did," Anna said.

"Ok, let's try again," he said.

He raised his fist to break down the door, but before he did, I stopped him.

"Wait, I got a idea," I said to him. I checked the doorknob and turned it, finding it

unlocked. "Well, breaking down the door's pointless now."

I opened the door and entered the room, which's like the break room above here. I looked

around and saw a man sitting in the corner of the room. When I looked closer, my eyes widen in

shocked. He's Mr. Timeo, the one who handed out the MiracleX at my school yesterday

afternoon.

"Mr. Timeo?" I said.

"What!?" Ethan said as he's entered the room. "You mean the one who went to our school

and gave us the MiracleX?"

"And the one who son's a coward?" Jon said.

"What a minute," Mr. Timeo said. "The intruders are those students from ALPS? But

how did you get in? No, how are you in anthro forms of animals and kept your memories? I

didn't gave out the Anthro and Animam to anyone outside of REA."

"I want a piece of him!" I heard Tim said. I turned around and saw Tim struggling with

Chris, who's holding onto Tim's arm and is nowhere near to letting go. "Just let me beat him up!"

But Chris said, "No, he may be the one who Keme instructed us to find for information."

"Mr. Timeo," Karson said, "what are you doing here?"

"I-I-I was in my in my office when I found a not telling me to come here this morning,"

Mr. Timeo said. "So I come here and waited for a while. Then one of the guards mention to me

that there're intruders here and they're looking for them. I was scared for my life, but I feared that

if I tried to leave here, I might be founded by them. So I just stayed in here, hoping that I won't

get found.

"How did you get in here anyways?" Mr. Timeo said.

"We were sent to stop REA," Jon said.

"What!? By who!?" he said.

Ch. 13

Even though telling him about what had happened yesterday afternoon and what

happened afterwards is one of the last things I wanted to do, we told him about the person named

Keme clad in black clothing and the Animam and Anthro he had delivered. We also told him

about the morning meeting at the enclosed basketball court, our entrance in the REA building,

and the events that happened afterwards.

When we've finished, Mr. Timeo said, "That's a interesting tale you people told me. This

Keme must be among those in the higher up in REA."

"Why do you say that?" Tim said glaring at him.

"Because," he said, "1) he knows about the building and labs here, which's not common

knowledge even in REA, 2) he knows what Anima can do if it's not stopped, which only the

researchers here and the higher ups know, and 3) he had eaten the triple A's, which's only

allowed to be consumed by the inner circle, which Mr. Incertus's a part of, and the three heads,

Mr. Rego, Mr., Exitium, and Mr. Atra."

"Anima?" Kyler said. "Triple A's?"

“While it’s called MiracleX to the public, it’s known here as it codename Anima. The

triple A’s the formula combination that can change a person into an anthro animal,” he said. He

then became thoughtful. “Perhaps that would explain the fire…”

“Fire?” I said.

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “You see, last month, there was a fire around the secret elevator

that you used to get in here. While it was nothing serious, there have to be some repairs. In fact,

they just finished yesterday. Before the fire, there were always at least a couple of guards there at

the hallway to stop anyone from sneaking in, but the fire force the hallways to be empty for a

while. But now that the first part of this plan’s nearing completion, it was consider a waste of

time, so the guards were sent elsewhere. If there wasn’t any fire, I believe that the guards would

still be there.”

“No wonder why there wasn’t any resistance when we first got here,” Kyler said. “Keme

must have caused the fire so that we’ll be able to sneak in.”

“Yes, he must have,” Mr. Timeo said.

“Mr. Timeo,” Anna said, “you’ve mention something about the first plan being finished.

Keme also mention about the plan being called Fines Malum. Do you know any more about it?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “But before I tell them, please don’t think of me as an evil man.

I…never agreed with it, but I have no choice. It’s to either go along with this or leave town since

I wouldn’t be hired here, but since I don’t have much money to leave here, I have to go along.”

“Ok,” everyone except Tim said.

“Fines Malum,” Mr. Timeo began, “is REA final resort plan since this Solid Fox person

destroyed the last one so utterly. To do what, I don’t know anything except the rumors that

spread across the company, but one of the parts in the plan’s to recruit soldiers. But they can’t

just recruit people off the street. They needed special soldiers that can deal with stressful

situations. That’s when we’ve decided to created Anima and later the others.

“Anima is a formula that can awaken unused DNA in the human body. You must

understand that humans have a bit of DNA from all living animals from reptiles to mammals.

But it isn’t express except in small amounts because that part of the DNA is consider junk and

remained unused. But Anima can awake the junk DNA.

“While Anima is successful since we got what we wanted, it’s more then we bargain for.

It turns out that Anima only turns people into animals, not anthro animals. So we searched for a

way to have Anima only partially turned them. That’s when we founded Anthro.

“Anthro is a formula that, when combined with Anima, turns a person into an anthro,

what we wanted. We also discovered that it could undo the full effects of Anima to those that

were completely changed. It wasn’t perfect at first, since it leaves the person that’s been turned

into an animal by Anima insane when that person turned into an anthro. This was later perfected.

“But it wasn’t enough since it leaves us with another problem. While it did what we

wanted, anthro animals that were once humans, it wasn’t enough. It turned out that their minds

were altered by Anima which Anthro couldn’t undo, thus having the minds of the animals they

represent. For example, supposed we have a person that taken Anima and Anthro and they’ve

changed into an anthro fox. That person would act like a fox. What we needed then is something

that would have the anthros have minds like humans. So, we've then created Animam.

"Animam is a formula that, combined with Anthro and Anima, can transformed a person

into a anthro while retaining their minds. Again, this was without it problems at first, but we're

able to perfected it to its final form. We thought this was what the higher up's wanted, but they

wanted more than this.

"They decided not to recruit their own people into their plans because they feared that,

due to Solid Fox destruction at REA previous plan, their people would be afraid to fight now.

Instead, they decided to have people transformed into anthros with human thought, but their

memories erased."

"Why would they want their memories erased?" Tim said. "I mean, couldn't they just get

people off the streets to joined?"

"Because they believe that they would be easier to control," Mr. Timeo explained. "They

feared that people would reject the Fines Malum plan when they found out the goal. So, they

believe that by destroying their past self, they would lose their free will and would be able to

command them.

"So, we experimented on the triple A's a bit to see if there was a way to do this. After a

while, we've founded that if we hold out the Animam until the effects of Anima are completed,

with or without the Anthro, then the subject would have amnesia of their whole life. We don't

know why that is, but it was enough to please the higher ups."

"So, our friends at school," Ethan said, "The ones that didn't get Animam before they're

transformed, will they be able to remembered after a while?"

"I'm sorry," Mr. Timeo said with tears in his eyes. "But it has been shown that they would

never be able to regain their memories. So, while they're physically alive, they're dead mentally."

I looked downed at the hard floor, gritting my teeth in angered at REA. We've just lost

our friends and it's because of REA. I then promised to myself that I'll not lose another person I'd

cared to REA again.

"But why high school students?" Ethan said. "Why us?"

"Because of two reasons," Mr. Timeo said. "One of them is that REA notice that

teenagers are more susceptible to free items than adults. The older folk learned, from experience,

that free items are, more often than not, traps, but teenagers don't have that experience. Another

reason is that teenagers seem to have a sense that, at that age, they're invincible. Though they

may know that, one day, they would die, teens believe that they won't die until they're over

seventy years old. Because of these reasons, we believe that the teenagers will take that free

sample while expecting to 'live' the next day."

"What about Fines Malum?" Anna said. "How does turning people into animals and then

anthros help with their plan?"

"I," Mr. Timeo said, "don't know all of the details about it, but here's what I know. It is an

three step plan.

"The first step's to give out the Anima to all of the teenagers that are in high school that

day. Once most, if not all, of them has transformed into animals, we'll gather them all and get

them ready for step two. What we're in fight now is between step one and step two.

"The second step is to send them all out of the country and into REA training facility,

inject Animam and Anthro into them to change them into amnesic anthros, and trained them for

step three.

"Step three's where we're not completely filled in since the only one who know the whole

details are the higher ups. But there're rumors throughout REA that tells that the anthros will be

sent to Russia to steal several nuclear warheads."

"You mean," Kyler said, "they plan to use those weapons of mass destructions?"

"I think so," Mr. Timeo said. "Here's what I believe what they'll do with them if the

rumors are true. They'll send them out to every major city around the world that's not American

and destroy them some, if not all. This will cause the world to believe that the United States has

intentionally attacked them. Once they all believe that, they'll all unite to do one duty; to destroy

the United States into nothingness."

"WHAT!?" Ethan said. "Why you would work on a plan that'll destroy this country!?"

"We didn't know at first," Mr. Timeo said with tears on his eyes. "It wasn't until a few

days ago that the rumors first started. But, by this time, I've lost all I care on this world."

"What do you mean?" Ethan said.

"My son Zak," Mr. Timeo said, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, "he volunteered

for a test here. He was injected with just Anima and Animam to see if it was possible to have an

person transformed into an animal and still have their thoughts intact. But Mr. Incertus declared

it an failure and my son will be used for Fines Malum. This, along with the fact that my wife left

me for another man four years ago, leave me with nothing to live for in life."

'That explained that stutter yesterday,' I thought. 'And his attitude now. It was felling guilt

of what he'll do to us, like he did to his son. But... why do I feel like that's the wrong

assumption?'

"But," the anthro silver vixen said, "that doesn't make sense. From what I've know of

Earh Rego, he's a patriot to this country. He fought in the Vietnam War and was the Senator of

this state. Why would he set up a plan that'll destroy this country?"

"I don't know," Mr. Timeo said. "But it's what all of the evidence points at. The rumors of

nuclear weapons and the name of the plan."

"You mean 'Fines Malum'?" Karson said. "What does it mean?"

"It's Latin for 'territory evil'," Kyler said.

"Yes," Mr. Timeo said. "He plan to make the United States, to the world at large, evil

territory and make the world destroy that territory."

"Even though this alliance will lose," I mumbled to myself.

"Huh?" Mr. Timeo said, noticing me mumbling to myself. "What did you-"

“Mr. Timeo! The-"

We all turned around and stared at the entrance of this room and saw a guard with a M4

Custom on his hands. He has a looked of feared and surprised in his face. He then aimed the gun

at us.

Ch. 14

Mr. Timeo held up his hand and said, “No need to kill them. What is it?”

“B-b-b-b-b-but sir,” the guard said. “They’re the-“

“They’re under my protection for now,” Mr. Timeo said. “Now, what is it?”

“T-t-t-t-t-t-t-the test subject 201 has escaped!” he said.

“T-t-that’s impossible,” Mr. Timeo said. “That room is designed to keep it there. How

could it have escaped?”

“I-I-I-I-I-I don’t know,” the guard said.

“Excuse me,” I said in curiosity, “but what’s test subject 201?”

Mr. Timeo said, “Test subject 201 is-“

“There’s no time!” the guard said. “It’s coming here now!”

“Right!” Mr. Timeo said. He then turned to us. “There’s only one thing to do now and

that’s run!”

We ran out of the room and saw a row of six guards aiming their M4 at the left end of the

hallway. They all looked nervous about fighting this test subject 201. I guess whatever they're

talking about is dangerous.

One of the guards said, “We’ll hold it off. Just get out of here.”

“You can’t fight it!” Mr. Timeo said. “Bullets can’t stop it!”

“There it is!!” another guard said.

We looked down that hallway and what we saw is, I guess, the test subject 201 they’re

talking about. He looked like us, an anthro wolf, but there’s something different about him. He

stood about seven to eight feet tall and looked more feral somehow. Maybe it’s because of the

savaged looked on his face or maybe it because he’s not wearing any clothing.

When the werewolf saw us, he charged at us on all four of his limbs. The guards fired

their guns at the werewolf, hitting him directly. The werewolf winced at the pained of being shot

and ran away from us; away from the gunfire. As soon as the werewolf’s out of our sight, the

guards stopped firing.

One of the guards turned to Mr. Timeo and said, “There. He’s gone.”

“He’s not dead,” Mr. Timeo said. “We have to run now.”

“The wolf’s dead or crawling to his death,” the guard said.

“I’m telling you bullets can’t stop it!” Mr. Timeo said.

“And I’m telling you that I’m not going to sleep tonight until I have his pelt as my

blanket!” the guard said.

The guard walked towards the end of the hallway where the wolf fled to. I felt a hand on

my shoulder. I turned around and saw Mr. Timeo with a looked of feared in his face.

He signaled us all to come to him and said, “We can’t stay here. The test subject 201 will

come back and second now.”

“But no living thing at that size can survived gunshots like those,” Kyler said.

Just then we heard sounds of gunfire and screaming where the werewolf and the guard

chasing him are. Then there’s a sound of living flesh being tore apart by tooth and claw. Those

sounds then stopped and the werewolf appeared with blood on his mouth and claws with no

wounds. It was as if he was never shot at to begin with.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Mr. Timeo said in horror. “Run!”

We all ran away from the werewolf that’s out to killed us, leaving the guards, who

foolishly try again to killed him, behind. I didn’t see what happened, but from what I could tell

from the sounds, gunfire, screaming, tearing the flesh off, and a howl, the werewolf killed all

five guards there. This only makes us run faster.

I then heard the werewolf following us now to killed us. My heart pace’s quicken and I’m

breathing harder, mainly because of fear of being killed in such of gruesome way. We ran for

awhile until we can hear the thump sounds the werewolf makes when he’s running becoming

louder and louder.

“H-he’s catching up!” I said.

Looking ahead, I saw a guard pulling out his sidearm. As soon as we passed by him, he

fired it at the werewolf. We stopped running and looked back at the werewolf; who’s wincing in

pained. The werewolf then ran away from us again.

“Ok, I’ll hold it off in this position,” the guard said. “You hide from it.”

“Bullets can’t stop it!!” Mr. Timeo shouted at the guard.

“Even if that’s true,” the guard said, “I still have to do my duty. Mr. Rego’s still here.”

Mr. Timeo had a looked of shocked in his face and said, “But he was supposed to be long

gone by now. Why’s he still here.”

“He was, but then you lot,” the guard said, glaring at us, “trespassed here and threw Mr.

Rego schedule out the window. He’s waiting at the lower floor for the news of your capture.”

“Then why don’t you capture us now,” Tim said.

“Because you lot are the lesser of two evils compare to that thing you’ve helped

escaped.” The guard said. “That really ruined Mr. Rego plan to leave now.”

Ethan said, “We didn’t-“

“Don’t try to deny it,” the guard said. “You knew that, despite of your intrusion, Mr.

Rego decided to leave the labs to call the planes that have the animals for training. So you

decided to release the monster to stop Mr. Rego plan altogether. That fails, because Mr.

Incertus’s taking Mr. Rego place to call the planes. He’s doing it right now.”

‘Mr. Incertus,’ I thought.

“Now go!” the guard said. “Don’t worry about me! I can handle this!”

Mr. Timeo just sighed and said, “All right.”

Mr. Timeo waved at us to followed him and we all ran, leaving the guard to his fate.

After we ran about twenty feet, we saw a wooden door with a carving of corn on it. Mr. Timeo

opened the door with little difficulty.

“Get in!” he said.

We’ve got into the room, just as we heard the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and flesh

being tore apart. I looked at the entrance and I saw Anna outside of the room, looking directly at

the fight we’re hearing. Her silver vixen face’s filled of terror, as if she's afraid to moved.

“ANNA!!” I shouted.

It then happened again; the feeling of time being slow down to a crawl. I ran toward

Anna and I quickly grabbed her. I then threw us into the inside of the room. As soon as we’ve hit

the hard floor, time seem to gone back to normal.

Mr. Timeo quickly slam the door shut and Chris place a table in front of the door to hold

off that werewolf. We all stared at the door, waiting for him to forced himself in.

 

Ch. 15

Nothing. The werewolf didn’t try to get in. Even if the door’s made oak, I would

expected that something that could ripped human flesh apart would be able to break down a door

with a table in front of it. But he didn’t.

I slowly gotten up from the floor and walked towards the door. Getting onto the table, I

applied my ear onto the door and listened to the other side. I felt the werewolf presences at the

other side, like he’s listening to me as I’m listening to him. Then his presences left without trying

to get in.

“Daren.”

I turned around and saw Anna still on the floor. Her face’s filled with shocked and

surprised.

She slowly got up and said, “How did you got to me so fast?”

“W-what do you mean?” I said.

“One second I was standing in front of the entrance to this room,” the anthro silver vixen

said, “and the next I’m in here on the floor with your arms around me.”

“Yeah,” the anthro coyote said, “you were like a blur.”

“I’ve always knew that you’re fast,” the anthro wolf said. “But that was very fast. You’ve

done that in one second.”

“What!?” I said. “B-b-b-b-but it felt like three seconds. How could I do these stuff in one

second?”

“Perhaps,” Mr. Timeo said, “you’ve gotten the side-effects.”

“Side-effects?” I said. “What side-effects?”

“You see,” Mr. Timeo said, “when we tested the ones that have the triple A’s, we’ve

noticed that it somehow enhances one of their abilities to a very high level. Perhaps your side-

effects are that it makes you faster, the same as Mr. Incertus has. But yours is faster than Mr.

Incertus.”

“But it feels so slow,” I said. “How could I be so fast?”

“The reason why it feels like that’s because you’re going so fast the surrounding area’s

slow compare to you,” Mr. Incertus said.

“Daren’s side-effects are enhancing speed?” Kyler said. “Is there a chance that we’re

affected by side-effects too?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said, “but not in the same way like Daren have. Your side-effects may

be different too. It was only coincident that his is the same as Mr. Incertus.”

“I believe that my side-effects are enhancing hearing since I’ve heard every phone

conversations with Daren and Keme and I’ve heard the guard coming up there when the others

couldn’t,” Kyler said.

“And mine’s enhance strength since I’ve put a hole in that oak door,” Chris said.

“And test subject 201 is enhancing healing since it recovered from even fatal wounds,”

Mr. Timeo said, “which’s why the guards aren’t able to stop it.”

“Mr. Timeo,” I said, “what’s test subject 201?”

“Test subject 201,” Mr. Timeo said, “is the first one who had gotten Anima and Anthro.

We’ve used a teenage boy we’ve have as prisoner since about two years ago as the test subject.

Remember when I said that there were problems at the beginnings. Well, that was it. It makes the

person an anthro, but larger and more feral than we needed.

“REA kept it though, believing that if we could make it have human thoughts, then it

could become a powerful leader for the others. We’ve injected it Animam early on without

proper testing on the order of REA so it would have it leader. But… instead it went mad and

becomes even more dangerous since it perceives anyone as prey.

“This, along with its enhances healing, makes it almost unstoppable. We were only able

to control it because we’ve trained it so that it have a reaction, that’s similar to a bad allergy, to

corn.”

“Corn?” Ethan said. “This room’s one of those that has that carving of corn on it.”

“A carving wouldn’t be enough to scare him away,” I said.

“Unless…,” Ethan said. He rushed onto the table to the door and put his hands at the

sides of the carving. Getting closer to it, he opened his mouth and licked the carving itself. He

then got off the table and turned to Mr. Timeo. “REA poured corn oil onto the carving so that

werewolf cannot get in here,”

“Of course,” Mr. Timeo said. “Why else would I lead you guys in here? Because this is

one of the few rooms in this floor that monster’s too afraid to get in here. The lower floor has

only one door which has that defense while the upper floor has none, only steel doors.”

"Ok, but how do we get out?" the anthro grey fox said. "As far as I'm concern, we're trap in here

for good."

"There's a way out," the anthro wolf said.

"What do you mean?" Tim said.

"There's no way out," Mr. Timeo said. "There's not even a secret passageway out of

here."

"There's always a way out," Kyler said. "Look at where we are."

I didn't get a good looked of the room earlier since I was so focus on saving Anna. The

room on one side's filled of filing cabinets and at the other side looked like a break room, with a

couch, table, and a refrigerator. The ceiling has vents large enough for a large man to fall

through.

"This is only a gathering room where we all gather to exchanged ideas and put in notes,"

Mr. Timeo protested. "There's nothing in here that would help us fight that beast!"

"Underestimating your own research, eh," Kyler said.

"You've just insulted him," I said to Kyler.

"And I've meant that one," the anthro wolf said. He then walk towards the filing cabinets.

"We've have note, the greatest weapons in the world! With them, we could find out how to fight

that werewolf."

Kyler turned around and looked at us. He then reached into his pockets and pulled out a

pair of glasses and put them on. I sighed when I've recognize them, Kyler brainy specs.

"Kyler," I said, "you don't need glasses."

He grinned at me and said, "I know. I put them on to make me look clever."

He turned back to the filing cabinets and, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out

several folders. He then walked towards us and handed one of those folders to each of us until

everyone has one.

"Arm yourself," Kyler said.

All of us opened the folders and started reading its contents, looking for something that

could help us fight that werewolf.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a half a hour and we still haven't find a solution. I rubbed my eyes in

weariness and look at my watch.

1:10 AM

'I need a boost and fast,' I thought.

I closed my folder and putted it on the ground. I then walked towards the refrigerator,

hoping for a Diet Pepsi to drink.

"Hey!" I heard Kyler said. "Where are you going?"

Without turning around, I said, "I'm going to check out the fridge to see if there's any

Diet Pepsi."

"You do know that caffeine's bad for you?" Kyler said.

"So?" I said.

"It causes your blood cells to die," Kyler said.

"So?" I said.

I heard Kyler sighed and said, "Whatever."

I opened the fridge and saw a Diet Pepsi just waiting to be open. I've reached out and

grabbed it.

I've just opened it up when I've heard Kyler said, "Hey, look at this!"

 

Ch. 16

With the soda in my hand, I rushed to Kyler to see what he was shouting about. We

crowed around the anthro wolf with curiosity in all of our eyes.

“What is it?” Jon said.

Kyler then show a large piece of paper that’s some type of blueprints of large laser

cannon, like the ones from those science fiction movies. Around the end of the laser there seems

to be a diamond implanted in it; for what, I’m not sure. But at the corner of the blueprints, it has

something typed on it. It said: An1maAn1mamAnthr0.

“Could this be something useful Mr. Timeo?” Kyler said.

“How could I be so thoughtless!?” Mr. Timeo said. “Yes it is useful!”

“What is it?” Ethan said.

“This is the Deanima,” Mr. Timeo said. “It’s a weapon designed to fight against the ones

with the triple A’s or two of the three.”

“What does it do?” Ethan said.

“It disrupts the awaken DNA down to the molecules,” Mr. Timeo said, “efficiently

reversing the changes the Anima and others did.”

“You mean that if I get hit by it,” Anna said, “I get turned back into a human?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “But only while you’re being hit by the Deanima. Once it stops,

the awaken DNA will start again and you’ll change back into an anthro.”

“But that’s only a temporary solution,” Chris said. “We need something that’s

permanent.”

“There’s one,” Mr. Timeo said. “Because you’re being hit by a laser that does damage to

a molecular level, if it’s on the highest level, then the body will dissolve into thin air.”

“But that would mean killing him,” I said. “Do we have the right?”

“We have to,” Mr. Timeo said, “before it kills anymore people here.”

“Shall we make a mad dash towards the Deanima now before that werewolf comes

back?” Tim said.

“Yes- Oh God!” Mr. Timeo said. “I forgot again! The Deanima isn’t completed yet!”

“WHAT!?” we all said in union.

“It’s not ready,” Mr. Timeo said wearily.

“What do we need to do to get it completed?” Anna said.

I had become disinterested with this Deanima and Mr. Timeo excuses on why it’s not

completed. Drinking my Diet Pepsi, I walked towards the filing cabinets to see if there’s any

other way to defeat that werewolf. Opening the bottom drawl, I’ve removed several folders and

then I saw some type of box. It’s small, yet a hard box; meant to protect something important.

Curious, I picked it up and opened it. Inside is a diamond, a beautiful one. It’s about a size of my

fist and it crystal clear.

“So all we’re missing is a diamond?” I heard Chris said.

“Yes,” I heard Mr. Timeo said. “Without it, the laser alone isn’t powerful enough to

reverse the changes.”

I turned around to the others and said, “You mean this diamond?”

The others turned and looked at me and the diamond I’m holding. All of them looked

shocked that I’ve founded the diamond we needed. Mr. Timeo there seems to be the most

shocked of them all.

“Y-yes!” he said. “But how-“

“I found it in the bottom drawl,” I said. “Maybe the person who brought it was lazy and,

instead of inserting it to the Deanima, he brought it here and forgot about it.”

“Yes, now all we need to do is-” Mr. Timeo said before he stopped himself.

“What is it?” Anna said.

“It’s something that you’ve said about the time you’ve intruded in the underground labs,”

Mr. Timeo said. “The timing isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” Chris said. “We entered the labs ten after seven. What’s wrong

with it?”

“You see,” Mr. Timeo said. “When I heard about the intruders in the labs, it was at-”

But we then heard a sound, like someone’s going through a hollow tube. We looked up to

the air vents and it all hit us like thunder.

“That beast is going around the door by going through the vents!” Mr. Timeo said.

“ALLONS-Y!!” I shouted while dropping my drink.

We ran to the door and, after Chris shove the table aside to the wall, we ran out of the

room, leaving the door open.

“Why, for the love of God, did you think of making the air vents that large?” Chris said.

“It was to preserve the notes in there,” Mr. Timeo said, “by having the temperatures at a

level that would not damage them.”

“It didn’t do a good job preserving us in there!” Chris said.

We ran towards the room where the Deanima’s supposedly in. After about a half a

minute, we heard a collapsing sound of metal hitting the floor. We then ran faster to the room.

After about an minute, we’ve reached that Deanima room and we all, except Mr. Timeo, entered

it immediately.

When I’m at the other side of the door, I said to Mr. Timeo, “Get in!”

“The door doesn’t have corn oil on it,” he said. “So it won’t be able to hold off that

monster for long. I’ll buy you some time.”

“Perhaps there’s something in here,” I said. “Like a table or something that can make the

door last longer.”

“I’ll buy you some time,” Mr. Timeo said. “You’ll need it.”

“But-” I started to said.

“Leave him Daren,” Tim said.

I sighed and said, "Alright."

I closed the door, locked it, and headed towards the Deanima itself. It’s exactly like the

blueprints, but only bigger and real. It’s about four feet high and five feet long. At the end of the

laser, there’s a closed opening where the diamond’s supposed to be. Next to this Deanima is a

computer that controls the Deanima. Ethan’s on the computer itself, trying to get it to work, with

Kyler by his side.

“Come on!” Ethan said. “Come on!”

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“This Deanima’s password protected,” Ethan said. “We need the password, or else the

laser won’t work.”

"What!?" I said. "Can't you go around it?"

"No! I can't!" Ethan said.

We then heard an growl outside of the room. We turned around and looked at the door,

worried about Mr. Timeo. We then heard Mr. Timeo shouting to what I believe is the werewolf.

He said, "I've served REA for too long now! Now, REA will fall! I'm sorry for causing

you agonize for the time you're a werewolf! I hope you'll find peace in your death! And I hope

I'll be forgiven for my sins of killing my son and all of those that had taken the Anima! Now, I'll

die with honor!"

Then there's a scuffled outside, with flesh ripping apart and when the scuffling stopped,

we heard the werewolf howled.

"Let me do this!" I heard Kyler said. I turned around and saw the anthro wolf taking

control of the computer from Ethan. He then typed in some keys on the keyboard and a

computerizes voice said, "Password accepted!"

"How did yo-" the anthro ethropian wolf said.

"No time!" the anthro wolf said.

We then heard the oak door being tore apart. While the door's holding well, it can only

last for so long now.

Ethan franticly said, "Hurry up!"

"Annnnnd," Kyler said, follow by a ding. "Yes! Open the compartment and put in the

diamond Daren!"

I quickly opened the part where diamond should be, put it in, and closed it. Kyler then hit

a few keys and we heard a charging sound from the Deanima. Just then the door collapsed and

the werewolf, stained with blood on his teeth and claws, ran in to attack us. Luckily, the

Deanima power up completely and fire at the werewolf.

It hits the werewolf with a white laser that, for some reason, looked...soothing. His arms

and legs spread out as the werewolf's transforming back to his former form with the laser light

acting like some type of clothing. When he transformed backed to human, my mouth opened

wide in shocked as I recognized. He's around the same age as me with short dirty blond hair and

blue eyes.

"M-M-M-Mason!?" I managed to said.

"Make it brighter," he just said. "Give me peace."

Looking at him, like this, I wondered what should I do; whether to killed him or spared

him. On one paw, he's one of my friends and I wondered if I could be forgiven for killing my

friend, who's as close to me as Kyler's as close to me. But, on the other paw, he's suffering

because this is the only time where he could control himself. We can't run the Deanima forever

and when we do turn it off with him still alive, he'll just changed back into a werewolf and he'll

keep on killing. He could even kill his best friend without even realizing it. After a while, I've

decided on what to do.

I went to the computer and pressed on a few keys to set the laser on its highest level.

Looking back to Mason, I saw the laser get brighter and brighter until it could be misunderstood

as the sun. Still, I sadly watched as Mason fade away into nothingness.

 

Ch. 17

Kyler hit a few keys on the keyboard and the Deanima’s shut down. He then gotten up

and walked towards the area where Mason had faded away.

He turned to me and said, “Who was he?”

“I,” I said, “don’t want to talk about it.”

“Talking helps,” Karson said to me. He then turned to the others. “Could we have some

time alone? I think it would help.”

The others just shrugged and left through the broken doorway, leaving just Karson and I.

The anthro cat turned to me and said, “I think the name Mason sounds familiar to me.

Can you tell me about this?”

“Well,” I said, “do you remember my friend Mason I’ve mention at the upper floor. He

was the same Mason I’ve killed.”

“I thought there was a connection,” Karson said. “Still upset about letting your anger gets

the better of you in front of him?”

“Not only that,” I said. “I’m upset that there was no other way to save him other than to

kill him. If only I’ve stopped him two years ago.”

“What happened?” Karson said.

“Two years ago,” I said, “before the day my mom died, Mason had heard of her state and

called me, telling me that he believes that REA have the solution to curing cancer and they’re

intentionally withholding it to make people suffered, whether physically or emotionally. He said

that he’ll sneak into the REA building and steal the cure. Since it was April Fool's Day, I thought

he was only joking ‘till now, so I just said ‘yes’.”

“It’s all right,” the anthro cat said. “You didn’t know.”

“That only makes me feel even guiltier,” I said. “It makes me feel like I should’ve

known. I guess what Dickens said in the Christmas Carol’s right; there’re two major problems,

ignorance and want, and we should stay away from both, especially ignorance.”

“That doesn’t make you completely guilty,” Karson said.

“Doesn’t make me completely innocent either,” I said. “Like how Oedipus killed his

father and married his mother. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he still did them.”

“True,” Karson said, “but Oedipus found forgiveness for what he did from the Greek

Gods. If he could be forgiven, so can you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “Thank you.”

I walked out first, followed by Karson after a few seconds, out of the room to the others

outside. They’re all looking at what’s remained of Mr. Timeo, who was killed by Mason. The

remains are so gruesome, I cannot describe them.

“And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,” Kyler said, “for the ashes of his

father, and the temple of his God.”

“Mr. Timeo,” Tim said, “I forgive you for what you’ve done to us. If only I could’ve told

you when you’re alive.”

“We all forgive you,” Anna said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After about fifteen minutes of mourning of Mr. Timeo and Mason, we’ve continued on to

the lowest floor of the labs. Step by step by step, we’re closer to Mr. Rego and maybe Mr.

Incertus. But I kept thinking about what we are going to do when we meet them. With Keme lost

to us and Mr. Timeo dead, we have no more leads excepted that Mr. Rego’s down there.

‘We go to Mr. Rego and what?’ I thought. ‘Try to convince him that his plan to destroy

the US is wrong? Or kill him? If only someone could help us. Someone, anyone, help us.’

Just then the cell phone, the one that Keme gave to me, rungs. Everyone stopped and

looked at me in surprised. In a state of surprise, I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the

cell phone.

“What?” I said. “But how?”

“I thought Keme's a prisoner now,” Tim said.

“Answer it,” Jon said.

I flipped the cell phone opened, applied it to my foxy ear, and said, “Hello?”

“Hello,” a non-distorted voice said. “Who’s this?”

“What happened to the distorted voice?” I said.

“I removed it. Again, who are you?”

“That’s what I would like to know about you. You’re not Keme. Who are you?”

“Of course I’m not Keme. Why were you expecting this Keme?”

“Well, he had called us several times so I thought-”

“Just because he had called you several times, doesn’t mean it’s always is going to be

him."

“And who are you? Mr. X?”

“No. Call me Fuchs. Fester Fuchs.”

“Fester, how in the world did you called us? We don’t even know what’s this cell phone

is.”

“Simple. I hit redial on this cell phone.”

“So you got Keme cell phone. He must have left it when REA captured him.”

“Was he on the line when he was captured?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You see, if he was captured, like you said he was, I would’ve expected that the cell

phone is on the floor, opened, and broken. But I found it on the desk, closed, and unscratched.”

“B-but it really did sound like a scuffle,”

“Tell me, how did you get in?”

“Through one of the secret elevators."

“Is it the one from the room 101?”

“How did you know that?”

"I’ve entered here that way too. Did you see or heard anything during that so called

scuffle?”

“No. Why?”

“Because the elevator and the room where I’ve founded this cell phone are next to each

other.”

“What!?”

“I guess he had faked his captured.”

“But why would he faked it,”

“I think-”

The called ended suddenly, with no signed of a scuffled on either side. I looked at the

front of the cell phone and, when I saw it, I groaned.

“The battery died,” I said.

“Who was it?” Anna said.

“Someone named Fester Fuchs,” I said.

“Fuchs,” Chris said. “I’ve heard of it before, but I can’t remember where.”

“What happened at that call?” Ethan said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've quickly explained about the called. I've also explained the contradiction in our

thinking that Keme's captured by REA.

When I've finished, Ethan said, "Great, with our ally scamming us about his captured and

running away, should we leave now?"

"We should leave since we can't trust Keme now when we do meet him," I said. "But, if

we do leave, we may never learn the truth behind this. Like if Fines Malum's about destroying

the US or who's Keme really is. I intend to know everything by the time leave and the only way

to know that is go forward, to Mr. Rego. Who's with me?"

Everyone here looked at each other rather uneasily for a few seconds. They then looked

at me. Anna raised her hand up first, then Kyler, then Karson, then Chris, and finally the Libertas

brothers, with all of their eyes showing determination.

"Dziękują," I said.

"All right guys," Anna said. "Let's find the truth."

"Let's find Mr. Rego," Tim said, "without getting caught."

The others went out first, to the next floor. I was going to follow them, but I felt Karson

tapping my shoulder.

I turned around and said, "What is it?"

Karson went to his pocket and pulled out something. The anthro cat then held it out and,

when it saw it, my eyes widen in shocked. He's holding the diamond that I've placed into the

Deanima several minutes ago.

"Take it," he said.

I said, "How did you-"

"The compartment was never locked so I was able to open it," the anthro cat said.

"What for?" I said. "It really have no more uses now."

"It have one more use," Karson said.

"Which is?" I said.

"A gift for Anna," he said. "It's obvious, by the way you've looked at her and how much

you tried to protect her. You love her, don't you?"

"Yes," I said, "I admit it. But what if she doesn't love me back?"

"You'll never know," the anthro cat said, "unless you try."

"Alright," I said. I took the diamond from Karson and put it in one of my biggest pocket.

"Let's rejoin the others."

Ch. 18

We've rejoined the others at the next floor, at the hallway. I looked around and I

immediately noticed that this floor's different than the last two floor. This floor, unlike the last

two which was a series of hallways leading to rooms and labs, this is one hallway stretching out

as far as the eye can see.

"This is going to hurt my foot," Jon said.

"We got this far with no turning back," I said.

We all then started to walked down the hallway to where Mr. Rego is. After what seems

like hours of walking, we've reached the end of the hallway. At the end, there's a single door with

the engraving of the corn made to kept Mason out. I tried to turned the doorknob, but it was

locked.

"Let me try this," Chris said.

He walked to the door and, with a single punched, broke it down. We then walked into

this room, which have racks of weapons here. Rows of M4 Customs and ammunitions on the

weapon racks and, at the corners of the room, several hand grenades laid there. Across the room

from us was a desk and a chair with its back against us.

"I've been waiting for you," the person sitting on the chair said.

It spun around and we're now face to face to Mr. Rego. He's a old man, well nearing his

seventies, with white hair, a wrinkles face and a goatee. He have yellow eyes and is wearing a

dark suit and tie.

"Mr. Rego, I presume," I said.

"Yes," Mr. Rego said. "Your plan to assassinate me has now failed."

Tim said, "What are you-"

"Don't lie to me," Mr. Rego said, stopping Tim, "The inner circle had recruited you all to

kill me, so they can usurp my power. You can't trust anyone here. So, I send them on a plane

that'll crash, killing them all. The only one here that I can trust with my life is Adam Incertus."

The left part of the wall behind Mr. Rego began to opened up and Mr. Incertus appeared

in the room.

"Indeed I am," the anthro ocelot said.

"We never-" Tim said.

"But your plan to kill me has failed now that I got some insurance," Mr. Rego said. He

pushed a button on the desk and a TV screen's brought down from the ceiling to Mr. Rego right-

hand side. "Observe."

He pushed another button and the TV screen turned on and when I saw it, my eyes widen

in horror and angered. It showed Margaret on the floor unconscious.

"Let her go!" I said. "She had nothing to do with this!"

"Even if I did," Mr. Rego said. "she'll still die. We've injected her with Anima, which will

destroy her mind forever."

"NO!!" I shouted.

"You shouldn't have revealed your name to me," Mr. Incertus said. "I've just looked up

your name and we founded your home easily. I took the opportunely to kidnapped your sister so

we could have something to control you."

"But-" Jon said.

"YOU'LL BE QUIET!" Mr. Rego shouted. He then pressed another button. We then

heard footsteps from behind us. We've turned around and saw eight guards entered the room

behind us, aiming their M4 Custom at us. "I've been waiting for you for such a while now."

"You may have been waiting for us," Kyler said "but you haven't planned this out well

enough. Look at our positions and yours. We're both in the direct fire of the guards. If they

missed or overdid the shooting, you'll be killed."

"I don't fear death," Mr. Rego said.

I turned around and looked at Mr. Incertus for a second before looking at Mr. Rego, but,

during that second, I saw the anthro ocelot did something odd.

'Did I just saw him rolling his eyes?' I thought.

“But before I order your executions,” Mr. Rego said, “I might as well reveal some

information about Fines Malum as your reward for getting this far.

“Fines Malum is the plan to end this world as we know it and begin another. Just how the

world changed to Europe when the Roman Empire falls, I’ll change this world forever when it

rises.”

“You mean making a World Government by sacrificing The United States?” Ethan said.

“So you heard of the rumors being spread throughout REA?” Mr. Rego said. “But why

would I cause the destruction of the United States? No, I’ll not destroy it, I’ll change it!”

“You’ll train the anthros to steals several Russians nuclear warheads,” I said, mostly to

myself, “but you’re not using them to cause the world to unite and destroy the US, then you’re-

“No!” I shouted. “No, you can’t do that!”

“You’ve figured out the truth, eh,” Mr. Rego said. “I’ll not be using them to attack

several nations from the US. I‘ll sell them to Arabians terrorist and I’ll let them use them, most

likely to destroy several major US cities. Imagine how the citizens would react to that,

terrorism’s going nuclear. They’ll demand a leader that’ll end this madness, once and for all.

That’s when I’ll step in.

“I’ll nominate myself for president of the United States under the banner that I’ll make

sure our citizens are safe terrorism and end it, once and for all. They’ll most likely vote for me in

a landslide and I’ll become president. Finally, when I become president, the first act I’ll do is to

repay those terrorist by destroying every single Middle Eastern cities with nuclear weapons.”

“What!?” Ethan said. “That’s murdering millions! Genocide! Do you believe that the

people will still support you then?”

“The terrorist were willing to murder millions, so why shouldn’t we?” Mr. Rego said.

“Besides, when I’m in office, I’ll change the government.”

“NO!” I shouted.

“The United States Republic will become the United States Empire,” Mr. Rego said,

“with me as the sole power.”

“No way,” Tim said. “That’s impossible.”

“Did you tell that to the Romans?” Mr. Rego said. “Or the French? Or the Germans?”

“The other nations in the world can’t just stand and watch you commit those acts,” Tim

said.

“They have no choice but to stand and watch,” I said.

“What do you mean Daren?” Chris said. “The United States may be the third largest

populated nation in the world, but it’s rather small compare to India and China. How could they

just stand and watch?”

“I think you should explain it to them,” Mr. Rego said.

“While the United States may only have about 5% of the world population,” I weakly

said, “it has the world greatest military and the largest nuclear weapons, so we can bomb the

Middle East and still have enough to retaliate if the rest of the world went nuclear too. Besides,

the world just can’t walk over here. There’re two things that separates us from the rest of the

world and it’s between us.”

“The oceans,” Kyler said.

“Yes,” I said. “And the United States has the world most powerful navy. It’s so powerful,

that even if the world unite against us and uses all of their naval power against ours, we’ll be the

last one left standing.”

“That’s correct,” Mr. Rego said. “Even though they have a larger army, it’s useless if

they can’t bring them here to invade.”

“So that’s your plan,” Ethan said. “Change the government and murder millions?”

“It won’t stop there,” Mr. Rego said. “With the country under my control, I’ll have the

power to expel anyone I wish, and not only in the United States, but also in all of these American

Continents.”

“But that’s violating the First Amendment,” Tim said.

“I did say that I’m changing the government to my own design,” Mr. Rego said, “or was

that wasn’t clear enough. My United States Empire will not have that old frame anymore, but a

new frame for the empire.”

“But-” Tim said.

“Silence!” Mr. Rego said. “When I’ve expel all of the people I want to expel, I’ll be

annexing Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and others while forcing the rest in the American Continents to

work for us. After that, then I may stop.”

“But why go that far?” Ethan said.

“It’s for the safety for our fellow citizens,” Mr. Rego said.

“WHAT!?” Ethan, Tim, and Jon said together.

“I’ve seen too many mistakes happened in the past,” Mr. Rego said. “Mistakes that I

realized that could be avoided if we’ve learned from past experiences. I’ve always believe that

history was to teach us things so that we don’t repeat those same mistakes. I’ve realized now that

history is useless if we don’t learn from past mistakes. If history was made to prevent events

from happening, what’s the point of learning it if we just repeats the same mistakes over and

over again?

“No, I’ll make sure that a single mistake will never happen again. I’ll observed the people

through cameras in every house, every room, every street, every park, everywhere! I’ll stop the

mistakes from happening before they happen. I’ll even make choices of how they’ll live life for

their safety.”

“But that’s violating our freedom,” the anthro grey fox said. “Do what you chose? Work

where you chose? Marry to who you chose? We can’t do anything in that world. The only thing

that we can do is live and that’s it. No freedom at all."

“In the end, we have to sacrifice our freedom for safety,” Mr. Rego said.

“But you’re an old man,” Jon said. “You can’t possibility live that long.”

“Yes I can, with this,” Mr. Rego said. He reached into his desk and pulled out a syringe

with some type of yellow mixture in it. “You see, in this is Anima and DNA that’ll changed me

into a very special creature, made just for me. I’ve looked far and wide for this type of DNA and

it took me years to find it since they’re hidden among the citizens of this world, but it worth

every second of it. It’s not yet ready, but once it is, I can live for thousands of years. Maybe

more.

“While I may be cruel, I do have a little mercy. If you all surrender yourself to me, I’ll

not only spare your lives, but I’ll have you all as my new inner circle, since I’ve sentence the old

one to death. Since that red fox looks like the leader to me, I’ll let him decide.”

All of my friends looked at me and though they don’t say it, they’re pleading me to say

no. I looked directly at Mr. Rego and his yellow eyes while thinking about what he said and what

he’ll do. After about a minute, I’ve finally decide.

“No,” I said.

Mr. Rego frowned and said, “No? Don’t you want to be in the right where you’ll live?”

“As a slave to that country?” I said. “I rather be myself and be free than be a group and

be safe!”

“That’s your decision then?” Mr. Rego said. “Guards, do what you should’ve done at

three o’clock! Kill them!”

"Wait a minute!" Kyler said.

"Hold it," Mr. Rego said to the guards. He then turned to Kyler. "What is it? Did you

want to join me in the end?"

"No," Kyler said. “You said 'three o'clock'. While it’s true that we’re in the building

hiding at that time, we weren’t at the labs until seven.”

“What are you talking about?” Mr. Rego said. “Adam told me himself that there’re eight

anthro intruders at three o’clock.”

Just then, Mr. Incertus laughed like a mad man.

Mr. Rego looked at him with a puzzled looked in his face. “What’s so funny?”

“You!” Mr. Incertus said to Mr. Rego. “You’ve tried to act all great and brave, even

sitting there where you could be killed. But this is the truth Rego, that you’re a cold-blooded

coward for not going up yourself to order the planes to go the training facility. Instead, you’ve

asked me to go in your stead!”

“I’m too important to die,” Mr. Rego said.

“Not anymore,” Mr. Incertus said.

“What are you-” Mr. Rego said.

“Fines Malum has failed,” Mr. Incertus said. “The planes didn’t go to the training facility.

I’ve told them to change their destination to a few wildlife preservations so that the animals will

be set free.”

“WHAT!?” Mr. Rego shouted. “You traitor!”

“I was never on your side,” Mr. Incertus said. “I’ve spend five years here to discovered

what you’re planning and prepared to stop it if I can.”

“Guards!” Mr. Rego said. “Kill the traitor, then those kids!”

The guards rushed pass us and, instead of aiming their M4 Customs at Mr. Incertus, they

aimed it at Mr. Rego. Mr. Rego looked as if he’s about to exploded from angered now.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” Mr. Rego shouted. “I’m your boss!”

“Their loyalty’s to me, not you,” Mr. Incertus said. “I might as well tell you how I’ve

crushed your Fines Malum.

“I’ve known, from working for you as a part of the inner circle, that, despite your

glorious past, you’re paranoid about death, though you’ve tried to hide it. So I’ve thought about

how to use that against you. That’s where those teen anthros come in.”

“What are you talking about?” Ethan said.

“This!” Mr. Incertus said.

He removed his overcoat and tossed it aside. I’ve looked at the tail that’s now revealed,

and kept thinking that I’ve seen it before. That’s when it hit me. I remembered back to that

fateful afternoon two days ago when I, for just a second, seen the tail of the man, who we now

known as Keme, who had given us the Animam and Anthro.

‘That’s the same tail!’ I thought.

“You were the one who had given us those chocolate bars!” I said. “You were the one

who had leaded us here. You’re Keme!”

“That’s absolutely correct,” Mr. Incertus said.

“No way,” Ethan said.

“Yes,” Mr. Incertus said.

"Wait a minute," Mr. Rego said. "Were you the one that set up that fire a month ago?"

"Yes, I did it," The anthro ocelot said. “It was to make sure that the group I've formed

would be able to get in here. But I couldn’t do all of this alone. Come Zak!”

An orange cat, the one who had been following me until we’ve entered the REA building,

had appeared and walked to Mr. Incertus side.

“That cat,” I said.

“Hey,” the cat said, “I got a name. Or have you forgotten?”

“That cat can talk!?” Chris said.

“A combination of Anima and Animam,” Mr. Incertus said, “which can make a human

turned into an animal without losing its mind. Really useful for spying because who would

expect a cat to be a spy? Especially a real, live cat with no machinery on it.”

“You’ve been watching us,” I said. “That’s how you know where to delivered the coats

and know when to called. You’ve told him.”

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you,” the cat said. “It was easy, especially since I know where

most of you lived. Mr. Incertus helps me with the long distances travel like from the park to the

REA building. Really, the only one who has noticed is you, Daren.”

“How did you know where most of us lived?” Tim said. “Did we know you?”

“Know me?” the cat said. “Yes, you know me. The only ones that don’t is that wolf and

coyote. I have to follow them home to know there they lived.”

“Mr. Incertus called you Zak,” the anthro wolf said. “Is that your name?”

“Yes,” the cat said. “I’m Zak Timeo.”

“What!?” the anthro grey fox said. “But Mr. Timeo said that it failed. That you’ve been

turned into an animal without retaining your thought.”

“He only believes that because I told him it failed,” Mr. Incertus said. “It was actually a

success. I only told him that it failed so he could be more willing to help you.”

“And he died because of that,” I said. “He died helping us.”

“So,” Zak said. “It’s not like I care about him.”

“What?” Karson said. “You don’t care about him? Even when he died believing you’ve

died mentally?”

“I was told to honored my father,” Zak said. “I was never told to like him.”

Karson clenched is fist in anger and when Zak saw it, he hid behind Mr. Incertus.

Mr. Incertus ignored it and said, "Now, when I got my little group ready for distraction,

I've send them to the REA building and wait there until I've signal them to intruded into the labs.

But I was unexpectedly distracted so I couldn't signal them to entered when I wanted them to,

which was two thirty. I only got the time to tell Rego that there were intruders, when there isn't.

This kept him from leaving at his appointed time. It wasn't until seven that I could tell them to

entered.

"However, due to the apparent slow progression of the intruders, Rego believe that he

could be able to outmaneuver them and was about to go and call the planes to go. So, I did what I

felt was the only thing that could be able to kept him here. The only thing that he know that he

can't outmaneuver in a hundred years. I've released test subject 201 to the labs."

"YOU WHAT!?" Mr. Rego shouted.

"You were the one that released Mason?" I said.

"So his name was Mason?" Mr. Incertus said. "Yes, I did. And it scared Mr. Rego so bad

and so completely, that he demanded that I call the planes and tell them to go. But he never

expected that I would changed the course and ruined his plan. The only thing I didn't expected

when I've released test subject 201, that the group I've formed would be able to defeat it.

"Now," the anthro ocelot said, walking towards to the wall that he used to entered this

room. He pushed a part of that wall and a part of the wall opened up again. "I must take my leave

now that my work here's done."

Mr. Incetus and Zak went through the opening, but before Zak completely left, he stuck

his tongue at us. Once they're at the other side, Mr. Incertus pressed something there and that part

of the wall closed.

Ch. 19

“So,” Mr. Rego said weakly, “everything I’ve done for the safety of this country

citizens… goes for nothing. The second time it happen. The first time is when Solid Fox stopped

it.”

Mr. Rego slowly stood up from his chair.

The guards cocked their guns and said, “Stay where you are!”

“Since I’ve got nothing more to live for,” Mr. Rego said as he grabbed the syringe from

the top of the desk, “I might as well kill you all!!”

Mr. Rego then applied the syringe to the side of his neck and injected it inside of him

until it was empty. Mr. Rego screamed out in pained and places his hands on his desk. His body

started to turn red as his hands are becoming more claw-like. As I stared at him, I realized that

he’s turning red because he’s growing red scales all over his body. The guards fired their guns at

Mr. Rego, but his scales are so hard, the bullets only bounce off.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.

Mr. Rego looked at the guards and, with a savaged look, he opened his mouth and

somehow shoot flames at them, killing them. He then shoved the desk to the side of the room,

luckily missing the hand grenades. He falls to his hands and knees, as his body changed into a

more feral look and growing in masses.

“Flames?” Karson said. “That means he’s turning into a dragon!”

“But there’s no such thing as a dragon!” Kyler said. “Is there?”

Trying to remain calm, I looked at the corner of the room and saw the hand grenades

there. If Mr. Rego shoots flames at them, then this room will blow up. It may kill him, but I

doubted it since his scales are hard enough to block gunshots, it may be enough to block an

explosion of hand grenades. But, as I looked at them, an idea formed in my mind.

“Everyone!” I said. “Get out of here while I get a hand grenade!”

“But Daren,” Anna said, “you might get killed by the dragon!”

“Just do it!” I said. “I got a plan!”

The others ran out of the room, though Kyler and Anna hesitated, while I went to the

hand grenades on my left-hand side. I’ve just grabbed one when the dragon turned his attention

to me. By this time, he had become more feral with all of his clothes ripped apart due to his

increasing size. He also grown a tail, with a tip of it looked like an arrowhead, and two yellow

horns growing from his head. But he isn’t finished with his transformation because his back has

two lumps that are growing along with him increasing in sized.

He opened his mouth and began to suck in air while I stood there, petrified in fear. My

life flashed through my mind, the hit I did to Mason sister, my mom death, the death of Mr.

Timeo and Mason, and my sister unconscious and could die mentally any second. Is there

something that would keep me fighting when I’ve lost so many times?

Then one scene came into my mind; Anna, the anthro silver vixen. Like a recording I

heard Karson said, “It’s obvious, by the way you look at her and how much you try to protect

her, you love her, don’t you?”

‘If I die right here, right now, Anna will also die,’ I thought. ‘There have been too many

deaths and losses of the ones I’m close to. I’LL NOT HAVING ONE MORE DEATH TO

SOMEONE I CARE ABOUT IN FRONT OF ME AGAIN! NOT ONE!!’

That’s when it happened again; the feeling that time has slowed down again. The dragon

shoots flames at me, but they’re coming too slow to hit me. I quickly sprinted out of the room to

my friends with the hand grenade in my hand. I’ve just got out of the room when it felt like time

has been restored.

“Daren, you’ve-” Chris said before being interrupted by the explosion from the room.

After about a second, he said, “Did that kill him?”

We then heard thumping sounds, like something big is walking. The dragon head

appeared at the broken doorway, being too large to fit through. By this time, he has been

completely transformed at about eight feet high and four feet wide, excluding his wings. His

right eye’s closed with a bad cut through it due to the explosion while his other yellow eye held

what remained of humanity.

The dragon opened his mouth, sucking in the air, but, this time, I’m readied.

I pulled out the pin from the hand grenade and said, “This is your safety! Safe to die!”

I then throw it at the dragon mouth. It went in just as he finished sucking in the air. He

chokes on it for a bit before it exploded, but because his hard scales, the head didn’t get ripped

apart by the explosion. He collapsed onto the floor, dead.

We walked slowly to the dragon body and, when we got close enough, I rubbed the

dragon scaly head. The anthro jackal closed his left eye, which was still opened after death. I

then remembered something very important.

“Margaret!” I said. “Where is she?”

My friends looked at each other with a looked of concerned in their faces. Then, one by

one, they looked at me with a looked of sorrowed in their eyes.

“We didn’t see any other room in this floor,” Chris said. “I’m afraid-”

“Wait,” Kyler said. “There’s someone still alive over there.”

I quickly sprinted into the room, which was still thick in smoke. Whether if it’s my sister,

changed or not, Mr. Incertus, or someone else entirely, if there’s a chance that my sister could be

saved, I’ll take it. I then saw that the secret passageway that Mr. Incertus had used to entered and

exited this room had been blasted opened. I ran to it and saw a short hallway with the other side

open. I ran to the other side of the hallway and saw my sister, unconscious and unchanged. I run

to her side and got to my knees, praying for help. I then noticed a syringe and a note by her side.

I quickly grabbed the note and opened it.

It said:

I must thank you for helping me stop Fines Malum from coming to fruition. To repay you, I’ve

injected your sister with Animam and Anthro to save her as much as I can. Until we meet again.

Adam Incertus

Margaret suddenly began to move violently and, from the looked of her face, she’s in

terrible pained. Her transformation had begun.

She began to grow fur around her body as her ears moved upwards and become rounder,

unlike me and my pointy fox ears. Her fur color’s golden yellow with many black spots shaped

like rosettes. Her face pushed forward to a feline-like, face, unlike me with my foxy-like face.

Her hands then turned into a hybrid of paw and hand with sharp claws, while her shoes and socks

get ripped apart as her feet become more digitigrades. Finally, there’s a rip sound from her back

and a long thin tail appeared.

When the transformation is done, I slightly lifted Margaret off the ground and said,

"Margaret? Margaret?"

She slowly stirred from unconsciousness and made a moaning sound.

She then slowly opened her eyes and, after a bit, she said, "Daren?"

"Yes," I said. "You're free."

"I'm sorry," Margaret said. "I-"

"Don't try to talk now," I said. "I'm just glad that my elder sister's still alive."

"O-ok," she said. She looked down to her body, noticing the changes in her body. "So I'm

a cat person now."

"Yeah, literally," I said. "Um, which type of cat are you?"

"Well, let's see," she said. "Am I spotted?"

"Yes," I said.

"What are the shape of the spots and do they have anything in them?" she said.

"They're rosettes shape and they don't have anything in them," I said.

"That would mean I'm a leopard," she said.

"I see," I said. We just remained in that position for a minute. "Can you get up?"

"I think so," she said.

"Just be careful with your new feet," I said.

Margaret slowly got up from the ground with me helping her. She then marvelled at her

new body as I smiled. Thought I have lost most of my classmates, Mr. Timeo, and Mason to the

REA failed plan and Mr. Incertus and Zak had gotten away, I'm happy that I didn't lose anymore

people that are close to me.

Ch. 20

We got out of the room through the hallway, with Margaret still looking over her feline

body. Walking through the destroyed room, we headed to the exit and to the dragon body.

Margaret stopped looking at her new body and looked at the dead dragon with marvelled.

“Wow!” she said. “A real dragon! REA must have everything imaginable. I would love to

see a dragon alive.”

‘As long as he’s not killing you in the progress,’ I thought.

I managed to get Margaret to stop looking at the dragon and continued to rejoined with

the others. When Anna saw us, she smiled and hugged me in joy. Pretty soon, the others joined

in, even Margaret, who hate hugs. This must be the happiest moment in my life.

But then Kyler said, “Hold it guys! Someone’s coming!”

“WHAT!?” all of us said.

“And pretty fast too,” Kyler said. “He’ll be here soon.”

We all stopped hugging and looked at the end of the hallway, waiting for this person to

come. After a while, a man appeared sprinting towards here. He looked only slightly older than

me, have dirty blond hair that's covering his ears, like mine was before my transformation into an

anthro red fox, shining sea blue eyes, and somewhat of a narrow face. He’s wearing a dark suit

that seems to be clinging tightly to his body, a dark tunic over it with a black belt with a 'A'

engraved in it in gold, and has a dark overcoat that reached to his ankles.

When he reached us, he said, “So, you must be the ones.”

“What?” I said. “Who are you?”

He didn’t seem to be paying attention to what I’ve said. He’s just looking passed us. He

rushed through us and observed the dragon body with curiosity and marvelled.

He then rubbed the head and said, “Oh. What a beautiful dragon. I love to see him alive.”

Losing my patience with him, I said, “That dragon was Mr. Rego and he tried to kill us.”

He then stopped looking at the dragon and looked at us with a looked of embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s not so often that I could see a full dragon since they hide

themselves well. Heck, my best friend is a half-dragon, so he can only sprout dragon wings, a

dragon tail, and has larger canines.

“Now, you guys must be the ones I’ve called a while earlier before your cell phone died.”

“What a minute,” I said. I then remembered the conversation over the cell phone when

we were walking down the stairs. “You must be Fester Fuchs.”

“Yes,” Fester said, “although, that’s not my real name.”

“Wait!” Chris suddenly said. “Fester Fuchs! Of course, I should’ve realized it from the

start!”

“What do you mean?” Anna said.

“Fester Fuchs,” Chris said, “is German for-”

“Solid Fox,” the man said.

“You mean you’re the Solid Fox?” Kyler said. “The one who stopped REA first

attempted at controlling the US?”

“Yes, I’m a FOXWOOD agent known as Solid Fox, but please called me Red Fox or

Fox,” Fox said. “As for that first attempted, they’ve overstated my achievements. I didn’t stop

them alone. In fact, if it weren’t for a little help from my friends, I would’ve died. But enough

talking about me, tell me what had happened?”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We’ve explained to him about the whole Fines Malum plan and Mr. Incertus work to

ending it. We also explained to him about what happened above this floor, with Mason and Mr.

Timeo. Finally, we explained to him about Mr. Rego turning himself into a dragon and what

happened afterwards.

When we finished explaining, he said while rubbing his left forearm with his right hand,

“That’s one way to save the day, just appear and everything fall apart. But I can’t believe that

fight with the dragon ended so quickly. One hit and then dead like that.”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “Though, that hand grenade blown up his head from the inside so it

should kill him quickly.”

“That’s odd,” Fox said. “It took us more effort to kill Douglas Atra. But, then again, he

was more clear-headed, braver, and cleverer than Mr. Rego was. So it should be natural that Mr.

Atra went out with a bang while Mr. Rego went out with a whimper.”

“That’s the way the world ends,” Chris said. “Not with a bang, but a whimper.”

“True,” Fox said.

“Anyways,” Ethan said, “how did you discover these underground labs?”

“You see,” Fox said, “I’ve always thought that REA have something to do with that crisis

when I’ve discover that the great deal of the weapons in that base were made by REA. That

suspicion only increased when I’ve discovered afterwards that Mr. Atra was one of the three

founders of REA. But the commander wouldn’t allow me to search any of their buildings without

more evidences.

“Then, in the morning, or rather yesterday morning, I’ve heard, from the news, that

Lycan City had three thousands teenager disappeared overnight. I came immediately when I

heard that REA basically own the city and hope that there are any connections between REA and

this crisis. And I did. The day before, REA given out free chocolate bars called MiracleX to the

teens that later disappeared. The only one that didn’t disappear was the ones that didn’t eat the

chocolate bars.

“I took one of the MiracleX and tried to convinced the commander to allowed me to

search the REA building in the city, but he was redundant to allow me to go without

undisputable evidences. So I gave the chocolate bars to Vixen and we work together to find

something, anything, which would implicate REA as the culprit. After a while, Vixen founded

some type of chemical within the MiracleX and we tested it. The results were that it could

awaken dormant DNA in the body.

“I had Coyote helped me find anything unusual that happened at a similar time and we’ve

discovered that there was a massive amount of animals that appeared overnight and were all

captured by REA in record time. Putting the two facts together, we believe that REA used the

MiracleX bars to transformed the teenagers into animals and captured them for later. However

farfetched the idea may be, I know, from experiences, that this world is where anything could

happen, especially in Canada.

“After reporting our findings, suspicions, and a request to searched the REA building in

the city, the commander finally agrees. By that time, it was 1:30AM. I entered the building

through the back door, which was strangely unlocked, and searched the building from there.

After a while, I founded room 101 and noticed the names on those doors in there, which I

presumed are yours. I entered the one without a name and discovered a secret elevator.

“I wasn’t able to activated it from there, so I slid down the cable and managed to forced

the elevator opened from the top. I entered the underground labs and went to the room next to the

elevator only to discovered the controls to the elevator and a cell phone sitting on the table

peacefully. I checked the cell phone, removed the voice disorder, and called you guys by hitting

redial. Tell you the truth; I was shocked and worried that a group had already sneaked in.

“I was about to tell you to stop and wait for me to take over, but the call ended. I then

rushed all the way over here, remembering how we were all nearly killed the last time we’ve

dealt with REA, and I was afraid you all might be killed. But you’ve managed to defeat REA all

by yourselves. Sure, Fines Malum was foiled once and for all by you entering here, but not

anybody could defeat a werewolf or a dragon. I’m giving you a request.”

“What are you saying?” Tim said.

“This is just a request,” Fox said. “If you don’t want to accept it, that’s ok. My request is:

do you want to join FOXWOOD?”

“Us?” I said. “Join FOXWOOD?”

“I’ll tell you this,” Fox said. “This lifestyle is full of dangers. It’s not going to be quiet,

it’s not going to be safe, and it’s not going to be calm. I’ll tell you what it’s going to be. A trip of

a lifetime!”

I thought about what he said to us. If this is one of FOXWOOD usual days, than I would

be experiencing death all around me. I’ve always imagined that I would graduate, get a job, get

married, have a kid, and then die, not work for Foxwood and have this day every day. But… this

type of lifestyle is so exciting; I can’t just let it end when I go to bed and wake up the next

morning.

“I accept,” I said.

“So do we,” everybody else said.

Ch. 21

Fox smiled and, while rubbing his left forearm with his right hand, said, “Fantastic! Now

then, avanti!”

Fox walked by the dragon body and into the room while everyone here’s quieted for a

moment.

Then Ethan said, “What does 'avanti' means?”

"Avanti is Italian," Chris said, "for 'onwards'."

"Go figure," I said.

Everyone laughed for a moment before Fox comes back and said, “Well?”

“Sorry,” Ethan said.

“It’s ok,” Fox said.

We followed Fox through the room and into the secret hallway. We then entered the

room there Margaret was held and Fox looked at the walls.

Cocking his head, the anthro grey fox said, “It’s a dead end.”

“Really,” Fox said. “I haven’t notice.”

“What do you mean?” the anthro jackal said.

“He means that if this is a dead end,” the anthro wolf said, “where’s Mr. Incertus and

Zak?”

“Good job,” Fox said without looking at Kyler.

“Thank you,” Kyler said.

He went to the wall across from us and applied his ear to it. After a minute or so, he

pressed a hidden button and part of the wall opened up.

He turned to us and said, “They’ve escaped through here.”

“How did you do that?” I said.

He gave an embarrassed grinned and said, “Actually, that was a guess.”

All of us entered the secret exit to find that it’s a long stairway circling upwards. We all

looked at each other and we all walked up the stairs.

During the whole walk up, Fox said, “Freedom and security. The two things that people

considered important to us; the freedom to do what you want to do and say what you want to do

while the safety to do things without fear of someone killing you. But the thing is what is more

important to us, freedom or security?

“At first, I thought that security is more important than freedom. After all, no one wants

to die in this planet. People also want justice and end all of the corruptions in all places. But

there was a nagging feeling that tells me that I’m missing something. But what was it? If people

get security, then they also get equality. So, what was wrong with this theory?

“But then I read two books, 1984 and Brave New World, and saw what security really is,

a necessary evil. Yes, they got complete stability. Yes, no one’s worried that there’re criminals

since they can be capture without fail. But they’re deprived of brilliant things. Great literatures,

curiosity and imagination, and religion. They've thrown them away from their world because

they're either distractions or would disturb stability. In 1984, one's monitored for 24/7 without

rest and just a mere thought of doing something wrong will get one jailed, brainwashed, and

returned to society to be executed at a later date. Also, in Brave New World, the clones who

actually imagined are shipped out since they're considered threats to their stabilities.

"In the end, we shouldn't drown ourselves in security and stability. Those worlds depicted

in those stories showed that if we do that to ourselves, then we'll have to lose the thing that

makes this planet so alive; people! Stupid, brilliant people. It's like Benjamin Franklin said, 'He

who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither.' He was right. Those people in those world

may think they have freedom, they actually don't since they've given all of it for security and

since they're being prosecuted by their own safety, they don't have safety too.

"It's not to say that security is all bad. There must be some security in life. If there wasn't

then this world will be an insane place to live in. But I think that freedom should always be

above security. After all, if freedom's below security, than I cannot do much without being

observed and that's bothersome.

"Besides," Fox concluded, "isn't freedom the reason why this nation fought for its

independence years ago?"

We went to the end of the staircase, which is a steel door. Fox turned the handle and

opened it. We then exited the labs, perhaps never to return there again.

It's nighttime and we're in a middle of a desert. I looked around and saw the city a few

miles away to the west. I'm quite surprised at how far we've traveled and now realized how tired

I am. I put my hand on my head and yawned a bit. I felt a hand on right shoulder and, when I

turned around, I saw Anna there.

"Are you ok?" the anthro silver vixen said.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm just tired."

"Ok," she said.

"Thank you," I said.

"No problem," she said. "Daren, I have to say that your heart's more than gold to me. It

got to be made out of a diamond."

'That gives me a idea,' I thought.

I pulled out the diamond from my pocket and said to her, "If my heart's made of diamond,

then here's one for you. It had always belong to you."

Anna looked absolutely stunned by my gift.

She took it from me and said, "Thank you."

"No problem," I said. "Anna, I don't care that you're a anthro vixen."

"And I don't care if you're a anthro fox," Anna said.

"Anna," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said.

We then kissed at the spot. Though it's a little strange that we have muzzles now, it

doesn't matter to me. What matters is that we're in love and no one on earth can changed that.

"That's a bit sweet."

We separated and looked at Fox who said that. He had a foxy grin on his face.

I said to him, "Can we have a privacy?"

"Sorry," he said. He lifted his right hand and rubbed it on the right side of his head. "I

cannot resist seeing a couple of foxes in live."

I wasn't paying attention to what he just said. I was looking at his ear, which's now visible

for a second while he was rubbing his hair back. Though it was dark, I could still see the ear

clearly, but the ear itself is strange.

'Did I just see a long ear, like an elf?' I thought.

Fox quickly covered up his ear and went to his overcoat pocket to pulled out a cell phone.

He flipped it opened, pushed a few buttons, and applied it to his hair-covered ear.

He said to it, "Hey Jackal, it's me... It's technically a mission accomplish... I'll tell you

everything later... Where am I? Well, we seem to be at the eastern side of the city from about a

couple of miles. Can you pick us up?... Yes, I got a few people here, so bring in two vehicles...

they're new members of Fox. Look, I'll tell you everything later. By the way, how's Project

Oncoming Storm going?... I see. Tell me when something change, ok?... Ok, Bye."

He then hung up, put his cell phone in his pocket, and looked at the stars. Though there

wasn't much, it's still a better view than in the city. But Fox seems to be looking at the stars for

something. Maybe a adventure?

"Daren?" Anna said to me.

I immediately stopped looking at Fox and said to Anna, "What is it?"

"Is something bothering you?" Anna said.

I smiled at her and said, "Yes, but that's for another time. Right now, I want to enjoy my

time with you."

She smiled back and we looked up at the stars. Though it wasn't a starry night like in a

forest, I still enjoy looking at them. I guess it's because it gives me a feeling of hope. Though

we're anthro animals, I believe we'll be able to pull through together.

The End