Wolf epic 2

Sequel?

             Four years had passed and the war continued to shred the world apart. The Eucadian wolves continued to expand outward by taking over its surrounding neighbors. The war in Caniridia finally ended, the Eucadian wolves being victorious. As for the group, they remained within the safe city of the Veridian Mainland. Jasmine grew older and matured into a teenaged female wolf. Following the death of her mother, she fell in love with Ty who also grew but hardly matured during the four years that passed. Brianna, the black and red fox, attends college at the Veridian University. Allue’s last puppy, Katianna, fell in love with Baron. She is now in middle school. Alex and Baron, along with jasmine and Ty, grew up in the city and adapted to city life there. Meanwhile, Flannery was adopted by Vikki one year after she met her. Terry sank into a deep depression that forced her to lose her job and most of her friends. She now works as a gate guard at the Eucadian capitol. Heather and Paul, the lieutenant, got married and she is now pregnant. Katie the small lioness ran away from the protection of the city as she panicked from Victoria’s death. She lives in Pacifica with her abusive mother. As soon as the group reached the Veridian Mainland Angel returned to her mother. The war turned in a significantly different way than expected. Siberia, The large wolf-controlled nation across the ocean, formed an alliance with Eucadia to overtake the world. Another war began months ago when Siberia tried to invade England against peace treaties. Yet another was waged in tiger-controlled Bengali against Eucadia when Eucadian bombers crossed the western ocean and bombed civilian cities. The following events take place four years after Jasmine’s mother was killed.            

            “Ty wake up.” Jasmine whispered sitting on the corner of his bed, “I’m going to go find some food and I don’t want to go alone…” Ty rolled over, “But I don’t want to…” Jasmine crawled next to him, “Please?” He shook his head. “Come on Ty don’t be like that!” She whined. Ty turned and looked at her, “Why do you want me? Go get Katianna; she needs to learn to hunt…” She shook her head, “No, I want you to come!” Ty ignored her and laid back down, “Forget it…” Jasmine pulled the pillow off of his head and kissed him gently on the muzzle, “PLEEEEEEASSSSE…?” Seconds later Ty slid out of bed, “Okay… But only cause you’re so damn sexy.” Ty and Jasmine went down stairs to the living room where Katianna was watching cartoons and Brianna was sleeping. “We’re going to get breakfast.” Ty muttered to Katianna as he and jasmine proceeded to the door. “Wait, can I come?!” Katianna cried hopping off the couch. She was always interested in hunting for food but no one wanted to bring her along. “Maybe next time Kati.” Jasmine replied following Ty. “You always say that, but you never let me come…” She mumbled disappointedly. Ty and Jasmine took their usual route out of the city to find deer in the forest. “See aren’t you glad you came? The weather out here is beautiful, the birds are singing, and there’s got to be thousands of deer out here!” Jasmine cried excitedly. Ty frowned, “Yeah… I rather be home sleeping.” She rolled her eyes, “You’re so lazy and that’s a bad thing,” Jasmine explained, “You’re going to get fat and die from a heart attack if you live long enough to get old…” Ty replied with a half smile, “As long as I die asleep, I’m good.” The two came to a large pond in the forest where the deer usually appear. “Where are they?” Jasmine wondered out loud staring at the deserted pond. “There all sleeping.” Ty whispered to her. “That’s weird… usually there tons of them out here.” Jasmine continued ignoring Ty. “Looks like we get to go back home and…” Jasmine cut him off, “Go home and starve?” Ty shrugged, “I guess…” Instead, the two headed deeper into the forest. “So Ty…” Jasmine nervously began to ask a personal question but she stopped. “Ty what?”  Ty responded watching the ground as he walked. “Do you think we could ever get married?” She asked shyly. Ty nodded, “Definitely.” Jasmine continued, “And make puppies?” Ty smiled, “Yep, that’s the fun part.” Jasmine became frustrated, “I’m being serious Ty…” He replied, “I’m being serious too.” The two continued into the forest until the reached a large opening where a herd of moose grazed. “Look at that, see I told you we’d find deer here!” Jasmine whispered excited at the sight. “You said deer not moose…” Ty frowned, “Those things look small, but up close…” Jasmine cut him off, “Ahh don’t be a baby! We can go for the female in the back.” She pointed toward a large moose cow with two calves. “Are you crazy? The females with kids are worse than the males!” Ty answered, “She’ll rip us apart!” Jasmine sighed, “Okay then Ty, we’ll get that one.” She pointed to a smaller female that was further in the distance away from its herd. “Okay that one looks good.” Ty nodded. “You’re such a little baby.” Jasmine complained walking around the herd towards the lone female, “And you want to make my puppies…” Ty acknowledged “Yes, miss, I do. And for your information I’m trying not to get us killed. Remember the last time we were out here finding food?” Jasmine smiled, “oh yes… good times.” The two sat and watched the female moose for a while before Jasmine finally went in and killed it herself. The massive herd of moose disappeared in the forest leaving her and Ty by themselves. “That’s how you kill a moose.” She smiled walking back to him, “If you carry it back home, I’ll tell everyone you helped.” Ty rolled his eyes and dragged their kill back to the Mainland. “I’m back!” Jasmine cried out as they returned to the house, “And I brought food!” Jasmine went upstairs to wake Alex and Baron up. “Get your lazy asses up and come eat!” She cried into their rooms. “Well thanks for coming with me Ty; Even though you were no help to me whatsoever.” Jasmine smiled and kissed his nose, “Same time tomorrow?” Ty shook his head, “Hell no.”

            Kiara, a medic, followed her assigned unit as the Eucadian army crossed the large plains headed towards the Capitol of the Imperial Lion Union. She had just graduated medical school and was immediately assigned to the thirty-third Eucadian recon unit. “We’re almost there so listen up! We’re about to enter a major offensive against the lions. As you already know, lions are much large and stronger than we are so make sure you stand clear of their claws and teeth cause if you ever get caught on the other end of either one of those… consider yourself dead.” The commander of the offensive shouted from the front of the movement. The young Eucadian wolves around her were all excited to finally see action. She, however, wasn’t. Being an army medical student, she knew how intense war could be. Kiara felt sorry for the young males who were excited by the thought of fighting because she knew that they’d soon realize how real and scary war really was. “You okay Kiara? You seem a little nervous.” Another medic from her unit smiled to her. “I’m fine…” She replied looking away. “Have you ever seen action?” The other medic continued. Kiara shook her head. “My name’s Eve by the way.” The other medic responded, “I was in your class.” Kiara was too lost in thought to reply to her. She worried about how the offensive would turn out. The wolves outnumbered the lions ten to one with fifty units, each unit having 30,000 wolves in it. Kiara struggled to do the math in her head and listen to Eve at the same time. “So anyway I hope we do well.” Eve continued on talking. “One million, five hundred thousand wolves…” Kiara mumbled. “I’m sorry?” Eve responded looking at her. “One million, five hundred thousand wolves in this offensive,” Kiara continued, “Two hundred and fifty thousand of which are medics. This is a take over isn’t it?” Eve looked down, “I don’t know… Command just said it was an offensive…” Kiara replied, “They said that the war in Caniridia was an offensive.” Eve shrugged, “I have no idea…” The recon unit of thirty thousand wolves halted on top of a hill overseeing the lion capitol. The young wolves struggled to get a glimpse. “What’s going on? Why’d we stop?” One of them cried out from the crowd. “I don’t know.” Another responded, “Maybe we finally get to slice some throats open.” From a distance, the commander of the thirty-third recon unit could see a massive line of defense spread miles around the city. There were more lions than they had expected. “Sir, do you think we can take ‘em?” a Eucadian soldier questioned nervously. “Well we sure as hell better had.” The commander responded, “Okay everyone here’s the plan. We’ve got to get in there and soften their defenses so that the third infantry division can get in there. We’re planning to get to the city by nightfall.” The commander continued, “Keep alert and use common sense. Stay away from the claws and fangs!” The entire unit was rearing to go. The young wolves were all excited to be so close to all the action. Kiara and Eve remained in the back. “Medics listen up! There’s likely going to be intense resistance so be prepared for that.” The commander informed them. “You ready Kiara?” Eve was excited. “Not really…” She responded. Kiara was scared. “Go!! Go!!” The commander howled and immediately the unit broke out into a mad dash towards the lion defensive. A massive sea of Eucadian wolves advanced towards the thick line of lions ready to defend their positions.

            Heather sat alone in her new penthouse located in the heart of the city. Secretly, she missed the quiet forests and the slow trickling of the stream within it but her husband’s promotion moved her into the city. The TV was on and muted, the lights were off and the windows open to allow the wind to pass. She sat reading and thinking about how her life was changing how it was, how she was married with children on the way, lived in a top of the line penthouse in the heart of one of the busiest cities in the nation, and she held a high position in the UNIL’s secret service; many of these things she would never imagined could be possible. Suddenly, the ringing telephone broke her concentration. “Hello?” She answered nervously. “Heather? No time to talk, I need you to come in now… It’s important.” A voice on the other line responded quickly and hung up before she could react. Heather moved off the chair and headed to the elevator down to street level. It was early so the streets weren’t as crowded as they were usually so she walked to the HQ. The headquarters moved from a small building to a skyscraper in the center of the city so it was easy to find and was a very short walk from her house. Heather entered the office building and took the elevator up to the commander’s office. “You called?” she requested quietly. The commander looked up, “Oh Heather. How are you? Do you want some water?” She shook her head, “No I’m fine.” The commander nodded and continued, “Our lookouts spotted a whole infantry division of wolves headed our way.” Heather shrugged, “So?” The commander looked callously at her, “So, our city is in danger of a siege.” Heather looked away. She was tired and really didn’t feel like dealing with this issue, “Can’t we just… I don’t know… Kill them?” The commander frowned, “Listen here heather; those wolves outnumber us ten to one.” Once again she shrugged, “So?” The commander stood up, “If you’re not going to cooperate her then you can leave!” Heather got up and left without another word. As she was walking home, heather noticed a crowd of lions surrounding a TV shop watching the news so she went to investigate. “A violent military confrontation between the Eucadians and the UNIL republic has been confirmed by department of defense officials. The confrontation occurred just minutes ago with many lion casualties.” The news reported. The crowd was struck with fear. Heather, her own fears in mind, ran home. In the outskirts of the city, the Eucadian military commander prepared for a full scale assault against the lions. “Sir, the bombers are headed this way, artillery cannons are awaiting your orders, and the first infantry division is in position.” The commander’s lieutenant informed him. “What about the thirty-third recon unit?” The commander requested looking back at the lieutenant. “They’re already attacking, sir.” He answered back. “Excellent. Message the command center and tell them to start dropping the bombs and prepare the artillery afterwards. We want to hit ‘em hard.” The commander directed. The lieutenant nodded, “Yes sir,” and then left. Minutes later the sky was blocked by the familiar swarm of Eucadian bombers that flew low and carried a deadly payload, tons of heavy explosives. Air raid alarms blared and the civilians ran for cover as the first of the bombers began to drop their bombs. Heather ran around her penthouse desperately trying to gather useful things before she left when all of a sudden a bomb hit the base of her penthouse causing one side of it to collapse. She ran to the elevator which was on fire. “D****t!” She cried out as she headed for the weakened stairs. The ground continued to shake as each bomb hit. Heather finally reached street level to be faced with what was happening. Lions and lionesses ran around panicked trying to find shelter from the bombs while the air was filled with air raid alarms and explosions. Heather ran to the underground subway station nearby to wait out the raid. She thought about where her husband, Paul the lieutenant, was and she hoped for his safety. “We’re being attacked!” The lion general shouted on the phone to the leader of the UNIL when suddenly, a bomb struck the building causing it to shake violently and then it began to collapse. “Ah crap!” He yelled dropping the phone and running out of his office. The floor of the building was trembling violently as, floor by floor; the building collapsed leaving not a single survivor. The bombers continued to fly over and drop bombs as if they were a never ending rain of terror. Innocent civilians struggled to gather their families and take cover from the bombs while the UNIL’s military was mobilized to try and prevent the attack. Anti-aircraft guns weren’t present in the city so hundreds of bombers easily weakened the city severely until the last bomber flew away. “Begin the artillery strike.” The commander ordered. 70mm Artillery guns in the distance could be heard firing shells into the air which arched down and pelted the city with deadly force. The artillery shells shredded buildings, streets, and houses apart killing hundreds of lion civilians and weakening the UNIL’s military. As the city was impacted by the deadly rain, Eucadian forces surrounded the city in preparation for Eucadia’s most effective military strategy called “Shock and Awe”. This strategy called for intense bombing and artillery strikes to weaken the city and military forces. Afterwards, the Eucadians would then use overwhelming military force to dominate the battlefield and force their enemies to lose their will to fight. “This one will be easy.” The commander smiled at the burning city, “We’ll have The United Nation of Imperial Lions on its knees before the week is over.” When the artillery strikes began to subside, the commander signaled the Eucadian forces to begin the invasion. The circle around the city began to tighten as Eucadia’s military moved easily through the city killing every lion in sight. “Take no prisoners!” Calls from the Eucadian military rang out as the Eucadian wolves killed everything from UNIL military personnel to civilian lionesses and their children.

            The Eucadian attack on the UNIL capital made Veridian news and struck concern into the citizens there. “The prestigious UNIL capital falls under siege today as bombers, artillery, and infantry shake the city to its core. There’s no stopping The Eucadian Republic with its successful military strategies and state of the art weapons technology.” The news informed. “What’s stopping the Eucadian from attacking Veridia?” Ty mumbled climbing off the couch. He was home alone for now while Jasmine took Katianna out to teacher her how to hunt, Brianna went to school, and Baron left with Alex to downtown Veridia. Ty wanted to do some exploring himself so he locked up their house and headed for the main part of the city. The news was on everywhere as concerns for national security went rapid. Everywhere Ty went he heard conversations about the war going on not to far from where they were. As he turned the corner to the main street he caught sight of someone he knew from school. “Hey Ty what’s up?” He looked away from her, “Nothing just…you know…hanging out?” She looked closer at him, “Are you okay? You seem a little twitchy…” The female wolf liked Ty but he didn’t like her. “I’m fine…listen I got to get…uh…I have to get to…” She cut him off, “you’re stuttering a lot… are you sure you’re okay? Is it the war? Are you scared?” Ty back away from her, “No, no I’m fine I just…” She came closer to him, “You just what?” He was cornered and panicking, “I…I…” She was inches away from him now, “Its okay Ty, you can tell me…” “Umm…Excuse me.” A voice from behind mumbled. The female turned around and found herself face to face with Jasmine. “What are you doing?” She continued. “It’s none of your business Jasmine, get lost…” The female mumbled quietly as she was intimidated by Jasmine. “Do you really want to start with me today Kasey?” Jasmine sighed leaning against a wall. Kasey looked away, “No…” “Then go away.” Jasmine responded pointing away. Kasey glared back at her, “You’re not the boss of me…” Jasmine looked her in the eyes, “Get lost Kasey.” Kasey slowly got up and looked back at Ty and waved. She then brushed past Jasmine and mumbled “B***h…” Jasmine grabbed her ears and slammed her against a wall. The two were muzzle to muzzle. “What did you say?!” Kasey was terrified. She had always been afraid of Jasmine but now she had gotten on her bad side. “N-n-nothing…” Kasey whispered. Jasmine threw her to the ground. Ty was surprised by Jasmine’s aggression while Kasey was mortally terrified by it. “Watch your tongue puppy. Or I’ll rip it out.” Jasmine growled. Her tail between her legs, Kasey backed away towards the alley entrance, “Sorry…” She whispered weakly and quietly walked away. “Damn Jasmine that was hot!” Ty cried in excitement. “I hate her.” She replied watching Kasey disappear around the corner. Ty sat up, “Why? She’s terrified of you!” Jasmine looked away, “Don’t worry about it…” The two sat in silence for a while. “So yeah anyway we should go eat,” Ty broke the silence, “I’m hungry.”

            “The war between the lions and the wolves rages on as we speak. In order to gain leverage against the wolves, the lions have introduced a new type of devastating weapon against them.  The highly effective flamethrower has been designed for use against mass troops during a siege or invasion. The nozzle of the flame gun fits around the muzzle of a lion while three heavy tanks of kerosene, hydrogen, and nitrogen are carried on its back. When the lion bites down on the trigger, the compressed liquid gasoline is fired 250 feet from the nozzle, that is, if the trigger is pressed all the way. Any enemy in range will be incinerated.” The news channel announced, “This just in: Upon hearing about the Eucadian invasion, the tigers of West Chernova board their ships in preparation to aid the lions which could cause a type of domino effect.” The room fell silent. “Switch off the TV,” The Eucadian commander ordered, “We have a new obstacle. These new flamethrowers the lions have unveiled can be a large problem against our infantry.” The room was full of Eucadian military strategists. “The flamethrowers must be heavy so they obviously slow the movement and reaction time of the lions that have them.” One of them suggested. “Right, so what we need to do is train our infantry on how to avoid them.” Another responded. The commander nodded, “Okay, now about the tigers…” One strategist stood, “Already handled, The Antarctic wolves are on our side. They’ll stop the tigers from reaching land.” The commander smiled and nodded, “Excellent, on to phase two…”

            Angel sat in her bed room staring out into the night sky. She missed exploring with the others but her mother, for concern of her safety, forced her to stay inside most of the time. “It’s not fair…” She continuously thought to herself. Angel hated her mother for it. “Dinner’s ready Angel, its time to come eat!” Her mother shouted from downstairs. “I’m not hungry!” Angel angrily shouted back. It was a silent moment before her mother responded, “Angel come on and stop playing around!” Angel ignored her. Fifteen minutes passed and Angel’s mother appeared at the door. “Angel, what’s wrong? You seem so angry all the time now and you don’t eat… What’s going on?” She looked away, “Nothing…” Angel’s mother continued to pressure her, “Is it because I won’t let you go running around out there with all the war going on?” Angel went off. “You won’t let me do anything! I’m thirteen now and you still treat me like a puppy!” Her mother sat down beside her. “I know you think you’re grown up now, Angel, but the fact is there are many things that you still don’t understand…” Angel looked away, “whatever…” Her mother got up and walked toward the door, “I love you.” Angel didn’t even glance back at her, “Go away.” When her mother had disappeared from sight Angel pulled open the window, climbed out, and headed for Veridia which was several miles away. The wind flowed through her fur as she ran away from her house. She felt free for the first time since she first left with jasmine and the others to go to Caniridia. Angel reached the edge of a thin forest, the final border of Pacifica. She turned back, faced the bright city, waved, and continued on to Veridia. The pathway toward the city was rugged and apparently dangerous from what she heard but her will for adventure dragged her onwards. Sharp branches and thorns tore at her flawless white coat and her paws but they didn’t stop her. She was determined to reach the city before day broke. Miles later she reached the other side of the forest. Yet another vast, grassy plain lay ahead of her and to make things worse it began to rain. “D****t…” she whispered to herself and began to cross the plain not knowing that she was going the opposite direction, away from the city of Veridia and towards the Eucadian Capital.

            While Angel was running away, Flannery and Vikki, her adopted mother, returned to Eucadia. The four years that went by cleared Vikki’s record as a Eucadian experiment technician and eased Flannery’s memory of her history. The two left Pacifica the same time Angel ran away from home. “So are you excited about the new house? I couldn’t wait to get out of that place!” Vikki smiled glancing back. Flannery nodded, “Yeah I hated that place… There too many lions…” Her mother smiled, “Well there aren’t any lions where we’re going.” The two continued down the wide trail that eventually ended at a checkpoint. “Where you headed?” One of the guards questioned. “Veridia,” Vikki responded nervously, “We…uh…want to get there early…” The guard nodded, “Okay then enjoy your trip.” They continued on. “That was a close one… I don’t ever remember that checkpoint being there?” Flannery said glancing back. “Yeah they’re everywhere now that we’re at war.” Vikki replied, “I hope they’ll let us into Eucadia…” The two continued on for miles until they reached the same forest that Flannery killed Flora in. The pond remained the same as when she last remembered it. “I remember this place…” She whispered coldly. Vikki glanced at her, “Really? What about it?” Flannery never did tell Vikki about her aggression problem nor did she ever tell her about Flora. “Nothing… It’s just some place a friend of mine and I used to play…” She replied quietly, “Its nothing.” Vikki smiled, “Oh, I bet it must’ve been fun playing here.” Flannery nodded slightly, “Yeah…” The thick green grass felt cold beneath Flannery’s paws as they continued around the pond. She wanted to forget what happened but she couldn’t. “It shouldn’t be far now,” Vikki said observing the forest around them, “Maybe we can finally get some sleep…” Flannery smiled at her, “Yeah hopefully.”

            It was midnight Back at Veridia while Jasmine and Ty sat and watched TV. “I’m bored…” Jasmine whined, “We should go outside!” “And do what?” Ty replied, his eyes still on the TV, “Its 12am; there’s nothing we could possibly do.” Jasmine was persistent, “I don’t know… we could go for a walk?” Ty frowned, “I really don’t feel like walking.” Jasmine picked up the remote and switched off the TV, “Come on, lazy, lets go.” “Go where?!” Ty moaned sliding off the couch. “To the beach I heard its pretty at night.” Jasmine replied walking to the door, “Besides, it’s a full moon out tonight and I want to see it; Don’t you?” Ty shook his head, “Not really…” She frowned, “Come on Ty quit being lazy!” “Fine…” he mumbled and followed her to the door. Before Jasmine and Ty could reach the door Alex rushed in and Baron sort of stumbled in, “Damn, guys you should’ve been there!” Alex cried in excitement. “What is it?” Ty asked. “Dude, Baron got totally drunk at the fest right? And then he actually KISSED a girl!” The house was silent. “So what?” Jasmine asked in disappointment, “That’s nothing to get all excited about.” Alex looked back at her, “No, but guess who he kissed?” She rolled her eyes, “Who?” Alex smiled, “Princess Kya… He KISSED Princess Kya!” Ty looked over at Baron who had collapsed on the ground, “Really? You kissed Princess Kya?” He nodded. “See I told you!” Alex said to Jasmine, “I wouldn’t even try that!” Ty nodded, “Yeah she’s HOT.” Jasmine, who didn’t care about what had happened, became impatient, “Okay good for Baron and Kya, we’re going to the beach so see you later. Come on Ty lets go.” Alex nodded to Ty, “Go get her... and try not to hurt her okay?” Ty laughed, “Yeah okay whatever you say man, see you later.”

            “Are all present?” the leader of the organization called out. “Katanna’s not here Red; she was arrested last night…” A female wolf replied from the crowd. The crowd gasped at her statement. “What happened?” The leader asked. “She had leaked a bit of information… not enough to lead the SS here I don’t think… but… but they came for her last night.” The female replied. Red was the leader of the secret Eucadian organization which worked to assassinate the Eucadian leader and, in turn, set up a new government in a desperate attempt to end the war.  Red was a large male wolf with dark red and black fur and his closest associate being a blue and silver female named Katelyn. They worked along side many other key and corrupt Eucadian government officials to unseat the Eucadian leader in order to establish peace in the world. “Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do for Katanna… She played an important roll in the plan and she was, no doubt, dedicated to bringing peace in this world, but now we have to move on.” Red announced. The crowd agreed. “As you all know, the most recent attempt at the leader’s life ended in the death of Aston and his family so we know that the SS are definitely on our trail…” He was interrupted, “The plan was shrewd; the explosives were in the precise area the thing is the leader was not!” Another member quickly countered, “And that is a slight misfire, it can happen anytime! Mistakes that…” He was interrupted by yet another member, “Mistakes that can get us all killed. We need to be smarter than the SS. They already know our methods; we have to change up before they crack down on us.” Red was interested, “What do you have in mind?” The wolf continued, “We need to make this ‘Assassination’ appear as a conspiracy type coup d’état.” “Who would it be staged by?” Katelyn asked looking over to him. The wolf replied, “The SS.” At that point the room was filled with commotion. “Quiet! Listen up!” Red cried out, “Explain your plan.” “The whole operation will begin in the commander’s suites of course. I can circulate rumors of strange activities going on within the SS branch.” “What type of ‘strange activities’?” Katelyn asked sitting up. “Espionage of course,” The wolf replied, “Anyway, the SS will lead an investigation of its own personnel in turn taking all there focuses off of us.” The crowd spoke quietly amongst each other. “Okay if we can get the SS’s eyes off us, what then?” A member in the crowd suggested. The wolf nodded, “Then comes the fun part. In order to assassinate Darryl, we have to get close. No more explosives, they’re too inaccurate.” “What then?” Another member suggested. “Personnel.” The wolf replied. The room once again filled with arguing. “You’re suggesting we send someone to personally KILL the leader?” One of the wolves cried out. “That’s suicide!” another replied, “and impossible!” The wolf waited for the room to quiet down before he proceeded, “I have already selected an inside wolf…Steel… he’s the general of the Eucadian reserves…” The room quieted down, “You got the general of the reserves on our side?” Red asked in amazement. The wolf nodded, “I promised him a key position in the new government. He will tell his troops that they’re on a mission to protect the leaders from a Veridian terrorist plot while they’re actually being used to assassinate him and his chain of command.  All in all, while the SS are busy cleansing their departments, Steel and his men are going to storm the leader’s villa and kill them.” The crowd listened inattentively. “The SS will receive immediate notice of this.” The wolf continued but was interrupted. “How?” A member asked, “How will they know?” The wolf looked at the member, “We will tell them.” The room was silenced. “During the storming of the leader’s house I’ve paid a soldier to kill Steel so that he won’t release any information about us. We will tell the SS that there’s a coup d’état going on and they will act immediately killing off Steel’s troops, the ‘invaders’.” The room remained silent. “By double-crossing Steel and the wolf I put in charge of killing him, we would have staged a successful coup. With the leader and his chain of command out the way, the government will crumble. This is when we take charge.” “What about the SS?” Red asked. “The SS doesn’t care who’s leading as long as they’re getting paid. So when we take the government we’ll crush them and hopefully be able to negotiate with the rest of the world.” the wolf concluded. The crowd applauded. The plan was all so simple. All they needed to do was iron out any missed details and assign tasks. “We’ll meet back here tomorrow and discuss the roles.” Red announced, “Everyone is dismissed.”

            Ty and Jasmine sat together on the ocean front staring at the moon in the night sky. The moon reflected off the ocean causing it to sort of sparkle and the smell of saltwater filled the warm breeze.  “It’s beautiful…” Jasmine whispered. Ty nodded. She looked down and toward him, “Hey Ty… there was something I… I wanted to tell you…”   He glanced over at her, “Huh?” Jasmine looked away, “Nothing… I was just thinking… nothing.” “What were you going to say?” Ty asked looking over at her, “Its cool just tell me.” She shook her head, “nothing…” He playfully grabbed her muzzle, “What!” Jasmine laughed, “Nothing Ty, just forget it…” He pushed her over on her back and stood over her, “Tell me!” She smiled and grabbed his muzzle, “Nothing.” He sat on her stomach, “Well then I’ll just stay like this then…” She cried playfully, “It’s nothing Ty get off!” She got pushed him off. “Well check this out. Baron, Alex and I are joining the army!” Ty announced. Jasmine froze, “What…?” Ty nodded with excitement, “Yeah!” She was destroyed by the news, “Are… are you serious?” He nodded, “Its boring doing nothing at home so…” Jasmine interrupted him, “So you’d rather get your throat ripped out than stay at home with…” He looked at her, “What’s your problem? Why are you acting all nervous?” Tears trickled down her face as she looked away trying to hide them, “I like you...” He shrugged, “I knew that.” Jasmine’s nervousness shifted immediately after he told her that. She became infuriated. “And you don’t even give a damn do you!!?” She cried furiously, “Instead you’d rather go join the army and DIE because you’re bored!!!” Tears were flooding from her eyes. Ty frowned, “And what do you care? Look, I’m sorry about this but…” She interrupted him, “But what?! BUT WHAT TY?!” He looked away, “I don’t know.” She was filled with anger, “You know what Ty? Forget it! If you’d rather get torn apart than… then just…God I wish I never met you!!” With that she stormed off crying leaving Ty at the beach by himself.

            Flannery and Vikki reached the gate to Eucadia after miles of walking. It was past midnight so only the dim light from the moon laminated the area. “Finally we’re here…” Vikki smiled, “Maybe we can finally get some sleep.” The two continued into the city to her apartment in the heart of the red light district. “We’re here!” Vikki announced entering the apartment with Flannery behind her, “You’ve never seen this place but its where I lived a couple years back when I was… in the medical field.” Flannery’s natural curiosity kicked in, “You were in the medical field? What’d you do?” Vikki was ashamed of her former position as an experiment technician and her duties to perform unethical experiments on live prisoners, “I… uh…I did surgery…”  Flannery smiled, “Cool…” Vikki was afraid of what Flannery might think of her if she knew her actual position. “Okay so uh… you can sleep in the guest room and I’ll be in here” She mumbled walking into her bed room leaving Flannery in the living room by herself. She walked over to the balcony which overlooked the city. She looked down to street level and noticed five wolves walking into the apartment complex. She ignored them and went into her own room. A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. Flannery was too afraid to open it. “I got it.” Vikki mumbled walking out of her room. At the door were the five wolves Flannery had seen earlier.  “Victoria?” One of them asked. “Yes…” She nodded nervously, “What’s this about?” Another wolf replied, “We’re investigators for the secret service, the SS. Four years ago you were registered as “missing in action” as a result of the outpost take over.” She was speechless. “And according to this file, you have been living in the United States of Pacifica for the past four years.” The wolf concluded, “Do you realize that this could be considered treason?” Vikki was terrified, “I…I…” “Please come with us.” Another SS officer said. “I can’t just leave her here she’s…” Vikki begged. “Come with us.” The first SS wolf repeated more sternly. The five wolves and Vikki left the apartments to the SS HQ leaving Flannery by herself wondering what kind of things her mother had gotten into. Suddenly the phone rang. “H-hello?” She answered nervously. “Hey, Flannery, do you remember me?” A familiar voice on the other line asked. Flannery immediately recognized the voice, “T-terry?” “OH! So you remember me!” Terry cried sarcastically on the other line, “I heard about your new mommy… I’m so sorry, how unfortunate right?” Flannery sat against the wall, “What do you want from me, Why can’t you just leave me alone!?” Terry laughed, “I can’t just leave my little sweetheart alone Flannery, you know that!” Flannery was afraid, “We’re done and you know it! So leave me alone!” She cried in desperation. “So anyway, I’ll see you in a minute anyway so until then, sweetie…” Terry replied and the line went dead. Flannery was struck with terror. “Oh my god…” she whispered to herself, “god no…” she ran over to the kitchen and grabbed a sharp knife. “What the hell do you think your doing?” A familiar sound echoed in her mind. She stopped, “You again?” The aggressive personality that had haunted her a few years ago had returned, “Glad you remember me at least.” Flannery held the knife close, “What do you want?” Her aggressive personality replied, “I want to protect you.” Flannery dropped the knife. “I know you’re tired of this b***h ruining your life so I’m here to put an end to it.” She was terrified nonetheless, but she began to think about what her alternate personality was telling her, “You mean… kill her?” “Yes I mean kill her.” Her personality replied. “I don’t know if I can I… I’m afraid.” Flannery whispered, “I’m too afraid…” Her alternate personality continued to tempt her with success, “I’ll do the talking, and all you have to do is allow me to.” Flannery shivered, “H-how?” “When you feel yourself blacking out, don’t fight it.” Her personality replied to her. Flannery was afraid to carry out the plan but she was tired of Terry controlling her life, “Okay… I’ll try…” “Good girl.” Her alternate personality replied, “Good girl.”

            Angel stopped at the gate of an unfamiliar place. It was very dark now and the rain storm had begun to thunder. “Where the…” she whispered to herself as she circled the perimeter until she reached the opening where several wolves entered and exited the city. Along a large arch, a sign read “Eucadian Republic Capitol entrance”. Angel stopped, “What the hell…?”  “Hello misses.” A large wolf said approaching her, “Are you lost?” She backed away, “No I… I just uh…” He smiled, “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Private Gradier, Weston Gradier.” She nodded, “Okay uh… I’m Angel.” “Nice to meet you, you new here?” he continued. Angel looked away, “No… actually uh… yes, yes I’m new here…” He smiled, “Well you’re certainly confused. Where you coming from? Siberia?” She quickly nodded, “Yes Siberia…”  “Ah… Well I can show you around if you’d like.” He suggested, “Since you’re new here.” She hesitated, “Okay…” “Excellent!” He smiled, “Follow me.” The two entered the gates and walked through the same courtyard that jasmine had been dragged through years earlier. “It’s… Beautiful.” Angel mumbled trying to prevent an awkward silence. The wolf nodded, “It is isn’t it?” The two past by a large building, “This here is the Headquarters of the secret service, the SS.” He said, “They’re the police here.” She nodded. “This place is more alive in the day.” The wolf frowned, “It’s eerie at night.” Angel was silent. “So where you staying at tonight?” the wolf asked. Angel panicked, “Ha…uh I… I have no idea…” “Excellent, you can stay at my place!” the wolf replied enthusiastically. Angel was unsure. “Uh that’s okay I’m sure you don’t need some… random… wolf running around your house…” He smiled, “It’s alright, really, Come on I insist.” She reluctantly replied, “Uh… okay I guess one night would be…fine…” The wolf smiled, “Cool.” He led her to his apartment near the docks. The neighborhood where he lived was one with a very high crime rate and a very low standard of living. As she walked into his apartment a rat scurried across the floor causing her to flinch. “Its okay they don’t bite…” He smiled. They walked into one of two bedrooms. “You can sleep here.” The wolf nodded. The room was furnished with a bed, a cardboard box with a vase on it, a picture, and a single light bulb swinging from the center of the roof. “Okay…” She whispered and slowly walked over to her bed. He followed. “So tell me… uh… Angel. What’s this really all about?” The wolf questioned walking closer to her. “What…what do you mean?” She whispered in fear and trying to back away. “You’re not really from here are you? You’re one of those Veridian wolves aren’t you?” The wolf continued as he approached her. Angel was frozen in fear. “Well awesome, let me tell you how this is going to work.” The wolf smiled running his paws down her neck, “You and I are going to be really, really close friends” Angel pushed him away and headed for the door, “I-I have to go…” The wolf grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her up against a wall, “Where the hell do you think you’re going huh?” She began to cry in desperation, “Please I just want to go home…” The wolf began to aggressively grab her, “So how old are you anyway?” Angel was too terrified to respond. The wolf then slapped her across the face, “Don’t you ignore me b***h!” She grabbed her tail, “Th-thirteen…” The wolf smiled, “A little young to be out by yourself aren’t you?” She cried desperately, “Please don’t hurt me….” Angel wished that she hadn’t run away from home. She wished she had listened to her mother and remained protected. But she hadn’t and now she was going to pay for it. The night had carried on with the worst possible things happening. The wolf had viciously raped her several times and denied her food or water. Sometime later the wolf returned to her room. She sat quietly in her bed licking the blood from her tail-end. “I’m going to the late night shift,” He looked at her, “It would be in your best interest to not try anything tonight.” With that he closed the door, locked it, and left. Angel immediately went to the window and broke it with her head. Bleeding and a bit shaken up, Angel climbed out of the window onto an old fire escape. She held on to the ladder and attempted to climb down but the old, rusted steel snapped sending her sixty feet to the ground. The fall had broken all of her legs and a piece of metal had cut a gash in her side three inches deep. Angel struggled to get up but she couldn’t. Her blood poured from the wound and mixed with the rain in a deep puddle around her until it all ran out bringer her life with it.     

The Rainstorm raged on as the meeting of the Organization began in the usual spot. “Are all present?” Red announced. The room was silent. “Excellent, the meeting will begin. Last time we decided on the overall plan for the coup and the other day Katelyn decided on the roles: I myself will coordinate at the penthouse in the northern district. Katelyn will leak the information and so on. Tonight we will plant the information with the help of our inside wolf, Drake. He works at the SS HQ so he’s our way in. So tonight Katelyn is sending in her daughter, Missy, to plant the espionage files. The next day they’ll find the info and Drake will alert us. Then we’ll be able to launch the attack on the leader. The crowd nodded. “Its late so I’ll close the meeting down now. Everyone prepare for tomorrow because it will be the biggest events in our lives.” Hours later, Katelyn and her daughter sat alone preparing for her mission. “But mother… why me? Why do I have to go?” Missy whispered. She was afraid. “I can’t go because I can’t be seen until tomorrow.” Katelyn replied petting her daughter’s ears, “It’s a very important job you have.” Missy looked away, “I’m scared.” Her mother gently patted her back, “You’ll do fine, we believe in you.”

            “Yo, Ty what’s up? Why’s Jasmine crying?” Alex asked Ty as he walked in. “I told her about us joining the USP army.” He replied, “She’ll get over it.” Brianna came in minutes afterwards, “Hey what’s with jasmine?” “We told her that we’re joining the army.” Baron replied. Brianna nodded, “Oh okay, so when do you guys leave?” “Tomorrow,” Alex replied, “We get to skip basic since we’re Veridian.” “Oh that’s nice…” Brianna mumbled walking away, “Have fun with that.” All attention returned to Ty. “Maybe you should talk to her…” Baron suggested. “Yeah… dude she likes you a lot.” Alex added. “Fine…” He sighed and reluctantly went up the stairs to her room. There, she sat on her bed facing the wall. “Uh…Jasmine…?” Ty whispered sitting next to her. She looked away, “What do you want?” Ty sat closer to her, “I never meant to hurt your feelings… I… I just…” “You just what?” Jasmine mumbled glance over at him. “I just thought that… perhaps it was time for me to… grow up…” Jasmine looked away, “I like you better NOT grown up…” He looked at her and smiled, “I’m not grown yet…” Jasmine smiled a bit, “No… you’re not…”. “So are you mad?” Ty asked nervously. “Yes I am.” She replied looking away. Ty kissed her gently behind her ear, “How about now?” She shook her head and pointed to her face, “You have to kiss me here.” Ty smiled, “Seriously? Okay!” She smiled and kissed him, “Only if you want too.” The two sat together for a while before Jasmine broke the silence, “I’m scared for you Ty… I’m scared for all you guys…” “Why?” Ty replied petting her hair, “It can’t be too bad.” She looked away with tears forming in her eyes, “I see things on the news now Ty… I see young wolves dying in war... and… and I think about you… How easily it could be you…” Ty smiled, “What if I promise to be extra careful?” She shook her head, “I don’t know Ty…” Ty kissed her one last time before he left, “We’ll be fine… I promise.” Later that night, Jasmine went out to walk and think about what was happening. On her way out she caught sight of Kasey, the female wolf who was afraid of her. She slowly approached her, “Hey… Kasey… what’s up?” “What do you want from me…? I didn’t do anything to you!” Kasey responded. She was startled, scared, and began to back away. “No I just wanted to… Listen I know I’ve been a real b***h to you…” Jasmine began but was interrupted. “You’re always mean to me and I never did anything to you…” Kasey said weakly, “You’re so mean to me and…” She began to cry. Jasmine put her paw on Kasey’s, “I’m sorry Kasey… please don’t cry…” Kasey’s desperation quickly formed into anger. She snatched away from Jasmine’s grasp, “Leave me alone!” Jasmine was taken by surprise, “What is wrong with you?” Kasey began to back away, “Don’t touch me you mean b***h!” At that point, Jasmine’s own sorrow turned into fury. She grabbed Kasey’s throat and slammed her against a wall, “Listen here you little rat! I don’t care how sad you are or whatever; you will NOT call me that! You understand?!” Kasey panicked, “Let me go!” in her struggle to free herself from Jasmine’s grasp, she accidently scratched her. Jasmine dropped her. The two observed the blood which trickled in a small stream from Jasmine’s face.  Kasey was horrified. With tears pouring from her eyes she began to plead desperately “I-I-I’m s-so s-s-sorry I didn’t mean to…” It was then that Jasmine finally realized that Kasey was, in fact, terrified and intimidated by her. “Please don’t hurt me… I-I’m sorry…!” Kasey continued to beg as she backed slowly away. Jasmine, herself, was terrified. She was always kind to other animals and could never imagine intimidating others to an extreme like that, “Are you alright…?” She whispered nervously. Kasey continued to cry and desperately plead, “I’m so sorry…” Jasmine began realize that she intimidated Kasey to such an extreme that Kasey feared for her life hen she crossed her. “Kasey…” she cried weakly, “Don’t be afraid of me… please… I would NEVER hurt you…” Kasey looked up at her, “You… you wouldn’t...?” Jasmine shook her head, “No Kasey I wouldn’t… I… I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for you to be afraid of me… I just…” Kasey stopped backing away, “You won’t… hurt me will you…?” Jasmine was in tears now, “No never…” Kasey began to feel sorry for her, “You don’t have to cry anymore Jasmine… It’s okay I’m not mad at you anymore…” Jasmine looked away, “I’m sorry Kasey I…” Kasey smiled, “You keep saying that… It’s okay…” Jasmine smiled a little, “Okay just checking…”

            Flannery sat by the door hugging her tail, nervously waiting for Terry to come. “I don’t understand why you’re so scared about this.” Her aggression said, “It’s not like Terry was your best friend anyway. See how easily she just dumped you?” Flannery nodded, “She said I was too young… She said maybe we could find someone else.” Her aggression laughed, “Yeah sounds like some friend.” Flannery hugged her tail tighter, “Then while I was crying she told me to leave… she…” Her aggression interrupted, “Yes I know, I handled that one remember?” Flannery nodded, “I remember.” Suddenly she could here the elevator door open from the outside. “Oh my god its her…” She gasped. “Just let me do the talking.” Her aggression reminded her, “Let me do the talking.” The footsteps in the hallway got louder and louder as the figure approached the room and then there was a long moment of silence. “Is she there…?” Flannery whispered. Right after she said that there was a knock on the door followed by Terry’s voice, “Flannery! I’m here! Open up so we can catch up! I haven’t talked to you in years!” “Do it…” Flannery’s aggression ordered. Flannery hid the knife under a pot and opened the door slowly. Terry had appeared older and more intimidating, “Oh my have you grown!” Flannery backed up. “Can I come in?” Terry asked walking in and closing the door. “What do you want?” Flannery asked, her voice breaking in fear. “I just wanted to catch up with the last four years of our lives Flannery…” Terry replied, her voice sounded sarcastic; “I hadn’t seen you since you killed your little friend.” Flannery became angry, “Listen if you’re here to piss me off then you can get the hell out!” Terry’s eyes widened, “Oh I see you’ve become more aggressive than you were when we were going out. You ever asked yourself why we broke up?” Flannery looked away, “You said I was too young…” “And?” Terry frowned. Flannery looked up at her, “And what?” “You were such a little scared puppy all the time. If I’d leave you by yourself you would freak out. If I came home late you would cry like a b***h!” Terry voice began to rise. “I cried because I actually cared about you! I LOVED you!!” Flannery countered, “I worried about you… like you never did for me!” Terry was furious, “All this stuff I did for you? I fed your little scrawny a*s! I gave you a place to stay and I took care of you and this is what I get?” She began to walk towards her, “You think you can leave me here to burn while you’re enjoying your little fantasy life with your pretty mother and her tons of cash? What about me Flannery? What about all the stuff I did for you?! Screw it right?! Just forget about me and go on living your life right Flannery?” Flannery shrugged, “Well that’s what you told me to do when you dumped me. You told me to go find someone else and I did and you know what? I’m happier now without you.” Terry lost control of herself and produced her claws, “We’ll see how happy with your blood all over these walls…!” She began to run towards her. Flannery felt the aggression trying to take control of her, “Let me do the talking.” Flannery closed her eyes and allowed what she had feared for so long to control her. Her eyes turned blood-red and her fur spiked. Terry stopped, “What the…” Flannery began to walk towards Terry, her aggression in complete control, “I’ve had enough of you…” she growled in a scarier tone. At that point she ran for the knife. Terry wasn’t familiar with Flannery’s aggression but she knew she had to protect herself. Desperately, Terry tried to grab hold of Flannery but it was no use. Flannery had slipped out of her grasp and jammed the knife into Terry’s side. She howled in pain and tried to retreat to the door. Flannery pulled the knife from her side and prepared for yet another attack. “Flannery what are you doing?” Terry cried.  She didn’t respond. Instead, she walked up to Terry who was cowering in a corner beside the door. “Flannery you don’t want to do this!” Terry pleaded trying to back further away. Flannery’s aggression smiled sadistically, “Actually I do…” And with that she brought the knife down into Terry’s belly. She cried in pain and tried to grab the knife from Flannery but failed once again. Flannery held the knife beside her throat, “For so long I’ve had to deal with you ruining my life… but no more….” Afterwards she jammed the full length of the knife into Terry’s chest. Terry cried desperately but Flannery kept on it. She removed the knife and forced it up into Terry’s neck finishing her off. The aggression in her subsided allowing Flannery control of herself again. “Oh my god…” Flannery gasped backing away from the wound riddled Terry. She herself was covered in Terry’s blood, “Is she… Is she…?” “Yes she’s dead.” Her aggression replied.  “What’re we going to do now?” Flannery asked looking around. “We have to run.” Her aggression replied, “We have to…” She was interrupted by the sound of keys opening the door and the voices of the SS officers. Flannery froze in fear as the door swung open. She dropped the knife. “What the hell…” One of the SS officers muttered as they observed the blood-covered room and Flannery who was also covered in blood. “What happened here?” Another SS officer questioned walking towards her. Flannery was too afraid to speak. “Sir we have a body.” Another SS officer informed, “It looks like she killed terry.”

            Flannery was taken to the hospital for a mental examination later that night. After the examination was completed, she and the other SS officials awaited the results.  She sat in a room with nothing but a table and two chairs. The room was white all over and had a single lamp swinging above the table. The room smelled plain, kind of like the rest of the hospital. The door opened and a large male wolf walked in, “Flannery… How are you tonight?” She remained quiet. The wolf sat down, “Well you can’t be too well, considering you just killed someone.” Flannery looked away. So tell me what happened. Flannery looked at him and then back down, “I killed her…” The wolf sat back, “Flannery, I know you well enough to know that you couldn’t even kill a fly.” She looked up at him, “So you don’t believe me?” The wolf shook his head, “Course I do, but I don’t believe it was mentally you who killed her.” Flannery looked away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The wolf leaned forward and handed her a folder, “Do you want to see your mental exam results?” Flannery shook her head and pushed the folder away. The wolf retrieved it, “You have an extreme case of schizophrenia, the type where you have several different personalities at once.” Flannery looked away. The wolf sat back, “Do you understand?” She didn’t respond. “There’s going to be a lot of things happening to you for these next several years. I promise you, you will go crazy,” The wolf smiled and got up, “Take her to her little special room.” Another wolf came and dragged her of toward the insanity ward. On her way there her aggressive personality began to speak to her again. “I’m going to break us out of here.” Flannery whispered, “You got me into a lot of trouble already…” Her personality hissed, “Do you want to escape or sit here and be poked and prodded for the rest of your life?” The guard stopped at a door, “Wait here.” Flanner sat down by the door. “Do you realize what they’ll do to us?” Her personality continued. Flannery nodded, “Okay… but don’t kill anyone…” Afterwards, she could feel he aggression taking over once again. The guard returned to the door, “Alright I’ll be here soon as I drop this crazy b***h off in her cage.” The guard closed the door and then looked at Flannery. Her eyes turned red and her fur spiked as usual. “What the hell is…” Flannery’s personality hopped onto the guard, seized his throat, and ripped it out. After she hid the guard’s body, Flannery’s personality ran off towards the elevator. She ran down the hallway where the elevator was visible toward the end of it however cover was limited. Suddenly the elevator began to open. Flannery quickly ran and hid behind a water fountain. Two doctors emerged from the elevator and walked past her.  She slipped by and entered the elevator unnoticed. “We’re almost there…” Her personality muttered to Flannery. The floor indicators in the elevator were quickly counting down to the first floor until the elevator suddenly stopped at the fourth floor. “Crap…” Flannery’s aggression muttered. She looked up to a trap door leading to the shaft, “That’s our way out.”  She ran and jumped off one wall of the elevator onto the other wall until she reached the top of the elevator where she pried open the trap door and climbed into the elevator shaft. The shaft was pitch dark and the several sounds the lift controls made added to the eeriness of the surroundings. The elevator started up again and began to descend to the first floor. Minutes later, the elevator hit ground floor. Flannery waited for the elevator’s occupants to leave before she slid from the shaft into the elevator and out into the lobby. It was late at night so there was hardly anyone at the hospital with the exception of a female wolf at the front desk. “Okay we’re free…” Flannery’s personality informed her and was about to restore control to her until an SS official busted them. “Hey you get over here!” The SS officer cried out running after them. Flannery looked back, ran out of the hospital, and headed for the nearest forest to shake the SS officer. “Almost there…” Flannery muttered as they neared the forest. She looked back and the SS officer had disappeared, “We lost him.” They reached a section of the Eucadian wall which had been demolished and escaped the city. Flannery’s aggression returned control to her when they reached the outskirts. “What now?” Flannery asked continuing outwards. “Just keep running.” Her aggression replied. Flannery continued on for miles west without any idea where she was going. “Do you know where we’re going? I don’t want to…” Suddenly Flannery ran into a reddish-brown panda. She hit it so hard that she and the panda flew in opposite directions few feet and landed on her back. The panda looked back and got up. Flannery was afraid, “I’m sorry mister I…” The panda bear nodded, “It is quite okay. I see you are in a hurry.” He spoke softly. Flannery backed away, “Yeah I… I’m…” The Panda smiled kindly, “You seem very tense. There is nothing to be afraid of I assure you. Why don’t you have some tea?” Flannery nodded, “Okay…” Her aggression became furious, “Flannery we HAVE TO GO!” The panda’s facial expression changed as if he heard Flannery’s aggression speak, “I am truly sorry for interrupting but why are you in such a hurry? Flannery’s eyes widened, “You heard me?” The panda smiled, “No, I heard someone else.” Flannery’s aggression began to talk to her, “This guy is getting in our way… let me kill him…” Flannery shook her head, “No…” The panda frowned, “Why do you want to kill me?” Flannery’s aggression was surprised by this, “He can hear me?” The panda nodded, “Yes I can.” Flannery looked back at him, “Who…who are you…?” The panda smiled, “I am sorry how rude of me, my name is Theo.” Flannery’s personality was trying to control her again and it was apparent that Theo, the panda, could feel it. “Why are you haunting this little girl?” Theo asked Flannery’s aggression. She looked away, “I’m protecting her.” Theo picked up a small pot of tea and poured him and Flannery a cup, “It appears to me that you are causing much trouble in her life.” Flannery nodded, “Yes… She is…” Her aggression became angry, “Whose side are you on?!” Theo leaned back against a tree, “She is on her own side. Continue on.” Flannery looked away, “I have schizophrenia… It… she, can easily control me at anytime…” Theo nodded, “I see…” Flannery continued, “She made me kill…Terry and… and… many others…” Tears formed in her eyes, “I just want to live a normal life…” Theo smiled and leaned down to her, “I could make this all go away.” Flannery quickly looked up at him, “What? Really?” Theo nodded, “It is like a sickness… as a matter of fact, It IS a sickness, a mental sickness that can be healed easily. It is a painful process but I assure you it works.” Flannery’s aggression was Furious, “So you’re going to stop this whole journey because some stupid Panda bear tells you he can get rid of me?” Flannery nodded, “Yes, I want you gone…” Theo nodded, “Okay then, I will go and gather the necessary herbs and you head up the hill to my home and just relax until I get back.” Flannery nodded as Theo disappeared into the forest. “Listen to me! I’m the only thing that’s keeping you alive!” Flannery’s aggression cried, “You can’t do this to me!” Flannery shook her head, “It’s your entire fault I’m here anyway and you keep on killing so it’s about time you stopped.”

            Missy slip through the front door of the HQ which had been left open by Drake, the inside operating wolf. It was Dark and the sound of the rain hitting the glass roof of the lobby sent chills through her spine but she knew how important her leg of the plot was so she continued on the fourth floor where she was to meet Drake. The elevator door slid open revealing the fourth floor. It was as eerie and quiet at the lobby but she had to go through and find Drake anyway. She walked slowly past offices and windows until she reached the office where Drake was. She softly knocked on the door, “It’s me…” “Come on it,” Drake informed from behind the door, “are you being followed?” Missy looked behind her, “I don’t think so…” “Good…” He replied. Missy entered through the office where Drake, a black wolf, was sitting. “You have the information?” She nodded and handed the files to him. “Excellent, we’ll plant these in the main database and then the security filters will flag them.” Missy didn’t understand but she didn’t want him to know that, “Okay…” Drake slid out of his seat, “Come, and let me show you.” She followed him to a room which had previously been opened by drake. “This is the database, everything that the SS and the military are doing goes through this computer here. If any spying, or espionage of any sort is suspected, the files are flagged and whoever’s files they’re would be arrested. Missy nodded. “So what we’re doing here is planting espionage files here which has no particular owner, this will cause the SS to search within its own people to find out who’s it is.” Drake then entered the information which caused the computer to flash red, “It’s done. How about we go fetch something to eat?” Missy shrugged, “Okay.” The two locked up the HQ and left.

            The sun peered over the horizon but the rain continued to fall as Alex, Baron, and Ty walked the soaked plains headed to the USP. It was their first day in the Pacifican army and they were all excited. “First thing I’m going do is check out the pretty nurses.” Alex said following the others. “I’m going to take a nap.” Baron mumbled staring at the ground. “Forget that. I just want to kill something!” Ty cried in excitement. “Good luck… I heard the Eucadians were tearing us apart…” Alex replied, “You’re lucky if they don’t kill you first.” Ty shook his head, “No one can kill me. I’m unstoppable!” “The animals who think that why are usually the first ones killed in war…” Baron mumbled still watching the ground. The two looked at him. “You okay Baron? You’re acting weird…” Alex said, “Are you tired?” Baron shook his head, “I’m starting to think that this whole ‘join the military’ thing wasn’t such a good idea…” Ty’s eyes widened, “What? Why not? Imagine all the pretty…” Baron cut him off, “The only pretty girls you’ll see are medics who are mostly covered in blood and trying to keep you alive long enough to die somewhere else.” Alex looked away. Ty frowned, “Why are you thinking that way?” Baron glanced back at the ground, “I don’t know… it’s just that…” Ty and Alex waited for his response but Baron shook his head, “Never mind…” The three reached the outskirts of the United States of Pacifica and continued on to where they were to check in. “Just try to think positive and we might be able to survive this…” Alex whispered to Baron as they approached the military base. The base, which was surrounded by a fence, was located in the center of a thick forest in order to preserve secrecy. Everywhere they looked there were USP soldiers. “Hey what’s up?” a soldier came up to them. The USP soldier, a wolf, had dark black fur all over making him easily hidden at night. He spoke slang.  “Where y’all stationed?” He continued. “We’re uh…” Ty began, “We’re with the thirty-fifth.” The wolf smiled and nodded, “A’ight cool, you’re with us.” He led them to a set of buildings where many wolves gathered. “This is where we’re going to be at.” The wolf began, “First of all I’m cousins, private cousins. You can call me Ben.” The three nodded. “Everyone else is irrelevant but I guess I’ll show you around and give y’all some information cuz I ain’t got nothin’ else to do.” Ben said as he began to walk towards the buildings. “This is my dog, Dante.” Ben informed pointing at a male wolf who was talking to a female one. He too had midnight-black fur. “Your Dog?” Alex asked nervously, “He’s a dog?” Ben looked down and shook his head, “Naw man, forget it.” The three nodded. “Don’t worry about him anyway; he’s always flirting with some girl’.” Ben continued walking. Suddenly a white female wolf ran up to him. She appeared overly-excited and wore a cute, optimistic smile. “Hey Ben where’ve you been?” she giggled, “Haha I rhymed…” The three looked at each other. “Anyways… I’ve been looking all over for you!” Ben frowned, “For what?” The female sat down, “Uhhh…” There was an awkward silence for about three minutes before she spoke again, “I forgot…” Ben frowned. “Okay… yeah, this is Kylie, our medic.” He mumbled, “She’s a trick, yes, but she can do some medical magic.” Kylie giggled, “Medical magic… good one,” she looked over at Alex, Baron, and Ty, “Hi are you guys new?” Ty smiled and nodded. She looked over at Ben who just got finished rolling his eyes, “Are they new?” Ben frowned again, “didn’t he JUST SAY…” He smacked his head with his paw, “YES, Kylie, they’re new… Don’t you have anything official you should be doing?” Her face lit up, “Oh my god YES THERE IS!” she looked over to the new recruits, “By guys I hope to see you out there on the battlefield!” She thought for a second, “Wait never mind I hope I DON’T see you out there because that would mean you got hurt and I don’t want you to get hurt…” Ben pointed away, “Go, Kylie.” She waved one last time, “Bye!” Ty smiled as she left, “She’s hot.” Ben nodded, “Yes but she’s stupid. Anyway let me introduce you guys to more people.” The four continued through the Unit HQ. “Over there, that’s Travis.” Ben pointed to a sleeping Labrador retriever. The three looked strangely at him. “What’s up with him?” Ty asked. “He’s a dog,” Ben mumbled, “He’s a wanna-be wolf that’s why he don’t get no girls.” Baron smiled, “I like him, he looks cute!” Ben looked over at Baron. “Aye, Yo Ben!” a wolf cried out from behind him. Ben glanced back, “Awww Dang check out Nick!” The three glanced over at Nick who appeared younger than he actually was and was shorter than everyone else. “What up?” he asked sitting down, “Who they is?” Ben nodded, “Yeah these are the new recruits” The three waved. Nick smiled, “Chyea… A’ight cool welcome to the thirty-fifth y’all.” He looked over at Ben, “Where’s Darryl?” Ben shrugged. Nick shook his head, “Trifflin… Anyway I’ll catch y’all later.” He then walked off. Ben nodded, “A’ight let’s go find Mr. Hardy.” The four continued into the cafeteria where the concentration of wolves dropped. “There he go.” Ben pointed to the corner where a gray and black wolf sat talking to Kylie the medic. “The thing about Mr. Hardy is that he has the exact name of the Eucadian leader, Darryl. So we give him hell for that, but he’s A’ight.” The three approached him. “What up Mr. Hardy?” Ben nodded, “These are the new recruits.” Mr. Hardy looked over at them, “What’s up?” Ty looked at him, “are you the boss around here?” Mr. Hardy laughed, “Naw man Ben just calls me that cuz he respect me.” Ben shook his head, “Naw screw that.” Kylie smiled, “Hi guys I remember you!” Mr. Hardy covered her mouth with his paw, “Don’t talk them to death.” She nodded and pulled his paw from over her mouth, “Okay!” Mr. Hardy continued, “Anyway, my name’s Darryl. But you can call me… whatever.” The three nodded. “I’m a private too so I’m no one special.” Darryl continued, “Did you meet the sergeant yet?” The three shook their heads. He nodded, “Okay cool, he’s a nice guy you’ll like him.” The three continued on to the Sergeant’s office. “Matt! You there?” Ben shouted into the office. There was a short silence and then the sergeant responded, “Yeah I’m here… just… let me finish up this…uhh… paperwork.” Ben shook his head, “Dumbass…” a few minutes passed and the sergeant finally acknowledged, “Alright Ben whatchu got for me?” “Couple of new recruits sir.” Ben replied looking at Ty, Alex, and Baron. Matt laughed, “Come on in Cousins, and call me Matt, please.” The four of them entered Matt’s office. “So you three are our new recruits, Where you boys from?” The three looked at each other in order to decide who was going to answer. “Veridia, sir.” Ty answered. Matt nodded, “Cool, So anyway we’re supposed to be the recon unit but I so graciously decided to form a small special operations unit. Its got me, Ben here, Dante, Darryl, Jared, and a few more of us in it just to keep it simple. But aside from the nonsense I want to know if you guys are up for it?” Ty, Alex, and Baron glanced at each other. “What do you guys think?” Ty whispered. Alex nodded, “Why not?” Baron just shrugged. “Excellent. You guys made a good decision. There’s more money in it and…” Matt’s phone began to ring, “Damn it’s my wife…” He mumbled and picked up the phone. The four left Matt’s office and headed for the barracks where they were to live.

            Flannery sat and awaited Theo’s return, her alternative personality continued to pressure her. “Don’t do this!” It cried out but she ignored, “You’re going to throw this all away because of some stupid panda?!” Flannery was in tears, “I don’t want to kill anymore…” Her personality became even more furious, “Okay fine, I didn’t want to do this but it’s for your own good….” Suddenly Flannery began to lose control of herself. “What are you doing?!” She cried out as she lost control to her alternate personality. “Time to settle some unfinished business…” her aggression, now totally in control mumbled and headed down to where Theo the panda had left. Theo was singing a Chinese hymn and picking herbs from the dark forest when Flannery’s alternative appeared behind him. She wanted to surprise attack him but he already knew what had happened. “I see you have returned.” Theo whispered as he continued to pick herbs from the forest floor, “I figured it would only be a matter of when.” Flannery smiled spitefully, “I’m glad you’re anticipating me ripping your heart out, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.” Theo continued to pick the herbs, “Yes it is quite understandable, your motives, but there is some things I do not quite fully understand. Where did you come from and why haunt such an innocent puppy?” Flannery became agitated, “I don’t have to explain anything to you! And why don’t you give me the respect to look at me when I’m talking to you!” Theo continued to pick the herbs. Flannery’s attempts at intimidating Theo failed, “Listen to me, you need to understand that…” Flannery interrupted him, “No you listen to me!” Theo nodded, “Okay then, continue.” Flannery did just that, “Your little “humbleness” and “patience is all going to be a waste when I rip your neck out!” Theo sat back and laughed, “There is quite a bit of talk in such a small size.” Flannery was infuriated. She backed up and prepared to charge him, “There’s quite a bit of depth in these claws too!” In seconds she was running towards him preparing to latch on to his neck but in an instant he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the ground. “Has your mother not taught you to respect your elders?” Theo mumbled pinning her to the ground. Flannery slipped out of his grasp and dug her fangs into his arm. Quickly, he grabbed her tail and pulled her off. “Let me go!” Flannery cried out dangling by her tail. “I do not wish to harm you, but if this continues I will be forced to.” Theo warned setting her down. Against his suggestions, Flannery made another charge. She ran full speed towards him but her charge was ended more forcefully than the other. Theo made a fist and swung right when she neared him. She crashed into his fist as if it were a brick wall. She fell back and struggled to recover. Blood poured from her nose onto the ground as she struggled to brace for another charge. “Let us stop this!” Theo cried out in frustration. Flannery shook her head and spit blood from her mouth, “Not until you’re dead…” She once again sent another charge his way. Theo stood up. Once Flannery got near him he quickly grabbed her by the back of the neck and drove a fist into her stomach forcing more blood out of her mouth. He than threw her against a tree. Flannery was in bad condition now. She struggled to stand but her left, front leg had been broken. Blood poured from her nose and streamed from her mouth. Tears of frustration began to well up in her eyes, “Why won’t you just die…” Theo walked towards her and held out his paw, “I do not wish to harm you any further. Please, let me help you.” Flannery backed away, “Don’t touch me…” Theo continued towards her, “Flannery listen to me.” She looked up to him, “Who are you…?” He smiled and sat beside her, “I am but a humble old friend.” Flannery grabbed her broken leg and licked her wounds. She was totally submissive. Theo gently picked her up, “I wish to apologize for the violence.” Flannery nodded slightly, “Its okay…” Theo took her back to his small house and began treating her wounds.

            The next day began with sirens blaring from the SS. Eucadian security boosted tremendously as the gates were shut and the wall was occupied. The breach at the SS headquarters had been discovered and all was going to plan. SS officers crowded the HQ as security forces flooded the city. Meanwhile, Katelyn left to alert the group. “The call went out. The SS has been notified.” She informed the group. The organization gathering began to applause. Katelyn went to the background to meet with Red and her daughter, Missy. “So were the SS notified about the breach?” Katelyn nodded, “Thanks to Missy.” Red nodded, “Alright now to the next leg of the plan.” On the other side of the city, Steel briefed his army in preparation to attack the leader. “Alright the time is now, the leader is under attack by Veridian spies and it is up to use to purge this place of them.” The thousands of wolves then started for the leader’s headquarters. Steel’s army ripped through the gate with little resistance and the thousand of wolves pushed towards the HQ and crushed SS resistance. The leader sat and stared out the window as one of his associates came up to him. “Sir there’s a… It’s Steel’s army they’re…” Suddenly three wolves from Steel’s army tore down the door. One wolf seized the leader’s associate by the throat and snapped his neck. The leader backed away, “What’s the meaning of this?!” The three wolves sat down as Steel entered the room. “Steel what the hell is going on here?!” The leader cried out. Steel smiled, “Sir its about time there was a small shift in… leadership.” The leader was infuriated, “This is outrageous! This is treason!” Steel proceeded towards the leader who violently tore his claws through Steel’s face initiating the assassination. Steel and the leader went back and forth fighting for nearly hours before the leader finally became tired. Steel picked up a sharp fireplace pick and walked towards the badly injured leader. “You… won’t get away with this…” The leader muttered sitting up against the wall. Steel smiled, “probably not.” With that, he forced the fireplace pick through the leader’s chest. “Mission accomplished.” Steel announced to the three wolves, “You’re all cleared to go.” Two of the wolves left leaving Steel and the hired soldier alone. “So how do you feel private? You were just part of the biggest and most successful Coup d etat in Eucadian history.” The hired wolf remained quiet. Instead, he slipped his claws out and walked towards Steel. Steel heard him coming and turned around to see him face to face. The soldier wasn’t expecting this so he froze in terror. “What’s this?” Steel frowned observing the wolf. The hired soldier thought to himself, “It must be done…” With that the hired wolf ran at steel and dug his claws in Steel’s neck. The muscles in Steel’s neck protected him from the attack, “So this is it huh?” Steel then grabbed the wolf by the back of its neck and slammed him against a wall. The hired wolf was terrified. “Who hired you?” Steel growled as he held his long, sharp claws against the hired wolf’s throat. “R-r-red…” the wolf mumbled. Steel nodded, “Ah a double-crossing.” He ripped the hired wolf’s throat out. “Red made the biggest mistake of his life.” Steel thought to himself. He went out to where the two wolves waited, “There’s been a change of plans.”                 

             The Capital city of the UNIL remained under continuous siege for days after it began. The lions were to hold off the Eucadian invasion until their reinforcements, provided by the USP, came. But reinforcements never came. Dawn hit and a ceasefire was emplaced. “Sir it’s not looking good…” The head medical technician suggested to the UNIL general, “They’re smaller than us but there are definitely more of them than us.” The general looked away, “What’s the status?” The Medical tech said nothing. “What’s the status!?” the general cried in frustration. “Twenty-three thousand wounded even more have been killed… there are about 50 patients per medics so we don’t have enough of them… Most of ‘em are females so you know how that is…” The general nodded, “Then its time.” The medical tech looked up at him, “Time for what?” The general muttered, “The flamethrowers.” An hour passed after the Lion general gave the order to deploy UNIL-patented flamethrowers. The flamethrower nozzle fits over the user’s muzzle and is fed pressurized napalm from a tank carried on the user’s back. The Flamethrower provides extra protection as well as extra “fire-power” against the Eucadian wolves. The only downsides are that its heavy and impedes agility. The flamethrower was deployed by the thousands that night and will be used later that night in a surprise attack. Night fell hours later and the sounds of nature were drowned out by the advancing lion army. A line of flamethrower-carriers led the advancement toward the sleeping and recovering Eucadian army. A Eucadian scout sat watching the horizon for any sign of lions in the distance. Little did he know that the lions were only a few hundred feet away. As the lions began up the hill the scout noticed a distinctive red glow that flamethrower’s eye-guards gave off. Instead of alerting the Eucadians he proceeded to investigate. As he closed in on the hill, the distinctive red glow line miles across. He froze in terror. Quickly and desperately he turned towards the Eucadian camp and attempted to warn the others but before he could even mutter a sound, he was engulfed in flames by a flamethrower-carrying lion. The scout cried out in pain as the flames burned his eyes, his fur, and every part of his body until the napalm left nothing but his charred remains.  The lions continued on to the rear camp entrance which opens right into the medical tent where female Eucadian medics treated the wounded soldiers. A female medic, who was writing in her dairy, was the first to catch sight of the lions. The red glow from the eye-guards on the flamethrowers petrified her. The lions proceeded into the tent and began to burn everything they could see, including the injured Eucadian wolves. The Eucadian watch towers caught sight of the fires and immediately sounded the alarms. Floods of Eucadian wolves poured from their barracks to face their new enemy. “What the hell is that?” one of them cried out as the caught sight of a heavily armored, flamethrower-carrying lion. “Who cares let’s kill it.” Another responded and several of them went off to do so. They tried to dig their claws into the lion’s side but the armor repelled their attack. The lion countered by igniting his attackers. The flamethrowers proved useful. Thousands of surviving Eucadian wolves ran away from the invading lions. Fire lit up the night sky while the assault continued. Everything in the Eucadian camp was charred and not a single Eucadian wolf remained. Except one. The Female medic, Kiara, who was writing in her diary earlier pretended to be dead in order to escape death. But now she was trapped. Lions were everywhere and there appeared to be no way out. She lay in a pool of blood as lions stepped past her until one stepped on her. She held her breath to try and avoid crying in pain. A six-hundred pound lion stepped on her waist and dislocated her rear-left leg. Tears poured out of her eyes as she continued to hold the pain in. She watched in horror as the lions burned injured survivors and innocent medics. Kiara new that she had to escape because if she didn’t she’d surely be killed. Slowly, she crawled towards the rear entrance in hopes of escape. Her rear-right leg was still dislocated so every now-and-then she’d receive a shock of intense pain from that region of her body. Kiara had just reached the entrance of the gate and started to leave until a lion stepped on her tail and mutter, “Where do you think you’re going?” She turned around right into the face of a flamethrower-carrying lion. The eye-guards on the flamethrowers made it look like the lion’s eyes glowed red. The lion’s flamethrower nozzle had blood on it from the Eucadians. Kiara was petrified. “Please don’t hurt me…” she squealed in fear but the lion wasn’t hearing it. A stream of ignited napalm shot from the nozzle onto her and it immediately began to burn. The flames engulfed her as she cried out in both fear and pain. Her cries were drowned out by laughter from the lions as she succumbed to the flames. Just like that, the tables were turned. The lions resorted to their secret weapon and wiped out two thirds of the invaders. “This is only the beginning!” The lion general cried out in triumph. The lions cheered. “Now, it’s off to Caniridia to restore order, char these worthless rats and show them who the true superior species are!”

            “Wake up guys you have to see this!” Ben announced to the barracks where Alex, Baron, and Ty slept. A crowd had already formed around the Television screen which displayed the news. “What’s going on?” Ty muttered as they approached the crowd. “Apparently there was a takeover attempt at Eucadia.” Ben informed them, “The Leader’s been assassinated and the SS is scrambling to find out who did it.” The Crowd watched attentively as the news continued. “Eucadian Secret Service official correspondent Michael Felice here has alerted me that there has in fact been an arrest. A suspected group of anarchist called the “Organization” has been suspected in the Coup involving the leader’s death.” The reporter announced. The camera then switched to an SS official, “Yes the “organization” has been suspected in the Coup that happened yesterday. We have made several arrests of suspects and we will inform you as we learn the situation.” The news reporter continued, “New elected leader Steel announced the suspects just a few hours ago and…” Matt switched off the TV. “Listen up everyone this is the perfect opportunity. Just yesterday, the Veridian war ministry officials informed me that a few of their spies have been captured and are being held prisoner at a prison within the walls of Eucadia’s capital. They know a lot of valuable information regarding Eucadia’s plan to cross the sea into Siberia and England.” The crowd was silent. “Now the plan is to take only ten of us and meet ten of Veridia’s spies halfway to Eucadia. We are then going to enter the gates and free the Veridian spies.” Someone from the crowd cried out, “Who’s going to be the ten?” Matt frowned, “My unit you idiot,” He continued, “So we’re leaving in the morning to meet them and then tomorrow night we’ll get in.” After Matt left the crowd began to talk amongst themselves about the news. “Who’s in Matt’s unit again?” Alex asked Ben. He laughed, “You’re alright man: You, Ty, Baron, Me, Darryl, Dante, Thomson, Shepherd, Kylie, and Matt.” Alex’s eyes widened. Ben continued, “I hope you’re ready to kick some a*s.”

            “So he went to the army?” Kasey asked as she and Jasmine walked down the Marketplace. Jasmine nodded, “Yeah I asked him why he did that, he just said “because I’m bored.” Kasey laughed, “That sounds like him…” Jasmine continued, “Only thing is, now I’m bored.” “You know there’s a medic program going on here; Veridian Medics go to the USP to train. You might be able to see him and the others of you go.” Jasmine looked at her, “Really? Is it good?” Kasey nodded, “My dad told me I should do it, I might, you interested?” Jasmine quickly nodded, “Yeah that sounds great!” The two continued down the market place. “So tell me more about this project thingy.” Jasmine asked excitedly. “Well basically you learn to stitch and…uh… be a nurse I guess.” Kasey replied, “I always wanted to be a nurse.” Jasmine frowned, “I never really caught that when I was younger… I always wanted to draw. I remember I used to always draw wolves and others would call them dogs.” Kasey smiled, “I didn’t know you could draw, you should show me some of your work next time you can.” Jasmine nodded. The two reached Kasey’s house, a small cottage near the rear of the city. The area that was bombed four years ago. “Here we are.” Kasey announced. Kasey’s mother was not much taller than she was and they didn’t look alike. Her mother looked more like a wolf whereas Kasey looked more like a dog. “Hi Kasey, who’s your friend?” Her mother asked washing dishes. “This is Jasmine.” Kasey muttered. “Kasey has a friend? No way.” Kasey’s older brother laughed. He was playing Playstation. “Shut up you idiot.” She mumbled as they went to her room. “I left the papers somewhere around here…” Kasey said digging around her messy room, “Here they are.” She handed them to Jasmine. The papers explained the Veridian medic program. She read through them, “Sounds good, does it say in here when we go off to USP?” Kasey shook her head, “I think its sometime next week though I’m not sure.” Jasmine nodded, “Okay then we should sign up.” Kasey nodded, “Signup’s at the HQ we can go in the morning.”

            Katelyn sat quietly in front of her captors. She had been accused of leading the plot to kill the leader and overthrow the government. “I’ll ask you one more time, who help you with the planning?” an SS official questioned. Katelyn shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I had nothing to do with anything.” The SS official was frustrated, “You’re being accused of treason at the highest level, miss, and you refuse to let the others share the fall? Do you realize that your level of treason is punishable by execution at the least? If you give us information about your accomplices I’ll plead your case and at least give you life in prison. At least you’ll be alive…” Katelyn smiled, “I don’t want life in prison, I’d rather die.” The SS official banged a fist on the table, “Listen to me!” But Katelyn interrupted, “No you listen, if SS intelligence was as good as they say, you wouldn’t be wasting time with me you idiot.” The SS official grabbed her and pulled her closer to him, “If you want to die, fine, but this is a matter of national security!” Katelyn smiled, “Your going to have to execute me because I don’t know anything.” Meanwhile, Red and Katelyn’s daughter, Missy, snuck past SS security and made their way toward an abandoned nuclear power plant at the northernmost part of the city. It was located on a secluded part of the city which hung on a sea cliff hundreds of feet above the sea. “We should be safe here until our passports arrive.” Red assured her, “Always have backup plans.” Missy was obviously nervous. The smell of steel and an odd odor similar to a doctor’s office filled the area. Odd signs with a radiation and skull and cross bone symbol reading “Warning: Radiation” dotted the area along with eerie abandoned buildings and it was quiet, with only the sound of the sea below to comfort her.  She as afraid, yes, but she was perhaps more concerned about her mother, “What about my mother…?” Red said nothing. “Red, is she going to be okay?” He tried his best not to tell her what was really going on. He figured she was too young to bare the blame. “What happened?” Missy continued to question him. The SS officials figured out the plot first because of the hired wolf’s failed attempt at killing Steel and while Missy was planting the espionage files in the SS mainframe she forgot to erase her mother’s name off of it. Red knew this but he, once again, didn’t want to pin anything on her. “I don’t know…” He whispered softly. The two wandered the abandoned nuclear plant in search of a safe place to take shelter. “This is important.” Red began, “I need you to stay away from those towers,” He pointed to one of several large cooling towers, “that building,” He pointed to the main nuclear plant building, “and those signs. The reactors are in there and they’re highly radiated, the signs indicate radiation spots, and the cooling towers might house some too.” She was confused, “What does “radiation” mean?” Red was quiet for a while, “They can kill you… Just obey these rules and you’ll be fine.” They continued towards the end of the power plant. “I don’t like it here…” Missy whined, “Its scary… why do we have to stay here?” Red waited a minute before replying, “It’s important that no one sees us… No one comes here anymore so this is the safest place to be. Harrison will be here in a few days with our passports then it’s off to Siberia.” Missy stopped, “Why Siberia?” Red continued walking, “I have ties there.” Missy stood where she was, “But you told the organization that you didn’t have ties with Siberia!” Red stopped, “It’s not important Missy, Let’s get moving.” She remained where she was, “It IS important! It’s probably your fault the plan failed in the first place! And what were your plans if the plot worked? Were you planning to let your buddies in Siberia overrun us?” Red turned around, “There are things you don’t understand because you’re young and there are things the organization didn’t understand because of there fascist backgrounds. Eucadia is responsible for the displacement and almost extermination of millions of animals and for what reason? Total control. Our plans were to kill off every animal species other than our own and a source of food in order to achieve world domination, do you believe in that Missy? Do you think that Eucadia should kill billions of innocent animals in order to own the world?” Missy looked down and shook her head, “No…” Red continued, “Pretty soon Eucadia will posses one of the deadliest forms of energy every invented, Do you know what that is Missy?” She shook her head. “Look around you, Missy. Years ago I worked at this nuclear plant. We developed energy for the whole Nation, yes, but we also did research on nuclear fission. Robert, the lead technician, believed that if you could split an atom, it would release a devastating force of energy able to wipe out all life on earth, if it were big enough. So research was done and we were able to develop a hydrogen bomb minus the effects of Fallout. Imagine, a bomb that could wipe out a whole nation without worrying about the effects of radiation lingering afterwards. The idea was perfect however the bomb… It was never tested due to an accident that occurred. Here, where we stand now.” Missy looked around her, “An accident?” Red nodded, “one day the plant required maintenance on one of its biggest reactors, reactor 6. Everything as going according to plan, we brought productivity levels down to 40%, we pulled the fuel rods from place and we began the procedure. My shift began shortly after the procedure so I was just arriving when things began to go wrong. While we were in the reactor, productivity climbed due to emergency protocol from the other reactors that means in the case one fails the other ones will do more to fill that one’s spot. Well, this protocol is supposed to be suspended before this procedure, it wasn’t. So the reactors began to climb in productivity. What was supposed to happen now was we were to abort the operation.” Missy looked up at him, “But you didn’t?” Red nodded, “Yes, we continued. The fuel rods heated up in reactor 6, where we were, and steam pressure built up quickly sounding alarms and such. By then it was too late to stop it. Reactor 6 exploded killing many of our guys and sending tons of radioactive material in the atmosphere. I was in the break room when this happened.” “Were you radiated?” Missy asked. Red nodded, “Fur isn’t naturally red, Missy. The radiation turned mine from dark brown to hot red. It’s a small price to pay and it burned like fire. Radiation is extremely dangerous which is why you need to stay away from those radiated areas. But anyway, Nestonia, a small nation of peace-loving wolves, were killed off by the radioactive fallout from the explosion. After the situation was under control, Eucadia’s leader, back then, halted all nuclear programs and research. We had to decommission the H-bomb we created and give up the research we found.” Red looked down, “I fear that the new leader, Steel, will reproach nuclear technology in order to aid in domination.” “He knows about the program?” Missy asked quietly. “Yes, we worked together on it.” Red replied, “That’s why I was hoping we didn’t fail. Siberia and the United States are the only other superpowers that know about this alternative. It’s all under secrecy though; agencies such as Eucadia’s SS, Siberia’s KGB, and the United State’s CIA handle anything pertaining to this subject. So I never told you all this right?” Missy nodded. “Only the leaders of these agencies know about the devastating force of the H-bomb. Only they hold the power to kill off everything… and end the world as we know it.”

            The sun had nearly sunk behind the horizon when Matt and his unit reached the point where they were to meet up with the Veridian spies. “Where are they…?” Matt mumbled to himself. He was nervous about the mission he was to lead his unit into. Suddenly from behind them a group of Veridian wolves emerged from the thicket. “Sorry we’re late…” one of them, a female, apologized, “We left a little bit… behind schedule.” Matt nodded, “It’s…its fine…who’s your superior officer?” The female smiled kindly, “You’re looking at her, Sergeant.” Matt was struck with surprise, “Oh… Sorry it’s nice to meet you…uh…” “Blue, My name’s Blue.” The female finished. Consequently, she did have dark blue and black fur. Matt smiled, “Very nice…” Behind her was the Veridian spy unit. It was made up of ten wolves, all female. Blue glanced behind her and addressed her unit and Matt’s, “Okay so are you all clear with the plan?” Both agreed. “Okay good, we don’t have a lot of time so let’s go.” With that, both units proceeded to The Eucadian capital. It was a long run to the wall of the city and once they arrived there it was obvious that Eucadia’s security had been greatly effected by the failed coup d etat. “See? Piece of cake…” Blue giggled to Matt, “Once we get through this wall we’re home free.” “If that’s what you want to call it…” Matt mumbled back to her, “How do you suppose we climb the thirty-feet-tall wall?” Blue pointed to a tiny hole in the wall, “We squeeze through it… I hope you’re not claustrophobic, Sergeant…” Both units, starting with her’s, began to squeeze through the tiny hole in the wall. “How did you know that was there?” Matt asked Blue. “We sent someone over here overnight to drill it for us.” She replied, “So we didn’t have to struggle over the wall.”  After Blue’s unit were all on the other side, Alex, Ty, Baron, Ben, and the rest of Matt’s unit made their way through the hole which was very narrow and long.  Each member of Matt’s unit had trouble getting through unlike Blue’s unit which was all female. Pretty soon, the twenty wolves were standing in an alleyway between the wall and a building; inside the Capital city of Eucadia. “We better split up now,” Blue suggested as her and unit headed to the alleyway’s right exit, “You go that way and remember to keep a low profile.” After Blue and her unit disappeared from view, Matt’s unit emerged from the awkward silence. “Did you see that?” Ben muttered to Darryl. “Mhmm, I saw, it was a unit full of pretty Veridian girls, quite surprising,” Darryl replied, “Blue was perfect for you Matt.” Matt shook his head, “She’s a little crazy…” Thomson laughed, “So is your wife Matt, but that’s not stopping you is it?” Matt shrugged. “Yeah she was really pretty!” Kylie the medic added with excitement. The group fell silent. “Shut the hell up, Kylie.” Sheppard mumbled.   “So what now?” Ty asked peering out of the alleyway. Matt nodded, “I’m taking five to the district HQ and retrieve the files. The other five will watch over Blue and her unit.” “Didn’t she say to split up?” Dante asked. “Where she’s going she’ll definitely need to be watched over.” Matt responded. “Let’s hurry up and get this done. I hate this place.” Matt’s unit separated out to their assigned positions and was prepared to complete their mission when Blue and her unit reappeared minutes later. “Here’s your information, sergeant, and our spies are safe. We can go now.” Blue graciously informed Matt. “What? Already?” Matt stuttered, “But we just got here!” Blue smiled sweetly, “Well, Sergeant, we don’t need three days to complete a mission. It’s nice having you along though. I enjoyed you.” She kissed him gently on the cheek, “Okay let’s go!” Her unit returned to the hole in the wall while Matt and his unit were still in awe. “What the hell was that? They did our mission in half the time it’d take us to do it!” Darryl said, “I’m impressed.” Matt frowned, “Well I’m not.” His unit followed Blue’s to the hole in the wall. “Here’s to the shortest most dangerous mission we’ve ever done, not to mention by a bunch of females.” Ben mumbled to Ty, Alex, and Baron. “I don’t know, one of them was kind of hot.” Ty replied. Ben nodded, “Yeah, but don’t tell Matt that.” “I think Blue likes you Matt.” Shepherd laughed, “She sure is kissing up to you.” Matt shook his head, “I don’t want to hear this. Not now.”          

            The sun had nearly disappeared below the horizon when Flannery woke up. A day and a half had gone by while she slept so she was hungry and very weak. Theo the panda was nowhere to be found. She struggled to get up and walked towards the opening of Theo’s hut. There, she noticed a trail of blood leading outside and into the forest. “What the…” Flannery whispered to herself as she followed the trail of blood. The cobblestone walkway turned into gravel as she approached the campfire where she first met Theo. The trail of blood thickened and eventually led to the scene of an extremely violent confrontation between Theo and a pack of Eucadian wolves. Theo was bleeding heavily from his sides and face but managed to kill two of his attackers. There were twelve Eucadian wolves attacking the large panda bear, even his strength couldn’t match theirs. Flannery quickly took cover behind a bush and waited for the attack to subside. She watched and listened in horror as the bear that had shown her so much kindness was being mercilessly mauled and shredded apart by the Eucadian wolves. Several minutes had passed and the awkward silence had signified the end of the Eucadian wolves’ attack. “Leave ‘em there and go scout out the place.” one of the wolves commanded to the others, “She’s around here somewhere.” Flannery quietly retreated deeper into the forest. She knew that the attackers were searching for her. She sat in her spot for a few minutes until the attackers headed up to Theo’s hut. Quickly but quietly she ran over to Theo who was barely alive. “Wh-what happened…?” Flannery whispered. She was almost in tears. “They’re looking for you… you most go…” Theo replied weakly, “It is too late for me Flannery… I’ve done all I can…” Flannery gently stroked his ears, tears pouring slowly from her own eyes, “Theo… I’m so sorry I…” She was interrupted by footsteps coming down from the pathway. “They are returning… you must go…now!” Theo sharply ordered. Flannery glanced behind her, “Where… where do I go…?” The attackers returned to the campfire site. “Go…” Theo muttered to her. Flannery turned around and without another word she left him. “What do we do now?” One of the wolves asked his leader, “She was here but…” “She’s gone right? She was here but now she’s gone, true, but she’s near here.” The leader reassured his squad. “You are all wrong…” Theo said hoarsely, “She is not here… she was never here…” The leader turned around, “What?” Theo struggled to get up but the injuries he sustained were too great. “We picked up her scent around this area.” The leader continued, “And your refusal to cooperate has cost you your life.” With that one of the leader’s wolves ripped the spinal cord from Theo’s finishing him off. “Speaking of scent, sir, I’ve picked it again but this time it’s fresh. We’re hot on her a*s now.” The leader nodded, “Okay then let’s move out.”

            “I told you a million times Kasey and you never listen!” Kasey’s mother argued. “You’re wrong! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” She argued in her defense. Jasmine and Kasey decided to wake up early to sign up for the medical technician program in which Kasey’s mother didn’t approve of. “It’s some sort of trick Kasey, they take young girls your age and they drag you out there to fight in a war that isn’t even yours!” Her mother continued. Jasmine remained quiet during their heated argument and tried to entertain herself until they were done. “You should listen to yourself sometimes! You sound ridiculous!” Kasey snapped back, “Me and Jasmine are going to sign up for the MEDICAL program not the army!”  Her mother shook her head, “Jasmine and I not “me and Jasmine” perhaps you should get grammar lessons while you’re at it.” Kasey rolled her eyes and walked towards the door, “Come on Jasmine let’s get out of here before my mom embarrasses me even more.” Jasmine smiled sweetly at Kasey’s mother, “Thank you for having me over.” Kasey’s mother smiled back, “Why, you’re very welcome.” She then frowned at Kasey, “If only someone had manners like you.” “Whatever…” Kasey mumbled back and the two left for the HQ. “Your mom seems nice…” Jasmine said trying to start conversation. “She’s stupid.” Kasey replied bluntly, “Just be glad your mom isn’t stupid like she is.” Jasmine looked away, “At least you have one…” Kasey didn’t hear her, “So how come I never saw your mom before? Or your dad for that matter.” Jasmine waited a few seconds, “Both my parents are dead…” Kasey stopped, “What? Really?” Jasmine nodded. “How’d they die?” Kasey asked nervously but then stopped, “Never mind… I’m sorry…” The two reached the HQ which was crowded with thousands of others interested in joining the program. “Wow that’s a lot of animals.” Jasmine muttered, “Do you think there’s room on the signup list for us?” Kasey shook her head, “There were only fifty slots open last time I checked.” The two sat and watched the crowd wither away for a while. “So what do we do now?” Jasmine broke the silence. Kasey shrugged, “Go home I guess… so much for our ticket out of this place…” Jasmine smiled, “I’m sure other opportunities will come up.” Kasey shrugged again, “I guess…” The two headed towards Jasmine’s house. Brianna sat in her usual spot while Katianna drew pictures at the house. “Where were you?” Brianna asked, half her attention was on the TV. “Kasey’s house,” Jasmine replied, “Why?” Brianna shrugged. “Look Jasmine I drew a picture of you!” Katianna cried in excitement. Jasmine looked around, “Cool! Where is it?” Katianna looked down and away, “I lost it… sorry…” “It’s okay… I’m going to be upstairs if you need me okay?” Jasmine cried out to Brianna who ignored her completely. “Cute sister,” Kasey smiled, “What’s her name?” “Katianna.” Jasmine replied. Once the two reached Jasmine’s room, she closed the door and laid out her plan. “Okay check this out, I have an idea…” Kasey whispered, “I’m 67% sure it’ll work.” Jasmine frowned, “Those aren’t good odds, Kasey.” She shook her head, “They’re good enough. Anyway, I was thinking maybe we could go to The United States and then sign up for the Medic Tech program!” Jasmine was struck by surprise, “What? The United States?! How are going to get there? Who are we going to stay with?!” Kasey smiled and signaled for her to calm and quiet down, “I already have this al figured out okay? We could walk there, its not too far away. Then once we get there, I have a sister who has a house there. She’s never there but she told me I could have it.” Jasmine frowned, “So your sister just gave you her house?” Kasey nodded, “Well she has more in different places, Look.” She removed a set of keys hanging from her collar, “See? These are the keys to her house.” “How’d you manage to get those?” Jasmine asked curiously. “Well I always had them; my sister gave them to me for my birthday last year. I figured out they were to her house when I called last night.” Jasmine was again struck with surprise, “What? Wait… so you had this all figured out beforehand?” Kasey nodded, “Always have a plan B, Jasmine, I learned that from my brother. So are you in?” Jasmine looked away, “I don’t know…” “Awww come on Jasmine! You’ll get to see your boyfriend…” Kasey tried again with success. “Okay but this better work!” Jasmine replied. “Trust me it will. If we start walking now, we’ll be there by evening.” Kasey said heading out the door, Jasmine following.

            Missy sat licking her fur while Red watched for his contact. “When’s he going to come?” Missy whined impatiently. “Soon,” Red muttered, “It’s dangerous out there now; it’ll probably be a while.” There was a small moment of silence. “So… Siberia… won’t they try and kill us?” Missy asked trying to spark conversation. “No, Missy, they will not.” Red replied bluntly. Missy sat there, bored. “I’m bored.” She finally muttered. “Count sheep.” Red muttered back. Missy smiled, “Silly, you only count sheep when you can’t sleep!” Red ignored her. Hours went by and Red remained on guard while Missy slept quietly beneath a concrete barrier. “Wake up Missy.” Red mumbled shaking her awake. “What? What happened?” She muttered tiredly. “Come here and try this collar on.” Missy sat up and looked at him, “A collar? You’re putting a collar on me?” Red nodded, “I need them to think you’re my daughter.” Missy frowned, “So you’re going to put a collar on me.” From behind red came a different, unfamiliar voice, “I promise it’ll be comfortable.” Missy look up, “Who’s that?” Red pulled her out from under her shelter, “It’s not important. There, standing behind Red, was a tall black wolf with yellow eyes. He carried with him two collars. “They’re a type of I.D thing in Siberia.” The contact informed Missy, “I sized your neck while you were asleep so it should fit comfortably.” Missy nodded. She was a bit afraid of the black wolf so she did what he said. She slipped the collar around her neck and Red put his on. “The next ship leaves tonight.” The contact told Red and pointed to the sea below, “Down there, I will wait for you for ten minutes and then we’ll have to leave immediately.” Red nodded, “we’ll be there.” The contact nodded and left. “Who was that…?” Missy asked nervously. “My Siberian contact, He’s getting us out of here.” Red replied fixing his I.D collar. “He’s huge…” Missy muttered slipping back into her shelter. “All Siberian wolves are, wait until you get there you’ll see. How’s the collar fitting?” Red asked slipping in beside her. “Fine,” Missy smiled, “It’s alright.” Red nodded, “Alright then, Get some sleep, we’re leaving later this evening.” “Okay,” Missy replied squeezing up against him, “Goodnight, Dad.”

            Matt and his unit returned to the HQ later that evening. No one in his unit was going to tell anyone about what had happened but it was too late. When his unit had reached the Barracks they were met by Blue and her unit. “Hi Matt, Fancy seeing you here!” Blue smiled sitting back in his chair. “Blue? What the hell are you doing here?” Matt was surprised but secretly delighted. “Well Veridia won’t need us anytime soon so we decided to stop by and… just say hello to our friends at the USP,” Blue smiled. Ty returned to his room to use the bathroom but he was stopped by a rather pretty Veridian wolf from Blue’s unit. “Hi… uh…” She began. “Ty, my name’s…Ty.” He muttered nervously. “Ty… That’s a nice name…” The female from Blue’s unit was equally nervous, “Well I’m Blaze… I… I couldn’t help but hear that you’re from Veridia too?” Ty laughed, “Yeah I… uh… I’m from Veridia too…” Blaze smiled, “You’re cute.” Ty locked up. “She’s the prettiest wolf I had ever seen and she thinks I’m cute?” he thought to himself. He smiled, “Well I always thought you were… pretty too. And that stunt you guys pulled back there it was… pretty cool.” Blaze sat down next to him and smiled, “Yeah I guess it was…” Ty glanced at her, “you have nice color fur, I’ve never seen it that color before.” Blaze glanced at her brownish-red colored fur, “My father is a Veridian collie and my mother is a Veridian wolf they kind of… I don’t know mixed it up I guess, but thank you I appreciate it.” She continued, “So what part of Veridia do you stay in?” Ty glanced up, “Lower east.” Blaze’s face lit up, “Really?! No way!” Ty nodded, “Yeah, Why?” “That’s where I lived when I was a little puppy, before I moved to the Upper East.” Ty’s face lit up, “Upper East?! Are you rich?!” Blaze smiled a little, “I guess so, I mean it’s really my parents’ money but they’re dead so…” Ty looked away, “Oh I didn’t know…” Blaze shook her head, “No, no it’s okay it was a long time ago, it doesn’t matter.” Ty nodded, “alright, just making sure we got on good terms here.” Blaze smiled, “I like you…”

            Flannery walked cautiously through the forest carefully avoiding open areas where she could be exposed. “How come everyone I come into contact with ends up dying later…?” She thought quietly to herself. She missed the old repetitive life she lived with Terry; where she had no worries or anything that bothered her. “Well you’re certainly no angel.” Flannery’s aggressive personality replied laughing. “Why are you doing this to me…?” Flannery muttered to her personality, “What did I do to you, to anybody?” Her personality didn’t respond. “Answer me!” Flannery cried out loud. “Shut up and be quiet.” Her personality whispered to her. Flannery glanced beside her where, just a few feet away, the wolves that where searching for regrouped. “What do they want from me?” Flannery whispered to herself. “You don’t think they’d allow a sociopathic, schizophrenic and murderous puppy like you to escape without trying to find you?” Her personality replied spitefully. “What do you think they’ll do to me?” Flannery nervously asked. “Well seeing as though you don’t have parents and nobody would adopt you, I’d say they’d put you to sleep.” Her personality replied calmly. “Put me to sleep?” Flannery asked, “What does that mean?” The Eucadian wolves remained in the area. “Let me spell it out for you. They’re going to euthanize you. First they’re going to take you in this white room with cement walls and a window where they’ll set you down on a metal table equipped with a special little drain. A little while later, a doctor will come in and, with his assistant holding you down, give you a shot with a very long needle. Pretty soon you’ll feel tired and weak and eventually you’ll pass out and never wake up. That special little drain on the table is just in case you have side effects from the shot, like if you throw up or bleed out.” Flannery’s personality continued, “In five words, they’re going to kill you.” Flannery backed away, “I don’t want to die… I don’t want be to be euthanized…” Her aggression snapped, “Then listen to me. We need to keep going!” Flannery froze, “What if they catch us? What if they… what if they find us?” “Then we’re screwed.” Her aggression snapped back, “Let’s go now!” Flannery slowly continued the way she was headed but suddenly a branch snapped under her paw and sent an echo through the forest that sounded like thunder in Flannery’s mind. The Eucadian wolves looked her way and she froze in fear. “What the hell are you doing?!” Her personality hissed. But she didn’t listen. Fear had gripped her and she couldn’t move. Her heart beat increased and she turned cold. “Over there I heard something…” One of the guards pointed Flannery’s way, “Go check it out.” Flannery’s personality was frantic, “What are you doing?! Run! Or they’ll kill us!!” But Flannery was trapped in fear. One of the wolves approached her slowly, “Why hello there…” Right then she snapped back into consciousness. “Go!” Her aggression cried out. With that, Flannery turned around and ran towards a thicker part of the forest with the Eucadian wolves following. “If you stop now it’s the needle.” Her personality muttered to her. She ignored and kept on running. Soon, she reached the beginning of the thicket slowing her pursuers down but not enough. Suddenly she felt a wolf bite down on her tail and violently pulled it the opposite way, knocking her down. The Eucadian wolves surrounded her making escape impossible. “Well, well… look who we have here, it’s our pretty schizophrenic puppy.” The leader smiled spitefully, “You know, you’ve caused a lot of deaths Flannery, we can’t have that.” She remained quiet. The Eucadian wolves secured Flannery and took her back to the asylum where she had initially escaped. Hours passed and Flannery was where she had started. The room she was kept in was very cold with cement walls, floors, and ceilings. It also had a single, one-way window which the technicians could see her. But she couldn’t see them. “So this is where it all ends…in an insane asylum.” Flannery muttered to herself. She tried to switch the iron collar she wore to a more comfortable position. “Well now you’re going to die, how you feeling?” Her personality muttered sarcastically. “It’s your fault…” Flannery replied weakly, “You ruined everything…” Her personality didn’t reply. Pretty soon a medical technician entered the room. Without saying a word he stuck a needle behind Flannery’s ears into her brain and removed a blood sample. Another medical technician entered the room, “So what’s going on with her?” The first Technician observed the blood sample, which was a dark purple color. “I don’t know she’s just screwed up. She was tested for schizophrenia and it came back positive, she escaped and was recaptured, and check this out.” He held the blood sample up to the other technician, “Her blood is purple.” The other tech then glanced at Flannery who sat against the wall she was chained to. “What’s going on?” He smiled at her. Flannery looked away and said nothing. “So what, do they want her euthanized?” The second technician asked the first. “Of course, but not before a few tests” The first technician replied. He returned to Flannery who sat motionlessly against the wall. The technician lifted her muzzle towards him and shined a bright light in her eyes. “Pupils dilate…” He mumbled to himself and returned to the table. “She’s got pretty fur.” The second tech said observing Flannery. “You can have it later if you want.” The first tech laughed as he returned to Flannery again. This time, the tech seized her by the neck and laid her down. “This is going to hurt a little,” The technician mumbled to her as he stuck another needle in her tail-end. Tears trickled from her eyes as she desperately tried to repel the pain. “Okay good.” The first technician said returning to the table. “How many blood samples do you need?” the second technician asked looking through some folders. “Just a few more,” The first technician replied returning to Flannery for the third time. This time, the technician grabbed her front left leg and moved it while he gently stuck another needle into her chest. “Its weird you know,” The first technician said to Flannery while he held the third sample of blood in front of her, “You look just like my daughter.” Flannery smiled, “I bet she’s really pretty…” The first technician nodded, “She is.” He then returned to the table where the second technician was, “Here do you need this?” He said handing the first technician a long, slender tube. The first technician nodded, “Yep.” He took the tube and returned to Flannery, “I need you to open up wide.” Flannery looked away. Without warning, the tech grabbed Flannery’s muzzle, forced it open, and shoved the thin tube down her throat. “There we go, sorry if I was too rough.” The tech gently stroked Flannery’s fur. The second tech laughed. He returned to the table. Flannery squirmed from the uncomfortable tubing. “What else?” The second tech asked leafing through papers. “I need a sample of vaginal fluid.” The first tech muttered, “This should be fun.” The tech picked up another needle and walked towards her. Flannery imagined the stinging pain from the needle and desperately tried to hide her tail-end. “Let’s make this easy.” The technician mumbled as he grabbed the base of Flannery’s tail. A little bit of her aggression slipped out, causing her to clamp her jaws onto the technicians arm. The tech tore loose and slapped her across the face, “You better watch it…” Flannery looked away, “Sorry I could help it…” The technician resumed the procedure until the needle was full of a clear-yellowish fluid. “So tell me, Flannery, what did you want to be when you grew up?” The second technician asked still looking through papers. Flannery looked down, “I want to be a mother…have puppies….” The first technician laughed, “Well you kind of screwed that up for yourself didn’t you?” Flannery smiled, “No you did.” Both technicians frowned. “How does it feel to kill animals desperate for help? What do you tell your daughter when she asks you “what do you do at work?” Do you tell her that you kill animals?” Flannery asked defiantly. The first technician smiled, “You tell me.” The second technician left. Flannery shook her head, “I’m sorry… I don’t mean anything mean… It’s the…my…” “Alternative personality?” The first technician asked. Flannery nodded, “Yeah…” the first technician sat down next to her, “I understand. I feel sorry for you and believe me I want o help, but my orders are orders.” Flannery looked away, “I understand…”  “Are you hungry?” The second technician returned, “What do you want for you’re last meal?”  She looked down and then slowly back up at him, “Some chocolate milk would be fine…” The second tech nodded and left. “Are you going to… euthanize me?” Flannery asked looking up at the technician. He nodded slowly. Flannery looked back down, “Okay…” The second technician returned with a bowl of chocolate milk, “Drink up.” There she sat, slowly and quietly lapping up her chocolate milk while the technicians watched from behind the one-way glass. She shivered from the thought of dying and the cold room sent chills down her back. “Okay its time.” The first technician told the other, “Bring her to the round room. The second technician entered the room and unchained her from the wall. He then led her to the bright room her personality spoke of. The room was round with a silver table in the middle. Next to it was another smaller table which had several needles arranged neatly side-by-side in the order of use. In front of the table was yet another one-way glass where students sat and observed. The room was bright white and colder than the one before. The second technician lifted her up and placed her on the cold table. Chills went from the base of her paws to the tip of her ears as the cold metal made contact with her. The first technician then entered the room. Flannery looked up at him, tears beginning to trickle from the saddest eyes he had ever seen, “It’s not going to hurt is it?” The technician shook his head. The second technician laid Flannery down on her side causing her to shiver. While the first technician was searching for the correct needle, Flannery began to think about her life. How it went from the best to the worst in a matter of weeks. She remembered the time she spent with Terry, Flora, and Vikki, the three who truly cared for her. She also remembered Theo, the panda, who died to protect her. She reminisced about the past four years of her life that had tested her sanity and her thoughts. She teared up, immensely, at the thought that it was all over. The first technician picked up the long needle and slowly stuck it into her side, deep down into her heart. Flannery could feel the cold needle penetrating through her fur and the even colder fluid entering her body. The fluid was freezing cold. The feeling began to spread throughout her body, from the core of her heart to the tip of her tail, the bottom of her paws, and the points on her ears. She could feel her energy draining at the same time her body began to relax. She laid her head down. She was dizzy now and could hardly move. The technician removed the needle and Flannery could vaguely feel him gently rubbing her side. Suddenly she became tired. She struggled to keep her eyes open, to keep breathing, and to keep thinking. Her alternate personality died already, giving her the small peace she had been hoping for ever since she had been diagnosed to it. It felt heavenly, for the first time she felt like she was freed from it.  “This can’t be it…” She thought to herself as the fluid forced her eyes closed and slowed her breathing. She couldn’t believe it, her alternative personality was gone but it was too late for her too. She was succumbing to the fluid. “It can’t be…” Flannery muttered to herself as she gave her last breath.                      

            Near the south-western, ocean front part of Veridia lived a small colony known as the “Veridian Pirates”. They’re mostly known for hijacking Eucadian container ships, imprisoning the crew, and stealing the cargo. There in this colony was a white puppy about Flannery’s age named Gail. She was known all over for her two different eye colors; one silver and the other blue. Her mother was a pirate leader which meant she was hardly ever there to take care of her. She knew very little about her father who disappeared during a hijacking mission. Gail, without the help of her mother, took care of herself. She worked for the Veridian Pirates as a messenger since she was one of the fastest around. She carried messages between Veridia and the USP often; however, she never encountered danger. She sat in her usual spot in the mail office awaiting a job from the pirates. The fan blades on the ceiling spun slowly and quietly adding to the awkwardness. The Veridian wolf at the main desk, paying no attention to Gail, stared motionlessly at his computer screen. “Uh…Is there anything I can do?” Gail asked nervously. The wolf at the desk glanced at her, and then back at the computer monitor. “We need someone to deliver a message to a village near Eucadia a few miles away…” The wolf mumbled. “Eucadia?” Gail asked surprised and nervous. “Yep, it’s only a few miles. Think you can handle that, princess?” The wolf muttered in response. Gail nodded, “Okay…” The wolf looked back at her, “Are you sure? This is a dangerous mission we’re talking here.” Gail nodded, “I can handle it.” The wolf retrieved a large brown envelope and handed it to her. “I see a lot of your mother in you, you know.” He said smiling, “One day you’ll be a pirate just like her.” Gail took the envelope and was turning to leave when the wolf stopped her. “Wait, use one of these.” He said handing her a brown carrying bag, “That way you won’t drool all over this important message like you do all the others.” Gail took the bag and stuffed the envelope in it. “Thanks you.” She muttered walking out the door. The village was peaceful and quiet at the time. The smell of the ocean and the sound of seagulls filled the air as she exited the mail office. From the distance behind her, she saw the tall sails of the ships the pirates used. She sat and stared at the large masts wondering about her mother. It had been two years since she last saw her and, knowing the dangers of her job, she worried for the worst. “Hey Gail you’re leaving?” A voice cried out from behind. Gail turned around to see her best friend, Abigail, coming down the road. “Yeah I’m going up near Eucadia, you want to come with me? It’s a long way by myself…” Gail replied energetically. “No I wish I could but I have to go to up to Veridia with my mom. She wants to take me shopping…” Abigail replied disappointedly, “I don’t want to.” Gail smiled, “Well at least she’s taking you shopping and not to the vet right?” Abigail nodded, “Yeah I don’t think I could take another shot from them. Hey I can follow you out for a while but I have to be home by dark.” “Alright,” Gail replied and the two headed north towards Veridia. “I love it here, The Beach, the food it’s alright.” Abigail smiled randomly. “What made you say that?” Gail asked looking up at her. “Oh nothing…” She replied. The two reached the Veridian gates, where Abigail had to turn back. “Well good luck on your mini-adventure. I’ll be here, hopefully, when you get back.” Gail smiled, “Thanks Abby, I’ll bring you something back from Eucadia.” Abigail nodded, “Okay you better!” The two separated, Abigail returned home while Gail continued towards the village behind Eucadia.

            Ty and his new friend Blaze left the military base along with all the others to enjoy the city life. It was a Friday night and the city was alive with night life. “Have you ever been here before?” Blaze asked glancing at the sky which was lit with the glares from distant neon signs and spotlights. “Not really, we just came straight to the base.” Ty replied, “Have you?” Blaze smiled, “Oh course I have! I used to come through her every weekend with my little sister to see the lights.” She looked away, “Well she’s dead now but I still enjoy coming out here.” Ty back at her, “Really? Damn what happened to her?” “Rabies,” Blaze replied quietly, “She was bitten by something… I don’t know. Then she came home and told me that she wasn’t feeling well or something like that.” “Did she tell you that something bit her?” Ty asked curiously. Blaze shook her head, “No, she just went up stairs, to sleep… Later that night she started screaming in pain… she had a massive headache so I took her to the clinic… they had to put her down.” “Sorry about that…” Ty whispered and then tried to think of a different subject, “So you come out here to remember her?” Blaze shook her head, “Nope, I come out her to get wasted!” Ty was surprised. He didn’t understand how she could go from the death of her sister to getting intoxicated but he kept quiet. “Have you ever gone drinking before?” She smiled petting his hair. He shook his head. “Well good there’s a first time for everything!” She replied pulling him along down the main street. The center of the city was like rush hour except during midnight. Thousands walked the streets getting drunk and having a good time celebrating life. Ty and Blaze had several drinks together while the rest of Ty’s unit disappeared amongst the crowd. Hours had gone by and the city began to slow down from its intense midnight rage to its usual quiet mode. “Did you have fun?” Blaze asked. Ty who could barely walk straight nodded excitedly, “We should do this more often!” The two walked until they reached the end of the main road. The air was wet with drizzle and the streets were covered with rain water causing them to reflect the street lights. Jasmine and Kasey had just reached the city as Ty and Blaze were leaving. Blaze stopped Ty and faced him towards her, “I like you a lot… I hope I can see you again.” Ty nodded, “definitely.” The two began to kiss as Jasmine and Kasey rounded the corner.

            “What the hell….” Jasmine muttered in surprise as she watched Ty kiss Blaze. “Wow…” Kasey added, “Looks like he had him some fun.” Jasmine became angry, “He leaves for a minute and he’s already going after some other girl?!” Kasey touched her paw and gently tried to calm her down but it was no use, “Now Jasmine, maybe you should relax and…” “TY!!!” Jasmine cried out. He spun around; surprised as Jasmine and Kasey were when they caught him with Blaze. “Jasmine?” He whispered, His voice trembling in fear, “What are you doing…h-here?” Jasmine began walking towards him, “Well I originally wanted to see you but now I’m wonder who In the HELL that is!!” Blaze whispered to him, “Who is that?” But he was too afraid to say anything. “I leave you for a few days and you’re already sniffing after some b***h!” Jasmine screamed. Kasey sat quiet. “It’s not what it looks like Jas, it’s just…” Ty pleaded but Jasmine wasn’t hearing it. “But what Ty? But what?!?!” Jasmine replied, her face reddening, “You know what Ty? Forget it. If you want her over me then fine!” Jasmine then turned around and stormed off leaving Kasey, Ty and Blaze alone. Kasey looked at the two and then ran off after Jasmine. “Ty who was she?” Blaze asked nervously. “Excuse me…”  Blaze muttered running off after Jasmine and Kasey. “Wait jasmine! Wait!” He cried closing up behind them. Jasmine continued walking while Kasey turned around to face him, “Just leave her alone Ty.” But he ignored her and ran up next to her. “Jasmine listen I’m…” she cut him off, “No you listen!” there was fury in her voice, “I’ve heard enough from you! Just go with your new girl friend and leave me the hell alone!” Ty became frustrated, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Jasmine stopped and looked him in the eyes. “What the hell is wrong with me? I’ll tell you what. Over the past four years I’ve been nothing less than nice to you. I’ve always made sure you were fed I always cared for you and what do I get in return? You spit in my face!” Jasmine looked away with tears coming from her eyes, “Just leave me alone Ty, I never want to see you again!” With that she continued off with Kasey following behind her. Ty didn’t bother following her; he knew that he’d never fix this one.

            A cold chill blew over Flannery causing her to jolt up. She lay in a dumpster behind the asylum where the technicians dumped her body. Flannery, in disbelief that she was alive, looked around confused. “I’m alive?” She muttered to herself as she looked down from the tall dumpster. “Yes you are,” A familiar voice from behind her whispered. Flannery glanced behind her and saw what appeared to be one of the technicians that killed her. It was a large male wolf with a broad muzzle that appeared to have recently been in a fight. He had blood on his paws and tears on his face. Flannery had always been attracted to the technician ever since she first came into contact with him, however it wasn’t the technician. It was Flannery’s own aggression that possessed the body of the technician similar to how it controlled Flannery’s. “Thanks to me you’re alive.” Her Aggression muttered. “But…but how?” Flannery stuttered looking around, “I died!” Her aggression appeared calm, “Yes you were dead, but after the procedure, the other technicians left this guy by himself to dispose of you.” Flannery looked up at her, “You took his body?” Her aggression shrugged, “I possessed it. But sure, you could say that.” Flannery climbed from the dumpster, “So how did you…bring me back?” Her aggression turned away, “I gave you half of my life.” Flannery and Her aggression sat quiet. They didn’t know what to say to each other. “…So how did you separate from me and get into him?” Flannery asked nervously. “It’s complicated.” Her aggression replied scratching her ears. “Why did you get a boy’s body?” Flannery continued with a half smile, “It’s weird, you look like a boy but you sound like a girl.” Her aggression laughed, “Well it’s all they had.” Another silent moment struck the alleyway. “Why did you help me?” Flannery asked one last time. Her aggression said nothing for a while and then finally answered, “Because I like you… It’s just your personality completes me and… mine sort of does yours.” Flannery smiled, “Yeah it’s kind of like Terry and I! She was the bad, sort of tom-boyish girl who I always wanted and I was the quiet innocent one that she wanted… We kind of just fitted together almost perfectly… it was weird.” Flannery tried to keep up the conversation, “Well it’s a cute body you have…” Her aggression smiled, “Yeah I know but it feels weird, having a… well you know.” Flannery laughed a bit “Yeah I bet it does!” The two got along better while they were in the alley than they originally had altogether. “So how are we going to get out of here?” Flannery whispered looking up at the half moon. “We can just walk out you know.” Flannery’s Aggression replied, “The guards will think I’m a technician.” Flannery nodded, “Okay then.” The two headed off to the front gate to try their luck at walking out. Flannery was right; it wasn’t the end for her.

            Weeks after the lions successfully defended their city against the Eucadians; they returned the favor by proceeding to liberate Caniridia from them. The lions crossed miles of rough terrain to the city where they laid relentless siege against the Eucadians. With the help of their new technology, the lions succeeded in liberating the foxes from the Eucadian wolves. Taking heavy casualties, the Eucadian wolves retreated. The world had remained silent and peaceful with the exception of a few battles, but events that occurred against Veridia would stir things up and ignite the war. Princess Alexia, Queen Victoria’s seventeen-year-old daughter was placed in charge of Veridia while her mother was out coordinating peace talks with Eucadia. Alexia’s sister, Princess Kya, was out and about enjoying the peace that Veridia held until one morning Alexia received a message that would change the state of the world forever. Alexia sat staring out over the ocean from the window of her room thinking about the world. She had always been placed in control of Veridia and her little sister, Kya, because her mother was always out trying to calm things down. She sighed, “What is going on…” The door opened slowly and a female black wolf stepped inside, “Princess… are you busy?” It was Queen Victoria’s main staff member who usually helped with coordinating meetings and peace talks. She seemed very troubled. “No,” Alexia, said looking back at her, “What’s the matter?” Victoria’s associate frowned and looked down at some papers she held, “its Victoria… your mother…” Alexia turned to face her, “What about her? What happened?!” Victoria’s Staff member handed her the papers, “She was killed… On her way to the United Nations Board at Eucadia…” Alexia grasped the papers in her paws trying not to react too suddenly, “…and Kya? Where is she?” Victoria’s Staff member shrugged. Alexia read the papers slowly; her paws trembled as she went through it word by word, “So… I’m in charge now?” She asked weakly. Victoria’s Staff member nodded. Tears dripped on the papers as Alexia placed them on the table next to her. Kya peaked into the door slowly, “Alexia? What’s wrong why are you crying?” Alexia closed her eyes and looked away, “Kya go to your room…” Kya looked at Victoria’s Staff member, “Mrs. Clio? What’s wrong with her?” Alexia looked back at Kya sternly, “I said go to your room!” Kya shrugged and went on her way. “What do I do know?” Alexia asked weakly. She was terrified. “I suggest addressing the public… Afterwards the war ministry wants to speak with you.” Clio suggested, “It’s up to you… your majesty…”

            The boat jumped and twisted as it cut through the violent waves of the ocean. Red, Missy and Red’s Associate left earlier that night to avoid detection from Eucadian patrols. Missy sat below deck holding on to her tail. She was nervous about the trip to Siberia. Red sat across the room listening to the radio. Static-dominated messages and music played clamorously through the small radio as Red focused intensively on forging the passports. “Red…My belly hurts…” Missy whined as she clutched her stomach, “I don’t feel good…” Red glanced over at her, “Are you hungry?” She shook her head. Red shrugged and went back to work on the passports. The morning had left the afternoon sun burning in the sky as the boat continued towards Siberia. Missy was becoming restless so she got up and strolled around the small boat. Up top, Red’s Associate navigated the boat without saying a word. She was afraid to speak to him so she returned to her usual place at the bottom of the boat. It was a very long journey across the sea that would last two more days.

            That night, Ty and his unit relaxed and waited for something to happen. Ty sat in his bed worrying about him and Jasmine while the others were out enjoying the night. Alex came quickly to the door, “Ty check this out!” He reluctantly slid out of bed and followed Alex to where he and the rest of the unit sat in front of the TV and watched the new Veridia queen’s address to the allies. “As you may or may not have known, my mother, Queen Victoria, was early this morning by Eucadian SS operatives. The war ministry and I have discussed the matter and have agreed upon the declaration of war against the Eucadians.” The attendees in the background cheered upon hearing Queen Alexia’s announcement. “With the Recent liberation of Caniridia and the threat of invasion by Siberia, the war ministry and I hope that the war will finally bestow peace among the world and bring security about our nations.” Ty’s unit began to speak amongst themselves about the issue. “What does that mean for us?” Ty asked Alex. “It means we might be fighting in this war.” Ben answered loudly quieting everyone else, “The allies are tired of Eucadia’s crap so we decided to go in and kick their asses!” The entire base was lit up with cheer. The thought of finally going to war excited everyone, everyone except Ty, Alex, and Baron, whose worst nightmares were confirmed. Matt, the unit leader, appeared from his office, “Did everyone hear the news?” The crowd of soldiers answered simultaneously. “Well good, I hope you boys are ready to kick some a*s.” He finished off walking back into his office. “Wait! What?” One of the soldiers cried out in surprise. Matt turned back around, “You heard me right, Congress declared war on Eucadia too so that means we’re going off to fight with the lions and Veridia.” The base fell silent. “Yep, this is more like it.” Matt sighed returning to his office. As soon as the door closed, conversations blasted. Most talked about how they were going to fight others talked about what they planned to do when they returned home. Baron, Ty, and Alex were confused and struck with fear. The realization that the three of them were going to be fighting in the actual war hit all of them and caused them to panic inside. Thoughts were running through their minds, “What If I die? What’s going to happen?” and everything seemed a blur. Baron couldn’t understand why all the others were celebrating, Ty was still worried about Him and Jasmine, and Alex was afraid of dying. Hours passed and the base slowly quieted down. Ben, Pvt. Brooks, Hardy (as they called him), Baron, Alex, Ty, and a few others were the only ones awake at this time. They were too excited about the war. “When I get out there, I’m a’ gonna skin one of them Eucadians alive.” Shepherd muttered in a strong country accent. “None of them b******s stand a chance against these…” He finished flashing his claws. Ben laughed, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen but I tell you what. I’m gonna rack me up so many kills, Steel’s a*s is gonna have to kill me himself!” Hardy snickered, “While yaw tryin’ to be heroes, I’m gonna fight this thing, and if I die, fine, but if I live… I’m headed home to give my lady what I owe her.” The room filled with hearty laughter and cheer. “What about you boys. You got a lady back home?” Thomson asked lighting a cigarette. Baron shook his head but Alex went along with it, “Naa but I heard there’re going to be a lot of FINE medics. I’m hoping to reel one in and bring one home.” The room once again filled with laughter. The door flew open and there stood Kylie the medic with a big smile on her face. “Did you guys hear?” The room fell silent and only Ben replied to her, “Yes, Kylie, we heard.” She walked into the barracks and sat down on Thomson’s bed, “Well I went out and got these cute little band-aids with unicorns on them, just in case you guys get hurt.” She proudly displayed them, “See?” Thomson pushed her off his bed, “Don’t go spreadin’ yur crabs to me, I don’t want no itch.” Kylie smiled, “Don’t worry I don’t have crabs, they live in the ocean not in fur silly!” The room roared with laughter at Kylie who was seriously clueless. “What’s so funny?” She asked innocently, “They do live in the ocean…” Ben shook his head, “nothing, nothing… You’re right they do live there.” Kylie smiled, “I told you so!” She then glanced at Ty who was sitting quietly in his bed. While the other continued to talk about their plans for the war, Kylie rushed over to Ty, “Hi Ty! I haven’t heard from you in a while! How do you like it? The army I mean.” Ty shrugged, “its okay…” Kylie looked into Ty’s eyes, “Are you scared?” He quickly responded, “NO, just a little nervous that’s all.” She smiled at him, “Well if it makes you feel better, it’s everyone’s first time. I’m sure we’re all nervous.” She glanced back at the room full of soldiers who were laughing and carrying on, “They may seem like a bunch of misfit soldiers, but they’re actually a bunch of scared and nervous misfit soldiers.” Ty smiled at what she had said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Kylie smiled back at him, “Good, so then I don’t expect to see you out there or you’ll get a unicorn band aid!” She smiled, turned around, and addressed the others, “That goes for all of you! If you get torn apart I’m going to give you a band-aid with a unicorn on it! And you have to wear it or you’ll bleed out and DIE!!!” The others laughed and blew her off. “Shet that mouth the hell up Kylie, yur talkin’ a lot uh’ non-si-ence.” Shepherd said cutting his name into the wall with his claws.  The others laughed at the way he spoke. Kylie looked over at him, “No you’re talking nonsense! What you’re saying doesn’t even make sense!” The group, expecting a comeback, glanced back at Shepherd. “Now listen her’ little missy, I’m old enough to be yur’ daddy. Now don’t make me come over there and make you my beitch.” The room filled with laughter and Kylie smiled at him, “You know I love you Shepherd!” Shepherd nodded, “Yeah I bet you do.”  She then turned back to the entire group, “Get some sleep just in case we have to leave tomorrow.” “Don’t try to put us to bed!” Ben cried out with support from the others. “You’re actin’ like a triflin’. And I don’t like that,” Hardy muttered touching up the fur on his tail, “Now leave or Shepherd here will make you cry.” The others laughed but Kylie continued to smile, “Okay, well don’t blame me when you can’t wake up in the morning.”  And with that, Kylie disappeared into the darkness. The room was silent for a while and then attention focused on Pvt. Dante who hadn’t said a word since the news. “What’se matter Dante? You scared?” Shepherd grunted to him, “Why you bein’ so mysterious?” Pvt. Dante glanced up at him, “Naa there just ain’t nothin’ to discuss. ‘Less we talkin fine chicks. Actually, yaw ain’t said anything important anyway.” The room was filled once again with laughter. Baron, Alex and Ty’s spirits were raised by the wittiness of the soldiers in there unit. They almost made them forget about what was to come.

            Gail had been walking for quite a while now. The sun disappeared behind the horizon hours ago and the forest she traveled through became too thick to continue on to in the dark. “I guess I’ll take a rest,” She thought out loud as she tucked herself under a bush and curled up into a ball. She lay still for a while until she heard footsteps. She quickly peered from her safe place to see what it was. From a distance, she could see another wolf closing in on her position. “Oh my god…” She thought to herself as she tried to squeeze tighter into the bush.” The wolf came closer and closer until she could practically smell its scent. “Please don’t find me, please don’t find me…” She repeated to herself as the wolf walked slowly past. Suddenly the wolf stopped and looked up, as if it had picked up Gail’s scent. “Bloody hell, I’m going to die…” She thought to herself as the wolf apparently surveyed the area around it. Gail shut her eyes, believing that if she couldn’t see the wolf, then the wolf couldn’t see her. Her heart was beating quickly and her whole body went cold and numb. She was terrified out of her mind. The wolf continued to walk around the area, trying to sniff her out. “Well it was a good run…” She quietly to herself and apparently the wolf heard. “It sure was!” The wolf cried out snatching her from under the bush. Gail nearly passed out. Her heart was beating so fast that it hurt. The wolf held her in his large paws without doing anything, as if he was waiting for her to react. Gail took a deep breath before she glanced at her attacker. She frowned, “Patrick!!” The wolf laughed hysterically as he placed her down, “Oh my god Gail you should’ve seen the look on your face!” Gail felt relieved that it was her own friend, Patrick, a male white wolf with green eyes, and not another wolf, but she was also angry. “For Pete’s sake Patrick I almost pissed myself!!” Gail cried out in an angry but relieved tone. “Sorry Gail I had to.” He laughed one last time. “What are you doing out here anyway?” She asked, her voice still trembling from fear. “I just wanted to make sure my little sister made it safely to her destination and back, that’s all.” Patrick replied petting her ears. “I’m not your little sister. I hate you Patrick, that so wasn’t cool!” Gail said returning to her bush. “What are you doing?” He whined, “The base is that way!” Gail replied, “I’m tired! You should get some sleep too.” Reluctantly, Patrick crawled under a different bush. “Goodnight…” Gail whispered. “Night” Patrick replied.

            Flannery and her aggression continued towards the gate which was closed. “What’s going on?” Flannery whispered to her aggression as they reached the large, closed gate to the city. “That’s right I remember now…” Flannery’s aggression muttered touching the large steel gate, “They’re closing the gates at night and monitoring them during the day…” Flannery glanced back at the gate, “So we’re stuck here?” Her aggression nodded, “At least until the day… even then it’s going to be hell trying to get out.” Flannery smiled up at her, “Unless you can teach yourself how to talk like a boy in one night…” Her aggression laughed, “Not a chance.” The two turned around and walked back up the street from where they came. “So where do we go now?” Flannery asked nervously. Her aggression smiled and handed her a ring of keys, “We’re going home.” Flannery was surprised, “You have a house?” Flannery’s aggression shook her head, “No, but the technician did.” Flannery smiled. The address on the key ring led Flannery and her aggression to the Technician’s house up north in the wealthy part of the city. The technician’s house was a large, four-story freestanding house enclosed with a cement wall. Being near the corner of the city, the house was almost secluded from the city part and offered an outstanding view of the surrounding landscape. “It’s beautiful…” Flannery gasped as they pushed through the gate entering the compound. The yard was landscaped with tall gardens and ponds. The walkway was lined with roses and daffodils that had already withered for the fall. “His lovely wife my still be home,” Flannery’s aggression suggested walking up to the front door, “We take care of her and this place is ours.” Flannery never liked the idea of killing but for such a beautiful house and after the events that happened to her, she ignored the thought. A burst of warm air from the heating rushed from the house as Flannery’s aggression slowly opened the door. The inside of the house was just as attractive as the outside. Flannery and Her aggression were busy admiring the inside of the house when the technician’s wife emerged from the bathroom. She had obviously just gotten out of the shower as her fur was dripping wet. She didn’t realize that her husband had been possessed and killed. “Hey Alex, you’re home early!” She looked closely at her, “You look a little pale, are you feeling okay?” Without wasting another second, Flannery’s aggression seized the technician’s wife by the neck and slammed her down on the ground. “Alex is dead….” Flannery’s aggression growled then turned to Flannery “Go upstairs and make sure there’s no one else alive.” She obeyed. Slowly walking up the stairs, Flannery could hear the desperate pleas from the Technician’s wife. She tried to eject the cries from her mind as she reached the peak of the steps. The first floor offered nothing but a standard living room and a small kitchen so she continued up. The third floor housed all of the rooms, one of which was occupied. Flannery slowly entered the room to find two puppies sleeping peacefully together. Her heart froze. She didn’t want to expose the innocent puppies but she knew she had to or they would be discovered. Flannery’s Aggression appeared quietly behind her, “Awww… aren’t they cute?” Her aggression whispered spitefully. Flannery nodded. “I already took care of miss pretty; all you have to do is keep watch while I dump the bodies. Flannery nodded and proceeded downstairs. When she reached the first floor she almost stepped in the technician’s wife’s blood which had made a small pool on the floor. Her eyes were still half open and her throat had been completely ripped out. Flannery looked away from the gruesome scene and took position at the window to look out. Moments later, Flannery’s aggression returned with both puppies dangling lifelessly from her mouth by the gruffs of their necks. She nodded in approval and proceeded to dumping the bodies. Several hours dragged on until they were finally through cleaning up the house. Flannery’s aggression left to shower upstairs while Flannery sat in the bathtub on the first floor. She sat in the warm water thinking about the two puppies and their mother. Were her reasons for helping her aggression kill them legitimate? She couldn’t decide. Instead, she tried to erase the thoughts from her mind. It was too late to do anything now anyway.             

            Jasmine sat staring at the mirror in her room. She figured she had lost Ty to another girl and despite the way she took it, she missed him greatly. Kasey was downstairs watching TV and Brianna had just returned home. “Jasmine are you there?” Brianna called out as she closed the door. “Yeah…” She replied weakly. “Well I have something important to tell you if you want to hear it.” Jasmine looked away from the mirror, “What is it?” Brianna sat back down on the couch, “I’m going home to Caniridia, they fixed my house and I heard that the war is about to start. I don’t want to stay here and get bombed.” Jasmine ran downstairs, “What? Who’s watching the house? Whose watching Katianna?!” Brianna seemed calm, “Relax you’re freaking out. Katianna is coming with me and the house will be fine by itself. You can come if you want to, not like there’s anything to do here anyway.” “What about Kasey? Can she come?” Jasmine asked glancing over at her. Brianna shrugged, “I don’t care.” Brianna slid off the couch and walked toward the kitchen, “Well you guys get ready to go, tonight is going to be insane.” Jasmine was surprised, “We’re leaving NOW?” Brianna nodded. “Why?” Kasey whined flicking through the channels on TV. “I got a feeling that tonight is when things between the allies and Eucadia pop off.” Brianna responded closing the refrigerator, “I trust my feelings.” The four were walking out of the gates of the city just minutes later. The gates of the city, like that of Eucadia, were to be closed at night, so Brianna decided to leave immediately. “Is it going to be long?” Katianna whined to Brianna, “My feet hurt…” She glanced down at her, “It is a long walk but when we get there you’ll be able to rest as long as you want.” The four continued for hours, almost retracing the exact steps they took years earlier to reach Veridia. They crossed the familiar Outpost and through the forest where Allue was killed. They continued northwest until they reached the western Veridian village where they found Baron and the other Veridian refugees. The trip took hours before they reached the major plains, a straight shot to Caniridia. Brianna continued walker her pace while Jasmine, Kasey, and Katianna lagged behind. “Shouldn’t we rest? I’m tired!” Katianna whined to Brianna. “We’re almost there look ahead, see? You can see it!” Brianna replied trying to urge them on but it was no use. “We’re going to rest a bit, we’ll meet you there.” Jasmine suggested. She pretended to pity Katianna’s needs but she was tired too. “Suit yourself…” Brianna replied, she continued to walk. “Finally!” Kasey sighed and dropped to the ground. “There’s a pond around her if you guys are thirsty.” Jasmine suggested pointing to a tiny thick forest nearby. “Okay…” Katianna whined as the three headed for the pond. The forest was thicker than before and cloaked the pond very well which explained the unusual visitors they spotted drinking from the pond. Kasey, Jasmine, and Katianna sat and stared across the pond at the animals that were already there. There were a few wolves and several unfamiliar animals with orange, striped fur sitting on the edge of the pond talking and laughing. “Do you see those?” Katianna whispered pointing at the orange, black and white animals, “What are they?” Katianna had never seen one before. “Those are tigers,” Kasey whispered back, “I can’t tell whether they’re the good ones or the bad ones…” Jasmine observed the tigers’ stripe patterns closer. “I think they’re from Bengali…” She whispered, “I’m not sure though.” The three sat and watched the wolves and tigers for a while before they decided to take their chances at getting a drink. “Maybe if we leave them alone they’ll leave us alone?” Kasey suggested to Jasmine, “It’s worth a try.” The three slowly came from out of the protection of the forest into the open. The tigers and wolves immediately spotted them. Jasmine, who led their slow advance, froze causing the others to stop. It was a stare off between the two groups. The unidentified tigers and wolves and the three frightened Veridians. “I think they see us…” Katianna whispered. “You think?” Jasmine replied sarcastically. One of the wolves looked back at the tigers and pointed towards Jasmine, Kasey and Katianna who were still staring. Around the arm of the wolf was the familiar symbol representing the Eucadian Republic. “Oh my god….” Jasmine gasped backing away slowly. “What? What is it?” Kasey asked nervously. One of the tigers began to walk slowly towards them causing all three to panic. Immediately, Katianna began to run the other way followed by Kasey then jasmine. The three ran full-speed toward Caniridia but it was hopeless. From behind them the tigers easily caught up to them. One took Katianna down and seized her between its powerful jaws. Jasmine stopped alongside Kasey, “We need to help her!” Kasey frowned, “Jasmine the tigers are going to…” But before she could finish, Jasmine went after Katianna and the tiger that had her. From a distance, the tigers appeared regular sized, but as jasmine approached the tiger that held Katianna, she realized that they were bigger than she had expected. Out of nowhere, another tiger darted past, tackled jasmine to the ground, and bit down on the back of her neck. The sharp fangs from the tiger shot intense pain through her body causing her to cry out. A few minutes later, the Eucadian wolves appeared smiling, “Well done lee, you can release her now.” The tiger released Jasmine from its painful grip. The other tigers returned with Katianna and Kasey. “Well look what we have here.” The wolf smiled, “It’s a party!” Kasey was terrified but Jasmine wasn’t about to give up without a fight. She tried to attack him but the tiger that had caught her originally stopped her. “There’s no use in running,” The wolf sighed, walking towards Jasmine, “and aren’t you a cute little b***h…” Jasmine spat at him, “If you’re little bodyguards weren’t here I’d rip your head off!!” The Eucadian wolf laughed, “Ooh you’ve got a mouth on you,” hey then looked over at the tigers, “We’re headed to the Outpost. There, we’ll seal the deal and we’ll have ourselves a compromise. The tiger nodded and they headed off to the outpost which Brianna, Jasmine, and Katianna, originally thought was abandoned.

            The sound of the alarm jolted Ty, Alex, and Baron up. It was a little bit past midnight and the war had finally sparked off between the allies and the Eucadian powers. As usual, the entire unit lined up outside to be briefed on what’s going on. Matt, the unit leader appeared outside minutes after the unit organized, “Well it’s good to see everyone wide-awake and happy.” The unit laughed a bit before he continued. “The war has begun boys.  The Eucadians are fighting the Lions up north and the United Sates up around where we did that mission with the ladies. Naturally, we’d be the last to support but because Veridia is late with their army, we’re on point. So load up and let’s move out.” The unit cheered at the news. They were finally going to fight. The unit lined up outside the gates of the USP and began their march to Poisson, the contested city between the USP and Eucadia. So many thoughts were flying through Ty’s head as he heard troubling things from the other soldiers. “I ain’t scared of no claws man, but them grenades there’re using... man I heard them things’ll rip your legs of, no problem.” Shepherd explained to Ben. “The grenades? They’re alright. What I’m more concerned about is the bayonets they carry.” Ty looked up at them, “Bayonet?” Ben nodded, “Yep, it’s a long, sharp, and jagged knife like this one…” He pulled a long triangular blade from its casing, “You see these hooks? They’re designed so that when you stab someone with it and pull it out, it rips the insides up real nice.” Shepherd laughed, “Ben quit lying to them boys they don’t know.” “Have you ever fought in a war before?” Baron asked Shepherd. “Nope, can’t say that I ‘av but I tell you what boy, it can’t be too hard.” A few miles later, the deafening sounds of explosions and screaming filled the air. Matt ordered the unit into a circle, “Alright this is it. Everybody stay safe and stay alive.” He then handed Ty, Alex, and Baron cases with large bayonets in them, “Let’s go.” The unit ran into the city which was mostly on fire. Blood and dead soldiers littered the streets as the unit advanced into the battle. Immediately, a grenade landed near Ty and exploded flinging a small piece of shrapnel into his side. He cried in pain as Shepherd removed the steel piece from his side, “Stick with me boy.” With that, Ty followed Shepherd. Shepherd went through room after room with Ty following, looking for Eucadian wolves. “Look at boy, these slick b******s be hidin’…” He was interrupted by the cry of a Eucadian wolf who came up to shepherd’s left from a closed door. Ty’s first encounter with a Eucadian wolf was a scary one. There appeared to be much hatred in the Eucadian wolf’s eyes. That is, before Shepherd stabbed his bayonet in between them. He ripped the blade from the Eucadian’s head drawing a thick stream of blood with it. “Yeeehaaaw!!!! Nothin’ like a blood shower to let you know yur’ kickin’ a*s!” Shepherd cried out in excitement as he continued on. Alex fought like a professional. He dodged attacks, killed a few, and managed to not get hurt during his streak. “Have you done this before son?” Ben asked, surprised at his performance. “Not exactly this but I have been in a fight before.” Alex replied licking the Eucadian blood off his bayonet, “How many kills you got?” Ben laughed, “Seven now, but I’m on a role.” Baron followed Hardy and another wolf they called “K.I.A”. “Listen here, I’m going to help you out on this whole war thing, basically you follow the one with the most kills and do what he does.” Hardy explained ripping his bayonet from the chest of a Eucadian. “Yep, that’s what kept me alive during my battles; you know I fought in thirteen campaigns across England?” K.I.A announced proudly to Baron and Hard. K.I.A spoke with a British accent and had noticeable battle scars from his past campaigns. “Why do they call you K.I.A?” Baron asked curiously. He laughed, “K.I.A stands for “Killed in action” Them boys think that because I fought so many wars, I’m going to die sooner.” Baron nodded nervously, “oh…” Hardy grabbed an unaware Eucadian sharpshooter that sat in a window and snapped his neck, “Don’t worry Baron, you hang with us and you’ll be a’killin in no time.” Hardy picked up the sharpshooter’s weapon, a crossbow, and showed it to K.I.A, “Get a load of this, what do you suppose it is?” K.I.A reached for it and studied it carefully, “It’s a crossbow, nasty little b*****d, it fires four-pointed tip arrows at a thousand feet per second. Basically this little thing’ll tear you up proper… wouldn’t mind using one of them things actually…” K.I.A loaded another arrow into the crossbow and they continued their advance. “Ty and Shepherd continued to clear building after building, house after house, and alley after alley. Ty held on tight to his bayonet in anticipation of an attack. Incidentally, there was a Eucadian wolf facing the window firing upon Ty’s unit with an automatic arrow gun. “This is your kill.” Shepherd whispered to Ty. Ty clenched his bayonet tightly and quietly walked up behind the Eucadian wolf. Quickly and with great force, Ty dug the bayonet deep into the Eucadian’s spine and ripped it out taking pieces of his spinal cord with it. The Eucadian dropped his weapon and fell to the floor in a pool of blood. “Nicely done ol’ boy.” Shepherd acknowledged. Meanwhile, Alex and Ben were stealing lives together. Blood stained the outline of both their mouths as they relentlessly tore through Eucadian after Eucadian ripping out throats with their fangs and tearing out hearts with their bayonets. “You’re a natural!” Ben laughed as they ran across the street to the last apartment complex. The two entered the building which was buzzing with Eucadian soldiers. On the other side of this building, Shepherd and Ty entered. Baron, Hardy and K.I.A were already inside. Hours went by and their first battle was over with a staggering victory. “Good job, it’s good to see you all alive.” Matt laughed as he entered the building. Piles of dead Eucadians lay all over the city and in the buildings. “USP will set up an outpost here, meanwhile, we’ll continue on to the plains where the lions are sweeping up Outposts.” Matt continued cleaning off his bayonet. “We’re working with the lion’s? Oh hell yeah!” Shepherd cried out in excitement. The unit had fought and won its first battle. But there was still plenty more to come. Off in the distance, the USP Support arrived and began setting up the outpost while Matt and his unit headed for the plains.

            Gail woke up a day later, the same time she drifted off to sleep. She looked around for Patrick who was nowhere to been seen. “Hmm.” She muttered and staggered to her feet. Gail stretched a bit and continued on with her mission. She strolled through the biting cold of the approaching fall toward The Village behind Eucadia. She started up a large hill that would eventually lead into the mountains where the village was hidden away. She struggled up the mountain. Every step she took, it got colder and the wind blew harder. She finally reached the summit of the hill which revealed the large city of Eucadia. “Stay quite around here… there are guards and patrols everywhere…” she reminded herself as she continued up the next mountain. This one proved to be even harder than the hill she climbed. The mountain was steeper and had thicker vegetation making the passage nearly impossible to traverse. But she couldn’t stop now, not after she had come all that way. So she continued up the mountain. It took all her strength to rip through the thickets and plow through the snow which began to fall near the top. “I hate you snow…” She mumbled to herself as she dug through snow almost as deep as she was tall. Gail reached the summit of the mountain moments later. She smiled at the thought that she had actually made it up to the mountain, that she finally made it to the village. She looked down into the village which was oddly quiet. The fire, which was supposed to be burning to let Gail know that she had arrived, was out. Slowly, she plodded down the mountain into the quiet village below. The gates of the city had been torn down and the village itself was silent. “Hello?” Gail called out. No reply. She then searched the first few cabins. Nothing. Gail became nervous, “what if this is a trap?” She thought to herself as she walked through the snowy and eerily quiet village. She stopped at the center of the village, where the fire was supposed to be burning. She reached into the dirty pit to see how recent the fire would have been burning but instead she discovered an odd-shaped item. She pulled it out and brushed it off to find that it was a burnt mountain goat skull. She dropped it and backed away. Fear clenched her heart. The village was supposed to be populated by mountain goats, so why was there a dead one in the fire? She stepped back into a puddle of some sort of liquid. Quickly, she hopped out of it. “What the…” She thought to herself. It was so cold and there was a liquid that wasn’t frozen over? She reached back into the strange liquid and took a closer look. It was blood. Gail quickly backed away from the area where it was. On a wall of the cabin was blood splattered all over. A few noticeable things were the hoof prints of the mountain goats and a sentence written in blood that read “Please help” Gail backed away from the wall. She was almost in tears but managed to control it, until she ran into a pile of dead mountain goats. The goats had obviously been slaughtered by the wolves a few hours ago. Mothers and their daughters, fathers and their sons all lay lifeless in the snowed over pile of nearly rotting bodies. Gail began to cry. She was horrified at the scene. Who would be so heartless as to kill innocent families of goats? As the night grew colder and the snow fell heavier she went to find shelter in an abandoned cabin. There, she made a small fire out of sticks and sat around it to warm herself up. Next to her, laid the envelope she was to deliver. Without even thinking about it, she pried the envelope open to read what was inside. The first thing she saw read “birth certificate”. As she continued reading, she realized that the envelope contain several birth certificates and congratulation cards. She open one up and took out a picture of a baby goat. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. She placed the picture next to her and opened up the card which read: “Thank you for your support of our newest member of the family, Evelyn, who was conceived during the waning days of summer. May she grow up and do great things for our village”. Gail put the envelope down. It depressed her knowing that Evelyn, the newborn goat, would never see the light of day again and that she was somewhere in the pile of dead goats outside.

            Jasmine, Kasey, and Katianna were led to the outpost that had appeared abandoned. It was far from it. Although the lights were kept low in order to avoid attracting attention, the outpost still operated normally. Katianna, Kasey, and Jasmine were locked in different cells that were quite a distance apart from each other. “Jasmine…? I’m scared….” Katianna cried from cage, “I want to go home….” “We’ll be home soon… Don’t worry…” Jasmine replied rubbing her injured neck. The door opened and a tiger walked in with a Eucadian wolf. The tiger spoke a strange language and the wolf spoke normally. They entered the prison block and walked around talking about things that none of the three could understand. The Wolf and the tiger passed by Jasmine caged and stopped. “See her? That’s the type I’m talking about.” The wolf pointed at Jasmine, “A Veridian b***h with a bit of an attitude.” The tiger laughed and She went off, “You have one more time to call me a b***h before I promise to paint these walls with your blood using your tail!” she growled at him. Instead of reacting sarcastically and carelessly like he did originally, he frowned and turned to the tiger, “Excuse me for a moment, it appears I have to teach her some respect.” The tiger nodded and left while the Eucadian wolf unlocked the cell and stepped in. “Big mistake you…” Jasmine began but was cut off when the Eucadian wolf slapped her in the face and knocked her down. She immediately got up to attack but it was already too late for her. The Eucadian wolf pushed her against the bars, bug his claws into her sides and ferociously raped her. Tears flowed from her eyes as she tightly grasped the bars and bit down to try and relieve the pain. The Eucadian wolf roared spitefully back at her as he continued to rape her, “I know you think you’re all big a bad but keep in mind who’s in charge here!!” Jasmine cried in agony as the Eucadian wolf ripped and tore deeper into her. His claws had produced streams of blood from jasmine’s side and she bled profusely from beneath her tail. He continued until he finished, leaving her lying injured and weak in a small pool of blood. “Let that be a lesson to you that you won’t forget.” The Eucadian wolf muttered spitefully as he left her cell. She tried to sit up but she couldn’t sit down. Her tail-end was in intense pain so she laid there and tried to clean herself up as much as possible. Tears streamed slowly down her face as she licked the blood from her side and her tail.  Totally unaware of what just happened, Kasey tried her luck at asking. “What happened?” She whispered to Jasmine. “Nothing…” She replied. The two sat in complete silence. Kasey tried not to ask too many questions while Jasmine tried not to answer them.

            Matt and his unit arrived at the meeting point shortly after they liberated yet another outpost. The lions were there waiting for them. Two battles had already fired up the entire unit and Alex was on a role. As a matter of fact, he was so into it that he didn’t feel the large piece of metal that stuck out from his side. “Damn Alex!” Shepherd cried out pointing at the metal piece. The entire group stared. The lions, Matt, and the others were intrigued by his injury and how he couldn’t feel it. Reluctantly, Alex agreed to go see the lions’ medic. He entered the makeshift tent and he immediately froze. The lions’ medic, a white lioness of about eighteen years, sat at a table against one of the walls of the tent. She had black highlights on the tips of her ears, tail, hair, and her paws were also black up to the joint. She glanced behind her and they both caught sight of each other. She had very attractive silver eyes that were brought out more by her black eyeliner. “That’s a nice little injury you got there.” She smiled and got out first aid kit. “And that’s a nice little hair thing you did there… the white and black…it looks…hot.” Alex replied trying to get at her. “Its natural, the black highlights,” She replied with a smile, “thanks for the compliment though.” She ripped the metal piece from his side but he was too into the lioness to feel the pain. “So what’s your name?” The lioness asked as she began stitching up the wound. “Alex,” He simply replied, “And yours?” She smiled at him, “Brittany. So you’re Alex huh? I’ve heard all kinds of things about you.” Brittany said, finishing the stitch. “Yeah, I’ve been in a few battles.” He shrugged, “No big deal.” Brittany was more interested in Alex than he had thought. “Nice,” She smiled sweetly at him, “How many did you kill?” Alex laughed, “I lost count at a hundred.” Brittany laughed, “I like you Alex, you seem like a badass wolf.” Brittany was the type of bad girl Alex had always wanted. “She’s hot, she’s a bad girl, and she’s a lion!” Alex thought to himself as he carefully selected the words to say back to her, “I like you too, I’ve never seen such a beautiful lion. What’re you doing here?” Brittany looked up and back down to him, “I left because it was either get pregnant or leave.” Alex sat up, “I don’t understand, you have to get pregnant?” Brittany nodded, “In lion prides, the females have to keep producing cubs to make up for the rapid loss of members. I don’t like the idea of child-birth so I left and joined the medical technician branch.” She looked down at her paws, “And I’m sure glad I did.” Alex smiled, “Well I’m glad I had a piece of metal stuck in my a*s or else I never would’ve seen you.” She smiled back and gently kissed him on the muzzle. Brittany, a 400 pound black and white lioness fell for Alex who was way smaller than she was. Having never been recognized by another male like Alex had, she had just met the love of her life. Alex felt like he was the luckiest animal alive. Brittany and Alex fell in love with each other almost immediately and couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other. Meanwhile, the rest of the unit relaxed. Kylie, the unit’s medic, was busy fixing her own wounds while Shepherd, Hardy, Ben, Pvt. Dante, K.I.A, Ty and Baron tried to guess what Alex was doing. “Impossible.” Shepherd whispered to Hardy, “There’s no way he could’ve pick up a hot young thing like her that fast!” The entire unit watched as Brittany and Alex left the medical office and went into a different one of the housing tents. “That’s my boy.” Ben nodded.

            The rays of the newly risen sun woke Flannery up. Her aggression was still asleep beside her so she shook her awake. “I think we should go… Someone might discover that they’re missing.” Flannery whispered to her aggression. “It’ll be fine…” She muttered back, “I am him remember?” Flannery nodded, slid out of bed and went to the bathroom. She sat in the mirror looking at herself. Since she hadn’t taken bath for weeks before last night, her fur was a nice darker red and brown color and the highlights were more defined. She combed her hair, brushed her teeth and went down stairs to where her aggression was. Her aggression sat watching TV with a cup of coffee. “You want to do anything today?” Flannery asked her aggression, “It’s boring here.” Her aggression sat back and grabbed the remote, “You can go if you want to. But I don’t feel like walking.” Flannery shrugged and left to visit the city by herself. It had been so long since Flannery could walk the city without being worried about someone trying to catch her and she enjoyed the luxury of having her own mind rather than two like she did. She walked from the neighborhood to the center of Eucadia, a high risen city with a lot of life. Wolves walked around everywhere doing different things. Some were at work, some were going to work, and others were just enjoying the day. She walked around the large city, looking up at the skyscrapers, watching the large TV’s, and even had lunch on the board walk near the beach. It was a beautiful day and Flannery had never been happier in her entire life. She was sitting at the table of the restaurant when she got the idea to visit Terry’s old house, just to see what it was like back then so she walked down to where it was. As she got further away from the city, the area became less hectic until there were very few wolves walking around. She reached the familiar street and immediately recognized Terry’s house. The lawn was cut nicely, as if someone lived there but no one did. Flannery went up to the door and reached under the mat where they used to keep a spare key. It was still there. She unlocked the door and walked in slowly. The house had its electricity cut off so the inside was freezing cold. Flannery continued anyway. The house looked almost the exact same since she had first left. Pictures of her and Terry were still there; even the mirror that she broke was still in pieces on the floor. Flannery went upstairs to the bedroom that she missed so much. The window where she used to sit and stare at moon was still there, clean and crystal-clear. The bed where she and terry slept together was neatly made up with the same blankets and pillows they used to share. On the table across the room sat Terry’s diary which Flannery had never read. She opened it to the most recent page, almost two days before she tried to kill Flannery. “It’s been years since I’ve seen her, I know she’s still alive somewhere enjoying life while I’m stuck here being yelled at and being told what to do. It all started when Kyra opened her mouth… but she’s not a problem anymore… not since a week ago I drained her blood through her belly, poor girl. She never did know how to keep her trap shut. Next it’s the love of my life Flannery. If I can’t have her in my arms… then nobody can…” Flannery closed the book. Ever since Terry and Flannery broke up, Terry had gone insane. She planned to kill Flannery in order to feel better. Of course that backfired when Flannery killed Terry. Flannery had flipped the pages back a week to read the entry where Terry killed Kyra. The pages had paw prints made from blood on them but they were still readable. “One down and I finally feel like I’m recovering. That little b***h Kyra who ruined my life asked me over to dinner so I took that opportunity to wipe her out… So I come in and she starts telling me how I need to let Flannery go… that I was losing my mind over her. But I refused. Instead, I drive the meat cleaver into her chest, shutting the little w***e up. I had to let her bleed out in the bathtub because I didn’t want to clean up the mess. Afterwards I buried her in the back yard… next to where I’m going to bury the love of my life when I tear open her chest and rip out her heart… like she did mine.” At the bottom was a creepy little smiley face drawn in blood. Flannery shivered at the thought that someone wanted to tear her heart out literally. Terry was insane and obsessed with Flannery. Spread around the desk was pictures and files on Flannery. A picture of her when she was a puppy, pictures of her parents who were now dead, and several things on her whereabouts. Perhaps the scariest thing sitting up there was a bloody knife, perhaps the one she used to kill Kyra. She carefully leafed through the files. This was information on her that even she didn’t know about. Her mother was a beautiful brown Eucadian wolf with shiny blue eyes and her father was a darker reddish, brown color, just like Flannery is. She sat reading the information on her family. She was their only child that, when her parents died, was sent to an orphanage where she remembered living. No specific information on how they died was supplied but one particular paper that was rather recent caught her attention. “During a recent court case involving two unimportant parties, Claire (Flannery’s mother) was seen before and after the trial. This leads to speculate that Claire may still be alive. Flannery held on to the paper which, at the bottom held a recent picture of Claire. “Claire…” She repeated to herself as she organized the papers into a stack and slid them into a satchel and went downstairs to the kitchen. The kitchen was the same too, everything was put in its place, except the alcohol which Terry was apparently always on. Flannery’s decision to return to her old life opened up a new journey for her. Was her mother still alive? Flannery closed the door behind her and returned to the city. She sat at the restaurant staring at the paper that claimed her mother was still alive. She couldn’t believe it. Could it be true? A large female white wolf strolled by and stopped abruptly in front of Flannery. She looked up at her and the white wolf looked back. “Flannery?” The white wolf asked surprised and nervous, “Is that really you?” Flannery was confused for a bit but realized that the white wolf was Vikki, her former adopted mother. “It’s me…” She replied nervously. Vikki covered her mouth with her paws, “Oh my god I thought that they had killed you! Wait… They DID kill you! I was there I saw you…!” Flannery said nothing. Vikki sat down next to her, “You look great! What happened to you? My goodness have you grown!” Flannery looked down at her cup of chocolate milk, “Are you going to tell on me?” Vikki stopped and shook her head, “No! Heavens no! I never wanted them to hurt you Flannery, when I found out about the schizophrenia It was too late to stop them…” Flannery looked up at her, “Well about that, I think it’s gone…actually.” Vikki stopped, “The schizophrenia you mean?” Flannery nodded, “The poison may have… killed her…it I mean.” Vikki was excited to see her alive, “But how did you survive the poison? I mean, I saw you… you were dead and they burned you’re body didn’t they?” Flannery shook her head, “I don’t know how I survived, but they didn’t burn me, they kind of just threw me away.” Vikki shook her head, “B******s… Flannery, oh my god, it’s so good to see you alive, it’s like a dream come true! So where do you stay at these days?” Flannery thought for a while, “Well I stay up north in Canterbury…” Vikki sat back, “Canterbury? Isn’t that the rich neighborhood?” Flannery nodded, “Yeah I stay with… some guy.” Vikki smiled, “Ooh, you have a rich boyfriend?” Flannery shook her head, “Not exactly…it’s like…I don’t know… we don’t do anything really.” Vikki nodded, “Oh okay. So what’s up? How’s life for you now?” “It’s better than before actually.” Flannery replied looking down at the paper. “What’s that?” Vikki asked, “Some sort of newspaper article?” Flannery nodded, “I’m not sure exactly when it was made but look, it says my mother may still be alive.” Vikki studied the article, “Yeah I think I’ve heard of that before…. Claire is your mother?” Flannery nodded, “You know anything about her?” Vikki looked around, “Sure but we can’t talk out here… she was part of a plan that earns a lot of government attention.” The two returned to Canterbury Heights, where Flannery and her aggression lived. Flannery, with Vikki waiting outside, slowly entered the house. “Sweetheart…?” Flannery called out nervously. Her aggression was still sitting on the couch, “What’s up? Why you do seem so nervous?” Flannery climbed into her lap and kissed her aggression on the mouth. “Remember Vikki?” She whispered to her aggression as she gently petted her ears. “I think so…” Her aggression replied kissing Flannery back, “Why?” Flannery sat down in her aggression’s lap and wrapped her tail around her’s, “I found her and I was wondering if you could do me a favor…” Flannery’s aggression ran her paws through her hair, “yes?” Flannery kissed her aggression on the mouth again and laid her head down on her chest, “I was wondering if you could… I don’t know… act like a boy?” Her aggression smiled roughly, “You mean right now or around her?” Flannery smiled back at her, “I meant around her… but I’ll pay you back later….” Her aggression nodded and smiled, “Okay.” Flannery kissed her one last time, “Thank you so much!” She hopped off her lap and ran to the door, “You can come in Vikki!” Vikki entered the house looking around, “Well this is quite a beautiful place you…” She caught sight of Flannery’s aggression in the male technician’s body. The two stared attractively at each other. “Hello….” Vikki blushed looking at her, “You must be Flannery’s boyfriend?” Her aggression replied in a fake male voice, “Uh… no we just live together… You must be Vikki…” Vikki nodded, “Yes that’s me…” The two continued staring at each other. “So how did you and Flannery meet?” Vikki asked sitting next to her. “I worked in the asylum… I kind of felt sorry for her so I helped her…” Flannery’s aggression replied in her fake male voice. Vikki nodded. “How did you guys meet?” Her aggression asked. “To be honest it was a long time ago… It escapes me now…” Vikki replied smiling, “You’re really…cute.” Flannery’s aggression smiled back, “You too…” Flannery sat at the table reading the papers as Vikki and her aggression continued to hit on each other. “So you can just make yourself at home and I’ll make us some coffee?” Flannery’s aggression suggested. “Oh yes that would be nice,” Vikki replied smiling, “May I use your bathroom?” Flannery’s aggression smiled, “Yes it’s upstairs…” Vikki smiled, “Thank you,” and ran upstairs to the bathroom. “Why didn’t you tell me she’d be so hot?!” Flannery’s aggression hissed in her normal voice. “I didn’t know you thought girls were hot…” Flannery replied sitting back. “I’m you remember? We’re the same!” her aggression replied. “Well that’s a good thing, she likes you a lot. Why, you don’t like her?” Her aggression was about to reply but Vikki came downstairs, “Thank you… you have a beautiful house…” Vikki said smiling, “What’s your name?” Flannery’s aggression frowned and quickly made up a male name, “S-st-steel...” Vikki smiled, “That’s a perfect name for you!” “Thank you…” Flannery’s aggression smiled back.

            Gail woke up later than she had wanted. The sun was almost completely blocked by the surrounding mountains but enough shined to provide light. She left the cabin to see the damage to the village during the day however, the village was still the same empty and quite, but the pile of dead goats was covered with snow, and the blood on the wall froze over. Gail shrugged and continued surveying the village. A sign that lead to a narrow path read “Tributary” so she followed it. The path was narrow and jagged and caused the bottom of Gail’s paws to bleed from the sharp rocks. She began to get tired until she finally, reached the large pond that fed into the ocean. The area around it was beautiful. Tall pine trees and mountains hid the tributary from the Eucadians and kept the land undeveloped and peaceful. She bent over and drank from the crystal clear water. Out the corner of her eye, Gail spotted a small white object sticking from the ground a few feet away. She glanced behind her and slowly advanced toward the white object. Her paws accidently tripped a thin wire which snapped and retreated into the forest. Almost immediately after the thin wire disappeared, an arrow flew and zipped right by her head. She froze. The area was obviously filled with traps so she tried to recover her steps. Without realizing it, she stepped on a metal, nail-like object about six inches long which tore in one side of her paw and out the other. She cried in pain as she stepped back further into the apparent safe area. The object was lodged in her paw and blood poured from the wound caused by it. With tears of pain in her eyes, she slowly began pulling the metal object from her paw. Inch by inch Gail pulled the object, lubricated by blood, from the hole in her paw. She held her breath as she felt the pain roll in. “Only a few more…” She muttered to herself as the metal pin neared the end. Finally the bloody pin was out of her paw. She sucked the blood from her paw while she observed the six inch pin. Luckily the pin wasn’t rusty; however there were some strange features about it. First, the pin was about a quarter inch thick, too thin to be a trap. Second, the pin had strange writing on it. The writing read “U 92 15g” down the center. She looked closely at the lettering. Did they mean something? She cleaned the pin off in the water and looked at the pin again. A few more letters spelled “ENR center”. “What does this mean?” Gail whispered to herself as she stared at the pin. “Maybe I can help.” A voice suggested from behind her. Gail spun around, surprised and hid the pin behind her back. There, a female snow leopard sat watching her, “its okay I’m a good guy.” Gail nodded, “Sorry I thought you were a Eucadian…” The snow leopard smiled and walked toward her, “You’ve got to be careful around these parts… There are traps all over.” Gail looked down at her bleeding paw, “Why?” The snow leopard took Gail’s injured paw in hers and wrapped it in a cloth she wore around her neck, “I have a few ideas,” She tightened the cloth, “I’ll explain everything at the village. My name is Antarctica by the way. On their way to the cabin, Gail noticed that Antarctica’s tail had been cut off halfway. “What happened to your tail?” Gail asked nervously. “I once got into Eucadia and did some research. They found me out and… I lost it while I was escaping…” Antarctica replied quietly. Later, Gail and Antarctica sat in the cabin back at the village and talked about what was going on. “So there’s some sort of mine around there?” Gail asked surprised, “What are they mining and why?” Antarctica held out her paw, “If I may…” Gail quickly handed her the metal pin, “What is it?” She studied it carefully, “The writing appears to explain an element…U for uranium and 92 for its number of electrons.” Gail leaned in closer, “Uranium?” Antarctica nodded, “This element used in many different ways… but I think Eucadia is developing a devastating weapon using it. I think they’re making a thermonuclear atom bomb….” Gail looked up at her, “What? That’s impossible!” She had heard stories about the devastating weapon and found it too hard to believe. Antarctica shook her head, “I’m afraid it isn’t…” Gail looked away, she was speechless. “The mountain goats that lived here in this village provided us the information that they were mining large amounts of a metal substance. They weren’t exactly sure what it was and it was too late for them to find out…” Gail looked back up at her, “They killed them all to shut them up?” Antarctica nodded. “Yes.” “Why is your name Antarctica?” Gail asked releasing her curiosity. Antarctica smiled, “I am named after the beautiful land of ice from which I was born.” Gail nodded, “Oh… so you’re from Antarctica… what are you doing up here?” She explained, “Years ago, I was sent here to maintain peace between the northern and southern polar regions when Eucadia broke away from the north. Now I’m here trying to discover a threat before millions get hurt… or worse.” Gail nodded, “Is there anything I can do?” Antarctica glanced out the window, “There’s plenty we can do, but I must warn you, it’s going to be dangerous stuff…” Gail shrugged, “I’ve been in situations like this before.” Antarctica frowned, “NI doubt you’ve ever done anything like what we’re going to have to do.” “And that is…?” Gail asked nervously. “We’re going to infiltrate the underground Eucadian Nuclear Research Facility.”

            It was night time in west Siberia when the boat finally hit shore. An eerie fog blanket covered the docks and the air was ice cold. Missy, Red, and his associate stepped off the boat onto the harbor. “Welcome home Missy.” Red muttered stretching his legs. The city nearby was silent. Snow fell gently from the sky as the three walked from the harbor to where they were to stay. Missy shivered so much it was hard for her to walk. Siberia was freezing cold now with temperatures well below 0 degrees. Her fur was too thin to shield her from the cold. “It’s a bit chilly out her, I know, but usually during the day it’s a lot warmer. The three arrived at a medium sized apartment building with about eight floors. The associate led them to the seventh floor where a fully furnished apartment awaited them. “Here we are, okay I’m going to leave these I.D collars here. I found out recently that they’re no longer required,” The associate said putting the collars on a table next to the door, “If you need anything I’ll be upstairs.” The door closed leaving Red and Missy. “Well I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted…” Red yawned as he disappeared into one of the rooms. Missy climbed onto an arm chair and laid there trying to sleep. But it was no use. There was just too much on her mind. What happened to her mother? Was she okay? Is she alive? What are they doing here in Siberia? All these questions haunted her thoughts. She hopped out of the armchair and sat at a window. The window offered a beautiful image of the port-side city. Lights from the buildings’ antennas and a few ships sailing through the harbor offered little specks of light that shined through the thick blanket of fog that cloaked the city. Missy curled up around the window and drifted off to sleep.

            The area where Matt and his unit were stationed was hit by a heavy blizzard. With the winter approaching fast, the snow was relentless against the lions and the wolves that were there. Brittany and Alex slept huddled together to stay warm while the others stayed a “safe distance” away from each other. “It’s about as cold as hell out here…” Shepherd shivered blowing his warm breath into his paws. “Does that make any sense? Cold as hell?” Ben snapped back. He was irritated by the freezing wind that seeped through the tent walls. “You know what I mean.” He replied tucking his muzzle between his front legs. “Hey! Is there any oil in here?” Hardy muttered walking in the tent. His ears were frozen up. “No we ran out a while ago when we were burning stuff, remember?” Ben sighed. Shepherd laughed to himself, “Oh I remember… That was a beautiful flame we had going there though.” Hardy nodded, “Yeah it was…” The three sat there for a while. “What’s going on? Anyone making a fire?” Ben finally asked. “Matter of fact, Thomson sent kylie out to fetch some fire wood.” Hardy replied glancing out the tent. The wind blow at the tent walls cause them to flutter and flare violently. “I hate the winter.” Shepherd mumbled. “The wind’s picking up out there. I guess I’ll go back to the fire site, I’ll let you guys know when we got a flame rolling.” Hardy said leaving the tent. Meanwhile, a mile away, Kylie wandered around the ice cold landscape looking for firewood. The biting winds and freezing cold snow didn’t affect her because she was born into extreme weather conditions. “Firewood…firewood…” She repeated to herself as she buried her muzzle into the snow in search for sticks. Finally, she reached a thick oak tree with several hundred branches laying everywhere. She smiled. “Firewood!!” She cried out in excitement and began to collect the sticks. Back at the camp, Alex and Brittany explained their lives to each other. Brittany, being a lioness, was heavily built with muscles, sharp fangs and claws, and killer instinct however she wasn’t used to the cold. The freezing wind bit through her thin fur and soft skin causing her to shiver uncontrollably. “I hate this weather…” She shivered laughing, “I prefer the summer….” “Me too,” Alex replied laying his head on hers, “It means I can sit at home and play Playstation all day.” Brittany laughed, “So what brings you to the USP military?” Alex shrugged, “Baron, Ty and I were bored so we signed up.” Brittany looked back at him, “Seriously? You guys joined because y’all were bored?” Alex nodded, “Yeah, we all agree it was a stupid idea… but it was Ty’s idea.” Brittany laughed. “So what brings you into the army?” Alex asked as he gently stroked her ears. “I needed the money I guess… I left my pride a while ago because I wasn’t all into getting pregnant and stuff.” She replied shyly. “Wait, what do you mean?” Alex asked nervously. “In a lion pride, all females are required to be impregnated by a male to keep up with the need of cubs…” She continued, “I didn’t want to get pregnant… I told my father that… he told me that it was either that or leave… so I left.” Alex laid his head down on hers, “Dang that must have sucked.” She nodded, “Yeah… but what’s done is done. Now instead of raising six annoying cubs, I’m here fixing broken arms and cuts.” They both laughed. “You’re the nicest anyone has ever been to me. I guess because I’m a lion I intimidate other animals so they tend to be afraid of me…” Brittany said quietly, “But other lionesses… I don’t know.” Alex smiled, “Because you’re prettier than them.” Brittany smiled, “Thank you...” They were about to kiss when suddenly Hardy entered the room with a gallon of oil. “The fire has been started and K.I.A brought back some meat. You guys can stay here and make lion…wolf… cub-puppy things or you can come out here and eat, then make lion…wolf…” Brittany cut him off with a smile, “Okay we’ll be out in a second.” Hardy nodded, “Be quick or be hungry.” He looked over at Alex, “Good job man. Good job.” He then returned to the fire where everyone was.

            Jasmine, Kasey, and Katianna remained locked within the Outpost’s prison. Jasmine sat quietly in the corner of her cell sucking her paw, Katianna’s gums bled from trying to chew through the metal bars, and Kasey tried to cheer them up. “It’s not so bad! At least we’re getting fed…right?” Kasey suggested optimistically. Katianna continued chewing at one of the bars and jasmine remained silent. “…Wow its mighty cold in here…” Kasey continued trying to cheer the others up. “Shut the hell up!” Jasmine snapped at her. Katianna stopped chewing the bars, “I’m almost through if the two of you can just relax….” Jasmine looked spitefully back at her, “You too Katianna! You have no idea what you’re going to do when you get through anyway! You’re just a stupid puppy!” Katianna shrugged, “Don’t get mad at me because you’re attitude got you raped.” Jasmine looked away. “That wasn’t nice! Say sorry Katianna!” Kasey shouted angrily at her. “Sorry Jasmine…” Katianna muttered returning to the bars. “It’s okay…” She replied quietly, “Sorry for calling you a stupid puppy….” Katianna continued chewing at the bars. “How do they operate right next to Caniridia?”Jasmine wondered out loud, “Didn’t the lions destroy this place?” Kasey shook her head, “No, the lions used it for shelter.” The sound of a metal bar hit the ground. “Got it!” Katianna cried out in excitement. Kasey and Jasmine looked back at her in amazement. She squeezed through the opening and made her way through the empty prison. “Where are you going?” Kasey cried out but Katianna was too far away. Minutes passed before she returned with the keys to the cells and freed Kasey and Jasmine. “Good job Kati! I’ll never call you stupid, ever again!” Jasmine cried hugging her. “Now how do we get out of here?” Kasey asked looking around the empty prison complex. “This way…” Katianna whispered pointed towards the back of the room. A Large vent on the other side of the room was their anticipated escape route so they removed the vent cover and climbed into the duct. As they neared the end, the temperature inside dropped suddenly. They reached the outside to find themselves in the center of the blizzard. “Wasn’t it sunny just yesterday?” Jasmine asked shielding herself from the heavy snow and ice fall. Katianna nodded and looked around, “I can’t see a thing… Which way is it to Caniridia?” The three stood outside of the outpost trying to figure out which way to go. “I think it’s that way.” Katianna pointed straight ahead. “Are you sure? It seems a little unlikely for Caniridia to be that exact direction….” Kasey said skeptically. “Well it’s either that way or back in jail…” Katianna said, “If we go left or right, we’ll risk crossing the front and being spotted.” Jasmine shrugged, “Fine then, let’s go.” The three headed straight, in the wrong direction. Rather than heading west to Caniridia, they were headed south, to the Lions’ territory. “So… how did it feel?” Kasey asked Jasmine cautiously. “How did what feel?” Jasmine replied confused. “When that wolf raped you… did it hurt? Jasmine smiled, “Yeah it hurt a lot… It would have been better if it were Ty rather than him though.” “You still like Ty? I thought you hated him now that he kissed that other girl.” Kasey replied surprised. “Yeah I do hate him for that. But for some reason I just can’t stop thinking about him…” Kasey laughed, “You desperate little b***h!” “There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s a boy. I see it on TV all the time, two wolves fall in love and one goes away for a long time, then finds another pretty girl to drool after. Just to satisfy his raging hormones.” Katianna added. “How do you know so much about that?” Jasmine asked curiously. “TV, what exactly do you think I did all day at Veridia?” She replied with a monotone look. The three continued on for hours until the blizzard stopped. It was clear to see that they were nowhere near Caniridia. “Where are we? I don’t remember being around here…” Kasey asked Katianna. She shrugged, “I don’t know.” Kasey and Jasmine glared at her, “WHAT?!” Katianna shrugged again, “I said, I don’t know.” “Katianna you said you knew where we were going! You dumb dog!!” Jasmine screamed at her. “One, I’m not a dog, two, I said I had an idea on where we were headed. I was never completely sure where we were going.” Kasey and Jasmine continued glaring at her. “Well it is sort of your fault for listening to me. I’m a puppy remember?” Katianna muttered as she continued walking. “Katianna, if you have no idea where you’re going, then why are you going to keep on going that way?!” Kasey cried out after her. Katianna stopped. “WHY not?” She replied calmly. “What if we’re headed to Eucadia?” Jasmine suggested, “They’ll kill us!” Katianna shook her head in disappointment, “You really need a geography lesson. If we were on our way to Eucadia, Then we’d be in forests, not grassy plains.” “Okay then smart a*s, where the hell are we?!” Kasey shouted back at her. “Why are you yelling?” Katianna asked, “If I were to guess, I’d say we’re somewhere in Lion territory.” The two looked at each other. “We’ve only been walking for a few hours! There’s no way we could be in…” She was cut off by distant cries. “Back into the Blizzard?! WHY?!” A voice cried out. The three looked that way and saw several wolves and lions heading the way they came. Hanging around the back was Ty, Alex and Baron. “Oh my god Jasmine look!” Kasey pointed to the tired group of lions and wolves. Jasmine looked over and immediately caught sight of Ty. Her eyes lit up. The three ran towards the slow moving group of soldiers.

            Gail and Antarctica sat in the forest and looked over the walls of a large, hidden complex. The Blizzard had weakened a bit but was still strong enough to provide cover for them. The complex was heavily guarded with twenty feet tall, steel walls and tons of patrols all over the place. The two had done previous planning on how to get in, but looking at it, the two became nervous. “This is it… the nuclear research facility….” Antarctica whispered to Gail, “Inside, there’s an underground facility where they’re developing Eucadia’s atomic weapon…” Gail looked closer, “It looks impenetrable…” Antarctic nodded, “It is… supposedly. If you follow my lead, we’ll get in without losing our heads… or our tails.” Gail nodded and followed Antarctica. The two dodged the spotlights and managed to reach the steel wall unnoticed. “Okay, now here’s the tricky part…” Antarctica whispered. The two snuck around the corner of the wall until they reached a section where a guard tower was. Part of the wall bent into three sections, making it easier for them to climb. Foot by foot, Gail and Antarctica scaled the twenty foot wall. Their pain-staking climb finally ended when they reached the top. “This part is the most dangerous…” Antarctica whispered, “We have to get into one of the towers to climb down…” Gail nodded and followed her. Antarctica and Gail slipped into a guard tower that was empty. “He must be in the bathroom or something…” Gail whispered. Antarctica nodded, “Yeah they’re never gone.” The two hurried down the stairs of the wall. They were in. “We’re in…” Antarctica sighed a relieved sigh. “It’s not over yet…” Gail said pointing to the entrance to the underground facility. The Entrance was guarded more than the wall. “We’re not going that way… Too many cameras…” Antarctica whispered back, “We’re heading to the cooling vent…” She pointed to a deep hole in the ground with steam rising from it, “It’s like an underground nuclear cooling tower…” Gail was unsure about her plan but she followed. The two went to the opening of the cooling vent. It was a deep drop that was covered by a steel grate. On one side, however, the steel grate was open and a maintenance ladder reached the bottom. “This way…” Antarctica whispered climbing down the ladder, Gail following. Gail, when she left her small village, never dreamed that she’d be doing what she was now. The two reached the bottom of the ladder and climbed off. They were now in the generator room. Machine hummed and clanked in the room making the two feel uneasy and exposed. “The main things we have to worry about are the cameras… If they find us and catch us… We’re dead meat…” Antarctica whispered to Gail.” The two were just about to leave the room until a Eucadian wolf walked in. They hid just in time. The Eucadian Technician entered the generator room and began to work on one of the machines. Gail and Antarctica took the opportunity to leave the room. “There’s not a whole bunch of Eucadians here… It’s late and everyone went home…” Antarctica whispered, “The only wolves here are the security ones and of course the maintenance technicians.” The two walked uneasily down the long corridor pausing at each sound they heard and hiding in the shadows each time a wolf walked by. They continued until they walked passed a large window that overlooked a large strange object. The object was large and slender with a white tip at the top and what appeared to be rockets at the bottom. Radiation symbols as well as the emblem for Eucadia lined the object which laid hundreds of feet across. “Oh my god…” Antarctica gasped. She took out the camera she carried and took several photos of the object. “What is it?” Gail asked quietly. “It’s a missile… an intercontinental ballistic, thermonuclear missile… Capable of wiping out cites countries… and nations… It’s true… they have been developing a nuclear weapon…” Antarctica whispered in sadness. “What now?” Gail asked looking around. “I got the pictures… all we need is the file manifest…” Antarctica replied continuing down the circular corridor. Eventually, the Two reached a stair case that lead into the lab where the ICBM was located. Antarctica pushed slowly through the door. The lab was empty. “We’re clear…” Antarctica signaled to Gail. The two entered the lab where the huge missile was being developed. Gail searched for the manifest while Antarctica observed the missile. “A weapon of massive power… They say it holds the power of the sun…” Antarctica whispered to Gail who returned with the manifest. “I got it… now let’s get the heck out of here.” Gail suggested nervously. The chrome lab filled with large tools, machines, and containers scared her. Antarctica took a few more pictures and the two returned to the stairway. “This was too easy.” Gail sighed with a smile as they continued up the stairs. Suddenly, Antarctica froze. Gail stopped and looked back at her, “What’s wrong?” Antarctica slowly pointed up to the ceiling. Gail looked up. Up on the ceiling of the corridor was a camera staring directly at them. Gail and Antarctica froze. They both knew that they were in tons of trouble, that somewhere, someone was watching their every move. “They’re not going to let us out of here alive…” Antarctica whispered in fear.                                   

            Flannery sat staring at the papers until afternoon turned into evening. Her mother had to be somewhere here, but where? Where do they begin? The door swung open and Vikki ran excitedly to her, “Look what I found!” she handed Flannery a folder containing information on the personnel who worked at the Nuclear plant when it was open years ago. Her mother’s name was highlighted and it was dated the year Flannery was born. “Your mom worked at the nuclear plant as a nuclear physicist.” Vikki repeated. “I wish we could go and check it out… Is it safe?” Flannery asked referring to the nuclear plant. “I don’t think so… last time I checked it still has pockets of radiation all over the place from the accident…” Flannery gazed at the papers trying to find a clue on where they could start. “I already checked the library and the SS didn’t write back…” Vikki muttered sitting on the couch. “Where’s Steel?” Flannery asked referring to her aggression. Vikki shrugged, “I don’t know… last time I saw him he was there at the SS HQ. Soon after she mentioned the HQ, Flannery’s aggression walked in. “Did you find anything?” Flannery asked nervously. “I found a bit of information at the SS HQ… I think they’re hiding something…” Flannery’s aggression said handing her the papers. “Why do you think so?” Flannery questioned as she looked through the papers, “Did they give you any trouble?” Her aggression shook her head, “Not at all, they were very nice and gave me exactly what we needed. It’s the accident at the nuclear plant that happened a while ago. I mentioned it to them and they freaked out and ended the conversation right then and there.” Flannery looked back at the papers, “Well I have no idea where we can possibly look for her… this place is huge…” Meanwhile back at the SS HQ, the wolf that spoke with Flannery’s aggression sat down with his boss. “A girl and a guy came in here earlier asking about Claire…” He said quietly. “Who’s that?” His boss asked impatiently. “She was a nuclear physicist that worked at the plant a few years ago… She was pregnant at the time with Flannery a girl we euthanized a few days ago.” The wolf responded nervously. “Why did you euthanize Claire’s daughter?” His boss continued questioning him. “She was diagnosed with schizophrenia… she had an alternative personality that caused her to kill several high ranking officials.” The boss nodded, “Okay, now what about these wolves that asked about Claire?” The wolf continued, “Somehow, they figured out that she worked at the plant so they came to us asking about what happened to her.” The boss sat up, “What did you tell them.” The wolf looked away, “I…uh…” The boss leaned in closer, “What the hell did you tell them…” “Nothing sir… just a summary of the accident…” The wolf replied scared of the boss’s reaction. “You didn’t give them the list of deaths or anything else pertaining to operation Sky-Fire did you?” The wolf shook his head. The boss stood up, “There’s important information that’s being snooped around for… I don’t want them finding out about what’s going on… If they come back tell them that Claire is dead.” The wolf looked up at him, “Claire is dead sir…” The boss sat back down, “What happened?” “After the accident, Claire was exposed to a dangerous amount of radiation that would affect her child, Flannery.” The wolf explained, “Flannery was born just a year before the accident so she was still…” The boss cut him off, “Claire is dead, she was killed in… a fire. Tell them that but DO NOT mention the accident or anything having to do with the nuclear plant.” The wolf reluctantly nodded. “And watch them… I don’t want them to figure out anything on their own.” The boss finished walking out the room.        

            Foghorns from the bay and voices from the street woke Missy up early. Red had already left with his associate leaving her alone in the apartment. She switched on the TV to find something to watch but there was nothing on. She sat bored on the couch for a few hours before she decided to venture around outside. She stepped cautiously outside the apartment building and was immediately hit with the freezing cold air. Halfway-melted snow covered the ground and puddles of water were everywhere. The streets were crowded with Siberian wolves going about their normal business. Siberian wolves are the largest breed of wolves so it was a new thing she had to get used to. Missy followed the crowds into the large city which was even more hectic than Eucadia. The skyscrapers concealed the sky as thousands of commuters walked the city. Public television broadcasts added to the noise of the huge city that was about five times that of Eucadia. She nervously worked her way out of the crowd into less busy streets, the school district. In Eucadia, puppies were homeschooled. There in Siberia, they went to school. She stopped and watched a line of females, all dressed the same with large blue bows tied behind their ears and blue collars on their necks, enter the school building. She had never seen anything like it before but she was certainly glad that she didn’t have to go to school. She continued on through the quieter part of the city where peaceful, village-like, districts coexisted and worked together. It was getting rather late so she decided to return to the apartment. Missy retraced her steps all the way back to the building to find Red and his associate talking. “Oh there you are, I was starting to get worried!” Red laughed, “I got you into one of the best school here.” Missy frowned, “School?” Red nodded, “Yep, aren’t you tired of doing nothing all day?” Missy was almost in tears, “Well… yes but I don’t want to go to school…” Red smiled kindly, “Don’t worry you’ll be fine.” He handed her the large blue bow and collar she had seen on the other females. “These are the uniforms I believe.” Red said reassuringly, “I’ll help you to school tomorrow morning… It’s complicated their time schedules.” Red smiled tying the bow behind Missy’s ears. Her heart was beating slowly. She didn’t want to go to school because she was extremely shy. After red fastened the blue collar around her neck she looked into a mirror. She was frightened by the way she looked like everyone else. “Adrianna School for girls, yeah I think you’ll love it there.” Red associate reassured her. Missy wanted to cry. The last thing she needed was this.   

            The alarms flashed and the lights dimmed leave the hallways poorly lit. Antarctica and Gail ran towards the engine room to make their escape but a steel security door blocked their way. “We have to go around!” Antarctica cried over the alarms as they both ran the opposite way. From behind them, they could hear the security team closing in on them. Antarctica and Gail circled the hall back to the engine room where they had first entered. The two quickly ran in and Antarctica held the button to the door so that the security team couldn’t enter. They stood ripping at the door as Gail opened the ladder passage. “Come on Antarctica we have to hurry!” Gail cried back to her. “You go… I’ll hold them off.” Antarctica replied handing her the camera and the nuclear files, “It’s important that Veridia and the USP get those files.” Gail shook her head, “No I won’t leave you here! They’ll kill you!” The wolves on the other side continued to bang at the door. “Gail, please! You have to go now!” Antarctica ordered. Reluctantly Gail hurried up the ladder hoping Antarctica would follow. The sound of the alarm faded as she reached the top of the cooling vent and then returned as she exited. It was just getting dark with the flashing lights and spotlights lighting the sky. The guards’ focus was more on the entrance of the underground facility then the cooling vent so she snuck through the courtyard and made it against the wall. She sat waiting for a while to see if Antarctica would come up. She didn’t. Finally she decided it was time to go. Her claws out and the files secured, She scaled the wall avoiding the spotlights and the guards. From the top she could see hundreds of guard wolves running towards the entrance of the underground facility. Gail cautiously walked across the top of the wall to the other side and jumped off. She hit the ground hard, spraining her forward left ankle, but she ignored the pain and ran through the forest, back through the lake area. She continued through mountain’s the narrow path to the village. She entered one of the cabins and laid out the files. Quickly, she stuffed the information in the brown bag her boss had given her and she quickly ran to the window to check for any followers. Back at the facility Antarctica let go of the button and ran to the ladder. She quickly climbed the ladder to the courtyard and was beginning to run for the wall but she was blinded by a spotlight. Her position was revealed. She quickly ran to the corner of the wall where she was back into by the guard wolves. Without any options or time and in an attempt to avoid capture and torture, Antarctica drew out a small blade from a sheath on her leg. “You want me you b******s?!!” She cried, “Then come get me!!!” With that, she jabbed the blade into her neck severing her jugular vein. Blood poured from the cut she had made as the wolves desperately tried to prevent her death. A puddle of blood had formed in seconds as Eucadian medical units tried to stop the bleeding but it was too late. Antarctica was dead. Immediately, the rest of the security forces dispersed to find Gail. Back at the village she waited for Antarctica. Time and time again she thought to herself, “Maybe I should just go…” and it was the best idea she had. But she did not follow it. Through the window she saw several wolves running through the path. Quickly, she hid the bag in a cabinet and stuffed herself behind a bookshelf. Minutes later, the door of the cabin flew open and three wolves walked inside. Gail thought for sure that the wolves’ acute sense of smell would compromise her but the smell of the rotting goats outside covered her’s up. The wolves searched the cabin before they left and returned to the site. Slowly, she crawled from behind the bookshelf and retrieved the bag with the evidence. She carefully closed the door behind her and, with a quick survey of the village, started off to Veridia. The snow began to fall again as the lonely but silent night had returned to its usual safe state. Gail ran towards Veridia without stopping. She wanted to cry for Antarctic, whom she had assumed was killed, but couldn’t. The ice-cold wind bit and whipped at her as she tore through the thicket where she and Patrick had slept the other night. Suddenly, she slipped on a puddle of a strange but familiar liquid. She got up and observed the liquid. It was more blood. “What the hell….” She thought to herself as she returned to where she had slipped. It seemed to her that there was just blood and murder left and right now that she had found out the Eucadians’ plans. The blood was still warm so it was a recent kill she figured was just a deer or something of the like. But it wasn’t. When she had returned to the scene, Patrick lay lifeless in the puddle of the blood. A metal collar was tied tightly around his neck and claw marks on his sides suggested a fight. Gail gasped and backed away. Without looking back, she ran away. Tears poured from her eyes, first Antarctica and now Patrick. The entire nuclear scandal seemed to have ruffled her life up. Patrick, who left before Gail woke up, was captured at a nearby Eucadian guard camp and questioned. After he proved useless to the Eucadians, he was executed. Gail continued running. Her sides ached and her sprained ankle began to act up but she kept going. She knew the intensity of the situation and how important it was that the files made it to Veridia. A few miles later, the pain in her left ankle took its toll. She stopped to rest her ankles and to get a drink of water. Having stopped running, it was harder to start up again. Her left ankle pained so badly that she couldn’t walk with it so she limped the rest of the way. She didn’t know that a simple messenger job would bring about the sad adventure she endured.

            Jasmine ran, her tongue flopping behind her in excitement, toward Ty and his unit. She closed in on them and hopped happily on Ty. “Oh my god Ty I can’t believe it’s you!” She cried kissing him. His Unit stopped. “Jasmine I…” Ty, equally happy to see her, tried explaining but was unsuccessful. “I love you so much!! I don’t care if you like that other girl it doesn’t matter! I still love you!” Jasmine continued overly excited to see him. Shepherd grunted, “Who’s the lady..?” Hardy shrugged. Jasmine managed to let Ty speak. “About the other girl I’m sorry… I was caught in the moment… I love you jasmine and no one else.” He said hiding his tears. “Awww” Ben smiled, “That tickles me inside.” K.I.A looked at him, “What? Really?” Ben frowned trying to repeal his aggressiveness, “No I don’t give a damn. I was just kidding… you know… being sarcastic!” “I hope this means we can stop and wait out the blizzard.” A lion muttered lying down. Matt came back to where the action was, “I suppose we can wait out the blizzard… I’m freezing my a*s off.” He glanced at Jasmine, Kasey, and Katianna, “Who are you?” They explained and he nodded, “Well okay excellent.” Matt turned to leave, Ty and Jasmine left together to a tent, Alex and Brittany the lioness too left for a tent, and Baron sat all alone. “What’s good with you son?” Ben asked sitting next to Baron, “You seem all alone.” Baron nodded, “I guess so… everybody has someone to go home to… someone who they love…except me…” He looked away, “I don’t know I guess I’m not good enough…” Ben shook his head, “Nonsense! There’s a lady out there for every guy, Baron I promise you that.” Baron looked back down and shyly admitted, “I don’t like girls Ben…” Ben’s face lit up in surprise. Shepherd walked back to where they were and sat down, “Everyone’s gettin’ some… ‘cept me, What yall back here talkin’ ‘bout? I need me some good company.” “Did you know that Baron doesn’t like girls?” Ben asked shepherd astounded by the news. “Mmhm… I figured.” Shepherd replied, “its fine by me… just don’t get any ideas son.” Baron nodded sadly, “I get that a lot.” Ben shook his head, “No hard feelings Baron, I was just caught off guard.” Baron nodded, “its okay.” Accompanied by a long silence, Shepherd began questioning him, “Do you have a… someone to go back home to? It always cheers me up thinking about going home to my wife and daughter.” Baron shook his head shyly. “What?!” Shepherd cried out, “what do you mean you haven’t found someone to go home to?!” Baron shrugged, “I’m too shy to talk to anyone.” Ben laughed, “Listen here, you hang around the unit long enough, you’ll never be scared to talk to anyone!” The two laughed while Baron continued to sit silently. Ben and shepherd left to find food minutes later leaving Baron alone. He sat, depressed that no one talked or cared about him. “Hi Baron!” Kylie cried out to him. He turned around, “Oh… Hi Kylie…” She sat next to him, “What’s the matter?” Baron sighed, “Nothing…” Kylie continued to dig, “Come on Baron I know there’s something up. Tell me!” Baron looked sadly up at her and began to explain with tears in his eyes, “Why doesn’t anyone like me? Everyone just thinks that I’m weird and everybody I come into contact with freaks out when I tell them that I’m gay!” Kylie, like everyone else, was surprised by the news, “You’re gay?” Baron’s sadness and depression turned to anger. “You see?! That’s what I’m talking about!” He cried in anger. “I thought it would be good when others don’t know that you’re gay… it is kind of weird…” Kylie accidently set him off. “Oh thanks a lot Kylie! For once I thought I could talk openly to someone who’d understand but as usual I’m wrong!” Baron cried in a furious rage. Kylie, realizing her mistake, quickly tried to calm him, “Baron I’m so sorry I didn’t…” He cut her off, “Just forget about it!” He turned and walked off, away from the others.                  

            Flannery’s aggression and Vikki sat at home alone. Flannery had left to investigate the whereabouts of her mother leaving the two behind. Her aggression sat watching her usual shows when Vikki came from upstairs. She had just gotten out of the shower and Flannery’s aggression caught her scent. “Hey steel… I didn’t know you like these types of shows…” Vikki smiled sitting close to “him”. “Yeah they’re cool…” Flannery’s aggression replied in her fake male voice. “It’s amazing; guys usually think that only girls watch soap operas.” Vikki continued. Vikki’s scent attracted Flannery’s aggression so much but she tried desperately to hide it. The two sat together watching TV. “So where do you suppose Flannery went?” Vikki said breaking a long awkward silence. “Who knows?” Flannery’s aggression replied smiling. She was nervous. Vikki’s scent was driving her mad. Suddenly, Vikki laid her head on Steel’s shoulder, “how long do you think she’ll be gone?” Steel nervously but gently stroked Vikki’s damp fur, “Long enough…” On the other side of the city, Flannery walked through the abandoned nuclear power plant. She was careful to avoid the signs which reflected the moon’s dim lighting. She reached the main building and entered it cautiously. Everything was as it was during and after the accident. Papers lay spread everywhere, desks and chairs were overturned and windows were shattered. She leafed through the mess of papers looking for anything that would help her find her mother. She went office to office, room to room, looking for any information on her mother. Finally, she reached the end of a long hallway where one office remained. A rusty tag on the door read “Claire”. Quickly she rushed into the office to find it empty. The office looked as if everything were removed, or as of nothing was ever placed inside. Flannery was extremely disappointment. Almost in tears, she entered the office and sat down. “A little late to be exploring a nuclear plant don’t you think?” a voice from behind her muttered. Flannery quickly turned around to see the Boss of the SS. “I-I-I got lost….” Flannery stuttered in fear. “No need to lie. I know who you are, Flannery.” The Boss replied sitting down. She could hardly see the black and white wolf standing at the door. “Who are you?” Flannery demanded nervously. “Richard. Richard of the SS and that’s all you need to know. What I need to know is why you’re here. It’s dangerous here you know. There are pockets of radiation all over this place. Radiation can kill you Flannery.” The boss explained calmly. “I took the safe path.” Flannery replied. “And how did you know about the path?” The boss asked curiously. “I’m not stupid…” Flannery replied still nervous. “So you’re not.” The Boss smiled, “I know what you’re looking for Flannery, but you won’t find it here.” Flannery looked up at him, “Where is she?” The Boss shook his head, “She’s dead Flannery.” Flannery shook her head, “You’re lying!” The boss frowned, “No, Flannery, I am not. She was killed after the accident, too much radiation.” Flannery smiled, she knew he was lying and she had the evidence. “Then why did I find information stating she gave birth to me four months after the accident?” Flannery asked, “And why did this recent article I found state that she’s still alive?” The boss was at a loss of words so he changed the subject. “You need to leave here immediately. You’re digging in dangerous business Flannery. The SS will NOT be investigated by some little nosey rat.” He growled at her. Flannery smiled, “Good thing I’m a wolf and not a rat then, huh?” The Boss walked up to her, “I could have you killed right now and nobody would even know. I could have your body incinerated and then have your ashes used to fertilize the plants in my office. I’m showing you great kindness by giving you a warning, stay out of SS business and you’ll live a happy life.” The two continued arguing while back at the house things heated up. Vikki sat in Flannery’s aggression’s lap while they made out indefinitely. “I never thought I’d be doing this… especially since you’re Flannery boyfriend…” Vikki whispered as Steel breached through her virginity. “I’m not her boyfriend.” Flannery’s aggression replied as they continued their intimate heavy-petting. Back at the nuclear plant, Flannery finally obeyed the boss’s orders and left the plant. The two stood outside the plant in silence before Flannery began desperately pleading for information on her mother. “I need to know where she is…!” She cried in desperation. The Boss shook his head, “Its private information… her whereabouts… I can’t tell you what… where she is.” Flannery noticed the boss’s quick change in sentence, “What do you mean what happened to her?” The boss walked off, “I said nothing of the sort.” Flannery returned home to find her aggression and Vikki copulating. She walked passed them saying nothing and went up to her room.

            After hours of running, Gail finally reached the Oceanside Veridian pirate village. She rushed through the doors of the post office toward her boss who was surprised to see her. “Gail?! Oh my goodness I thought you were killed!” He cried in excitement. He looked down to see a trail of bloody paw prints, “My god, are you okay?” Gail was nearly out of breath, “I have something… to show you.”  She handed her boss the information. He leafed through the papers and when he reached the camera he was stunned. “Oh my god…. Gail, where did you find this?!” He gasped. “The… research facilities…behind Eucadia….” She was breathing hard from running, “Me and a snow leopard named Antarctica… we snuck in and took evidence…” Her boss looked up at her, “We have to tell Queen Alexia! And what better time than now, The United States of Pacifica’s president is here visiting!” The boss quickly phoned the Veridian palace and alerted them of the information. “Are you going to be able to walk?” Her boss asked observing her bleeding paws. “I’ll be fine…” She replied catching her breath. The two walked into the capital city of Veridia where the palace was. The city Lights lit the cold night and snow began to fall. They reached the steps of the palace where Queen Alexis’ aid waited for them. “Right this way…” She whispered and led them through the large palace doors. The inside was bright, warm and welcoming. Veridian royal guards were all over as well as USP secret service. The three walked past all of them then climbed the many stairs to the meeting room where Queen Alexia and the USP President, Drake Vegas, were. The two leaders welcomed them. “Good evening.” Queen Alexia greeted kindly. “How are you?” The USP president also greeted warmly. “Excuse me, I’m not trying to be rude but you need to see this…” Gail quickly replied handing them the information. Upon reading the papers and viewing the photos, Queen Alexia’s eyes widened. She handed the information to USP President Drake Vegas who was also surprised at the information. “I don’t believe it…” Queen Alexia whispered to the President who shook his head. “We can’t let this happen. If they get into mass producing these… They can cause severe damage to the Allies…. and the world. Queen Alexia looked over at Gail, “You did a very good thing for your country and the world… If you hadn’t brought this information, we would have never known what was going on up there…” The USP president nodded, “This is a very serious thing.” Gail smiled tiredly, “Always happy to help.” Queen Alexia’s aid entered the room. “Clio, I need you to get the Lions’ leader on the phone.” Queen Alexia ordered. Clio nodded and hurried out the room. “I wish we could do something for you now but we’re kind of tied up in the situation.” The USP president said regretfully. “Its okay don’t worry about it.” Gail replied. Her and her boss returned to their village satisfied while the Heads of Veridia and The USP alerted the Lions about Eucadia’s nuclear capabilities. “Our worst fears are concerned…” President Drake Vegas suggested to Veridian Queen Alexia and The Lions’ president Chase Reeds, “Eucadia has the missile capabilities we tried to prevent. With Japan, Bengali, and Northern Sanctia on the Eucadian side, we can’t afford to let them keep nuclear weapons against us. I’m suggesting that the Allies of Veridia, the United States of Pacifica, the Union of Socialist Lions, and the USSR (Siberia) all band together and prepare for a massive offensive against the Axis powers.” The two agreed and a message was sent to the Soviet Union of Siberia who also later agreed. President Drake Vegas gathered the Allied leaders up, (The Siberian dictator, Darran Kalashnikov, on telecom), and made a speech regarding their actions against Eucadia and the Axis powers. “On Friday of this week, we will launch the largest ever offensive on Eucadia with the means to halt the production of Nuclear weapons and restore peace and order to this planet. Tomorrow, we will rally up our troops and prepare for an invasion of the Axis powers. They must be stopped at all cost.

            News of the USP’s President’s call to rally troops reached the Siberian public. Although the reason was unknown and they didn’t know about the Eucadian’s missile plan, many teenaged Siberian wolves rushed to answer the call of soldiers. Missy was dressing for her first day of school and red was watching the news. “A call for more troops to represent Siberia and the USSR was put out today and already received thousands of volunteers,” The news reporter explained, “thousands of Medical technicians also answered the call and the USSR’s troop numbers tripled in just the few hours that the message was sent.” Red laughed, “Boys just love to fight.” Missy sat at the mirror quietly tying her blue bow on. She didn’t want to go to school. She was terrified of the other girls as she has never actually been to a school before. After she got dressed, Red walked her to the school. The school was a large, old fashioned building with pillars and beautiful landscaping. The school was only for females so hundreds of girls her age and older crowded the courtyard waiting for the bell to ring. Red dropped her off and left. She stood there, nervous and scared of the other girls. She was afraid of being totally clueless so she inched her way to a corner where she sat until the bell rung. Like a herd of animals, the girls crowded into the school building looking for their classes. “315…” She whispered to herself looking for her classroom. She was so focused on finding the room that she ran into another older girl and knocked her books down. “Watch where you’re going dumbass!” The girl roared at her. The girl seemed more popular than the others as she was surrounded by several other girls. “Sorry… I’m sorry…” Missy whispered scared, embarrassed, but more intimidated by the popular girl. The popular girl smiled spitefully at her, “You better be.” Missy walked past the popular girls who were laughing at her and continued to her class. She sat, still shaken from the experience with the popular girls, and waited. Soon, another bell rang and the entire class was there. The teacher, yet another Siberian wolf that looked like the others stood up. “Good morning class, we have a new student.” She said pointing Missy’s way. The entire class looked back at her making Missy feel even more shy and nervous. “Missy, why don’t you tell us something about yourself?” The teacher asked kindly. Missy was petrified. She slid out of her desk onto her feet and dug for something to explain to the class. Her heart raced and her paws trembled as she struggled to find something to say. The entire class waited, as well as the teacher, for her to speak but she couldn’t. “My name is Missy and…” She began very quietly, “I’m new to Siberia…” The class smiled and greeted her kindly, Contrary to what she had expected. The class dragged on until finally it was time for break. Missy assumed a spot in a corner by herself and ate alone until a girl from her class ran up to her. “Hi Missy!” The girl said excitedly and very kindly. “Hello…” Missy replied nervously. “You’re in my class, my name is Nichole.” Nichole continued with a smile, “Why are you eating by yourself? Don’t you feel lonely?” Missy shrugged. “Why don’t you come with me? I’ll introduce you to my friends!” Missy hesitantly followed Nichole to a table where three other girls sat. Missy expected the other girls to be meaner than Nichole but they were way nicer. “Hi Missy!” They cried in simultaneous excitement. “Hi…” Missy replied a little bit more confident in herself. “She’s in my class and she’s new.” Nichole explained to her friends. Her friends became interested in Missy so they asked her a lot of questions, talked to her about things, and explained the school’s ways. Missy felt more comfortable around the four girls and spoke more around them. By the end of the break, she had already made four new friends, Nichole, Ashley, Paige, and Kerry.

            Baron continued walking the way he started. Kylie didn’t go after him and neither did any of the unit so he kept on. Tears welled up in his eyes as he slowly lost sight of the camp. Miles and miles passed before he decided to rest. He curled up into a warm ball and drifted off to sleep. Moments later he was awakened by a lioness cub about his age. She appeared to be wild as she had scratches and bruises all over. She also didn’t have a tail. “Gidday! What are you doing out here in the cold, mate?” she asked with an Australian accent. Baron looked up at her, “Nothing… I’m just…” “You are just doing what?” she asked again. “Nothing.” He replied and curled back up. “Well you con’t just sleep out here… you can be killed or… Aten…” Baron looked up at her, “Aten? You mean eaten?” She nodded, “Quite yes! But that’s what I jus’ said mate…” Baron smiled nervously, “Ooo…kay… and who are you?” The lioness cub proudly lifted her head toward the sky. “I am Sumontha [Samantha] the scout from the kingdom of the lions!” She proclaimed proudly, “But you can call me Sam.” Baron looked at her closer, “You’re a scout?” She nodded, “Right I am! How the bloody hell do you think I lost me tail?” she flashed her tailless rear, “I was scouting for the military when I was chased and captured by the b******s! They interrogated me but I refused to tell them anything, so they cut me tail off to get me to talk!” Baron winced in fear, “They chopped it off?!” She nodded, “Bloody right they did! But I escaped and the army ripped them to shreds!” Baron sat up and looked at her. She was a pretty to him, beige with a white underbelly and an Australian accent. “I would have to work as hard if these drongo –bludgers up in the offices would go out and work for a change…. Fair pickers if you ask me…” Baron smiled. “What’s so funny?” She asked clueless. “Nothing I’m just… I like you’re accent.” Baron replied smiling. She smiled back, “Well then, since you know who I am then who are you?” Baron shrugged, “A Veridian soldier I guess…” Her eyes widened, “Oi! You’re a digger off to the blue! Cheers you’re gone to fight for your country!” Baron frowned. “Well I guess…so…” She smiled and sat beside him, “Where’s your unit mate? Ah, you are going solo?” He nodded slightly. Sam’s face lit up, “Cheers! You can come home with me!” Baron looked away, “I don’t know…” She hugged him tightly, “Ah come on don’t squib out on me! This may be the only chonce of you eating REAL Tucker!” Reluctantly Baron agreed and followed the energetic, Australian, and tailless lioness cub home.                             

            Flannery couldn’t sleep thinking about what the boss had told her at the nuclear plant. “Could she really be dead?” She kept thinking to herself. She was angry that she doubted herself, but the thought wouldn’t leave her head. She slid out of her bed and headed downstairs. Her aggression and Vikki had finished their session and slept together quietly on the couch as Flannery snuck by and slipped out the door. It was about 3AM when Flannery arrived at the SS headquarters. Since it was opened 24 hours, she walked right it. A receptionist sat bored at the front counter, other than her, no one else was there. “Can I help you?” the receptionist asked bored and tiredly. “No I was just… wondering where the bathroom is…” Flannery replied trying to sound innocent. The receptionist pointed to the bathrooms which were near the elevators. “Thank you.” Flannery smiled and ran toward them. Instead of going to the bathrooms, however, she ran straight to the elevators. She made absolute sure that no one was watching when she entered the elevator and pressed floor six, the database room. The elevator grinded to a halt and the door slid open revealing the room full of computers. The sound of the computers running and the air conditioning filled the room making her nervous. Quickly, she ran to the central computer and tried to access it. The first thing the computer required was a password and user name, which she did not have. Flannery sat, frustrated, trying to figure out the passwords when a familiar voice laughed behind her. “You just don’t quit do you Flannery?” The boss laughed entering the room. She froze in fear. “Seriously Flannery, did you really think that you could just walk up into the SS HQ and no one would notice?” She said nothing. The boss nodded and looked towards the computer she was trying to access. Immediately, the boss typed in his password and username allowing Flannery to use the computer. “Go ahead and see for yourself.” The boss muttered, “Your mother is dead.” Flannery ignored the boss and typed in her mother’s name. Right away, a picture of her mother popped up on the screen. Under it, were red, uppercase letters that read “Deceased”. Flannery looked at the screen not believing what she saw. “It was a long time ago.” The boss explained. Flannery shook her head in disbelief, “It can’t be….” The boss nodded. A while after she read the news, the boss lead her out of the building. “Get some sleep Flannery and leave us to our business.” The boss said returning to his office. Flannery slowly walked home to the nearly empty house. When she entered, her aggression, who was standing at the refrigerator, looked back. “Where have been?” She asked pouring a glass of water. “Well you would have known if you and Vikki weren’t screwing around!” Flannery cried in frustration, “As if it were the time to be petting heavy! You’re supposed to help me!!” Her aggression shook her head, “First of all, it’s called “Heavy petting” second, we weren’t screwing around… we were just….” Flannery ignored her, “Whatever “Steel” Just leave me alone.”          

                  

                                                         

 

                                                                          

             

                                                         

                         

           

                    

  

           

           

                 

           

 

                                  

                              

 

           

             

           

             

           

              
                             

         

        

           

 

 

  

     

                  

 

           

 

                         

           

                                

                           

                                        

                                   

Author's Note

Ignore Grammar errors