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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 89: Something Is Out There.... And It Has Returned.... (You Needed Me Part Five)

Day 307

"Now make sure you have both of them home a reasonable time!" The brown bear said to the tiger.

"I will." The tiger said to his subordinate.

"Make sure Corbin and Alex wear their jackets. The days may be warm, but the evenings aren't as much anymore!" The bear warrior said.

"I will." The tiger said as we walked out of the door.

"And make sure those two don't over eat!"

"Commander we better leave before momma bear changes her mind." The little mongoose said.

"Indeed." He responded as we quickly walked away from the she beast and her lair.

"You know, Mrs. Wild was right- motherhood does look good on her." I said as Lord Tiger rounded the corner to the loading dock.

It was the last full weekend in November. The daytime temperature would reach the mid eighties while the evening temperatures not so much. Even so, my mistress made Corbin and I bring our jackets to wear over our shirts in case it did start to get cold. Lord Tiger that morning was also looking quite casual. He left behind his knight uniform and sword for casual clothing- a navy blue shirt with tan pants. He looked like any other beastial attending a sporting event.

"Ah here we are." He said as we arrived at the loading dock.

"Exactly what are we taking to Capital Stadium commander?" I asked as we walked through the door.

"You know I was wondering that myself." Corbin asked. "There are too many of us to use one of the hover bikes. Unless the commander has a fabulous ride he hasn't told us about."

"Here it is boys." The tiger said.

"Where?" I asked.

"Right over there." He responded.

"You mean that transport vehicle?!" Corbin responded.

(Wow, we are taking a prison vehicle.)

"Yup. It will serve our needs." He said climbing in and sitting down.

A moment later we were off on our way toward Capital Stadium which was located just north of World Four and south of World Five in a grassy plains area bordering the two cities. I was told that despite this, the stadium was considered to be part of World Five.

"So how is Lady Ursa?" The tiger knight asked Corbin and myself as we preceded north on our journey to the stadium.

"Momma bear is glad to be back in the field sir." The little mongoose boy said. "She hated being in traction and on light duty."

"I noticed the change in her demeanor almost instantaneously." The tiger knight said.

"I think she was anxious to put what happened last Saturday behind her commander."

"I agree. She bounced back rather quickly." The tiger warrior said.

"By the way, I heard the knights closed their investigation." I said.

"That was shortly after the High Evolutionary judged and punished the five." Corbin added. "I was surprised they weren't de-evolved and returned back to the wild."

"They were originally supposed have been just after the start of the empire. Back then it was called recycling in order to make other beastials. Regardless the master took that into account as well as what the five had done and were going to do."

"So that was why they were given the living death."

"Exactly right Alex. They will not be able to harm any beast else ever again. It will also serve as a warning to others who escaped the reclamation centers and have considered seeking vengeance as well." The commander said.

"Lord Tiger?" The little mongoose asked.

"What is it Corbin?" The commander said looking down at him as we continued northward.

"You mentioned that there were beastial remains in that vat the five tried to dip momma bear in."

"Yes, there were." The tiger answered.

"Did you ever find out who they were?"

Corbin's question also garnered my attention too.

"We did. There were two other beastials the group had 'punished' before capturing Lady Ursa. One was Janet Harsh, she was a administrator of the reclamation center in World Two about sixteen years ago."

"Was she in the knight core?" I asked Lord Tiger.

"No. Neither was Rick Vix. He was Janet's predecessor at the same facility. The five hunted both of them down and then came for Lady Ursa and would have proceeded onward had it not been for you two."

"Glad we could help commander." The little mongoose smiled folding his arms behind his head.

The trip to the stadium took about 90 minutes but provided amazing views of the changing leaves on the trees and of all the fall colors.

When we arrived, the stadium was very crowded that day- even the parking lot was packed. Fortunately Lord Tiger had a private parking space, private entrance and private seats in the sky deck with catered meals. I guess rank does have its privileges.

"Wow commander the view of the stadium is amazing! Prime seating." I said as Corbin and the tiger warrior eyed the action from the Extreme Rage's Arena.

"I am a season ticket holder." The Commander of the Knights of Wundagore said rather off handedly.

"You have never been here before big brother?" The mongoose boy asked me.

"Actually no. This is my first time."

"The stadium is nice. But World Five is evening nicer- it isn't far from here, you should see the amusement park! It is a popular tourist attraction. Rides, foods, and games!" Corbin said.

(Maybe we could convince Lord Tiger to take us after the game?)

And so we watched the game, well most of it. Like the day I was cleaning Lord Tiger's lair, the World One Warriors were losing to the Extreme Rage two to three and were desperately trying to tie the score the final seconds of the final quarter.

"NOT AGAIN! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!" The tiger beastial roared.

"You know they are going to lose." The little mongoose seated between us said.

"Uh, why is that Corbin?" The commander asked.

"The World One Warriors suck." He said simply.

The look from the tiger knight was of utter contempt.

"Ah, Corbin let's not taunt the kind and extremely powerful warrior who was nice enough to bring us here to watch the re-clash of these two teams." I said as I heard growls coming from the perturbed male feline.

"Aw come on, the Extreme Rage are the better team anyway, every beast knows it." Corbin squeaked as the rhino I had seen months earlier during the championship game, kicked the ball hard toward the the opposing team's net. This time it was missed by their goal keeper, the white bear who hung his head in shame as the rhino waved mocking him.

"YES!!!" Lord Tiger said brushing aside Corbin as he picked me up and spun me around and around and around and around.

(Wow, my mistress was right- he really does get into it!)

Realizing what he had done, the commander gently returned me back to my seat.

"You were saying Corbin?" The tiger warrior said redirecting his attention back to the little mongoose.

"Lucky break."

"We will see, it is all tied up. This is going to be the Warrior's revenge for loosing the championship game." Lord tiger said gleefully.

*knock* *knock*

"Looks like the food is here and not a moment too soon." The mongoose said.

"Come on in the door's open!" Lord Tiger said.

"Uh, I don't think that is the caterer." I uttered as Corbin and Lord Tiger became even more engrossed in the game.

"Lord Tiger, please may I have a moment of your time." A disheveled man in tan shirt with a brown jacket, pants and a laser pistol. Said as he wandered in. He was accompanied by two others- a female and male all equally dressed and equally armed.

"Uh, guys- this is definitely not the food service." I said.

The he beast turned to look back at our visitors just in time to see one of the male rebels place his hands on my shoulder and the female rebel do the same to Corbin.

"Are you kidding me?! During the final play of the game?! Like you couldn't wait until afterward?" The mongoose boy said annoyed.

"Indeed you rebels have horrible timing." The tiger warrior said turning his attention from the game. "World Five is not even my jurisdiction."

"Separatists sir." The man said correcting the tiger knight.

"The same- all you types want to do is overthrow the dictator, end the empire and subjugate beastials." I said to the three of them.

" The name is Kendall, that is Ronnie. That is Hanna and no, we just want to talk." The man said as he pulled his weapon.

"Then you should talk to Rhinox he is the commander of the knights here in World Five." Lord Tiger said regretting that he did not bring his sword or service weapon with him.

"We would rather talk to you sir. You are more reasonable." The rebel said holstering his weapon.

"Free my charges and we will talk." The tiger warrior said.

"They will not be harmed." Kendall responded.

"My you are a cute one!" Hanna said petting Corbin on his head.

"Watch the paws rebel!" Corbin growled.

"You may want to be carefull around him." I said to the brown haired female.

"Why is that?"

"A rebel faction slaughtered his family right in front of him, then kidnapped and tortured him for days. As such he doesn't like your kind very much."

"As I said we are separatists." Kendall said. "We have given up trying to convince the High Evolutionary to grant second class citizens like us equal rights."

"That is right, we wanted to present an alternative to the fighting and numerous attempts to overthrow the government." The woman said as she continued to carefully pet the mongoose boy.

"Really what would that be?" Lord Tiger said crossing his arms. Our visitors had his full attention now.

"Separation. Let those who wish, leave the empire." Ronnie the rebel behind me said.

"And do what?" I asked.

"Form their own civilization." The lead rebel replied.

"The master will never agree to that." The tiger warrior said. "If another civilization were to arise, at some point in time both would be set into conflict with each other which would lead to hostilities, escalation of hostilities and then war. The the previous ninety years before he came to power for example."

"Will you please ask him anyway?" Ronnie asked.

"Otherwise?" I said turning to them.

"The movements, the fighting and the attempts to end the empire will continue."

As the leader of the three said that, the caterers arrived. Two woodchucks pushing a lunch cart entered the sky deck. They walked by the rebels muttering something to themselves.

"You guys are late." Corbin said. "The final play of the game just happened."

"Fortunately both teams seem to be in overtime." The woman rebel said.

"You two can set up over there." The tiger warrior said pointing to the caterers.

He received no reaction from them as they continued to mutter to themselves.

Lord Tiger looked at the rebels, Corbin and myself and then approached the two woodchucks as they stood in front of their cart motionless.

"Is everything ok?" The tiger warrior asked.

"Not yet but it will be because ONE is coming!" One of the woodchucks in a white apron said as he looked up to face us.

"Yes indeed ONE is coming!" The second woodchuck said joining his partner.

"Who is ONE?" The female rebel asked.

(I don't like where this is going.)

"ONE is coming! ONE is coming!" The woodchucks chanted in unison. "The ONE who will carve order out of chaos, make that which is wrong- right, unite that which is not united, create unity where there is none, establish equality from where there is inequality, construct peace from where there is confusion, constitute contentment from where there is none. ONE is coming! ONE is coming!"

"That sounds like quite a list. Is that a promise or prophesy?" The second rebel asked he approached the chanting woodchucks.

"Why don't you join us and find out?" One of the caterers said as he outstretched his paw.

!!!

"I wouldn't do that!" I warned. As we looked on.

"This sounds like an attempt to make this world better...." Ronnie said as he took the woodchuck's paw.

The blond hair man trembled as if some bizarre force had entered his body. He then developed the same blank crazed stare as the caterers.

"ONE is coming! ONE is coming!" The rebel chanted joining the woodchucks. "The ONE who will create harmony from where there is disharmony, make order from where there is pandemonium, establish eternal bliss where there is turmoil and constitute contentment from where there is bedlam. ONE is coming! ONE is coming!"

"Ronnie! Are you ok?!" Hanna asked her colleague.

"I have seen the light. ONE will eliminate the darkness and create a new order. All that is promised will be fulfilled." Ronnie said to his female colleague. " You're welcome to accept the new order we do not need to become separatists." The blond haired rebel said lunging at her.

"Hanna!" The rebel leader said as Ronnie grabbed her by the hand.

That was all it took. The female rebel shuddered and then developed the same crazed look as Ronnie and the beastial caterers.

Lord Tiger, looked at me, Corbin, then Kendall and those who had been converted.

"I see a time when the darkness will be eliminated, all will be ONE and ONE will be all." The female rebel said. "Join us!"

"Join us!"

"Join us!"

The two rebels and the two caterers said approaching us.

"What the hell?!" The rebel leader said. "Ronnie, Hanna! Don't fall for that crap!"

"They did that just by touching?!" Corbin said. "Is it hypnosis or something else?!"

"Commander!" I yelled. "We are not safe here!"

"What was you first impression?!" He said.

The commander grabbed me as he started to run by and I grabbed Corbin.

"Nuts! And the game was really starting to get interesting!" The little mongoose boy protested.

"I would strongly recommend not letting them touch you." I yelled at Kendall who decided to follow us.

"I agree." He said joining us in the hallway outside the skybox. "What can we do?!"

"Give me your weapon." Lord Tiger ordered the man.

He looked at Corbin, Lord Tiger and I.

"You implied that you thought the world of him." The little mongoose boy said to the man.

The rebel handed the tiger his weapon. The commanded of the knights of Wundagore adjusted the setting and fired at the lock on the door to the sky deck melting it.

"That won't hold for long we need to alert my counter part here as to what is going on." The tiger warrior said as we started running.

"Where is your communicator?" I asked the commander as we continued to make our way down the hallway to the stairwell.

"In the vehicle with my service weapon."

"Right you were off duty." I said as the four of us started to descend the stairwell to make our way to the parking lot.

When we reached the second floor of the arena we saw two junior knights who appeared to be talking with about nine spectators.

The rebel shuttered as the tiger warrior approached the male kangaroo and female boar.

"You two there! I needed to talk to your commander!"

The two junior knights stopped talking to the spectators around them and stared toward us as if to say why?

"I am Lord Tiger, Commander of the Knights of Wundagore."

The two junior warriors just stared at us.

"We are from World One."

"What you did in the skybox will not prevent what is to come." The kangaroo said.

"Why do you resist?" The boar asked us.

The spectators the knights had been talking to turned around and approached us joining in the chant.

"JOIN US!"

"YES JOIN US!"

(Eleven against four. Not good odds.)

"COMMANDER!" I said grabbing Corbin.

"ONE is coming! ONE is coming!" The spectators chanted. "The ONE who will carve order out of chaos, make that which is wrong- right, unite that which is not united, create unity where there is none, establish equality from where there is inequality, construct peace from where there is confusion, constitute contentment from where there is none. ONE is coming! ONE is coming!"

We started walking away from the junior knights and the nine spectators that they were greeting. I realized the knights had been 'touched' probably by the caterers and now were converting those they had touched as well. This was turning into an epidemic.

As we continued to walk away, then run from the 'converted'. It was interesting to note that the junior knights did not discriminate- the spectators they turned were Extreme Rage and Warrior fans, humans and beastials of various shapes and sizes and from all walks of life.

We ran around the second floor of the arena while the unsuspecting audience continued to watch the game in overtime (unaware of the real struggle happening behind the scenes) waiting for either team to score the final goal.

"So what is the plan commander?" Corbin asked the knight.

"We have to get out of here and warn the others." He said.

"I have seen this before months ago at the Sura concert." I said while we were running.

"You have?"

"Some groundhogs were entranced and reciting the same rhetoric. They tried to kill Sura and her band- but they did not act like this." I said as we approached another stairwell.

"Are they being controlled by this ONE character or is this some type of hypnosis?!" The tiger warrior asked.

"What type of hypnosis can turn others just by a simple touch?!" I shot back.

Lord Tiger started to descend the stairwell with Corbin and myself following him. By this time we had lost site of Kendall.

!!!

"Commander! Not that way!" I shouted.

He looked down the stairwell and just in time to see another group of spectators chanting.

"It looks like it is spreading throughout the arena!" Corbin screamed.

"Damn, cut off from the ground. Very well, we go back up." The tiger warrior said.

(But what do we do when we can't go up anymore?!)

"Commander tiger! This way." We heard a voice say.

It was Kendall!

"We have to get to the roof!" He said. "That is the only way of escape."

"We tried to get to the ground floor, but we keep running into zombified spectators." I said to him.

"Why the roof?" The commander asked.

"That is where I am parked."

So we followed the rebel upward through the stairwell- several floors up in fact. True to form he had parked his vehicle, a beat up pick up truck there.

"Are you sure that thing is safe?" Corbin asked.

"Does it even run?" I added.

"Yes, well most of the time; it will get the job done. Now get in."

The rebel and tiger warrior sat in the front seats while Corbin and I piled into small jump seats in the back. We were facing each other, but had a clear view out of the front and rear windows of the brown beat up truck.

"Let's get moving." Lord Tiger calmly said.

Despite the danger, the commander was calm, cool and collected. I guess he had been in situations like this before.

The rebel powered on his vehicle, well tried.

"Come on baby, come on!" He said coaxing the vehicle.

"You came to talk to us in this?" I asked as the man desperately tried to start the vehicle.

"Not everyone has the means to buy the latest in hover vehicle technology kid."

"Could we get moving?!" Corbin shouted.

"I am doing the best as I can." Kendall responded.

"Well do better!" I screamed.

"Uh, they are here!" Corbin shouted.

"Join us!"

"Yes, join us!"

"Join us!"

About thirty spectators- knights, beastials and humans emerged from the stairwell onto the roof of the arena and were chanting as they approached the rebel's beat up truck.

"Can you or can you not start this vehicle?!" Lord Tiger asked as the vehicle suddenly powered on.

"Yes." He said as he engaged the hover mode and we left the crowd of thirty or so spectators- the 'converted' on the roof of the sporting arena.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Any where. As long as it is away from here!" The rebel said.

*KLUNK*

"Something is wrong the truck feels very sluggish, like something is weighing us down." Lord Tiger said.

"Uh, what do two humans, a rottweiler, sergal, hippo, sun bear and cougar have in common?" Corbin bleated.

"They are fans of the Warriors?" Kendall asked as we flew west.

"No." Corbin said. "Not all of them."

"They are Extreme Rage fans?" Lord Tiger asked.

"No. Not all of them." The mongoose said shaking.

"Then what do they have in common?" I asked.

"They just piled into the back!" Corbin screamed.

"Oh crap!" I screamed.

Lord Tiger, Kendall and I turned to the bed of the truck we had taken on additional passengers- two humans and five beastials. Seven in all.

"What are we going to do!" The mongoose gasped.

"Drop them." Kendall responded.

"Really? They are just zombified, like the employees at Counter Earth Cosmetics during that incident! They probably aren't even aware of what they are doing." I said stunned.

"And they want to do the same to us!" Kendall shouted.

(He had a point there!)

The rebel started bobbing and weaving the truck left and right. He sped up and slowed down as we hovered away from the Extreme Rage's arena. The 'converted' managed to hold on no matter what evasive maneuvers he performed.

Lord Tiger said that we should fly low in case we were able to drop a few of our unwanted passengers. Kendall wasn't having it. We quickly flew away from civilization due west into the wilderness.

By that time the truck which wasn't hovering as fast as it should have. Maybe due to the added weight (especially that hippo) started to slow down. This gave the two humans, rottweiler, sergal, hippo, sun bear and cougar who were in the truck's bed an opportunity to try to get inside the vehicle to 'convert' us.

They crawled onto the truck's roof and windshield pounding on it as well as the back window.

"Join us!"

*"Join us" *

"Does your weapon have a paralysis setting?" The tiger warrior asked our rebel driver.

"No." Kendall replied. "We never had the need for such things."

Lord Tiger picked it up and preparing to shoot the first one of the 'converted' to gain entry into the vehicle.

"I am going to try a roll!" Kendall announced.

"But won't that kill them?" I asked.

"It is either them or us." The man said coldly.

The rebel barrel rolled the truck causing the zombified spectators to fling out of the bed, off of the windows, windshield and roof falling into the forest below. As did we.

Trying to come out of the barrel roll the Kendall's truck coughed, wheezed and stalled! We started descending rather quickly toward the forest ground as the truck's rolling slowed.

"We are going down!" The human screamed. As he desperately tried to restart his vehicle in order to stop our descending corkscrew.

It wouldn't.

"Alex, Corbin brace for impact!" The tiger warrior roared at us.

Flashbacks from the day Mara and I took the first prototype out for a test run against the Animalitia and came up short shot through my head as down, down we went.

"Try to escape the tree line!" Lord Tiger said to the rebel.

"Alex..." Corbin said to me as there was a big flash. Then all went white.

"Big brother are you ok?"

"Ah, are you?!" I said looking around.

"Yeah, I think so nothing is broken, not even a scrape."

We were doubled over a tree branch about thirty feet off of the ground. Debris from the truck was in a line to the west. We had gotten thrown from truck before the crash.

"We better find Lord Tiger and Kendall." I said to Corbin.

Carefully we climbed down from the tree and headed westward toward the edge of the forest very scared of what we would find at the impact site. Our path lead to some uplands which looked like it ended on a high plateau. As we walked we saw parts- vehicle parts.

"It must have hit the tree-line as it was descending." The little mongoose said as we continued to walk.

"It was amazing we got out of that in one piece." I said to Corbin.

"Probably because we were thrown clear- the barrel rolls as we were descending."

About a mile to the west we found what was left of the truck. Most of it had disintegrated on impact what was left was smoldering in the distance. Like us, Lord Tiger and Kendall had been thrown clear before the impact. We found both on the ground. The rebel face down and the commander on his back.

"Commander!" I yelled.

"You two ok?" He asked.

"We are fine. What about you?" I said.

"My leg and ankle are broken." The tiger warrior responded.

"And our separatist?" I asked.

"In bad shape as well."

"Can we call for help?" Corbin asked.

I walked over to inspect the rebel. "He is alive but injured. I can't say the same for that beat up truck.

We then went to check the smoldering remains of the truck. All that was left was the engine block the communicator- our means of calling for help, had disintegrated with the rest of it."

"Alex, Corbin to me." The tiger warrior said calling to us.

"Sir?"

"We are not alone." He said as he reached for the rebel's weapon.

"Uh oh, Corbin said piling on."

Corbin and I stared at the direction we had come from to see several figures emerging from the forest making their way towards our position. It appeared to be the 'converted' some of them must have survived the fall from the truck and were about to make us join ONE.

To Be Continued....