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Jacob stood in silence, his eyes wide, too stunned to speak. The young wolf wanted to whimper, to cry at the loss of his parents and his bleak fate, but the bleak landscape before him killed the sound in his throat. He stood on a rocky outcrop with the few morphs who managed to escape the Vault. The air was incredibly dry and the wind moaned sadly, the land that stretched before them was dry, barren, dead.

Behind him he heard shrieks of pain made faint through the several feet of steel that made up the cog-shaped door that sealed the Vault from the dead world outside. Those screams came from dying morphs being brutally murdered at the hands of the human occupants of the Vault, beaten, shot, having their pelts ripped from their bodies while they were still alive. Two of those voices belonged to Jacob's mommy and daddy.

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't go back to the only home he knew for the eight years since his birth, and he couldn't possibly make it in this dead world. The ground cracked, nothing green in sight in the entire valley. A single building sat by a dilapidated road that ran through the valley. Once gleaming parked cars sat rusting in front of the dirty service station. Off somewhere in the distance down the road wailed an air raid siren, the terrible droning wail was the only thing that pierced the dead silence.

Suddenly Jacob found himself falling as if he had plunged straight through the ground and into open air. He fell through darkness, infernos casting dancing shadows over decaying buildings and the faces of humans wielding bloody blades, cackling as they came to skin him. He fell and fell, endlessly into the darkness...

Jacob landed on something hard, knocking the wind from him. Breathing hard he grabbed the handgun resting on his chest and rolled to his feet in one smooth motion, well honed instinct guiding him. The debris on the floor crunched under his boots and he swept the small room with his 10mm pistol for threats. His breath came in gasps and his paws shook as they gripped his weapon. The room was empty, and by listening close confirmed that the rest of the building was as well, he lowered the pistol with a relieved sigh, leaning against the weathered wall. Just a nightmare. Then he realized with a start that the sound of the air raid siren was still present. A chill ran up his spine. The siren was distant, he could tell by its faintness, but still, it was time to go; that siren hadn't come alive on its own.

He stowed his handgun in one of the baggy pockets of the worn brown duster he wore, the leather made darker by the dust and dirt of the Mojave. He looked down at himself to make sure he was all still there, and not in the nightmarish hell he had awakened from. He looked at his worn paws, covered in dark gray fur mottled with lighter spots; he was too young to have gray fur that light.

He pulled on his worn leather gloves and began packing up his gear quickly. He had to move. This building may provide sanctuary against the wind-thrown sand and heat and cold, but it was the only structure for miles. Any raiders in the area would check it frequently for lone travelers. Besides, he couldn't stay around hearing that sound, it chilled him to the bone, bringing back the memory he had just so vividly relived. He shouldered his pack and picked up the old but well cared-for M4 carbine he had left leaning against the wall the previous night. It was in better condition than anything in the room, including Jacob himself.

The dry Nevada soil crunched under his boots as he stepped out the door of the small long abandoned service station he had camped out in for the night. His notched ears swiveled to pinpoint the source of the air-raid siren. With relief he confirmed it was coming from somewhere south, he wouldn't approach it as he traveled down the highway that led east.

He began walking down the decaying highway towards the morning sun, eager to put distance between him and the wailing to the south. He scanned the landscape around him out of habit for signs of threats or civilization. His mind wasn't in it though; the distant morose droning of the siren forced him to keep reliving the most terrifying day of his life.

"Jacob get up we have to go now!" Mommy's terrified voice reached his ears, made bleary as he struggled awake. The lights flickered to life a few moments after Mommy had thrown the switch. The lights in the Vault hadn't worked properly since he was four.

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked groggily as he turned in his bed to face the doorway, twisting the covers about himself.

From the main living space of their small Vault apartment Jacob he could hear his father let out a savage yell and a grunt. Mommy turned and looked back through the door, her eyes wide and her paws covering her mouth, holding in a scream. There was fighting for several seconds and then a loud crash and thump. Jacob leaped out of bed and rushed to Mommy, trying to see what was happening. "Daddy?"

Daddy was frightening. He stood over the motionless form of a human sprawled across the floor, his fur bristling and panting as he held a pistol in his shaking paws, pointed at the man on the ground. He shook himself out of his reverie and looked to Mommy and then at Jacob. "Come on, there's no time to take anything, others will be here soon." But Mommy stood frozen in the doorway, trembling as she stared at the motionless human on the floor. "Now woman!" Daddy yelled. He leaped forward and grabbed Mommy's paw and tugged her along.

Mommy clamped her free paw on Jacob's and together the three darted into the hallway outside their living quarters. Jacob could hear yelling down the hallway and looked up at Mommy, now starting to get scared. "What's happening?"

Before Mommy could reply Daddy pulled them along the hall in the opposite direction of the yells. Jacob didn't know where they were going or why they were running so fast or why that human had tried to hurt Daddy, but he was too scared to speak as they ran along. They passed through the hallway that ran along the Vault's main recreation area and Jacob peered through the windows into the large room. Groups of humans stood over struggling morphs, beating them savagely with whatever they could get their hands on, stabbing them with kitchen knives, beating them with pool cues. Hot blood ran over the cold steel floor.

Jacob was jolted back to the present as he saw something on the side of the road in the distance. An abandoned car it looked like. He stood still and thought for a minute, deciding whether to steer clear or investigate. It could be dangerous, he'd seen unwary scavengers lured in by the prospect of untouched pre-war supplies, only to be robbed of everything, and that was if they were lucky. Often they were simply sniped from afar, and sometimes the really twisted raiders rigged the car with explosives as a means of entertainment.

He decided he'd be better off leaving the car alone, but that was easier said than done. Running alongside the road was a steep cliff about fifty feet high, and chances were there were raiders sitting up on the heights. It would take an extra hour at least to detour out into the country, and other dangers lurked out there. He would have to find a way up onto the heights and try to sneak by behind them.

He kept on walking, looking for a path up onto the cliff. He had been walking for several hours now, and the mid-day sun now baked the earth below. Despite having come so far the siren's chilling wail carried far over the barren landscape and still rang in his ears.

Jacob's father had led them to a junction with another hallway where a group of morphs joined them, fleeing pursuit by a mob of humans wielding billy clubs, hammers, even pool cues. Jacob saw another with a gun in front of the mob yelling at the morphs to halt. They kept running. Up a flight of steps, down a hall, up more stairs; all the while the humans kept pace, shouting insults and taunts madly at them.

Shots rang out, the sound echoing painfully off the metal walls. Earsplitting screams erupted behind Jacob as a couple morphs lurched forward onto the ground, almost tripping Jacob. Mommy forced him in front of her and Daddy and they kept running. They turned a corner and Jacob saw a single door at the end of the hall. Suddenly only a dozen feet from the door Mommy's head snapped back violently as another gunshot rang out behind them, her paw slipped from Jacob's as she slumped to the floor lifelessly.

Daddy howled with rage and snapped around, fire in his eyes. He raised the stolen pistol and fired twice, the human who had shot Mommy stumbled and fell, causing the rest of the humans to pause as they stumbled over him. Daddy grabbed Jacob's paw and yanked him towards the door. As he yanked it open Jacob looked back where Mommy lay, her dark fur and the wall beside her splattered with crimson blood. Daddy shoved him through the door and slammed it shut once every morph was through, the crazed humans a scant half-dozen feet away.

They were in a room that Jacob had never seen, only heard about. It was dark and grimy. A control panel stood on a platform nearby and a large cog-shaped steel door stood set into the wall at the far end of the room with dingy yellow numbers painted on it. Daddy slammed the lock on the door to the hallway and scrambled to the control panel where he rapidly punched in a code and threw a lever forward. At first nothing happened, but then large metal clamps near the ceiling by the Vault door shuddered to life and descended upon it. It began to pull the large steel door inward with an agonizingly loud screech as metal scraped against metal, causing Jacob and the other morphs to cover their ears.

Yelling and pounding came from the door to the hallway as the humans tried to force their way in. Everyone looked nervously from the door behind them to the large one before them, now pulled out of position and rolling painfully slowly to the side. The mass of morphs rushed towards the Vault door and the blinding light pouring through it just as the door behind them groaned and buckled, threatening to give way. Daddy and a couple others rushed to it to hold it closed. Jacob stood, looking from Daddy to the open Vault door terror stricken. "Daddy it's open!" he yelled.

Daddy looked down at him, to the control panel behind him, and to the gaping Vault door in rapid succession. There was no one left in the room but the few adults and Jacob and the lock on hallway door failed with a loud crack. "Jacob, I'm sorry. Your mother and I love you very much. You have to run!"

"Daddy no!" Jacob cried, tears matting the fur around his eyes.

Daddy raised his pistol and fired at the control panel. The great steel door shuddered to life once more, slowly rolling back into position. "Take this!" he said and pushed the pistol into Jacob's paws. "Go!" he yelled as the mass of humans began to push the hallway door open.

Jacob stood staring at Daddy, whose own eyes were now filled with tears, for a couple more seconds before turning and tearing down the steps towards the closing Vault door. He sprinted and leaped through the opening. He turned in time to see the humans force the hallway door open and swarm upon Daddy and the other adults, bloody billy clubs and crowbars raised.

At last Jacob found a path leading up to the heights, bringing him out of his trance again. He cursed silently as he realized he had let his concentration slip and found himself much closer to the abandoned car than he would have liked. Chances were that if there were raiders nearby, they weren't far away. He looked back over his shoulder at the way he had came; he should have looped around the car through the country, but it was too late for that.

He hefted his M4 to a combat-ready position and swept the cliff edge as he headed up the path. He winced and swore silently as he heard his boots crunching loudly on the ground. The wind had died and the siren was almost more eerie in its absence, the silence as complete as death. The only sound came from the dry dirt as it crunched beneath Jacob's boots.

He sniffed the still air for scent with his good canine nose. Nothing. Far from reassured he continued up the path as quiet as he could, but the crunching of the dirt sounded so painfully loud. He had to keep turning to sweep for threats now, the path was walled in now as it wound its way up and through the rock and away from the road to the heights. He could feel his guts knotting up as anxiety grew in him, his heart beating faster. He swore he could hear it beating in the deathly quiet.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind that brought with it a familiar scent to Jacob's nose, but one he had not smelled in a long time: humans. Cold fear raced up his spine. Human raiders were the worst, they had a burning psychotic hatred for the morphs that ruled the world they still considered theirs. Horror stories brought back by survivors who had somehow managed to escape told that they spared no morphs, and suggested that they particularly enjoyed skinning morphs of their fur, alive.

Jacob swung his rifle instinctively to the source of the scent as soon as it hit his nose, moving fluidly despite the fear gripping him. But he was too late, there were five hunting rifles pointed at him, each one held by a grimy human male. They had sick grins on their faces, like hunters anticipating the taste of the meat from their kill. Jacob felt his insides turn inside out, he could see trophies of previous kills hanging off of them, fur, claws, fangs...

This was it, the end of the line, the end of the wolf hunt, the point where the wolf was surrounded with no escape. But after everything he had gone through, everything he had survived...he wasn't going to give up now without a fight. It felt like time was passing in slow motion, each second an eternity, each breath came slowly. He began to depress the trigger of his rifle, he could feel the spring compress. He knew exactly how much pressure he needed, exactly when the rifle would fire.

Jacob's heart stopped when he heard the gunshot. He was sure a rifle bullet had passed through him. Both he and the humans were stunned however when one of the men tumbled over the edge and landed at Jacob's feet. Four more shots followed, dispatching the remaining raiders. Thinking quickly he tucked himself into a tiny alcove in the cliff face, his breath coming in gasps. He forced himself to quiet, he wasn't out of the woods yet.

Jacob could hear boots crunching on the cliff top above him, there were at least five of them by the sound of it, heading his way. He readied his rifle. The footsteps stopped at the edge above him, he trembled, his breath stopping as he stood completely still, hoping they would turn away. "Come out, hands up!" A gruff voice shouted down from atop the cliff. Jacob didn't respond immediately, calculating his options. Whoever was up there knew someone had been down on the path, otherwise the raiders wouldn't have been aiming their rifles down the cliff. He could run for it, but the ground lay flat at the bottom of the cliff, no matter how fast he ran he would be in the open for miles. Judging by the pile of dead raiders in front of him the people up there wouldn't have a hard time picking him off.

"We know you're down there. Come out or we're sending a grenade to get you." There was nothing Jacob could do, he set down his carbine and stepped away from the cliff slowly, his paws high in the air. A small band of humans stood at the top of the cliff, four males and one female. They were marginally cleaner than the dead raiders sprawled at Jacob's feet and certainly better equipped, their military rifles well maintained.

"It's a fuckin' morph, go figure." One of the human males murmured. "Heading east out of the NCR look like, might be a scout for those filthy animals lookin' to grab more land." Jacob remained stationary, his face stony as the humans above him kept their weapons trained on him. He had come out of the NCR, that was true, but he was no scout and worked for no one, not anymore.

"I think we should kill him right here." A scarred tattooed man asked the one who appeared to be the group's leader, a large man with wide shoulders and a square jaw covered in a grizzly beard. "If he gets back to the NCR..."

"I'm no agent of the NCR." Jacob spoke calmly.

"Shut up, animal." The large man shot at him angrily. He paused for a few moments before speaking again, "No. He won't escape the Fort." He paused again while he looked Jacob over. "He looks strong enough. Were you followed, animal?" he barked at Jacob.

Jacob wondered what he was strong enough for. "Not by anyone friendly to me." He said simply.

"We can handle raiders." the woman spoke this time. Her hair was short and blonde, dusted with Mojave sand under her worn cap, her face gave her a fierce look and the way she held herself suggested she knew how to handle the assault rifle she held in her hands. "And a hostage might be useful if he has any NCR scouts behind him."

The big man nodded. "Sarah, take John and David down there and disarm him. Twitch and I will stay here and make sure he doesn't go anywhere." The tattooed one who had suggested to kill Jacob looked disappointed but remained where he was.

"Gotcha, Chief." the woman said and she led the two other men along the cliff towards the path that led down to the road. Chief's gaze searched the horizon for the fabled NCR scouts while Twitch kept his rifle pointing intently at Jacob's head as he grinned at him gleefully. Jacob would have to keep an eye on this Twitch fellow. He kept his paws in the air as the other three humans approached him from up the path. "Get that coat off him." Sarah barked at the other two, motioning towards Jacob with the muzzle of her rifle.

John and David stepped forward, watching him carefully, and grabbed his paws roughly and yanked his duster off of him. They patted him down and were about to pull off his boots when Chief spoke up, "That's enough, we'll go through everything when we get back to the Fort." Jacob breathed a silent sigh of relief. "We should get moving in case there is anyone following him." John and David released him and began to scoop up the rifles laying by the dead raiders and tearing through their pockets looking for ammunition. Sarah kept her weapon trained on him as Chief and Twitch descended from the heights.

Twitch whistled when he spotted Jacob's M4 laying in the shadows in the alcove he had hid in. "Look at this beauty!" he said triumphantly as he picked it up and held it in the light. Jacob's lip curled angrily as the human's grimy hands swept over the carbine. He had spent years shoveling shit in a farm collective and buying the parts piece by piece in anticipation of heading east. The human shouldered it and aimed it at Jacob's head and flicking the safety off with a snap. "Musta' stole it. Ain't no animal can keep a gun lookin' this nice."

"That's enough, Twitch." Chief said, pushing the barrel of the rifle downward. "We need him alive for questioning and work. Now let's get a move-on." Chief wrenched the rifle from a sour-looking Twitch, slinging his own over his back while he held Jacob's in his gloved hands.

The Mojave sun was hot on the dark bare fur of Jacob's arms as he walked down the road, surrounded by the band of humans. He wondered what this "Fort" they were heading to was and how long it would take to get there. It seemed like it was run by human nutcases at any rate. The group was silent, the humans searching the horizon in all directions for threats, all accept Twitch. He was busy having entirely too much fun jabbing at Jacob with the muzzle of his rifle, prodding him in the ribs and the back of his head. He ignored it and trudged on through the heat and dry wind.

The sun bore down oppressively on the dozen shaken morph survivors that had made it out of the Vault. All of them had only read about the sun in books, and they never adequately explained just how hot it was as you walked through a parched valley in southern California. They had agreed to follow the decrepit road west in hopes of reaching the coast. Jacob didn't think they would make it. The survivors shuffling across the cracked road had nothing but their blue Vault suits and pip-boys, over half were children, and Jacob was the only one with a weapon which only had a few rounds left in it. He had hid it in his clothes and fur as best he could. It was the only thing he had left from his parents, and he was worried that the adults would fight over it like Daddy had fought the human.

Nobody made a sound as they walked. Not even the traumatized children let out a whimper. The only sound was the wind blowing sand across the surface of the parched earth and baking road surface. Jacob flinched when one of the adults, a gray fox, broke the silence. "There are buildings up there." He said, pointing to a group of dark spots beside the road in the distance. They continued on toward them, without supplies they wouldn't last long.

The abandoned buildings and houses were eerie, it seemed the people that had lived there had simply dropped what they were doing and disappeared, leaving their homes to rot for 200 years. The largest building proved to be a small general store which they approached quietly as a tight group. "Alan, you stay here and watch the children. The rest of us will go in and see what we can find." a sandy-furred cat said quietly to the gray fox who had spotted the town. As the cat and three other adults slunk into the store, Jacob stood with Alan and the other children in the shadowed side of the building.

Alan kept peering around the corner out into the street, looking for signs of trouble. Jacob and the others stood quietly, waiting and straining their ears for any sound when suddenly a yelp from the back of the group broke the silence. Everyone spun around to find a disheveled coyote in torn and patched clothes some six feet away, gripping one of the children by the neck with a small revolver pressed into the gray fur of the cub's head. "Give me everything you have, or the kid dies." the coyote rasped menacingly.

Standing next to Jacob, Alan trembled visibly. "That's my son." he croaked, and then louder, "That's my son! Let him go!" Without waiting for reply the gray fox charged the coyote. Two shots rang out. Alan fell to the ground beside the group of children, blood seeping from two holes in his chest. There was screaming, and a loud crash sounded from inside the general store. The coyote glanced towards the wall of the building, frightened, and began to back away, dragging Alan's son with him.

The other adults raced around the corner behind Jacob, but there was nothing they could do to stop the coyote from dragging off the young fox. The coyote was now frantically dragging the cub backwards; Alan's son began to kick and yell, trying futilely to hurt the coyote. As if in slow motion, Jacob could see the hammer of the revolver drawing back as the coyote applied pressure to the trigger. Without realizing what he was doing Jacob tore open his Vault suit and suddenly he was pointing his pistol at the coyote. He fired, catching the coyote under the chin, causing him to tumble backwards limply. Jacob couldn't hear the new screams erupting around him as the pistol tumbled from his paws.

Jacob jerked back to reality as he received an especially hard prodding to the back of the head. "We're here!" Twitch bubbled gleefully from behind him. A dirt road snaked off to the side of the highway, leading into a gully. Beside it stood a sign creaking in the wind that read in peeling paint, "FORT ADAMS, UNITED STATES ARMY". They turned off the highway and followed the road into the gully, passing a half crumpled rusted gate. They walked for a few more minutes before turning the corner and Jacob beheld "the Fort".

Nestled in a small valley stood a series of fifteen foot concrete walls surrounding a series of buildings, the places where time had crumbled the walls were covered with lopsided plates of steel. A series of concrete barricades protected the path to the large entrance gate, manned by a group of several human men, well armed like the ones holding Jacob prisoner. Men patrolled the walls on platforms and a couple guard towers stood above the other buildings.

"Hey there, Chief!" one of the men guarding the gate saluted, wearing a grin about his face as the group passed. "Bagged another one?"

"That's right. Need to bring him to the Warden right away." Chief replied curtly. The guard nodded and yelled up to the men patrolling the wall to raise the gate and they proceeded inside. Jacob peered around the encampment as he walked. Humans milled about, carrying clothes and food and other items about the buildings, some of which were old concrete, some ramshackle sheet metal structures. They all ignored him as if he didn't exist.

He was led inside a low building not far from the entrance. A short woman sat behind the rickety desk opposite the door, almost comically out of place in her garish pink dress with white polka-dots all over. "How may I help you?" the woman spoke in a high sweet voice, seemingly unfazed by the presence of five heavily armed individuals.

"We need to see the Warden." Chief replied. "We found this...on the road. We think he might be an NCR scout." he said, indicating Jacob.

The woman nodded and pressed down on a scuffed plastic box, it emitted a quiet scratchy static as she spoke, "Mister Kelly and his scouting party would like to see you, Sir. They have a prisoner accompanying them." Jacob swallowed a chuckle as he saw Chief's face purple slightly.

A moment later the box buzzed again. "Let them in." a brisk voice issued through the static. Jacob was steered down a dingy hallway and through a door. A man in a clean, if archaic, suit sat behind a solid oak desk shuffling through a handful of papers. Short dark hair capped the man's tall forehead and thick horn-rimmed glasses sat before his piercing grayish-blue eyes. He looked up and set down his papers after Jacob and his captors had been standing before his desk for several moments. "Ah, Mister Kelly, back from your scouting mission I see."

Chief cleared his throat and spoke, his voice smoother and less certain than Jacob had heard before. This suited man had to be powerful if a man as large as Chief was this intimidated by him. "Yes Sir. Killed a few raiders and collected their weapons and ammunition. We also found this vermin."

The Warden peered at Jacob over his thick glasses for several moments before speaking. "You have reason to believe he is an NCR scout?"

"Yes Sir. He was carrying this." Chief said as he hefted Jacob's M4 and handed it to the Warden. "A waster wouldn't be carrying something like this."

Alexander turned the rifle over in his hands as he studied it, then set it down behind his desk. "You were not followed." he said. It wasn't a question.

Chief's paused, causing the Warden's eyebrows to rise slightly. "Of course not Sir. We were careful and moved quickly." Chief sputtered out quickly.

"Good." the Warden said. "You will have to pardon me, I am quite busy and don't have time for an interrogation at the moment. Mister Kelly, would you kindly take the dog to the Pound and," the corners of the Warden's thin mouth tweaked up slightly as he eyed Jacob, "soften him up."

Jacob awoke with a groan, everything hurt, hurt more than normal. His vision was blurred when he opened his eyes. Slowly everything began to slide into focus, metal bars, a grimy linoleum floor, and... a morph. His sluggish half awake mind thought he was back at the collective farm back in California, that everything that had happened was an awful dream. The morph was a German shepherd, it looked like Daniel from the farm. Daniel was the best friend he'd ever had, he had managed to make life bearable at the collective...

"They roughed you up pretty good." The shepherd said. That definitely wasn't Daniel, the voice was all wrong. "The first few times are the worst."

Jacob found his face pressed against the linoleum floor, his muzzle matted with dried blood and his mouth wet with a coppery taste. He rolled himself over onto his back and spat the blood to the side. He pushed himself upright, his sore arms protesting. "Where am I? How long was I out?"

"The Pound, they keep us here when they don't need us." the shepherd said before adding, "You've been lying there for the whole night."

Jacob dragged himself over to the wall with a groan, his whole body stricken with sharp pain as he went. He leaned back against it and closed his eyes, grateful for the slight relief from the pain that came when he ceased movement. "What the hell is going on?" he breathed.

The shepherd was quiet for a moment. "The humans set up a colony here decades ago, hidden from travelers and with enough firepower to defend themselves from raiders that get too curious. From listening to the way the Warden talks it sounds like he's hellbent on reclaiming the world for humanity." he gave a humorless laugh.

So Jacob was right, a town of nutcases. He peered down at his paws and wriggled his fingers, none broken, that was good. That was when he noticed he was naked, stripped down to his bare gray fur. "What the hell..."

"They say animals don't wear clothes." the shepherd predicted his thoughts. Jacob looked at him, indeed the shepherd was as naked as he was. "My name is Joshua."

"Pleasure." Jacob said as he realized just how terrible Joshua looked. He was badly malnourished, if it weren't for the fur Jacob was sure his ribs would be showing. And his fur...Jacob was by no means clean, having been traveling for miles, but Joshua...it was awful. Patchy in places, thin and dull and dirty throughout. "What the hell did they do to you?"

"They use us for labor, work us to death. Give us little food and water. Don't worry though, they hand out beatings often enough." Joshua gave a dark laugh.

"Us? How many..." Jacob asked, starting to get worried.

Joshua counted off on his fingers as he stared up at the ceiling. "Twenty-three, now that Jim and Buck are dead."

Jacob didn't want to ask what happened to Jim and Buck. He laid his head back against the wall, staring forward through the bars of his cell and to the wall opposite, 14 or 15 feet away. The place was dimly lit by a shaded window in the opposite wall. A slight glint on the floor to Jacob's left caught his eye. The shattered remnants of a mirror that had hung on the wall now lay on floor. He carefully picked up a large piece and examined himself silently, light gray dusted his dark fur, too much gray for someone just approaching 30. He looked down at the rest of himself, thankfully all still there.

He set the shard of mirror down and thought. They had taken his boots and with them his hidden stiletto and lockpicks, he was in a jam now. He couldn't break out through these bars, and even if he did manage to give the humans the slip there was no way he could climb those walls. "If there was a way out I would have found it by now." Joshua spoke, again predicting what Jacob was thinking. When Jacob didn't say anything he continued. "What's your story?"

"Heading east from Junktown." Jacob stated simply.

"East?" Joshua said quietly. "A wanderer. People don't leave the NCR..."

"Speaking of the NCR." said a familiar sharp voice sounded from the hall beyond the bars of Jacob's cell. He turned to see the Warden setting a wooden chair down before the bars, flanked by Twitch, who wore his usual sadistic grin, and another man Jacob didn't recognize. The Warden sat and folded his hands in his lap, peering through his horn-rimmed glasses at Jacob for several long moments before speaking again. "I will give you one chance to tell me everything you know about the NCR. If you comply, I will see to it that your clothes are returned to you and that you are given more pleasant quarters, a respectable amount of food, and less arduous tasks. If you do not, well, mister Twitch here has just been dying to meet you again."

Twitch gave Jacob a little wave as he grinned widely. Jacob didn't want to "meet" Twitch ever again. "Fine." Jacob said with a shrug.

The Warden's eyebrows went a little ways up his long forehead but then smiled. "Excellent, excellent. So then, tell me about your little scouting mission."

"I wasn't on a scouting mission. I don't work for them." he said. To Jacob, the idea of working for the NCR government or military was laughable.

The Warden's eyes darkened. "I find that difficult to believe. As this...creature stated: nobody leaves the NCR for the wastes. You were well equipped as well, perhaps you're one of the NCR's famous Rangers?"

Jacob did laugh this time, making him wince as his ribs twinged. "Me? In the Rangers? That's a good one. Wouldn't I be in uniform anyway?"

"A disguise perhaps? A Ranger traveling the wastes alone might draw unwanted attention."

"Well it seems I got your attention just fine." Jacob retorted. "All I could tell you about the NCR is the collective farm I worked on."

"A likely alibi." the Warden frowned. "Take a look at that creature over there." he nodded towards Joshua, who sat silently in the shadows. "You could look like him, or you could have clothes, food, and a bed. One more time: what is the mission of your scouting party?"

"I'm not part of any scouting party!" Jacob snarled in frustration. "I was alone!"

The Warden was quiet as he peered at Jacob over his glasses for seemingly a whole minute. "Mister Twitch, would you kindly provide our guest with some incentive to share his information?" he said quietly.

"I don't owe the NCR any favors!" Jacob yelled at the suited man as Twitch unlocked and threw open the cell door with a loud clang. "It doesn't make sense! Alone? Disguised? You're paranoid!" Jacob and the other man were advancing on him now, clubs in hand. He got to his feet and flexed his claws, he wouldn't lay there like a pup and take a beating.

The day was hot, not as hot as the southern California desert that Jacob had fled into from the Vault five years ago, but hotter than normal for a summer day on the outskirts of Junktown. He was thirteen now, he'd been at the collective farm for scarcely a year. He had wandered through the desert with the other survivors, watching a few of them die from exhaustion or brutally killed by raiders or the strange and deadly creatures that roamed the wastes. A couple had simply disappeared into the heat and sand of the desert, never to be seen again. Most stayed at the Hub, the first civilization they met. Jacob went his own way though, heading north towards Junktown.

He swung the hoe down into the dirt from which he and the other farmers of the collective tried to pull their food-crops. His paws were callused with healed blisters from long days working the fields, his muscles ached, and he panted from the exertion. It was the hottest part of the day, and Jacob was thankful that he would get the evening off today.

"How does going into town to grab a cool drink after we're done sound?" Daniel was some ten feet away to Jacob's side tilling his own row of soil.

"Sounds great." Jacob said between swings of his hoe.

The day passed agonizingly slowly, but it was a relief when the time finally came for Jacob and Daniel to stow their tools in the shed and head back to their barracks. Jacob stripped down and washed the dust out of his fur in the washbasin in the small room he shared with Daniel. He straightened to see Daniel in the mirror, leaning against the door frame with a smirk on his face as he heard a loud appreciate whistle behind him. With a grin on his face Jacob picked up his balled up dirty clothes and flung them at Daniel, who barely dodged them. "Hey now, just admiring the view."

They bantered the entire time they got dressed and headed into town, laughing at each other's jokes. The sun was lower in the sky now, Jacob noted; they would have to hurry up to make sure they got back to the farm before darkness fell. As the walked along the row of shops that flanked the main street through Junktown they failed to hear over their teasing the raucous group of voices that had burst out of the tavern behind them.

"Well what do we have here?" a loud drunken voice made Jacob's ears swivel round behind him. "Some'a those little brats that struts around like they owns tha place."

Jacob and Daniel turned around to a group of morphs behind them mere feet away, all clad in NCR army uniform with rifles slung over their shoulders. They began to take a few steps back, but the soldier that had spoke, an intimidatingly tall and muscular tiger, had already leaped forward, grabbing them by their shirt collars. "Oh let 'em go Jeremy. They're just kids." one of the other soldiers behind the tiger spoke, a lanky looking weasel, who sounded slightly more sober.

"Oh no, these kids are always giving me trouble!" the big tiger growled menacingly down at two small kids. Jacob shuddered as he looked up at the tiger's array of sharp teeth.

"We haven't done anything! We work at the farm down the road!" Daniel cried as the tiger lifted them both into the air effortlessly. Jacob looked around for help, but everyone was moving away quickly, throwing fearful looks over their shoulders at the heavily armed NCR soldiers. Suddenly he was thrown sideways into a shadowed alley between the rickety metal walls between two buildings. He tried to scramble away with Daniel, but the other NCR soldiers had surrounded them. There was no escape.

"Les' teach 'em a lesson not to mess with us!" the big tiger yelled and began to kick at the two viciously. The other soldiers cackled as they tried to dodge the tiger's powerful kicks. Then the rest of the gang set upon Jacob and Daniel too, kicking and beating them wildly.

Jacob could hear Daniel shouting for help as he himself hurled insults at the soldiers, trying feebly to fight back. Before long they could only grunt as they took blows to their sides and heads, and not long after that Jacob remembered nothing at all.

"Get up, you two. You got a long day ahead of you." Jacob groaned quietly as the sharp twang of something hitting the bars of his cell hit his ears. He opened his eyes to see the water stained ceiling above him. "I said get up!" He pushed himself upright to find the sandy-haired girl, Sarah he thought her name was, standing in front of his cell glaring down at him, a billy club clutched in her hands. "You're working on the perimeter trench today until sundown."

Jacob wanted to make a snappy remark, but the throbbing in his muscles as he got to his feet made the words die in his throat. Instead he just followed Joshua down the hall, led by another human guard in front of them, Sarah behind him, keeping her rifle trained on him the entire way. Jacob stepped out into the feeble light of early morning, the sky was colored with deep purple, the sun hadn't yet crested the horizon. They were led through the encampment, quiet at this early hour, through the main gate, and up a narrow dirt path that wound up the cliffs that surrounded Fort Adams.

As Jacob walked up the path he studied the Fort below him. The walls completely circled the encampment and were topped with razorwire, the buildings were set too far away to provide any chance of making it over. He noted several heavy machineguns interspersed on the walls and the searchlights mounted in the guard towers, manned by men with scoped rifles. A few small dugouts covered by tarps fluttering in the breeze ringed the heights surrounding the Fort, each with a man with binoculars scanning the horizon in every direction. These people may be crazy Jacob thought, but they sure knew how to defend a position.

When Jacob and Joshua finally got to the top of the heights he saw what he would be doing all day. A trench extended from the nearby dugout to about halfway around the semicircular little gorge that the Fort sat in, it seemed most of the morphs were already at the end of the trench, digging through the dry earth with shovels and pickaxes. Sarah prodded them forward and they walked along the trench until they reached the others. Chief was standing there, his rifle in hand, watching over the morphs; when he spotted Jacob and Joshua he threw them each a shovel. "Dig." he said simply, pointing to where the other morphs worked.

Jacob took his shovel and trudged over to the group of laboring morphs. Indeed they were all just as naked as he was, emaciated and their fur matted with dirt like Joshua. They were silent as he approached, ignoring him completely. He stood next to a jittery looking rat and shoved his shovel into the dirt as Joshua sidled up next to him, setting to his work as well. They all worked in silence for a long time, the sun slowly rising above the horizon and into the sky, quickly beginning to bake the dry earth and make the air stifling hot. Chief had retreated to the shade of the tarp that covered the nearby dugout while Sarah had returned to the Fort, leaving Chief and the couple other men at the post to watch the morphs. When the sun was almost directly above them one of the men in the dugout turned on a scratchy radio.

"I don't want to set the world on fire..." Jacob couldn't suppress his smile as the familiar voice drifted to his ears. "I just want to start a flame in your heart..." He remembered the time he had sung this song to the girl of his dreams years ago. "In my heart I have but one de-sire..." She was such a cute girl...

"...And that one is you, no other will do..." Jacob echoed the radio sitting on the bar counter against the wooden wall. "I've lost all ambition for worldly acclaim..."

"Oh Jacob, you don't seem the type to want to be famous." the vixen standing on the other side of the counter said teasingly. She wore a pretty blue dress, like the other waitresses that worked at the little Junktown saloon, over her sleek orange fur, the soft white fur that ran from the bottom of her muzzle ran down her neck and disappeared under her dress where there was the slightest hint of cleavage. It was down this path of soft white fur that Jacob had gotten lost when she giggled and swatted at him playfully with one of her dainty black paws.

Realizing his eyes were wandering again he quickly recovered, bringing his gaze up to meet her lovely emerald eyes. "Elizabeth, come now, you know my greatest dream is to be President of our serene republic."

"Oh Jacob, whatever will I do with you?" she said coyly.

"Well you see, I know this place up on the mountain that has the most spectacular view." he said smoothly with a smile. "It's quite private."

"Oh!" she gasped in artificial shock, pressing a black paw to her chest, once again drawing Jacob's eyes down to her shapely breasts. "Propositioning a woman in such a way! The nerve!" She said as she returned Jacob's smile.

Jacob checked the clock on the wall. "Tell you what babe, why don't you sleep on it? You could even do it at my place." he said smoothly with a wink as he stood. He took a couple caps out of his pocket and flipped them with his thumb, sending them into the freshly polished glass in the vixen's paws with a clink. "For the excellent service. Have a pleasant evening my lady." He turned and exited the pub, taking in the dry air. Yes, he would definitely enjoy his time upon on the overlook with Elizabeth.

An abrupt yelling snapped Jacob out of his daydream. He whipped his head up to see the wiry rat he had been standing next to making a break for it, shovel left planted upright in the dirt. All the morphs turned to watch silently as Chief yelled for him to halt, and when the rat failed to comply, aimed his rifle and fired. A single shot rent the air and the rat stumbled to the ground. He tried to get up after a few moments but fell once more. "I think he's still alive, sir." one of the other men said uncertainly.

"Leave him, he won't get far." Chief said as he watched the rat try to crawl along the ground, leaving a smear of blood in his wake. "I won't waste a second bullet on that vermin." He turned to the rest of the morphs, who stood frozen in place. "What are you looking at? Get back to work!"

Jacob set to his work with renewed vigor with the suffering moans of the dying rat filling the silence on the ridge. "Thomas, poor Thomas." Joshua said under his breath, shaking his head. "He broke a few days ago. They treat rodents the worst."

Jacob was cut off from replying when a voice shouted out behind him, "Water!" It was that Sarah girl. She had shed the protective leather armor she had worn before in favor of a simple green tanktop and khaki cargo pants tucked into black army boots, she still wore her cap, casting her shrewd face in shadow. She held a large plastic jug full of water under one arm and a small tin cup in her free hand. The morphs lined up before her and she uncapped the water jug and poured a small amount into the tin cup and handed it to the raccoon at the front of the line.

Jacob stepped to the rear of the line, waiting as each morph drained the cup before handing it back to her without a word. As he saw each morph drink he realized just how thirsty he was and was glad when he finally reached the girl. He waited for her to fill the cup and hand it to him, but she simply looked him dead in the eyes as she tipped the jug over, letting the remaining contents spill onto the parched earth where it promptly disappeared. Jacob balled his fists in fury, but a paw on his shoulder made him turn to see Joshua standing behind him, shaking his head silently. He swallowed his anger and turned his back on the girl. If he was ever going to escape, he would need his strength. He couldn't afford to lose it through beatings he could avoid.

The day wore on slowly, the heat growing ever more oppressive. Sarah took Chief's place in the dugout, and about an hour before sundown the Warden came to the ridge to inspect their progress, which he must have deemed satisfactory for there were no yelling or beatings. As the sun touched the western horizon they were ordered to drop their tools and they were marched down the path under guard. Jacob was relieved when he finally was able to sit down in his cell.

The guard shoved a half-loaf of bread into Joshua's paws with a sneer before turning on his heel and walking back down the corridor, leaving Jacob's paws quite empty. Joshua went and sat against the wall near the bars dividing his cell from Jacob's. "Here." he said, tearing the loaf in half and proffering it through the bars.

"Thank you." Jacob took the bread as he sat down on the opposite side of the bars from the shepherd. He tore into it hungrily, even though it was stale and hard in his muzzle.

"Sorry about what happened today." Joshua said after finishing his bread. "Never did find out what her gripe was with morphs, I suspect she was taught to hate like most of the humans here."

Jacob was quiet a while before speaking. "How long have you been here?"

"Me? I was born here." Joshua said matter-of-factly.

Jacob's insides turned to ice and he stared at the shepherd on the other side of the bars a foot or two away. "Born here?"

Joshua nodded solemnly. "They caught my father traveling west to the NCR with the Crimson Caravan. Ambushed the caravan, took him and a few others." the shepherd said, staring at the opposite wall through the darkness that filled the room. "My mother... she was traveling with him, she was his cousin. The humans didn't care though, made him fuck her anyway." he said bitterly. "You see, those humans, they need us so they can live their idyllic life, keep more food and water for themselves. They can't attack every caravan that comes through here, someone would notice and check things out, and it's not every day that a wanderer such as yourself comes along. So if they can, they breed us." Joshua was quiet for a long time. "This hell-hole is all I've ever known."

Jacob's fur bristled as he listened, revolted at the notion that the humans here were breeding people like him as if they were mere cattle. He had seen no shortage of madness and cruelty in his travels, and while the humans of Fort Adams didn't string people up on meat hooks for the fun of it, they did have their own way being sick and twisted. Jacob battled with himself silently. It was his rule to worry about himself first, as heroism in the wastes frequently resulted in a short life. He himself was not innocent, like when had let an innocent and naive traveller walk into an obvious raider trap so he could avoid them. Survival was not pretty. It was ugly and often cruel, but Jacob was good at it, he was a survivor. But he couldn't run and leave these people, he'd get them out if he could. "There's got to be a way out."

Joshua leaned close and talked in a hushed whisper, "There is another way out besides the main gate. There's a tunnel leading out of here from the Warden's office, under a trapdoor behind his desk."

"How do you know about it?"

"I helped build it years ago, but there's no way you could get to it. This place is guarded around the clock, and so is the Warden's building. Then there's our cages of course, and the Warden's office and the trapdoor are both locked." Jacob was quiet, thinking about how he and the other morphs could possibly escape. Assuming they could somehow escape their cells, they would have to slip by the guards, not to mention acquire the keys to the Warden's office and the trapdoor.

"It's been a long time since someone has been in that cell." Joshua said, nodding towards Jacob. "Not since Raymond..." he trailed off before picking up again after a few moments, "It's been lonely. It's good to have someone to talk to again."

Jacob turned to peer at Joshua through the darkness, but the moonlight pouring through the window was enough to let him see the faint smile on Joshua's face. The smile made him look years younger. "I had a friend who looked like you." Jacob said.

"Go on." was all Joshua said.

"His name was Daniel. First soul I met that looked like he was interested in more than the caps I carried. We worked together on a collective farm outside of Junktown, went through a lot, made life bearable..." he trailed off and was quiet for a while.

Jacob swore and kicked the frame of the bunk in frustration, which only made his toes sting, making him swear even louder. "Hey buddy, what's up?" Daniel's soft voice came from the doorway.

Jacob turned to look at him and with a great sigh fell down onto his mattress, smacking his head on the upper bunk. He swore again before bursting out, "I can't see Elizabeth anymore!" he snarled angrily.

Daniel frowned and shut the door behind him quietly before sitting down on the bed next to Jacob. "Why not?"

"Her father will kill me if I do. He found out we had been going up to the outlook alone together and came up there and found us fucking. He pulled a gun and pointed it at me and yelled at me to get off her, said if he ever sees me near his daughter again he'd shoot me." Daniel listened intently as Jacob spoke. The way Daniel directed all his attention to him did help calm his nerves somewhat.

"That girl is important to you." Daniel said quietly and sighed. "He should let go. You're a man now, and she's of age."

It made Jacob feel better to know Daniel was on his side. "He wants her to have pups probably, don't want to lose the family store." Jacob spat.

Daniel scowled. "There's ways around that if you two are willing."

"He's a bit of a traditionalist."

"These aren't exactly "traditional" times." Daniel said before quieting as Jacob held his face in his paws. Jacob felt the shepherd's arm go around him, resting a paw on his shoulder. "Listen...I know how much Elizabeth means to you..." Daniel said softly. "You can take my savings. It might be enough for you two to make a life together in the Hub."

Jacob turned to look at his friend, absolutely stunned. "No, I can't do that." he said, shaking his head at Daniel's smile. "You've been working hard for years, years longer than me, to get out of here..."

"Jacob, I don't have anything else outside of this place. No family or friends except you. At most maybe I'd start a shop in town. What's the difference though, here or there? If my money can give you the life you want, I'm going to give it to you." Daniel said, his grip on Jacob's shoulder tightening slightly as he pulled the wolf a little closer.

Jacob shook his head. "Elizabeth would never go for it. She has a family and a shop here, a stable life. She wouldn't throw that out for me..."

Daniel was quiet for a while. "Well, I can do something else for you at least." he said softly, and his paw slid from Jacob's shoulder down to his waist while the other sidled up to his belt. Jacob leaned back against the wall as Daniel expertly undid the belt and pants and slid his paw inside to caress Jacob's sheath and sac. As Jacob's arousal grew Daniel leaned over and licked his exposed tip with a delicate tongue, making Jacob close his eyes and moan quietly. He opened them again to watch Daniel slowly slide his tongue up and down his hard length before finally taking it into his muzzle, making the wolf shiver with delight. He ran a paw through Daniel's headfur and closed his eyes again, enjoying the blissful feeling of the shepherd's head bobbing up and down on him. Daniel always did give a better blowjob than Elizabeth.

Jacob could feel the stress flowing from his body and any thoughts of Elizabeth and his future were lost as the shepherd's tongue slid along his length. After a few minutes, just as Jacob's knot was beginning to swell, he felt the warmth of Daniel's muzzle disappear, leaving his slicked up cock chilly in the open air. He opened his eyes, about to ask why he had stopped, when he saw the shepherd pulling off his shirt and tossing it across the room. Daniel flipped on the radio that stood on the nearby bedstand deftly as he fell onto his back on the bunk. Jacob kicked off his own pants before setting to Daniel's, quickly pulling them off and leaving them forgotten on the floor beside the bed.

While Jacob didn't bother to pull off his own shirt, the shepherd lay on his back completely naked before him, legs spread in waiting. The way the darker and lighter browns and the white of his fur flowed along his body accented the gentle curves of his hips, making them seem a bit wider than they really were. The smile on his face, the wagging of his tail, and most of all the hard red shaft standing against his white bellyfur showed that he was just as eager as Jacob was.

Jacob mounted him, crawling between the shepherd's legs so he was above him. He had his cock in his paw, guiding it under Daniel's tale when he froze and let out a laugh. "It's your damn song."

"Maybe...You'll think of me... When you're all... Alone..." came a woman's soft voice from the radio. He'd heard the shepherd sing along to it far too often.

Daniel grinned and asked, "Want to change it?"

Jacob thought about it and decided he didn't really want to move from between the shepherd's spread legs. "One more time won't kill me." he said before pressing his tip against Daniel's tailhole. He pushed himself in slowly, drawing a soft moan from Daniel's lips to match his own. When Jacob sank all the way in he paused for a few moments before slowly pulling back again, he had to take it easier with Daniel than he did with Elizabeth, at least as the start.

After a few minutes of of leisurely thrusting he shifted a bit, resting his paws on Daniel's shoulders, pinning the lighter German shepherd to the bed. Without a word Daniel spread his legs a little wider and gripped the sheets with one paw while the other moved to his maleness. Jacob picked up his pace, moving his hips faster now, pumping his length into Daniel's entrance quickly as the shepherd's paw stroked up and down his own length quickly. Jacob closed his eyes and his mind filtered out the sound of Daniel's moans of pleasure along with the accursed song issuing from the radio and the squeaks of the bunk, too caught up in his haze of pleasure. He loosed his frustration with the world into the rapid and powerful movement of his hips, which the shepherd under him took without complaint.

Before long Jacob's knot flared once more as his pleasure swelled. "Fuck! Gonna cum!" he growled out, letting Daniel know he was about to be knotted. Moments later he gripped the shepherd's shoulders tightly and pressed against his hips until his knot popped into his tailhole, sending Jacob over the edge. He grunted and ground his hips against Daniel's as he felt as if a dam had burst inside him, his cock throbbed with each load of warm seed he spilled inside the shepherd's tailhole. Moments after his release Jacob felt Daniel's body contracting around his length repeatedly and he opened his eyes in time to see thick white ropes of cum disappearing into the white of Daniel's fur. The shepherd had his ears pinned back against his head and was moaning loudly in pleasure as he came and was gazing up at Jacob, his deep green eyes, usually bright and confident, suddenly seemed so soft and tender.

Jacob avoided Daniel's gaze, and, with his tired muscles giving way, slumped onto the shepherd. As they lay there panting the wolf felt Daniel's legs wrap around him, but he was too tired to care much.

Jacob snapped himself out of his reminiscing after he realized how long he had been quiet. "He picked me up when I was down, kept me going..."

Joshua nodded. "He sounds like a nice fellow. What happened?"

"He left. He joined the army and disappeared, just like that... I left a while after that as soon as I could." Jacob said somberly.

"Sounds like you had a good life even though your friend was gone. Steady work and income, food, safety... What made you leave?" Jacob opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't find the words, he thought and then tried again, still nothing came out. He saw Joshua nod in the dark. "I see." the shepherd said. "Best get to sleep, we'll be working the trench again tomorrow."

Joshua curled up where he was on the floor, resting his head on his paws; but Jacob couldn't sleep, thoughts kept racing through his mind. The look that Daniel had gave him after Jacob had fucked him kept floating clearly to the surface, as if his friend's face was right there before him. Jacob looked out the window where he could see the moon through the blinds as it rose into the dark sky, casting blades of dim light into the room. Why had he left? He had never said anything about ever wanting to join the army or to even leave Junktown...

Eventually, exhausted, Jacob's mind surrendered and let him fall into a fitful sleep.

Jacob woke with a start, the air raid siren outside the Vault from his childhood ringing in his ears once again. He reached for the pistol on his chest instinctively and panicked when he found the comfortable weight missing. He opened his eyes to find himself in his cell, early morning light streaming through the window, and a figure sitting on a rickety wooden chair in the corridor. His vision slid into focus and cleared his dry throat when he recognized the person before him. "Why, good morning, beautiful." he croaked.

Sarah pursed her lips. "The Warden let you sleep in today, wanted to show you what you can have if you talk. I still think he should have put you to work for another day, Twitch has first shift for watching the prisoners." she said before grabbing her rifle, which had been leaning against the wall behind her. "He's awake, John. Let's take him over to the Warden." she called down the hall. There was a scrape of a chair and after a few moments later a man appeared who Jacob recognized as part of the party that had captured him.

Jacob struggled to his feet, his muscles aching more than ever, and followed Sarah outside, John bringing up the rear. He was led back to the Warden's building, but instead of turning into his office they passed it and continued up a set of stairs and to a small room through a doorway at the end of the hall. The floor was wood like the rest of the building and a small bed stood against the wall, its dirty white linens matching the peeling floral wallpaper. A single window, in front of which stood a series of iron bars drilled into the wood, lit the room and everything sitting on the bed. All of his possessions had been laid out on it, from his duster to rifle. Jacob's eyes lingered on his boots, which sat on the floor near the bed.

"I must say, wolf, you have a very fine compliment of equipment here." the Warden's voice came from the other corner of the room. He sat in one of the two wooden chairs near a round table which supported a dusty old vase of synthetic flowers that stood in such contrast with the Warden's face that Jacob had to force himself not to laugh. The Warden was inspecting a pistol he held in his hands, a 10 mm, its paint was worn, but it was clean and its action was silky smooth as the Warden worked it.

"That's my father's." Jacob said coldly.

The Warden looked up at him. "And you can have it back. In fact you can have all this." he said as he waved his hand to indicate the room. "All you have to do is tell me your mission." Jacob only stared at the Warden without saying a word. "Surely you don't want to go back to digging that trench with no water and no food." the Warden continued. "The NCR will never find you here, and even if they did, they would have to muster quite the army to assault this fort. You will never leave here, so why make the rest of your life miserable? You would be given much less strenuous tasks, I assure you."

Jacob's voice was cold and steady, but a flame was alight in his eyes as he spoke. "I work for no one."

The Warden studied him silently for a long minute before speaking softly, "All is as it must be." Then he looked up to the humans behind Jacob. "Sarah, John, take him up to the trench. Have him beaten in front of the others and then set him back to work." When Jacob didn't move he felt a hand grip his arm and he reluctantly turned and headed out the door, his eyes flicking to his boots once more before they slide from view. Jacob was too angry to notice the poorly hidden shocked look on John's face.

Like before, none of the humans that Jacob passed so much as glanced at him on the way through the compound and up the dirt path to the perimeter trench. His stomach wrenched unpleasantly when Twitch's merry voice floated down to him, singing some demented song he must have thought up himself. "Oh lookie! It's my favorite wolfie!" Twitch cried as Jacob approached the dugout near which the morphs labored. "Come here boy! Come here!" he bent and slapped his knee, panting as if her were a pet dog.

Jacob was shoved forward suddenly from behind by Sarah. "The Warden said to make an example of him."

"Well haven't you been a bad boy? Just asking for a beating aren't you?" Twitch said without dropping the sweet tone from his voice. "Hey, fluffy!" he said, turning to a stocky malamute morph who had been watching from several yards away. "Throw me that shovel! I bet blood-red would just look positively smashing against that rust!"

"He needs to be able to work when you're through with him." Sarah said as Twitch reached for the shovel. "The Warden's orders."

Twitch pouted for a few moments before turning to the morphs laboring at the trench. He stuck his little fingers in the corners of his mouth and let loose an earsplitting whistle. "Oy! I got entertainment for you lot!" The morphs all turned to look at Jacob with pity on their faces as Twitch flourished a billy club that seemed to appear in his hand as if from nowhere. Sarah and John backed away as Twitch slowly walked around Jacob, eyeing him critically with a hand on his chin as if he were a blank canvass for him to paint. He stopped a couple times around him, miming smashing the club into various parts of him and then nodding or shaking his head as if in deep consideration.

"Come on, Twitch. I'm getting b..." Jacob, but before he could finish he loosed a yelp of pain as Twitch sent his club crashing into the back of Jacob's knees, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Never... interrupt... an artist!" Twitch said dramatically above Jacob, pressing a hand to his grimy red tanktop and wielding his club as if it were a paintbrush. "Ralphie!" he said suddenly to one of the men watching from the dugout. "Hmm, station 3 should do it!" Jacob heard a click and a radio sprung to life, from which came the fluid tones of smooth jazz. Twitch resumed pacing around Jacob, who was still sprawled on the ground, dipping his club in time to the beats of the music. When a saxophone solo kicked up he lunged suddenly, too fast for Jacob to react, smashing the billy club into his arm.

The beating was terrible. Twitch knew exactly how to cause the most pain with the least amount of damage, and he certainly caused Jacob a lot of pain. The club swung down on him again and again, crashing into his ribs, arms, and legs. Jacob squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to curl up to protect himself, but couldn't stop from yelping out in pain. It seemed to go on forever and Jacob began to hope that he would just black out again when he caught a sudden crack to his muzzle, knocking a tooth loose.

"Enough!" Sarah's yell pierced the air and Twitch's club halted just an inch from the side of Jacob's head. He cracked his eyes open and spat out his loose tooth, which was accompanied by a good amount of blood. His vision was blurry, but he could see Sarah standing some feet away, her face stony and expressionless; John looked entirely different though, his face a pallid white and replete with horror. "I'll take over watch." Sarah said.

Twitch crouched low next to Jacob and patted him on the head and picked up his sweet pet-owner voice again. "You be a good doggie now, and come back and see me again!" he said and then leaned over, and cupping his hand over his mouth, spoke quietly in the same voice, "Don't tell anyone, but you're my favorite puppy!"

Jacob would have lashed out with his claws if he didn't hurt so much. He glared back at Twitch but maintained a stony silence. Twitch only grinned and stood and, twirling his club, began to stroll down the path to the Fort whistling a merry tune. Everyone watched him go, and when he made the reverse on the path and faced them again he gave them a cheery little wave. The morphs set back to work when he disappeared from view and men in the dugout returned to their interrupted game of cards. Sarah kicked a shovel to Jacob's side before turning to John, who was still pale and rooted to the same spot, and telling him he could go back down to the Fort. He nodded vigorously and scuttled away.

Jacob pulled himself to his feet and limped over next to where Joshua worked. He stabbed his shovel into the dirt bitterly and tossed the shovelful to the side, his muscles burning in agony. He worked slowly and painfully for the rest of the day, and was forced to lean against Joshua as he limped down the path with the rest of the morphs. Again the guard gave Jacob no food, but did shove a cupful of water into his paws which he gulped down thankfully. Again Joshua split half his meager dinner with him, an old block of cheese.

"What's Twitch's story?" Jacob asked after they had finished scarfing down their paltry meal in the quickly darkening room.

"He used to be a raider." Joshua said. "From what I understand, they found him in the desert three days east of here at an old service station. They said they found him humming to himself as he was stringing up a dozen mutilated corpses to the overhang. He had killed the entire band of raiders he was with himself. Never learned how he did it" the shepherd stated at the inquiring look on Jacob's face. "Anyway, Chief about shot him right then and there, said nobody like that was fit to live at the Fort. But the Warden thought he might be... "tamed", and prove useful. Guess he has." he added bitterly.

Jacob was about to speak when the doors at the doors at the end of the corridor crashed open and a group of voices drifted to his ears. "Fine, fine, I don't care what you do with her. Just don't wake up the whole damn town, and remember the Warden's orders: no damaging the females!" That was Chief's voice...

Suddenly there was screaming, a female's screaming. "No! No! You can't do this!" Jacob heard the cries coming closer and followed Joshua to his feet. He looked down the corridor to see two men holding a struggling brownish feline between them, followed by two more men, all of them carrying excited looks of anticipation on their faces. "Let me go! You already took everything I have!" the girl screamed.

"Oh no..." Joshua spoke quietly as he watched the group approach with wide eyes.

"Not quite everything!" one of the men chuckled as the group passed Jacob's cell and rounded the corner into the room on the other side of the wall. A light turned on abruptly and then the door slammed shut behind them, but it did little to muffle the girl's screams. "Stop! What are you doing?!" there was a scraping of a table being pushed across the floor and a soft thump. Jacob looked over at Joshua, there had to be something they could do, but the shepherd only stood there with a horror-stricken empty look in his eyes. The girl screamed again and then Jacob heard the men laughing.

Jacob's stomach lurched as he heard grunts and groans through the wall. He turned to look back at Joshua but he wasn't there, instead, he was sitting in a ball by the bars dividing their cells, his paws clamped over his ears. Jacob went and sat next to him. "They caught another girl...oh God, no..." Joshua's voice wavered. "They're going to make poor Nathan..." the shepherd didn't need to complete his sentence for Jacob to understand what was going to happen.

He growled in frustration as he listened to the screams of the feline girl in the next room and the jeering of the men who were raping her. Despite hating "animals" so much they didn't seem to mind fucking one if it had breasts and a pussy. Jacob had to stop this, to get these people away from these twisted humans, and he thought he might have the slightest chance at it. He kept thinking of his boots sitting there beside that bed this morning and how the Warden had said he could have it all back if he heard what he wanted...

Jacob smiled to himself. That was it. He just had to tell the Warden what he wanted to hear.