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This one's a lot shorter, and (hopefully) a lot less confusing. I'm basically just trying to answer some questions that I hadn't made answers to (yes, procrastinating as always). Anyway, this'll either be a help or a hinderance. Let's hope it's the first one.

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Nothing was static. Everything was appalling. Everything was falling apart. My existence had become the biggest attempted cover-up-turned-public-disaster ever. More so, it had become the most bizarre of any biological weapon used. This was because in no other country, on no other plane of thinking had the thought occurred. Turn a military super-weapon project into a world domination plot with the simple betrayal of a psychotic doctor.

The doctor formerly known as Stark had taken her own transformation as a rebirth. She was no longer human. No, she had evolved into the supreme being quickly being made known as an Anthro. I found it strangely funny that someone as brilliant as she could think of her own species name instead of using the codename of the project.

That wasn't the top priority, though. Instead, it was the fact that no longer could I go out into public. I'm sure my sarcastic shock was apparent when I was told. Every single news broadcaster around the United States had gone into red alert. The murderous creatures filling the streets of the Nation had been declared Enemies of the State, and were to be killed on site.

Sympathy and sadness filled my heart instantly. Those things weren't really monsters, but only under the control of one. I wanted to kick myself repeatedly for my participation in the whole thing. Not that I had a choice, as I soon found out.

I played my part just like everyone else. Each detail was taken into full account by our government to ensure that we all did as they wanted. It wasn't a complete coincidence like I had thought originally. It wasn't a pathetic "Three Month" scheme as I tried convincing myself of either. Johnny, Tera, Alex, Justin, and Kelly were all part of it because of me. They were all selected simply because of my involvement somehow with each of them.

Johnny was a childhood friend, Tera was a prospective student of the very college I graduated from and had sought to find me for advice, I had spoken with Alex at the front desk of Nanite Technological Industries, Kelly because her father was the one and only Professor Rynkort, and Justin, I can only imagine, because of his ties with Kelly. At no point had he spoken anything of a daughter, or family thereof. Nor had I any knowledge of Tera's interest in Biochemistry.

Harvard Medical School, the same school at which I received valedictorian status, was the perfect place to somehow house six of the most deadly creatures this earth has ever seen, apparently. Maybe not so much the school itself, but Dr. Rynkort's home that was on the very edge of campus.

"Tera, please understand. I'm just having trouble trying to cope with all of this happening all at once."

I spoke out of turn and bluntly, and for it I was left watching Tera once again walk away from me. The problem with having a love/hate relationship is that there is, in fact, a time that the hate part of it comes into play. It wasn't on my part, but the feeling was there as I shivered because of my cold shoulder. Admitting, she had a way with words, or a lack thereof.

Feeling more apologetic than aggravated, I decided to do something I'd never done before. I ran forward and caught up with Tera, grabbing her by the arm and bringing her to a halt. "Tera," she tugged away from my grasp and I continued, "I'm sorry. Please, I need your help. I need you here with me, helping me through this."

The look in her eyes had changed ever since our fight back in the underground facility. They were no longer bright and fiery, but were dark and cold, the affect of all that had transpired I could only assume. "Matt, understand this: I am nineteen years old. I'm in the prime of my life, but I can't even live out that prime because of this. If I go out into the world, I'll be shot without second thought. There are people who want me dead, and others that want me to become their secret weapon. Nobody deserves to go through what I'm going through.

"But that doesn't stop me from being who I am. No matter what changes around me, I'll always be who I am, and that's what keeps me from losing my mind. If I can no longer find myself, then I have no purpose living. Maybe you ought to spend more time alone, because I can tell you have no idea who you even are anymore," she said, finishing with a shaky breath.

When I didn't say anything, she walked away. She was on the verge of crying, I thought numbly. She was forcing herself to say that, even though she didn't want to, because it's absolutely right.

After that, I secluded myself in what came to be known as "the dead room." It was nothing more than a cramped closet in the house, but it provided a perfect place to be away from everything else. It was unorganized, but that was an easy thing to fix. I took out the light bulb, piled the few boxes filling floor space into one corner, and tucked myself into a the corner. A nail protruding from the wall caught on the jeans I had been wearing and tore the pocket out. I thought nothing else of it and closed my eyes.

Who am I? Is this the point where I somehow pull a revelation out of thin air and discover some deep and meaningful quality about myself? How can I find anything when all that I see is nothing? Okay, wait. I just need to start back at the beginning. My name is Matthew Furr. I'm twenty-two... That was easy enough. Now let's try it for the here and now. My name is Matthew Furr. I'm twenty-two. Wait, is that it? I'm still me, deep down? No, that can't be it. That's too easy...

I put myself into a bubble that, no matter what anyone did, I wouldn't come out of. There were quiet mumbles that I figured were voices, but I hadn't had a second thought toward them at all. Everything was thrown by the wayside. That is, until she finally came back.

It started out as a muffled noise, much like everything else, but it grew louder and clearer the longer I listened. At the time, my eyes were closed, but something in the back of my mind told me it was time to finally open them. A millisecond after I did there was a scream and I searched frantically for the source. A pale-faced Tera stood quivering in the doorway.

My immediate reaction was to jump to her, but I held my body in check and allowed for my senses to come back to me. The light bulb had been replaced and was beaming brighter than I remembered. There was a stale odor encompassing me, leaving the taste of mothballs in my mouth. I could hear the labored breathing of Tera, as well as my own breath idly pulsing through my nostrils.

"What's wrong?" I questioned flatly, not taking into account that anything was, indeed, wrong.

Tera's paw went to her chest as she slowly calmed her breathing. "Jesus Matt... You scared me half to death. Your eyes went all weird and did that dilating thing."

If her response wasn't enough to make me laugh, the fact that she was frightened over something my eyes did was. It started as a quick snicker, but moved into a full-fledged outburst in seconds. The vixen in front of me was not amused in the slightest. Her glare was narrow and obviously intended to cause an apologetic response from me. I thought it best to concede.

"I'm sorry Tera, I didn't mean anything by it," I said, standing. My head started to spin before I could fully stand, and my legs swayed violently. Seeing this, Tera moved in and grappled my arms, pulling me up.

"C'mon, Matt, you're weak. Let's get you out of this closet and put some food in your stomach."

Weak? I was only in here for a few hours. I thought that meditation was supposed to help me relax and focus my head or something, not make it so that I can't even stand up. I tried to hold myself up, but failed as soon as my knees locked together.

"Matt, try to not move too much. You've been in here for almost two weeks. You need to save the little energy you have left."

If it weren't for the coat of fur that smothered my skin, I would have found myself in a cold sweat. Two weeks, were the first words that started sinking in. I thought it was only a few hours, not two some-odd weeks! I was in a state of stupor, and my aching body did nothing to sooth my pounding head.

Nevertheless, Tera took incentive and gently began to assist me out into the hallway, toward the kitchen. Rynkort's house reflected his paycheck, being both a professor at Harvard University and one of the key proprietors in the creation of the first true cybernetic limbs; a mansion would have been an understatement. The only reason that there was a closet in the manor that was in such a state was because Rynkort still kept a civilized view on decoration.

The duration of the walk gave me time to find my footing so that Tera didn't have to fully support my weight, of which she had been doing an excellent job of so far. So, with the lack of having to focus on being a crutch, she and I started chatting.

"So it's really been two weeks..." I trailed off, thinking of the seemingly impossible thought.

"Yeah, we tried to wake you up sooner, but you didn't do anything. It was like you were dead."

Trying to keep the civilized conversation going, I continued, "Wow. What all's happened outside? I mean, two weeks is a long time for something major to happen."

"Well," she turned her head away and bit her lower lip. I got worried.

"What's wrong? Did something happen? Please, I want the truth. I can handle it."

A deep fear swept over me. Nanoseconds seemed to pass as hours as Tera continued biting her lip, waiting to hear the bad news. "There is a war being waged outside these door as we speak," the change in tone and structure startled me until I turned to realize Rynkort was walking our way. His subtleties were overbearing at times, but it gave me an answer instead of holding out for Tera to bite her lower lip off.

He continued, "Right now, Doctor Stark has an army of Anthros large enough to give our military its toughest fight ever. Do you remember Lincoln, Nebraska?"

What was he implying? Lincoln was a sizeable city, at least 300,000 people. I remembered only because he spoke so highly of it constantly. He couldn't have meant something had happened there. I hesitantly answered, "Yes?"

"Well, imagine now that the entire populace of it being Anthro, and on a hell-bent trek to strategic locations across the nation," he paused and I swallowed hard, "and as we speak there are twenty Class A Anthros on direct order from Doctor Stark to hunt all of you down."

At least he delivered the bad news with a graceful understanding.

Five hours later I found myself wrapped tightly in Tera's embrace. With my stomach full and my paws set stationary in hers, one arm holding loosely around her mid section, I was almost purring with a warm, fuzzy feeling I thought I had all but lost. It wasn't but a short time after I had decided who I was that I realized that I was and had always been there for a purpose. Tera was informed of this, and couldn't have been more ecstatic. She showed her approval with a minimal amount of affection. I didn't mind the hesitancy.

One thought that only briefly fluttered into my head was that I hadn't seen any of the others since, well, two weeks ago. I was ashamed of myself for not taking any action to pursue their whereabouts, but I still did nothing. Tera's paws on mine were the only things that I could focus on at the time.

Not much longer after I found myself yawning for an oddly unapparent reason. Tera made notice of this and asked if I wanted to go to bed. Being both enticed and frightened by the idea, I hesitantly said yes. I didn't want to push too hard to be close to her too soon, and the idea of sleeping together only made the walk to the bedroom layered with eggshells.

It was a quiet walk, which only made my heart race more. Tera had a faint smile on her lips. My heart skipped when she opened the door. It was a plain guest bedroom, only slightly more glamorous than a typical middle-class hotel. A few boxes sat neatly in the corner and there was a bed and chest of drawers, but nothing else.

Tera sauntered slowly across the room and lied down. My palms started to sweat. Did I always get nervous whenever she did that? No, this was the first time. "So, where do you want me to sleep?" I don't know why I asked that. Probably because I was nervous about screwing something up. The irony went right over my head.

She looks sadly up at me. "Well, I was thinking that you would sleep in here with me, but--"

I quickly corrected my mistake, cutting her off, "No! I mean, not 'No.' What I meant to say was I want to, I just..." I had to think on my feet, "need to shower." I got the save. "Yeah, two weeks is probably long enough, right?"

A quick excuse and I was rushing out the door, only to come sneaking back in to get directions. With that embarrassment out of the way, I wondered my way through hallways in search of the nearest bathroom. Stumbling into it almost accidentally, I gave a sigh of relief. The jeans I had been wearing came off easily thanks to the tear in them. Along with the jeans, there was a piece of paper that fell to the ground from the open pocket.

Hesitantly I picked it up. It was folded multiple times so that it would be smaller, and when I fully unfolded it I saw that it was a full sheet of college ruled paper. A small and neat print was written on the top half. There were tear stains in numerous places on the page. I started reading eagerly.

_Dear Matt,

It's been almost a week now and you still haven't woken up. I know that you're still alive, but I'm so worried about you. Why won't you just wake up? Is it because of something I did? Are you just ignoring me? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh, I was just upset, that's all. Please wake up soon.

Matt, you have to wake up soon. You haven't eaten or drank anything in so long, I don't know how much more of this I can stand. I want to talk with you again. I want to hold you... Please don't be mad at me.

I love you so much. I just wanted you to know that. If you wake up, I hope that you read this. We've been through a lot in a short period of time, and I'm glad that I've been able to spend the time that I have with you.

I'm putting this in your pocket so that, hopefully, you can read it when you wake up, just in case I'm not there to see it. Everything's gotten so hectic lately. I'm really worried about all of us. I'm worried about you. I love you.

Tera_

My eyes watered as I read. I was the one that should have been apologizing, but there it was in writing Tera taking the words right from my mouth. I promised myself that I would be sure to apologize to her every chance I got from now on. It would be the least I could do for putting her though so much more than she had to.

Still, I thought it better to do so clean than dirty, so in the shower I went. A slow wash with a fast-paced intent didn't work so well together, but I found myself done and dry in less than half an hour. The drying took the longest.

As I opened the door to the bedroom, I noticed that Tera had already tucked herself under the covers and looked to be fast asleep. One opportunity missed already, I thought. Slowly I approached. Her ears twitched and flickered before she turned her head and stared half-eyed at me. "Hey," I said nervously, not meaning to wake her.

She responded by pulling the thin sheet she was under down, inviting me in. Gently I tucked myself in beside her. She was positioned so that her back was facing me. I rolled over to my side and slowly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Accidentally I pulled my arm up and felt an uncovered bosom on my paw. "You're not wearing anything, are you?" I shyly asked.

Tera turned her head and glanced at me with a smile, "No. Underwear is sort of uncomfortable now. But you should talk, since you're not wearing anything either."

Absolutely right. I wasn't wearing anything. My hip must have brushed up against hers by accident. "Good point, sorry."

"It's okay. No harm, no foul."

Then, she smiled again. It was comforting. I pulled close to her again, wrapping my arm even further around her waist. She nestled herself closer too, and I kissed her neck. "I love you so much Tera. I'm sorry that I let things get in my way of seeing that."

She held my arm with both paws and nuzzled back into me more. "It's okay, Matt. I'm just glad you're here now."

Then, we fell asleep in each other's arms. Nothing else, we just fell asleep. It was wonderful. It was perfect. She was murring, and I fell asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.