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Life... such a precious thing, a disease can cause a whole civilization to disappear. Never thought I'd be on the greatest run of my life, I'm the game and I'm always in season. A disease wiped out most of the global populace. The dead didn't stay dead, the disease brought them back by reanimating tissue. Luckily I wasn't a civilian, I was in the military. I was a Marine Corps. Major in the MARSOC, so I knew my way around combat. A few zombies aren't going to stop me.

I pulled the cigarette out of my mouth and threw it out my window. I had the radio on but nothing was playing so I switched it to my c.d. player. I never stop in towns like this too many of those things in a town. They like to hide out in places that have a big populace due to the amount of fresh flesh to be bitten. I had to stop in this town and get supplies food, water, ammo, batteries, and maybe a few more working guns. More importantly though I needed to find someone else, I was going crazy. A message I was listening to said there was a survivor out here.

I pulled my truck up into a gas station, and got out. I filled up my truck, lucky me, free gas. I then grabbed a 12 gauge pump action shotgun off of the back of my truck, along with an axe, just in case. I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and went into the gas station. I didn't see anything just yet but that is how it always is. I proceeded down the first isle; I grabbed a few things here and there and put them into my sea bag. Most of the food left here is snack food but I have to eat something. I went through about 5 isles before I ran into one. I gripped my axe and waited for it to come to me. As soon as it saw me it charged, it was soon within 10 feet, once it hit 5 feet I then swung as hard as I could. The body fell to the ground headless. I then proceeded doing what I was originally doing.

No more of those things so I put all of the contents back inside the truck and started looking for a gun shop. I found it not a block away; it was locked up with a chain locking the doors together. I took the axe and broke the chain on the door. It opened with ease after that I went in and grabbed all of the 12 gauge shells they had. Browsed around for some military grade bullets, found a wide array of them and took what I had guns for. I then left and put the sea bag in the back of the truck and climbed back into the front. I then drove until I found what I was looking for. Griffon Inn, located on the main road. It didn't say if it'd be a male of female due to the fact it's Morse code. So all I got was a bunch of beeps, not a voice. I got out of my truck yet again and looked around.

I went into the building and grabbed my shotgun. I proceeded down the hall looking for a set of stairs that goes up to the third floor. I found them as well as a few zombies, they were quickly dispatched. I then arrived on the third floor I looked around all of the doors were locked. "Hello, anyone here," I called. No answer... maybe it was on a loop. I headed back down the stairs and to my truck. I got back in and turned it on, I started to pull away when a figure came darting out from nowhere, I slammed on my brakes.

"What the hell are you doing? You could get yourself killed doing that you know," I yelled at the idiot who ran in front of my truck.

The person came up to the driver's side of my truck, "Oh, thank god someone found us after all of this time!"

"Um, sorry, what do you mean us, and By the way names Jack Henderson, yours," I asked as I got out of the truck.

"Felicity Koel and my brother's name is Geoff. Do you have a first aid kit," she asked.

I reached under the seat of my truck and pulled out the first aid kit as I asked, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, he won't even tell me what's wrong he fell a few days ago and he hasn't wanted to leave since," she said distraught, while leading me to her brother

I could tell right away from the look something was up. He looked like he could barely move, I asked him if I could look him over. There were no signs of injury on the outside bet he fell going on a hunch I said, "Let me know if this hurts." As soon as I touched his upper torso he screamed. "How high was the fall," I asked concerned. "High," Geoff said.

"I think it may be internal bleeding and if it is I can't stop it," I said.

"Don't worry; I've known for a little while myself considering I have dark patches on my skin under all of the fur on my chest. I've been hiding it from her because she doesn't want me to talk like that after mom and dad died. Another loss of a family member would just upset her more. Please sir, make sure she stays safe," he said.

"Don't worry I will, so you two are twins right," I asked.

"Yeah, how could you tell," he asked.

"I think she knows already, and you two look a lot alike to be honest. How old are you two," I asked.

"We're both thirty, how about you," he asked.

"Thirty five, I used to be in the military, how about you," I asked.

"Construction, was managing a job site when all of this started, so do you have any family to speak of before all of this happened," he asked.

"None that I would know of, my parents left me at some orphanage, no name, nothing," I said.

"That sucks, you two should get moving," he said.

"Yeah, see you," I said throwing him a cigarette and a match, "rest in peace."

I walked over to Felicity and put my arm on her shoulder as she said, "You said you'd help him not leave him alone to die."

"Trust me if I could I would, but there is nothing I can do, he knows it, I know it, and deep down inside you know it too. The worlds a cruel one, in circumstances like this you need to be stronger than it," I said, half disbelieving what I was saying.

"You don't know what it's like, losing all of your family, do you?" she asked climbing in the truck.

"No, I never had a family; I grew up in an orphanage in the slums of the biggest city on this continent. You do, so instead of being upset about what you've lost maybe you should count the blessings that each one of your family was and still is," I said.

"You know, you're right. So you never knew your family, that's had to suck," she said.

"No, I think they did it to protect me from what their life was. So I'm not upset I just wish they had the decency to name me, the orphanage had to do that," I said putting a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it, "do you mind."

"No, mind if I have one," she asked.

"Knock yourself out," I said handing her one and lit it when she put it in her mouth.

She took a puff and coughed and sputtered for a few seconds, "Wow those aren't too great."

"First time smoking huh, probably not your vice then," I said, "these aren't even what I usually smoke I usually smoke cigars, but they quit making my favorite brand two years ago so I quit, just recently picked it back up."

"So I guess you've had a pretty rough life huh," she asked.

"Nah it wasn't bad at all," I said turning on the car and turning up the music.

I wasn't much of a conversationalist, and I could tell she was upset right now but I couldn't deal with it right now. She was very attractive grey wolf with a few streaks of red going down her hair. Now I wasn't much to look at, but I was a grey wolf like her but my fur and hair was all black. Her eyes were a brilliant green, while mine were a stark yellow. Her fur was coarse while mine was soft. We were driving for about an hour when I decided to turn it off.

"Sorry, about how your life's going right now. We've all lost people we care about, for me it was my closest friend," I said.

"So, who was it," she asked.

"Well we were in the service together during the war. We watched each other's backs; if I was injured she wouldn't leave my side even when the medics showed up, same thing with me. We never had an actual relationship, but that's not to say we didn't scratch each other's itch," I admitted.

"So did you feel anything for her," she asked.

"Yes we both did, she was the one that had feelings for me first, and I think that I had feelings for her after the war, but we never acted upon those," I said.

"Oh, so you two never really dated then," she asked.

"No, I wish it would have been different though, but that's living in the past. I like to keep moving forward," I said.

"Oh, so do you have any food on this truck," she asked.

"Yeah, I have MREs, canned food and snack foods," I said stopping the truck.

She and I both got out of the truck and I lifted the tarp revealing all of the food, water, and everything else I've collected since I started moving. She grabbed a can of beans and a small campfire stove. She opened the can of beans and heated them up for a few minutes. I grabbed a MRE and a little bit of water I mixed it around and started to eat it. In less than five minutes I was done.

"Did you even taste it," she asked.

"Yeah, it tasted like all of the other crap they forced us to eat," I said.

"So those don't taste too good huh," she asked.

"Some do, some don't, sorry, I'm really not the best conversationalist," I said apologetically.

"Well it is kind of irritating but I get it," she said.

"So where did you grow up," I asked.

"In Furtguard, a small little town, probably never heard of it. Hell its population was less than one thousand," she said.

"Sounds like a good place to grow up. A lot better than where I did out in Rufolio, deep in the slums," I said.

"Well, what was it like," she asked.

"The worst possible, drug dealers left and right, homicides damn near every day, houses in a shocking state of disrepair, and the water was so dirty you'd be better off drinking poison," I said.

"So pretty much a bad neighborhood," she summed up.

"Exactly, but it made me tougher," I said, "Were you and your brother heading somewhere?"

"No we were looking for survivors like you," she said.

I pulled out my road map and said, "Well I say we keep moving till we get to the cross roads of I50 and 157. Then from there we should come across a town and hopefully a camper of some sort not occupied by life or zombies. What do you think?"

"Well," she started, "would there be separate beds?"

"If there isn't I'll sleep on the floor," I said.

"Sounds good," she said.

We drove on till we arrived at the town. Most of the doors were wide open, so that's either a sign they've all left or they are roaming around outside as zombies. I got out of my truck and left Felicity in the truck and said, "I'll be back." I wasn't looking for anything in particular, except a camper. This time I pulled out my old service rifle. This should get the job done, I found one not too far away it was perfect. It has all of the modern amenities, recycles the water, solar powered generator, and more than enough space for two furs, better yet it looked almost abandoned. I started to head out when a zombie came up from behind me. I threw myself out of the door landing on top of it I then moved as fast as I could to get away from it. I then shot it in the head with a burst of three rounds and another three rounds just to make sure.

As I got back into the truck felicity asked me, "Are you all right, it looks like you're covered in dirt."

"Yeah I'm fine, freaking zombie tried to get me. I handled it though," I said as I turned on the truck and drove towards the camper.

I got back out of the truck and lifted up the camper higher than the hitch. I waved back Felicity until the hitch was underneath the hook up and held up my paw for her to stop. I then lowered the camper till it was resting completely on the truck. I made sure the camper was secured properly to the truck and got back into the truck. I started driving south.

"Well we now have a place to sleep at night," I said.

"That's great! What amenities does it have," she asked.

"A kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, and a living room, so all of them I suppose," I said.

I kept on driving until It got dark. I then pulled over off to the side of the road. I turned the key and slowly let the truck die. I got out of the truck and waited for Felicity do the same. I waited for her to get to the camper first and I then got out of the truck a blanket and a pillow. Then I followed her into the camper.

"Here you go," I said.

"um, where's your pillow," she asked.

"Nowhere, I don't have more than one pillow and blanket, but don't worry I have had less than those before. I used to sleep on the ground with my helmet as my pillow and my uniform as my blanket during the war," I said.

"Wait you were in the war? You aren't much older than I am how did you do that," she asked.

"I joined early I signed up at seventeen and I had already completed high school," I said.

"Oh, um could you go outside for a quick second," she asked.

With that I stepped outside and waited till I could come back in. She knocked on the door, and opened up the door. I came back inside and went to the couch. Sleep came within minutes, the last thought I had was about Rochelle.

*********

Damn, this jungle is hot as hell. It's a little before dawn, we are heading to a hill that we have contested over for five days. This is the final push we are going to make. Our company is heading in first. We are going to get hammered by opposition; there are unconfirmed reports of an entire battalion. So we are fairly outnumbered thank god for air support. We may be cut off from the rest of the regiment as they are currently engaged in other tasks.

The sun is just starting to rise, and we are closing in on our objective. We're supposed to making the first assault in less than an hour. It's going to be a slaughter, charging up a hill, covered in hostiles and heavy weapons fire. I have a feeling that the death toll is going to be high. I am not looking forward to this assault in the least; I'm just praying to God that I make it out of this alive.

"Keep your eyes peeled, no telling what traps they've set up," Rochelle said.

"Yes, sir," all four of us responded.

We continued for another hour and then came across a clearing. The hill was directly in front of us, there was no cover if they spot us we wouldn't stand a chance. It wasn't completely barren there were a few rocks that could be used as cover. We received the order over the com, three clicks. We all started running up the hill, then enemy gunfire; I ducked down behind the closest rock. Rochelle was right there with me, I never noticed before now how well her silver eyes were brought out by her pelt.

The others had retreated back down to the forest. 'Shit, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place,' I thought to myself. We continually fired back throughout the day, all to the night. The muzzle flashes lit the night; we were running low on ammo, between the two of us we have four full clips. I had just emptied my second to last clip and set my back hard against the rock. I slid the empty magazine out of the rifle, and slammed a new one in and cocked the rifle. At that point a bullet zoomed through the cartilage of my right ear. I was fed up with this, I wasn't going to sit here like a little kid and wait till they quit firing.

I stood up and started firing my gun up the hill, in controlled semi- automatic bursts. Then I felt a bullet hit my upper left shoulder, the pain was horrible, then another in my upper leg. I was falling down, turning in the process. Then I felt a bullet rip through my tail, and then four more hit me in the back. I was passing out, I faintly felt someone dragging me across the ground, then lips press firmly against mine.

*****

Felicity

Deciding to go away from the camp to get away from the deadly quiet one, Jack, I snuck out without waking him. Getting a short ways into the woods I stretched and unwound a bit. Hearing a soft thump and then a loud thud I turned and saw a zombie just sorta laying there, already with most of its head gone. Looking around I saw another shambling towards us and another soft thump before that one's head simply flew off. Behind it I saw female possum; she was shorter than me and was holding something similar to a gun. As she walked up I made a mental note to stay out of her way. She was a bit shorter than me and had dark blue fur with a sorta sandy golden brown shock of short hair, eye eyes were silver no matter what angle they caught the light so that's probably their actual colour.

Her ears we continually moving but I noticed she had a couple pairs of studs in them and her left one had a stylized wolfs head on it. Looking at me finally she said "Where is your camp, I'll stay for the night." Oh boy, complete ice queen, she doesn't care in the slightest if I die, she's just gonna protect me for some food. When I didn't respond she moved quickly and her long tail was wrapped around my throat lightly with something pushing on my skin when she said "I can either let you lead me to it or kill you and just take your stuff, you won't live long acting like that anyway," gesturing to my method of unwinding my nerves. "They'll smell it if you do it outside."

Nodding I said "I'll take you." And she let me go, rubbing my neck I realized she had broken the skin around my neck in 6 points, I had some small amounts of blood on my paw when I pulled it away. Leading her to the camp I wondered if the army nut could deal with her.

*****

Jack

My ears perked as I heard two sets of feet instead of just one, I sat bolt upright in a haze. I still had to be dreaming, because she always shows up in my dreams. But she doesn't look like I remember her. I don't recognize the tattoo on her left ear. She then made a move to the bed and sat down. Laying back but her body still tense she said "Well, this is a surprise, I find a pup and get a wolf." Looking me in the eyes she smiled and said "I survived."

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise, too bad it's not my birthday," I said.

Shrugging she said "Sorry, no clue what day it is, my phone died 4 cities ago, you're really annoying to track." Pointing to Felicity she asked "So who is the newbie I found relieving stress in the woods, if I hadn't caught up to you she'd be dead, oh, and I got something for some good lunch the other day, I put it in the trunk of the Humvee I took from the base when it got over-run, sad how poorly trained those saps were, I told command that their pussy training wouldn't be enough, course that got me fired, sorry, ranting, it's been weeks since I talked to anyone, too bad that guy didn't move when I told him to."

"Yeah, I missed you too, in fact I was just thinking about you," I said, "You and those seductive eyes of yours."

Laughing she said "It's your truck, let's get this show on the road, my Humvee is on a side road a mile west, we can grab the food I have and decide what to do from there." Grabbing the things to her side and swinging them onto her back I remembered how strong this insanely calm woman was. Her eyes were ice and her heart steel, she could order a general to do pushups and rather than face her he'd do it.

Turning to Felicity while putting a shirt on I said, "Stay back here, we've got some catching up to do."

Having said that I went out to the truck and opened the door, I checked the back for any nasty surprises and found none. So I climbed in and turning the key in the ignition and buckling my seat belt. I put my foot on the gas and started driving. "Look, we haven't seen each other in five years, and I left the group rather abruptly. I just couldn't stand what we were doing anymore. I never forgot about you though, hell I thought of you every damn day of my life after that," I said.

Ignoring her seat belt and simply holding the overhead handle with her tail El said "We killed people, we did the hard jobs, and I never expected anyone but me to stay in the group as long as you guys did, most people can't stomach shooting someone that's already put down their guns, and they certainly can't stomach shooting kids trained in war, but I'm not most people, the only one I ever had a heart for was you, but that doesn't mean I was ready to quit for you, I don't know what else I could have done in the world, I kill, kill, and kill some more. There was nothing else for me, couldn't train people because I don't know how to stop myself, certainly couldn't do a desk job, I sent in more reports with a 'orders from above' stamp than anyone else because they didn't dare send someone to try and tell me otherwise. I'm fucking sorry for letting you get away but life moves on. Turn left."

Turning left I said, "I know, that's why I didn't try harder when you said no. That and I loved you enough to respect your wishes. It took me every fiber in my being to do it but I had to, for my sake. I would've asked you to marry me but I didn't want to worry about you every time you were out on duty. I'll tell you what though, I never once had a relationship with another, waiting until you decided to come and find me."

Opening the window and sticking her legs out while laying across the seat with her head just inches away she said "Sometimes it feels good to let down the cold exterior, 5 years, such a long time, must be one hell of an itch, I know mine is." as she lay there I saw her close her eyes out of the corner of mine, her grip on her strange rifle never lessened, but then it never did, even when she was sleeping, she was always ready to shoot.

I shrugged, "Yeah, it is, but I think it's about time we had the relationship we never could have had otherwise. I know this probably won't help, but you're safe right now, the only thing you need to be worried about is Felicity, and she's harmless. If she gives us any trouble we could kill within seconds. I do think we'll have to stop somewhere and 'itch' though."

Laughing loudly she reached up to the passenger's mirror and said "You still keep my favorite CD to do that to in the same spot, we could simply tell her that there were a few problems on the way."

"Yes well that may be, but I don't think we have enough room in this truck, if you remember correctly," I said winking.

"Like I said, I've got a Humvee, specifically the old group Humvee that we modified." Still laying there she spun the CD on her other hand and grinned up at me, oh the wicked ways she had, she knew I loved that grin. "Full armory under the seats and the back 2 rows lay back fully into a bed."

"Well, alright I don't see why not. Besides, I don't care if she sees us 'itching' in the Humvee," I said.

Laughing for a second she stopped and twitched her ears, sitting up and turning herself around she put her torso out the window and shot a zombie at what was probably 100 meters with ease, coming back in she said "We're like rabbits at times, but god that feels wonderful!" she just started laughing again and when she stopped she pegged another zombie in the head.

After a bit we finally came up to the modified Humvee, it still looked like it did five years ago. But I remembered all of the good time we had together. Now the group was only five strong with El, Tiny (he was the biggest guy in the group, a big old Grizzly who before enlisting was a body builder), Chuck (was the first one to quit, he was a medic after all), Ellisa (our demolition expert), and me. I loved them all like family considering they were the closest thing like family. I hated to go but in the end it was best for us all. "Well here we are," I said to El.

Looking down at where she was I then remembered her trick about disappearing. Hearing the start of the music I decided to ignore it and get over there. "You're late!" she said while giving me one of her cold stares, to me she even looks beautiful when doing that. I saw she had already stripped down to just her underwear.

A couple hours later

Turning over she said "God, even better than I remember, the passing of time really does make the heart's love grow sweeter." Kissing me deeply she pulled back with a smile and said "I'll drive, hitch the truck to the back and put it in neutral."

Getting dressed again, I got out and went through the process of hitching the truck up to the Humvee. I then went to go check on Felicity. When I got to the camper I knocked and said, "Hey how are you doing? She opened the camper door and said, "Fine, but, um, what happened, we've been here for a few hours," she asked. I replied, "Nothing you need to worry about." After having said that I walked back to the Humvee I climbed into the passenger side of the Humvee, and leaned over and gave El a quick peck on the cheek and said, "Let's get going."

Starting the engine and pulling out she said "Grab the Satnav, that still works somehow; I want to know where we plan to go from here."

Looking over the Satnav I couldn't figure out a place to go, "Hell I don't , I just listen to the radio, people are still using the frequencies heard things about a colony somewhere in this general are but the chances it's still there are astronomical, same thing if they all manage to stay uninfected."

Flipping a few switches the dash on my side turned over and suddenly I was sitting in front of our full comm.'s suite. "You moved it." was all I said before getting to work. "Yeah, after you left then someone sabotaged one of Ellisa's bombs, the timer went wrong, and after that it was just me and Tiny, we moved a couple things around to make it easier for just 2 people to work it."

Listening to the comm. with one ear I asked her, "Yeah, how were they after I left. I never kept in touch with them or anyone for that matter after I left."

"Chuck went insane not long after, he had already left but every time the news came on about some unsolved violent crime or mysterious circumstances around a death he lost it a little more, Ellisa was happy just tinkering around as usual, she didn't even notice you left until Tiny brought it up, she then blew up a Mannequin of you, rather dramatic, Tiny seemed unaffected and got the wrong end of a ground to air missile during a mission, it's just us, we're the only ones left of those that were supposed to be a last resort but became a first." The whole time she talked her voice was void of emotions, she simply didn't care anymore about anything but her own survival and possibly me. I knew she had been friends with Tiny since before I met them but he didn't know of her before she was 10, she was our cold eyed steel hearted leader, and we would have followed her into hell to kill the devil himself.

"Figured the Doc would, the other two, well, they were about as predictable as chaos theory. Wished they would have been better off. Probably shoulda stayed but I needed to get out of there. I missed them but not as much as I missed you. Now answer me one thing and honestly. Deep down in that heart of steel, somewhere partially lost, is there some part of it that is warm?" I asked.

Looking away from the road she looked into my eyes and said "Molten." before she continued driving.

"Well good, I'm glad that we got that out of the way. I promise I'm going to make up for the last five years. I swear upon my life," I said adding, "Sweetie."

Hearing a click I wondered if she had a problem with the word sweetie until she fired her strange pistol and hit a zombie dead center of the throat. Putting the gun back she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek "Thanks for trusting me."

"If I didn't trust you I never would have been able to serve alongside you all of those years. And in my history, I never trusted anyone before I met you. We both know very little about each other, now that I think about it. Hey, turn left in about a mile, I want to stop by my house," I said.

Pulling a left she completely ignored the road and simply drove through the grass until she got to the road again. "The way I grew up you either kept your emotions close to your chest or they got used against you, so I decided to not have emotions, until I met you, everyone else I ever met I would be completely willing to shoot through them to achieve something, with you, I would actually put my gun down, 'course that's right before running up and breaking their skull in for threatening you." Pulling to the other side of the road she ran over a zombie and just kept driving.

"I had to learn to defend myself; in my neighborhood if you couldn't fight you'd be in the obituaries eventually. The adoption agency tried to find adoptive parents for me but it never happened for me. So I grew up in an orphanage resenting all of the kids who were getting adopted. During that I took up martial arts during the time I was there. I practiced every day," I said, "Turn onto that road behind the sign that says 'The Majors Repair Shop'.

Turning in she said "You were luckier than me, in my opinion at least, I was born into the damn high society. My mother was a former pageant winner, and when she saw my rare coloring she was thrilled to try and raise me in her footsteps. I hated every minute of it, even as kids all of the girls were constantly betraying each other. By the time I was 5 I had already become the steel hearted ice queen that everyone sees me for. I ran away from my parents when I was 7, being in the pageant shit meant I knew how to get my way and I was strong enough to hold trophies that weighed as much as me for a long time. Gangs fought over me when I made my first kill a police officer who tried to take me to the precinct, never try to arrest anyone near traffic. Life after that was honestly better than living as my mother's pet doll."

"Yeah, that's real tough, probably better off I didn't know my mom and dad. But I was stuck in the same boat except I didn't want anything to do with the gangs, or the cities for that matter. But every year I donated 15 percent of my paychecks each month to the orphanage I grew up in. But as soon as I quit the forces I donated seven hundred fifty thousand to them. Right after that they named it in my honor. I never showed up, to it but I did send an apology for my being unable to attend," I said as she started to stop.

As I looked over at her I saw suddenly go entirely tense like in the old missions right before everything went to shit. Something was about to happen. Pressing a sequence of buttons faster than i registered which buttons she hit she then said "It's time for war, there is a god damned army of those things coming, I've got a full arsenal back there, get yourself equipped." As she opened the door she pulled what I had assumed was a brace of some kind out from the holds over our heads. The barrel of the thing was a good 6 feet. As she perched herself on the roof and I ran around to the back I heard several soft thumps and after the 4th a thud right behind me. "Don't forget what I taught you just because they're dead already." she said evenly while pulling more shots off.

I grabbed a scoped M16A4 with extended clips, and several HE grenades, climbing up on top of the Humvee I set it to semi automatic, and maintained five shot bursts. I aimed in the opposite direction of El. I started to rapidly shoot the dead corpses in the heads. They may be dead but a good shot to the head kills them again. "Die, die, die," I screamed over the sound of the rounds. I then grabbed a HE grenade and threw it towards a cluster of five; the explosion was enough to rip them into ribbons. Soon all was quiet and no more of the zombies were moving. "Damn that felt good. There shouldn't be any in my house because I kept it under heavy lock and key, the doors to the outside are all a foot thick of steel," I said, "and while I may have quit but I have an armory in my house."

Sitting down she started a pumping action on her gun "Well, to be honest I lost patience with the standard guns since while I was on the military base the noise attracted them, these pneumatic ones will shoot the shell or casing with deadly effect."

"Could you please get Felicity," I asked.

Hopping off the top I heard her walk around and try to open the door. Hearing the sound it made I knew felicity had likely locked the door. "You have to the count of 1." after 2 seconds I then heard metal tearing and screaming from Felicity. Perhaps letting El go get her was a bad idea, unlocking the door I hit the switch for the generator and flipped the lights. "This girl is a coward." El said as she came in with an unconscious Felicity on her shoulder.

"Let's get inside the house, it runs off of solar power generators, as well as wind powered generators. I want you to see something. You were always the one that could fix a gun and my specialty was transportation. Take her up to the guest bedroom on the third floor sixth door to the right, and don't drop her on the floor," I said unlocking the front door.

Grumbling about doing it she trudged off while leaving her biggest rifle on leaning against the wall, I saw the others were still on her back and hip.

"Oh, she's not that heavy she only weighs 120 pounds. I'll meet you in the garage it's the door in the very back right hand corner of the kitchen," I called after her.

I went into the garage and flipped the switch. The lights came on slowly but I headed to the left hand corner of the shop. There was where I stored the two beauties that took me a slow five years to create. I made the frames of titanium; the engine was a titanium- tungsten combo. I designed the engine for maximum output while being as light as possible, the Dodge Tomahawk was an inspiration but it wasn't as agile as I would like. Using a 10 cylinder with the Honda NR's oval piston I was able to push the limit of the engine up to 1100cc with 20k rpm. I was admiring my work, and then I heard the garage door open.

Whistling El came in and said "Those are things of beauty, why didn't you take them with you?"

"Well I wanted to take my time, besides; we may never have found each other. I honestly wanted to give you one when you found me again, so I've never driven them," I said.

The shock on her face was evident and all she could say was "Oh."

"I felt that they were a part of a mated pair. You think that's obsessive, I kept all of the stuff we had from the good old days, the group photos and one of the pictures that you gave me before I left, I had it enlarged and put it up on the back wall of the room, hell I can't look in any direction in that room and not see you looking back," I said.

Just standing in the door still for a while she eventually came over and sat on the bike closer to her. Checking for a spot to put in keys she found the switch to open up the keypad. "Well, let's run them in, no point in wasting free time, and Felicity is trapped in that room."

"Alright, I said, taking the one next to her, "but I want to know what's bothering you. You stood there for a few minutes not saying anything, that's not like you. So what's up?"

Guessing the code, probably didn't take her long, it's the same as our old armory code, El said "No one else ever cared," before she started the engine loudly.

"Alright, we are going to have to have a heart to heart when we get back but ," I said while activating my own and putting on a helmet and handing one to her, "Lets haul ass!"

Putting her helmet on, she grinned at me and took off first. She worried me for a split second when she launched straight out but as always her reaction was astonishing, she powered the front wheel off the ground and used the wall to help her pull the 90 degree turn. I pressed a button on the bike and the garage opened up and I connected to the com in her helmet I said, "Come on let's get out and try these out on the open road." As soon as I said it I revved up my bike and took off down the path. The open air flying past my exposed fur was just exhilarating.

"What the hell town is this anyway, you never said." Looking ahead I saw her driving both around and over cars as she wished, the ones she was driving over wouldn't be of use to anyone anymore.

"Towns name is Frieden. It's German for peace. I completely agreed with that back then, when I moved here that is," I said. Looking over what remains of the town.

As she laughed loudly I heard the wind go past her helmet even faster as she said "You know this thing is pushing 400 now, how powerful did you make this pair of cycles, they're perfectly balanced as well." As I heard a bang she said "I forgot to take into account how much faster the bullet would be traveling, relative to the stationary zombie that is, he looks like I hit him with a cannon!"

"Powerful, and I needed to make sure they were balanced out properly. Alright let's get home," I said, "when we're on the road we'll take turns on driving ahead, how does that sound?"

"Fine, go right." just as I cleared out of where I had been on the road she passed me. "I never knew a cycle could go this fast!"

"It took some work, the better part of five years but in the end it was worth it," I said. Feeling extremely pleased with myself I began wagging my tail uncontrollably, the wind felt strange on it while it wagged.

As I pulled back in I saw El wasn't in the garage, her bike and helmet where exactly as they had been when we left. Walking into the house I found her with the guns she had been using stripped and being cleaned. "They don't use explosive force to propel what I load in but old habits die hard."

"Yeah, I hear that, but I want you to see something," I said. Not wanting to look and see if she got up I headed to the stairs and into the office on the third floor. I then sat down and waited to come into the room, the lights were out.

Coming into the room El said "You know, I hate when people order me around."

"Well you ordered me around for years, but if it does bother you I'll start saying please, how's that sound," I asked, "Hey while you are over there could you get that light, please?"

Flipping the light she blinks several times before looking around. The room I had brought us into was covered in everything I had collected over the time of my service. Pictures of my platoon, and my uniform that was ripped up from the time I was shot in the war. And behind me was an enlarged picture of El.

"'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow' I'm so sorry, I never knew how much I hurt you by not contact you, or not leaving with you." She had started crying, El crying, never thought that would be possible, slowly moving towards me she cried silently and collapsed into my arms, still crying and hugging me tightly.

Hugging her and kissing her on top of her head I said, "Look, I may have been upset at first but the wound in my heart healed and I cherished the times we had together. I was willing to wait, and if I wanted to talk to you I should have just called you or wrote. Believe me you aren't the only one at fault. I was willing to wait as long as I had to. To be with you five years ago would have been nice but I am happier now then than I was five years ago having helped other people, believe me sweetie nothing is ever going to change how I feel towards you."

Waiting for a response I felt her breathing slow and her sobs stop, pulling away a bit I saw she had fallen asleep with her fur stained a bit with her tears. I cleaned up her face a bit and then took her to my room. I set her in my bed and covered her up with the thick blanket on the bed. I went down stairs and watched the sun set and then fell asleep as it slowly rose.