FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

DISCLAIMER: No smut in here, but there's still a disturbing scene in this story though that people need to be advised of. 18 and under please leave, and also, special thanks once again to Ryan Masterpaladin Lewis here on Sofurry for letting me use his characters, as well as Aquingator, Makoim, and Karmakat on FA. Enjoy :)

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"......I don't like this darkness.....mmmffhhh!!!" Ord moaned out as he kept clinching onto Sull as all of us kept walking through the woods, following Aquin who was still emitting a yellowish gold while holding up his lantern. I didn't have a flashlight, but a few people around me did so we were able to see around us pretty well.

As the ten of us kept walking through the forest, we didn't seem to encounter anything strange ever since Aquin had dealt with everything from beforehand back at the cabin. We had to have walked at least a good 45 minutes non-stop, following the Gator pretty quickly for the way he kept moving throughout the whole area. I was kinda surprised that he barely stopped, since he really seemed to know where he was going.

Eventually though, Aquin stopped near another stream that we came up to, letting everyone catch their breath.

"Hey.... How.... Much.... Further? I need to rest here.... *pant* *pant*" Mako let out with a heavy breath, as well as a bunch of us doing nearly the same thing.

"Not much longer, maybe a couple of miles from here and we'll be back at the entrance to the forest." Aquin replied, taking some water from the stream and drinking it with his hands.

"I still don't get it though, what did you mean when you said it wasn't safe back there anymore at your cabin???" The white Tiger then added, as both he and nearly everyone else drank some of the water from the stream.

".....it's hard to explain, but it all depends on one's soul and how strong it is. I think that since Mike and Tony are now together again, these spirits are leaving them alone since they do not come after weak people."

"Uhhhhh....ok....that still sounds kinda crazy if you ask me" Mako replied.

Junir then added "Yeah I mean come on, I've heard of ghost stories but actual demons that feed on weak souls? Come on now...."

"I don't know what to think anymore.....I'm just glad I'm with all of you guys now...." I then spoke out myself, smiling and putting myself around Tony again.

"I'm so happy you're still alive Mike" Tony replied, putting his arm around me once more.

"We should keep moving now" Aquin then insisted, as he started walking again into the woods, still glowing somewhat.

As we kept walking through the forest, my head started to hurt again, though I had no idea why it was doing so.

"Ughhhhh....why is my head hurting so goddamn badly?" I asked myself, as I was walking with Tony while everyone else was in front of us.

"It's ok Mike, we'll get back to the main lands soon and get everything we need back there." Tony said back to me, putting his hand on my shoulder again.

"Thanks big guy....I still don't know how I'm walking in general though after what my body went through....I guess that stuff that Aquin gave me really helped though I still have no clue what it was."

"Wait, what stuff?" Tony asked back sort of quietly, as the rest of the group kept walking yet didn't turn around to see what we were talking about.

"Well....I mean I lost some weight since I've had no food over the last few days...plus I had those stab wounds that I told you about and....well I think I may have broken or dislocated my elbow too when I was out here alone before these guys found me...." I mentioned as I pointed out to Mako, Ryan, Morrell, and Karmakat in front of us.

"So after they found me and somehow found Aquin's cabin, I woke up in the cabin and really didn't know what to think, since I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or if I was really awake or even alive....but what was even more weird was the fact that I felt no more pain in my body..."

Tony nodded and kept listening to every detail I was explaining.

"So not long after, I started to talk to Morrell, but then Aquin brought in some sort of bowl that had a liquid in it, and he told me to drink it. So....I drank it, and then somehow.... the wounds I had were almost completely gone, and my body didn't feel hungry anymore....I still don't know what the fuck that stuff was, and I probably don't wanna know."

"...................."

Tony seemed kinda dumbfounded at what I had just explained, like he couldn't believe any of it.

"............."

".......that's....certainly....weird." He then finally replied.

"Yeah, I ain't gonna ask him anything though, I just wanna get back to the main lands and call my parents. HEY AQUIN, how much further??"

"Not long, if we keep moving......wait....do you guys hear that?"

All of us stopped walking and listened around the forest to see if we could follow what Aquin was saying.

It was only me though that recognized what I was hearing from a pretty good distance away.

"MMMMMMIIIIIKKKKKKKKEEEEE?"

"MMMMIIIIKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEE??"

"MIIICCCHHHHAAAAEEEELLLLLL??"

My heart started beating faster as I started to hear my name being called more and more from what sounded like a megaphone, which was also accompanied by what seemed to be a whirring noise in the distance.

"Hey....that voice....wait..." I spoke out, now walking towards the direction it was coming from. "Is that....my...mom's voice??" I then asked.

I started to nearly run at that point, though unfortunately, I couldn't hear my name being called out at all. However, something else did catch me off guard as I got about a good few hundred feet in front of the rest of the gang.

*WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR*

"Hey! Is that...."

"Yeah, a helicopter!" Sull and Ryan both pointed out.

"Where is it though?" Mako then asked.

"It's gotta be close, chances are it has a spotlight since it's dark out here!" Ryan replied.

"Come on guys, let's get out in the open if we can!" Mako then exclaimed, running towards me as did everyone else, though Aquin seemed to be somewhat hesitant.

"There better be no more dark ones out here..." Aquin then said to himself, as he started to run with everyone else towards the helicopter.

Running with hiking backpacks on really drained everyone very quickly with the way they were running, though it wasn't long before we all came out to an open field area.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!" I shouted, as the whirring noise kept getting louder and louder.

"Hang....on....Mike" Karmakat replied, resting against a tree after running heavily with his hiking equipment on.

It was that moment that I wasn't even thinking straight and decided to run towards the helicopter that sounded like it was not far from over the hill that was in front of all of us.

"I'll go check it out guys, I'll be right back!" I yelled towards all the others, since I was the only one that wasn't really carrying anything on me, even though I was wearing other people's clothes compared to the couple of days I had originally been out here.

"WAIT MIKE!" Aquin shouted at me, which caused me to stop dead still in my track with the force of his yell, being more powerful than almost anything I had ever heard.

I slowly turned around, and noticed Aquin coming up towards me.

"I'll come with you, just follow my lead" The gator told me, as he started heading up the hill past me towards where the helicopter was making its noise. I quickly nodded and followed him while everyone else stayed back, mainly resting from being drained of stamina from the running.

Aquin and myself got to the top of the hill after climbing upwards about a good 100 feet, only to be somewhat in dismay after finding out what we saw.

*WHIR WHIR WHIRWHIRWHIR WHIR WHIR*

The helicopter was in the air, but it had a spotlight pointed in the opposite direction of our area, heading away from us way too quickly for any of us to try to follow.

"SHIT!" "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!" I yelled as loud as I could, trying to get in contact with the helicopter in any way possible, only to no avail. I was then slapping my leg in frustration at how pissed off I was. Aquin just looked on, not really saying anything, and his glow was nowhere near as strong as before.

"What can we do now? I mean, should we keep moving to get to the entrance of the forest?" I asked Aquin. Just then though, I noticed something odd going on with the Gator.

"uhhh...Aquin??" I asked, now seeing the Gator feeling his head since he wasn't responding to me.

"AGHHHH....NO.....GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Aquin yelled out, almost hitting me to get me out of his way, as he started walking towards the area where the helicopter was flying away.

"Aquin?!" I asked again, though I didn't want to do something to get into his way, since he was acting like he didn't want anyone to be around him. I quickly ran back towards the gang that was at the bottom of the hill, with all their flashlights surrounding the group.

"Hey, where's Aquin?" "Yeah, where'd he go to?" Both Morrell and Junir asked.

"I don't know, he seems to be acting weird, but we both saw a helicopter flying away from our area....ugh..." I moaned back, still pissed off that we missed the chopper that was on the outlook, especially after hearing my mom's voice earlier, which I had assumed came from a megaphone in the actual chopper.

"Ughhh....what..... is this?!" Tony then slurred out, feeling his head.

"Tony???" I replied, quickly rushing over to my Tiger as he started to kneel down on the ground feeling his head.

"Why....am I seeing....Aquin.....what...the....hell..." Tony slowly mumbled.

"What's going on big guy?" Sull then asked as everyone came over to Tony's aid.

Tony kept feeling his head on the ground for about a good minute, and wasn't saying anything either during that whole time.

"Tony?" I asked, as everyone else looked on while I put my hand on Tony's arm and shoulder as I bent down next to him. I then noticed that Tony seemed like he was still panting somewhat heavily, almost like his muscular body had been through way more than he could handle due to all the walking/running with his VERY heavy backpack on.

"Karma, can you give me a water bottle?" I then asked the grey lion, since I wanted to make sure Tony wasn't suffering from any sort of dehydration since I didn't remember seeing him actually drink any water the whole time we had been walking together.

Karmakat immediately went over to his backpack, and grabbed a water bottle out of it.

"Here, he does look like he needs it" The grey lion replied. "Yeah, has he had anything lately?" Ryan then asked, grabbing his own plastic bottle that he filled with stream water from earlier and having it ready in case I needed it.

"I dunno. Thanks though Karma" I said back, immediately opening it up and giving it to Tony.

"Tony, have something, you look like you need it. Come on hun...." I motioned, opening it up and almost helping Tony drink some of the water. Slowly but surely, Tony started to drink the water more forcefully, and it looked like his body was slowly regenerating, especially since he stopped panting as much compared to before.

After nearly downing the whole bottle of water, Tony finally turned over and sat on the ground, feeling his head again.

"T-thanks....guys....I don't know.... what the hell...that was...." The tiger softly spoke out, as we all still gave a concerned look at him.

"What do you mean? What happened??" Junir asked.

"Hey guys....what's that.....mmfffhh!" Ord then mentioned out of nowhere, pointing towards the hill that I came down earlier as some sort of black figure was coming towards us. Ord cowardly hid behind everyone else, while we all pointed our flashlights at the figure coming at us.

We were all kinda dumbfounded to see our lights shine on Aquin as he came back towards us down the hill, since he no longer had an emitting glow, and he was still feeling his head from earlier. I figured I should still keep my distance, though he was walking towards all of us.

"Aquin??" Morrell asked with a confused look.

"Don't...mind me....ugh....I'm just trying to avoid these...thoughts..." Aquin replied, almost as if he was trying to fight off something going on inside his head.

Just then, Tony started to speak again.

"Is....that...what I was seeing?? Your...thoughts??"

Aquin simply looked over at Tony, still feeling his head, though also nodding.

"Chaos... my past...my childhood, my fucking sick demented brother. I'm sorry. Perhaps you're not aware of what happened...but... I gave my past life to save my people. I don't want the same thing to happen to this planet... not again." The Gator spoke pretty forcefully, though it also sounded like the way he explained his story was also hurting his head.

Everyone just looked at Aquin VERY awkwardly though, and no one had a single clue what was going on. It seemed like Aquin's words were almost too much for Morrell, who didn't want to know anything that was going on since he already thought the Gator was acting pretty whacky.

"That's it, I'm moving again." The Orca told the group, grabbing his stuff and getting ready to head out again.

"Wait hun, I don't think Tony's still back to normal yet!" Ryan added, grabbing the Orca's arm with a bit of a worried look.

"This shit is just way to weird for me, I just want to get back to the park entrance....." Morrell said back to his boyfriend's face.

Just then, Sull's voice took everyone by surprise.

"WAIT GUYS, I HAVE A BAR ON MY PHONE!!" The blue monster shouted out to everyone.

Nearly everyone looked back at him, with their expressions lighting up and with words emitting out after. "REALLY?!" "Who should we call?" "Hang on, lemme check my phone!" "SWEET, I have a bar now too!"

Before I knew it, people were trying to make phone calls left and right using their phones. However, even though almost all their phones had a bar of reception, no one could seem to actually get through to anyone.

"SHIT, what's wrong with this thing?!" Junir exclaimed, trying to re-dial 9-1-1 to try to get a hold of anyone to explain the situation that the whole group was in.

"HANG ON, I got something I think!" Ryan replied back, covering his free ear to only try to hear what was emitting from the phone.

"9-................1.....State................emergency............" a voice crackled back into the phone, as Ryan kept trying to move around to find a clear reception spot.

"Hello?"

"Hello????"

"Who...................................this.......................emergency?"

"Dammit! I can barely get anything!" Ryan then exclaimed in frustration.

It was then that I realized that we all didn't try the most obvious thing in that situation with our cell phones.

"Wait Ryan, get on top of the hill! Quickly!" I replied, motioning for Ryan to follow me as he kept trying to make sure his call wouldn't drop with the emergency hotline.

I helped get Ryan up the hill, and as we were both up there with the moon shining brightly down on the hill, I was actually able to hear the person on the other end talking to him.

"Hello???"

"Can you hear me? Hello???" Ryan replied frantically.

"Yes I can hear you! Yes! State your emergency."

I heard Ryan breathe out a VERY heavy sigh of relief, and it wasn't long before he explained the whole situation to the dispatcher, who then said she would forward the information along to the state police.

After spending about 5 minutes of talking on the phone with the dispatcher, Ryan hung up his phone with almost a look of happiness on his face. I then realized though that there was something else I needed to do right then and there.

"Ryan...can I use your phone? I need...to call...."

Before I could even finish my statement, Ryan handed me his phone, like he knew who I needed to call. "Yes, you need to call your parents.....I can't imagine what they've been going through." The human replied.

I nodded back, and started to dial my phone number. "Thanks Ryan, I really appreciate it" I said to him as I finally hit the call button out to my home phone.

*.....................*

*...........................................*

*................................Hello?*

That voice made me get goosebumps inside. Hearing my dad's voice made me feel really happy, but at the same time, it made me miss him very badly.

"D.......D-dad?" I mumbled back.

"..........................MIKE?!?!?!" My dad shouted back into the phone, not believing who he was hearing. "IS THAT YOU?!?!?"

"Yeah!! I'm here!"

"Where the hell are you? What the hell happened?!?!" My dad must've been going crazy at that one moment, not only asking me questions but also sounding like he was talking to himself. I then heard him yell out for my brother, which ultimately lead to me hearing my brother's voice in the background on the phone.

"MIKE?!?!" My brother yelled out.

"Hey will!" I replied, and that was probably the one and only time where I was actually happy to hear my brother's voice.

"Mike, where the fuck are you?!?!" My dad then asked forcefully.

"Well...I'm at Mt. Washington....and I'm with Tony and the others....thankfully..."

"Thank the lord! I'll call the police right after this." My dad replied.

"Yeah we already called the police, we're just out in some open field here in the mountainside....but....is mom...looking for me???" I asked back.

"Yeah! She's with the state police as we speak in a helicopter!"

"DAMMIT, we just missed her then!! See if you can get in touch with her and get them to get back here!" I replied.

"I'm on that right now on the other line, I'll........*BEEP*"

Just then, the call dropped, and the cell phone signal showed no bars.

"What the hell??" I asked, looking down at Ryan's phone.

"You lose reception?" Ryan asked back.

"Yeah, I just realized that you have AT&T, no wonder you get calls dropped like that heh" I sorta smirked back, though I was still concerned, wondering if we would be able to be rescued where we were.

"It sounded like you were able to get through to your dad Mike, so at least he knows you're okay now" Ryan mentioned, as we both started walking back towards the others down the hill.

"Yeah, good point. I guess we should wait here for a little while...thanks again for letting me use your phone dude" I smiled back.

"Yep, no prob Mike, I hope that that helicopter comes back." Ryan replied as we got near the others.

"You guys get anything??" Sull asked, still looking down at his cell phone.

"Yeah, Mike got a hold of his Dad and I got a hold of the police! I think that chopper that we saw before might head back here!" Ryan said back.

"SWEET!" "AWESOME!" "Thank god!" "Finally!" "I hope so" nearly everyone replied at once, though Aquin seemed to just be resting near a tree, not really showing any emotion.

****

"Hey Boss, how much longer we unloadin?" The bull asked, picking up another crate and moving it towards the table where the drugs were being examined by the other gang members.

"We gotta get this shipment ready for the exchange going down tomorrow, I want everything ready by the end of tonight. I also got a few other of my guys coming to help yous out soon, since those dead assholes are just stinking up the area now" Boss replied.

"Wait, who's coming down?" The human asked, taking off his eye piece after examining the crystal meth on his table.

"Todd, Gage, and Ronin" Boss replied with sort of a grunt.

"Oh, those three niggas? Shit I ain't seen them in like forever" Marcus replied as he was also unpacking another crate of drugs with his brother.

"Yeah...they've been busy doing other things.... But I sent them somewhere else first....since I haven't felt anything from my little friends feeding on their prey, those three are going to be my main people to take care of a certain situation I have....with a certain Tiger....*CRACK*" Marco replied, cracking his knuckles while opening the outside door of the warehouse.

"Shit, look at boss! He trippin again!" Andre said quietly to his brother, as the two saw that the boss was glowing again like before, though it was nowhere near as strong.

"Yeah, I ain't sayin shit to that foo, he'll like eat me or something nigga" Marcus said back, as the two continued to work late into the night with the others examining all of the drug stashes.

****

After waiting around for about a good 20 minutes with the gang, I finally heard a familiar sound from before, as everyone kept sitting around the hill area with their flashlights/backpacks out.

"Hey guys, listen!" I exclaimed to everyone.

*WHIR WHIR WHIRWHIR WHIRWHIR*

I quickly ran up the hill, as did nearly everyone else as well with their backpacks still on the ground.

Our eyes lit up as we saw the same helicopter from earlier, with a bright spotlight shining around the area. Little by little, the spotlight made its way around the open area where we were at, before it finally shined down on our portion of the hill as we all waved our hands up towards it.

Immediately after the VERY bright light shined down on us, police lights then emitted from the top of the chopper. I then had noticed that the chopper said "MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE" on the side of it, as the helicopter began to lower near the closest safe landing area.

"LET'S GET EVERYTHING AND GET GOING!!!" I yelled out, almost not being able to hear myself since the chopper was pretty loud as it lowered not far from us on the other side of the hill.

Everyone nodded and ran back down the hill, grabbing their backpacks and their equipment. Oddly enough though, Aquin was still in his own state of mind, almost as if he couldn't hear anything with his eyes still being closed as he was still leaning back onto a tree.

"AQUIN, YOU COMING??" I yelled out towards the Gator as everyone got their things, and started heading over the hill towards the helicopter, though Tony stayed with me. I then heard the helicopter's blades slow down, as if the chopper had landed safely. I had also wondered....if my mom....was there.

"Aquin??" Tony asked walking over to the Gator. Before Tony could actually walk over to him though to see what was up with the Gator, Aquin's eyes shot wide open right in front of the both of us, though he started to feel his head again.

"S-sorry....the painful memories....I needed to clear my mind...." Aquin slowly mumbled to the two of us. Everyone else had already headed over the hill, and we were the last three on the other side. I then heard very faint talking on the other side of the hill, and I knew that I had recognized one of the voices.....it was my mom's.

"Aquin....we'll go together....come on bud...." Tony asked, reaching his hand out to the gator to help him off the ground, so we could all head towards the chopper.

"I will not let you guys suffer. I have already seen too many people I loved and cared for get taken away from me. I promise to help and protect you and your friends." Aquin firmly replied back to the both of us, grabbing Tony's hand and getting off the ground to start heading up and over the hill.

The three of us had all of our things, and eventually made it to the top of the hill. Once I looked down to see everyone else right at the chopper, the police lights on the helicopter made me clearly see who was talking to the rest of the gang near the chopper. My face lit up when I saw the expression of that person looking up at the hill at me, and then emitting the words:

"MICHAEL!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!"

My mom and I ran towards each other, and she engulfed my body into probably the happiest hug in the whole world. It felt just as good as when I hugged Tony earlier that day after seeing him again for the first time in quite awhile, and again I started to somewhat tear up as I kept hugging her.

"I'm here mom, I love you, thank god you guys found us...." I slowly whispered as we kept hugging.

Everyone around us smiled, looking on with nothing but a sense of pure happiness as my mom and I kept hugging and sharing a special moment.

"Are you hurt mike? Are you ok??" She then asked, breaking the hug and looking at my body.

"I'm fine mom....thanks to all of these guys.....they're the reason I'm alive...." I said, slowly smiling but also feeling like I wanted to cry again as I pointed at the rest of the gang that was standing in front of the helicopter.

"You guys saved....my son.....? Tony......I feel like you've done way too much for us, something we can never repay you for!" My mom exclaimed to everyone, feeling a sense of guilt almost.

"It's nothing Nancy, Mike's safe now, and we're all here. We should be thanking YOU for getting out here with the police." Tony replied, coming right up to my mom and putting both his hands on each of her shoulders, which ultimately resulted in the two of them hugging after.

After a very special bonding moment, the police officers that were in the chopper got out and started talking.

"Ok, looks like we don't have enough space to fit everyone in the chopper here, so we'll call for another chopper here. Where are you guys coming from anyway?" One of the cops asked.

"Well...we parked at the Mt. Washington state park entrance I believe...." Sull said back.

"Yeah, that's where we parked our Jeep too." Morrell added.

"Oh that's good then, we're only about a couple miles from the park entrance, so we can fly you all over there without getting another chopper, we'll just need to come back for you guys a 2nd time.

Everyone looked at each other, eventually nodding with the plan.

"I guess that you guys should probably head back there yourselves as a group" I said towards Morrell, Ryan, Mako, and Karmakat.

"Yeah, we'll go first I guess, but we'll wait for you guys before we head out or anything." Morrell said back to me and the rest of us with a smile. "Yeah we wanna make sure our new friends get back with us safely here hehe" Mako then added, with Ryan and Karmakat also agreeing as they started to get into the helicopter with their equipment.

"Thanks guys.....we'll meet ya there" I replied, as the rest of us looked on while the helicopter was getting ready to fly off with the four on there.

The chopper eventually lifted off with the four inside it, along with the two police officers that were flying the chopper. As it started flying further and further away from us, my mom started asking some questions again.

"It's nice to also see you three again, thank you guys so much for what you have done...." My mom slowly mentioned towards Sull, Ord, and Junir as the three stood near Tony and myself.

"By the way, Mike...Tony....who is this?" she asked, pointing at Aquin who was sitting on the ground, legs crossed and almost acting like he was in some sort of spiritual trance.

"That's Aquin.....and he.....well....apparently....healed my injuries that I had....." I replied.

"Wait, so what exactly happened??" My mom then asked me with a worried look.

"I've...already explained it....to these guys, and...the others that just left....it's a really long story..." I mentioned, once again starting to feel my head with the painful thoughts going through my brain.

"I want to know something here though.....I know you were...kidnapped....but was it...the same gang that broke out of prison...?" My mom then slowly asked.

"....afraid so.....but...they did much worse than just kidnap me....ungh!!!!" I moaned out, still thinking about what happened before.

"Mike....I'm sorry....but as your mother....you have been through way too much over the last several weeks...and I think you need to spend some time away from the city and come back home for a little while."

My eyes widened, and I had a very surprised look on my face when she told me that. I really didn't know what to think at that situation, much less wonder what the others around me thought about what she just said.

"Wait...you want me to....come back home? For how long??" I asked with a VERY confused look.

"Not sure, but with everything that has happened, I don't want you getting killed. You nearly died once already hun, but thanks to Tony he saved you. Tony, I still can't thank you enough for what you have done for Mike. You will always be considered part of our family regardless."

"Thanks Nancy.....but I mean...what is Mike going to do about his column....?" The tiger then curiously asked.

"Actually....maybe I should take a break from that column for a little while....the last thing I think I should do is write again and expose myself while those other gang members are still out there...." I added, putting my head down just thinking about all the shit I had been through the last few weeks.

"Yeah....you've dealt with way too much over the last few weeks you've been out here Mike....I think you should probably go back home for awhile." "Yeah Mike, I agree, I don't want to see anything else happen to you bud." Both Sull and Ord mentioned, coming up to me and showing how much they cared for me.

"Thanks guys.....you're right I guess.....but...Tony....what about...us?"

"Mike, Tony's family like I said. He can come with us, and the rest of you can also come up anytime you want to." My mom replied.

"Yeah Mike, I ain't going anywhere. I'm here with you" Tony then added, as he came up to me and hugged me once again.

Aquin then stood in, mentioning to all of us: "And I'm here to protect. I will make sure no harm comes to any of you."

We all nodded, and my head finally cleared up of any bad thoughts.

"Mom....if I explain everything that happened.....please try not...to break down...." I softly said to her, getting ready to finally explain the whole story.

"You're here now, and you're safe. That's all that matters sweetie" She replied, hugging me once again, with the others coming up to the two of us and ensuring that everything would be ok.

******

"So.......can you believe that boss wants us to do this?" The black panther asked, riding in the passenger's seat with his two accomplices.

"Not really....I mean....I never knew that Marco was once working with that Tiger....I mean...it's hard to believe that they're actually cousins....." the German Shepherd replied.

"I wanna know something though Gage, did boss...... ever talk about Tony?" The cheetah then asked.

"Not that I can think of Ronin....but if he had to call us down to take care of it then I guess it must be pretty serious. I never liked that damn Tiger, always being on TV acting like a fool with those damn humans in those commercials...."

"Yeah, I don't really care for him, but since boss is taking good care of us, I'll be happy to get rid of his problems heh." Ronin said from the back seat of the black SUV that the three were driving in.

"That's for sure. It definitely pays to have these hacking skills of mine, otherwise I'd have no idea where that damn Tiger lived HAHA" Todd then mentioned.

"Oh look....we're almost at Queens. Get ready." Gage then added as he kept driving.

"Yep, I have everything locked and loaded." The cheetah added, as the car pulled off the highway.

****

Explaining the story to my mom as to what happened was ten times tougher than when I explained it to the rest of the group earlier. My mom was in tears before I could even get to the point where I was tied up and helpless, and when I explained what happened with the two bears torturing me.....my mom broke down and pretty much could not stop hugging me, almost as if she could literally feel the pain I was in as I explained my story.

After finishing my story, explaining how the others found me first and how Aquin....somehow healed my wounds....my Mom was speechless, still in tears.

The others around me, including Aquin, still felt a sense of what my Mom was feeling, as they were all shaking their heads with the words coming out of my mouth. I guess the timing of the story worked out for the better, since we all heard the helicopter come back towards us after my story was over. There were no words exchanged after my story was explained, except for Sull pointing out that the helicopter was near us.

Once the helicopter arrived back at our area, the seven of us got onto it, which ultimately was the max amount of people they could bring on, otherwise it would've been too much for the chopper to handle. The cops also seemed to question Aquin A LOT about the weapons he was carrying with him, though with the Gator's really calm and cool attitude, the cops actually let him bring his weapons on board, which sort of took us all by surprise. I had to wonder if Aquin somehow manipulated the other two cops somehow with their minds since they didn't ask ANY questions about a gun license, or one for a sword either. I wasn't really thinking too much about it, though I still felt a sense of awkwardness mainly because I really knew nothing about Aquin in general. However, knowing what he did to me before to actually....save my life....was enough to convince me that he was on our side in the end, ESPECIALLY after he said he would protect all of us.

With that, the helicopter lifted off the ground on the open field, and took off towards the entrance of the park. The moon was still shining brightly with the stars in the night sky, and I thought it was actually a beautiful scene as the moon shining down on the mountainside lit up the area for all of us to look at.

"It's so....beautiful...." I said softly, looking out the window and seeing all the hills and mountains.

"Yeah it is hun...just like you..." Tony replied to me, wrapping his arm around me.

"Thanks big guy....I love you...." I said back, wrapping myself around him too and embracing his warmness in a hug, which lasted for pretty much the rest of the helicopter ride.

Less than a couple minutes passed before the helicopter seemed to slow down. After flying over A LOT of trees, we all noticed a BIG opening with a few cars in it.

"Hey look! There's Sull's car!" Junir pointed out. Right after he pointed it out, we all noticed that the other four were also waiting in the parking lot for us. I then also noticed that my mom's van was also there which took me by surprise.

Once the helicopter slowly landed on the open ground away from the other cars, all seven of us got out pretty quickly, while the cops also got out after us, turning off the helicopter. As Ryan, Morrell, Karmakat and Mako came up to greet us, a state police cruiser pulled into the entrance of the park right near everyone, though it didn't have its lights on.

After we all thanked the police officers from the chopper, two other police officers got out of their car and approached the whole group. Before they could ask us anything though, one officer quickly hesitated after seeing Aquin.

"HEY, what's that? You have a license for that?" One of the officers asked, pointing at Aquin's weapons. Before any of us could speak though, one of the other officers from the chopper intervened.

"It's ok, I already spoke with him earlier. He's fine." The officer said, looking at Aquin and then at the other cops. Again, I was VERY surprised when I heard the cop say that, and at that point, I figured Aquin had something up his sleeve that let him slip by the cops.

"Ummm....ok....well anyway, we'd like to ask you all some questions about everything that has happened." The officer told all eleven of us, grabbing out a notepad and a pen, while the other cop stood next to him, looking around the park entrance and also checking on the helicopter. At this point, we knew that a police report was going to be filed, but I was just glad that everything was over with.

Between all of us telling everything that happened over the course of a few days (except for Tony explaining what he did to the other gang members a few days earlier), the officer wrote down A LOT of details on his notepad, from the guys that kidnapped me, to the bears that tortured me, to the name of the gang, to the others finding my body, and eventually to all of us being rescued by the helicopter. All in all, it took about roughly 20 minutes for the police officer to finish writing down everything.

"Ok, we'll be on the lookout for this gang and any leads we can somehow get on it. If any of you guys find out anything, here's my card. Call me personally or call the state police on this number." The officer then mentioned, grabbing a few business cards and handing them to nearly all of us.

"Will do officer. Thank you so much" Tony replied, and with the rest of us nodding and thanking the rest of the officers around us as well.

"Oh yeah....before we go....could I.....get your autograph Tony.... for my son? He just loves watching you on TV" The male cop asked the big tiger.

"Haha! Sure thing!" Tony replied with a giant smile, as did the rest of us. Tony happily gave an autograph made out to the cop's son, whose name was Jacob.

"Thanks Tony, he'll love it" The cop replied smiling, heading back towards his car. "You all take care now!" He said along with the other cop, getting back in their cruiser and heading out of the park area.

"I guess we'll head out too, make sure you notify us if anything else happens" The other male cop said next to the helicopter.

The rest of us agreed, and before long, the chopper eventually headed out away from the rest of us.

"Soooo....what now?" Ryan asked the rest of us.

"I....wanna go home...." I replied, looking at my mom and also Tony.

"Yeah....I'm pretty tired..." Karmakat said, letting out a yawn.

"I wanna go home too hun....but I think I need to go back to my place and grab some of my things to bring with me....if I'm gonna stay with you guys for awhile." Tony said back to both my mom and I.

"Like I said Tony, you're family to us now, whatever you want to bring is fine with us." My mom replied.

"Wait....but what are you two going to do about work?" Sull then asked. "Yeah, and when can we see you?" Ord then added.

"I'm sure Judy will understand Mike's situation....I mean, you and I both saw how concerned she was when everything happened Ord...." Tony replied.

"You're really lucky you have a caring boss Mike, I HATED my boss at the job I used to work at" Mako then told all of us.

"Yeah, Judy is really nice. I did have some terrible bosses before though" I replied back.

"By the way Ord, I think Mike deserves some time away from the city after everything he's been through, but you all are still just as welcome as Tony is to come up to our area!" My mom then told the rest of the gang, who happily all agreed back.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna call Janice and tell her everything that has happened, and I'm sure she'll understand. If they need me anyway they can just call cause I'll still have my car with me." Tony then added.

"I guess we should head out then...we've been through too much over the last couple of days here...." Morrell mentioned as he motioned for the other three to get ready to head back to their car.

"Wait guys...." I replied, coming up to all four of them.

"Guys....if it weren't for the four of you....I wouldn't be alive.....and I don't know what I could do to ever repay you all for that you did to save me. Plus, I'm wearing your clothes too....which I'm still very thankful for.

I....love all of you guys...." I softly mentioned with my head down.

With my head down and my eyes closed, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder right after that. I looked up to see Morrell smiling down at me. "It's nothing Mike. I'm glad we were able to help you out, and I'm also glad we're friends now." The orca replied. My face lit up, and the two of us hugged after that. Ryan, Karmakat, and Mako all agreed with Morrell, and I was able to hug each of the three after that. I really felt like I had developed a very strong friendship with the four of them, and I really didn't want to say goodbye to any of them afterwards.

"Guys....we have to get together in general sometime...." I then mentioned after breaking my final hug with Mako.

"Definitely. We'll head up your way sometime soon, especially since my home isn't far away from Salisbury anyway!" Mako replied.

"I still can't believe that I've never seen you around that area before Mako! But either way, I still love you guys.....thank you again for everything." I said one final time. The four came up to me and we all hugged at once, and it felt like it was meant to be with the relationship we all had.

"Ok then, we're gonna head back out to Albany. It was certainly nice getting to know all of you, though I still can't believe that I'm actually friends with Tony right here right now! Haha!" Morrell exclaimed with all of us laughing.

"Hey! What about us! Hah!" Sull then mentioned sarcastically.

"Yeah....this has been pretty surreal....but I'm glad we all did get to know each other....much less all become friends!" Morrell said back with a smile.

"Yep, I kinda am getting tired myself now though....I think we should all start heading out....." Junir then added.

"Same here, I'm worn out. I guess I'll head out with my mom back to Salisbury....though that's going to be a LONG drive...." I said to the others, and all eleven of us then started walking back towards our cars.

"Well we gotta drop off Junir and Tony here back at their places since we only brought our vehicle" Sull mentioned to the rest of us.

"I'm....going to come with you guys....something....just doesn't feel right out there...." Aquin then mentioned out of nowhere, which took us all by surprise.

"Seriously, that Gator is pretty whacko" Mako whispered to Ryan as they got into their Jeep. "I agree, but then again, I wouldn't mess with him." Ryan replied.

"Uhhhh...ok then I guess, you don't have a car or anything Aquin?" Sull asked.

"....................."

Aquin simply didn't respond to Sull, since he seemed like he was acting like he was in some sort of trance again with his eyes closed.

"Well we're heading out, we'll see you all later!" Morrell told the rest of us after getting into the front seat of his Jeep with the others and starting up the vehicle.

"Thanks again you guys!" "See you guys later!" "Drive safe!" "Stay Safe!" We all replied back at once. We all looked on as the Jeep eventually drove off and left the parking lot.

"Well....we're gonna head out too...." Sull mentioned, standing next to his car along with Ord, Junir, Tony, and Aquin.

"You guys drive safe, and like I said, you're all more than welcome to come up and see us." My mom replied.

"Oh we'll all be there soon, Mike is family to us." Sull then replied. I blushed right then and there, going up to the blue guy and giving him a really big hug, which ultimately followed with a quick kiss between us. Ord did the same, hugging me very passionately before he finally got into his car.

Junir then came up to me, and my heart slowly started sinking when he stood in front of me.

"Mike, if you need anything, come to me. I'll be there whenever you need someone to talk to." the lion said right to my face. I didn't say anything back, since the hug I eventually gave Junir pretty much spoke for itself afterward.

"T-thanks Junir.....I.....I'm.....so glad to have you....as a friend...." I softly said back, before we finally broke our hug. "Oh yeah....you left these things behind...." The lion then mentioned, taking off his backpack and pulling out two things I completely forgot that I had lost.

"Holy shit! You actually found my check and my Ipod?!" I exclaimed as Junir handed both to me.

"Yeah....it was kinda painful to find them though after seeing how they were in those ripped shorts of yours" Sull then mentioned.

"Y-yeah.... But thank you guys again so much....." I mumbled back, hugging Junir once more and doing the same with Sull.

Junir then got into Sull and Ord's car, though Aquin and Tony were still standing outside of it near us.

"Ummmmm...Aquin?" I asked the Gator, who opened his eyes and slowly walked up towards my Mom and myself. His presence alone felt really intimidating, though he also looked like he was ready to take on anything that was going to try to attack anything around us.

"Aquin....I just wanted to say...I don't know you that well...but you also helped save me....so....I just wanted to let you know....that...I'm really grateful for what...."

I couldn't even finish my sentence before I felt Aquin putting one of his arms around me in a hug. It was then that my body had this sort of feeling that I had never experienced before. My whole body felt warm....and it also felt like it was flowing with pure energy while Aquin kept hugging me with his eyes closed.

After Aquin broke his hug with me, my body felt like it was revived and stronger than ever. I had never felt so energetic in my whole life right then and there, but I also didn't know what the hell had just happened.

The gator finally got into the back seat of the car along with Junir, leaving Tony as the final guy outside of it.

"Well...I guess this is goodbye for now...." The tiger told the two of us. I really couldn't help myself and ran up to Tony again, hugging him and then kissing him afterward. "Just don't take too long Tony....I missed you enough out here in the the middle of nowhere...heh" I said back sarcastically.

"Don't worry hun, I'll be up there before you know it." The tiger responded, eventually then coming up to my mom and then hugging her again. I eventually made my way over to the passenger seat of my mom's van, and got in it, feeling like I wanted to just do anything at that point, but also feeling like I didn't want to leave Tony and the others. However, after I sat into the seat, my body felt like it was slowly draining itself of the energy I had just recently acquired.

"Well, we're gonna head out, so we'll see you all later, and make sure you all keep in touch!" My mom said to everyone in the other car.

"See you two later!" "See ya!" "Love you guys!" The rest of the gang replied, waving to us as we finally started up our van, and left the park heading back home.

"humnphhhhhhhh....." I groaned out, pretty much letting out a huge sigh of relief after everything that happened over the last few days.

"You feeling ok sweetie?" My mom asked me while she was driving, with the GPS on and everything.

"I'm fine....I just can't get over everything that happened.....I think this is a good thing heading back home..." I said back.

"Yeah, but you are lucky that you have such good and caring friends. Otherwise....you might not be here with me...." My mom sort of mumbled back, sounding like she was about to cry again.

"Its ok mom, it's over. Let's just move on...."

"Yeah.....but I want to ask.....I heard that Tony got into some trouble with the police....do you know what happened??"

"Wait.....he did??" I replied with a very confused look.

"From what Dad said, yes, but he didn't say what happened."

"Speaking of Dad, I'm guessing he called you since I called him before you found me with the officers in the helicopter"

"Yeah, he was still stunned over everything.....but he also sounded like he was one of the most excited and happiest dad's on the planet" My mom then explained with a smile.

"That's great....I can't wait to see him and Will again..." I replied smiling back.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, while we were worried sick about you over the past few days, someone finally bought that house next door to us."

"Really? Damn that house has been on sale forever now.....have you met the person that bought it?" I asked back curiously.

"We haven't met him since we were doing what we could to find you, but I think I did happen to catch a glimpse of him unloading stuff from a moving truck. I think he was a brown bear." My mom said back.

"Ah nice, we should go introduce ourselves over the next couple of days" I replied.

"Yeah, definitely. Anyway, give dad a call and let him know everything that just happened and that we're on our way home." My mom said to me, pulling out her cell phone from her purse in-between our seats in the front.

I nodded back and grabbed the phone, dialing my home phone number as the van eventually started to drive back up northeast on the highway.

****

"You see anything?" Gage quietly whispered to the others as they got out of the car and ran up towards one of the windows of the supposed address that they were at.

"Seems like everything is off inside....you sure this is the right address?" The cheetah then asked, having an M4 in his possession with a silencer on it, ready to shoot at anything that would get in his way.

"Yeah...12 Kairos Drive. No doubt about it." The panther mentioned, wearing his mercenary clothing and looking at the house number next to the front door.

"Think he's in there?" the German shepherd asked, putting on his ski mask.

"We'll find out....here, keep a lookout, I think there's a security system in this house...." Todd mentioned, heading around the house and towards the back.

The panther eventually made it to the back part of the house, and saw a little box next to the back door with his VERY small flashlight.

"Bingo." He mentioned softly, pulling out a small box from the back of his pocket, and then opening the tiny box on the side of the house.

"What are you doing??" Gage asked, quietly sneaking over towards the panther.

"Watch and learn. Being an expert in electronics paid off. *SNAP....BING.....BEEP*

*1......4...........8...............3...............CLICK*

"Shit dude, how did you learn that?!" The Shepherd asked as he watched Todd hotwire the wire from the house's security system into the small box he had, which ultimately was a decoder that unlocked the security system inside the house.

"Like I said, it takes experience. Now....to get in....*SHING*

The panther pulled out a small picklock, heading to the back door of the giant house, and coming up to a door that had a few steps heading downward, towards what looked to be a basement door.

*SHING....CLICK*

"Damn, that looked pretty easy..." Gage mentioned.

"Quiet!" Todd replied, opening the door to the basement of the house, and shining the flashlight throughout the area inside.

"nothing.....what the....fuck....?" The panther asked, looking at all the workout equipment in the basement, eventually seeing the magazines that were near the dumbbells as well.

"Oh good, another faggot to kill. Lucky me." The panther then mentioned with a grin, with the Shepherd behind him as the two walked near the basement stairs.

"NOW BE QUIET.....I'm going to let Ronin in...." Todd then said, as the two carefully made it to the top of the stairs, opening up the basement door. Once the door was opened, the two quietly walked over towards the front door, unlocking it and motioning for the cheetah to come in.

"Anything?" Ronin quietly asked the two.

"Nothing so far....but I guess we learned that the Tiger is a genuine cock sucking homosexual." The panther said back.

"Ugh....I don't want to think about that. Let's kill this asshole." Ronin said back, closing the door behind him very silently.

"Quiet dude! Turn on a light, my flashlight is nearly dead here" The panther said back.

With that, the Shepherd and the Cheetah turned on the nearest light they could find, eventually lighting up the living room lamp next to the TV, as well as the dining room table light.

"Stay down and look around Gage. Ronin, you and me, upstairs." The panther motioned, pulling out his pistol and walking with the Cheetah, quietly making their way up the stairway towards the dark upper floor.

As the two made it to the top floor, each of them quietly opened each door that they could get to, even though they could barely see anything inside each room.

"Is your flashlight completely dead?" Ronin asked as quietly as he possibly could.

"I have a tiny bit of battery left. Here." Todd whispered, shining his light as quickly as he could to get some sort of glimpse into each room.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear."

Both Todd and Ronin kept checking each room, only to come up with nothing. Meanwhile, Gage was looking around the kitchen area, when he heard something coming from the front of the house.

*KNOCK....KNOCK...KNOCK*

"Shit dude, you hear that?" The cheetah asked.

"Yeah, stay right here."

The shepherd still had his mask on, and didn't move at all from the kitchen, though he did motion towards his pocket.

"TONY? YOU HOME?" *CREAK*

"TONY? IT'S FRANCO" a low voice emitted from the front door, with a black dragon popping his head into the house.

"I NOTICED YOU GOT AN SUV....WHEN DID.......HEY! WHO THE HELL ARE....." *SHANK*

"............................."

".............................."

Within less than a minute, the Black Dragon had walked into Tony's house after seeing the lights on inside, only to notice that it wasn't Tony that was inside the house. After shouting at the figure that came out of the kitchen area, the Dragon's fate was ultimately decided right there, as Gage had pulled out a hunting knife, and threw it point blank at the dragon, hitting the dragon square in the head right between the eyes, killing him instantly.

"Hmph." Gage replied, walking up towards the Dragon as a pool of blood was forming around the area.

"Sounds like Gage took care of himself. Let's check this final room." The panther quietly told the Cheetah, and the two both got on each side of the final door near the end of the hallway on the left.

"One...two....three" *KICK....BANG*

The two immediately pointed their guns after kicking down the final door, only to come up empty and notice that it was a large, but empty bedroom.

"Nothing. All clear." Ronin mentioned, putting his gun down.

"Well....I guess we'll wait then. In the meantime, you thirsty at all?" The panther replied with a wide grin.

"Sure. I love the fresh taste of blood. Hehe" The Cheetah replied with a bit of a manic laugh, as the two walked back toward the stairway and down it.

Gage was standing over the dead Dragon, and eventually bent down to pull the knife out of the Dragon's head.

*SQUISH....SHANK* *DRIP....DRIP....DRIP*

Blood was everywhere on the floor, and as the German Shepherd held the bloody knife in his hand, he looked over to Todd and Ronin, and the three gave each other a wide smile.

"Mmmmmmm....FRESH....BLOOD....." The cheetah exclaimed with a psychotic look as he walked over to the dragon, licking his lips before bending down, and tasting the blood on the floor.

"He's having his nightly feed it looks like" Todd said to Gage.

"Yep and he looks like he really likes the taste of it too. So I'm guessing you found nothing?"

"Nope, but we'll wait. He'll show up. And when he does, the first thing he'll be seeing is a fucking bullet going through his head." The panther mentioned as he cocked his pistol, and looked on with Gage as the Cheetah kept tasting the blood on the floor with a very scary look in his eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED......