Chapter Five: Unanswered Questions
This is what's going to be called Chapter Five. If you've read the other chapters, then you know what's going on. If not, then I would suggest that you find me and get the first four before reading this one. Unless you like to be more confused than me when I try to think (it's an inside joke, don't worry if you don't get it). Enjoy it if you want, don't if you don't want to. It really makes no difference to me.
CHAPTER FIVE
"What do you mean? What did Dr. Stark say?" my voice was filled with concern.
"Come over here and take a look for yourself." Alex said, still staring at the screen.
I walked over and, hesitantly, started to read the e-mail.
Dear Alex,
I hope you know that I realize what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have given you the PLEASURE of becoming an anthromorph! You don't deserve the honor of becoming what is about to become the dominant race! Don't understand what I mean, well you will soon enough. You see, thanks to your new 'friend' Matt, I've created a serum that will turn anyone into a furry, and it will give ME complete control over them! Pretty soon, this entire city will be under my control. . . . and don't even try to stop me! I know that you have those three 'creatures' with you, I saw you pick them up! I hope you don't mind my ranting, I'm just a little exited at how everything has turned out. I know that my first few experiments (that would be you four) were giant failures, but the new serum I've created has proven to be. . . . affective. Those scientist have made nice test subjects. And the way they obey my every command makes the deal even sweeter! Oh, and before I forget, I have something to ask of you: Why didn't you tell me that it felt soooo good to be furry? I found what was left of the special serum given to Mr. Furr and, well, decided to give it a try. It's so wonderful. The fur, the tail, the ears, the enhanced strength and reflexes. . . . all of it is more than I could have ever imagined. Anyways, thank you for your time, and may your demise be very, VERY, unpleasant!
Your Friend,
Dr. J. Stark
I couldn't believe what I was reading. Dr. Stark was going to turn the entire town into furries. Sure, it seemed like a dream come true, but then I thought about the fact that they would be under her control and shuddered at the thought. And she turned herself into one herself! I didn't think that it could get any worse until I realized just what she wrote, the serum that she and I took gave us enhanced abilities. That would mean that she had the potential to become a very big threat to my health. We had to stop her, at all costs.
The trip to the lab was short-lived. As soon as the ignition was turned off, the doors were open and we were filing out and heading up to the front doors. We left so quickly that we didn't even take time to stock up on weapons. . . . a mistake I would later regret. The doors were unlocked, so we walked right through and straight to the computer. In a matter of seconds the hallway door was open and three figures ran out, but these weren't guards. . . . they were some of the scientists that were made into furries. An otter, lynx, and lab (all male) stopped momentarily before charging once again, this time at us! I didn't hesitate to jump right into the otter's way as my arm met his neck and sent him flying through the air. He didn't have time to retaliate as my paw went straight to his throat. His gasps for air made me remember that he was still human, just under control of Dr. Stark, so I loosened my grip slightly. The otter flailed about uselessly while I still kept a steady grip on his neck. It had seemed that Johnny was finishing up with the lab when it, to his surprise, squirmed out a punch that landed itself right on the left side of his face. Not appreciating that one bit, Johnny made one swift punch to the lab's stomach and he coughed once before going limp. Alex had stayed back and let Tera take care of the lynx, which was done with a great deal of finesse. Seeing how the others were done, I took the otter and held him up, still holding him by his neck.
"Where is Dr. Stark?" I asked coldly.
All he did was hack and cough incoherently. I started to get mad and increased my grip and asked again, "Where is Dr. Stark?"
Nothing more than more unreasonable gibberish came from his muzzle, so with one punch to the chest, he stopped struggling and fell silent. I dropped him to the ground and motioned for the others to follow. It had just hit me at that moment how strong I had become. I easily stopped and held down a full grown person, who's physique was larger than an average mans. I didn't ponder the thought any more than that. . . . I had to stop Dr. Stark from making mindless zombies out of any more helpless innocents. The hallway was empty except for the occasional piece of paper strew about on the cold floor. We made it to the end of the hallway where the elevator was and I pressed the down button. It took what seemed like a few minutes before the doors opened revealing a shivering mass of fur tucked away in the corner.
I wasted no time in charging in on the mass of fur and grabbing it by the scruff of it's neck. I carefully picked it up to look at it. It was a wolf, but it wasn't like Johnny, it was small and didn't have hardly any muscle definition. It looked sorta like me before 'the change' happened. The thing was limp and was hardly breathing.
"It looks like we got a live one. I think it just transformed too." I said, still holding on to it's neck.
"Umm. . . . I-I think that 'it' is a he." Alex said a little sheepishly.
When I heard her say that I finally took the time to look at 'him' more closely. He was wearing a lab coat, but it was easy to tell that 'it' was actually a guy. While still looking at him, he started to stir. I dropped him and stepped back, holding the others back in the process.
"Watch out! He's waking up!"
"Uhhh. . . . . . P-please. . . . d-don't h-hurt m-me!" he managed to get out.
"Hey, you spoke! All the others did was attack us." I was surprised by hearing actual words come out of his mouth.
"I d-don't know what's g-going on. The l-last thing I remember was being attacked by Dr. Stark. When I woke up, you were holding me by my neck." he still sounded shaken up.
"Yea, sorry about that. I didn't want to take any chances, seeing how the other 'experiments' acted. Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. . . . My name's Matt. This is Tera, Johnny, and Alex." I pointed to each one (respectively) as I said their names.
"Hi. My name's Justin. . . . Justin Darens. I'm. . . . or should I say was a scientist here before that. . . . bitch Dr. Stark turned me into. . . . well, this." he said as he pointed to himself.
"Okay. Well, Justin, I only have one question for you. . . . Why haven't you attacked us like the others? Shouldn't you be under Dr. Stark's control or something?"
"Hmmm. . . . To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I was told by some of the other scientists here that a select few didn't have the side effect of being under her control. I guess that I just lucked out."
"Well that's always a good sign to see that her plans didn't go quite so well. Before we go any further, I have to say one more thing. . . . We're trying to find and put a stop to what Dr. Stark has in store for the town, and we need someone, that would be you, who knows his way around the complex. We need your help if we're going to stand any chance of making it through here. So, will you help us?"
"I. . . . Sure! I'd be glad to help get back at her for what she did to me and my friends!" he sounded happy as he said it.
"Okay then. Let's get going. Where do we need to go first?"
Without any answer, Justin moved slowly over to the elevator panel and hit one of the buttons. Within seconds the elevator was moving down the shaft towards our goal. After a few minutes of silent waiting, we stopped.
"Here we are, bottom floor. Now all we need to do is get to 'The Main Room' as it's called." Justin said with pride.
"Okay, and just where would this 'The Main Room' be?" I couldn't help but put a little sarcasm in.
"Okay, imagine this wall is the floor we're on now. We're here, and we need to get right about here." he said while pointing out a spot on the empty wall.
"Well, I guess we better get going. If it's where you say it is, it might take us a while to get there. Especially if we have to deal with any more of the scientists."
"Umm. . . . Speaking of scientists, you might want to look in front of you." Alex pointed out a group of five of them standing some fifteen feet away, dead looks on their faces.
I turned to look at Justin, all he did was look at me with a slight smirk. Without any hesitation he ran towards them and dove at the first guy. To say the least, the scientist didn't last long, then Justin moved on to the next guy. It looked like he was going to be able to handle them himself when one jumped on him from behind and started beating him over the head. It was my turn to take a few down and so I ran full speed, arm raised, toward the guy attacking him. With one accurate punch straight to the face, he flew off Justin's back and into the wall, landing with a *thud*. After a few more brief moments of brutality, we were the only ones left standing.
"Well I guess that you can hold your own. I didn't expect to see. . . . well, a scientists that could kick ass like that!" I was positive I sounded like an idiot.
"Heh, I guess that I should've told you that I watch self-defense tapes. A while back I got robbed right out in the street and I decided not to take it any more. I didn't know that you knew how to fight. Oh, and thanks for helping me out too."
"Yea, I've been in my share of fights. And no problem. You would've done the same for me."
With that, he lead us down the hall. . . . to where Dr. Stark was. It surprised me that we didn't see any more of the scientists. I just thought that we took them all out and shook off any other thoughts. It seemed to take forever as we kept walking down the same hallway, I could've sworn that we walked passed the same door twice, but I just made myself think otherwise. Finally, after about twenty minutes of walking, we came to a dead end.
"Hey, Justin, why did you lead us straight into a dead end?" I was surprised that I didn't sound more annoyed than I did sarcastic.
"It's not a dead end. Look at the wall very closely. When you do, you'll see that there's a secret door here. Sure, it sounds dumb, but there are some surprisingly dumb people that work down here."
He then, to my surprise, reached out and pushed on the wall. It then slowly slid open, revealing a very large and open room. When I walked through I was awestruck by the sheer size of the room and I couldn't help but think of how a room this size could be hidden underground. The room seemed to be completely empty, but my ears perked up just to check and make sure there wasn't anything that couldn't be seen. I picked up a slight shuffling sound from above me, but before I could react, we were jumped on. The darkness swept over all of us quickly. . . .
* * * * *
I awoke to the sound of music. It was an old song I used to listen to on the radio, but I couldn't remember what it was called. I tried to opened my eyes, only to have them stay shut. I tried to move my arms. . . . I couldn't, so I tried to move my legs. . . . nothing from them either. It took me a few more seconds of failures to realize that my body must've been completely numb. All that I could do was lay there. . . . or sit there, I couldn't tell what position I was in. More and more I was just there, only recalling what had happened. Right after we went through the secret door, we were jumped, and that was the last thing I remembered. The longer I sat there, the more things I started to think about. I started thinking about how much my life had changed in the last week or so. How I got the job at Nanite Technological Industries, how Tera was sent home with me via a crate, how Johnny had transformed into what he is now, every little detail that started from when I woke up that morning. It didn't make any sense. . . . The fact that my life was so routine and casual and then it just turned into chaos. I didn't have time to think about it anymore as I felt my body start to jerk spastically. My vision, though blurred, started coming in. For some odd reason, my body started to work again. When my eyes came into full focus, all that I saw were padded walls. Everywhere I turned was another padded wall. It was when I noticed that I wasn't bound or tied that I tried to stand up, to my surprise being able to on the first try. There was a door, a video camera, a monitor, and a speaker box around the room. I didn't think that the door would be open, so I started to pace back and forth, only to be stopped by a quite familiar voice. . . .
"Matt. . . . Matt you're awake! It took you long enough!"
The voice came from the speaker and as I turned to look at it, the monitor caught my eye. . . . It displayed a live feed of Tera! What was strange was that she wasn't in a room like mine, but what seemed to be the Main Security Room. Another thing that caught my attention was the fact that all she was wearing was what looked like a bathrobe.
"Tera, how did you get there? And just why are you only wearing a robe?"
"No time for questions, Matt. We need to get you out of there, and soon. I don't have time to explain the fine details. All I can tell you is that you need to go out that door and down the hall to the right. When you get to the double doors, just keep going straight until you pass three sets of doors, then you'll want to make a left. . . . Got that?"
"Ummm. . . . I think so. Go right, three doors past the double doors take a left. . . . Yea, I got it."
"Good, I'm about to unlock the door, so be ready to run."
"Why do I need to ru. . . ."
"Okay. . . . GO!"
I didn't hesitate to push on the door, which flew open. I turned right and started running, only to hear sirens blaring. All I thought about was running, I didn't even let the sirens bother me. The double doors seemed to appear in front of me before I came back into reality and pushed them open. I counted to myself "One. . . . Two. . . . Three" I looked around to find where to turn. All that was there was a small space between the third door and a water fountain. Since I didn't really have any other options, I squeezed myself through the gap. After about five feet of shuffling, the passageway opened into a fairly sizable opening with a door at the end. Slowly, I crept towards it and turned the handle. When it opened, I was greeted by a flash of fur before I was pinned to the ground with a black paw.
I tried to talk as best I could with a hand at my throat, "Tera. . . . It's. . . . me. . . . Matt!"
"Matt! Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know if you were going to show up or not. You really should knock before you come in!" she said as she quickly removed her hand from my neck. "Here, come on in before they find you." she said as she grabbed me by my collar and dragged me into the room.
"Woa, when did I get a collar? And could you please tell me just what in the world is going on here?" I didn't even realize that I had a collar wrapped around my neck until Tera grabbed me by it.
"Okay, let me see. . . . Where to start? Oh, here we go! After we got jumped by those agents. . . ."
"Hey, hold on! What 'agents' are you talking about?"
Tera put her finger to my lips to silence me and said, "Calm down Matt. Just let me tell what happened and you'll know soon enough. Now, after we got jumped by these group of government agents, I'll explain later, we were taken to this facility. I have absolutely no idea of where we are right now, so don't bother asking. I know this much because I faked being knocked out. Right before the guard closed the door to my 'cell' as they call them, I jumped up and grabbed him. I guess I was just lucky that they didn't put an immobilization collar on me. Oh, and just to let you know, that's what's around your neck. If you want, I can get that thing off for you." She reached up and tinkered with the collar. "Now you may feel a little discomfort if I do this right."
"Wait. . . . If you do this RIGHT? What if you do it wrong?"
"Don't worry, I won't." She continued toying with the collar until she hit one spot and I went limp. "There ya go! Just give me a sec and I'll have the thing completely off." She bent down by my motionless body and took the collar off. "It'll only be a minute or two before you gain control over your body again. Ain't that right Johnny?"
"Yea. . . . You're right. It took quite a while for me to get my arms and legs working right again. Don't worry Matt, you shouldn't have to wait as long as I did, since you're one of the stronger experiments." Johnny's voice came from somewhere in front of me. I couldn't even move my head, so it was hard to tell exactly where he was. If my body didn't work, then my mouth probably didn't either, but I still had to try.
"J-J-Johnneee. . . . Wheeeer. . . . aaaarrr. . . . yooooo?"
"Matt, don't try and talk, it only makes it take longer. . . . trust me. I'm right here." he said as he knelt down and positioned my head to where I could see the entire group. Everyone was there: Tera, Johnny, Alex, and Justin. Tera and Johnny were standing kneeling beside me while Alex wasn't standing too far behind them, watching carefully. Justin, on the other hand, was huddled against the back wall. His right hand was covering his face, while his left arm just lay limp next to him. His right forearm was tightly holding his legs close to his chest. Johnny must've noticed that I was starting towards him and said, "Matt, we had a bit of a 'problem' when Tera took off Justin's collar. . . . He lost all use of his left arm. We were hoping that it was just temporary, but Alex has her doubts. She says that there was probably too much nerve damaged, he's probably gonna lose his arm altogether! Just try to comfort him when you recover."
The minutes passed with silence as I lay there. Only after what seemed like an eternity in itself, I started to get the feeling back in my toes. It quickly spread all up my legs, to my torso, out my arms, and finally up my neck. At first I still couldn't move anything, but after another minute or two of tingling, I found that I could move my fingers. My movement continued to increase as the seconds flew by. By the time Tera had noticed that I was fidgeting around, I was already trying to stand. I could once again feel the power coursing through my veins. My arms barely bulged at the effort put into lifting myself to my knees. My legs did the rest of the work getting me to stand. When Tera finally did hear the commotion I was making, she jumped up and hugged me.
"Matt! You can move! Wait, can you feel everything? Do you feel any different?" she would've kept interrogating me had I not interrupted her.
"Tera! I'm fine. I can fell everything. Look, I'll show you that everything is a-okay." I rotated my arms around, then I lifted each leg in turn. I moved everything that I thought could move before. When I felt as though she would be satisfied, I continued, "Ya see? I'm fine. . . . Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see someone." I walked over to where Justin was crouching. "Justin, are you alright?"
He mumbled to himself, sounding like he was trying to find the right words to say. He finally said, "Does it look like I'm alright?! I can't even move my freakin' arm! Look at it! That's all that I've been able to do. . . . I'm sorry, it's just that I'm a little scared right now. I don't know if I can deal with the fact that I'll never be able to use my arm again."
"Justin, it's gonna be okay. . . . I know the others have probably said the same, but whatever happens, you're going to be okay." was all that I could say. I knew comforting wasn't what he wanted to hear, but I didn't know what else to say. My mind started to wander, and I couldn't help but think about the last time my I couldn't focus. Before I knew it, I fell over and the last thing I saw was Justin's face, a sheer look of terror on it. . . .
* * * * *
When I awoke, I found myself at a desk. I quickly surveyed my surroundings and found them to be strangely familiar. . . . I was in my old Physiology 101 classroom! I kept thinking to myself "What in the hell is going on? How did I get here?" and about a million other questions relating to them. I also took notice of the fact that I was surrounded by my peers, who were all starting at me. Then I heard a familiar voice, "Mr. Furr, how many times is it now that I've caught you sleeping in class?!" The voice was raspy and had a strong British accent to it. When I looked up, I saw who it was. It was my old prof., Professor Rynkort. None of this made sense. . . . The last time I was here was over three months ago! "Mr. Furr, would you please answer my question?!"
"Huh? What? Umm. . . . I'm sorry, but what was the question?" I thought I might as well just go along with it.
"The question was: When was the first cybernetic limb successfully transplanted onto a human?"
I was surprised by my answer, which suddenly popped into my head, "May 12, 2012, sir."
"Good, I'm glad you were paying attention at least part of the time." he sounded like he was getting over a bad hangover, just like I remembered he used to. "Now, back to our lesson. As our lazy friend said, the first successful transplant of a cybernetic limb to a human was on May 12, 2012. You all may have noticed that it hasn't been too long since that day. . . . only about five years or so. But in this time, we have perfected cybernetic transplants from a crazy 'last resort' idea into an art form. If someone gets arm or leg blown off in some random. . . . oh, let's say firework incident, they can now have a cybernetic arm or leg actually fused onto bone and made one with the body. It will effectively be able to feel and work just like the limb they so carelessly lost." As I head him speak, I was reminded of just how bad he made students feel by using their mistakes as references in his lectures. "As of now, there are only a select few who are qualified to do such extensive surgery. . . . Only twelve in the world if I'm not mistaken. And the only one I would trust with performing the surgery would be one of my own pupils who graduated about two years ago. If I'm correct in remembering, which I am most of the time, his name is Nathaniel Burnsoik. . . . But I digress. . . ."
For some odd reason, my mind started to wander again. Now all I could hear was a faint voice. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I sounded like a muffled scream almost. "What? Who said that? What's going on?!"
"Mr. Furr! What have I told you about speaking out of turn. . . ."
I couldn't catch the rest of his sentence before my face hit the desk and everything went black. . . .
* * * * *
"Matt! Get up Matt! I know you're in there, now just wake up!" the voice was familiar and distant. I was getting really tired of having this happen. I didn't even care where I was or who was around me, I just wanted to stop having it happen.
"Okay, whoever you are, I'm really not in the mood for any of what you have to say. . . . So just don't bother me!" I could tell I must've upset whomever it was that was yelling at me because there were what I came to guess were tears that were dropping down on my face. I also couldn't help but feel a little bad for being such an ass to whomever it was. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I'm just getting really tired of this happening."
"And you don't think that we are too? I just wish that I didn't have to have you wake up and be such a jerk!" the voice came in more clear. . . . it was Tera's voice, and she didn't sound too happy. I coughed loudly as I felt a firm fist hit me directly in the ribs.
When I finally regained my composure, Tera was sitting back at a chair in front of all the monitors. Johnny, Alex, and Justin were all staring at me like I had just committed murder. "Why is it that I have to be the one who makes an ass out of myself?!" was all I thought about as I lay there. When I thought enough time had gone by, I pushed myself up to my feet. I stood there for a moment or two contemplating just how I was going to apologize to Tera. My brain figured out, what it thought, would be a good 'I'm so sorry, please forgive me' speech, so I started walking over to her. "Tera, I'm sorry for snapping at you. I. . . . I just thought that this was another dream. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please, Tera, look at me." I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder, only to have it slapped away by her paw.
"You think that you can just say you're sorry and make it all go away?! I'm sorry, but it's not going to work that way. If you're REALLY sorry, then you're just going to have to prove it to me somehow." she sounded like she was VERY ticked off at the moment, but I was just as ticked as her.
"And just how am I supposed to prove that I'm really sorry?! Huh?! It's not like I can just magically prove to you that I'm sorry, just like I can't prove that I love you. . . . it's just something that you have to believe!" I was getting even more angry the more I spoke.
"You CAN prove that you love me!! All you have to do is say so!"
"So why doesn't that apply to being sorry then?!"
"Because. . . . . . . . I DON'T KNOW!!" she started to scream.
"EXACTLY!!" I screamed right back at her.
I didn't give her time to react as I stormed off towards the door, not even listening to her scream the question "Where in the hell do you think you're going?! You don't even know where you are!" Her voice faded as the door was opened and I was moving out through it.
The sirens had stopped, probably thanks to Tera, but I didn't want to give her credit for anything right now. The only thing on my mind was trying to figure out just where I was and what happened after we were jumped. I knew Tera had told me parts, but I didn't even want to believe her. Why did she have to be so sensitive all of the sudden? Couldn't she have thought about what I was going through? There were so many questions flowing through my mind that I thought my head was going to explode. I didn't even realize that I hadn't moved even ten feet from the door. I started to walk back out into the hallway in the direction I had been going before I caught sight of the passage. Every step I felt like I was getting further and further away from what I truly wanted to go back to. Just as I was about to turn back around, I heard marching coming from down a corridor not too far ahead of me. There wasn't much time to think, so I quickly found a place to hide in one of the (thankfully) unlocked doors. I didn't take time to notice just what kind of room I barged into, as I was more concerned with the footsteps I heard going past the door and stopping not too far beyond that. I could hear one voice come in clear as if he were standing right in front of me "Okay Squad 4, move in on my command. . . . NOW!" I braced myself for the coming onslaught of what I guessed were soldiers only to be dumbfounded by the lacking of such. Instead I heard them move further away from where I was positioned. . . . They must've been going after Tera and the others! That was the only other place that I knew of where soldiers would want to go. When I heard the footsteps stop, I quietly opened the door, only to shut it right back when a guard came rushing by. I could hear the voice once again call to his men "Alright men, hold your positions. I have just received new reconnaissance that there are five of them in there. . . . This could prove to be a problem. We'll hold our position here until I see fit. Just to see who will stay and who will chicken out. 'Cause I know that some of you want to. . . . I just want to be the one to kill you when you try to leave." I didn't see why he would make such a long-winded speech to his men right before they barged into wherever they were going.
"Oh good, he must've left. I'm glad he didn't see me." came a voice from behind me.
I whirled around to see a small figure in the corner of what I now realized was a room like you'd see in a doctor's office. The figure was crouched in a corner from what I could tell. Since I hadn't turned on the light, it was still dark. I could also see that he or she was blindfolded and bound. As quietly as I could, I crept up to the figure. When I was right next to her (I could tell from this distance), I bent down to put my hand over her mouth, so as not to let her make a noise, but her foot caught my ankle before I had the chance. I didn't expect him to move, and went toppling over onto her.
"Aaaahhhhh!!!! Who's there?! Get off of me!" she screamed.
I found where her mouth, which protruded from her face for some odd reason, was and, as quickly as possible, covered it. "Shhhh! What do you want to do. . . . alert the entire place that I'm here?!" She only made muffled sounds through my fingers. "Okay, I'm not with these guys. I was brought here by them. . . . I'll show you." I, while still keeping my other hand planted over her mouth, which I could've sworn was not normal for a regular person, removed her blindfold. . . . revealing a pair of brilliant green cat eyes. I could tell she was able to see every detail of me, even in such darkness, which made me a bit uncomfortable. "Umm. . . . You're not from around here. . . . are you?" I said as I took my hand from her mouth.
"Well, I guess you could say that. . . . But, then again, you could also say the same for yourself." her voice sounded soft, yet somehow worn at the same time.
"Good point. So what exactly are you? I can't see very well in the dark?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Hmmm. . . . Ya know, that's a good question. I really don't know. Ever since I've been here, I've been blindfolded. . . . and tied up for some odd reason. I didn't even know that I somehow changed until I was moved in here and one of the guards called me 'such a pretty kitty' and grabbed the tail I apparently had! But I do know that you're a fox, only not the right color for one. . . . you're black instead of orange."
"I know. . . . it's a very long story, one that we don't have time for now. How long have you been here? I mean, at this facility that is." I started questioning her.
"I've been here for a little over three months I'd guess. I used to be in some padded room not too far from here, but all of the sudden, the guards grabbed me and drug me in here. That's when the one grabbed my tail. I'm sorry, but I don't even know your name."
"Oh, I guess I got in a hurry and forgot to introduce myself. My name's Matt. . . . Matt Furr. . . ." she cut in before I could ask her name.
"Wait a minute! You're the Matt Furr that all the guards have been talking about?! Then that means that you're one of the 'Special Ops' models that they were talking about!" she would've kept going, but it was my turn to interject.
"Slow down! What are you talking about?! What 'Special Ops' are you talking about? You're not making any sense! You need to start over and tell me these things from the beginning."
"Well, if you ARE Matt Furr, then the I overheard the guards talking about you being some sort of experiment for a new kind of military project. I think they called it 'Project: DeathShadow' or something like that. They also said something about this doctor being in charge until she went crazy and changed herself into one of the experiments. It's all really weird."
"If what I'm thinking is right, then the doctor their talking about is none other than Dr. Stark. And with the experiments, yea, they injected me with a modified version of a serum I helped create that, from what they told me, was to make the human immune system invulnerable to most viruses and the like. . . . I didn't know that it was for anything government related. That's what I get for not reading the fine print."
None of this made sense. Apparently, I was more than just a pawn in some crazy doctor's scheme to make the world into furries, but an experimental military project. I wanted to imagine that none of this was happening, that I was just dreaming one big dream. I wanted to be back home in my nice safe bed, still normal. There were too many things happening all at once. I didn't know what was going on anymore, didn't know who I was anymore. . . . I also didn't realize how long I had been sitting there wondering about things when her voice caught my attention. "Uhh. . . . Hello? Is anyone in there? I've been trying to get your attention for the past minute!"
"Huh? What? Oh, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about everything that's happened in the past few days. What is it?"
"Well, if you didn't notice, I'm kinda tied up here. . . . Do you think that you could help me out?" she sounded concerned and yet slightly agitated.
Taking her request into action, I leaned over to her and started to find my way around to her back where the knots were tied. After a bit of adjustment, I got the ropes on her wrists off. She started to untie her ankles before I got down to them. When she was completely untied, she looked up at me with her large eyes, batting them softly. I didn't know whether to take it as a 'Thank you' or something else, so I said, "Okay. . . . now that you're untied, I have to check on my friends. I think those guards were headed off to where they are and I want to see if I was right."
"Please. . . . Let me go with you. I don't know how to get around here and I'm scared." Once again I was hit with an 'I'm scared, please help me!' ploy, so I couldn't resist.
"Okay, but promise me that you'll stay behind me. . . . Just in case something bad happens."
"I promise." she said with a perk in her voice.
I helped her get up, and we moved towards the door. As I opened it, I made sure to listen very carefully for any signs of nearby people. . . . there wasn't anyone around. I waved my arm, motioning for her to follow me as I made my way out into the hall. Before I even took one step in the direction of the Security Room, I heard that same guard yelling at his men "Alright, we're about to move in. . . . Get ready to go in three. . . . two. . . . one. . . . MOVE!! MOVE!! MOVE!!"
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. I didn't even bother with the girl, but instead just ran towards the room where Tera and the others were. In a matter of seconds I was stopped dead in my tracks by a loud *bang*. I could only guess what that was and took no time in getting back up to speed and sharply turning into the space in the wall. What I saw came as a shock to me. All of the guards had their guns drawn and were ready to fire. I looked for a smoking barrel, seeing as how one just fired a shot, it would have to have at least a little smoke coming from it. I found it not long after, lying on the ground, next to what was left of one of the guards. Right by it was Johnny, twitching slightly. I could tell that he had been shot, but I couldn't tell where. That was more than enough for me to take action. I took off at full speed into one guard, he didn't stand a chance. As soon as he was on the floor, I was in the air yet again, this time at another guard. Right as I was about to come in contact with the leader, I had guessed this because he wore a different uniform, I heard another *bang* and fell to the ground, along with hearing a scream from behind me, feeling a pain in my arm like I'd never felt before. One gunshot wound wouldn't be enough to keep me down for long. When I was up to my knees, I bolted off them and headfirst into the man. The sheer force of the impact was enough to knock him out cold, but I wasn't even close to being done with him. One after another, my fists collided with his face until it literally caved in. I couldn't stop myself. It was like I had no control over what I was doing.
When my senses came back to me, I was standing in a pool of blood. I looked over myself and realized that the only place I was bleeding from was my right arm, so I came to the conclusion that the blood had belonged to the squad of guards. I couldn't help but cringe at what I had apparently done. That was when I turned my head that I noticed the others. Alex was holding Johnny in her arms trying to wake him up. I didn't know if he was alive or dead, and I couldn't help but start to move over to help as best I could. Then I looked over a little more and found Justin lying on the ground. The new girl had come in sometime after the initial fight began and was looking over him. He had a large gash on his forehead and was (I hoped) only passed out on the floor. The way she was crying over him was alarming to me. I couldn't help but think "Why is she helping him? The way she's acting, it's like they're long lost friends or something." Then I looked a bit further to see Tera. . . . Her body was lying motionless on the ground. "No. . . . Tera. This can't be happening, it just can't happen. Why isn't she getting up? She should be getting up by now, shouldn't she? Oh man, please let her be sleeping. Yea, that's it! She's just sleeping. . . . . ." This was too much to take. My eyes started to fill up with tears as I ran over to her. I now knew where the scream I heard had come from. While the bullet just grazed my arm, it had gone straight towards her, landing in her chest just below her shoulder. There was a fairly large pool of blood under her, so I imagined the worst. "What did SHE do to deserve this?! She didn't do anything!! It was all my fault!! I was the one to blame!! It was ME, not TERA!! Don't do this to her, punish ME!!! Don't give her what I deserve!!" I wasn't even thinking coherently. By now, my only thoughts were that if she was dead, I couldn't go on anymore. . . . not without her. Tera had become my life! She was what I looked forward to when I woke up. She was my EVERYTHING! By this time I was bawling my eyes out. It was all I could do just to keep myself from going back to the leader's disfigured body and rip it to even more pieces for what he did to my Tera, but I couldn't tear myself away from her. I had to make sure that she wasn't alive. If there was the slightest chance that she was, then I was going to do everything in my power to make sure she stayed alive. I knelt down and put my arm under her to lift her to a sitting position. She would've fell limp if I hadn't of been holding her up. I put my ear down by her mouth to see if she was breathing. . . . . . but she didn't make a sound. "No! You can't do this to her! She didn't do anything! Nothing at all!! It was all my fault!!" I moved my head further down to her chest to try and hear a pulse. . . . . . . . but there wasn't one. "It can't end this way. . . . It just CAN'T!!! I won't let you be dead! You can't be dead. . . . You can't be dead!!"
I remembered my CPR class I had to take in high school, and I thought that anything I did now was better than doing nothing at all. I carefully set her back down and when through the steps in my head. "Remember, check the vitals, then do the chest compressions." I had already listened for breath and a pulse, so I went to step two. I put my hands over her sternum and, as gently as I could while still doing something, pushed down. "This had BETTER work. . . . If it doesn't I swear I'm gonna. . . . I swear I'm gonna. . . ." I started a steady rhythm until I got to eight, then I stopped to check her for breathing and a pulse, just like I had been taught. . . . . . . . . nothing. "Get up Tera. . . . you have to get up! You can't just lay there all night Tera, you have to GET. . . . UP!!" I went through the steps again. . . . . . . . still nothing. "I'm not going to lose you Tera! I'm NOT. . . . GOING. . . . TO LOSE. . . . YOU!!!" I started to panic and couldn't control myself. I threw my fists down on her chest screaming at the top of my lungs, "TEEEERRRAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! DAMMIT TERA, WAKE UP!!!! PLEASE TERA, DON'T DIE!!!! YOU CAN'T DIE!!!!" I couldn't say anything else, I was crying too much. That didn't stop me from thinking "Tera, you can't be dead. . . . You just can't be! Why did I have to do this?! Why did I have to be such an ass and leave?! If I would've stayed, non of this would've happened! This is all my fault! Those bastards are going to PAY for this!!!"
"Just. . . . once more. . . . That's all it'll take. . . . is one more time. . . ." was the last thing I could say.