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Joshua woke with a start. He'd seen his wife killed again in his dreams. It was the third time this week. He angrily cursed himself silently. He was sure he was over it by now. He looked at the clock. Quarter of 6. He got up and stretched quietly, so as not to wake his kids up. He'd seen her in his dreams again, he pretty wolf body being shot and killed by the man who "just wanted a ride" in her Lexus. He always cried when he saw her killed in his dreams, and today was no exception. His fur was matted with tears.

He quietly went into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He was 6' tall, 200 pounds, but he didn't work out so a little of it was body fat. He smiled at himself, trying to cheer himself up. The white fur and pale icy blue eyes indicated his Arctic wolf heritage. His company didn't mind him, otherwise he wouldn't be a V.P. for Wolf Industries. He smiled happily to himself, still trying to cheer himself up.

He then proceeded to get in the shower and turned it on. HOT! Hot water! He turned the cold water on quickly and immediately felt better. He shampooed and bathed fairly quickly. He then finished his shower and grabbed his towel, drying off and brushing his teeth with the towel wrapped around his waist. Once he finished, he threw on the deodorant and got dressed. He wore the white tee-shirt under his pale icy blue button-up overshirt which he left unbuttoned today. He threw on the khaki cargos and laced his expensive white shoes, tossing the expensive digital watch on; the company had provided that. They encouraged casual wear, and so Joshua always went casual.

He went downstairs and began to cook eggs, bacon, toast, and make the juice for his kids. They awoke and began to head downstairs. He quickly finished making the breakfast and served it to his kids. They both smiled and happily began to eat. Joshua grabbed the TV remote and turned on the television for the kids to watch whatever they wanted to. He went outside and grabbed the paper. The article for the day, "Deadly New Virus Breaks Out in London!" The article described a neo-terrorism virus that was deadly, uncurable, highly contagious and very potent. He only hoped it would be contained, so close to Christmas time, after all. He went into the kitchen and sipped his coffee before turning to his kids.

"How are my two cubs this morning?" Joshua asked his son, Dustin, and daughter, Kristin.

Dustin, 16, was 5'8" and 140 pounds. He was already dressed, wearing baggy jeans and a brown polo with various colored blue stripes on the chest. He also was wearing sandals and his hair was black and slicked back today, going for a tougher, but stylized look. His eyes burned into your soul with their amber color. He reminded his father of his mother, because he had black fur like his mother did. Dustin never worked out, so he was skinny and fairly weak.

Kristin was different however. She was only 13, making her the youngest of them all. She was 5'3" and 120 pounds. She was wearing today a pink tee shirt over her cargo pants. She also had her regular pink-laced tennis shoes on her black shoes this morning. Joshua wondered where these kids were going with their shoes already on. They were out for school, so where were they going to go? She wore the pendant with the locket on her necklace because her mother had given it to her so long ago. It had a picture of the whole family in it. She had icy blue eyes and mid-back length flowing white hair. She took after her father in the heritage, Arctic wolf as well.

"Good." They replied.

"Dustin, you have to watch Kristin tonight. I'm going to be working until 9." said Joshua a few moments later. Dustin groaned and Joshua growled, putting Dustin in his place for the time being, "Dustin, I know you have plans, but you have to because you're the only one that isn't on break for Christmas as a babysitter. Besides, it's just for today. Tomorrow we'll be on a plane to Hawaii!" He held up his three tickets, roundtrip to Hawaii for a week.

Kristin rejoiced and cheered, "Yay! Hawaii!" She'd never been to Hawaii, but liked the pictures she'd seen before. "Can we just move there?" she joked.

Joshua smiled, putting the tickets back into his shirt pocket. He laughed, "No, baby. Not today." He began to walk towards the door. "Take care of your sister while I'm gone now, Dustin. I want you two ready for vacation when I get back from the office." Joshua smiled, ruffling his son's hair as he headed out the door.

"I will, Dad. Have a great day at work." Dustin stood proudly to show his shirt to his father, "How's my shirt?"

"It looks good, son. Your mother would be so proud of you." Joshua missed Annie. It was like yesterday she had been with him, enjoying their meals together and having fun together. Now she was gone, killed by a drunk driver. That's the price for living in such a populated city though, right? Joshua smiled at his son. "I'm almost late for work. I'll see ya tonight when I get off, okay?"

"Bye Daddy!" Kristin came in from the breakfast table and waved good-bye to her father. She knew she was too old to keep calling him Daddy, but it made her feel special each and every time. She hugged her father and he stepped out of the door for now. He'd be back tonight for supper.

Dustin turned to his sister. She looked a lot like her mother, only she wasn't a black wolf. She had her father's looks, but her mother's looks as well. She definitely was like her mother in how she acted, but she definitely wasn't as calm as their mother had been. Dustin smiled. "C'mon, sis. Let's go play a game together upstairs."

Kristin smiled. "Okay, bro! Let's go!" And together the two of them left and began to go up the stairs to play a classic game on their Playstation 4. It was a birthday present from their father last year, but it was still running smoothly, despite the occasional mess-up. Of course, they never minded it. They always had fun together. Kristin couldn't remember a day without her brother having fun with her. Saturdays were always more fun.

It was the Christmas season again for them, and they were bored with searching the house for their presents like they did every year. Their father always hid them so well. As Joshua headed out towards his luxury class car, he half-smiled, remembering he had hid them in the pool house outside, a place the kids would never look. He headed into the car and drove off to work.

Josh turned on the radio. "Gooooood morning, L.A.!" came the radio man as Josh drove down the Hollywood hills towards downtown. "It's a quiet, eerie little morning before Christmas. Wonder where everyone is? Me too. Until we get some requests, I'll just play you some jingles and Merry Christmas, ya'll." "Jingle Bells" played on the radio. Josh drove the car down the back roads, trying his hardest to avoid this traffic. He turned the radio off. Oddly enough, today there didn't seem to be hardly any at all. He saw a white gorilla/person pass into the alley next to him. Being generous and wondering about this new creature that happened to pass by, Joshua wondered if he had seen any others driving lately. He had taken note that the radio wasn't working, static filling every station. He stopped at the alley, rolled the window down, and called out.

"Hey, you goin' somewhere? Need a ride?"

"I would go somewhere, but I don't know where to go." came the reply. Joshua was surprised to have seen that this gorilla had acknowledged him. He had started to think the gorilla was a waste of time.

Joshua smiled big at the creature. He would just take him home and leave him with the kids, so they had somebody to watch over them while he was gone. Josh really was gullible. This creature could've been a serial killer and he'd have still been nice because he didn't know this guy, but saw he could use a little help. "Well, hop on in. I got a place for ya to stay at."

Gongon, the albino gorilla, smiled. "Thanks a million. These streets are filthy." He hopped in the back and buckled up. "So how ya doing today?"

Joshua smiled, "I'm doing good, stranger." Josh began to drive off, passing a woman in a black trenchcoat on the street. She looked pretty shady, and Josh knew dropping this other man off at his house wasn't going to leave much time to get to work, but he couldn't help but stop to ask if she had seen anybody else in the neighborhood. It was so quiet, Josh was almost scared now. She hid her ears under a hat, she put on sunglasses on to cover her golden eyes, her nails were the color of purple, they changed depending on her mood. She sighed and walked on the sidewalk.

"Excuse me, miss." He pulled up beside her. "Have you seen anybody else around town today? It's been kinda quiet."

"I agree. The sight of an empty city is most disconcerting." He shifted in the seat. Being a gorilla, he wasn't used to the confines of a car. The gorilla shifted uneasily in the seat. He looked for something to do. He opened the ashtray. He immediately knew that there was nothing edible in there, so he didn't bother. He then picked up a nearby magazine that was left in the backseat, probably for entertainment on long trips. He began to read, putting on ridiculously small reading glasses.

Meanwhile, Joshua smiled, waiting for the woman to reply. He didn't have all morning though, and he turned to see the gorilla was reading his magazine. He really didn't mind giving him a ride, but the magazine was pushing it. He turned back towards the lady on the street. "Good day to you miss. Have a safe one." He drove off, turning to the passenger. "We'll be there in a few. Hope you don't mind kids."

He put down the magazine. "No, not at all. I grew up in a zoo. Kids are great!"

Joshua began to drive off, but he figured this shady lady on the street had never answered his question. He began to drive away though, and headed back towards his house. "Have any kids of your own?" then an afterthought, "You live at the zoo?" Gongon nodded.

"I used to live at the zoo. I am a gorilla, after all. No, have no kids of my own. The zoo tried to set me up with a regular gorilla, but she was too narrowminded for my tastes. I can only assume you have kids?" came the response from the gorilla.

"Yeah I do... two of them. Dustin and Kristin. They take care of themselves and keep to themselves most of the time, but without their mother there-" He stopped and took note of a loud roaring sound that suddenly popped up. "Do you hear something?" The loud roaring sound began to grow louder and louder. It was almost deafening and one could almost not even hear Gongon's words.

"Yeah. Should we prepare for a fight or keep on moving?"

Joshua stopped the car as a large warhead flew by overhead, the radio suddenly churning to life and blaring loudly as the missle flew overhead, then dying off again. Weird, thought I turned it off. Joshua watched the missle fly towards the Hollywood sign, causing a large explosion that sent shockwaves through the car, shaking it violently for a moment. The car was silent for a moment, both people in the car horrified at what they had just seen. His mind turning, Joshua stepped on the gas, hoping to get to his kids before something bad happened.

"Say, do you have any heavy objects in the trunk you don't use? If we get caught in some sort of crossfire, I don't wish to be entirely defenseless." He paused, then sorrowfully he said, "You know the world's gone to hell when I have to say something like that..." Joshua looked over worriedly at Gongon. That wasn't something Joshua had expected. Hell? What did he mean? Today was only a few days before Christmas, it couldn't go to hell now!

Joshua shook his head, "No, just a few firearms one would use for paintball. My kids love paintball. I hope they're okay."

"Paintball, huh? I've always wondered why you humans... and I use the term 'humans' loosely, what with all the things that have occurred the past few months... are drawn to violence. I've seen someof your movies and sports and that always bugs me." Joshua really wasn't up for discussions on who was human and who wasn't. He had to go get his kids!

Josh nodded. "I don't know... uhm, what was your name again, sir?" Joshua hadn't caught his name before. He still drove quite like a maniac to get to his kids. They were the most important thing in the world to him. "As for violence... it's just human nature I guess. I'm not a philosopher, so I don't know."

"I never was born with a name, but the humans called Gongon while I was in captivity." came Gongon's reply. He held onto the door and the seat for support while Joshua drove like a madman up to the top of the hills.

Joshua screeched around a corner as he approached the house. It was partially destroyed. Joshua knew his kids were all right, that they had heard the bomb before it hit. He screamed, "Kristin! Dustin! KIDS!"

After a few moments, they both came out. Both young anthro-wolves were uninjured, but definitely scared. They bounded towards their father and all three engaged in a hug. "Get in the car, kids! We're outta here!" Gongon smiled to the kids, waving as they got into the car. Then, he said hello to them. He smiled happy to see them. He loved kids, especially since he'd been around them all his life.

"Who's that Dad?" Dustin asked as he jumped into the backseat of the car. Kristin followed. Both kids were happily ready to go, both of them quiet in the backseat. Kristin buried her head into Dustin's shirt frightened at all that was going on.

"Gongon, meet Dustin and Kristin, my kids." Joshua said as he began to leave the driveway. Another large missile flew overhead, striking Santa Monica, leaving it in ruins. "We need to get as far from here as we can, kids." Joshua continued to drive off.

Dustin smiled weakly at the stranger. "Nice to meet you." He held out a paw-hand to Gongon. He shook the paw-hand gently.

"Nice to meet you." was what Gongon responded with. They smiled together and Dustin sat back in his seat, holding onto his sister, hoping that his father would drive a little normally. Joshua drove quickly down the turning roads again. He slammed on brakes as he came across a pothole and swerved around.

"Hang on kids!" Joshua said, "This is going to be a little tricky."

Gongon had a thoughtful look on his face. "I think I remember you two... Did you guys go to the zoo a few years back?" Of course, he directed this at Dustin and Kristin. "'Cause if I'm right, you guys were very nice to me..." Dustin thought he was crazy, talking calmly at a time when his father could practically kill them all.

Dustin tried to remember the last time they went to the zoo. It wasn't very often because nobody really liked their kind. They weren't human, yet they were walking around enjoying the sites like they were. Since this was the case, they always felt sorry animals had to keep inside cages for human pleasure all day long, while being subjected to horrifyingly bad amounts of space.

Dustin never recalled Gongon, but Kristin sure did. She remembered he was the best looking out of all the simians she saw that day, her most favorite at the time. She was only eight, of course, so everything was her favorite then, but she had to admit she had a big attraction to his fur coat and color. She blushed, "I remember you. You looked like a big gorilla then... now you don't!" She smiled childishly, a little obscene for somebody like her age.

Gongon felt like laughing. Did he really look more like a human? He looked at himself. He seemed as he always had. Except for the shorts. Those were a recent addition. And he had liked those shorts when he had escaped. They made him more civilized.... So he looked at her. "Then what do I look like?"

Kristin laughed playfully. "Like a regular-sized one!" Joshua swerved around potholes and collapsing small buildings as a large earthquake began. The car jolted around fiercely, causing Dustin and Kristin to brace for a huge impact. The impact wouldn't come though for a long time until Joshua rounded a large corner. The car tilted sharply to one side, two wheels coming off the edge of the pavement a little bit before landing on the ground. The earthquake was magnified powerfully inside the moving car and it seemed as though the car would collapse at any moment. It continued to hold, however.

Dustin and Kristin continued to hold each other tightly in case they were flung from the vehicle, they'd go together. Dustin shot Gongon a quick look to see if Gongon was panicking or remaining calm. "My, these things are not exactly pleasant, are they?" He hand his hands tensed, ready to catch Kristin and Dustin in case they were to go flying. Dustin turned the seatbelt behind him until his was fastened, and then did the same to his sister's.

Joshua swerved around a collapsing street light and drove straight past the shady lady he'd passed earlier on the street, driving quickly to get out of town. Is this why nobody was around now? Joshua jumped onto the highway, probably the worst idea he'd ever had. Another bomb went flying past, collapsing a part of the highway in front of them, and he had to swerve to miss falling down. It was fast-paced and action packed, almost like a movie, as Joshua continued to drive.

"Haven't I seen this before?" he mumbled to himself.

Gongon smiled upon hearing his words. "I think it's kind of like Lethal Weapon 10 during the big chase scene." He would lean with the car on some of the harder turns, being careful not to squish anybody. "This is actually kind of fun if you ignore the fact that someone's trying to kill us!"

More politics! Dustin couldn't believe it, and Joshua didn't have time for it. He quickly passed it off with his fast words as Joshua smirked. "Nobody's trying to kill us... it is those missiles! If they weren't blowing stuff up! Who's are they anyways?" Joshua tried to scratch his head, but couldn't bring himself to because he needed both hands on the wheel.

"Well, they're not trying to kill us specifically, but it does seem that they're trying to kill everyone in the area, and that does include us. But this is no time for technicalities. We should watch out for anti-vehicle mines as well if they were that smart." Gongon seemed totally relaxed in his words, but he was very tensed, ready for anything. Bracing for anything that could possibly happen.

"Damn!" Joshua exclaimed as he slammed on brakes. The car stopped just short of hitting one of those said mines. Joshua turned to Gongon. "Thanks for the reminder." Gongon nodded again, happy to help.

"No problem. Whoever they are must be really dumb. That mine is clearly visible, and those missiles aren't even heat-seeking. If we find shelter, we should be safe." Gongon turned to face Joshua, hoping he had a place for them to stay at.

Meanwhile, the catgirl made her way down the street when the bombs started going off. She slammed into the wall. "What the?" she quizzingly looked around and she took off her sunglasses and looked around before she stuffed them into a bag that she had strapped around her. She began running down the street her hat flying off, showing her cat ears. She ignored it and kept running. It was just a hat after all, and she had to make it out of there alive! She quickly ran down the street dodging more hellfire and bombs.

Back in the car, Joshua turned to Gongon as well. "I know just the place." He sped off towards the location he mentioned. "It's an old cabin outside of LA. It's a few miles away though. Haven't been there in a few years."

She stopped running and looked around. She covered her ears with her hair and started to run again. She crossed the street and took a short cut through the park, she stopped feeling the ground shake again, and she fell. "Oof, whats going on?" She quickly stood back up and looked around. Things were starting to fall apart around her and she wanted to get away from all of this as fast as she could.

Joshua would've hit her had he not stopped in time. He rolled down the window quickly and yelled. "Get in if you want to live!" He impatiently waited for the girl, honking the horn on his car to signal to her. He found what he had said to be too cliched and stereotypical, but the words DID suit this situation very well.

She looked at him and she decided it was far better than running, so she quickly opened the door and got in. She looked out the window, putting her sunglasses back on. Joshua sped off again.

"Just in the nick of time, I'd say." Joshua began to drive off. "We're headed to a safe place. All of us. My name's Josh. The two in the back beside you are my kids, Kristin and Dustin." Kristin waved hello. "And Gongon here isn't related, but I picked him up too only a little while ago. And your name would be-"

"My name's Raven." she said soft velvet voice, finishing Joshua's words. She looked at them shyly before carefully asking, "Safe place?" She asked calmly. She looked over at Dustin and Kristin, Dustin nodded and Kristin began to calm down from being on edge so much.

Joshua nodded silently as they left L.A. "Yeah, it's a cabin a few miles away from here that I own. It's fully stocked and I'm not sure if we can all fit into separate bedrooms, but on the plus side, yeah it is safe and out in the wilderness."

Kristin smiled, happy to see another female in the car. "Hi, Raven. I'm Kristin." she introduced herself. "Where are you from?" Raven never answered her question, she just looked out the window calmly with her sunglasses hiding her eyes.

Awakened by a loud whizzing noise, a blonde haired, blue eyed young woman stood up, yawned and headed to the highway to see what is going on.

"What the heck!" Ducking, the woman screamed in fear as this heavy, fast moving object nearly hit her.

Soon after the missle nearly hit her, she began to feel the earth moving underneath her. "What the heck is going on" she wondered calmly to herself.

Unsure of what she should do, and having no place to go, as well as knowing no one, she ran back to her sleeping place and began to pack, in a backpack she had no idea where she had gotten from, her small items: one hair brush, one dress (which she put on as she was packing. It was made out of a pink silk color that she had stolen before entering LA), one small knife, and one picture of her mother and father. Then headed back to the highway and began walking.

Joshua knew as he saw the girl in pink that there would be need for her later on. She just had one of those faces. Joshua, the kind-hearted soul he was, knew she'd be the last person he could squeeze into his car for a while. He stopped quickly and asked, "Get in. It's going to be safer where I'm headed." Joshua honked the horn for her to signal her to get in. He didn't have all day and he was definitely ready to get gone from L.A. before the shit hit the fan.

The girl in pink, not knowing and not having been around humans or other creatures for as long as she could remember, pulled a knife out of her backpack. Unaware of what was going on and now scared she put the knife close to her as a warning to this creature that was in front of her. "Why do I need safety, what is going on? Where are you going? What was that thing that almost tried to end my life?" She had so many questions, but she knew there was not enough time to ask them all. So instead she put her knife back in her backpack. "Where should I sit?" the woman asked, looking down. She was ashamed that she pulled the knife out, but in her defense, she was just scared. Dustin pulled Kristin close enough and let Lexi squeeze in in the backseat. As Joshua began to drive off, he began to explain all he knew.

"Missiles are going off around us. All over town. Virtually all of LA seems destroyed and we're going to a cabin in the woods a few miles off from here for safety until we can figure out what to do. Is that okay with you?"

In bewilderment, the girl answered, "So thats what they are called, missiles." She didn't know what they were, or even where they came from, but she did know that one almost killed her. "Yes, that's fine with me. Who is that big gorilla?" she whispered in Dustin's ear, nervous about upsetting the creature that was beside her. The girl in pink wasn't sure if she could trust these creatures, but she had her knife at all times so she knew she was safe no matter what. "The end of the world, huh?" she said out loud. "I just began living and now it is all going to end." She began to wipe the wetness that was coming from her eyes. She had never felt anything like this before.

Dustin felt sorry for the poor girl. She looked to be about his age, and she looked very pretty to him. He kept quiet and calm though, not even acknowledging his like for the pretty girl beside him. "His name's Gongon." Dustin whispered back. "Dad picked him up first, I guess." He stared at the new girl. "You just started living? You look like you're my age... my sister's 13 and I'm 16. What about you?"

The girl didn't know what to say. How could she tell them that she doesn't remember her past and didn't even know who she was really. "Im 17 years of age. I.." She stopped. She knew she had been through so much, her scars were evidence; the ones on her back and on her legs, they were small, but she didn't give them to herself. The girl didn't know if this 16 year old could handle the truth, she figured she should tell everyone her whole past, even if they hated her for it. "Let me start from the beginning. My mother and my father were killed when I was born, I don't remember them really, except I have this old photo of them. That is how I know my age, it says the date on the back. My childhood I do not remember at all. I do remember though that I was being treated bad and escaped a building that looked abandoned. I ran until I couldn't run anymore and evenutally ended up here. I do not know anyone, in fact you are the only creatures I have seen since I've escaped that place. That is all I can really tell you."

Whispering back in Dustin's ear she said, "Thank you so much for telling me his name, you are quite handsome." This new girl blushed and looked away, scared to be rejected yet again. She hated her past, what little she remembered, and she knew she hated rejection.

Joshua nodded. "Well, it's good to have you on board, miss. Did I ever catch your name?" He continued to drive, laughing briefly. "I must've asked everybody in this car that by now." The car continued on, the bumps, swerves, and action-packed thrills of escaping LA done and gone now. Gone, too, was the majority of LA, a skeleton of it's former self.

Kristin smiled and introduced herself to the lady in pink. "I'm Kristin. This is Dustin, my older bro!" She smiled happily. Dustin blushed as he heard what the girl said to him about him being handsome, but his fur color hid it well. "Thanks, Kristin, for sharing that."

"Kristin, honey, better get some sleep if you can. You two, Dustin. We'll be there in a little while." Joshua suddenly remembered his car trip down the road a "few miles" would last just a slight bit longer. It was around 100 miles away in the Rockies. Joshua continued to drive.

"You don't remember anything about your past? That's sad." Kristin began to grow sleepy, resting her head on Dustin's shoulder. "I feel sorry... for... you... zzzzz." Kristin fell asleep. Dustin remained awake however, watching his sister carefully. He'd always be by her side.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself." Dustin whispered to the lady in pink.

"My name is Lexi, short for Alexis, but I rarely tell anyone that." Lexi giggled, looking at Kristin, she too felt tired. "Do you mind if i lay in your lap?" Lexi whispered in Dustin's ear.

Dustin nodded to Lexi. "Go ahead, if you're tired. I don't mind. I just have to stay awake in case anything happens to my sister." He smiled to her. "I've been doing that since Mom died." He felt like he was the protector of his sister every day, now that his mother was dead and gone.

"Thanks, love." Lexi said, whispering into Dustin's ear. Yawning she laid her head into Dustin's lap. Before falling asleep she thought to herself, "Dustin and I must be alike in some ways. We both lost our mothers, how sad.."And with that she fell into a deep sleep.

She looked out the window. Raven hid herself from them, too shy to show them the real her as she sighed quietly. She looked at everyone before looking back out the window, then she hid her eyes, ears and tail behind clothing, she hugged herself.

"Tell me something about yourself, girl. What's your name for starters...?" Joshua asked, looking at the girl in the rearview mirrors. He wanted to make sure he wasn't making any mistakes. He smiled, trying to coax her into feeling accepted. Joshua began to slow his speed down, coming off the adrenaline high from racing out of LA, "If you don't mind me saying, I'd like to know who's staying in my cabin."

"Well my name's Raven, I come.... From far away..." she started off "I'm only 15 years old." She saw cars passing by, but there were hardly any and all were heading towards L.A. The poor bastards would be killed, didn't they know that? She continued, "And.... I'm different...." She whispered, turning away so as not to look at them. Dustin stared at her in the mirror questioningly. Was she a rapist? A grocery store clerk? How was she different, he thought. Raven could see his perplexed look and she explained. She blushed "Well.... uhh..." she sighed "All right I'll show you." She fixed her hair and her black cat ears popped up. Then she took off her sunglasses showing her golden eyes before she slowly took off her trench coat, revealing her black tail. "That's how." She whispered looking down.

Joshua laughed as he could see Raven from his mirrors. "Raven, please. Look at my family. We're wolves. Do you really think we're going to care if you look partially cat?"

Her ears twitched as she heard him laugh. Instinctively, she put her jacket and glasses back on and looked out of the window, "I'm sorry, I didnt know." she said quietly, she looked back out the window, becoming silent again.

Joshua continued to drive on and Dustin remained quiet for some time. Kristin was asleep on his shoulder, sleeping soundly and Lexi was asleep in his lap. Dustin couldn't sleep, he wasn't tired anyways. He sat quietly in the backseat and watched Raven, then Gongon, then his father, then the road, and finally to zoning out into space for a while, remembering sweet memories of his mother before she was brutally killed. He almost wanted to cry at the rememberance of them, but he didn't.

He was too strong for that. He had to be for his sister, and his father was always sad about the loss as well. He felt like he had to hold the family together at times, even though he wasn't the oldest of the family. Dustin simply stayed awake, wishing that now he wasn't in this situation. He hated the situations like these. Sometimes, he had been thrown into this as a kid. His mom always told him and taught him to be strong and be glad that he was able to make it through them with the right amount of strength, instinct, and courage. Dustin had to be strong for the family, since it was obvious that Joshua was unstable now. Dustin just hoped that Joshua wouldn't die, he relied heavily on his father.

The city of L.A. was nuked after they got within a safe distance, almost as if they had tripped a wire to set the city off, destroying it almost all completely. The day the Earth stood still, the day the world ended, the end of days and the end of times were here. And the six of them in Joshua's car sped off, hoping to be safe for a long time inside the cabin in the woods. Joshua hoped to God that they'd survive.

If not....

Lexi awoke from her deep sleep to find Joshua saying her name. "W-what? Oh, the knife. Protection. I don't want to be hurt again. I just can't handle that again. I escaped so I could find a better life. All I remember is being hurt, hit, over and over again. It was late one night so I left. Thats all I remember." Sitting up, Lexi wanted to be loved and have a normal life, and she couldn't stop thinking about the missles that had flown by and the earthquake. What was going to happen next? She didn't know, but she did know she was going to be ready for whatever was going to happen.

Dustin looked over at Lexi, then at Raven, then at his sister. Joshua turned sharply onto a dirt road that led up to a mountain filled with trees and a snowy top. They were almost there. Dustin turned back to Lexi, "You're not going to need that knife around me. I'm not going to hurt you. Neither will my sister." he smiled again, his eyes glowing in happiness and friendliness.

She sighed pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Raven looks at everyone thinking, can I trust them? She thought for a while before realizing, I guess I can, I have nobody else. She rested her chin on her knees, she took her coat off as it got hot, and Raven looked at them for a bit. Lexi looked over at Raven. "You are so pretty Raven! You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen!" Lexi said, trying to make things a bit easier on Raven. Lexi blushed, smiling she said, "Thank you Dustin, I still need it to protect all of us, its my weapon, and it makes me feel secure."

She blushed, "Thank you." She said quietly as she closed her eyes turning back into human. She stretched, her eyes staying their golden color, she smiled softly looking at Lexi, she looked back out the window. The memories came back to her. She could remember them as the came into her mind. Raven didn't want anybody to know what had happened to her so she was quiet.

Joshua acknowledged they were nearly there. "Alright guys, just a few more minutes, okay?" Joshua drove slower now, up and up and around the twists and turns of the corners as he climbed the mountain.

Dustin lightly shook Kristin awake. She awoke, sleepily, and looked around. "Are we almost there?" Dustin nodded to Kristin and she seemed much calmer now than she ever had. Kristin wasn't usually hyper, but today with all the craziness, she had adjusted quickly and became hyper. Now she was calm, ready to see what her father and brother and all these strangers would do inside the cabin. Dustin ruffled his sister's furry head and made her smile. He didn't like it when she didn't smile, like she hadn't when her mother died. He liked her smiles though. He always felt better when she did.

Raven turned to face Gongon briefly as she questioned him, "Who are you and why are you here?" she asked him quietly.

Gongon looked at Joshua. "You practically know my story already, so I'll try to reduce it to the highlights." So he began to speak to the girls, "My name is Gongon, I'm a genetically altered albino African Gorilla, though my life didn't start out that way. Just a month ago, some radiation from experimental weapons being made nearby affected my cellular structure, increasing my intellect and amplifying my strength. It also somehow altered my vocal chords, or else I wouldn't be able to tell you this tale so easily. I realized that my imprisonment was wrong and engineered an escape. I was living off trash ever since until Josh picked me up." He bowed his head slightly.

"Oh."

"That's nice." Lexi said smiling. She didn't trust any of them fully, except for Dustin. She had a strange attraction towards him. Excited they were almost there, Lexi realized how antsy she had become. She wanted to get to know everyone so she could finally have some friends, but she still didn't know what to expect when they arrived at the cabin. Maybe she could talk to Dustin, or Joshua, or even Raven and have a nice conversation, a real one, before the world really did end.

Her parents were there as she temporarily blacked out. Raven looked around, wondering what was going on. Nobody was in the car with her, there was no car. She looked back towards her parents to see what was going on. She could barely make them out as the men in white coats began to experiment on them. She screamed, but nobody could hear her as the bright white flash took over her vision and she was temporarily blinded. She looked back and saw she was in the car again, with nobody having seen what had happened. She looked out the window sitting up and she looked back at them then back out the window. "Where are we?"

"We're about there at the cabin I told you all I was taking you. I think it's safe enough out here. It's plenty of wild enough for all of us. There's a place to sleep, shelter, food in the fridge, and the view is amazing. Me and the wife used to come here every summer with the kids until she passed away." Joshua grew quiet, but then changed the subject as the cabin came into view. "Here we are. Everybody get out and go inside. Help yourself to some food, there are a few beds and a pullout in there. Please don't break anything."

Raven nodded and opened the door. She took her jacket and glasses and looked around before she bit her bottom lip then slowly walked inside as she looked around. "cozy." She whispered. As she walked in slowly, looking at everything, she rubbed her arm where a strange symbol was imprinted, she hid it under her sleeve. She could remember where and why she had gotten it, but didn't like to talk about it. She sighed looking back at them and she bit her lip then shook her head as she sat on the couch and curled up. She turned into a small black kitten and hid underneath her coat; she wiped a tear away and stayed silent.

She slept gently for a moment before seeing her family, that is to say, her parents, as they were constantly experimented on. She could clearly see the stages forming like a puddle before her eyes; her parents' mutations into catpeople, which was very disturbing for Raven to witness. She hated to see her parents growing cat tails and cat ears and their eyes. Those were the scariest part of all. The seemingly beautiful eyes of their humanity slipped as well, turning fierce and catlike, becoming a sense of evil to her as she watched.

She continued to watch as the lab-coated men forced the two of her parents to mate and she watched with awe and horror as they forced them into it. The sexual desires weren't truly there, just some man in a lab-coat forcing it upon the parents. They were having her, their only child. She almost teared up at the pain that they had put her parents through for this. For what monsters would do such things to innocent people for experiments other than the humans themselves. These scientists did not care what happened, they wanted their results by any means neccessary. She continued to sleep, fitfully.

Before getting out, Gongon turned to see Joshua stop the car. "Are you sure there's enough food for all of us? And for that matter, how long will it last?"

Joshua nodded to Gongon. "Yep. And when the food in the fridge runs out, we resort to primal instinct. Hunting." Joshua smiled as he clambored out of the car.

Dustin and Kristin followed suit. Kristin turned to Gongon. "I love the hunting... it's great." Kristin smiled at Gongon, still liking to remember when she was little having seen him in a zoo. She knew he didn't belong there, but she still remembered enjoying seeing him there. "Come on, guys." She and her brother and father walked inside the cabin.

The cabin wasn't a mansion, but it was definitely spacious. Three bedrooms, a large living room with a stone fireplace. The roof had several skylights in it for maximum lighting and scenery of the sky. There was an overhanging porch over a large cliff in the back of the house with a panoramic view of the mountains. There was also a couple of large bathrooms, and a very spacious kitchen with a gracious amount of food stored. All of the food was still good. The dining room had ample room for all the guests, even though Joshua only needed four chairs before, he still had plenty of extras. Joshua smelled the mountain air deeply. Here was where these poor people would probably live out the rest of their days, but he wouldn't tell any of them that. In a few moments, Joshua turned on the lights to the cabin and the living room was illuminated. The living room led to nearly every room in the rest of the cabin from here and was definitely a showpiece. Aside from the stone fireplace with an old family portrait hanging over it, the living room also had a television, sixty inch flatscreen wall mount, plasma and LCD. It was old, but it got the picture. There was also an MP7/zPod/microdisc player in the corner. The furniture in the whole cabin was rustic/antique, but it looked brand new. It was also sturdier than it should've been, from years of cleaning and preserving. There were not many other entertainment options in the room, but there was still a trail outside leading towards the forest where there was a fishing boat on a pond and some poles to fish as well as a large mountain trail to hike. Plenty of classics lined the shelves of a bookcase and virtually every bedroom had a closet and a TV too.

"It's small, but we call it a home away from home." Joshua smiled, turning towards his guests.

Raven looked up at Lexi purring softly, she curled up in her arms. Noticing Raven was now a kitten, Lexi headed towards Raven. "Are you okay hun?" When Raven didn't respond, she tried to compliment Raven into talking. "Awh, what a beautiful kitten you are!!!" Holding up the kitten, Lexi smiled and petted the soft creature. Ive always wanted a younger sister," Lexi told Raven. "You would be the perfect little sister! You too Kristin," Lexi said to each of them, not wanting to exclude either of them, still petting the most precious kitten Lexi had ever seen.

Kristin blushed, her fur showing the redness moreso than her brother's had. "Thanks Lexi. You're very nice!" Kristin then went onto the porch, motioning for Raven and Lexi to follow her.

she giggled, "Thanks." she said quietly. She looked at everyone and smiled gently to them, "I've never had any family." She looked up at Lexi, "I was always alone" she sighed, remembering the horrible truth.

She remembered the tapes she'd found before escaping the facility. The tapes documenting her mother's pregnancy and birth. How when she was born, her parents both were both dead. Her father only days after her conceiving and her mother moments after birth. She nearly teared up, but she was used to things like this now. She had to stop before things really got out of hand for her. She'd let her anger and emotions out and the mark would come back.

As Gongon approached the cabin, Gongon sighed. "It's nice... really... but it's nothing new. I'm used to sleeping on wood and cement and steel. I will sleep outside. I can finally enjoy grass and earth like I was meant to. No offense." He went outside, gathered some leaves, and made a nest. He then laid down in it, and began to sleep. He sighed in contentment. Wow. This is comfortable.... He thought to himself.

"Don't worry Raven, Im sure Joshua and Dustin and Kristin will take good care of you, and I know I will. You dont have to worry about a thing because we are all in this together!" Lexi put Raven down so she could turn back into human again, if she wanted to.

The thoughts had made the crescent moon come back to a glowing state on her head. She tried to hide it when she could. She smiled softly and sat down as she turned back into her half form, stretching and looking around. She hid it behind her hair and stood up.

Dustin went into a bedroom and threw himself onto a bed face first, burying his head into a pillow. He remembered all the nights he once spent there with his whole family. It was too much to bear for the poor boy-wolf, and he cried silently to himself, face buried in a pillow.

"This place is really nice Joshua, you must have worked really hard for all this." Noticing the cresant moon that formed on Raven's head, Lexi couldnt help but wonder what it was. "Raven, what's that cresant moon on your forehead," pulling Raven's hair away from her forehead. "You dont have to be shy around me, its ok." Raven smiled, but said nothing at all.

"Thanks, Lexi." Joshua smiled as he went outside.

Her ears twitched as she heard muffled crying. She tilted her head to the side and she looked at the room he was crying in. Raven wanted to see why he was crying and if she could do anything to help. She bit her bottom lip and sighed. I don't know him, she thought, it would be werid for him. She softly knocked on the door and waited for a response. She didn't wait long.

Dustin hadn't acknowledged that anybody would hear him and so he brushed it off by blowing off whoever was at the door. "Go away..." It was very upsetting that he had to be here again, especially where all the memories were. He had never gotten over the death of his mother, even though apparantly everybody else had. He couldn't let go. He really needed the company, but he didn't want anybody to think he was weak. Especially not Kristin. If she saw him crying this way, she might think he was less of a big brother and more of a big baby. He continued to cry, not acknowledging that at any time the door could be opened and he'd be exposed and would then be forced to have to have some company comfort him.

She looked hurt but then brushed it off. "I-I'm sorry." She said through the door, "I didn't mean to interrupt." She thought about opening the door but then decided not to; he needed to be alone and she wasn't going to have to force him to speak with her. "I'll be leaving then." She sighed. She never had been yelled at, she held in her emotion and turned away from the door.

Lexi saw the comotion between Dustin and Raven. Raven looking upset Lexi shouted at her "Why are you sad little one! Be happy! If you need to talk im here! I will listen!" then continuing into the room Dustin was in, Lexi laid on the bed beside Dustin. Letting him talk when he was ready. She moved her hand to his and held it while he lay crying.

Raven looked at her, "No.... I'm fine." She turned and left the room. She walked outside and into the forest, where she felt safe, but she didn't know why. She sat down beside a tree and looked at the sky. She thought about everything that had happened to her. The experiments, the mystery of the lab-coated people's true purpose for her. Why had she been created was no mystery to her. She was created for evil.

She remembered that the chemicals in her parents had caused their deaths, wondering if she had the same chemicals in them. She continued to sit under the tree, the bright afternoon sky shining down on her. It was slightly cold to her. She continued to remember the two silver bells, which she always wore around her neck, had been given to her from her parents, which she barely remembered was given to her by her own mother herself. She had no idea why they would give her something like that, only that it reminded her of the parents she once had.

Back inside the house, Dustin continued to cry, hoping that he could stop soon. "It's not fair." he cried into the pillow. "It's not fair. Why did she have to die?" Dustin continued to cry, holding Lexi's hand as he did, "Why? Why did it happen? Why did she die, why!" he continued to cry, neither his sister nor his father coming in to see him as neither could hear what was going on in the room. Dustin continued to cry, letting it be known he missed his mother much more than he let on. He continued to sob, "I wish I were dead. Maybe then I would be happier."

"Babe, everyone has to die. My mom and dad died, and I never even knew them. I didnt get to spend one minute with them. Do I miss them? Of course! I miss them now more then I ever did! I just realized that nothing that I can ever do will bring them back. I also know that my mom and dad are watching over me and are proud of me. Im sure your mom would be proud of you for being as strong as you are. Its ok to cry too. Im glad you are alive, Im glad that I got to meet you. I really like you." Lexi squeezed his hand when she said the last sentence, hoping he would understand that she was there for him, and she would always listen to him. No matter what.

She sighed hugging herself as she rested her chin on her knees, rocking herself thinking about her past. She had flash backs of when she was in the lab, a tear formed and fell down her face. The cresant moon glowing a little, Raven continued to remember. They did experiments on her. She sighed, remembering what they had made her for. They made her into a monster, a weapon, she thought angrily to herself. She hugged herself even more before, "They wouldn't understand." She whispered, "Nobody will." She looked up at the sky. "I'm a monster, a weapon, and thats all I am." She continued to sigh, looking back down. With one word she can become unstoppable, she thought to herself, that was all it took.

They had done experiements on her forever, but it was when she had come of age that she had started to get a little rebellious. They had tried impregnating her when she was old enough, but she refused. They had had so much success in making her useful for the wars, so much power that she could not be stopped, that the scientists were baffled when Raven had finally refused them. She had just simply said no and that was all it took. It was then that they began to use less than conventional matters, forcing her and attempting to make her do what she continued refusing to do.

Joshua went to Gongon and approached him. "Gongon, can I ask you a favor?"

Gongon looked up at him with one eye. "What's on your mind?"

Joshua looked over at Gongon. "Would you mind helping me out around the cabin a little bit? I mean... hunting mostly, and helping to watch my kids while I'm hunting?" Joshua smiled graciously at the gorilla, "Much obliged."

She wiped the tear away and looked into the forest as her ears twitched hearing a faint voice:

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." The man said smiling, as he looked at her, "All alone I see." He shook his head as he continued, "I understand what you're going through," he said walking up to her and he touched the cresant moon on her forhead. He smirked, "And now my dear, you are mine." He closed his eyes, whispering a spell, the cresant glowing and turns a saphire color. He smiled, "You are mine!" he whispered maliciously as he disappeared into the woods.

She shook her head and stood up before she walked inside silently and sat on the couch. She thought about what the man said, while simultaneously listening to Lexi and Dustin in the other room.

Dustin smiled, even through the tears, as he looked at Lexi. "Really?" He smiled happily, his tail wagging. He really liked her too, but he didn't know if it was in the same way or if she was just using metaphors... he really did like her however the case was.

Lexi smiled back at Dustin, "Really." Kissing the tip of Dustin's nose she wondered if he was in fact going to be ok, and then began to wonder what everyone else was doing.

Dustin smiled as she kissed him on the nose. It sealed the deal, so to speak, with her. She liked him and he like her. He could tell now. He licked her face like a puppy would, showing his affection for her. "Thanks, Lexi. You're the best."

Kristin came in and saw Raven sitting on the couch. "Raven? Are you okay?" she asked softly.

She was staring out into space, remembering that she had escaped only earlier that day. She had been walking down the street when Joshua had pulled up beside of her. She didn't speak to him because she was afraid he was going to take her back to the facility she had escaped. Look what Joshua had done for her! She snapped out of it and looked at her, "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," she smiled softly and stood up, stretching, having a glint in her golden eyes. she looked out the window, "I'm going back outside, okay?" She grabbed her coat and walked outside. She walked into the forest, putting her coat on. As she walked into the clearing looking around, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as her cresant started to glow a little, and she sood still focusing. When she opens her eyes, they started to glow a little. A bright light shot from the sky and shot through her, she closed her eyes the light disapearing, and she fell to the ground, her eyes closed, then the crescent dimmed and stopped glowing as she turned a little pale, breathing slowly.

He smiled walking up to her, kneeling beside of her and touching her forhead, "Kitty, now's the time!" He closed his eyes, "Unleash the demon within!" he whispered.

Kristin followed after Raven. "Wait up, Raven!" She ran after her, hoping to catch up to her in time before Raven was gone and Kristin couldn't find her. Kristin didn't like hide and seek, especially not in these woods. Kristin watched hidden from view as Raven and the man were on the ground. She was frightened. What did he mean, "demon within?" Kristin didn't like the sound of it and so she stayed hidden to see what would happen to Raven. She hoped the man wouldn't hurt her.

The man smirked and kissed the cresant moon, and as he disappeared leaving her, he spoke. "Kitten, soon the world will be under your control." He whispered in her ear.

She layed there, the cresant glowing then stopped, as she whispered a word. "Merna...."

Pretending not to have seen anything, Kristin came out from the bushes. She absent-mindedly strolled over to Raven and put her hand on Raven's shoulder. "Hi there! Wanna play?" Kristin smiled happily and playfull got to all fours to play.

She opened her eyes and sat up. She blinked looking confused as she stood up. "Play?" She asked; she thought, "I don't know." She looked around the forest.

Kristin wagged her tail playfully. "C'mon, Raven! Let's play. Let's play!" she desperately tried to forget what she had just seen, but the image was still in her mind. She tried to be playful with Raven, to get Raven happy as well....

Raven smiled, "I'd love to but, I'm really tired." she yawned and stretched, "In the morning alright?" She stood up.

Inside the bedroom, Lexi and Dustin sat on the bed still. They had been flirting actually, the whole time. Lexi giggled and licked Dustin's face in return, catching a few furs in her mouth. Dustin smiled. "You're very pretty, Lexi." He couldn't bring himself to truly say what he felt, but he knew she probably knew already.

"I love you!" Lexi blurted out. "I-I-mean.. I.. got to go." Lexi got up to leave, she had never loved anyone in her whole life, but she knew this feeling couldn't be denied. Never had anyone been as nice to her and she was not going to pass the situation up. The world was coming to an end, and she needed to love someone. Even if she didn't know them too well.

Dustin got up and followed after Lexi. "Lexi, wait!" He managed to stop her, "I... I love you too." he tried to explain, "I mean, I barely know you, but I feel like I can connect to you and open up to you. I... love being around you. I... you know what, it doesn't matter. I'm a wolf and you... don't appear to be." Dustin went over towards the bed again, "You probably wouldn't even want me to love you."

Lexi ran to the bed, leaped into Dustin's arms and whispered "Thank you Dustin, for loving me. I really need that, to be loved that is." Kissing his lips softly, she knew she wasn't any part wolf, but she loved him and that was all that mattered to her. "Im tired, lets sleep for the night? We have a big battle tomorrow, most likely." Lexi laid on the bed, unsure of where she should sleep, but was tired.

Kristin took Raven by the hand, "Then come on. Let's go get some sleep at the house." She began to drag Raven away from the site of the most horrifying thing she had just seen. "Let's go to bed."

She smiled softly. "All right then." She looked back at the spot, shaking her head, feeling some kind of anger rising. She was going to growl and hiss but held it in. She didn't know why she felt anger rising, she shrugged it off and followed Kristin into the house again.

"Okay, Lexi. You can sleep here. I'm going to go check on Kristin. I'll be back soon." Dustin walked out of the cabin and found Kristin leading Raven up towards the house.

"What's going on?" Dustin asked. "We're going to bed. Raven's tired." Kristin explained quickly. She managed to show Dustin the wary and cautious "look out" eyes before passing him. Dustin was immediately curious and decided to go to bed himself. He approached his father and Gongon.

"Dad, we're all going to bed. We'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, my son. Sleep tight." Joshua smiled, hugging his son. Joshua missed the good ol' days when he could lift his son up high and give him a piggy-back ride to bed, but no more. Those days had come and gone.

Joshua turned. "Well, I am going to leave as Gongon. Sweet dreams and think about what I said about helping out. I'd appreciate it if you did." Joshua went to the empty bedroom and closed the door, sleeping in the master bedroom alone.

She looked at them. "I'll sleep on the couch," she said as she stopped walking, "I don't like beds." she shrugged as Joshua looked at her questioningly. "I'm fine really." She smiled and started walking towards the couch.

Dustin headed towards the bedroom again and climbed in next to Lexi, nearly immediately falling asleep and having terrible dreams of the world ending and him being killed in the process. He saw his mother there and he would call out to her in his dreams, whimpering in his sleep as he did so. He never caught his mother, but the dreams still kept her within grasp to taunt him.

Awakening in the middle of the night to some sort of sound, Lexi realized it was Dustin, laying beside her. "He must be having a bad dream," she whispered to herself. She touched his fur, trying to soothe him as he whimpered. "Its ok babe, its just a dream she whispered in his ear." She too had been dreaming of awful things. She had dreamt of her parents, the bits and pieces she remembered from the horrible place she was in before now. She couldn't fall back asleep so she got up and made sure everything was ok around the house. Thats when she heard it. Missles. They weren't that far away. Hoping for the best, Lexi decided to climb back in bed with Dustin, knowing he would hear something if they got closer and would protect her.

In the living room, Raven woke up and looked out the window. She could hear a rustling sound and opened the window. She held in the anger, gripping the window seal, and she grinded her teeth together. "No!" She whispered, her eyes starting to glow a little.

Dustin slept fitfully, nightmares plauging his dreams. Kristin slept similarly badly, the visions of Raven and the man overwhelmed her mind as she slept in the bed her father did. Lexi climbed into bed with Dustin, laying there awake she thought of all the things that have happened in the last few hours. Until she finally fell back asleep. Lexi didn't awake again until dawn. Joshua did not sleep long. The missiles went off and he looked to see these were much more dangerous than the ones this morning. The nuclear bombs caused extreme explosions worldwide, hitting every captiol and capital city of the world, including LA. If anything was left of LA now, it would be a miracle. Luckily, up in the mountainside, they were safe. Nothing bad could possibly happen to them. He heard Lexi get up and said quietly to her, "Go back to bed. Everything is all right." He hoped they would be able to survive long enough for the world to return to normal, or semi-normal.

Raven's hair started to float as if in water, her eyes glowing a soft blue. She stuck her head out of the window, breathing slowly, as she kept quiet making sure not to wake anyone up. She gripped the window harder, her hands turning white. She had to control it. She had to! She then decided escape was a better solution. She couldn't hurt these people. She jumped through the window landing lightly on her feet with a soft thud. She shook her head holding it in as she walked into the forest looking around. She kicked a tree with some strength, almost breaking it, but she gripped the branch, cutting her hands. She tried so hard to get rid of the anger but found it difficult until finally she screamed into nothingess and tried to get the world to understand her anger. Nobody could hear. She took a deep breath and let go of the branch as she wiped her hands on her black skirt and kept walking. She looked around before saying, "I have to get out."

She looked around thinking, what's happening to me? She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, "I'm a monster!" she whispered before she opened them and starts to run.

"Don't fight it, confront it!" the man whispered, "Take in the anger, use it as your power!"

She stopped running. "You're right." She smiled nodding.

Joshua was still there at dawn, watching over the porch. The view was amazing. He couldn't believe he never got out here enough. His job had encased him in work for so long, he almost forgot how to relax. Now it's all he could do, that's all that was left. Dustin smiled as he saw Lexi was still in bed, remembering the kiss they had shared the day before. He was glad to know he had a person who loved him and that he loved back, and that wasn't family. He got out of bed quietly, having slept in his clothes. He then went to the door and opened it to see about food.

At dawn, Lexi opened her eyes to see Dustin gone. She was nervous to see him again, in person, while he wasn't sleeping. She didnt know how he had felt about the kiss, and she didnt want to be rejected. She walked past the couch where Raven was not, and into the kitchen where she now was confronted by Dustin. "What is there for breakfast?" Lexi asked shyly.

Dustin greeted her with a warm hug. "Good morning. Trust you slept better than I did." he showed her to the pantry, "We have to eat small, so there's plenty of cereal and eggs in the fridge and pantry. Help yourself, but we have to make it last."

Hugging Dustin back, she wonders what will happen today. "Where is Raven?" Lexi asked, grabbing a box of cereal and a bowl from the cabinets. She opened the box of cereal and grabbed a handful and put it in her bowl.

She walked back inside. Raven put on her coat and sat on the couch and crossed her legs and closed her eyes. She concentrated, taking a deep breath and opening her eyes, she was calm and at ease. She looked around, glad to be alone, as she stood back up after hearing her name.

Dustin looked into the living room, Raven seemed to be there. "She's in the living room." He made his own small bowl of cereal and began to eat some as he went to the living room. "Want some food, Raven? It's in the kitchen." He ate outside, standing next to his father, watching the sun rise.

She shook her head, "No I'm fine." She said, her voice a little harsher than normal. She held it in, her eyes slowly turning red, so she put her sunglasses on. "Not hungry." She opened the door and walked past them down a path. She stretched, feeling the anger rising, and she did what the man told her to; she stopped half turning, she pulled off her glasses and throws them. She was instantly surrounded by a few survivors of the city of Los Angeles. She had to do what she had been made to do, to kill the people and force it under her power. She was the most unstoppable being on the planet, why should she stop not using the power? She took her coat off and started to attack the people.

After a few moments, Raven disappered from Josh and Dustin's view. Joshua and Dustin stood on the porch, watching the sun rise. Neither spoke to each other for a long time. Then finally, Joshua cleared his throat before he spoke to his son. "Son, I believe the end of the world is here. I believe this group may be the only ones left alive in California after this is all over, unless some others managed to escape all of this. I do hope that you know that I won't be around forever to watch you and your sister. The consequences of yesterday, however, will outlast me. The world may soon enter a time of darkness, when the sun is blocked out and most life dies. And when that happens, we all will probably die as well." Joshua faced his son, who seemed quite disturbed to hear his father's words. "We probably won't make it as long as I had hoped for up here, but for now we are safe here. The forest and mountains around us provide plenty of shelter and food and we already have a small amount inside this house. I want you to know, son, that before things get really bad here, you are my son and thus my successor in the family when I do die. I want you to know that you've done a terrific job helping to raise your sister since your mother died. You've become the man of the house when I'm not there and I may not know for certain how hard it is on you, but I appreciate your help." Joshua smiled, hugging his son.

"Dad, we're all going to die up here?" came Dustin's weak response.

"In time, yes, all of us will die. Be it old age or a wild animal in the forest, or the end of the world, but we all die at one time or another, son. I suspect you haven't really thought about the fact that we're all probably going to die here, living the rest of our days here in a peace." Joshua looked at his son questioningly.

"Dad, how am I going to know if it's time or not for me to die?"

"You won't son. You won't. You simply must let yourself give in to the natural course of life. With or without your fighting it, it will always prevail and you always lose. There is no immortality, not in us, and not in your sister. We all die sometime, and when it's our time, we have to accept that it is, otherwise death is painful and saddening. As it was with your mother." Joshua smiled a sympathy smile, rather than a happy one.

Dustin looked over at the horizon. The missiles had stopped long ago, the whole world seemed quiet now. The early morning sounds were more depressing than anything, they symbolized the life the world once had. Dustin couldn't possibly fathom how many people were dead now, but he didn't care at this point. He stared off into space, wishing that none of this would happen. A wish that could never come true.

Raven turned and looked around, wondering what she was doing out in the woods now. She remembered quickly it was because she didn't want the others to be hurt. She had to control herself out here before she killed them all. She had to do something, but that was before the evil man showed up, and her ideas were halted suddenly.

He sighed. "Kitty, you belong to me!" The man grabbed her from behind, and when Raven struggled he whispered a word, causing her to fall limply in his arms, asleep. He smirked carrying her, muttering evilly, "You're in my control now!" He said walking away from the cabin.

Coming back from the woods, Lexi saw a man carrying Raven. Running with all her might, and appearing to fly as she did so, she smacked the man and Raven fell to the ground. Crying for help, Lexi screamed "Dustin, Joshua, Gongon! Somebody!"

Dustin continued to ponder hard, but eventually he went back inside the cabin and sat down on the couch opposite from Raven until she left. He sat alone then, wondering if he was really going to die up here, in such a lovely place. Dustin got up when Lexi screamed for him, but his father was already ahead of him. "Stay here, son. I'll see what this is all about." Joshua ran down to where Lexi was and grasped her firmly in his arms, to steady her and reassure her help was here. "What's going on Lexi? What is it?"

"I was walking through the woods, about to return to the cabin and I saw Raven was in some man's arms. He was chanting something and she was motionless. I ran as fast as I could to her and knocked her out of his arms. He should be around here somewhere." Lexi said, confused about what had just happened, and wanting to know more about the man who was trying to hurt Raven.

Man? What man did Lexi talk about? Joshua looked around curiously. No man was around here. Nonetheless, Joshua saw Raven on the ground. "Are you all right, Raven? Raven?" Joshua shook Raven, trying to wake her up.

"He was kind of tall, I think he had a cloak on," Lexi said, trying to remember what the man had looked like. "He looked evil. He was chanting something over Raven, and then she went limp. That's when I tried to save her."

It isn't going to help me what he looked like he was doing, thought Joshua. "Where did he go, Lexi? Did you see which way he was going?" Joshua quickly returned to trying to help Raven awaken. Lexi shook her head, having seen nothing.

Raven groaned and woke up. "What?" She asked rubbing her eyes, "Where am I? Who are you?" Her vision cleared and she looked at them. "What happened?" she asked gently.

Lexi looked over at Raven as she began to wake up. "Raven!! Are you ok? Some man was holding you; he was trying to put you under a spell or something. Let's go back to the cabin and maybe we can sort this all out." Lexi went quickly to Raven's side to help her up.

Raven sat up, her head ringing. "I'm okay, really...." She stood up, dusting herself off.

"I agree. Maybe it'd be safer inside the cabin for a while anyways. I think we all ought to stay inside for the day. Looks like it could rain around noon." The sky was dark, and the air felt like a storm was coming soon. Then, Joshua began to hike back towards the house.

Walking back to the cabin, Lexi motioned for Raven and Joshua to follow her, but Joshua was already ahead of her. "Who was that man Raven?" Lexi asked as they walked.

Raven bit her bottom lip and quickly looked into the forest. "Nobody." She said quickly and walked ahead of them and inside the cabin again.

Raven walked swiftly straight into the bathroom and locked the door. She took a shower and got out, wrapped herself in a towel, and looked in the mirror. Sighing, as she touched the crescent moon, Raven hit the mirror in anger, almost cracking it. Regaining her composure, she walked out and into an empty bedroom to get dressed.

Lexi knew that was not the truth. Raven must know who that man is, Lexi thought. Lexi was not about to stop until she knew the truth. So she sat on the couch waiting for Raven to get out of the bathroom. Following Raven into the room, Lexi closed and locked the bedroom door. "Don't worry, I wont look," Lexi said. "All I want to know, is the truth, you know that man don't you?"

"No I don't!" Raven looked at Lexi, then pointed to the door and spoke harshly, "Now I don't want to be rude but out, I don't like people in the same room as me when I'm dressing." She looked at Lexi, her expression and face blank, with water dripping down her still hair.

"I'm sorry Raven, but caring for you means knowing the truth. I'm not leaving until I know it. You might not know the man, but you sure as hell know what he is doing to you. I don't want to see you hurt, that man looked evil and in not letting him hurt you. I told you before, we are all here to protect you, and if we have to fight then we will." Lexi called for Joshua, Dustin and Kristin as she left the bedroom. "We need to all sit down and talk about what is going on, and if you are in danger we will help you."

She rubbed her temples. "I said out!" Raven walked past Lexi and unlocked the door. She hated to be rude, but she was as Raven gripped Lexi's arm and pushed her out the door. She slammed it and locked it. She paced around the room rubbing her eyes. She sighed, her head hurting. Lexi kept talking to Raven even as she left the bedroom.

"You know... I could break the door down if I wanted to" Lexi called to Raven in the bedroom. "I'll be watching you now." Uttering under her breath she said, "Stupid creature thinks she can pull a fast one on us or something." Lexi walked into the living room to see the last of the news report and sat down on the couch next to Dustin. "What's going on?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued, "Doesn't matter, we need to all talk about Raven."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She got dressed and stayed in the bedroom, brushing her hair. She sighed and opened the window and looked out.

Kristin and Dustin were watching TV when they came in. "Dad! Look at this!"

Dustin pointed to the television. "I'm Arnold Todae for the Channel 9 News standing in front of the former Mount Rushmore." The former monument behind him was no more. In fact, he stood in front of a huge cliffside with a huge hole in front of it. "Yesterday, North Korea declared war on the United States after they invaded unannounced to seize Kim Jong Il from office. Thus began a morning of war as both nations launched their arsenals at each other. A deadly virus in the UK broke out and much of Europe is now infected with a deadly and incurable bio-terrorist virus developed by New Neo-Nazis. Rioting broke out soon after, and then many third world nations overthrew their governments and went on a rampage. As night came upon us, earthquakes that had raged that day became most sever, causing wild tsunamis, landslides, and giant rifts in unexpected places. The UN met last night, many of the leaders having been killed. They concluded that most of the world's population is deceased. Those left alive, must seek shelter wherever possible, preferably in a high location away from the cities. The UN was dissolved soon however, when a huge earthquake destroyed the UN building, taking with it the remaining leaders." The reporter then screamed as the camera rocked violently and then huge boulders crashed onto the cameraman, silencing the broadcast with a long period of static.

Dustin turned to Lexi... "They just told us what happened on the news. Most of the world is destroyed now... and before you guys came in they were talking about a large meteor having struck the Hawaiian Islands. The scientist on there predicted life below 3000 feet above sea level was doomed. Anybody over that line may survive longer, but they'll be dead soon too."

Kristin knew what Lexi was talking about. She didn't have to know what Lexi was saying to know Lexi knew. "There was a man yesterday... talking to her in the woods." Kristin sat next to her father, who sat on the couch facing Dustin and Lexi. "She looked like she was possessed..."

"Guys, there is a man after Raven and I think it is more serious then we know. I went into the room to talk to her about it and she pushed me out the door. I think the man is hurting her, or worse, trying to hurt all of us." Lexi said quietly.

Raven looked back at the door. She waved before smirking and saying, "See ya!" She smirked and jumped out of the window. She waved through the window and took off into the forest. Looking around, Raven put her coat on.

"Joshua, you need to go after her! If that man uses her to hurt us and she gets away, then we will be dead for sure!" Lexi looks into Joshua's eyes, making sure he understands the full threat of Raven.

"Lexi... let her go." Joshua said calmly. "She'll be back one way or another. Either she'll come to kill us, or she'll come to join us. If she comes for the former, we'll protect ourselves, if the latter, she'll stay with us." Joshua smiled a small smile, "I'm not going on a wild goose chase with Raven because of somebody we don't know. And because we don't know him, we don't know how dangerous he is." Joshua went to go check on Gongon.

"Gongon, you should come inside. It's going to rain soon." Joshua said to Gongon

"I guess you are right." Lexi said looking at Joshua before he left and then at Dustin after he had left the room. She got up and walked into the bedroom she shared with Dustin the night before and laid down.

"Can I come in?" Kristin knocked on the door lightly, wanting to talk to Lexi. Kristin had left Dustin to trying to find another live television station, so they could find the news. "I want to see how you're doing." Kristin smiled as she looked in on Lexi.

"Sure, come in Kristin, whets up?" Lexi sat up on the bed and patted the seat next to her so Kristin could sit down as well.

Kristin entered and closed the door, sitting next to Lexi. "It's about that man I saw yesterday. He was scary. He told her to kill people and she did. I saw her do it!" Kristin seemed very scared, "And I think Dustin's starting to fall apart. I don't think he's very optimistic about all of this. I think he's just acting for me so I don't stop looking up to him." Kristin bowed her head in shame, "I wish he'd admit it when he's ready to give up."

"Kristin. Your brother is scared, we all are, but each and every one of us has someone to stay strong for. He will eventually show you how he really feels. As far as Raven, I already know. I guess like your father says, there's nothing we can really do about her." Lexi looked at Kristin, smiled a weak smile and laid back down. "Do you think your brother likes me?"

Kristin smiled at the question. "He was talking about you earlier." she smiled. "He said you have a pretty smile. He also said he thinks you're cool to hang around." Kristin sighs, "But I wish he'd met you earlier. He seems better now that you're around. Before yesterday, he was always focusing on me, wanting to protect me. I'm 13. I can protect myself a little, can't I?" she sighed once again and stared at the floor. "I love my brother very much, and I love he wants to protect me, but I don't always want him around anymore like I used to. Is that a bad thing, Lexi?"

"Of course not little sis, you are getting older, we all do. Everyone comes to the point in there life that something isn't ok that was ok before, you know what I mean? For example, remember when I was telling you about my past in the car? Well, when i was younger, I thought everything was ok, because I didn't know better. I let them hurt me; I never tried to escape because I was a child. As I got older, I learned that I needed to take care of myself, to do so, i needed to run away. We need not worry about what is going to happen to us here. Raven can be defeated if she wants to hurt us. Everything will happen the way it's supposed to." Lexi held her hand out and touched Kristin's fur, petting her, soothing her. She didn't have a mother after all and needed some guidance.

Kristin smiled, hugging Lexi. "Thanks, girl. You're the best. I think you should go out with Dustin." She rubbed her furry head on Lexi's arm, loving the petting she recently received. She then proceeded to hug Lexi before standing up to leave. "I'm going to go see if Dad needs help with anything."

"OK." Lexi got up and followed Kristin to the living room where Dustin was sitting.

Raven looked out into the sky as it grew darker. She yawned and stretched, then kept walking, her face blank. She took her jacket off and threw it, and continued walking, looking around to make sure she was not being followed. Raven moves her hair back, the sun shining down on her forehead." I have to stop this" she whispered. She looked around before walking deeper into the forest. She decidedly took her glasses off and threw them too, and she looked at the trees. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She bit her bottom lip and started running, finding a street, and looked around. She continued to think on everything. She didn't intend to hurt anybody, not as long as she was in control. "Oh, I don't want to hurt them!" She whispered, so she kept walking, holding in her anger. "I have to be strong!" She whispered to herself reassuringly. "I have to!"

He stood in the center of an abandoned street looking around before walking into a small empty shop and looting it for food. After he took all he could he walked back outside and started down the street looking for people who could explain what had happened. After wandering for several hours and not finding anybody he started checking cars. After about 20 minutes of searching he found one with a full tank and started to hotwire it, smiling to himself when the engine turned over. He got in and started to twiddle with the radio frowning when he only got static. After a bit of searching he looked hopeful very faintly a recorded loop was coming in. he strained to understand the faint English and finally understood it was giving coordinates of a nuclear fallout shelter. He pulled out a map in the glove box of the car and figured out it was located in the mountains. He stared at it a moment finally deciding it made sense. What better place to hole up then in the mountains. Shrugging slightly and muttering to himself in Russian he started to drive. He muttered angrily kicking the car again before he began to walk. "Outta gas!" He yelled to nobody in general. His only consolation was that he was at the foot of the mountains and had plenty of food. Sighing to himself. "Capitalists!" he said, unsure of why he had said that, but it made him feel better as he started to walk the hilly road up the mountains.

Raven looked around, hearing a rumble of thunder in the distance. "Damn, I have to find a place; somewhere far away." She turned human and looked down the road. That's when she heard the scream from another person. She tried to respond. She screamed, "Hello, anyone there?"

He kept walking drinking sparsely ignoring his body's cries for rest or the pain in his feet. He had learned to ignore these things. They would be taken care of when there was time. From a far off distance he could have sworn he heard somebody yelling but he just chalked it up to his imagination. Shaking his head he kept walking for a while longer before sitting down and checking his map. After a bit of rest he kept walking. Coming to the spot on the map where the shelter was supposed to be he started to look around finally coming to a plain steel door with an unmarked keypad, he frowned looking at it. The message hadn't said anything about a code. He sat down propped against the door and began to think.

"I need to get out of here" whispered Raven, "Hello!" She yelled. She started walking again. "Is someone there?" She yelled, then sighed.

Dustin was sitting intently watching the television when Kristin and Lexi entered. "Hey, I got another station." He pointed to the television.

"William, I'm standing outside the former Pyramids of Egypt, the last standing wonders of the ancient world, which were destroyed today when something of indeterminate origin exploded within them, blowing them to bits. It is truly-" the reporter stared into the sky, "What the hell?" the cameraman looked at the reporter's direction. In the sky was a large meteor shower, and though an awesome sight, this didn't last long as the meteors began to crash around the reporter, who helplessly ducked for cover until the feed was also cut.

"Crap!" Dustin exclaimed, "That was the only other station."

The feed momentarily cut back in and then there was a Russian reporter talking with a heavy Russian accent. His voice was dubbed into English. "Wilhelm Alexander here reporting to you live, from Moscow, Russia, where a breaking news bulletin has just come in. The people of Mother Russia have reported strange happenings to their families from all over. From St. Petersburg to Eastern Siberia, many cases of the new neo-terrorist virus have popped up. Only this morning we saw the military carrying hundreds of bodies to the Red Square where they were burned. In fact, our local scientists believe that this virus will go global in 48 hours or more in all populated areas that are destroyed. Some places may be unaffected, but most will not be." The reporter began to have a coughing attack and then his face began to openly bleed, gushing blood just before his whole body followed suit. The camera feed was cut and this time, there was nothing but a black screen on every channel.

Dustin turned the TV off. "So this is it, huh? The end of the world is my big Christmas present this year." Dustin's voice dripped in irony. Dustin sighed, looking up at the large hunting rifle hanging over the fireplace, but under the portrait. He knew he'd never need the gun, but he figured why not just take it? Simple, he thought, it's not worth taking. Joshua would take it anyways... in the event Raven attacked.

"Hmm...." Raven bit her lip and looked around. She had gotten lost in the woods and was stumbling around for a while, trying to find her way out of the dense forest.

The evil man smirked as he appeared before her. "Kitten... finally left home now, huh?" He asked walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "You know what to do Raven! You must destroy everything; it's what you were made to do!" He kissed her cheek and continued, "Come now, you must get rid of your friends."

She looked out into the sky. "It is true; I am only made to destroy...." She sighed, closing her eyes. "I'll go Frankie. I have nothing to live for, anyways." She opened her eyes and looked down sadly, defeated by Frankie once again. She closed her eyes and when she opened them they started to glow. She wiped away a tear of sadness. "I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing that she was only a weapon and nothing more. She sighed. "I'm only meant to harm things." She looked at the sky, her charm glowing. She sighed angrily, "Let's go!" She said, her anger rising and her eyes turning red.

Back out near the abandoned shelter, the Russian-speaking man thought for a long while. He suddenly jumped to his feet. "There's more than one way to open a can!" He said, smiling as he started to cram C-4 on the door in the corners. He grinned as he worked humming a little as he slipped in the detonator set the timer and bolted away. The C-4 went off with a tremendous bang that shook the ground. He smiled standing up and looking over smiling even broader finding the door neatly removed from the doorway. He walked in and came to a larger room filled with a few military vehicles, including a tank. He grinned; it might come in handy. He walked forward coming to the actual shelter and opened a small panel opening the massive bulkheads. He stared at them a moment he was lucky they opened the first time to blast one of those open it would likely take more explosives that he had. Then he remembered the tank. "It would have to be interesting." He muttered the bulkheads finally opening enough for him to enter. He walked in noticing the presidential seal hanging over a door. He walked up to a large control panel. "Hmm whets this do?" he asked himself pushing a large button, outside an extraordinarily loud air raid siren blasted its annoying sound all over the mountains. He was too far into the mountainside to hear that the alarm didn't work for very long. It was barely ten seconds before he shook his head, not having had any immediate and present result. Before walking over flipping a massive breaker and giving power to most of the facility, he sighed and turned around. He grinned noticing a map on the wall .he studied it a moment. "Wow! This place has everything!" He said grinning before taking the map and heading down the hall to the room marked "Armory".

Later inside the cabin, Lexi went into the living room and sat next to Dustin and saw the sadness in his eyes. "I love you Dustin," She said out loud. "We will be ok, I promise."

Joshua came back inside at the very moment that Dustin decided to do something Joshua had never seen Dustin do before. Dustin leaned in just before Joshua came in and kissed Lexi as he did come in. Joshua didn't say anything; after all, his son was 16 years old. Why did it matter anymore? If he wanted to repopulate, let him. The world was down and out on its chips now; he might as well have fun before he died. Joshua smiled, and then walked towards a bathroom to use it, satisfied with his son's choice of female. He only hoped Dustin knew what he was doing.

Lexi was surprised at the kiss and didn't even notice Joshua walking through the room. She does however hear the close of the bathroom door, pulls away from Dustin and sits up straight; now uncomfortable with what happened, knowing someone saw them. Dustin was surprised Lexi broke the kiss. He had known that his father had walked in; he could smell his scent all the way to the bathroom. He felt ashamed, however, that he had let his father catch him. He only hoped his father wouldn't mind.

Joshua washed his face in the sink, trying to get over the fact he'd caught Dustin kissing Lexi. He really didn't mind, he just didn't want Dustin to find himself in a world of heartbreak if something happened to her.

Kristin had pre-occupied herself with the TV, trying to find a working TV station. When that had failed, she had adjourned to the porch where she could faintly hear a loud beeping noise, but she paid it no mind, thinking it was more destruction than help.

The Russian man struggled walking out of the room carrying more guns than he had seen in some time. He set them down on the floor breathing hard for a moment before checking the map again and heading towards the kitchen hoping the food wasn't old. He laughed when he opened the fridge. "Twinkies and MRE's." He said staring for a moment before adding water and heating up an MRE for himself. After he ate he took a quick nap then woke up some time later. As much as he liked it he was certain he couldn't stay here. Grumbling to himself he started to loot the shelter for every useful thing it had carrying it out to a very nice deuce and a half truck outside. After about three hours he had everything on the truck and there was enough gas on board and in it that he could drive to Florida if he desired. Smiling to himself he turned to address the last big problem. The tank. He stood staring at it for a while before getting an idea and backing the deuce up to a very nice loading trailer. Hitching it up and satisfied with his work he climbed into the tank. After a few moments of learning how it worked, he slowly drove it up onto the trailer. After he finished he stood back and looked at his work one military issue deuce and a half with enough supplies to fund a small army and a very nice Abrams on the back. He grinned climbing into this mobile command center finding it had a C.D. player. He slipped in a C.D. of the old red army choir and began to sing along happily to the old Russian military marches. He slowly pulled out of the bunker and gunned the engine heading down the road. He had to squint a little after noticing what appeared to be a cabin. He slowed down to look at it but didn't stop, he knew better than that.

Kristin saw the man, heavily armed, approaching up the road towards the cabin. She, though frightened at the heat he was packing, screamed towards her father, "Dad! Somebody's coming! Somebody's coming!"

Joshua came out of the bathroom, passing Dustin and Lexi, to see. He waved out, hoping this guy was a friend, "HEY! HEY!!!"

Raven quickly entered the house, noticing that there was another person passing by in a truck she had never seen before. It made for a great cover as she jumped into the house again. She hid deep into the shadows, and smirked. "This should be easy!" She whispered as she looked at everyone. Raven snickered, "Long time, no see." She said, yawning. "I hope you guys are being good." She smirked, her eyes glowing red.

Joshua ran out towards the road and flagged the truck down. He hoped to stop it. "HEY! HEY!!! HEY!!!!!!"

The man in the car looked over outside the window on the driver's side. His eyes widened seeing what looked like a middle aged guy run in the road. He quickly slammed on the brakes stopping the truck. He looked for a moment before slowly opening the door and getting out. But not before he grabbed his pistol. He jumped from the cab the Russian music still blaring loudly. "Umm hello?" He asked tentatively.

Joshua went to the man in the truck. "Look, pal, there are a few survivors inside this cabin here. There's me, my kids, two female drifters, and a gorilla." Joshua figured the man could put two and two together about how his kids looked, considering he himself was anthropomorphized-wolf. "We're really alone and we're looking for survivors. If you're looking for a shelter, you've found the only one around here with people in it." Joshua noticed the guns, "Going to war son?"

The Russian man grinned a little before muttering something in Russian the man couldn't understand. "Maybe, can't be too careful," he said happily. "And if things do get bad well that's what the tank's for." he said, gesturing the very nice tank sitting on a trailer behind the truck. "Survivors eh? Guys need any help?" He asked, peering over the man's shoulder at the cabin.

Joshua shook his head. "No, we're fine here. We're well supplied. I was going to ask you the same thing, buddy. What're you doing here anyways? You don't look like you're having any problems, and you sure seem to be packing enough heat to take out Hitler's army..." Joshua shook his head again, sighing, "If you wanna come inside for a while, please do. I doubt you'll be the last survivor I see for a while."

The man in the truck couldn't help but grin at the man's stance. It seemed quite goofy to him. Especially for an anthro-wolf like himself. "Well I guess I wouldn't mind a bit of a rest. As for what I'm doing here I flew into L.A. a few days ago for a...job. Yes, that's it a job and well I'm not sure there was a big explosion in the building next to us and I woke up this morning in the street."

Joshua smiled a little bit. "Come inside. I can explain a little about what's going on." Joshua showed the way inside.

This new man smiled thankful that somebody knew what was going on. He followed him. Putting his pistol in a more accessible position just in case but he thought Joshua was ok.

Lexi held Dustin's hand and kissed him on the cheek before Joshua and the stranger walked through the door.

"Eww! Get a room Lexi" Raven said, rolling her eyes, "That's disgusting!" She looked at her nails smirking.

"Raven what the hell is your problem? You were so nice at first..." Lexi replied angrily.

She blew on her nails, sending some type of dust towards Lexi. "My problem? It's you guys!" Raven yawned before continuing, "And nice? Well that was before Frankie unleashed the monster in me." She shrugged.

Kristin got up. She was doing something she'd never done before; face somebody by standing up to them. "Okay, now. Here this, Raven! You need to calm down! Chill out. Who's Frankie?"

Joshua led the man inside. "From what was on the news briefly, a virus is spreading over Europe and Russia, a meteor hit Hawaii, and North Korea and USA launched nukes at each other. Earthquakes and tsunamis.... This world is falling apart and they said that we might all die soon." He could tell the man still had his gun. "You don't need that here, sir. By the way, did I catch your name?" It seemed weird to Joshua as to why this man had so many guns, "I'm Joshua."

He looked a bit hesitant at first. "Uhm... Vasily Romanov." he said. He glanced over to the corner noticing 2 kids making out and another sitting there doing something to her hand. Now a fight was beginning to break out. "Uh huh..." he mumbled before facing Joshua again." When do you remember the last real contact you had with somebody in power?" Vasily asked.

Joshua turned to face Vasily. "We haven't. I'm the one that got all of them here in the first place. And I hope you don't mind me saying, but I really think it's safer here than with a bunch of power hungry idiots with itchy trigger fingers who can send us all to hell on a nuke." Joshua sighed angrily, he was starting to get cabin fever, "Look, Vasily, buddy, we just need to find somebody who can tell us where we stand out here. We're all alone ya know?"

"I am calm" Raven smiled, "and Frankie? Oh he's that one guy you saw earlier." She yawned again, her nails turning purple from her mood.

"Raven, I think you need to leave if you are going to act like that. We were all very nice to you, Joshua offered you a ride, I petted you, and thought of you as my sister and this is how you repay us?" Lexi was upset that such a nice, quiet girl was letting an evil man control her. "You are not a monster, no matter what that evil man did to you."

"Yeah, I do know." Romanov mumbled "I know all about being alone." He said, looking down for a moment. "So whets your plan? You guys can't stay up here forever...." He said. He began looking around the small cabin and doing a few calculations. "With just the four of you this cabin could be loaded with food and you'd still run out in less than a month." Vasily finally said grimly.

"We can stay here forever if we choose to, we all know how to hunt here. Except for that one over there." Lexi pointed to Raven. "There is enough deer and such out there for all of us."

Vasily Romanov looked curiously at the girl who mentioned hunting. Clearly nobody ever told her that when feeding four people a small forest like the one on his mountain just wouldn't do, the population couldn't keep up. He continued looking over curiously at the small fight that had broken out among the girls.

Raven looked at Lexi sharply before finally saying, "You have no idea what I've been through! While you were out by yourself I was in a lab; I was experimented on! You never went through that! I have needle marks, I almost die, I went through so much pain, they made me into a weapon, and you're telling me I'm no monster? You haven't seen anything yet. I went through torture and I tried my best to live! It's not my fault someone is using me to destroy! You wouldn't understand... nobody would!" She screamed and turned to walk towards the door.

"Raven... I don't care what you say, if you hurt my Dad or my brother, I swear I'll kill you..." Kristin growled angrily before walking off.

Joshua nodded to Vasily, trying to ignore this fight. "There's me, my two kids, Raven over there, and Gongon. He's outside." Joshua turned to face Vasily, "And there's you if you stay. Six of us will run out of household food, sure. But the woods are filled with animals and plants we can use. When that runs out, I haven't a clue then. I'm hoping that by then we'll either know where we stand or we'll find a way to survive... or we die." His last three words were quiet, so nobody could hear.

Dustin got up and left the room. He was tired of hearing Raven whine about her past. He mumbled to himself so nobody could hear what he was saying, and he walked out to the bathroom and hopped into the hot tub. Kristin stayed and held her ground.

Raven continued to look at them. "I don't belong here, and Kristin, growl all you want!" She opened the door and walked out into the forest. She wiped away her tears, sighing as she walked as far away from the cabin as possible.

Lexi got up and followed Raven. "Who do you think you are? Did you not hear what I was saying in the car? I don't even remember where the hell I have been, all I know is I have all these scars that I OBVIOUSLY didn't give to myself. So cry to someone who hasn't been through what you have, because I HUNNY have." Lexi was screaming and crying at this point as she fell to the pavement. "Only recently have I escaped the torture and now the world is going to end. You think I have it easy?! Think again."

She looked at Lexi and screamed, "I don't think you have it easy, so just go back to the people who love you!" Tears streamed down her face, "I have nothing, you have people! I don't, I'm meant to die soon!" She sighed. "I don't belong, so...go to your new family. I'm not meant to stay, that's what I learned a while back." She wiped her tears away and started walking again.

Lexi chased Raven. "You are meant to stop saying that!" Pissed off, Lexi continued to scream. "As long as you stay with us you won't die. We will fight your demons off and you will feel loved! We love you, but we can't help someone who won't help themselves. Please come back to the cabin and relax!"

Vasily continued to watch this fight among the ones called Lexi and Raven. He didn't know anybody here, but he did know one thing. If any of them even remotely had a chance of survival, it would horribly decrease unless they get along. Silently he stepped over blocking Raven's path.

Joshua, having had enough of this senseless arguing, grabbed his hunting rifle and saw it was unloaded. He went out after all of them and aimed it at both of the girls, not telling them it was unloaded. He cocked the gun anyways. "Stop it, the both of you!" Joshua yelled, "I'm about to shoot both of you if you don't shut up about who had it worse. Raven, you're out of line. Lexi, I think you just need to calm down. And you both better straighten your damn acts up or we're all going down cause of it." He took on a parental, leading, role, "Now I want you both separated or I want you to apologize and make up. You will get along or I'm going to shoot you myself." He pretended the gun was loaded, but it wasn't. It wasn't obvious when he spoke, though, and the way he held the gun.

Joshua thought to himself, could that man not have come at a worse time than now? He's making us look like we've fallen apart and lost it. And we have. We're at each other's throats now, how long until somebody gets killed? I don't know, thought Joshua, but if it comes to that, I'm not going down without a fight.

"Now apologize or separate! Right this instant!" Realizing that it had no effect, he sighed and approached Vasily. He took the man aside, gun still in his hands, and began to speak to Vasily, "Look, sir, I'm going to need your help here. It's obvious we're falling apart. We're not going to make it if we're trying to kill each other. Please stay and help us out here. I'm not asking that you kill anybody; I'm not asking you to do anything except keep us in line. I obviously don't have any more power." Joshua was begging, "Please help us, sir."

He stares at her not speaking to her. Vasily turned to Josh. "It's clear you are falling apart here. I will stay if you really want me to. You guys need some kind of person who can handle this type of thing." He sighed stepping in front of the girl. "I'm afraid I cannot let you leave." Romanov said, staring her down.

"My thanks, Vas." Joshua sighed in relief. "It's going to be harder with you here to survive, but we'll make it I hope, with your help. Tell me, just what is it you used to do? I mean, the fry cook at Wendy's doesn't carry that much heat on a day to day basis. Why do you have all that stuff with you?"

Raven looked at the person who had stepped in front of her. "Who are you?" She asked, wiping away a few more tears. "Please move. I no longer wish to be here." She sighed, "I don't... want to hurt them." She tried stepping around him.

"Raven, come back inside, now. Calm down. Relax, when that man comes back, get Joshua or Dustin, or even I. We will make him leave." Lexi pleaded. She began to realize it was futile. Upset, Lexi headed back inside the cabin, walked to the bedroom, laid down and cried.

Realizing that she couldn't get around Vasily at this point, Raven, depressed, sighed and fell to her knees. She glowed a soft blue as a bubble formed around her, and she curled up into a ball; the bubble got cloudy as it was filled with some type of liquid. She was kept in there, unless she was needed in a battle or something. She wasn't allowed out as the monster had already been unleashed. She had her eyes closed, floating in it. The bubble turned red as it sucked out her anger and broke open. She fell on her hands and knees, soaked, She shook, her eyes normal when she blinked this time, trying to figure out what happened. She coughed up some water, standing up and looking at them confused.

He watched Raven go into and come out of a bubble before turning to face Joshua again. Vasily laughed a little debating whether or not to tell him. "Ah, to hell with it! The world's already fallen to hell, so what are you gonna do... sue me?" He chuckled a little. "I'm an assassin, ex-Russian special forces and did about 2 years Homeland Security," he smiled at Joshua's face.

"Damn, Vas..." Joshua laughed, "I'm just a vice president for a company in L.A. I make good money and I raise my kids... despite all that's gone on." Joshua grew serious. "Glad to have you on board though. Maybe we could use your expertise."

"Maybe." he said softly before pointing to a very wet Raven. "What the..." He stared at her for a moment.

She blushed. "Don't stare." She said, her teeth chattering. She hugged herself as she tried to warm herself, her lips still turning purple even as she did so. "I-I'll... b-be inside." She said, turning and walking towards the cabin.

Dustin tried to relax in the hot tub, his sister going to read. She goes to see Lexi, but decided against it. She went to read and decided she would read Lord of the Flies. She grabbed the old book and curled up in another bedroom to read. She could see several similarities in it, but she knew how things turned out. They were rescued in the end of the book, but now it seemed too fictitious an ending for the rest of them. She went towards the door and peered out as she saw Raven enter the house.

They were going to have to learn to get along, otherwise... they would die, she thought. She didn't want the rest of them to fight, but she figured it was inevitable. She just hoped that this fighting wouldn't be the death of all of them. She would do her best to fight if she had to.

Logen did not know where she was; neither did she know why she was there. She had nothing to live for, nothing to do; the life she had had up until now she hated because it was all pain and suffering. She now sat trying to suppress the memories of the lab she had run from. She did not like it. The needles with the substance that made her head hurt. Then she remembered why she escaped, and how.

The people, who were testing things at her, had started testing with fire. They had already tested all kinds of poisons, drowning her, and they had tried making her suffer; trying to make her cry without killing her. The result was always the same. Many years of suffering was what she endured.... Then, as they were going to try burning her, she had had enough. She became one with the element she had been exposed to, and killed all the scientists. With her rage, she shouted and cried for many days before she got to her senses again. By then, she did not know what to do, so she had simply ran away from it all. She had decidedly lit the lab on fire before she had left, however, so she was and would be the only subject that had been caught of her race and she was glad that she was.

Logen now just sat there trying to suppress the memories that she had now and she did not know anymore what to do with her life. Where to go, whom to trust, what to do everyday. None of that came naturally to her at this point. Logen's mental state had eased a bit... but she was stuck remembering what she did. Unknown to any of them, Logen was close to where Raven and Vasily were.... She had never felt anything but pain. Nothing more and nothing less than pain, although she had become used to it. It was a huge change to not feeling. Overall, she hated the feelings she had felt in the past! True happiness, she knew, had come from when she had killed the ones that had been torturing her to the point of where she was going mad.

She sighed heavily, wondering what to do next.

Raven took a hot shower inside the cabin. She wrapped herself in a towel, and walked outside with her wet clothes. She wringed them out and laid them out to dry. She found herself alone outside, and she hugged herself looking around, getting a slight sensation that there was somebody nearby watching her. In fact, there had been somebody.

Vasily walked outside going back out to his truck and tank. He quickly took off his shirt changing into an undershirt displaying his nicely muscled arms. He went over, climbed on his tank, and laid on the top hatch, letting the slowly cooling metal warm him.

Raven jumped hearing someone. She stood up quietly and walked towards the other side of the cabin. She saw him and blushed as she stood there, biting her bottom lip, almost forgetting she was only in a towel. She blushed a deep crimson and took a step back behind a corner of the cabin. She took a quick moment to regain herself before she took a deep breath and looked around the corner again.

Vasily heard her moving around. "Raven is it?" He called out into the still darkness. "May I ask you something?"

Raven blushed, hearing her name. "Y-yes." She said quietly, "W-what is it you ask of?"

Vasily smiled a little. "What exactly is your story here? Everyone seems to hate you, then love you, and it would seem that you hate everyone, and then you are fine. And you're hanging out in weird water balls." He trailed off hoping she got what he was trying to ask.

"Oh!" Raven bit her bottom lip, "Well I-I'm not normal.... If that's what you mean." She slowly stepped out of the shadows, showing her golden eyes, her black tail and ears. She looked down and continued, "And that bubble drained some of my anger." She sighs, "I was an experiment. They made me into a machine, and with one word I become unstoppable." She hugged herself, her tail wrapping around her waist. She felt cool air against her back and she blushed a little looking down at her still towel-wrapped body.

Vasily Romanov smiled a little. "Wow that is so cool." He said jumping off the tank. He kept smiling as he started holding and touching her tail before she knew what hit her. "That's awesome...." He said examining it. "I don't think I've ever seen anything cooler that this." He said smiling.

Raven blushed a little, watching him. "T-thank you?" She said with more of a question. She smiled softly, her tail moving in his hands, but she smiled softly.

Romanov did not notice and quickly stood up, dropping her tail and moving on to rubbing her cat ears. "Wow!" He muttered, very aware that he sounded like a 12-year-old kid but this was just too much. Raven giggled as she felt him rubbing her ears and started to purr. She smiled. Romanov stepped back, staring at her a moment. "Oh, my God! You purr, too! How awesome is that!" He said before rubbing her again, smiling at the throaty sound coming from her.

Raven blushed. "Yes I do." She felt him rubbing her again and she could not help but to purr once again. She smiled softly, looking up at him with her golden eyes. "Well... that's not all I can do." Raven said smiling softly.

Vasily looked at her, rubbing her ears faster. "What else can you do?" He asked eagerly looking in her eyes thinking he has never seen any that were cooler.

Raven laughed. "Well... I can change forms." She sat down and turned into a black kitten. Smiling and meowing, she looked up at him.

Vasily just about fell over. He was so impressed that he forgot how to breathe shortly. Gasping he muttered, "Whoa!" He scooped up the kitten petting it. Raven giggled and purred. She curled up in his arms as he petted her.

Vasily smiled, blushing. "I love cats." He said, laughing lightly and climbing back up on the tank. Sitting on the hatch petting and stroking Raven, getting under her chin and between its eyes, he began to enjoy what he was doing to her.

Raven laughed. "You don't know how good that feels!" She smiled purring. She rubbed her face against his hand smiling.

Romanov smiled absentmindedly thinking of all the possibilities of a cat woman. "Mmm I can only imagine." He said grinning at her, turning the kitten on its back rubbing its tummy. Raven smirked, and then purred, as she lightly touched his hands with her paws as he rubbed her belly. She smiled.

At the exact moment when Raven was smiling, a bolt of lightning struck, not far from them. It was channeled through Logen, an 11 year-old girl laying there with her hands over her face, hiding in the shadows of the cabin. Logen just began to think, one thought coming into her mind for a longer time than the others did. Oh, why couldn't the lightning just kill me or something? This life is too much for me! Then the lightning did strike into her. She did not even feel it, and she liked it, but she did not know why. The pain was not there anymore, and she felt only a sudden rush of happiness. What was this feeling, this happy feeling? It was in the wind as well, the happy feeling that was in the lightning and in the trees, and even in the fire, and in the water that soon started to fall down on her.

Vasily Romanov grinned at the kitten, rubbing it just a bit more before setting it to the side. "I gotta put you down otherwise I never will!" He said smiling.

Raven laughed. "It's okay!" She jumped after hearing the lightning. She sat down and turned back into her half form. she almost fell off of Vasily's lap, but she gripped onto his arm. "What was that?" She asked looking around.

Vasily smiled watching her jump. "Just lightning!" He said before gently loosening her grip himself. "Those claws don't get any less sharp in your half form you know...." He muttered.

Raven blushed and made her nails less sharp. "I'm sorry." Her ears flattened down. Romanov smiled at her, before taking one of the ears in his fingers and pulling it back up. She certainly looked funny with one ear pointing straight up the other one flat on her head.

The lightning was really close to them and they could actually see it go into the girl sitting there. Logen smiled and felt the power while it rushed through her. Logen sat there, and she smelled her burnt hair, so she was completely sure that now the people could smell burned hair.

Raven blushed, and she slapped his hand playfully. "Hey! Don't make fun of me!" She pouted, looking out and seeing the new girl. "Huh?" she said confused. "Who's that?"

Logen had another feeling that she had not felt. Ever. It was a hollow feeling; a feeling that she could say was saddening but was not sad, as it was properly described in the database she had formed inside of her mind. She did not know what feeling it was, but in other people's minds, it would be described as loneliness. She struggled briefly to figure out what the word was to describe her emotions.

Raven hopped off the truck and landed on her hands and feet. She turned into a kitten and padded up to this new girl. She looked up at Logen with soft, friendly golden eyes. She meowed softly and she rubbed herself against Logen, purring softly, showing her that she was of no harm.

Logen was in her human form at this point. However, she knew she could become snow leopard if she wanted to at any time. Logen smiled, but she had never done so before, and so she did not know how beautiful she looked when doing so. Like many things, it came naturally to her, and she smiled and cuddled the cat. It was the first creature that had the slightest resemblance to her, as her true form was. She cuddled the cat more, and she did not know herself how it felt to speak, because she had not done so in the 11 years that she had been a captive in the laboratory the nice tone was pure and kind. Nevertheless, she finally spoke to the kitten she held.

"So do you have a home to go to?" she cuddled Raven again.

Raven smiled softly. "It's like a home." She purred. Logen did not seem surprised that this kitten was talking. "Do you? If you don't, you can stay with me in the cabin, there are others but they are kind to us."

Logen smiled back to her, though she was a bit saddened by the thought of others being hurtful, but she was surprised that Raven had said they were kind. Then Logen said, "Well... no. i don't have a home, I would like to stay with you!"

Raven smiled. "That's good!" She hopped out of her arms and turned into her half form. "My name's Raven!" She said smiling softly, as her tail swished happily.

Logen looked at the creature. Her mind's database told her it was a cat, and said while stroking Raven's tail gently, "That's a nice name! My name is Logen!"

Raven smiled. "Thank you, nice to meet you Logen!"

Vasily smiled a little watching the new girl play with and talk to the kitten. He yawned a little lying back on his tank and closing his eyes, soon he was sleeping.

Joshua came out back, frustrated to know that everything had been falling apart lately. If Raven and Lexi did not start to get along soon, they all might die. He continued to ponder on what to do next.

That is when he saw Raven as a kitten talking to a newer girl. Despite his best interests, and the fact he figured that it was starting to get crowded in the cabin now, he smiled, smoothed himself into a calm state, and headed towards the new person.

"Name's Joshua. This is a cabin for the refugees that survived yesterday's attacks. There are a lot of us here, and I suppose..." Joshua paused. Did he really want to ask this person this? "I suppose you can stay as well if you'd like to." Joshua smiled weakly.

There goes an extra week worth of survival, he thought grimly to himself. His niceness and will to help others was going to catch up with him soon and then he would have a bunch of people together and no food. They would all die sooner if he kept adding people to the list. Despite this, his generosity always got the better of him, and now was no exception. "Please, tell me who are you and come inside; won't you have a rest?"

Logen smiled and said to the man who called himself Joshua and said, "Well, what I call myself is Logen and I would love to stay. I have no other place to go so, why not?"

Logen knew the definition on everything, but she had to experience the things for what they were before knowing exactly what the definition was. She now knew two more things that she had been waiting to know better. The definition of 'friend' that she had stored in her brain was 'another person that you can rely on, and has a good attitude against you,' and this she had to know better! In addition, on food, another thing she had never had in her entire life. She smiled in happiness.

Joshua smiled. "Please, Logen. Come in. Moreover, do not mind the chaos going on. We are all just a little... edgy today. I mean, with all that's happened we're all practically jumping down each other's throats at this point." Joshua laughed, because he wanted to make light of the situation, it depressed him way too much. "But now that you're here, things should turn up."

Logen smiled still, she said, "Well then, what is happening today? I wonder if I can help." Logen just sat there on the couch. She had remembered what she did, what she had heard, and what she had in her pocket. It was a little gift from her mother, her creator. She decided that she would open it, and inside it, an inscription said, "You are the One. You must fight to find your destiny in this broken world. You must try to fix it!" She sighed and mumbled something to herself.

Joshua grew stern. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure now if you can help or not. That little kitten you were petting is Raven. She and another girl, Lexi, were fighting and I had to break them up. It is all starting to fall apart really and I doubt that if we continue to spar and fight this way, we are all going to die before we can find out what is truly going on out there. If we're all that has made it or not."

Vasily woke up hearing Joshua; he shook his head doing some more calculations. At this rate, they would starve within the week. He groaned loudly not really wanting to do this. He would probably end up starving like the rest if he did nothing. "Joshua!" He cried running up to him. "Listen. Uhm in the back of my truck I have a couple hundred pounds of MRE's freeze-dried food and some rations. I was not going to give them up, but I guess now that things have changed... I'd be happy to share them with you guys." He said looking at him.

Joshua pulled Vasily aside. He took him far aside to talk to him alone, leaving Logen for a moment. "Look, Vas. I know what you are thinking. I have done the math, and I have reached a decision. It wasn't a good decision, but it's a necessary one." Joshua sighed angrily, angry with himself for making such a decision alone, "I've decided that since we're all going to die, why not just let everybody come in and stay. We will have more company while we all starve to death. I have done the math, Vasily. We will be dead before the week is out with our household supplies. Then another week of hunting until the forest is clean of food. We are not made to live, I do not think, without food after that. I would give us two and a half weeks total and we start to die of starvation. It is a grim decision and I know you think me mad, but I think we ought to leave it at that. It is obvious that nobody was meant to survive yesterday. The effects of yesterday will strongly affect the rest of the world from now on. Even if we did survive a month, the fallout from the warheads, the global cooling as all this stuff in the air blocks the sun, will kill us all eventually, even with plentiful food. Best-case scenario then would have been a year. However, we do not have a year. We're not going to make a year the way we're going." Joshua lowered his head in shame, "I'm a fool to accept anybody that comes my way, looking like the need help. I am just a nice person and I do not think it has always been that way. My wife died a few years back, and since then I've tried to appreciate humanity... unlike I did my wife." He continued to sigh, "I'm coming undone, Vas. You may very well have to use your rations for us to survive maybe one more week. The generator is strong. She will not go for a few days. After that, we live in darkness permanently. Up with sun, down with it too. Then when the dust and dirt is clouding the air, darkness permanently. I've done the math." Joshua restated, "I know you're going to say I've lost it, that I've gone crazy, but I think it's best we just die... why prolong death and experience total darkness and then choking on the rest of the world's bombs and viruses and chaos? When we can just go peacefully before it all gets here."

It was true that Joshua had gone truly mad. He admitted he knew he was, but at this point, he did not care anymore. The truth was simple, he did not care about anybody's life anymore, not even his own. The sad truth was hidden with Joshua's smile and hopeful words, but now talking to Vasily, his true intentions and his true feelings and his true reality was clear; Joshua had not dragged these people up here to escape LA because he had dragged them here to die peacefully.

"Please, Vasily... bring your rations in." Joshua said quietly

Vasily stared at him a moment before slowly nodding and walking out to his truck. "That man is completely insane!" He muttered, shaking his head and grabbing the first case of about 700 of the MRE's and bringing them inside. "Die peacefully... what the hell is wrong with him?" He asked himself. Well, if things got bad and something happened he could always get out of there with his truck. It had more gas then a Texaco rig and he had checked the engine before he left and the thing was in pristine condition. If some of the others wanted to join him, he was fine with that. There was plenty of room in the bed of the massive truck. He shook his head again, setting down the first case on the porch and heading back to his truck.

Joshua sadly went into the empty bedroom and closed the door, thinking everything through that had happened. Dustin came out of the hot tub and dried off, throwing his clothes back on. He saw Vasily and approached him.

"I'm Dustin. What did you say your name was?" He did not wait for an answer, "Listen, dude. I need your help."

Vasily raised his eyebrows at the kid and set a crate on the ground. "It's Vasily, and what do you need help with?" He asked before sitting on the crate looking at him.

Dustin smiled. "I'm not crazy, Vasily, so I'm not going to kill you." he chuckled lightly. "I want out of here. My dad has lost it. I can see it in his eyes, and from what he told me earlier, I know he is gone. The girls are fighting, and I can't bring myself to stay in this cabin with so many memories anymore..." Dustin felt his eyes tear up up lightly, but held them back as he continued, "I want to know, Vasily. Do you have any way of knowing where we can get out of here to find a safe place? Like... with plenty of food and where I won't be dead within the month?" Dustin hadn't a need to do the math on how long it would take before they all died, he just had the natural intuition to know this many people with this amount of food wouldn't last. He had not even met Logen yet. "I want to get me and my sister out of here. I do not care about my father anymore. He wants us all to die peacefully." Dustin's voice had been rising to a shout, but he quickly lowered it, "My ass we're going peacefully. Look around, Vasily, we are going to kill each other, not starve to death. I want to get out of here and get to a civilization while I still can." Dustin hoped a man with THAT much packed knew where civilization was. Dustin was not crazy yet, he had not suffered from Cabin fever, and he was not an idiot. Possibly, he was the sanest in his family now. He knew getting out of here would be better than staying here and dying. "I hope you know the way out of here and the way to life. You do, right? That's where you were headed, isn't it?"

Vasily Romanov smiled at the boy. He never could quite grasp the intelligence of young people; they seemed to know everything. "Well, my boy, as to answer your first question, I actually came here from a fallout shelter built for the government. That is where I got that truck and the tank. You could probably take your family and stay there comfortably for years. Many more supplies there. I just took what I could fit on my truck." He sighed a little. "As for the human civilization, the most I can tell you is that when I was in the shelter, I couldn't help but notice a few Internet messages on one of the computers. From farther east it seems that people have indeed survived, and there were quite a few saying they were holed up in similar shelters." He smiled at Dustin for a moment, sensing he was following him, and he continued, "I can't tell you where I'm going because I simply don't know. I was just going to drive until I found, as you put it, 'civilization.'" He sighed a little looking down.

Dustin smiled with a gleam in his eye. There was hope for civilization after all? He nearly hugged Vasily in joy to hear those words, but kept his distance because he did not know much about this man. He smiled less, but his wolfish face made him seem more evil when he lost part of his smile. "So... how long do you think it'll be before we all kick the bucket? I know we don't have enough food for six of us to last the week here and hunting, well it's good but this forest can't hold up to our needs I don't think. So how long do you predict before we either starve or rip each other's guts out?"

Vasily looked at him, thinking about lying, but decided against it. "Well... staying here I'd say with the six of you... about 3 weeks. In the shelter probably a little over a year with everyone. Just you and your sister in the shelter... I'd say probably about 3 years." Romanov looked down. "With me and the truck I'd say about 2 weeks." He fell silent looking around.

Grim odds... none of them ended well. Dustin, in defense and not trying to be funny, exclaimed, "Where's the happily ever after!" He calmed down, hoping his sister had not heard that. He sighed as well, "Well, Vasily, thanks. I am glad you are honest... my Dad's twisted mind is starting to get me scared. I'm just hoping he doesn't try to shoot somebody with the hunting rifle... like I heard him doing earlier."

Kristin came out of the room, having stopped reading to see what Dustin was yelling at. She came out and saw Vasily. "Hi, I'm Kristin." her youthful smile and playful tone indicated one of two things. First, she was trying to hide her pessimistic mindset that she was going to die soon, or somebody would soon. Second, it indicated her usual happy greeting for another person. When she wondered what was going on in the kitchen, she found Logen. She said quickly, "What do you think you're doing with the strawberries? Who ARE you?"

Dustin turned to see Logen in the kitchen, but before he left he smiled once again to Vasily. "Whenever you feel like getting outta Dodge, take me with you." He then went into the kitchen, "Who are you? When did you get here?"

Logen suddenly felt hungry. she then thought about a fruit that was in her memories, the one people called the 'strawberry.' then, a faint glow emitted from her left hand and from the ground underneath it, flowers came out and in a massive amount. Then in a few seconds, they just grew, and then, after the seconds had gone by, the strawberries started to take form. Huge strawberries. She then took one up and started eating it. It was enormous in comparison to the real ones, which were maybe a quarter of the size she held now. She smiled and said, "I've always wondered how this thing tasted!" After seeing Kristin and Dustin come into the kitchen, Logen began, "Is this the kitchen of your house? Well then... who am I to say, but it looks a bit empty." She was, of course, referring to the fact that there were so many people there right now and so little food. Logen replied to Dustin's question as she turned to face him, "Well, I'm Logen. Who might you be then?"

"I'm Kristin, my brother Dustin." Kristin pointed to herself, then her brother. "Well then, what are you doing here, Logen? How did you get here, with this other guy?" By other guy, she meant Vasily.

Logen had a smile on her face and she said, "Well, I don't know what direction I came from, but I ended up here. Well, for now... I'm eating these delicious strawberries that seem to grow from this spot...." She took up a huge as an apple strawberry, took a bite and asked, "You want some?"

Kristin started, but refused. She really was not hungry right now. Dustin took it however and split it with his sister. His sister reluctantly ate it, but neither of them truly enjoyed the fruit. "We need to save as much food as we can." Kristin said, "So we don't run out so soon."

Logen continued to smile and be happy. She ate as much as she could until she was utterly stuffed with strawberries.

Kristin gave up, realizing the point was useless. She turned to leave, and Dustin went into the cabin as well. He heard Lexi crying and decided to see if he could help. "Lexi? Are you okay?" He knocked on the door before he entered. He wanted to see if she would let him in.

Raven walked into the cabin and looked around. She changed into some different clothes, before realizing that she had not eaten in a while. She did not feel hungry so she drank some water and walked back outside, yawning and stretching. Her tail swinging from side to side happily, she smiled softly and looked around.

Kristin went out to the porch and glanced around it. Here was the most beautiful thing the world could offer. A mountainous view for miles around, the sky still seeming beautiful, but beginning to cloud up for rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the air was hot, but the view made it all seem worth it. Kristin was ashamed she had taken life for granted; now that most of it on Earth was gone.

Raven sighed and she took her hair down and shook it around. She sighed; she did not want life to end. She found that she quite liked it. She walked down the steps and sat on one. She sighed, looking at the flowers and animals. She knew that one day all of it would be gone, the beauty would be destroyed, and she had to wipe away a tear. She knew that her new friends were going to die as well, if not now then later and she did not want that. She wanted them all to live and she hugged herself looking out into the sky.

"Come in, Dustin." Lexi sat straight up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was upset still from what happened with Raven, not knowing Raven was back to herself. "You know, if we survive, you and I will have to help repopulate the Earth." Lexi was trying to look on the bright side, even if that was hard to do. "I don't know what I would do with out you. Promise you will protect me?" Lexi looked into Dustin's eyes she smiled a weak smile and awaited his response.

Dustin smiled. "I promise, Lexi." He sat down on the bed beside her, throwing his arm around her and holding her head close to his chest while he rested his head on hers. He joked, "You know... out there somewhere somebody else might have to go through the same things." He knew of course, no matter what anybody said that nobody was out there. If there were any people, he would be surprised. "I usually look forwards, towards the future, but I'm not sure if I'm going to like any future from now on. No matter what, people age and die..." Dustin hated sounding like his father, "And eventually, my father, my sister, Raven, Gongon, Vasily, Logen, you and I are all going to die. Maybe not today, but sometime. One of these days, we will not wake up. One of these days... but I am looking forward to living each day to it's fullest until then."

Raven stretched and stood up. She dusted her skirt off and walked down the steps. She looked around wondering what to do. She looked up at the sky and she knew it was going to rain and bit her bottom lip. She sighed, bending down and picking up a blood red rose. She smiled softly as she smelled its sweet fragrance, and then she stuck it in her hair. "I'll put it in water later." She said to herself quietly, walking along the forest edge looking at all of the wild flowers and animals. Raven sat on her knees and smiled softly as she looked at the many flowers surrounding her. She picked them all and started making a flower crown. She made one out of roses, another out of sunflowers. She made them for Lexi and Kristin, in high hopes that they would forgive her. She stood back up and dusted herself off. She picked up the crowns and started walking back inside.

"Thanks, and I know that silly," Lexi knew that everyone was going to die at one point or another, but she would rather not think about that. All of a sudden, she heard something from far away. It sounded like thunder. "Do you hear that Dustin? What is it?"

Dustin shrugged. I do not know, he thought. "I'd rather not go check it out..." he said softly, "Unless it is civilization come back to help us."

Gongon returned to the cabin, various berries and plants gathered in an arm the size of a large ham. He walked in the door. "I foraged the woods to help with our food supplies." He looked about the room. "I believe some introductions are to be made. I am Gongon, former attraction at the Los Angeles Zoo." He turned to Joshua. "Sorry I've been gone for awhile. These things are hard to find when half of the forest is nothing but fused black glass. Seriously, don't go walking barefoot in that stuff." He lifted a hind paw to reveal various wounds and scratches sealed up with dirt.

Joshua nodded. "Thanks for the food, Gon." Joshua had lost his will to live; he knew that somewhere down the road, he was going to die. His response to Gongon mirrored that same attitude. He sighed depressed and went over to the porch where his daughter was standing.

Kristin nodded to her father to acknowledge his arrival. "Hi Dad." He smiled to her. He barely said anything back.

"Hi."

"Ok, you can just lay here with me if you want. We can ignore all the sounds and all the possible death and just lay here, the two of us. We're holding each other forever." Lexi wished she could forget about it all, but she really wanted to know what that noise was that came from outside. Was it a bunch of animals? Where would they be running to and why? Was someone or something coming that the animals themselves were afraid of? She wanted to know it all. Then she tried to calm herself and told herself it was just thunder from the storm.

Joshua stared down the long cliff down. If he jumped now, it would all be over. No more deathly narrow escapes, no more fighting, no more pain. No more anything. He would be with his wife, and he would be happy. He knew it would end eventually, and he even envisioned himself jumping. He tried to decide if it was worth it. His kids were still alive, his daughter three feet away from his side. Would he just abandon them?

Dustin nodded, holding Lexi close. "If anything comes to kill us, I'll protect you." A loud clap of thunder nearby and then the rain began to fall down.

Kristin ran inside, hoping to avoid the rain. "Dad, come inside or you'll get sick!" She called out. Joshua waved her off. He still had thinking to do.

Gongon sensed incoming disaster. He could feel it in his bones. He had to get everyone moving. Nevertheless, with Joshua in his current state, they could not move on. He was sort of the alpha male of the pack, though that new man was clearly a suitable replacement. He had to console him. "You seem upset. What's the matter?" He placed a hand on Joshua's shoulder. It seemed as if the man lost all his energy, almost as if he lost the will to live. If that were the case, his family would not follow until he cheered up, and they would be doomed by... whatever it was.

"Gongon... today is the 23rd of December. In two days, the world will celebrate Christmas. At least, whoever is still alive. I am getting on in age, Gongon, and I will not be here forever. I have been the alpha wolf of my family since Dustin was born, and I have held that position with high honor and dignity each day. My wife died a few years ago, and that made me question the faith I had in life. One should always enjoy each and every day he lives, yet I flaunted around every day going to work to make money for my family, I had time with them and then there was work again. Now I woke up two days ago and started doing the same thing again as I always do. I took every moment for granted, Gongon. I seriously did not think that two days ago I would be spending today in this cabin with these people. I had not expected two days ago that the world was going to be destroyed. Gongon... "Joshua sighed heavily, "I didn't bring us up here to live. I brought us up here to die. I just could not stand the thought of leaving my kids when that first missile went off. I thought for sure things would be fine. Now there are plenty of people here and we are all using our resources like water, food, shelter for granted. We do not have that kind of resource. The more we use, the closer we are to death, Gon. Moreover, I know that the only ones looking up to me are my kids, everybody else though. They are falling apart. Last night Raven and Lexi were fighting. Today two new people show up. I did not intend for this to become a refugee camp, but it has and now I am paying for it. In a few days, this house will lose its food and power in the generator. The world is going to be blanketed with dust and dirt from the fallout. The woods will not hold much food for us. We are all going to die eventually. I..." Joshua was crying at this point, full-blown crying. Tears falling down with the rain and everything. He truly felt it was his time, "I think it's my time to just die. Nobody will miss an old fool like me. I'm just a crazy old fool." Joshua continued to cry.

She heard the rain falling, and Raven felt a drop fall onto her face. She quickly ran back inside, smiling and laughing to herself as she set the crowns down, got on all fours, transforming to a kitten, and shook the water off. She smiled and turned back to her half form. She carried the two flower crowns inside. "Uhm, Kristin." She said seeing her. "C-can I talk to you?"

Kristin turned to see Raven. She did not know what Raven wanted, but she was hoping it was the good Raven. "What is it Raven?"

Gongon slapped the man in the face, sending him skidding across the ground a few feet. "Are you daft, Joshua? Every creature on this planet has the instinct to survive, the will to survive, and you have the gall to resist! Your family will grieve your death, but they will move on with that instinct. If you kill yourself, another alpha male will take your place and the world will continue to revolve. We all die eventually, and may die soon, but that is inevitable. We die, but it is our duty to live for as long as we can. It does not have to be the end of the world if we can continue to live. Creatures of this planet will evolve and adapt as they always have, and a new world will arise. In the end, your possible death is pointless, unless you seek to cause those near you misery. Come now, get up. We need to leave. Something's coming... and it's dangerous."

Raven walked up to Kristin, slowly speaking. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything. I don't know what came over me." She showed her the sunflower crown. "This is for you. I chose sunflowers because whenever I see you, you always brighten up my day!" She smiled softly. "I hope you can forgive me."

Kristin smiled, not thinking twice for the flowers. "Thanks Raven! You're the best!" She hugged Raven and put the flowers on. They did not fit though, for the crown was too big. The front slid over her forehead and onto her muzzle. She laughed and attempted to fix it.

Raven laughed too. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that." She sat on her knees and helped Kristin fixing it. She turned and looked outside. "Looks like something's going on." She whispered. She looked back at Kristin. "You're welcome!" She smiled softly.

Joshua heard his daughter laughing. He turned to look and saw she was sitting there fixing a little crown on her head. He smiled, thinking of her mother. He slowly got to his feet, his smile fading, and turned to face Gongon. "Your direction was off..." he said sadly, "You sent me to the left when you should've sent me backwards. I am sorry, Gongon. Even if you do not kill me now, I am not leaving this cabin. Whatever is coming this way will just come through me. I'm not leaving at all."

Dustin, who had gotten up after hearing Joshua's speech, approached his father. He had had enough of listening to his father's petty excuses for living and his even pettier excuse for wanting to die. He himself sent a flying punch straight into his father's gut, knocking the wind out of Joshua. Joshua staggered, amazed at his son's brutal action towards his father, but even more so amazed at the shear power behind the punch. Dustin growled angrily at his father. "You're not going anywhere? Well then, we're just going to drag you with us."

Gongon smiled. "The boy has some sense. You must have raised him well before you started spouting this poppycock about not wanting to live. Nice punch, boy." He turned to Dustin, giving him a brief smile before turning back to Joshua. "We will bring you with us. You may have claws and fangs, but I can lift three cars and your son is no slouch himself. Moreover, that new man seems to be strong himself. You can either come to your senses or follow us willingly or we will force you to come. Maybe you are right; maybe there is no point in living. If a creature is cornered, it knows it will die... if it does not do something. You are in that corner. Do something." Gongon prepared to knock the anthro-wolf out if necessary.

Lexi got up and ran to Dustin's arm grabbing him. "Leave your father alone. I cannot believe you punched him. He is upset and punching him is not going to help relieve his hurt. You need to talk to him, tell him how you feel about how is acting." Lexi pushed Dustin toward Joshua in the hopes that they would make up.

Gongon turned to Lexi and bared his teeth. "The man wants to kill himself!" He hoped the sheer shock of the statement would help her to realize this was not a Dr. Phil Jr. situation, but a life-and-death one.

Raven stood up. "I'll be back, okay." She turned and ran up towards them. "Now look who's fighting!" She said, smiling. "All right, now listen up and listen well. We have to stick together if we want to make it through this, understood. We must not give in to our urges to kill ourselves. We have to stick together, just like a family!"

Lexi bared her teeth back at Gongon. "Shut up. You have been away for a day and a half and now you want to settle the differences?" Lexi knew fighting was not worth it, but how dare him.

"Dustin, no matter what you want, or what we want, your father is his own person. If he really wants to die, he will. Whether he kills himself or not, once you want to die, and you believe you will, then you really will. Understand? He is his own person. Leave him be." Lexi looked at Raven before saying, "Thanks Raven. You are right. But he still is going to do what he wants no matter what we do."

Gongon furrowed his brow and stuck his tongue out at Lexi, the traditional gorilla display of anger. "I know it is his own damn choice to make but it doesn't matter either way, and I'm just trying to get him to choose the better of two evils! I leave the choice up to him, but it is still my choice whether I want to lecture him about it!" Just then, he slammed Joshua on the head. It did not hurt him any, but it drove him into the ground like a nail, leaving only his head above ground. "It's your choice, as we've said. If you want to come with us and live, ask. If you want to stay here and die, I will leave you like that. Who knows? Your baser animal instincts may allow you to engineer an escape from... whatever it is." He turned to everyone else. "Let us go. Not a word to him. We need to leave him alone with his thoughts..." As he started to walk away, he turned and glared at Joshua in silence, then continued.

Joshua was startled at this sudden mutiny. Things were not falling apart, he was. He also was too stupid to realize that point. He only wanted his wife at this point; his kids were suddenly of no consequence to him. He gazed into the eyes of his son's, they were young, fierce, bold, and most importantly, scared for his father. He tried to admit that there was something inside Dustin that had suddenly made him so different, so independent and aggressive. He was still too stupid to realize this thing was him. In his mind, he was the only sane person left. Fine... he thought to himself, this mutiny would end if I submit to their evil demands. "I have owned this cabin for years. I'm not going to give it up so easily."

Dustin growled fiercely at his father. Adrenaline held him strong and fierce. He was beginning to see his father for the weak old man he truly believed he was. Dustin knew his father was better than that. However, if he wanted to die, there was only one way to fix things. He grabbed his father in a hug, held him tightly and then grabbed his father and held him over the railing of the porch. "Okay Dad, you want to die, huh? You want to die?" He was stronger than he thought. That or his father was lighter than he thought. He held his father by the feet over the huge cliff, threatening to drop his father.

"Dustin! What the hell are you doing?" Joshua screamed.

Dustin let his grip slip on purpose, but he knew he had him. "If you want to die, then fine! I'm going to drop you myself, you worthless man." Dustin had done a complete change. He had gone from quiet and loving to angry and hating of his father. He knew in his mind that he would not drop his father; he would make his father change his mind this way.

"Just pull me back up, Dustin."

"Why? So you can kill yourself?"

"No! I... I want to live!" Dustin began to pull his father up upon hearing those words. I hope that they were true words. He turned to face the others, who were probably shocked at his actions. "Don't worry..." he said calmly, "I was never going to drop him." Dustin smiled slightly. He never had any inclination to do so in the first place. "This was just for his own good."

Raven stared at the fight. Dustin had completely ignored her words, apparently. "Wow, I've never seen that before." She turned and started walking back towards the cabin, shaking her head. Why did they listen to Joshua but not her?

Gongon clapped the boy on the back lightly. "Well done, kid. I couldn't have done it better myself." He looked at everybody. "We need to go. Something is coming. I can feel it." He looked at Lexi. "I think you sensed it too."

Dustin looked coldly at his father. "You'd have better meant it, Dad. I'm not going to pull you back up next time." He smiled and hugged his father. "But I'm glad you changed your mind."

Joshua smiled even bigger; relieved his son was not going to kill him after all. "And you learned that independence from your mother... I'm going back inside." And with that, Joshua began inside. "Gosh..." he suddenly stopped, "You really knocked the wind out of me, son. My chest is on fire..."

Dustin paused, "I never hit you in the chest... Dad."

Raven suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh no!" She whispered. The rain poured down on them all on the porch as she walked back towards them. "Oh, this isn't good!" She looked at Joshua. "Try breathing deeply and don't get worried please!" She looked at the others. "Get him inside and quick!"

Lexi had watched it all in amazement. She could not believe what was going on. She had never imagined all this happening. When she was being tortured in an abandoned building she did not know what life was all about. Now she finally understood. Life is about love and hate. Nothing more and nothing less. Love and hate decide it all, she thought to herself. She did not want to interfere with what Dustin was doing. If he was to kill his father, he would spend the rest of his life regretting it, and she would have to be there to calm him. She looked cautiously at Raven as she began to act quickly. What was that all about, she thought to herself. Lexi was glad Dustin did not kill his father. After Dustin let his father up, she ran over and hugged Dustin in her arms. "I love you Dustin," Lexi motioned for everyone else to join the hug, forming one big group hug. "We need to stop fighting; it's not getting us anywhere."

Joshua looked at his son, then at Raven, puzzled. "What... what's going on?" He suddenly dropped to his knees, roaring out in pain. The realization hit him like a freight train.

Heart attack.

Her eyes widened. "Now! Get him inside now!" Raven yelled and she kneeled down beside him. "It's going to be okay!" She said, looking at Dustin. "Hurry, please! We must get him inside!"

Gongon was a remarkable sight. He had been meditating, with some incense burning near him. The smoke was filling the air, despite the fact that it was raining... "Let nature take its course. It may be the answer to his prayers, or the answer to ours. There is nothing we can do anyway." He said calmly.

Joshua lied down on the porch, the thunderstorm raging around them. Gongon's hits, as well as his own son's, coupled with his own son's threats to kill him, had sent Joshua on a hard, wild ride that his hear just couldn't bear. His son held Joshua. Kristin came out to see what the commotion was about and dropped to her father's side instantly, crying on sight to see her father's scared expression as he clutched his chest, trying desperately to stay alive.

"Dad? Dad!" Kristin kept screaming out in pain. She sobbed over him, grabbing her crown and handing it to her father. "Daddy, I don't want you to go. Daddy!"

Dustin held his father while he continued to suffer. Joshua knew now was the end for him. He had finally changed his mind, he was ready to look for the brighter tomorrow... and it was all going to be taken from him. He looked at his daughter first, "Precious, sweet, dear baby. Kristin, you look almost just like your mother. Thank you for the crown..." He held it tightly in one hand. "I love you Kristin. I will always be watching over you and your brother. You are my little angel."

He then turned to Dustin, who was refusing to cry. "Son..."

Dustin shook his head violently, "No. No! Dad, you are not going to die on me! You're not going to die!"

"Son, you have a good life ahead of you and you have your sister. Do not be a fool like me and waste it on my death or your mother's. She loved you and she wanted you to be happy, not sad. I want the same for you. I want you to be happy too. Take care of your sister..." He smiled as he began to see only blackness. "You're going to be okay without me."

"No I won't, Dad!" both his children screamed at once.

Joshua smiled, "I didn't want it to end this way... but it has to, I guess. I love you all." He then closed his eyes; they would never reopen. He was dead. Kristin and Dustin sobbed together, holding each other and sobbing. The rain came down heavily, thunder storming even more so outside.

Raven stood under the pouring rain. She was grateful for it because the rain was covering her tears. She sighed heavily; glad that they could not see the tears. She hugged tightly, herself closing her eyes. She looked down at Joshua's body. Her tail wrapped around her waist and she sighed heavily again. Her hair and ears dripping wet, she looked back. "They lost so much," she whispered.

Lexi stood there in amazement. She did not even know what to say. She really felt bad now. All the fighting had led to this. The death of an innocent man. Was it her fault? She had been arguing with everyone lately. Had she added to the pressure he was already feeling? Lexi could not help the tears that now flowed from her eyes. She would really miss Joshua. He had been so kind to her. She sat down to Dustin, wrapping her arms around him. She motioned for Kristin and the rest to come closer. They all probably needed comfort and she knew through her sadness she could still help. What should she do next? All she could do was hug everyone and cry. No words could be spoken from her mouth.

The world was in chaos around them, and for two days, they had survived without too harsh of an environment. They had met new people, and now the ragtag group stood on the porch, one of their own was dead. What would they do now, with their leader gone? Would they let themselves fall apart, or would they continue to go on stronger than ever? On the other hand, like Joshua, would they suffer equally harsh outcomes of their own lives?

Joshua's cold and dead body lie on the deck as the rain fell on it. He was no longer with them in life, but he was still on that porch with them. They mourned him for several minutes, which became hours.

Dustin and Kristin held each other lightly, sobbing heavily as the rain and the thunder/lightning sounded/flashed. Dustin knew for a fact he had to go on now, he couldn't end up like his father, dead before everyone's feet from being weak-willed and stubborn. He had his own ideas, sure, but he was going to try his hardest not to jump ship and kill himself because of his father's death. He held Kristin tighter, not wanting to lose her.

Kristin cried and cried hard. She had known her father all her life to be strong and protective, but now she had nothing. She had no father, no mother. Just a brother. She hoped to one day see her brother become her father, strong and protective as he had ever been. She was too young to know how poorly her father really could've been at times. He never was when she was around.

They both then howled straight into the air, their sad song filling the world, letting all around them know of what had happened. It was a primal instinct neither could control. They both howled the same sad song, and they both, despite never having control or practiced over it, sang perfectly, their voices one for a moment, a long moment, as they howled together.

Raven watched as Lexi hugged everyone. She sighed and took a step back because she needed some time alone. She turned and started walking away some distance until she stopped to sit on the edge of the cliff and look out at the misty view as the rain began to lighten up. She sighed looking down. "We were born to die." She whispered, "Life in between but mainly death is our cause for life." Raven sighed as she kicked a rock off the cliff, watching it fall down and crash below. She remained silent as she heard Dustin and Kristin howling. She sighed, looking down the side of the cliff. She hated to see death, but it floated around in the air like hydrogen did. She whispered a goodbye prayer and hoped for the best, which was that his soul would be happy and peaceful. Raven stood up and sneezed lightly. Frustrated, she sighed, "I better not be getting sick!" She whispered, and she started walking back looking down.

Lexi walked over to Raven, knowing she had to make things better at some point. "I-I-I'm sorry Raven, for how I was acting before." Lexi looked down at her dirty feet. She hadn't showered in a few days and definitely didn't have any shoes. She hated her feet were so dirty, but she had no choice in the matter. Lexi was ashamed of how she had been acting. She really didn't know how to get along with people sometimes. It was probably because she had been like Raven once, held in captivity and forced to do things that she hadn't wanted to do.

Joshua's body didn't remain there for very long after Kristin and Dustin stopped howling. They knew that there was no need for it to constantly remind them of everything bad that could happen to it. Together, they gave a sad goodbye, then threw it off the cliff. Neither said anything for quite some time, not wanting to be disturbed.

Finally, Dustin turned to the others, "We need to find a better place to stay. One with more food and less... memories." His eyes were still wet from crying. Dustin continued to cry, but it was less now. He missed his father so much, but it was time to move on. He knew Kristin felt the same way, as she had stopped crying already. Dustin and Kristin held each other in their arms, hugging and smiling kindly to each other. They wanted each other to feel better as fast as possible, even though their father's death would leave a hole in their hearts for a long time.

Raven looked at Lexi. "I'm sorry for hurting you if I ever did. I didn't mean to." She sighed, finding it harder to say the words she wanted to say, "I'm sorry for the things I said and all, but I don't know what got into me." Of course she knew what had gotten into her. She had been released of her evil by the evil man. Raven walked over and picked up a rose flower crown, handing it to Alexis. "Here. I made this for you. I picked roses because when I look at you, I see nothing but love and compassion. I admire that." She smiled softly, hoping to fix things between her and Lexi.

Lexi's eyes welled up with tears. She had never been given a present before. "T-t-thank you so much Raven!" Lexi wiped the tears from her eyes and jumped into Raven's arms, hugging her tightly. "You are the best."

Raven was surprised at the hug. "You're welcome!" She smiled almost falling back, but she hugged Lexi back as she held herself up. "Uhm, Lexi, I can't breathe!" She said, laughing lightly. It did nothing for her breathing.

Lexi laughed too and it felt good to laugh with Raven. "Sorry, hehe. I think we should all go inside and take showers if we are going to leave, we don't know when we will get another one. And load all the food into the car and truck." Lexi turned towards Dustin and the rest of the people that were standing on the porch. "Does anyone besides Vasily know how to drive?" Lexi looked around waiting for a 'yes.' At least that's what she hoped for.

Dustin nodded. "I do." He didn't want to admit it at first, because he thought it was a useless thing for him. After all, what kind of anthro-wolf just drives a car down the Santa Monica beachfront on a Friday night with his buddies?

Certainly, he did....

Raven nodded, stepping back from Lexi as she headed towards the inside. "I do as well. Kinda had to when I- well, never mind." She smiled softly. "Yes, let's all get showered up!"

"Kristin why don't you shower first and Dustin, Raven and I can load up the car with all the food that's in the house." Lexi tried to think it all out, but her mind was moving faster then she could talk. "After that Dustin, then Raven can shower and Me of course. Then the new guy, and we can leave to find somewhere...better."

Raven nodded in agreement to Lexi's improvised plans. "Sounds good," She thought for a bit before asking, "Hmm, where could we go?" She looked around, seeing only wilderness. It sure didn't seem to hold anybody else's hiding spot, much less a safe spot for them to occupy.

Dustin nodded. "There's two showers. We can fit two different people in two showers. It'll be faster that way. Kristin, go get a shower. Raven or Lexi, I think one of you should take the other. I can get the stuff and Vasily and Gongon can help me load up." Dustin liked the feeling of being a leader, but he certainly didn't think he was a leader. He was just the follower who had ideas. Nothing more, really.

"Anyone up for seeing what's left of the town? We might be able to find some useful stuff down there." Lexi didn't think it was a bad idea, and in her mind she couldn't wait to get down there. She wanted to see what was and what wasn't left of Los Angeles. Maybe they really could find something useful down there. Maybe there were more survivors. She got no positive response and turned to Raven. "Ok, thanks. Raven you go ahead if you want to." Lexi looked over at Raven and smiled. Raven smiled, walking inside. Lexi was glad that they were friends again.

Gongon spoke up for the first time in awhile, tears streaming in his eyes. Out of habit, he first started speaking gorilla. Then he caught himself and began to speak English. "Town would be a horrid sight for you. When I was gone, I saw it. It is in ruins, the landscape dotted with the remains of buildings, the corpses of countless people of all ages, and the occasional patch of land fused into black glass by the explosion. There are even petrified bodies, frozen in positions of macabre horrors. ...It would be an even worse sight than Joshua's body right now. And the scent! I'm an animal. Many of you are part-animal. The smell is unbearable, trust me. I didn't wish to tell, but you would've gone there anyway, and things would have been made worse." He walked outside with a bible he found in the house and stood out on the cliff, making a eulogy for his lost friend.

Kristin went to the showers and smiled at her brother's assertiveness. She kept rolling the title of Alpha Wolf in Dustin's position now. Even if he wasn't in the group, he was her Alpha now in the family. Whatever she did, he would be there by her side every waking moment to protect the rest of the pact. And she's do the same for him, always being by his side. She could never leave him now, especially since she no longer had a father that could look over her while Dustin was gone. She was still grieving, but it didn't bother her as much now. She knew that her father was in a resting place better than suffering the rest of the group. She knew it was all about her and her brother now. They had to move forward to survive, that was the rule. She jumped in the shower and got cleaned up.

As the thunderstorm stopped, Dustin became swift in his motions and began to pack the dry goods first into the back of the car, then turned to Lexi. "Help me out here. Get the stuff from the fridge and put some ice in a few coolers and then put them in the back of Vasily's truck. He's got plenty of room to haul that stuff. I'll drive Dad's car and we'll all drive to a safer and better location." Dustin said authoritatively. He knew he wasn't a real leader, nor was he trying to be. Unknown to him, though, he was a natural born leader. He could lead all of them if he tried hard enough and though hard enough.

Dustin came outside and looked at Gongon, eulogizing his father. And he was missing it! He went over next to Gongon and waited until the unofficial ceremony was finished before he spoke, "Thanks, Gongon. You are a real friend to me, and a true friend of my father. I know you did not know him long, but I think you two were really working as a team. I think you ought to take the position of 'Alpha' in this pack..." Modestly, he continued, "I don't know if I'm cut out for it." Part of him wanted to be the leader, but he really wasn't certain if he could make it as the leader if it came down to it.

Gongon returned. "I pray that whatever gods out there are treating him well." He started to grab things at random, placing them gently and neatly in the back of Vasily's truck. His face was devoid of emotion, and he did the task with no words and little sound.

Raven showered and dressed quickly. "All right, which of you guys are next?" She asked, smiling softly, "I'll see if I can find a place to load this stuff up."

"Ok" Lexi went into the kitchen closet, grabbed a cooler and began putting some ice from the freezer into the cooler. She put as many cold items from the fridge into the cooler she could. Put the cooler off to the side and got another cooler from the closet and repeated her actions until she was finished.

Dustin returned with Gongon and made a swift movement to help Lexi grab the coolers and load them up. He quickly helped her, knowing that they couldn't stay here any longer. There wasn't too much to pack, their food was already greatly missing food, so it was obvious they wouldn't be able to have held out here for too long.

Kristin finished her shower as well. "Next person, go get a shower."

Bringing two coolers at a time, Lexi placed them in the back of the truck. When finished with that, she looked at Dustin and said, "I'm taking a shower now and will finish helping when I return." With that said, she returned to the house and headed towards the bathroom. She undressed quickly, for all she had on was a simple silky pink dress. She turned the water on and smiled to herself. Her first shower in a very long time. Bathing quickly, making sure to wash her hair and get the dirt from every part of her body, she sang to herself quietly. "If I loved you, there would be no hurt. If you loved me there would be no pain." She thought to herself, what a untrue song. Finishing bathing she turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her body that had been laying on the floor. She grabbed her clothes and walked out of the bathroom heading for the laundry room where she put her clothes in the washer. She wanted to be as clean as possible before they left.

Dustin didn't bother with a shower, he didn't mind getting dirty. He finished loading the food then rushed into the shower and quickly got himself wet enough, then he shook the dirt from his body and washed up before returning to the group. "How are we doing guys?"

Vasily appeared from nowhere, walking out of the woods soaking wet and not wearing a shirt and with his torn pants. They didn't know why, but he looked quite menacing. On his back, he held the carcass of a freshly slaughtered buck. It was quite large, at least a twelve pointer. "Well, what's going on here, then?" He roared. It didn't sound angry, but more like curious. He knew perfectly well what was going on because he had watched it all from the forest, but he wasn't sure if they wanted it out in the open yet. "I do hope nobody was planning on taking my truck anywhere..." He said looking at them fiercely.

Raven walked out of the cabin saw him, blushing a little. She heard the slight anger in his voice and this made her ears twitch. "We have to move." She said to him smiling softly.

"No, we aren't taking your truck anywhere. You are taking it with us to find somewhere else to live." Lexi told Vasily, appearing out of nowhere. "Done with my shower. What else is there to do?"

Dustin came out and saw Vasily. "Oh thank God!" He stopped and approached Vasily, "Vasily, we need to get outta here. Something bad's about to happen to us, a couple of us are afraid of it. My... my father's dead. We're leaving and we need your help getting out of here. We need you to drive your truck to that bunker you were talking about. We'll all follow in my Dad's car." Dustin became ambitious, he remembered his best odds were in the bunker. "Think you can help us out?"

His voice flat and devoid of emotion, he turned to Raven and said, "That's right. There's danger heading this way. And we wouldn't be able to survive here for long anyway..." He made a slight sniffle, and continued what he was doing. Romanov looked at each of them, noticing that they all seemed serious. "Uhm, oh fine!" He huffed, throwing the deer onto the bed of the massive truck. "If you want to come with me back to the bunker, fine. I'm ok with that, but I will tell you, I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to stay there. I really want to stock up and head east." He said, looking at all of them before walking to his truck and climbing in. "If you want to ride with me, get ready now and jump in." Vasily said as he loudly turned on the C.D. player, making it blare a loud Russian march. It was somehow inspiring to hear it even if they couldn't understand the words.

Gongon beat his chest. "I like this music! It makes me feel patriotic! Russian, isn't it?" He approached Vasily's truck and roared lightly with it.

Her tail wrapped around her waist, Raven thought. "I'll go with you." She said walking up to the truck. Raven climbed up into it. "Someone else can come in. I don't take up much room." She turned into a kitten and smiled. "See what I mean?"

Dustin quickly hopped into his father's car and started the engine up. He remembered how to drive, so he yelled above the loud Russian music, "Vasily! Just drive where you think is safe! I'll follow you in the car!"

Kristin rushed and hopped into Vasily's truck, turning the music down a little as it was hurting her sensitive ears. She buckled up and looked over at Vasily, "I trust my brother. Don't mislead him please." she smiled, "I'm Kristin."

Vasily stared a little at Gongon. "Are you a gorilla?" He asked, blinking his eyes to make sure they were not playing tricks on him. He glanced over and saw Raven as a kitten. Without waiting, he quickly reached back and scooped her up, depositing her in his lap, and rubbing her tummy again as he briefly smiled at her. He turned to the girl, looking a little unhappy that she had touched his radio. "Uhm, hi. I am Vasily, as you might know. I met you briefly in the cabin,"

Raven laughed a little shocked at what he did with her, but she smiled and started to purr. She looked at him. "That always feels good!" She said smiling.

Dustin honked the horn to Lexi and Gongon. "Who are you guys riding with? Get in if you're going with me." Gongon quickly hopped into the car's backseat.

"Oh yeah, I remember you." Kristin said, a little embarrassed she had reintroduced herself. "I'm sorry I touched your radio. It was just too loud for my ears... I really want to ride with you though."

Lexi headed to the car. There was no time to dry her clothes, so she continued to look wet in them, since they already were wet. She climbed into the passenger seat beside Dustin and waited silently to leave.

He smiled at her just a little, and started the engine the loud revving briefly and drowning out the radio before quieting down again. There was a grinding sound as Vasily put the truck in gear. "May I ask how old everyone is?" He said looking from Kristin to Raven before slowly giving the truck some gas making it inch forward.

"I'm 13, Vasily." Kristin said, she turned to see her brother. "I'd like to ride with Dustin, but I don't think he will have any more room. And it's okay, because I need time to think to myself. So long as we don't leave them, I'll be okay."

Raven smiled and rolled onto her stomach before she sat down in his lap, her tail swishing from side to side. "Hmm... I'm 15." She said, licking her paw, "Yes I know, I'm young." She sighed.

Vasily stared for a moment, suddenly feeling very old. Absently, he stroked one finger along Raven's spine, moving down her back. He didn't say anything as he gave the massive mechanical beast some more gas. As they went rumbling along the road, he started to think deeply about what they would do when they arrived at the base.

Raven blushed through her fur. She purred closing her eyes, and she thought about the age difference. She felt young and like a child. She sighed and opened her eyes, smiling softly and looking up at Vasily Romanov.

"I'm 22!" He suddenly blurted out like it was a horrible secret. Before looking down and briefly rubbing Raven again, he turned off the road onto a kind of bumpy trail.

Logen was at the cabin still, asleep, and oblivious to the fact that she was now alone. Well, not alone. She was being closely watched by a bear. A very hungry bear. A bear that could smell the strawberries she had eaten earlier, and was now attracted to that scent. The bear quietly crept up behind her and nudged her lightly. When Logen woke up, it ran away startled. Logen, dazed, looked around, wandering for a few moments around the cabin. "Hello?" she called out. She opened the door to the refrigerator after a while. She was frightened to realize she was alone, but as long as she had the food in the cabin, she would manage.

Dustin followed Vasily in his father's car, the car heavily damaged from the original escape from LA. There were scratches, dings, and a few cracked windows. Despite this, it worked.

"Lexi, can I ask you something?" he started, "If it is up to us to repopulate... what do you think the kids will look like?"

Lexi thought for awhile before she answered Dustin's question. "I think our children would look like you to be quite honest." Lexi couldn't think of a better answer. She returned to her quite state and waited until she was told to get out of the car.

Dustin followed in the car, trying to remember how to drive. He hadn't done it in a few months. He was often discriminated against for being one of the only ones who could drive but wasn't truly human. Dustin waited for an answer from Lexi.

Raven thought briefly and giggled. "Wow. 22." She whispered, rolling off his lap and landing on her stomach. "Ouch!" She said sitting up. She rubbed her nose and climbed back up. She sat on his shoulder. "So where are we off to?" Raven asked, licking his cheek and smiling.

Romanov almost wanted to scream after hearing how she had said '22.' "Well, we are currently off to a nuclear fallout shelter that is right about... Here." He said smiling as he saw an empty black hole surrounded by burn marks. He honked the horn of the truck and slowed down before stopping.

She smiled. "Don't worry, I don't care about how old you are." Raven whispered in his ear, she licked his cheek and smiled. she looked out the window, "We here?" She asked.

Dustin, too, slowed down. What was he honking at? "What's he blowing the horn at? I don't see anything. Stay here for a second, Lexi." Dustin got out of the car and approached Vasily's side of the truck. "What are we waiting for, man? Where's the shelter at?"

Lexi nodded her head and watched as Dustin talked to the stranger she still had not introduced herself to. She didn't quite like him. He was insensitive and thoughtless. She could tell Raven liked him though, and he liked Raven. They would make a good couple, and they could help repopulate the world. Lexi was lost in her thoughts.

"We are here!" Vasily said smiling. Gesturing to the doorway with the blown off door, he smiled. "Wait here." He said before getting out and jogging into the doorway. A few moments later, a large portion of the mountain seemed to be sliding away. Upon closer examination, it turned out to be a large steel bulkhead cleverly painted to match the mountain exactly. As he opened the door, which was wide enough to drive his truck through lengthwise, he flipped on the lights revealing the many rows of military vehicles.

"Wow!" She said, looking around. "I've never seen so many of those before!" Raven sat down on the dashboard, looking out. She looked back at them, her tail swishing happily "Yeah!" She said smiling.

Dustin could only stare in awe before heading back to the car. He got in and followed Vasily into the mountainside.

"Uhm, what exactly is 'here' Vasily?" Kristin asked. Here she was, in the side of a mountain with a bunch of cars, and she didn't know what she was doing here. "And what are we going to do now that we're here?"

Vasily slowly drove his truck into the mountainside, getting out after he parked it against a wall. "Here, my friends, is the official nuclear fall out shelter for the President of the United States, along with his Chief of Staff and his cabinet!" He said loudly, walking up to another small steel bulkhead and pressing a button, making it slowly slide up to reveal a large, empty room with a presidential seal over a single hallway. A short distance down that hallway was a very heavy door. "And through that door, my friends, is our salvation. At least for a while." Romanov said, grinning as he began to walk towards it. Nearing it, he stopped and looked back noticing what looked like a helicopter behind one of the trucks. Hmm, he thought to himself, he could fly but it wouldn't hold them all and it would quickly run out of fuel. "Oh well... might be useful." He muttered, heading back towards the group.

Raven hopped out and looked around. She changed to her half-form and looked around. "Wow!" She exclaimed smiling. She slowly walked in, looking at everything. She saw many shiny things. "Oh... shiny!" She said smiling. She skipped in, stopped, and looked at the seal. "Wow!" She meowed and stretched her legs one at a time. She couldn't help having her tail swishing around. It did that when she was happy. She smiled, happy to be happy now. She actually felt safer already.

"I can tell you, we will be well protected enough here. For a while anyway. As I said before, I might leave you people here and head out.... I'm not sure yet." With that, he walked over to the door and with some difficulty unlocked it, swinging it wide open and revealing a large open room with some couches. In the back there was an elevator leading to the different levels. The room had several other doors as well, leading to other parts of this level. He smiled and sat on one of the couches, briefly resting and waiting for the others.

Lexi got out of the car when it came to a complete stop. She took a look around and thought to herself, it's better than nothing. Lexi sat on the hood of the car waiting for someone to talk. Seeing there were couches, Lexi got off the hood of the car and went to sit on one, but continued to say nothing, waiting instead to be addressed.

"Lexi... I need you to help me here a second." Dustin tried to unload the car, but he obviously needed her help. "Please. This stuff is heavier than it looks."

"Leaving?" Raven looked sadly at Vasily. She quickly hid it behind a smile. "I guess you have to do what you have to do," She said quietly as she walked around and towards the elevator.

"I said, maybe." Romanov said looking at her. "I do still think there are survivors out there and I do wish to find them, but I'm not sure if I want to go yet. I haven't decided."

He noticed that they were slowly filing in. He stood up and placed a map on the wall, pointing it out to them. "Well people listen up! This is a five level shelter. As you can guess, the command area is on the bottom and I don't think any of you should go down there. It is a quite dangerous place if you don't know what you're doing." He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for the other four levels, it is living quarters on the top level, entertainment areas beneath it, kitchen below that, and mess halls below that. So feel free to wander over to the kitchen; we couldn't put much of a dent in this place's food supply for at least a few months." Vasily smiled at them. "The rest is not really empty space, but close... I'd call it filler space... much like this room here filled with couches televisions and computers." He said, smiling a little as he looked around. "Go wild! You guys deserve it!"

"Ok." Lexi got up and started to help Dustin unload the car. "Where should I put all this stuff? In the kitchen?" Lexi looked at Vasily.

"What?" he asked, looking at Lexi, whom he had seen only briefly earlier. "Oh, yes follow me." He said. relieving her of one of the boxes and heading down the hall to a nearby kitchen placing the box on the counter.

Lexi nodded to Vasily as they laid the boxes down. She then left him and followed the way Raven went. Up the elevator. She let the stranger in the elevator before her and hesitated before entering the confined space with the stranger. Not saying a word as the elevator approached the second floor. She quickly exited and let the stranger lead her to the kitchen.

"I'm going to check this place out." Dustin went to the elevator and Kristin eagerly followed him. The two of them entered the elevator and pushed the level 5 button and began to descend towards the command center. It didn't matter what Vasily had said, he was going to see if he could get somebody on the radio to help them out. He just had to know if there was anybody else out there, but he didn't want to tell anybody he was going there.

Raven nodded, "All right then." She stepped into the elevator, and went up to the next floor. She smiled and walked around. She found an empty room and walked about it for a moment. She walked down the halls, then turned into a kitten and started running, trying to get her mind off of some things she had done previously. She stopped and started to slide across the floor. She laughed shaking her head. She smiled and turned into her half-form. Raven stretched and walked down the hall some more, thinking for a bit and looking around.

Gongon looked around, smirking. This was the biggest base he'd seen in forever. It was amazing to see, really. He started to wander off towards the entertainment level that Vasily had been talking about. He remembered what Dustin had said about Joshua earlier. "He would've loved it here," Gongon said, "Lots of space."

Vasily shook his head, smiling a little before wandering around heading up a floor looking around. "Didn't Raven come this way?" He asked himself before walking into a room with some couches and a TV. Sighing, he sat down and turned it on, surprised when he actually got a reception. He looked at it a moment before realizing it was an outside view of the shelter. This place had a CCTV loop! He could see all the security cameras on TV. Smiling, he began to flip through the cameras, looking for his friends.

Dustin and Kristin went towards the rooms that were open. Many of them were empty offices. The one in the back, however, was a large press conference room, like one you would see the President giving speeches in. He entered, his sister following closely behind and they searched for a radio to transmit their signal to any other survivors.

They finally found one and Dustin quickly sat down and began to talk into it quickly, "C.Q. C.Q. this is..." he saw the name of the base Rocky Mountain 1, on a big sign painted on the wall, "Rocky Mountain 1 calling. Rocky Mountain 1 calling. Is anybody out there?"

Lexi came into the room where Raven was and asked, "Has anyone seen Dustin or Kristin?" Lexi asked, looking around.

Raven yawned and rubbed her eyes. She felt very sleepy, so she walked back, looking for a room to sleep in. She opened one of the doors and walked to the couch, where she sat down before curling up, turning into a kitten, and purring herself to sleep.

Some time later, Vasily was flipping through the cameras, until finally he stopped on one that showed Kristin and Dustin down in the command room. He suddenly stood up angrily. "Capitalist swine!" He hissed angrily, before darting towards the elevator, hopping in it and heading down towards the command room. He hoped they hadn't done something stupid.

Lexi ran after Vasily, making sure she grabbed her backpack, which had been in the box as well. "Where are you going?" Lexi screamed after him.

Raven woke up and walked out of the room. It had been a fitful sleep anyways. She followed them to the elevator. "What's going on?" She asked rubbing her eyes as she walked up to them.

"C.Q. C.Q. This is Rocky Mountain 1 calling. Can anybody hear me?" Dustin kept trying to adjust the radio. He had seen these things used in movies and on TV so he figured he knew what he was doing. Kristin sat by his side intently waiting for him to get contact.

"Transmission acknowledged, Rocky Mountain 1. This is Appalachian Parkway 4 calling back. Over." Finally, somebody else was alive! Dustin and Kristin cheered happily and Dustin continued to transmit.

"Uhm, our current status is very grim, Appalachian. We have only a few people here. There's Kristin, Vasily, Lexi, Raven, Gongon, and myself, Dustin, and we're all that's here. What's your current situation over?" Dustin was glad to have somebody to talk to, made him feel he wasn't alone in the world.

"We're pretty strapped for people ourselves. There's only a few of us here. We're all that's left of America's army. We're holed up right now waiting on our orders." came the reply.

"Well, it's good to know somebody else is alive." Dustin replied. Dustin continued to talk into the radio, "Thank goodness that we even have a military, Appalachian. Over."

Vasily walked out of the elevator and came into the room, glaring angrily at them just in time to hear the message. He was unmoved, however; he always knew there were people left alive. The only question was where? Now he knew that answer. He stood there behind them, looking down at them. It seemed that they hadn't noticed him yet.

"Oh, they're in trouble!" Raven whispered behind him. She watched them, putting her hands on her hips. "What happened to staying out of here?" She asked. Raven crossed her arms. "Hmm..." She said thinking as she looked at them, "You guys don't listen do you?" She asked curiously.

Kristin turned around suddenly and saw Vasily and Raven standing behind them. She tugged on Dustin's shoulder and he turned around to see him. "Oh... we're just seeing if there's anybody else around." Dustin protested. He stood to protect the radio, he wasn't giving it up because Vasily was here. "We're going to see if we can't find a way to get the others here or us there. So we can all start anew together." Dustin turned back towards the radio.

"Who's in charge over there, Rocky Mountain 1?" came a response.

Lexi pushed aside Vasily and stood behind Dustin. She held her backpack close to her, ready to pull her knife out at any time. She was willing to fight for her future mate.

Vasily Romanov rolled his eyes a bit before leaning over to the radio turning some knobs and checking it against some numbers on a chart on the wall. "There!" He muttered as he finished fine tuning the radio. "Call out to your heart's content!" He spat, "Not like it's going to do any good..." He mumbled, walking over to a corner and starting to flip switches, turning on a bank of computers to see what they held.

Dustin picked up the receiver and spoke into it. "Sir, nobody's in charge. We're all just kinda... flowing around waiting to be picked up."

Raven wrapped her tail around her waist. "well... I'll be going...." She turned and started walking towards the elevators. Maybe she could still catch some winks. She walked up to the elevator and stepped in. She went back to the second floor and walked out. She stretched and sighed as she fell asleep again.

Lexi sat on Dustin's lap as he talked to the people he was talking to. "So, who is it that you are talking to?" Lexi was curious, for she didn't know what an 'Appalachian' was.

Vasily smiled a little and very calmly said, "He's talking to another shelter very much like this one in the Appalachian Mountains farther east of here on the other side of the country." He said, before taking his leave and muttering something about it being hopeless as he stepped onto the elevator and rode it up wanting to sit down for a bit.

Dustin sat down, after having stretched his legs. "I'm talking to some military guys on the East Coast... said there aren't but a few of them either." He began to pick up the radio receiver again when the response came back.

"Glad to hear a voice. We've been waiting for a while now for a civilian to tell us they're alive." Came the short reply. Then followed by a new voice, "You have any supplies?"

"No, we don't have anything other than this bunker and what's already in it." Dustin replied, "But I'd like to think we've got enough to last us for a while."

Vasily got off the elevator, not knowing what floor he was on and not really caring. He wandered into a room with a couch and sat down, very narrowly missing Raven. He yawned loudly, not noticing her before leaning back and closing his eyes, rubbing his head with his hands.

She looked up at him and pulled her tail, seeing as how he was sitting on it. She giggled and snuck up on him. Seeing how he didn't see her, Raven pounced on Romanov smiling, but then she licked his hand. "Hey!" She said, meowing.

"Ah!" Vasily yelled. Sitting up and smiling at her, relaxing again, he said, "Oh, it's you!" He said, grinning and patting her head. "Need something?" He asked her scratching her under the chin.

Raven smiled at Vasily. "Actually... you came in here," she purred, "So I should be asking you that." She smiled, and turned into her half-form, sitting in his lap. She smirked as she faced him.

"What are we going to do, now that we know there are only a few survivors left?" Lexi asked Dustin. It was much later in the day and they had been talking for a while on the machine Dustin kept calling a radio. "I guess it didn't really do us any good to know that, and you should probably turn that machine off. What if they try to travel here and get to us, it will be less food for us." Lexi looked at Dustin and then at Kristin, hoping they would agree.

"You said there were six of you, Dustin?" Came a reply after a while.

"Yes sir, just the six of us." Dustin responded quickly. He turned to see Kristin was still beside him, listening intently. He also saw Lexi hadn't left yet either. At least they seemed to care he was talking to somebody else. Maybe there was hope after all.

"You might want to listen in then, Dustin. 'Cause in about six hours, a military chopper is going to be there and it's going to airdrop a few Marines for you guys. We got word that something out in the Rockies is systematically moving its way down towards Mexico. We don't know what, we just know that whatever it is, it is not a friendly thing. Repeat, it is not friendly."

Dustin became worried suddenly. what did he mean, not friendly? He quickly responded, "What do you mean? What is it?"

"We don't know, Dustin, but what we do know is that animals of all kinds run from it before this thing strikes. And when it strikes, it takes everything out. It kills everything." Dustin nearly dropped the radio. They'd already had that warning sign earlier. He just hoped whatever it was wasn't going to come this way.

"I think we need to leave now. I don't think having these people come here is the best thing. We already have one military person, thing, here. We don't need more telling us what to do. Especially since most of us are minors." Lexi was scared, if they didn't follow her then she would just have to be alone, but there was no way she was going to let the government take a hold of her again.

Dustin nodded his head, "I don't think it's safe here. Whatever is out there has already warned us it's there. We need to find a way out of here before that thing gets to us. If it eliminates everything, we're not safe here." Dustin headed back towards the elevator and Kristin rushed to it, so as to be the first one on it.

Lexi followed. She pressed any button on the elevator. She got out at the button she pressed and began calling for the others. "Gongon! Raven, Vasily! Raven, Vasily!" She ran into the sitting area where Vasily and Raven sat contently. "We have to go now!" Her look of worry and fear should have explained everything in an instant, and she didn't feel like explaining to anybody what was going on anyways. She knew men were coming, military men, and she didn't like it. She knew that no matter what... no matter what happened, they had to leave. Or they would be dead soon. Just like Joshua. Dead.

Lexi stepped out of the elevator and ran down the hallway, calling for Raven and Vasily. "Hurry come over here! I need to tell you something!"

Vasily smiled at Raven. "I came in here to sit down a bit, just needed to get away for a few moments you know needed to find a way to relax." He smiled at her softly before closing his eyes again and leaning his head back on the sofa.

Raven smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I know how you feel sometimes." She looked around, saw the cameras, and picked up a remote and to look at each camera on the small television. "Strange..." She shrugged and looked back at him. She blushed and bit her bottom lip, shaking her head and looking around.

He relaxed some more, lying limply on the couch. In the distance, he thought he heard somebody shouting his name coming this way. Let them come. I'm not moving, he thought to himself and dreading when whoever was calling finally found him.

She giggled and turned into a kitten, licking Vasily's face smiling. She giggled, trying to wake him up, hearing Lexi call their names.

"I'm awake! I'm awake! Jeez!" He mumbled, sitting up and plucking her off his chest. "I wasn't asleep you know!" He said, smiling at her before gently putting her on the floor and poking his head out the door. "What do you want? We're over here?" He shouted.

Raven laughed, "Sorry, I couldn't help it!" She poked her head out of the door. "It's something important; that's all I know." She said smiling.

Vasily sighed again before heading towards the source of the noise, finding Lexi. He was always bad with names, so he couldn't remember her name when he found her. "What do you want?" He asked her.

"We need to leave now; soldiers are coming to take our things! Do you think you could pull yourself off of Raven for an hour or two so we can leave?" Lexi glared at Vasily Romanov. Her attitude was perfect for the tone in which he answered her call in. Screw him, she thought to herself, if he doesn't want to come, then we will leave with out him. With that, Lexi turned and headed for the kitchen to re-pack the things she had brought up earlier and headed back downstairs to repack the car.

"Hey!" Raven said, walking up beside Vasily. She crossed her arms at Lexi as she passed. "That wasn't nice," she said staring at Lexi.

"Well, sorry Raven, but I have been calling you guys for ten minutes now. Do you think you would have come if I had said it was important? I just figured you two were busy repopulating the earth." Lexi laughed at her own joke and left.

He looked at Lexi. "Repopulating... oh wait no!" He said, looking at her in disgust. "No! No, nothing like that," he said as he grabbed his keys and started out the door towards his truck.

Raven stared at Lexi, blushing angrily. "Oh, and I thought you and Dustin were doing that!" She smiled and ran the other way towards the stairs. She smiled shaking her head as she skipped down the steps.

"With Kristin in the room? I don't think so!" Lexi laughed it off, even though it was an insult, and got into Dustin's car to load up the things.

Shaking his head a little and wondering what had happened to her to make her so unpleasant, Romanov went outside and started his truck. Smiling a little, he darted back inside and started carrying even more supplies onto his truck than the first time, including some more explosives ammunition and weapons. He opened the door of his truck after stuffing the back with supplies and quickly backed it out of the shelter. Blaring his music again, he leaned out the window. "If your going with me come on," he roared before honking the horn telling them to get a move on.

Dustin and Kristin moved slowly out the door from the elevator seeing everybody else pack up quickly. They were obviously the last ones left unready, so Kristin clambered into her brother's car and Dustin climbed in as well, he didn't want to take his time, but he felt so slow and ended up doing it anyways. He started the car, put it in reverse, and began to drive. He did not care who was in the car with him, he was getting outta Dodge, and he was going to find his own shelter safe in the mountains until it was time for moving once again. He turned off the dirt road and back onto the pavement, heading up towards the top of the mountain. Dustin drove off, leaving the other car. He sped up the side of the mountain, hoping to avoid whatever it was coming their way, and he wanted to find another safe shelter.

Gongon, having seen what had been going on, look around and climbed into Vasily's truck quickly. Gongon sat in the back. It was probably going to be a long ride, but he would have to get used to it soon enough. This was life now, for better or worse. Gongon was reading a magazine. It had news of all the stars and the like, but such things did not matter now.

Raven smiled, looking up at Vasily. She curled up in his lap and looked around. He sighed to himself, softly singing along with the music sullenly thinking it was all that remained of his culture; his country was effectively dead. Vasily Romanov looked down, sadness flashing across his eyes before he gave the truck some gas after making sure everyone was aboard. The engine rumbled as the truck lurched forward following the car. He knew the siblings ahead of them had no idea where they were going.

Raven, meanwhile, rolled onto her back and played with her tail out of boredom. She bit it softly and kicked the air, meowing and looking at everyone. Romanov could not help but smile at her watching her play with herself like that.

Vasily turned and smiled happily at her. "Meow yourself!" He said, laughing a little and still following the car ahead of them. He looked ahead and was bored again. "What am I doing? I'm following some kids who are lost in the mountains with no idea of where they are going..." he muttered softly.

As he stroked her fur, Vasily said, "You did say you were 15, right?" He looked briefly at Raven, then looked ahead at the road, "You're still a kid."

"Yeah, I'm almost 16." Raven purred. "I don't know, I just don't feel like a kid." She looked at him and continued, "I've been treated as an adult for so long that I just stopped feeling like a kid." She shrugged as she curled up to him.

Gongon scoffed. "I'm a full grown male gorilla. I am 21 in your years, and 57 in mine. You're the young one as far as I'm concerned, Vasily."

Vasily stared a moment. He had not gotten used to the talking gorilla and just decided to ignore it, but it didn't seem easy. The gorilla was right behind him in the truck and he kept wondering how this gorilla was even talking to him. He knew he had that answer somewhere, but he couldn't think straight now. He had to keep up with Dustin right now. He smiled at Raven, still petting her. "Well I suppose if everyone else treats you that way, I will too. I'll treat you as an adult," he said smiling briefly, as he was scratching her neck and chin.

Raven smiled. "That's good." She purred. When she heard Gongon, she responded by exclaiming, "Wow, you are old!" She smirked and then laughed gently, "Just kidding!" She smiled and curled up. "So where are we going?" She asked.

Raven's smiled caused Vasily to look at her and smile at her purring. "Honestly I have no idea, but I can tell you if I have the slightest doubts about where they're going, I'm taking my truck supplies and myself and leaving." He said looking ahead and yawning staring down the road.

She looked at him. "Oh...okay." She played with her tail thinking.

Gongon put his finger under her neck and began to wiggle it gently against her fur. "Your kind isn't so bad when it's not trying to kill." Raven just smiled in the compliment.

"Thanks." She said softly.

Back in the cabin that had long-since been abandoned. Logen opened the note; it was folded twice, and in it, the message said:

"You are the one, you must fight to find your destiny. In this broken world, you must try to fix it! I'm sorry for all the suffering that humanity has made you go through, but you will find a path, and on that path there will be some suffering. However, the glory you will receive is enormous in comparison to any other thing in the world."

Logen went outside and stared around. They were all gone. What had made them all leave her behind? She couldn't tell, but she did know that they were gone now. Gone and they would not be back. She sighed, upset that they had left her at this cabin alone. There was nothing left to do now. She turned around and headed back inside.

There stood that annoying bear. It was raiding through the kitchen pantry. With the others gone, it was free to take what they had left behind. She was upset even more to see this. That was her food now, she had to defend it! "Hey!" She screamed at the bear, trying to get it's attention. "I don't think that's your food!"

The bear turned curiously and roared at her, asserting it's dominance. She remembered what her path, her destiny, was to be. She figured this was part of her destiny. She charged the bear full force and prepared to force it out of the pantry. She would need every drop of food that she had to survive a long time. She scratched and clawed at the bear, fighting it effortlessly, her adrenaline pumping and her superior force taking control of this fight quickly. Easily, she had killed the bear and the food was rightfully hers.

That was when the ground started to shake and quake. The land was moving violently under her legs, which were knocked away from her and she fell to the ground. She looked up, wondering what was going on. Was the cabin angry for her kill? Or was the world collapsing? She couldn't be sure, but she knew she had to get away from the large and violent shakings. She turned, got to her unsteady feet, and ran out the door into the forest. As she ran, she could hear rocks tumbling down the cliffside and the trees swaying violently, a few falling over. When she encountered a dead end, she had to quickly stop to think about what to do next. The other end of the pit ahead of her was nearby, but she probably couldn't make it, now that she had stopped. Unfortunately for her, the pause had been her last.

As she stood thinking, a large redwood tree came loose behind her and toppled over, heading straight for her. As it neared her, her destiny flashed before her eyes, and she realized in an instant that her destiny wasn't going to be a happy destiny. She wasn't destined to seek the greatest treasure that humanity could imagine, but her destiny was simply-

The tree crashed right on top of her, flattening her into a pancake.

In Vasily's large truck, Gongon began batting his finger between Raven's paws and began to play with her. He would chuckle lightly as she attempted to nibble his finger, and feign pain every now and then

Raven smiled at Gongon. "Hey!" She reached for his hand laughing. As she tried to bite him but couldn't, she meowed and jumped onto him.

Gongon acted scared. "Oh, help me! The cute little kitty is attacking me with her little paws! I am not going to make it! She is an animal!" But when she did manage to claw him, his mood changed, "Ow, that hurt! Please, have mercy!" He burst into laughter, despite the small twinge of pain that momentarily befell him.

She laughed to him. "Hey, don't push it, I can be harmful." She licked his nose and smiled, "I can claw some more if I have to."

Smiling, Gongon pulled a bag of catnip from his pocket and threw it into Raven's lap. "I found it in the remains of the city. Apparently, catnip is immune to radiation. Enjoy."

She laughed. "Catnip, I haven't tried that in a while!" She sat on his shoulder and licked her paws.

"I know you must have heard this one million times, but aw! You're so cute!" Gongon cried in happiness, something he seldom was able to do.

Raven laughed upon hearing this. "Yes, I've heard that so many times and thank you!" She smiled and meowed, stretching some. Gongon winced a little from her claws in his shoulder, but he was not going to complain. She was too adorable to complain about such things to. She smiled and curls up; soon falling asleep, purring softly.

Gongon sat statue-still, not wanting to disrupt the sleep of the feline on his shoulder. He smiled. Had things turned out differently, he would have gotten a housecat. It would be free to roam as it pleased, mind you: Gongon would have a little kitty door on every door in the house. However, with the world in its current state, those dreams were dashed. Even with her, she was still partly human, and things would not be quite the same. She moved her tail a bit in her sleep, breathing slowly, and she stretched and lied on her side, falling back asleep.

V, a half-raptor, half-human beast, looked around. "Where is everyone?" He wondered aloud and began walking down the street. V traveled across the area in search of others, and he came across Dustin's car. It zoomed past him, not paying him any mind. I wonder who they are, he thought as he approached. his red armor on his body shined a little in the light. V saw the car coming straight at him. V uses his camouflage to stay hidden and gets closer but not to close. It passed quickly and then he wondered where it was heading.

Raven's ear twitched and she opened her eyes slightly, looking around. She stretched and sat up, looking around. She meowed. "Who's there?" She could smell V's scent as they approached him in the truck.

Gongon looked out the window. "There seems to be a humanoid of some sort up ahead of us." She moved and accidentally rolled off of his shoulder and fell on his lap. She winced in pain and sat up, rubbing her nose. Gongon picked her up gingerly. She was about the size of his palm. "Are you okay?"

She laughed. "Yes, I'm okay!" Raven yawned and licked her paws. Gongon picked a bug out of Raven's fur and ate it. He was a gorilla, after all. She laughed. "That tickles!" She got on all fours, shaking her butt in the air and pouncing on his finger. She smiled and bit it playfully.

Gongon wiggled the finger again, sometimes going left to right and other times going up and down. "I can't stop smiling, and my cheeks are starting to hurt. You're too cute for my own good." His face was going to be sore for a while.... He continued to play with Raven, a few times making his finger circle her head so that she would try to follow it by looking at it. Then he would swing his finger around to her stomach and start the cycle over again. She shook her head and laughed as she tried to follow his finger. He smiled, and wondered if Raven would actually get tired of it after awhile. After a few more minutes, he stopped. "Okay, time to stop. I need some shut-eye, and my face can't handle any more smiling." He crawled in circles three times, then lay down and went to sleep. He did not snore. Gongon did not stir. As he slept, he was as still as possible, and did not roll over. The truck, too, passed V on the empty highway.

Dustin swerved the car off onto a smaller side road with a large sign posted beside the road. It was a blank sign, the words once there, but now rubbed off. "Route 66" was imprinted on the sign from years of fading, but it did not matter now because it was just a blank sign. Dustin drove quietly down the road. Kristin told Dustin to pull off the road, and he did. She walked in a daze towards the bushes and puked, a little carsickness fading into her. She quickly got in and off they sped again.

Vasily Romanov mumbled angrily, turning off where Dustin turned off. Sighing, he turned up the radio slightly, trying not to disturb Gongon, who was sleeping in his truck. He stared ahead his eyes taking in everything. Raven rubbed against his leg suddenly, as if to ask what was the matter. He was startled. "What?" He looked over at her, a bit surprised. He thought she had been asleep. He figured he would tell her what was on his mind; after all, why not? He was bored right now. "Well, I don't know. I just cant get over the fact that I might be wasting what's left of my time following Dustin drive on an interstate to nowhere and he has no idea where he is going." He began softly. "I understand that I do not have to be here, but I rather feel it's my duty to come along and...." He trailed off, staring down the road. Up ahead, Dustin's car slowed a little and they slowly pulled off the road. A moment later, Kristin rushed out of the car, walking a little strangely. In a few seconds, she disappeared behind a bush. Raven climbed onto his shoulder. "Right..." Vasily Romanov muttered, sulking behind his wheel. He absently laid his head on it closing his eyes and quickly drifting off to sleep.

Raven felt him move forward and rolled of his shoulder. She mumbled in protest to his sudden action, falling on her face, and she sat up to rub her nose. She shook her head and licked her paw. She looked up, seeing his sleepy face. Raven giggled, "I can drive you know. I will drive, so you can get some sleep." She said happily, but softly.

He looked at her for a brief moment. "No, no I'm fine." He said suddenly sitting up and looking alert, but still weary. A moment later, Dustin's sister came from behind the bush and got back into the car. It sped away and he quickly gave it some gas falling in behind them. He wondered where they were going to wind up, and at what point they were going to finally admit they knew nothing of the road that lie ahead of them.

But what did lie ahead for them? Death or salvation? Happiness or sorrow? What would happen to them when the cars finally stopped? These questions plagued Vasily's mind as he drove on, with Raven in his lap. He looked cautiously behind him at the sleeping Gongon. What would he do about all of this kids and the gorilla? Would he have enough strength to lead them? Or would everything just fall apart? Like the world around them, would everything just fall apart?

Dustin and Kristin drove down the antique Route 66, not stopping for anything. They wanted to find a place to stay that wasn't destroyed at this point. He drove on until he came to a small town, completely barren it seemed on the outside. He finally stopped the car and shut it off. Just in time, they were almost out of gas. He got out of the car and Kristin did as well.

"Well... wherever we are, it looks safe for now." Dustin noted.

Raven rolled her eyes; she turned halfway around, and quickly scooted him over. She moved his foot off the gas and put hers in place of it. She removed his hands and was now driving. She smiled as he began to wake up. "Get some sleep, please." Her tail tickled him and she giggled.

Vasily stared at her a moment before grumbling. "If you say so," he said smiling a little. He knew better than to argue with a cat; they were stubborn as hell. He took one last look at her before leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes. Soon he was fast asleep and breathing deeply and slowly. His head was rocking from side to side with the truck's movements.

She laughed lightly. She shook her head and kept following Dustin, looking at everyone, seeing them asleep. "Aw, cute!" She giggled and looked back on the road. She hummed a soft lullaby to pass the time.

Vasily woke up with a start looking around wildly. He rubbed his eyes, wondering how long he had been asleep. It did not feel like that long. As he looked out the window, he realized they were not moving anymore. "What?" he said looking around.

She smiled seeing him awake as she came stopped humming. "Hey, sleepy head. Have a nice sleep?" She looked at him smiling, and then looked back on the road.

"How long was I out?" Vasily Romanov asked looking around a bit confused as to why he had suddenly woke up feeling anxious.

"Not that long; for a couple of hours, that's about it." She smiled softly. She looked at him, "What's the matter?"

He looked at her. "Oh nothing." He said before looking around again. "Where are we? And why have we stopped?" He asked her, starting to unbuckle his belt moving over next to her looking at the dashboard.

"We stopped to rest." She said, unbuckling as well. She stretched. "We will be moving soon, the others are asleep in the inn." she smiled and yawned before pointing to the inn.

"Inn?" Romanov asked, looking around. "Oh well that's good. Umm... why are you out here?" He asked, understanding why the truck seemed so empty.

Gongon came back out to the car quickly. Gongon re-entered the truck. "The beds there are horrible. The sheets make me itchy..."

"I fell asleep in here." She shrugged, "They left without waking me up." She smiled softly, halfway telling the truth. She looked out the window before hearing the truck door open. She smirked. "You could have taken off the sheets." She said to Gongon. Raven turned into a kitten and stretched; she rolled onto her back and played with her tail.

"Have you seen what is left of their beds? They do not have mattresses. It's just a wooden frame and the sheets." Gongon protested.

Raven giggled, "Which is why this is more comfy."

Gongon nodded. "Yeah, the back of this truck is better. But no, I just had to go into the inn and try the beds."

Vasily stared at him. "I never said you had to go into an inn. I've been asleep for the last two hours."

"I didn't order you... did I?" Raven thought back, but could not remember.

Kristin stretched her legs and began to head towards the nearest payphone to see if it worked. Maybe she could find a survivor or two in town that could help her and her brother and possibly Lexi out. Dustin followed slightly behind her to make sure everything was going to go well for them.

V kept watching them from a safe distance. Wow, what a group! I wonder if they would let me join, he thought to himself.

Gongon sniffed the air. "We're not alone. Someone new is nearby..."

V decided to show himself. After all, that gorilla had sensed him anyways. They would go after him if he did not show himself. He stepped into plain view and looked over at them. "Hello, I'm V!" He said. His body was like a raptor's, but it was in blood red armor and was as big as a silverback gorilla.

Gongon, actually being an albino silverback, was surprised that V seemed as large as he was. He got out of the truck and offered a handshake. "My name is Gongon. The two in the truck are Vasily and Raven. The two in the car are Lexi and Dustin. The one at the payphone is Kristin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. What brings you here?"

V shook his hand. "Well I've been searching for others that are different like me. I am also looking for others that are still alive. I am trying to get the person that created me, and the other creatures like me, though I am happy to be alive. My purpose was to kill everything but I did not want to do that. I'm too nice for that."

"Most of us are just trying to survive. It is great that you have something to do with your life. Maybe I can ask the others and we can help you out." Gongon smiled, then stepped on a nearby bug and ate it.

"Ok, thanks. By the way, how did you become able to speak the way humans do... not to say you should be dumb or anything," V said looking around.

"Radiation from the super-weapons being tested in the military base next door to the Los Angeles Zoo mutated me. However, I was this color to begin with. All it did was increase my strength and intellect, and maybe modify my vocal chords." Gongon explained as he chewed on a second bug.

"Hm, I guess humans are kinda useful." V said staring at the others. They all seemed trustworthy from this distance. If he had to, though, he would protect himself.

"Not really. Because of their stupidity, this planet is the way it is right now. In my opinion, humans are the most suicidal species on this damn planet. They spew toxins into the air and the ocean, they killed themselves by inhaling the fumes of burning plants, and they kill each other over practically nothing. I think God just sat there one day and said, 'Oh, this creation won't work out. Maybe if I give it the urge to kill itself, I will not have to do any work getting rid of them. They'll understand.' "Gongon sounded bitter towards humanity.

"I see your point; though not all are bad, just a vast majority is useless," V said jumping into a nearby tree and scouting the area for further signs of life.

"I never said they were bad, they just do bad things unintentionally. They're useless and stupid." He then looked back at the others, remembering how helpful they had been in his survival. "Most of the time..."

V jumped out of the tree quickly as a shell hit it and exploded. "Damn it, what do they want!" V said pulling a large gun from his back. V roared as a machine came near the inn. On its shoulders were four people and they got down to point their guns.

"Oh, V! It is good to see you again but I do not think you're going to get away this time," Said one person.

Gongon lifted up the machine and began spinning it while singing Carmen.

The people ran back and watched. V laughed. "Hey! Put that down, you big ape!" One yelled, pointing his gun at him. "Or I'll shoot you!" V pointed his gun. "I don't think so!"

"If you insist!" Gongon hurled the machine at the men, effectively killing them while causing the machine to blow up.

V laughed, "I guess that's one problem gone thank you," V said.

During all of this, Raven had hopped up and watched everything. "Umm... okay." She saw a butterfly and jumped up, trying to catch it. She was easily distracted by butterflies. It almost amazed her that it was still alive.

V walked over and stared at Raven, "aren't you a cute thing, um kinda a cat aren't you" V said. Raven laughed somewhat. She looked at him and the butterfly landed on her nose. She sneezed and shook her head.

By the side of the inn, Kristin searched the phonebook and began to find people's names, hoping there was somebody to call. The phonebook was small compared to the one in LA, and it was only a few pages long. It was not even enough to be considered a book, really, except for the advertisements. Kristin searched for people she thought could help, not finding any phone numbers in the book except one. She picked up the phone, but it was dead. So much for that idea.

Meanwhile, Dustin had approached Gongon, Raven, and the new raptor-like creature. Dustin did not feel like being as nice and welcoming as his father, but nonetheless, he still forced a smile and introduced himself subtly, "Hey, Gongon, I don't think anybody's here in this town, but I'm sure there is plenty of food here. Who's the raptor dude?"

V looked at Dustin, "I'm V and that stands for Virus." He said, and then took out his satellite phone. "I wonder if I can call Mai... if she's even got her phone on her, I might be able to call her." V laughed a little.

Dustin shook V's hand. "Nice to meet you, Virus..." Dustin found it to be a strange name, even for a strange creature. "I'm Dustin. My sister Kristin's in the phone booth over there." He turned to Raven and Gongon, "When did we pick him up?"

Raven sneezed again. "We found him." She smiled. She stretched and stood up. She turned into her half-form. "I'll go." She stretched.

Dustin nodded, "Well, tag along if you like... as long as we have food and shelter for all of us, I'll be glad if you tag along. Now then..." Dustin started, "If somebody will be so kind as to help me look around town for somebody that can help us, I'd appreciate it."

"I'll help. I got nothing better to do.," said V, walking towards Dustin.

Dustin turned to Gongon, "Stay here with Kristin, Gon. Make sure she doesn't run off." He turned to Raven and V, "Okay guys, let's go check out the town." And with that, Dustin led the way into town.

Gongon did as he was told. "Uhm... Uh... Are you too old for piggybacks, Kristin?"

Kristin stared questioningly at Gongon. "What do you mean, too old for piggybacks?" She found it to be a rather odd and funny question. She wondered if Gongon had the strength to hold her up for one, despite her being 13. She smiled at him, "I'm only 13... What do you think?"

"I... don't know what to think... I have never had to baby-sit. I've seen children and interacted with them dozens of times, but I don't even know a thing about 'em." Gongon scratched his head.

Kristin shyly turned away from Gongon, blushing. "Why, did you want to give me a piggyback?" She giggled.

Gongon shrugged. "I'm supposed to keep you from going anywhere, and the only way I can do that is to entertain you here. Moreover, I have no idea how to do that... They should've let someone else stay behind..."

It was abandoned, looking quite like a zombie movie almost. Dustin scanned the area, looking from building to building. It was obvious that this was a small town, there was hardly anybody there to begin with, let alone now that the town was empty. He guessed there were maybe 300 people living here before the town was deserted. Now he figured there was nobody, but it did not hurt to check. Especially if food was in abundance here. He approached one of the larger houses and knocked on the door. When he got no response, he walked in and found it empty. He went to the fridge to discover it was full of uneaten food. He hoped to see sights like that a lot more soon.

V stared at the food. "Looks like we found what we wanted." He said, looking around the house and the turning around to face them.

Raven looked around the house. "Clothes are good." She whispered to herself, finding girl clothes and boy clothes.

Dustin smiled lightly to himself, searching for a few bags. He found a few paper bags and threw as much food as he could inside them. "Okay, on to the next house." He muttered to himself as he left the house and crossed the street to the next one. Maybe someone was still here in town.

Raven walked out of the house and looked around. Then, she felt a tug on her tail and looked around and down to see a poodle had tried to attack her. "Hey! Let go dog!" She said, trying to pull her tail away from the small dog.

Dustin turned and grabbed the small poodle off Raven. He chuckled, "Guess being part cat still has the dogs wanting to chase you, huh?" He turned around when he saw a small boy, no older than six, leading his apparently blind grandfather outside into the backyard. Dustin smiled happily, finally! Some civilians that weren't dead! "Hey, kid!" Dustin exclaimed happily, "Come here a minute."

The boy led his grandfather to them timidly. "Is this your dog?" Dustin asked calmly. The boy nodded. "Was my sister's before the virus got her. Now my grandfather's got it and I-" he began to cry.

V came up behind them. "Talk about the virus kid, maybe I can help." He said lightly.

Raven rubbed her tail. "That hurt..." She saw the kid crying, "Oh, don't cry little one." She walked over to him and hugged him.

"The virus..." the boy sniffled, "It makes you blind, then deaf, and then your brain fries like an egg. That is what the TV reporter said. I did not believe it, but then my sister got it and she died. Now my grandfather's gotten it from her and I..." he stopped before talking anymore.

Dustin firmly looked at the small boy, "What's the matter? What's wrong with you?" He did not mean it to sound terrible as if he knew there was a problem with the boy, but it sounded that way.

The boy turned away, "I... I..." he sputtered before crying again, letting his tears fall freely. The grandfather, apparently deaf too, did not seem to notice that his boy was crying, or hear a word anybody else was saying.

The poodle growled at Raven, sensing her cat half. Instinct wanted to make the dog chase her until she ran up a tree like normal cats, but the poodle was too stupid to know Raven probably would not do that.

V sighed, "Yeah, I've seen this before and I've developed the antidote. I don't know if it will work, though." V said.

Raven looked at the poodle. "Don't you growl at me now!" She said to it before she turned to the boy. "It's okay, please don't cry!" She tried to comfort him. She rubbed her tail again, mumbling, "That hurt!" She looked at the poodle again. "Freaking dog!" She sighed.

Dustin demanded an answer from the boy about what was wrong with this town, but he asked the question nicely. "Can you tell me anything about the people in this town?"

"They're all dead now!" cried the boy, "Was in the food they ate!" Dustin, knowing he had touched the food, dropped the bags quickly so that they splattered to the ground.

"Yikes!" Raven exclaimed as she looked at Dustin, then at the boy. "Sweetie, it's going to be okay." She kneeled down to his level.

Dustin wiped his hands on a nearby tree, hoping he was not infected. The boy continued to cry, the grandfather oddly enough not knowing anything was going on. Dustin thought both people were very strange. "Is anyone else alive besides you two?"

The boy nodded. "Just the inns keeper, but he's on the roof of the inn, threatening suicide."

"Oh boy, I'll go stop him." She stood back up and looked around. She spotted him and climbed up on a roof, where she jumped from rooftop to rooftop and landed in front of the inns keeper.

The elderly man shocked and in fear, coughed up blood and backed away from the cat girl. "Please... don't come near, I'm sick!" cried the old man with a raspy voice. "I don't want to infect you, just let me die!"

Raven looked at him. "It's okay, what happened here?"

Gongon noticed that there were other people on the roof as well. Upon listening in further, he rushed over and restrained the old man for them.

"A couple of days ago, a German stranger came to town very ill. He brought that damned virus with him. He killed the hospital's staff, and they spread it to their families, who spread it to the rest of us. It did not take long for all of us to drop dead. That boy and his grandfather and myself are all that remain, and soon it'll just be the boy." The elderly man told his sad story quickly, wishing to be released. He coughed blood on Gongon, exclaiming loudly, "Oh no! I just coughed on you! You might have it now! Lemme go! I have to end this!"

Finally awake from her long nap, Lexi got out of the car and headed towards Gongon and the others. She noticed blood on Gongon's chest and rushed over to help him thinking he was hurt. "What happened?" Lexi screamed, unaware this blood could possibly kill her.

Gongon's chest and arm started to glow an odd green color. The blood turned into a vapor, and drifted upwards. As the glow subsided, Gongon could feel and odd taste in his mouth, and his nails and incisors seemed slightly longer.

Dustin climbed up to the top of the building to see the vapor disappear. Dustin quickly approached Lexi and Gongon, wondering what happened. "What's going on?" Dustin quickly asked. He had not noticed the changes to Gongon.

"He's infected! He is infected! Lemme just die so I don't infect anyone else!" the older man screamed insanely.

"That's nonsense. I don't feel any different... except for an odd taste in my mouth..." Gongon protested quickly.

Dustin quickly grabbed the older man and slapped him. "Calm yourself down, old man! Nobody's infected!" Dustin exclaimed loudly, he had grown tired quickly of listening to the older man's screaming. The boy had climbed up by this time onto the roof to see what had happened as well, while the older man continued to rave madly. If he had been any worse, he would have been like a rabies case. He continued to rave, "He's infected. Infected!" the older man coughed and sputtered up more blood, soaking himself with more blood and causing some to be thrown onto Dustin's hand-paw. Despite his efforts earlier to get rid of the virus found on the food, this time Dustin had no time to react before the virus could infect him. It turned into a vapor and was absorbed into his fur quickly and he barely had time to react before he tasted blood and steel in his mouth at the same time, even though neither element was in his mouth at this moment. Dustin angrily hit the man again in fury that he had just been infected, not even noticing that he would just suddenly gained another inch in height and that his claws had grown subtly as well.

Gongon looked at Dustin, noticing the subtle changes about him, but unable to recognize that these changes had actually occurred. "Uhm... Dustin... There seems to be something different about you, but I can't put my finger on it..." He said.

Dustin stared oddly over at Gongon, noticing he too looked a little stranger than before. "Well... what do you think we should do with this guy, Gon?"

Gongon felt odd. He felt a sense of bloodlust he never felt before. Let us put the old fool out of his misery. A quick death will be better for him than the sickness. C'mon... You know you want to... He ruined your shiny white fur with his blood... He deserves it... Against his better judgment, he tossed the man as far as he could. He then did the sign of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Dustin stood shocked in fear and disbelief as Gongon threw the elderly man. The boy quickly ran and screamed for the help he desperately needed, but would never get. The elderly man, deaf and blind, never moved an inch. The older man flew threw the air and landed smack into Kristin, knocking her onto her back. She cried out in fright as the older man bled all over her and as she screamed, a trail of blood slid into her mouth. Dustin jumped from the roof to save his sister, ripping the body off her and then quite shocked to find that she, now, was infected as well. He growled angrily. "This isn't going to be good when the effects take in." He muttered, not noticing he had already grown an inch since the blood had touched him.

"Oops..." Gongon jumped off the inn and ran, knowing that he would be blamed and that nobody would believe it was an accident. Paranoia set in. He feared his death. He continued on, as fast as he could, having no idea where he was going or why...

Dustin ran after Gongon, hoping to catch up to him. He did not want to kill him; he desperately wanted the group to stay together so that no more would die. "Gongon! Come back! Come back! We need to stay together!" Dustin shouted.

Gongon started to panic upon being followed, speaking gibberish in gorilla. They are after me! They are going to kill me! I knew I should not have thrown that man off the roof, but I did and... And... Argh! I am so confused!

"Gongon! Come back! I want you here with us! We need you to survive! I'm not going to kill you!" Dustin shouted random things hoping that one of them was the reason Gongon was leaving. "C'mon, it was an accident! You did not mean to! Come on back with us! Gongon!"

Gongon backed himself into a corner, his eyes bloodshot. "You...You're just lying to me... You are going to catch me off guard, like when I am sleeping, or when I am reading... Then BOOM! I'll be dead, just like that!" The fact he was talking rapidly and occasionally inserting a nervous laugh worried Dustin greatly.

Dustin growled at Gongon. "What am I going to do, Gongon? I am as you see me, harmless. I could not kill you if I tried. Just come back to us and I promise I will not hurt you ever. Please... we need to stick together, Gongon." Dustin pleaded, hoping Gongon would come to his senses and rejoin the group. Their survival depended on them all being together and if they could not stay alive together, they would never be alive after all. They would be dead before the next sunrise if everything happened to them. Dustin could not let that happen. The group had worked so hard for this group to stay alive, and for one of them to leave would make their efforts futile. Useless. Dustin could not let this happen either. He charged after Gongon, hoping that whatever happened next would not make Gongon hostile.

He would kill Gongon if he had no other choice....

Gongon scrambled up the rock he was against, laughing nervously. He peered down at Dustin. "Don't you try that on me, I know you're gonna kill me, you may be harmless on your own but with the group you'll take me out, but I'm smarter than that, so you won't get me! Hehe!"

Dustin was not very powerful to begin with, but he felt angry that Gongon did not believe him. With all of his might and power, he thrust himself upon Gongon on the rock, pinning him down as he roared angrily to him, "Gongon! Stop this nonsense and come back with us or I am going to do exactly what you say! I am going to kill you now! Change your mind, get a grip, and come back with us now!" The anger within had caused his blood to pump faster, adrenaline and now the virus pulsing within him. He grew slightly more toned, although almost unnoticeable at this point. He growled angrily, "C'mon... I am not going to kill you. Just come back with us!"

"Oh, I'll come with you all right, but I'm watching you, oh yes! And when you try to make your move, bam! You'll be six feet under, yes you will, and there'll be nothing you can do about it, no there won't be, no sir..." Gongon continued in this fashion as Dustin led him back to the others.

Dustin quietly led Gongon back; trying to reassure him, he was not violent. "I'm not going to do anything to you, Gongon...," he kept repeating. He came back and did not notice his sister had mutated as well. Her white fur glistened now under her taller body, Raven also looked like she had been working out as well, but only a small bit. Both changes were subtle so Dustin never seemed to notice, and Raven did not either.

"Oh, I know, yes, I know what to do. As soon as one of you makes a move, I will play it safe, but then I will pick you off one by one, until you cannot hurt me any more. Then I'll kill everyone, and I'll still be alive while all of you are dead, because you aren't smart and I am and...." Gongon then passed out from not taking time to breathe due to rapid speech.

Dustin then dragged Gongon to his car and threw him into the backseat, rolling the windows down so he could breathe. He was partially glad Gongon was silent, but wondered when the virus would take place.

Raven smirked shaking her head; she walked with them looking around. Raven looked at them. "I'll just... wander around." Raven turned and walked into the nearest forest and looked around. Raven picked some flowers and put them in her hair. She sighed and walked around, her tail swishing from side to side. Raven thought about everything she had been through.

As Gongon slept, his teeth became sharper, and his nails became more like claws. His eyes were becoming completely black, pure obsidian orbs sitting inside his skull. The flesh under his fur became a hard exoskeleton, somehow still able to grow there. His head became more of an ovoid shape, aerodynamic. And if one focused their eyes enough, they would notice small nubs starting to form along his spinal cord...Being in the back, however, these things were not easily noticeable yet. And a darker secret lay in the wings.

Dustin felt tired suddenly. He went into the car and he slept as well. As he slept, the virus within him changed him. The virus made him grow even more muscular as well as a few inches taller. His claws and teeth both sharpened to a very fine point, strong and powerful enough to cut through anything. He slowly began to have dreams of flying and slowly, his dreams were filled with primal instincts, as he became even more in tune with his wolf heritage. He increased in his speed and his primal instincts of hunting were peaked to a point nothing could outwit. He slept quietly, though disturbed by the dreams.

Vasily Romanov woke up in his truck and looked around wondering where he was. He yawned before scooting over to the driver's side of the truck accidentally pressing the horn and wincing at the sound if it. He opened the door and stepped out onto the dusty ground looking at the stars and moon for a while. Vasily yawned widely the hand just missing him as he stepped out of the truck slamming the door on Gongon's outreaching fingers not noticing. He walked around for a while kicking some dust and looking at the sky. Aptly he did not know why he pulled out his pistol not sure why but he had a feeling he would need it. Vasily heard soft noises and low sounds coming from a little distance away. He clutched his pistol pulling back the hammer and slowly started walking towards the noises. "Hello?" he called into the darkness tentatively.

Kristin explored the inn quietly and by herself. Raven too had mutated slightly more. Her natural instincts were at their peak as Dustin's were, and her strength increased less than her brother's did, but her speed was even more than her brother's was. Her height was another inch in height, but she still did not notice a thing.

Raven jumped hearing the horn. She shrugged it off and stretched. Soon, she started singing, walking forward, as she got on all fours and turned into her kitten form. Raven stretched and padded around.

Gongon woke up with a start, due to the activation of the horn. "Why am I here? They drugged me, yes, that is it... I am hungry. It seems that Vasily is the only one near me. I did say that I would pick them off one by one... He thrust a claw through the window between the back of the truck and the cab, clawing at Vasily's arm. He then fit his head through, preparing to bite Vasily and eat his remains once he finished. Little did anyone know that within Gongon's saliva lay a mutagen to produce the same carnivorous activity...?

Kristin still wandered, but was now beginning to return to the others. She did not want to be alone long. She hoped her brother and Gongon would be all right.

Dustin awoke with a start, but could not see the others around, so he got up and went to the woods for food. He encountered Raven there and approached her quietly. "What're you doing out here, Raven?" he asked quietly.

Raven looked up at him. "Just wandering around, that's all." Raven stretched and looked back around.

Dustin grabbed her quickly, sensing something is wrong. "You must come back with me, Raven. I think something's wrong with Gongon."

Raven hissed, feeling him grab her, but she stopped sensing his alarm. "What? What's going on?"

"I think Gongon's flipped his wig, so to speak." Dustin smiled, pulling Raven along.

Raven smirked. "All right then." She moved away from him and continued to walk.

Gongon saw his prey escape and shrugged. His prey would be on their guard, but he could just pick them out of the herd. He ran out the back of his truck and into the shadows. Yes, he would get them... soon enough. He now had spikes coming from his back, and something was starting to bulge out of the back of his pants. His vocal chords were changing too...

Dustin quickly led Raven back to the cars. He accidentally scratched her, unknowingly and accidentally, as he clutched onto her arm, leading her quickly to camp. "You think you can knock some sense into him?" Dustin asked quickly.

Raven looked at him confused. "Who, me? Uhm... I'll try." She felt his grip tighten. "Uhm... you can let go." Raven said seeing her arm turn a little red.

Dustin suddenly realized his hand was wrapped on her wrist so tightly; the hand seemed bluish with lack of blood. He let go and realized he would cut her deeply, a small bit of blood trailing out. "Oh, man...!" Dustin exclaimed loudly, "I'm so sorry!" He licked the wound, and then used a small part of his shirtsleeve to bandage the hideous wound. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" He cut her and did not even realize it! How could he be so forceful? He had never been that tight of a grip before....

Raven gripped her wrist. "Ouch! That hurt!" Raven felt it start to sting, she looked at him "What's happened to you?" Raven whispered.

Gongon saw Raven and Dustin from the shadows and began to speak quietly. "...hehe ...gnimoc ti ees t'now yehT.eno yb eno, tuo meht ll'I".

Dustin stopped suddenly and turned. He could smell Gongon nearby. He knew he was close. His body tensed up, and as it did, one could not help but notice he was no longer just a skinny anthro-wolf, but a well-defined anthro-wolf instead, who was about half a foot taller than before, although somehow, his clothes had grown with him, almost by magic.

Kristin, nearly the same way as her brother, came out to see Vasily with his gun drawn. "Vasily! Have you seen Dustin anywhere?" she called out approaching him.

Raven saw Gongon and was immediately frightened. "Oh, no!" Raven took a step back, seeing that they had all changed. She gripped her wrist, but she didn't know what to do. She turned and started to run.

Gongon smiled. ".mih raef yam ehS .em ekil tsuj, degnahc eH ...eromyna toN .nitsuD tsurt t'now ehS".

Romanov spun to face her, his eyes wide. He suddenly relaxed. "Oh it's you" he said wondering if Raven knew how close he had come to almost shooting her. "No no I haven't but i did hear noise coming from this direction," he said slowly walking forward again.

Dustin knew running after her would probably yield the same results as he had with Gongon, who he could now see out in the open. Dustin tried to speak, but all that came out was a fierce growl, deeper than Dustin could have possibly managed before. He was shocked at the sounds he made, and wanted to run after Raven, hoping to keep the group together. He paused to think, was it worth keeping them all together now that they were all mutating? Would they simply kill each other and that would be it for all of them? "Screw it...," he said in a much lower voice than before. It was nearer to his wolfish sounds, but much more ferocious. "If this group is going to fall apart, I'm not falling like my father. I'm going to accept that we can't stay together...," he growled at Gongon, "What's the matter with you, Gongon? Are you trying to scare her away?"

Gongon raced out of the shadows after Raven, a new stegosaur tail stretching out behind him as he moved. "!nevaR tae nognoG" He moved on all fours, drooling heavily, eyes rheumy with blind fury. As he began to catch up to her, his gait changed, a running crouch, which would allow him to pounce at any time while maintaining his current speed of 45mph.

Raven kept on running. She looked around trying to find a way to get away from them. Raven heard some thumping and looked behind her. Seeing Gongon on her tail, she screamed and kept on running. Unfortunately, Raven tripped over a tree root and slid to the ground. "No!" Raven yelled trying to get up as quickly as possible.

Kristin followed closely behind Vasily. "What do you think it was, Vasily?" she asked him quietly. She suddenly noticed he was shorter than he used to be. No, she was just taller. Kristin kept her muzzle shut, not wanting to say anything to him about it. "I- I'm scared." was all she could get out.

"I'm not sure," Vasily said looking around slowly before being suddenly surprised to see Raven run across an alley. "Huh" he mumbled only to see Gongon rocket past no more than a few feet behind her. But he looked different not at all like a gorilla anymore. "Oh hell" he said running after them and un-slinging his rifle. He ran after them falling horribly behind. Scowling he dropped to one knee and pointed the rifle at Gongon not sure if he should fire or not.

Kristin screamed in terror at what Vasily was about to do. "Don't shoot! Do not shoot! That is my brother, Vas! Don't shoot him!"

Romanov swore loudly then stopping himself when he realized Kristin was still within earshot. He got up and ran towards Dustin and Gongon keeping his rifle somewhat aimed at them just in case.

Kristin followed closely behind Vasily, keeping up easily with him now that her speed was much faster. She stayed behind him the whole time, not wanting to kill him, but promising to do so if she shot Dustin at point blank range.

Dustin knew he had to stop Gongon from killing Raven. If he lost another friend because he did not help, he would be pissed. At himself mostly. Dustin quickly climbed the tree nearest to him and tree-hopped until he was directly above Gongon, following him easily, not even realizing he was technically speeding in a school zone at his natural speed in the trees.

Gongon pounced, fangs bared and claws extended. His tail was rotating wildly above him as he said, "!doog etsat nevaR epoH" His claws landed first, scratching her arms and pinning them down. Then his head began to descend...

Raven screamed a blood curling scream. It echoed throughout the forest and she tried pushing him off, but she wasn't strong enough. "Please!" Raven screamed.

Dustin pounced at that moment, knocking Gongon straight to the ground. He swung several hits on Gongon, forcefully trying to get Gongon to regain his senses. He yelled quickly, "Raven, get the hell outta here! NOW!" He swung another blow on Gongon, forcing his weight on top of him to keep Gongon pinned to the ground. If he had to kill Gongon, it would not be an accident. "Gongon, what's the matter with you! You are the good person! Get a hold of yourself!"

Raven rolled over and quickly stood up. She started running away and she felt pain throughout her arm. Raven gasped and fell to her knees. She closed her eyes tightly. "No!" She whispered. Raven got up quickly and hid in a hole under the tree. She curled up, feeling pain move throughout her. Raven suddenly felt herself begin to change, her cat fangs started to grow longer and bigger. Raven cried out, feeling her claws grow longer, her body started to crack and reshape, she griped the ground feeling herself grow; she turned into a large cat, her paws big, her tail longer. She looked around, her fangs showing over her bottom lip and she let out a growl. "No!" Raven whispered as she closed her eyes shut and focused, she clawed at the ground and turned herself back to her half form. She felt weak and fell to the ground, she felt her vision getting blurry. Raven blinked once then passed out.

Gongon grinned maliciously at Dustin. ".won enim ehS" He then raced away, knowing that he would have a new member in his pack. They would either die as food or live as one of his kind. He ducked into a nearby manhole and ran through the sewers. The water would rid the trail of his scent while the electrical signature caused by the bite would allow Raven to track him.

Dustin was hoping Gongon had had enough. "Calm down, man. You're trying to kill everybody?" he asked in disbelief.

Gongon stood up on his hind legs, arms open in a very human gesture. ".eciohc ruoY .eid ro trevnoC ...ton ebyaM ...ebyaM" He then let out a booming laugh, a Mephistopheles rumble that reverberated throughout the sewer. ".esoohC." He then continued to run, taking sharp twists and turns in the darkest parts of the sewer. He was now 15ft. under the ground. At least Vasily would not readily be able to follow...

Dustin chased after Gongon, quickly catching up to him and then pouncing on top of him, forcing Gongon face first into the sewage waters. Dustin held his head under the water, attempting to drown some sense into his foe. "I'm not choosing anything but sanity, you evil person!" he exclaimed, forcing all of his weight on top of Gongon, using both paws to keep his head submerged until Gongon decided to regain his own sanity.

Gongon swung his tail, getting all four spikes into Dustin's back. He then released a small electrical shock through them, amplified by the sewer water. Gongon stood up, Dustin still pinned to his back. He dropped him into the water. "!dnourg hguorht gninthgil, rednerrus oN" His tail was gathering a charge, poised to hit the water at any time. ".enim ydaerla nevaR."

Dustin winced heavily in pain, but he was not dead yet. He took his claws and reached around, slashing at Gongon's throat and chest area, his sharp claws making gashes.

Gongon thrust his tail in the water, electrocuting the entire sewer way. The area was lit up with the energy. Gongon would pass out soon. His body would not be able to keep generating that kind of voltage for long. Then, something amazing happened. "Please! Help me! Something is wrong! Something's-" Then the disease took full swing once more. "?deneppah tahW".

Dustin quickly shook with violent bursts of energy when the water electrocuted him. NO! He told himself, no here! Not now! Not this way! He failed to notice Gongon's quick lapse of evil and he managed to free himself as Gongon had that lapse. He then got up, broken and injured. He angrily made one more swing, cutting completely through the tail Gongon sported, causing it to fall off. He was surprised shortly by his sudden strength, ferocity, and power in his claws. The tail wriggled briefly before "dying" and Dustin angrily mumbled, "You are going to pay!"

Vasily sighed looking back wondering why Kristin seemed so... Tense. He slung his rifle over his shoulder again. Before walking after them in the direction, they went. He groaned loudly coming to an open manhole. "Nope ain't gonna happen," he muttered not caring anymore. "It'll sort itself out" he said noticing what looked like an unconscious Raven lying in a strange position off to the side. "What happened?" he asked himself rushing over. "Here hold this," he said to Kristin handing her the rifle then checking Raven's pulse. "What the?" he asked himself standing up looking a little pale.

The blood loss and the energy loss were too much. "Hehe!" Gongon laughed evilly, as if he had already won, but passed out, face first in the water. The infection spread through the water, blood helping it flow.

Dustin panted, then started heading towards the manhole again, weakly. He reached the ladder and tried to climb up it, but he was too weak to do anything anymore. He just about was at the top when he suddenly cried out in shock as he fell to the ground on his back, lying in the sewers unconscious.

Raven felt weak. She groaned, breathing softly. She felt dead as her heart beat quickly then stopped. This action kept repeating and she moved her fingers a little. Finally she opened her eyes, seeing everything blurry. She blinked then closed them, Raven sighed.

After awhile, he woke up. He looked at Dustin's body and mistook it for dead. He wandered the sewers, keeping track of every twist and turn. His tail still hurt, but survival was the main issue. Besides, his blood was everywhere. His scent was still disguised. Finally, he reached an underground ruin. It was a great building made of stone, looking expensive. The true Gongon woke up for a minute, writing a legible sign saying "A monster lives here, turn back now" and put it on the door. He then returned to his brutal state, and entered his new den...

Vasily Romanov sat next to Raven watching her holding her wrist taking its pulse and wincing every time her heart stopped. "What happened to you?" he repeated looking at the ground.

Raven opened her eyes. Hearing him speak, she quietly responded. "H-he bit me." Raven whispered and she averted her eyes to him. "I'm changing too." Raven sighed and looked away.

Dustin lay in the middle of the sewers. Kristin could sense something was wrong and quickly ran off to get him. She powerfully smelled him out, since he was not that far from the sewer manhole. Here within she grabbed him and lifted him up and out of the sewers, not smelling Gongon's life scent down there. She quickly called out for Vasily, hoping that her brother was not dead. She could not handle another loss. "Vasily! Come quickly!" she screamed. Dustin was not dead, but he merely seemed it. His heart rate still kept going, he had stopped breathing though, and he lay bleeding out his backside, his body slightly charred from being shocked. He was so near to death, he could see his father and mother calling from beyond the grave to him. He almost wanted to reach out and touch them, but stopped, knowing that he could not leave Kristin. He tried to fight to come back to life, but he was nearly too far gone now.

Gongon's tail began to twitch. The cut was clean, and the tail could regenerate properly. The feral part of his mind began to think seriously now. Raven is mine. Nevertheless, the others are still too strong to challenge. Their Alpha Male caught me off guard. I must go after weaker prey first, let my pack grow. Perhaps that little boy and his dog would make good candidates... He left his new home, and began the hunt...

Romanov looked at the manhole then back at Raven. Kristin's voice telling him it could not wait. "I'll be back hold on" he said smiling at Raven before rushing over to the hole and jumping in. before he even hit the bottom he saw Kristin holding dustin and knew it was bad. he hit the bottom with a splash an a bit of a painful knee but he put it out of his mind while reaching into his med pack pulling out a morphine syringe. "Lay him there" he told her pointing to a raised part of the sewer that was somewhat dry.

Kristin did as she was instructed to do; she was nearly in tears, hoping her brother was not going to die on her. "I can't lose him. He's all I have now, Vasily." she began to sob.

"Yes I understand completely," Vasily said to her before sticking Dustin with the syringe and he began to remove his shirt before lifting him to his side looking at his back wincing.

Raven leaned against the tree. She closed her eyes listening. She sighed. Don't harm anyone, Raven thought. She knew he had turned into a monster. She sighed, falling back against the trunk of the large tree..

He arrived at the surface. He entered the house ever so silently, reaching the boy's room in seconds. The pillow was soaked in tears. It was obvious Gongon really damaged his psyche. The dog began to bark, instinctively defending his master. The boy got up and looked at Gongon, and he said only one word.

"Why?"

A few minutes later, Gongon's pack had grown to three... They descended to the sewers once more, heading towards the next sector of town.... He was disappointed. There were no people to convert. He had his little pack return to the others, remembering the condition he saw Dustin's body. A great battle would ensue.... He was outside their encampment. He saw them tending wounds. The Alpha Male was alive. His condition was failing, though. Now would be the time to strike. He ordered his new pack to move in, and they walked into the open. It was night now, and the moon gleamed brilliantly off Gongon's fur. His tail was complete once more.

Dustin could only dream of his sister being truly happy with his family in heaven now. His father and mother were so happy together, it was almost saddening to see them so happy to Dustin. Just as Dustin began to want to give up and spend the eternity with his parents, he felt the cold world sinking back in as the syringe popped into effect. He began to stir, but was still too weak to move, he was barely alive otherwise. Kristin continued to sob, "Will he make it, Vasily?" she asked several times, hoping to goodness she was not going to lose her brother today.

Raven opened her eyes slightly, hearing them. She turned her head and watched the tree. She tried to stand up and she gripped onto the tree standing up. Raven looked at them, "Don't hurt them!" Raven yelled.

Vasily did not notice any of this as he poured clotting powder on the gash in Dustin's back slowing then finally stopping the bleeding. He shook his head that was only the beginning he took some cotton. "I'd hate to be you now kid," he mumbled before roughly rubbing the cotton inside the wound removing large amounts of sewer water and some gunk. He felt bad so he gave him some more morphine. He sat down next to him and grabbed some surgical string and a large curved needle.

Gongon concentrated his brainwaves, sending a signal to the antigen that now flowed in Raven's blood, trying to activate the dormant beast. Meanwhile, the mutant dog and the mutant boy pounced on Vasily together, and began biting. Not being Alpha males, Vasily did not receive an antigen, but he was receiving various bites and scratches. Gongon's stare was intent on Raven, revealing to her and only to her a twinkle in his eye, which was the last of his humanity.

Kristin could hear what Raven had said, and it worried her badly. She knew she was not her brother, and if somebody was coming to finish them off, she had the rifle that Vasily had given her. Of course, besides him, it was obvious none of the rest had ever truly fired a gun at anything before. She bent down, waiting for something to happen. She had night vision eyes, a benefit of being a predator, so she could see Gongon and the others coming. She whispered quietly, "Don't look now, but I think Gongon is going to kill us..." before the attack.

After Vasily was being attacked, Kristin fired the rifle several times, filling the boy and the dog with holes, killing both of them instantly. She reminded herself of a typical horror movie protagonist. She'd never fired a gun before, but she had shot them both square in the center of the head, only needing two shots, but wasting five others to make sure. She turned to Gongon, "What do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed.

Raven felt the something and fell over. Raven gripped onto the ground. "N-no!" Raven gasped closing her eyes. She felt her fangs slide down over her bottom lip. "Stop it!" Raven cried as she rolled over onto her side and curled up. "Stop please!" Raven whispered, feeling her body start to take form.

Gongon's focus was interrupted as his old self emerged. "Mind weak! He strong! Save me!" Then the new Gongon resurfaced. "!erefretni t'noD" He lashed out his tail at her, sending Kirsten flying backwards. He then focused on Raven again.

"Stop it!" Raven yelled. She tried to block him out, she squeezed her eyes closed, but she felt her claws grow longer. She got on all fours and let out a vicious growl. Raven gripped onto the ground, and she hissed and started to grow fur.

Gongon smiled, still focusing. "!seY !seY" Kirsten, being a few inches deep in a wall, was going to take time getting out, and Raven's transformation was almost complete. She would be a strong pack member, a strong candidate for a mate...

Kristin madly flew at Gongon again, easily getting out of the wall and then using the butt of the rifle to knock him to the ground, adrenaline pumping fast enough to make her feel like Wonder Woman. She attempted to pick him up and sling him again, this time into a tree. She had to protect her brother, who was finally starting to come around.

Her eyes went wide, they turned to a blackish gold color, Raven felt her bones crack then reshape, her tail grew longer and grew fur; then she grew paws and finally changed out to her form, and she slams her paw against the ground and gave a fierce growl.

The real Gongon resurfaced. "Yes! Drive me back! I am a monster! Drive me back and drive away!" The new Gongon returned, but the old one's influence spread. He was crying. Gongon rushed at Kristin, swiping his claws and tail in rapid alternation, each fist with enough strength to crush a human being to the size of a pop can.

Romanov was not exactly sure what was going on but he pulled out his pistol and started shooting at Gongon not sure, if he was hurting him or not. The massive creature did not seem to be responding to the shots. Raven turned towards them. She ran and pounced on Vasily, growling.

Gongon turned to Vasily. He felt pinpricks and wondered where they were coming from. Seeing the pistol, he shot a burst of bioelectricity from his tail sending a portion of it through the gun into Vasily, the remainder of the energy sending the gun flying. Having done this, he tumbled a few feet from one of Kristin's punches, only to return to his melee barrage against her.

Kristin flew back into a tree, now unconscious. She was on the verge of death. It seemed as though she would be dead, but she was not. Dustin, barely able to do a thing, was at least able enough to get back on his feet and put himself in a fighting position, helping himself to more morphine from Vasily's case of goodies as well as adrenaline. He then roared in fury, seeing his sister was down. "Gongon!" The loud howl came, "You hurt my sister! Now I'm going to take you down to Hell!"

Vasily suddenly found himself on the ground with quite a bit of cat on top of him. He tried to fend her off knowing it was probably useless. Quickly he grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin holding it in his hand. If he ended up dying, he would definitely drop it and hopefully take gongon and this thing attacking him, with him.

"Vasily!" She whispered and her eyes flickered back to themselves. "Please help us!" Raven whispered, but then her eyes changed back and Raven growled.

Gongon reverted to his true form with all his will. "Dustin... I understand your rage... This disease... It has made me do horrible things... Strike me now, while I hold it back. There is no cure." He turned to Raven. "I'm dreadfully sorry. I will burn in Hell for this." He knelt, ready to take a killing blow. He could only hold it for 3 minutes longer.

"What?" Vasily asked himself before planting a foot in her stomach pushing her off him for a second as he bolted for a nearby fire escape. He ran towards it then jumped up catching the ladder in his fingertips he hung there like a worm on a hook for a few seconds before slowly puling himself up.

Raven fell back and sided on the ground. She rolled over and looked at everyone. "I hate all of you!" Raven yelled her voice changing back to normal. Now that Gongon was normal as well, she was able to turn back; she transformed to her human form. Tears streaked down her face. Raven turned and started running away.

Gongon heard Raven and his heart sank. "That's probably best..."

1-minute left... .

Dustin stared angrily at Gongon. He may be playing tricks on your mind; Dustin thought to himself, he hurt your sister. Maybe she is still alive. Dustin angrily approached Gongon grabbing him by the neck and squeezing tightly to cut the air from his lungs to strangle him. Dustin angrily squeezed tighter when he remembered how much he had already hurt him, and Dustin angrily felt like killing him now. He had already been given the go ahead, but he felt that he was going to have to find out if he was able to do this and not feel guilty. "Who are you and what have you done with Gongon!" Dustin screamed at Gongon.

"Hurry! Finish the job! I can only hold him back for 30 seconds longer!" Gongon shouted.

Raven wiped away her tears. "Stupid virus!" Raven muttered and she kicked a tree. "Stupid friends; I never should have trusted them!" Raven fell to her knees crying, "It's my fault for trusting them!" Raven shook her head.

Dustin was determined not to kill anybody unless he had to. He had plenty of reason to, and the evil within him told him he must in order to save himself a long painful death, which was surely what he was going to get if he let Gongon live. "Answer my question! Who are you and what did you do with the real Gongon!" Dustin screamed.

Vasily Romanov sat above the battle still holding the grenade trying to remember all he knew about virus's and how to fight them. "Antibodies..." He mumbled wondering if he had any antibiotics in his kit. He looked and squinted at it wondering if he could make it through the fighting.

Gongon frowned. "Good-bye."

The face returned to evil. ".ediskraD eman eM .gnola yalp eM" He cackled hysterically. "!eyb-eyb og nognoG ekaM" His cackling continued, high and shrill. ".won peels eH".

Raven shook her head. "I'm a monster!" Raven whispered. She felt sadness and anger build up inside of her and she tried holding it in by biting her bottom lip hard. Raven sighed and looked around. She stood up and started walking around. She sighed and hugged herself.

Dustin evilly slammed Gongon, now Dark side, into a tree. He then approached Dark side and threw him to the ground, using all of his strength in the throws, hoping that Gongon could be coaxed back to life. Stupid compassion, he thought to himself, why could not I just kill this person! It hit him suddenly that he cared for Gongon, that he could not kill Gongon if he wanted to, because Gongon was innocent. However, Dark side was not. Dustin then grabbed Dark side one more time, tears in his eyes as he powerfully threw Dark side into another tree. "I'm sorry, Gon. Sorry to have to kill you this way..." Dustin moved in weakly, ready to make the final strike to kill Dark side once and for all...

Tears were streaming down the face, even with Dark side's evil expression. ".ediskraD llik on uoY .enoyreve ni live I .enoyreve ni I .uoy fo lla ni no eviL".

Dustin went straight to Dark side and angrily spoke, "I know that, Dark side. But nobody hurts my sister or me.... Not even the dark side of Gongon can do that without a fight. Now you die..." he began to cry once again, ready to land the final blow.

".enoyreve fo ediskraD .nognoG fo ediskraD tsuj toN". Dark side spoke with a nasty tone. Dark side was reeling. "!erefretni t'noD" He escaped Dustin's grasp in the confusion of Logen's attempts at a cure and ran back down into the sewers. In a few minutes, he was in the den. Gongon resurfaced for a few seconds, locked the door to the old castle, and then Dark side took over again, eating the key.

Vasily jumped down from the escape and landed rolling on the pavement. He got to his feet and headed towards his med kit. He looks around wondering where raven went. He wandered around for a while looking for her softly calling her name. Fearing for her and for him if he found her, as she was earlier. He headed into a close group of trees looking around hopefully.

Raven growled. "Stupid people!" Raven kicked a tree and wiped away a tear. "Now where should I go?" Raven whispered, "I cant stay here any longer." Raven whispered, "I might hurt someone." Raven sighed and curled up beside a tree. She turned into her small kitten form and started to fall asleep, even with the fighting still going on. Her ear twitched hearing her name. Raven heard a rustle in the bushes close by, and she sighed and hid her head.

Vasily pushed his way through the bushes emerging into her sight covered with scratches and torn clothes. "Raven?" he said again sounding hopeful. He sighed a little and after looking around a few moments passed her hiding place not noticing her against the shadows.

Raven jumped. "Ouch!" Raven exclaimed as he stepped on her tail. She whimpered and kissed her tail gingerly. She licked it, the pain slowly going away. She sighed and laid her head back down. Raven heard him walking away and she sighed. "I guess its for the best." Raven said. She stood up, her wrist from where Dustin cut her made it weak. Raven slowly started to limp away. She let out a growl and stood up. She turned into her half-form and looked around. Raven rubbed her wrist and sighed.

Vasily made it a few yards away before sitting down with his back against a tree. "Ah, what am I doing I'll never find her." He mumbled sighing heavily and looking around in the darkness. As he sat there he felt really bored and kind of out of place, his eyes started to droop as his head fell forward onto his chest.

Raven kept walking then noticed she was walking in circles. "Okay, this sucks." Raven walked a different way. "Shoot, I'm lost." Raven sighed and sat beside a tree. Raven stretched and then looked around. She looked closely to see him falling asleep. She sighed; "It's not safe for him out here." Raven stood up and walked over to him. She picked him up and started walking towards the truck.

Vasily sighed, opening one of his eyes blearily and he smiled at her. "Raven...I found you... Finally are you all right?" He smiled at her again. "You look okay. That's good... why did you run off?" he mumbled smiling softly at her again before closing his eyes again completely exhausted.

Raven sighed. "You made me think you didn't want me, so I just ran." Raven looked down at him. "I was tired of being used. I'm a monster now!" Raven sighed and looked back up.

He mumbled something incomprehensible. Then smiled a little. "You just scared me that's all; the way you were growling I thought you were going to eat me." He shuddered a little sleeping then smiled. "You're a monster? Oh that's nice, good for you." He said happily, obviously not understanding what she said at all. He continued to sleep occasionally muttering something about muffins and small paper bags.

Raven smirked and shook her head. She laid him down in his truck. "I guess it's for the best, I don't want to hurt you and I can easily pass the virus." Raven closed the door. "I'm sorry, but... I feel I must go."

He mumbled something else smiling. "See you tomorrow," he said still not knowing what is going on. He curled up on the seat of his truck and started snoring softly.

Raven sighed. "If I'm not dead already or gone." Raven whispered. She leaned in through the window and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry," Raven whispered and hopped off. She turned and slowly started walking back into the forest. Vasily smiled in his sleep rubbing his cheek before rolling over and falling asleep again. He mumbled something about big kittens. Raven rubbed her wrist. She unwrapped the cloth and looked at it. "This sucks...." Raven sighed and rewrapped it. She kept walking before sitting down. She sighed and laid down as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Dark side was planning to find alternate ways of getting out of the building so that the others would be deceived. Gongon was hoping to keep Dark side in the building, starving them both to death in a matter of days. Dark side would not die so easily. He removed all the physical mutations he awarded Gongon and used the physical matter to make a new body for himself. He was the clawed beast Gongon had become, but leaner and faster. Meanwhile, Gongon passed out from his ordeal, in a long-dead castle under the earth...

Gongon remembered all that had happened to him before that day he met Joshua. He remembered the extensive testing, the exposure to the zoo's animals, the horrible treatment of not only being an animal in the zoo, but being treated for the radioactivity from the plant. It was all horrible up until he had met Joshua.

He remembered it all like it were yesterday. He was two when they had brought him to the Zoo. He could specifically remember himself being ecstatic to explore the Zoo, thinking that was something he could do. Unfortunately, he had to be kept in that cage all day long and with others he had never even seen. He quickly learned to pick up his role in the Zoo, just act bored. That's what he did all day long, act bored. Maybe that was because he always was.

When they had built that God-awful plant a few years back, nobody had predicted that the result was the closing of the Zoo and that the animals would all mutate and gain humanlike qualities. He was one of the least affected, although it would have never seemed like it. He was one of the more "perfect" specimens that had adjusted to the radiation. He remembered in a flash the night he escaped. It had been simple. The radioactivity had closed the Zoo permanently and the keepers were moving the animals cage by cage out of the city. He had simply walked out of the cage and then out of the park. He hadn't been walking long when Joshua had picked him up, but what he had seen made him despise human civilizations.

The town had been dirty, unhealthy, and certainly crowded. He spent most of the first days of December walking around the busy Downtown area, but one day the crowds were gone, and then he was alone. All alone. How could civilization, no humanity, do that to him? How had he lost his curiosity and wonder; replaced with that boredom and hatred for humans? How? He still didn't know for certain, but he had plenty of theories.

It seemed now that this was the end for Gongon, and Dark side. The plan was to keep himself locked up until he wasted away and died. He only hoped that Dark side didn't have other plans....

Romanov woke up with a start in his truck breathing hard and looking around wildly. "What how did I?" he muttered looking around and wondering how he got here. He felt strange like something horrible was coming. He did not know why but he felt now was the perfect time to use his toy he had been dragging along. Without waiting for anything to make sense, he jumped out of his truck and ran to the back trailer. He climbed up the side of the machine before opening the hatch and dropping in locking it behind him; he started up the Abrams backing it off the trailer and loaded a shell into the turret swinging it wide across the horizon scanning it.

Dustin quickly went to his sister's aid and decided to try to bring her back to life, but not knowing CPR, he did not know how. He could only hope she would be all right, as she rested unconsciously on the ground. He was going to kill Dark side, even if Gongon was the host.

Raven woke up and sat up quickly. She was breathing hard she looked around before standing up. "What happened?" she asked as she started walking a little, trying to remember all that had happened and she felt weird. She sighed and kept walking, her hands in her pockets. She had a wild look in her eyes; they were partially black and partially gold. She did not know why but she wished she did.

Gongon woke up. He was in the castle. "Why am I back to normal? He must be toying with me. I cannot leave this place then. As soon as I rejoin the others, he could come out at any time and strike them down! Must stay here. It is for my own good. Good thing I swallowed the key..." Gongon paced in his new home, waiting for death, starting to go mad from sheer boredom.

Dustin left the tree where his sister lay, but threw her over his shoulder and began to walk towards Raven, as he smelled her out using his super-sensitive nose. Gongon was long gone, and Vasily was still around somewhere. He secretly hoped that Lexi was still alive and that she had not fallen victim to Dark side when he had been present. It seemed that Gongon first, and then Dark side second, had been right all along. Despite his best efforts not to be the Alpha Male of the group, he had taken the role and ran with it as far as he could. He wasn't sure who the Alpha Female was of their "Odd pack" although he could've guessed it was Raven, despite her tendencies to become evil to attack, she was very fierce and primal when she did, indicating she could possibly be the Beta of the group. He finally caught up to Raven and called out, "Raven! My sister is unconscious. Can you perform CPR?"

Raven heard him and turned around. "Oh no Kristin." Raven sighed, "Yeah sure." Raven walked up to them. "Lay her down," Raven instructed. She kneeled down beside the girl. "Oh... what happened?" Raven asked her memory a little fuzzy. She lifted the girl's chin up and pinched her nose and she blew several breaths. She leaned down then did it again. After several tries, she heard her cough. She smiled and leaned back to let her sit up.

Kristin weakly sat up, her brother having to help her up so she could feel better. Dustin grew cold as he spoke, having a pure hatred for Dark side, "Dark side tried to kill her. I did not kill him though... I could not do it to Gongon... no matter how evil he was. Dark side just escaped before I could decide if I would or not... I'm no Alpha like everyone says or Gongon would be dead now." Dustin put himself down as he finished talking, ashamed he had not done what he had promised to do.

"Who's Dark side?" Kristin asked shakily as she came back to life. Dustin never answered her; he was too ashamed he had not done the deed. At least Gongon was alive, for now. At least Gongon and Dark side had taken off and left, for now. He had nagging feelings that somehow the two would be back, and they would not show mercy that next time.

"Raven... do you think you could track down Gongon and get him back here? I want to apologize for everything." Dustin said, still ashamed.

Raven sighed and walked up to him on her knees. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, don't blame yourself for something you didn't cause, its not your fault, I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself." she looked him in his eyes, "you don't have to kill to prove worthy of yourself, I know they will be back, and that's why when they do ill be ready," Raven said. "Just don't go thinking that this is your entire fault, you couldn't prevent it."

Dustin shook his head, still defeated. "He tried to control you too, Raven. He almost made you kill Vasily. Don't you remember that? If he comes back, you might be forced into evil again... I don't want to kill anybody, but it seems that it's going to be happening soon."

"Look at me." Raven ordered, "I'm trying okay. I will figure out a way to control it. I am not giving up. I refuse to. I'm strong at heart; that's how I was born, and now I'm not letting you give up." Raven looked at him, straight in his eyes before continuing, "I know we are all monsters and I don't like that, but think of it this way: we are stronger and have a better chance at living. We upgraded to a new level. It may be a curse and I don't accept it but we don't really have a choice now do we?"

Dustin shook his head, smiling gently and sweetly at her. She really was right about this, considering her past as Raven claimed had happened. "You're right... but what do we do now?" he asked her.

Raven thinks for a bit "I'm not sure, I guess time will tell" Raven smiled softly, she looked at the sky then back at him "I guess we better start moving, don't really want to stay in one place if this is where the virus started"

"Kristin, sis, I need you to go find Lexi and tell her what's going on. Find Vasily too, I'm sure we'll need him later." Turning towards his sister, Dustin said these words, "Do you think you're up for walking around by yourself while me and Raven go find a safe shelter for us to stay at?" Kristin shook her head, but was still dizzy from the incident. "Good, now find them and then follow our scents back to us and we'll all decide what to do from there." Kristin began to walk off, Dustin turned towards Raven, "She's such a good girl, I don't know what I'd do if I lost her." he paused, "Let's go find ourselves a shelter."

Raven watched Kristin leave them and looked back at him. "Yes, she is a sweet little girl." Raven smiled softly, "You're lucky, you have family." She looked around. "Alright then, let's go." Raven looked back at him, "and quick, nightfall will be coming soon and it will be a little harder for us to find it during the night. Then again we do have special sight," Raven thought for a bit then turned and started walking, dropping the subject.

"So all you remember about your past before we met you was that you were made to be a monster, Raven?" Dustin asked. He wanted to pass the time as they walked in the forest and by doing that, he had to ask questions. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but do you remember how they made you... the way you are? Cat-girl, I mean. I do not think cat-girls are on the minority list yet... like anthro-wolves and the like. I am sure Gongon is not on that list either. So how did they make you? Or were you born to biological parents?" Dustin wanted to delve into her life, get to know her a little more. After all, if she were the Beta... they would have to help repopulate the Earth. All in good time though, he thought to himself, thinking of Lexi and his promise to her.

"Well yes I was made by my parents; they were lab rats as people would say. They tested on them then made them breed, and then I was born. They tried to breed them again but they couldn't handle it so they died." Raven tried to think that far back. "They then got rid of them and started to test on me, making me learn fighting skills, putting chemicals and whatnot in my system, but finally they succeeded and with one word I went on a rampage. They knew that one of these days I would be stronger than they would. They feared that and created a word that would put the monster in me asleep." Raven sighed. "They then tried breeding me but I refused. that's when I ran away from them, ever since then I don't know what happened to them," Raven shrugged, "all I have left of my parents is this little bell they gave me." Raven showed him the small bell with a red ribbon around it around her neck.

Dustin shook his head sadly, how could they do such things to a poor girl like this one here? He sighed unhappily, "My mom died a few years back. She was killed. I do not know by who or what, but I know she went to get some groceries in town and then she never came back. When she died, I had to give the big eulogy for her... I did not know what to say, but everyone lied and said I did well anyways. I'm not one for speeches really..." he shrugged, "But after that we lived a boring life and then everything that's happened in the past few days... I think that if the world is ended, and we are all that is left, we will not last forever either. Even if we repopulate."

Raven sighed. "That's not right. So many cruel people in the world these days." She looked out into the sky. "I know we won't last long. I can kinda feel it; everyone has to die at some point and I guess this is it for us." Raven sighed and shrugged. "If it does end, then I'm glad I got to have such nice friends like you. I never had anyone until now." Raven looked back at him, her eyes showing a bit of sadness. "I'm sure we will have a happy after life. I mean, life's not meant to hate."

Dustin nodded, "I'm sorry you haven't had such a wonderful life, Raven. Or a long one either. I have not gone through life the same way you have, Raven, but I do share your pain. I feel like we're both pretty screwed out of our lives now." Dustin spoke sadly, giving up hope already, "And if Gongon comes back and you two turn evil again... I don't know what to do."

Raven touched his arm gently, stopping him. "I know I'm scared as hell also because I don't want to be a monster." Raven shook her head, "But don't give up, I'm sure there will be a way to stop this. I won't give up; even if it means that I die." Raven sighed and looked at the sky. "I think it's about time I go. I do not belong; at least that is what I think. I had no one, no family, but you do so do not give up; you have people to take care of. I know now that if I gave up then life meant nothing; something I just threw down the drain, and I don't want to think that forever." She looked back at him and smiled softly. "I'll help keep this pack together. I won't let you give up; I know you're not the one to."

Dustin nodded, but he grabbed Raven's hand lightly, so as not to hurt her again, and he said quietly, "Raven, I know you don't think you mean much to you, but this pack of ours has become a big family. If you leave us, then you are no better than Dark side when he controlled you. You have to stay with us, help us like a family. We're here for you and we want you to stay with us." Dustin said quietly, "I won't let you give up either, you should know better."

Raven looked at him thoughtfully. "Thanks. Never really knew what being in a family felt like before." Raven sighed. "I won't leave. I can't do that; just doesn't seem right." Raven felt what he was feeling. Raven blinked away a few tears. Raven did not really want to cry in front of him but she let a tear slip and fall down her face. "I know, just sometimes it seems like I have to give up....but I know that life's not worth giving up. I promise that I will try to be strong and not give up." She squeezed his hand gently. "I'll help you as long as you help me...."

Dustin nodded, "Of course, Raven. I will help you to stay with us. Moreover, if you can help me to keep things under control, then we are both set. I only wish Gongon had not gone and tried to ruin everything. Dark side, I mean." Dustin saw her tear, and was immediately sad for her, "If you want to cry, Raven, go ahead. Everybody cries now and then. It gets the feelings out for a while." Dustin sighed, shrugging, "I could use a good cry myself, especially since I almost lost my sister."

Lexi had been by herself this whole time on the roof. She had contemplated and thought for quite a long time about what all had happened. She had barely seen the fight between Gongon and Dustin. She had seen how violent and brutal they had been. She knew that she couldn't let herself be infected with the virus, nor could she just sit around and do nothing all the time as she had been lately. Now was her final hours and she did nothing to help this fight. She had been nothing for the group's efforts to stay alive, it seemed, and now she couldn't even manage the courage to keep herself in the group to stop the fighting. She had a suicidal thought cross her mind before, when things were terrible back when she had been in captivity. Now, however, her mind was nothing but suicidal thoughts. She decided that this was probably the best way to end it all. To end the misery, the feeling of being useless, and the answer to that all important question.

Did anybody know she had just killed herself?

"I'll help you. I mean that's what friends are for." Raven smiled softly, "I know it's not fair that he did this." Raven looked at Dustin. "I'm here for comfort if you need it; you know, a shoulder to cry on." Raven let another tear run down.

"Look who's talking." Dustin said solemnly. "I think you're the one that needs the cry." He hugged her gently, trying to comfort her into thinking that she could cry now. He was glad to have met her; Raven was a very nice person.

Raven felt her heart burst. Raven closed her eyes and let her tears flow freely. She shook her head, softly saying, "So many things happening so fast. It's hard to deal with them all." Raven whispered, crying into his chest. She hadn't cried in a long time and it felt good. "I'm sorry for crying like this." Raven whispered.

Dustin nodded quietly, letting her soak his shirt and fur in her tears. He gave her a warm pat on the back and scratched behind her ears, trying to make her feel better, "There there now, Raven. Everything is okay. As long as we're alive, we'll make it through anything." he cooed softly. He continued to scratch behind her cat ears, explaining his actions. "This always works on my sister when she's upset. And I've seen people do it to their pet cats before... does it make you feel better?" he asked, not trying to speak forcefully or loudly, in case Raven were to become more upset.

Raven smiled softly feeling him scratch behind her ears. Raven couldn't help but to purr. Raven closed her eyes. "Yeah, it's nice." Raven smiled softly and continued to purr.

Dustin nodded silently. "Yeah, it is a good thing you're not completely human, or I couldn't help... I've practiced years since Mom died on Kristin. And I do it to myself sometimes, when I'm alone and really down and depressed, like you are now." he smiled, a tear of his own falling down his wolfish face. He continued to hold her in the embrace until she stopped crying, scratching her ears to make her feel better. "I hope you feel better now." he said, trying to indicate her crying rather than her being scratched.

Raven smiled, "Yeah, it felt good to let out all those tears I've kept in for so long." Raven saw a tear ran down his face. "You sure you don't feel like crying?" Raven asked looking up at him; she felt his tear fall down his face and land on hers. Raven couldn't help but to giggle and wipe it away. Raven scratched behind his ears as well, smiling softly as she returned the favor for him.

Dustin smiled as she returned the favor he had just given her. He shook his head, smiling gently to her. "I'll be fine for now." he said softly.

Raven smiled softly. "Well, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." Raven scratched his ears before kissing the tip of his nose gently. "We'd better keep looking now." Raven smiled as she continued, "We don't want to sleep out in the rain... Well, I don't."

The horizon was clear as well as everything around Vasily Romanov. He threw the tank into gear and peeled out at the tank's top speed of about 30mph. He had a grim face as he rolled down the main street looking around and cruising the debris and occasional car in his path. Kristin Dorn quickly caught up with the tank and she jumped onto it, trying to get Vasily's attention. She was weakened, but her strength was regaining. "Hey, Vasily... Vasily! My bro says he wants you to help us find a shelter for the night." she called, hoping he heard.

The tank suddenly stopped and the barrels started to rotate around finally facing her. It stayed like that for a moment before the engine idled and a loud grinding noise is heard from inside. The hatch finally opened and Vasily head popped out looking at her, "Shelter? Sure, where is he and how can I help?" he asked her smiling and patting his tank with a dull hollow sound.

Kristin smiled and was happy that Vasily could help. "He's in the woods with Raven; they're already looking for shelter. They said to lead you and Lexi back there, but I don't know where she is. So... follow me!" Kristin began to bound into the woods, catching up with her brother's scent. He stared at her as she ran through the woods at a speed he could never keep with. smiling he dropped back in sealing the hatch and throwing it in gear driving after her almost keeping up, he smiled entering the forest as he literally crushed a few trees in his way. He smiled feeling the tank bounce and jerk around.

Dustin smiled as Raven kissed his nose gently. "The only one who's ever done that before was my mother, you remind me of her when you do that." Dustin blushed, his fur hiding it well as usual. He finally started to notice that he had changed, he was much more toned than before, definitely taller, and he hadn't noticed, but felt that his other attributes had increased as well. He looked back at Raven, already knowing what her evil form was twisted into. He knew she could change. "Well... I'm sure Kristin will be back any minute with Vas and we can all find a shelter." he said softly.

Raven blushed a little. "Thanks." Raven smiled softly, "Yeah, they should get here soon." Raven looked around the forest then back at him. "You've really changed." Raven said studying him. Raven smiled softly. "I guess I have to learn to get better control of my new self. I have a feeling I'm going to have to if I want to be stronger and help this pack."

Kristin stopped short of Dustin and Raven as she arrived at them. Just then, Dustin laughed in response to Raven's words. "Yeah... well... you did pretty good back at the cabin." he replied.

Raven smirked. "Thanks. I think." Raven looked over her shoulder, seeing Kristin. "Hey!" Raven said smiling softly.

Kristin hugged Raven tightly, her strength finally all back with her. "Thanks for saving me, Raven! You're the best friend I always wanted when I was little!" Kristin sounded a bit naive as she spoke. "I couldn't find Lexi, but I got Vasily and his tank..." she pointed to it.

In the distance a loud creaking and squealing sound could be heard getting closer. Vasily pulled up in front of them and opened his hatch poking his head out. "Hi guys how can I help?" he said smiling before losing his balance standing on the ladder and falling into the tank. A second later a large flash appeared at the barrel of the tank, a few hundred feet away the top of a nearby hill exploded. "I didn't do it!" cried Vasily his voice faintly coming out of the tank.

Raven smiled and hugged her back. "I'm glad I helped. I didn't want to see you that way, it hurt me!" Raven looked at her. "Promise me you will be more careful if something happens? I would hate to see you in a bad condition again." Raven looked up at Romanov. "You okay Vasily?" She asked.

An arm stretched out of the hatch giving them the thumbs up sign. "I'm okay." Vasily said in a shaky feeble voice. Movement could be heard from inside as he picked himself up. "I'll help you look." He said softly from inside.

Kristin nodded, "Okay, Raven. I'll try not to do it again." Dustin nodded, agreeing silently with Raven. He looked at her and smiled, "You did it out of self defense, I guess. You wanted to protect me and Vasily, right?" Kristin nodded. "Well then, I can't be too mad at you this time. Just listen to Raven, she's right." Kristin nodded.

Raven smiled softly. "I care about you, so don't scare me like that okay?" Raven kissed her forehead and smiled. She looked back around the forest. "Hmm, where do we start looking?" Raven asked.

Dustin nodded, "I don't think that the town is safe, nor do I think the sewers are. So I think we ought to find a house out here in the woods. If anyone can agree with me."

Raven nodded. "Sounds reasonable. Town's not safe and Gongon's in the sewers. We are easily able to be attacked in there, so forest it is." Raven smiled and started walking. She stopped and looked at them and she smiled waiting for them.

Dustin followed closely behind her, but he had told Kristin to hitch a ride on or in the tank if Vasily would let her. He wanted to make sure she kept her energy in case she needed it.

Raven looked around walking deeper into the forest. She hummed a soft lullaby that she heard from somewhere. Raven didn't know where but she liked it, she smiled softly.

"Hey, Kristin. Want a lift?" Romanov asked his head poking up from the hatch now sporting a black eye and a swollen lip. He smiled at her revving the engine.

Raven giggled seeing Vasily. "Be careful next time, all right?" Raven yelled. She shook her head and continued to walk. She sang softly and looked around. "Hmm... where to find shelter?" Raven whispered.

Kristin smiled happily and hopped into the tank with glee. She admired the inside of it, all the buttons she could press. She giggled, not doing anything, but keeping her hands to herself.

Vasily smiled at her moving over in the seat so she could sit down if she wanted; he opened a plate in the front of the tank so he could see out better. There was a loud crunch as they destroyed a large cedar tree.

Kristin sat down next to Vasily happily. "Where did you get this, Vas? It's awesome!" she exclaimed.

Raven sniffed the air. "Hmm." Raven sniffed again before going on all fours and turning into a kitten. She started running in one direction, smelling something of use. Raven stopped quickly, sliding on the wet ground. "It's a cabin." Raven said standing and turning into her half-form. "Looks like something hikers or campers would use." The cabin was rustic, falling apart almost.

Dustin nodded quietly and began to go inside of it. He quickly found it was deserted, void of anything but a bed and a fridge as well as a working bathroom. The bed could only fit two and the rest of the small cabin was bare, but it seemed that something had been there recently; the scuff marks on the ground indicated almost all of the furniture was just moved.

"It looks like someone left in a hurry, Dustin." Raven said walking inside and looking around, where she saw the bed. It was all that was left in the house, it seemed. I guess we will have to share it, Raven thought, we can take turns. Two at a time. Raven stretched and walked out of the room. "I'm okay, I'll sleep on the floor. I don't need the bed." Raven smiled softly.

Dustin nodded to Raven, "If you say so... I'll let Kristin have it. She's the youngest. Maybe Vasily... if he wants to share." Dustin thought aloud.

Raven thought then nodded. "Sounds good." Raven walked around inside, "This will do, we won't stay here for long though. Where do we plan to head after this?" Raven leaned against the wall and thought, somewhere far I guess. Raven sighed and slid to the floor. She rubbed her eyes.

"Well, my goal was that we reached the East Coast, see if that military base is still there. We could team up with them and try to see what happens from there." Dustin said aspiring only positive things could happen from all of that.

"Sounds good to me." Raven said looking up. She stood up and opened the window; looking out she said, "Hey! It's so pretty!" Raven said smiling as she looked at a small garden with a bunch of wild flowers. She hopped out the window and leaned down where she picked a flower and smelled it. "Pretty."

Vasily smiled at Kristin. "That bomb shelter earlier... I've been dragging this tank behind my truck since then." He grinned at her. "Hey wanna do something cool?" He asked her, heaving up one of the many shells lying on the floor and slid it in the barrel. He grinned at her. "Wanna?"

Kristin looked at him happily, but couldn't admit she had no clue what he meant or offered. She just nodded happily instead.

He smiled at her before priming the charge and readying the firing charge. "Put your foot here" he said pointing to a large pedal on the floor. He smiled a little as he stopped the tank and took careful aim of a large rock formation a good distance away. He smiled at her making sure she could see. "Whenever you're ready." he said smiling at her.

Kristin barked happily as she slammed her foot on the pedal. The large caliber shell fired at the rock formation, turning it from beautiful to a parking lot space in seconds. Kristin barked again... "Awesome!" she cried out.

He couldn't help but laugh a little watching her. He loaded another shell, "always be ready" he muttered before starting the tank again lurching forward a small cabin visible in the distance. The tank rumbled to a stop in front of the cabin and Vasily climbed out helping Kristin out as well. He stood on top of the tank looking at it and smiling a little. "Well it's got to be better than sleeping in my truck." He said sighing and jumping of the tank walking in. "hello? Guys... anybody?" he called looking around.

Raven put the flower in her hair and walked out of the room, she closed the door and stretched "I'll go see if there are any animals nearby" Raven said walking outside, she looked around. Raven walked into the forest and sniffed the air. She turned kitten and padded around. "Wow, I've never seen a forest this deserted." Raven muttered looking around. Raven sighed. "Oh well. I'll check tomorrow." Raven turned and started walking back towards the cabin. Raven yawned and stretched. Raven sat down and leaned against the wall. "I'll take just a little nap..." Raven whispered before falling asleep.

Meanwhile, V had made his own way to the cabin, following the group on foot. He had been watching the battle from a distance, deciding that the battle was too much for him to try to understand. Who was the right and who was the wrong person? It had been impossible to decide. Now he followed the group's suggestion to find Gongon. V roared and looked for Gongon, "Hey, Gongon where are you?" He yelled looking for him. Where is everyone, he thought to himself.

Dark side sat behind the cabin, chuckling softly. "!meht dnuof I" He walked away from the cabin into a bush a fair distance away. Under said bush was a tunnel he had started when he first got there. It was halfway to its destination; it would lead to a point under a bed in the corner of the bedroom it occupied. "!nitsuD llik ll'I neht, kcab etam ym teg ll'I nehT" He continued his digging, a snarl of a smile on his face the whole time. The tunnel was complete. Dark side smiled as he peered out from the shadows of the Under bed. He could see the untransformed legs of his mate walking through the cabin. He could sense the antigen was removed, but he could always replace it. He got back out of the tunnel, waiting at its entrance. He would wait until nightfall to strike...

Meanwhile, Gongon was in the castle's ancient library, reading silently to himself. His stomach growled. He sighed. "So it begins..."

V saw the castle and entered it. "Gongon, where are you?" His voice echoed through the castle. There was nobody at all. No sounds could be heard by V. He looked around in the dark, but saw nothing. V decided to leave. Before he left he placed a box of food by the library. "Gongon. It's V. I'm leaving some food and a note saying where to find me." V said and left to rejoin the others. He found them easily and knocked on the cabin door. "Hello? It's V. Is anyone here?"

Vasily turned another corner coming out of a hallway before promptly falling over. He looked back finding Raven's tail in the doorway. "Ouch!" Raven pulled her tail back and wrapped it around her waist; she curled up and fell back asleep. Muttering curses, he got up and went into another room lying on a horrible smelling couch, which seemed to be the only other piece of furniture there within the cabin. He mumbled something else before pulling out and putting on a gas mask and falling asleep.

Dustin went onto the bed and flopped down on it. He'd promised not to have fallen asleep on it tonight, but he didn't really care. He was so tired from driving and fighting and everything, he just didn't care. He curled up on the foot of the bed and slept, failing to notice the hole under the bed where Dark side had been digging a tunnel.

Kristin went over to Raven, hoping she wasn't still asleep. "Raven... have you seen Logen lately? Or V? Or Lexi?" she asked quietly. "Where's everybody at!" she exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Raven asked sitting up as she rubbed her eyes. "Logen... Hmm... no I haven't." When was the last time they had seen Logen? Was it back at the other cabin? What about Lexi, was she still at the town? V she though she had seen watching the fight earlier, so maybe he was still around. Raven stood up. "Want me to go help you look for them?"

Kristin shook her head. "No, that's all right if you don't want to go. We'll just wait for them. I hope Gongon's alright. I know he didn't mean to try to kill me." she said quietly.

"It's okay. I'll help, that's what I'm here to do." Raven hugged her, "It's okay, Kristin. I'll make sure nothing hurts you. Just promise you wont wonder around alone; I'd hate to lose you too." Raven kissed her cheek, "You're like the sister I always wanted." Raven smiled. When V knocked on the door, Raven heard the knock and stood up. Raven walked over and opened the door. "Hey V nice to see you again." Raven smiled and opened the door to let him in. She walked over to the doorway. "I'll be back okay? I'm going to see if I can find some animals. Kristin, your brother's asleep, so yell my name if something happens alright?"

Kristin was relieved to see V standing in the doorway. She ran up and hugged V tightly, glad to see a familiar face. V flinched. "Oh, hey Kristin!" Said V hugging her back, "Where's the others?" V sat in a chair and pulled out his satellite phone to see he had a missed call. "Oh, looks like Mai called me."

Kristin shrugged her shoulders. "Dustin's asleep and I was hoping you could tell me where everyone else was." Raven said quietly.

"Sorry, no." V frowned, "But what's with Gongon? He was at this castle but I couldn't find him, so I left him some food." V said staring at his phone and he called Mai. "So what's the news Mai?" V asked as his contact picked up. Mai reported that things were doing fine at the base she was staying at. She also reported to V that their group had found more survivors. V was excited to hear it, but he had his own matters to attend to. "Good to hear, Mai. Uhm, I was wondering if you could send me a Hunter Class Chopper? Okay, talk to you later. Bye."

Kristin listened intently to V's conversation. She waited patiently, wondering what he was talking about to her. When he finally hung up, she quickly asked him, "What's a Hunter Class Chopper?"

"Hm? Oh it a copter that can hide from other things and his heavily armed and fast" v said smiling, his armor went down and he was wearing a military coat

Kristin smiled, looking V over. "Oh." was all she said. "Are you sure we need something like that?"

"Yes, a normal helicopter wouldn't make it back to the base." V said looking around. "Did you need to use this?" he asked holding out his phone after a short pause.

Kristin laughed gently. "No... Who would I call? Everybody else is dead that I know besides you guys..." she replied sadly, "I just hope my brother will be alright too. Don't know what I'd do without him."

Raven walked into the forest. Her ears twitched as she heard a faint scraping noise. She walked towards it and found some rabbits. What luck! "Huh, well at least I know there are some animals here!" Raven said looking back around, feeling accomplished.

Dustin slept quietly on the bed, an unknowing and easy target for Dark side should he come back into the room through his cleverly hidden tunnel.

"Well I'll check on Dustin then..." said V. He entered the room and stared at Dustin as he slept peacefully. "Hmm... peaceful for now." Noted V who then looked around and growled a little.

Raven walked back in. "Hey... what was that?" Raven asked hearing a growl; she walked over to the room where V and Dustin were. "What's going on?" Raven asked looking around.

V looked at her. "I sense something and it's not good." V said, his red eyes darting around the room.

"When is anything ever good?" Raven asked and looked around as well. She seemed right about that, things hadn't ever been good lately.

"I don't know." He said and sat down in the room, "I'll keep watch."

Raven sighed and looked out the window. "All right then, yell if you need me." Raven turned and walked back out the bedroom. V sighed and looked at the bed and then relaxed a little as she left. "You can lie on the bed because I'll be by the door." Raven smiled and walked towards the front of the cabin. Raven walked around the cabin.

Kristin came into the bedroom and sat by V, hoping that he would be okay until the chopper got there. "What are we going to do with a helicopter?" Kristin asked. V didn't answer, but Kristin guessed it was important.

Dustin awoke and looked over at Kristin and V, but said nothing. What were they doing in there watching him for? He was a good guy, not the bad guy. He got up and walked outside, nearly stumbling and tripping over Raven's legs as he came outside, not seeing her sitting there. "Oh!" he cried out in surprise as he fell to the ground.

Raven jumped at his appearance. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Raven asked crawling over to him. She stood up and helped him up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you trip."

Dustin laughed at Raven's apology, waving her off with a smile. He was at fault, not her. "It's my fault, shoulda sensed you were sitting there, Raven." He said with a laugh, "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

Raven looked at him. "Okay then, you're okay?" Raven asked and then sat back down. "I'm just thinking. I seem to have a lot on my mind these days with what's going on and all." Raven patted the ground next to her. "You can sit with me if you wish."

Dustin sat down beside her. He smiled, admiring her. Even though it was nighttime now, Raven still had a great glow of beauty around her. Dustin never spoke about it though; he just tried to keep from blushing as he thought about her with more flowers in her hair, something she'd been doing a lot of lately. Why he was thinking about that, he couldn't decide.

Raven looked at the sky then back at him. She saw him staring and she blushed "What?" Raven asked, "Is there something on me?" Raven looked back down then back at him.

Dustin tried to stop staring but he couldn't. "There's nothing on you Raven... you just look nice is all." He struggled to say the words, feeling like he had when he met Lexi. Was he falling for Raven? What was the matter with him, he'd already made promises to Lexi... but Raven was very pretty.... and more his age too. He blushed, trying to hide it.

Raven smiled softly, blushing even more. "T-thank you." Raven said, she saw him blush and smiled. She looked back at the sky.

Vasily Romanov woke up on the couch yawning in his mask. He stood up feeling refreshed and much less tired he looked around. "Hello anyone?" he called. "What's going on?" He asked the darkness turning in circles looking for his friends. He looked at her smiling just a little under his mask. "I can try." He said, "Does he have any idea what were looking for?" he asked her curiously.

Kristin went into the room where Vasily stood. "Vasily... V thinks something's wrong in this house. Can you find it?" she asked calmly. Kristin shook her head, "No... He doesn't have any idea." Kristin smiled sweetly at Vasily, "He thinks it's in the bedroom though."

Raven looked back at the cabin hearing them speak. "Is something wrong?" Raven asked looking back at Dustin; she stood up and dusted herself off.

Dustin stood up and began towards the house, "Nothing that I've been told. Something about V and the bedroom...." Dustin chuckled, "A weird combination." He entered the house.

Raven laughed lightly. "Indeed." Raven walked inside after him and looked around.

Vasily looked at Kristin and smiled back, but the smile was lost under his gas mask. "Sure I'll check it out." He said shrugging and running outside for a moment coming back with a few flashlights his rifle and pistol. "Let's go." he said before running off to the bedroom.

Dustin and Kristin came into the bedroom and began to search for anything out of the ordinary. Dustin checked under the bed and saw it. The huge hole in the floor. "What the hell?" he exclaimed loudly.

Raven walked over to him. "What is it?" Raven asked. She turned into her kitten form and went under the bed. "Wonder where this leads..." Raven asked and crawled through it.

Vasily came over looking into the hole. He kicked an old bottle in and it was a few moments before they heard it shatter. "One hell of a hole!" he mumbled peering into it.

"No kidding" Raven said peering into it

Dustin suddenly pushed Raven back, "I think it's best we don't go down it." he said quickly. "I can sense something evil on the other end."

Raven looked up at him. "Uhm... okay then." Raven looked at the hole wondering what was on the other side.

Dustin shook his head, trying to keep her from going down it. "I think it's the evil that we fought off earlier... Gongon's evil.... I can't risk you going down there and getting yourself turned evil and then you two coming up and killing us all..." Dustin smiled, "But you're not evil by nature, so I know you can fight it."

Raven looked at him. "Thanks.. I think." Raven smiled softly at him.

Dustin smiled, pulling himself out from underneath the bed. "You know... Raven, you're a very nice girl. I can't risk you turning evil again." Dustin smiled. "We care about you and going down there might mean death. One way or another, and somebody would probably. The best we can do is wait for Gongon's evil to come through there and get us."

"All right then." Raven crawled out from under the bed and hoped onto the bed. She sat down and licked her paws. She looked at him. "Thanks and you're a very nice boy." Raven smiled softly, "I won't go in there, I promise."

"Or we could just do this!" Vasily said shrugging and taking a grenade out of his pocket pulling the pin and tossing it into the hole.

Dustin grabbed his sister and made a duck into the other room as the grenade exploded, sending the bed sky high as well. Dustin came back into the other room, "What was that for? Now we all have to sleep on the floor!" he exclaimed, a little distraught.

Raven jumped off the bed before it blew up. She slid across the ground and hit her nose on the wall. "Ouch!" Raven rubbed her nose and turned human again and she stood up. "Why'd you do that?" Raven asked sneezing. It hurt to sneeze, she realized.

Vasily looked at them for a moment, not quite sure himself. He thought the hole was deeper than that. "Uhm..." he looked around at all the angry faces, "Fine." he mumbled and went to go fix the bed.

Raven giggled. "It's okay, Vasily." Raven said calmly. She looked around the room. "Hmm... guess we will have to sleep on the floor now." Raven whispered. Raven shrugged, rubbing her nose still.

Dustin quickly calmed down, his brain working overtime to get his thoughts together. "Ah... Vasily... how many guns and ammunition do you have....?" he asked, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Yeah, you seem to have a lot of them" Raven said leaning against the wall and crossing her eyes at Vasily. Raven looked at Vasily, curiously awaiting his answer.

Romanov stood up, grinning maniacally. "I have roughly enough to supply two divisions of troops," he looked at their faces; they looked rather blank. "Roughly half the troops that took Omaha beach at Normandy in WWII." He said, "Why? Do we need them?" he asked already pulling his keys to the tank out.

Dustin nodded, "You can use some of that arsenal to get rid of whatever is on the other side of it. I'll go with you, just in case you can't handle it yourself."

"I'll go with ya'll as well." Raven said looking at them, "I want to get this thing as well."

Vasily grinned at Dustin, finally happy to use some of his arsenal of doom. "Sure! Come with me!" He said, running out and jumping onto the side of his tank scrambling up and dropping inside starting the engine.

Dustin turned to Raven, "I need somebody to stay here to watch Kristin though... who can there be?" he asked her quietly. He followed Vasily and picked up an AK-48. It was a new 2012 version that upgraded the AK-47, which contained a laser scope and a double clip as well as a blade on the end for hand to hand. He also chose a Spaz 12-gauge shotgun. He also pocketed a .45 caliber semi-automatic standard handgun you'd find at a hunting goods store. He loaded them all and turned to Vasily, who was probably wondering what he was doing with all that heat. "What?" he said with a laugh, "You don't think my father never taught me how to shoot a gun?"

Vasily smirked at him laughter in his eyes. "No I'm just wondering why you pick the wimpiest guns out of the lot." he smirked again picking up a panzer Faust rocket launcher, slung an old mg34 over his shoulder. Slid a desert eagle 50 cal pistol in his holster then grabbed his rifle. Amazingly he can still move under this immense amount of weaponry "you need anything else?" he asked him while stuffing grenades and extra ammo in his pockets.

Raven sighed, bummed she couldn't go too. "All right then." Raven watched them gear up, then walked into the bathroom. Raven showered quickly. Raven didn't really care that they were there but she wrapped herself in a towel and stepped outside. Raven sat down and looked at the sky, with the wind blowing softly and drying her off.

Kristin smiled to Raven. She went to get a few flowers outside, grabbing a daisy, a rose, and a sunflower, in that order. She then handed them to Raven, "Cheer up, Raven. Hanging with me isn't so bad is it?"

Raven laughed. "No, it isn't bad. Thanks." Raven took the flowers and smelled them. She smiled, "Thanks Kristin. You're sweet!" Raven stood up and hugged her.

Dustin laughed at Vasily's choice of weapons, which made him seem to disappear. Dustin nodded as Vasily asked him, "Yeah, a bit of extra ammo would be nice. And I chose the wimpy guns because they're all my dad taught me how to use." He grabbed a handgun with a rifle scope on it and a laser aim targeting reticule as well. The gun looked very powerful and Dustin checked the ammo. It was armor piercing ammo. Amazingly, it was made for stealth rather than running and gunning. Dustin picked up the holsters for the other guns, slinging both shotgun and assault rifle over his back. He looked at Vasily, holding the powerful weapon tightly in his hand. He liked it already. The smooth chrome finish, the sleek design, and the lightweight parts. "What's this one?"

Vasily couldn't help but grin at the kid's eye for weaponry. "That would be an anaconda magnum revolver, 6 shots 50 cal with armor piercing tips. The scope comes standard but its only reliable to about 100 feet; the laser doesn't though, but I put it on when I found the part." He stepped back, looking at him clutching the gun. "It suits you kid!" He said grinning before pushing a box of about 30 rounds for the gun into his hand. "Here," he mumbled finished loading up and jumping out.

"Thanks, Vas." Dustin said taking the ammo and shoving it into the places he could easily reach it. He then holstered the second handgun and climbed out of the tank as well.... He chuckled, "So... how many people have you killed before, Vas?"

"372." He said without thinking about it at all. "Wounded 419." he said before walking into the cabin and staring at the large hole in the floor.

Dustin was shocked to hear how fast Vasily said the numbers. "Wow... hope my Dad wasn't ever a target..." he said quietly as he walked behind Vasily.

Kristin smiled at Raven. "C'mon... let's go find something to eat. I'm starved!" It was true, she could hear her stomach rumbling as it growled, desperate for more food.

Raven looked at her. "All right then." Raven smiled softly, "I know, I am as well. All right, what do you feel like eating?" Raven asked standing up and pushing her hair back. "Well first let me get dressed." Raven smiled softly and she grabbed her clothes from the bathroom before walking to one of the rooms. She threw the towel off and dressed. She smiled and ran her fingers through her hair.

Kristin looked around the cabin for the food. She barely found anything, just a bag of Neo-Cheetos. They were old and stale though. She did not like the Snack Reform of 2009 when the world united as one and declared that they were going to get rid of the fatty foods with healthy foods, although keeping the original flavors. It tasted strange.

Raven walked back out of the room. "What you got there?" Raven asked. She looked back around. "Could we go hunting?"

"Yeah, we could..." Kristin said. "But it's nighttime now. Why should we go out in the dark? I mean... there is a bag of Neo-Cheetos here. I'll split them with you."

Raven laughed, "It's okay, we can go in the morning." She looked at the chips. "No I'm fine. That's okay, you can have them." Raven smiled and patted her head, "After you finish that, it's off to bed all right, we have to conserve energy." Kristin nodded. She smiled, eating a few of the Neo-Cheetos and then saving the rest. She curled up on the floor and fell fast asleep.

Dustin, meanwhile, had decided he needed a flashlight to see in this dark tunnel, so he came back up and went out to Vasily's truck for one. He quickly found it and began to head back to the hole.

Raven smiled. "Night Kristin." She leaned against the wall and watched over her. She wanted to be sure nothing came while they slept; Raven sighed and played with the bells around her neck.

Kristin rolled up into a ball on the floor as she got comfortable and fell asleep. Dustin stopped before going down into the hole again, "You okay, Raven?" he asked, "You need anything while I'm up in case something bad happens while we're gone?"

Raven looked over at him. "Hmm? Oh, no I'm okay." Raven smiled weakly, then looked at the ceiling. She looked back down at Kristin, watching her sleep peacefully. She sighed and messed with her hair.

"You don't seem happy... what's up?" he asked as he slowly approached her.

Raven shook her head. "Just thinking about my past, that's all." Raven looked at him, "Go do what you need to do, I'm fine." Raven looked away, then looked out the window as she bit her bottom lip. Raven felt scared that something was going to happen one day and that she wouldn't be able to stop it.

Dustin hugged her from behind and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm here if you need to talk, Raven." He said before going into the hole once again, clicking on the flashlight and coming after Vasily once more.

Raven blushed at the kiss. "Thanks." Raven said. She could really use someone to talk to, but she never really talked about her feelings much because she found it hard to. Raven watched him disappear in the hole, then looked back out the window, watching the moon.

Without warning, Vasily suddenly held a large metal spike that he hammered deeply into the floor before tying a rope onto it and threading it through his belt. Dustin clambered out into the hole after Vasily, hoping that everything would be settled on the other end. If anything were there, this much firepower would surely stop it.

Kristin slept, growling in her sleep quietly as she dreamed. She eventually woke up and went over to Raven, "I'm awake." she said quietly.

Raven looked at her. "Hey, have a nice nap?" Raven asked standing up.

Kristin nodded gently. "Why don't you go get some sleep, Raven? You look dead tired. Like you haven't slept in days." she said gently, "I'll be alright if anything happens."

"No, no that's okay." Raven smiled softly, "Don't want anything happening while I'm asleep."

"Nothing's going to happen, Raven. I promise. If it does, I'll wake you up and we'll both handle it together." she smiled, showing her wolfish teeth. "Just try to get some sleep. You'll like it." Kristin joked, "If you just try to."

"Okay then." Raven sat back down, "But wake me up when something happens all right?" Raven curled up and looked at her before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

V walked outside. He was fighting his blood urge. "Dammit, Mai, get here already!" V exclaimed. There was a loud sound in the distance and then a dark blue copter with a symbol on the side approached. V walked out and the hunter helicopter was hovering over the cabin. "They're here." He said, "Is anybody coming?"

Kristin shook her head no. "I'm not getting on it. Not until Dustin comes back anyways." she said. "I'm waiting right here."

Raven yawned sitting up. She rubbed her eyes unable to sleep; too many things on her mind. She looked at Kristin "You want to go hunt now?" Raven asked. She had absolutely no idea what V was talking about, nor did she even pay attention to the loud helicopter hovering over them.

Kristin shook her head. "Nuh uh. I am waiting for Dustin and Vasily to return. I'm not leaving my brother here alone without me." Kristin said.

"Okay then." Raven smiled softly. "Well what do you want to do while we wait?"

Blinking Kristin turned back to V, "If you want to go ahead and go, then go. I'm not gonna stop you." she said, "I'm staying right here until they get back."

Raven rolled onto her back and played with her tail. "You want to play? While we wait?" She said smiling at her, "Just so we have something to do."

Kristin's tail wagged at the word play. "Oh... I cannot decide. You pick something Raven. Something fun!" Raven exclaimed loudly.

Raven laughed. "Hmm, something fun... Something fun." Raven got on all fours and pounced on Kristin. "Tag you're it," Raven said laughing.

Kristin dropped to all fours as well and began to chase after Raven, eventually catching her, not using her full speed so it would be more fun. "TAG!" Raven called.

Raven laughed and ran after her "tag" Raven whispered, she giggled and chased her

Kristin laughed playfully and tackled Raven to the ground before pouncing off. "Tag!" she called.

Raven laughed standing up and she ran after her. "I'm going to get you!" Raven said giggling. Raven slid against the hard wood floor. She laughed her claws scraping the floor. "Oh, Kristin where are you?" Kristin ran outside and hid behind a tree. She hoped Raven could not find her. Raven slid to the door and looked around. She giggled sniffing the air, but found mixed scents. "Shoot!" Raven whispered, "Oh Kristin! Come out, come out wherever you are!" Raven laughed and walked outside looking around.

Kristin held her breath and continued to hide behind a tree, hoping Raven could not find her so she could not be it.

Raven padded around, pacing in front of a tree. "Oh, Kristin!" Raven said smiling. She jumped behind it and giggled. "Tag" Raven said smiling.

Vasily Romanov hung there by a rope about 200 feet down in the hole. "Why is it always dark...." he muttered angrily. "They can never have a brightly lit hole can they?" He kept muttering rappelling down the side of the hole wondering where the bottom was.

Dustin shone the light down on Vasily to show the deep dark hole below. "Here's some light for ya, Vas. I heard a chopper. Wanna check it out?" he asked from higher above.

Vasily looked up at Dustin and the light shining down on him. "Anything's better than being in this hole." He shouted back up to him, as he began to climb back up very quickly.

Dustin nodded, "You don't want to see if Gongon is down here?" he asked as he began to climb out too.

Vasily looked up at Dustin both of them still hanging on the rope. As much as he wanted to get on the chopper and leave, he knew that they had to find Gongon first. "Oh fine! C'mon!" He said taking a giant leap and rappelling down another 40 feet or so. He continued rappelling down the hole finally reaching the dark bottom. Romanov looked up, barely able to see the brightly lit top. He sighed in the darkness and turned on his miner's helmet. "C'mon, Dustin it looks safe," he said finding a tunnel going deep into the side of the hole. He had to stoop over to get in it but he managed.

Dustin handed Vasily the flashlight he currently held. "Would this make things better or should I lead? I can see in the dark just fine." Dustin said, holding the flashlight as an offer for Vasily.

Vasily smiled at him. "Uhm, yeah." He said taking the flashlight turning it on and squeezing past him to end up behind him. "There you go. You can lead".

Dustin led the way through the tunnel that Dark side had made. They traveled quickly, Dustin's sight and the extra light making everything visible. He looked out of the end, but oddly enough, found nothing and nobody there. Then, a large earthquake struck. It knocked Dustin to the ground before he quickly recovered as a fountain of hot magma began to fill the area around them, heading straight for the edge of the tunnel. Dustin ducked back in and ran as fast as he could towards the rope and began to climb it, every five seconds screaming, "RUN! RUN! GET OUTTA HERE!" The magma quickly began to fill the tunnel, which made for a canal and channeled to the ends of the tunnel, filling the rest of the tunnel easier than if it had been naturally above ground. Dustin clawed the sides of the tunnel, not bothering with the rope. "Vasily, let's GO!" he screamed.

Kristin looked up and over, feeling the sudden earthquake. "Raven..." she came out of the hiding place. "What's going on?"

Raven looked around. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. Come on!" Raven quickly ran back to the cabin to hear them screaming. "Kristin, we have to get out of here!" Raven said running back over to her, "Now!"

Vasily looked back only once. The bright orange glow and intense heat only making him move faster as he free climbed the rappelling rope. If it had still mattered to humanity, he would have set a world record. He reached the top and fell over landing on the dusty wooden floor. He looked back noticing it was still coming. He quickly grabbed his pack and dashed out the door heading towards his truck.

V looked on with shock and horror as he saw the magma erupting from the tunnels. He clambered completely into the helicopter, realizing that the others wouldn't be saved. "Let's go, Mai!" He shouted as the helicopter took off and began to fly away off into the distance.

Dustin quickly followed after Vasily and grabbed Raven and Kristin by the hands. "We're getting out of here now. Get in the truck!" Dustin jumped in and tossed the guns into the back for faster movements. "Vas, how fast can you drive us away from here!" he screamed as the lava tore the house down.

Raven jumped in after them with Kristin following suit and both jumped into the cab. "Already on it" Vasily shouted back turning the key making the truck rumble to life. "Let's go," he said rather loudly gunning it. The truck started slowly but in no time at all was roaring down the gravel road before hitting the freeway.

Dustin had not bothered to climb into the cab of the truck; he was too busy being afraid of the magma that was nearly upon them. When Vasily had jumped the gun and the truck had sped off, they left the lava behind them. Dustin sighed in relief and lay back against the back of the cab, resting from his quick exercise. Raven turned watching the house and lava slowly disappear in the distance, and she let out a ragged deep breath then looked ahead. and she laid back and closed her eyes.

Vasily Romanov stared ahead keeping his eyes firmly on the road. He looked over at Raven sighing just a little. He looked behind him and could only see fire where the house once stood. Shaking his head he turned on his CD player and cranked it up, filling the surrounding area with a fun tune called Korelbelniki. "Hey!" Kristin shouted, holding her sensitive ears to her head. "Turn that down a little!" Kristin turned it down herself, "My ears are really sensitive you know!" she exclaimed.

Raven jumped hearing the music and Kristin shouting. "Yeah, and so are mine!" Raven patted Kristin's head. "Everyone just needs to calm down." Raven sighed and looked back.

Vasily looked at her, seeming a little angry before sighing and looking down. "Yeah, I guess so." He mumbled, now barely able to hear it. He looked ahead and saw a faded sign saying they were on Route 66 East.

Dustin smiled and began to sleep; happy they were finally getting away from the mountains. It was finally starting to calm him down as they drove on the plains. Raven turned into a kitten and curled up. Raven sighed, hiding her face under her tail; she closed her eyes thinking for a bit before falling asleep.

After a while on the old road, Vasily began to grow tired. He yawned loudly staring ahead still muttering the words to the song under his breath. He yawned again wondering where they were going and when they would stop. "Anybody else want to drive?" he asked struggling to keep his eyes open.

Raven opened her eyes, quickly awake. "Yeah I'll drive." Raven said sitting up and turning back into her half form.

Kristin had fallen asleep on the door; her head leaned against the window. She snoozed lightly, but was dreaming fitfully death and pain. She screamed as she woke up. "We're gonna die!" Raven screamed loudly. She got control over herself and began to cry, remembering the dream.

Raven looked at her. "It's okay, Kristin." Raven said hugging her and letting her cry, trying to comfort her.

Kristin continued to cry, knowing what she had seen. "I saw us... at a place... they kill us all." Kristin sobbed.

Dustin turned to hear this, "What place? Who kills us?" Dustin demands.

"Some guys with guns hunt us all down... and Vasily, Raven, you and I are all killed..." Kristin sobbed.

Raven looked down at her, then at Dustin. She held in some tears as she felt her pain. Raven looked at Kristin and hugged her tightly. "It's going to be okay, you hear?"

Romanov looked at her curiously, forgetting that he was tired. "What did it look like?" He asked her calmly hoping she could remember.

Dustin leaned in and listened through the window. Kristin shook her head. "I know it was a bunch of military guys... they knew something about us... they said we were a hazard. Had to die...." Kristin held her head as the dream began to slip from her, "And... an explosion... and I saw Vasily... I don't remember what I saw." she said as the dream completely left her.

Raven thought about the dream she had just explained, and she bit her lip not knowing what to say. "That doesn't sound good." Raven whispered to herself. Vasily, however, looked at Kristin curiously before sitting back in his seat thinking about this. He thought for a while before eventually falling asleep.

"Hey you're driving!" Raven said alarmed and she quickly climbed over him. She scooted him over and took over driving. Dustin slept once more, dreaming soundly of being with his parents again. He wished he could join them soon. Moreover, he did not know it, but it would very well be soon. He and all the rest of them would be dead soon. He knew it in the back of his mind, he just did not know where or when.

After many hours of sleeping Vasily slowly woke up to still, find Raven at the wheel. Without saying anything he moved over and took her spot behind the wheel, wordlessly he started to hum an old Russian lullaby to her as he slowly ran his hand down her back and rubbed her ears. Raven curled up turning into a kitten. She sighed slowly closing her eyes and falling asleep. Vasily smiled at her gently picking her up and putting her in his lap so she would not wake up. He smiled at her gently continuing to hum softly. It was strange such a soft gentle tune seemed rather out of place coming from him. He glanced at the road then back down gently petting her. For some reason he thought this might be the last time he would have a chance to do it. Raven snuggled against him, feeling the warmth. She sighed holding in tears; she knew that soon they would all die, and she didn't want that but she knew it would happen. She hid her face, letting a tear run down.

Dustin awoke with a start. The truck had bounced over a rock in the road. Dustin looked around and noted it was sunset. He knocked on the glass as he said, "What's that?" He pointed to that old military silo extending from the ground. There was a large radio tower on top, seeming to be giving a signal as the lights were on. He looked back at Vasily, "What is it?"

Vasily shook himself out of his dream world when he felt Raven's tear and heard Dustin shout. He slowed the truck but did not stop. He looked at it as they passed by. "It looks like and old nuclear weapons silo," he said staring at it. Through one of the windows, he thought he saw a shape moving. "Guys," he shouted slowing the truck even more and turning the corner hard puling in alongside the building.

Her ear twitched hearing them. She sat up, looking around. "What?" Raven asked yawning as she looked out the window. "What's that?"

The base was almost barren, with the exception of the large silo and a small set of large garages storing all kinds of vehicles the army used. Here, on the barren wasteland, there was no life to be found. Just a radio tower that functioned. Somebody had been here earlier. The land was dry; a drought had been ravaging this area for some time now. The land had turned to dust. The buildings were caked in it. The road was gone because of the dust. Then, something moved. A man came out, fully armed. He was very light-skinned; his hair was in a grown-out crew cut, probably since the world had ended a week ago. He approached the vehicle and flagged them down. Oddly enough, he spoke English, but with a heavy Russian accent. "What is it you need? Where are you from?" He asked Vasily, who was the driver at this point.

Vasily looked at him a moment not sure if his eyes were working correctly. He opened the door and jumped out of the truck looking at him a moment before smiling at him. "Igor... Igor Stussovich?" He asked not sure if it was really him, but he smiled at him a moment before walking towards him.

Raven stayed a kitten not sure what to do. She jumped down off the seat, then changed back to half-form, and she climbed back and sat down on the seat. "Where are we?" Raven asked looking around.

Kristin awoke with a start. She had fallen back asleep. When Raven asked where they were, Kristin remained quiet. Dustin climbed into the car and looked over at them. "Everything's fine... I hope."

Raven looked at Dustin. "I hope so, too." She whispered then looked at the soldier.

The Russo-American soldier looked Vasily over, scanning him before talking back in a lowered voice. "It is I... what do you require of us?" he said in Russian quietly, "Who are you all and what do you think you're doing here?"

Vasily stared at him a moment unable to believe he could not remember fighting alongside him in the desert. He shook his head lightly. "I'm Vasily Ivanovich Romanov, and these are my friends," he said gesturing towards the truck. "We're on our way east looking for survivors." Vasily smiled a little at him. "Do you need any help?" Vasily asked the soldier.

It took the soldier no time after hearing the name before he warmed up to Vasily. "Ah yeah! Vasily Romanov! I remember you! Defending mother Russia on those deserts! Damn good soldier! I'd salute you but here we are not allowed to do a damn thing for anybody like that except the superior officers." He began to speak English so the others could understand him. "Heading east eh? Well I am afraid you have come as far as you can go. Only a few miles east of here are the abyssal pit of Hell. The military over there are fighting each other and the civilians are all infected." He turned strictly towards Vasily, still happy to see a fellow Russian. "Are any of your party infected?"

He smiled at Igor before looking back at the truck. "Infected no... Uhm, not any of us, nope." Romanov looked at him a moment hoping he would buy it. "So tell me... What exactly are the symptoms of infection?" he asked looking a bit nervous.

"Ah, that is simple my friend!" exclaimed Igor, glad to be of service. "The first signs are usually a change in appearance. Then the mind goes delirious, in some patients, driving them to insanity. Then blindness, deafness usually follow unstable mood swings. After the blind and deaf are taken hold, then the body shuts down slowly. These later symptoms don't always occur though." he smiled, "So I'm going to have to check everyone." He approached the car, "It's a highly contagious disease. If only one of you has it, you may all get it or have it. Biting, scratching, spit, all of that can cause infection further. Mixing of blood or other body fluids. At least, that's what the damn doctors say!" Igor laughed, "Now then, who's first to be examined?"

Raven looked at the man feeling a little uncomfortable. "Not me" Raven whispered quietly.

Vasily slipped around the side of the truck where he was unnoticed and he grabbed an MP5K and pulled it out of the back letting it hang against his side where it could not be seen. He walked back out towards Igor and leaned against the side of the truck looking casual.

Igor could sense something was going on. He knew it. That gut instinct that something was up. He took the safety off the gun he was holding, a military issue M14, and aimed it at Vasily, "What's the meaning of all this? You bring the infected, Vasily. You did didn't you!" Igor began to scream crazed, his eyes bloodshot red.

He was infected too... "We don't need more infected here! This whole base! All infected! Get outta here, Romanov! Get outta here! They are watching. They want to infect you all!" Igor screamed deliriously. "GO!"

Dustin quickly backed over Raven and Kristin and threw himself out of the far side of the truck. He then picked up speed and took off running, but did not get very far. The infected were closing in on them, from all sides. They were like a pack of hungry rabid animals! They kept closing in, delirious and evil, trying to take a chunk out of the uninfected blood that had stopped. They closed in more and more. Kristin screamed in terror. "MY DREAM! THIS IS MY DREAM!" she screamed loudly.

Vasily Romanov did not quite know what to do he ran for the truck shooting Igor in the leg with the MP5K dropping him to the ground where he started to make unnatural sounds. He jumped in the cab and closed and locked the door, he then started trying to turn it on. For some reason it simply would not start. He noticed the far door was open and Dustin was running from several infected. Mumbling he pulled out his rifle and started trying to help his friend by picking off the ones closest to him.

Dustin, realizing the mistake he had made of jumping out of the car, began to run after the car, dropping to all fours. The car was moving too fast! Too fast! Faster Dustin ran, hoping to catch the car. He was not alone. The military behind at the silo had assembled in cars and were madly driving after them in hot pursuit. This did not look good for Dustin, who was quickly growing tired. He made a last ditch effort to catch the car, but he was not getting what he wanted this time. He dove for the bed of the truck, grabbed it briefly, and was shaken off. Dustin tumbled down the road and eventually rolled off to the side. Kristin screamed in horror, "Go back! Go back for him!" She turned the truck around as the rest of the cars came straight for them. "Go back for Dustin!"

"We have to get out of here," Raven said looking at them, "Now!" Raven turned into a cat, frightened.

Vasily turned the wheel sharply doing a 180 the tires somehow squealing on the desert road. He drove towards Dustin. "Get him," he shouted towards Raven.

Dustin could not move. He was out of breath. He was on his hour and minute of death. The military cars drove straight for the truck, and a few infected had jumped from a car and were now approaching him on foot. Dustin screamed in panic and was saved by Kristin, who grabbed him and incredibly tossed him into the back of the truck. Dustin wasted no time in grabbing every available weapon and began to fire the weapons he had available. He screamed in panic and fear that something might get him soon. He continued to fire rounds into air mostly, but some hitting the numerous infected.

Vasily gunned it heading back the way they came, until off to the side a burning car started to roll down the hill blocking the road and exploding. "Hold on!" He shouted trying to turn again and miss the car only to have to truck make it about halfway through as half of it lifted off the ground falling with a horrible sound onto its side skidding in the dirt for a few feet. Raven held in her scream as she felt the truck tip over and slide on the ground and she banged against the side. Dustin flew from the truck's bed and was tossed like a salad through the air until he landed in a tree high above the ground. He was knocked unconscious. Kristin was thrown for a loop inside the truck, but also turned out all right. She was badly injured, however, and the rolling burning car was still heading straight for them.

Raven groaned sitting up. She had several cuts and bruises but she didn't care. She climbed out of the window and looked around. She reached down and pulled out Kristin and Vasily. She looked around "Dustin?" Raven yelled looking for him.

Dustin lie motionless in the tree high above. He was peculiarly set in the tree. If he moved, he was more certain to die. If anyone came to get him, they too would meet a grisly death. Unless Dustin himself could find a way out of the tree without killing himself, he was already dead when he woke up. Dustin was unable to stir at anything that Raven said. He was still out cold.

Kristin screamed in panic as the infected military began to circle around them, closing in from all sides. They slowly approached and the only way out would be to fight and kill them all. Kristin clung to Raven for dear life, hoping that Raven would know what to do, being that Raven WAS older than her and had escaped other things... Kristin continued to hold onto her. "What do we do!" she cried out.

Vasily was moaning and holding his bleeding head. He noticed a small sphere lying next to him. He slowly picked up the grenade priming it and throwing it at the soldier's as he picked up a rifle and used it to help him stand.

Raven looked down at Kristin then back at the infected military. "Get back inside the truck!" Raven whispered, "I'll fight them off, or try to at least." Raven walked back a little towards the truck and she picked Kristin up and put her in the truck. "Whatever happens, don't come out!" Raven said the sharpened her claws and faced the people.

Kristin sat waiting for something to happen that they would need her. She hated that she was youngest in this group. She had not ever been able to do anything. At least, nothing that helped the group. There were only four of them now and they would need her more than ever! Yet here she sat, in the flipped truck, the burning car having stopped before it hit the truck. She blinked angrily, wishing she could have some sort of part in the others' plans.

Her wish would soon be granted. One of the infected slipped into the truck behind her, and began forcefully ripping her out of the truck. She screamed in panic and fear, fighting and kicking, hoping she would be able to fight off at least this one person. She clawed, bit, and ripped at the man holding her back. He was incredible in sheer power to her; she would never get to kill him if she tried. She was quickly put out of this position as she was thrown from the man and into the tree. Her body hit the tree at the waist, splitting sideways, wrapping partially around the tree before she was killed. She fell to the ground then, her troubles now over. She would have nobody to look after her, nobody to worry about her. She was, like all the rest before her, dead now as well.

Raven turned just in time to see it all happen and Raven screamed out, tears forming and running down her face. "No!" Raven whispered. She looked back at the people before growing angry. "You will all pay for what you did!" Raven whispered and started to attack them with more violence and hatred.

Watching her die like that, Vasily turned to them with tears in his eyes. "No!" He shouted, grabbing a nearby MP5K and unloading the entire clip at them, making many fall to the ground and wounding many more. The only ones he didn't hit were Raven, Dustin, and himself. Other than that, he was pretty indiscriminate on his firing.

Dustin finally began to wake up. He shifted only slightly and the branch creaked dangerously beneath him. Dustin was fully alert and awake then. He stopped moving and looked up. He could see a sturdy branch right over his head. If only... he could... reach it! He outstretched his hand, leaning up slightly to grab hold of it. He reached for it with an outstretched hand. The branch beneath him began to give. He would not make it if he did not grab it now. He quickly and forcefully grabbed the branch as the one beneath him slipped and fell to the ground, crashing at Vasily and Raven's feet. He hung suspended for a moment, wondering what to do next.

Raven jumped seeing the branch fall and she looked up seeing Dustin. "What the-? Hold on!" Raven shouted to Dustin, sending another person to the ground in her anger. "How far is this?" Raven whispered to herself thinking of how high up he was, but then shook the idea out of her head. "Too dangerous."

Vasily saw him in the tree as well. "Just hang on," he shouted slamming in a fresh clip and killing a few more of them until suddenly he was empty the gun clicking in his hands. He threw it down and pulled out a grenade throwing it at them shouting.

"Vasily, think you can get him?" Raven asked clawing at one and kicking another, "I'll hold them off so you can get to him."

Dustin had to think fast if he wanted to get out of this alive. He began to think about how he would get down, but when he saw his baby sister wrapped around the trunk dead, he grew angry and hateful at the infected all around him. It was time he got revenge. He leapt from the tree and landed on the car, crushing a hole into it as he landed on it. He leapt out of the truck and began to slash and tear angrily at a few of the remaining infected personnel. He took them out quickly and effortlessly, but eventually got sloppy and one managed to slice his left bicep deeply, nearly breaking the arm. He roared in pain and anger before finishing off a few more of the infected in his rage. He began to tear up and looked over at the others. "She's dead... we have to keep moving." he spoke with an angry hatred towards them. He was angry that he could not save his sister from the infected. He wanted so badly to kill them all.

"We have to send a signal to the world..." Dustin spoke angrily as he cried, "Tell them all it's worthless to keep on living. We are all going to die anyways. And the human population is not even worth saving if we all degrade to this level or succumb to the virus. We have to send a signal, tell them all to give up." Dustin dropped to his knees and continued to cry, holding his bleeding arm. "After that, I'm killing myself. I do not know about you people. I cannot take it without her or my parents. I will not go on without them. I cannot. I am going to help you send the message, and then we are done. We are finished. I am going to go off by myself and just die. Then maybe life will have its meaning again. It's nothing without them." he said angrily through tears, "Let's go send the message." He said as he got to his feet.

Tears streamed down her face. "I can't live through this!" Raven cried, "Everyone I know is dying! I can't take it anymore!" Raven walked up to them, "I can't!"

Vasily looked around and grabbed his beloved rifle; the gun that had gotten him through so much. He slung it over his shoulder and limped over to Raven putting his arm around her and holding her gently. Listening to what Dustin was saying he knew the boy was right. "I guess we have no choice... we're gonna die anyway." He said looking sadly at his bruised and battered body. He limped after Dustin gently pulling Raven along. He glanced over at the silo his eyes lighting up with a mixture of inspiration and sadness. "We can use this. If they haven't launched already," he said softly using Raven to lean on as he limped towards it.

Raven wrapped her arm around his waist, helping him. Raven sighed. "I'll miss her," Raven whispered wiping her tears away.

Dustin led the way towards the silo. He stepped back onto the territory, now completely barren. He sighed deeply, still upset, but now more so because he knew this was it. This was the end. All his life, nothing mattered. Nothing had any impact on his life. He had breezed through life like a regular kid, just wasting time, knowing death would be old age. Ignorant of the fact that tomorrow was not always guaranteed, and certainly not promised. Now he looked up longingly at this missile silo. He turned back to Vasily. "Vasily, I'm gonna need your help getting the message sent." He turned to Raven, "Raven, you're gonna have to find out if anybody is still here or not and take them out. I'm gonna help Vasily and when we get done with all of this, we're gonna see what happens." Dustin smiled. He mumbled to himself, "I guess I was wrong. Maybe I AM the Alpha Wolf."

Raven nodded. "I will." Raven said and looked around as her ears twitched. "Yeah... you are," Raven whispered to him.

"As will we all." Vasily said softly blood coming out a corner of his mouth. He swore softly. He was bleeding internally. "Figures," he said, "It doesn't matter it will all be over soon." He thought listening to Dustin. As Raven left, he looked at her. "If it's clear come and find us," he said smirking at her a little coughing some blood spattering against a nearby wall in tiny droplets. "Yeah, sure." he said to Dustin's request for help following him as he walked.

"Will do." Raven said walking away. She sighed keeping her eyes forward and not looking back. She had to keep it together and breaking down crying wouldn't help anything. She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

Dustin began to enter the silo. He looked around curiously and found nothing. "Vas... you're 22, right?" Dustin stared, but did not wait for an answer, "I'm only 16. We're both gonna die young, but I bet neither of us decided that this was gonna happen about two weeks ago." Had it really been close to a week and a half since they had been thrown into the world? Had it been so long already? It seemed like an eternity, a hellish prison one could not escape. He looked over solemnly at Vasily, "I just want you to know, Vas. You, Raven, and I may be all that is left of our group, but I know we could not last much longer. No food, no will left to live. Two of us are infected and will probably die soon anyways." Dustin put his head down shamefully as the entered the main control room. "You know more than I do here; see about launching the missile... somewhere where it'll have a purpose."

Dustin approached the microphone and began briefly, but got no response for a while, to try to contact others. He tried for ten minutes, but nothing worked. Nobody was answering anymore. Were they all dead now?

Understanding what he meant, Vasily could not help but smile through his pain and the grim situation. "You want to blow us up?" He asked coughing some more blood onto a nearby monitor. He shrugged a little, he was going to die anyways why not take half the state with him. He turned on a nearby computer and sighed. Noticing a nearby observation point he looked out and his face went pale. "Uhm Dustin" he said staring at it. "You realize this is a nuclear missile in here right?"

Dustin threw the microphone in disgust and anger. His message was for nothing. Their mission back to the base had become only suicide. He turned back to Vasily as he mentioned something about a nuclear missile. He began to laugh, sitting back in the chair.

"So? We are all going to die one way or another. Don't you wanna go out with a bang?"

He smiled. "You know me too well," he said to Dustin. He coughed again hacking up a chunk of jellied blood that he spat on the floor. He limped over to the microphone Dustin had thrown down and made sure it was on. "Raven, if you are there come to the control room... We're waiting for you... It's all gonna be over soon." He sighed a little dropping it back to the floor shaking his head slightly he went back over to a bank of computers and turned then on. Slowly after becoming used to the system he began to type.

Raven looked around. "Nope, looks like it's empty now." Raven whispered and she jumped at hearing something. She turned seeing a cat and it hissed, then ran away. Raven sighed and turned around. "Better get back to the others." She quickly found her way into the control room. Raven looked at the sky, "It's really over isn't it?" Raven leaned against a wall looking out as she listened to what they were saying but kept quiet. She thought about how her life was and how it was quickly ending, Raven sighed looking at the sky. Raven sighed and walked over to where they were. She sat down leaning against a wall. "It's finally ending, and I haven't been able to do the things I wanted to do." Raven whispered to herself, sighing again.

Dustin sat back in the seat thinking hard. Mostly he thought on his life and how he had lived it. "I've done so much stuff in my life, all of it until recently was not even worth my living. I have avoided death so many times and now I'm about to hit it in the face and let it take me down to Hell." He said sadly, "I mean, I never got to be the Alpha Wolf of my family, so many things that I couldn't accomplish in my life that I had blindly assumed I'd be able to do." He sat back intently and thought hard for a moment on what all his life had amounted to. He answered that in one word, "Nothing."

He turned to Vasily only a fraction of the way and asked him, "Vas... can you do me one last favor? Can you sing a song for me? It can be any song you would like, but please. Just sing one song for me. That's the last thing I'll ever ask you to do." he said. He no longer cried over anything. His voice was hardened and emotionless. He knew it would be over soon, and now he embraced this fact. "Just one song."

Raven messed with her tail looking down. She looked at them. "I'm going to miss all of you guys!" She said, and then looked back down. She took a deep breath and stood up. "I want to give you both something before we all die." She walked over to Dustin and kissed him. "For listening to what I had to say, thank you." She walked over to Vasily and did the same, "A good friend and will always be a friend." She walked back to where she was and sat back down. She stayed quiet, messing with her bells around her neck.

Vasily Romanov could not help but smile softly at her and grin at them all. He stood up shakily. "Well," he said softly looking at them, "It's done all I have to do is press this button." He said gesturing to the enter key. He looked at Dustin's face before pressing it and watching the timer count back. "10 minutes, guys." He said softly walking over to them and standing there smiling softly at them. "Any song?" He asked grinning at them a moment before he started to sing, first in Russian, and then dropping back into English:

"Rastsvetali iabloni I grushi, Poplyli tumany nad rekoj. Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha na vysokij bereg na krutoj. Vykhodila, pesniu zavodila pro stepnogo, sizogo orla about her true love, whose letters she was keeping. Oh you song! Little song of a maiden head for the bright sun. And reach for the soldier on the far-away border. Along with greetings from Katyusha. Let him remember an ordinary girl, and hear how she sings. Let him preserve the Motherland. Same as Katyusha preserves their love." He finished slowly smiling at them tears in his eyes realizing this was finally the end. He smiled at them again, watching the timer tick down from 7 minutes.

Raven listened to the song looking down. "I'll miss you guys." Raven said quietly. She looked at the timer, then back at them. "It was nice being with both of you, and I'm glad I even met you two."

Dustin hugged both of them. "Thanks you guys, for everything you've done. It was really... fun." he could not find the right word but he managed at the end. He then went over to the window that overlooked the missile as it began to count down from five minutes. He stood there, no longer sad that his family was all dead, no longer sad that he was infected, and no longer angry that the world was ending before his life even began. He was now hardened, like a war veteran who returns from war. He was emotionless like a robot, but he was still flesh and blood. He embraced the fate he had been left with. This was the end of the world, as he knew it. If he was the last boy-wolf on the planet, then at least he tried to survive. If the three of them were the last living organisms on Earth, at least they tried to survive. It was all they could do, try to survive.

And it was going to end this way.

Raven hugged her legs and laid her head down on her knees. Raven listened to the timer, waiting for their death. Vasily sighed just a little, his vision going slightly blurry from the bleeding and blood loss. He smirked at them a moment wiping his eyes. "Anyone want front row seats to the end of the world?" he asked. "These things were made to last a detonation." He said wandering to a corner of the room where there were some stairs, and slowly with much effort dragging himself up them.

Dustin waved the offer away casually with the back of his hand. "No thanks... think I'll be just fine here. Where I can see the missile." Dustin said quietly. "Since we're all about to die... thought I'd sing you guys a song too."

Dustin dropped to all fours and began to howl sadly in a long, sad, and meaningful song that most wolves reserve for death of a pack member. He howled the song perfectly and when he finished, there were only 2 minutes left in the detonation sequence. "Hope you guys enjoyed that song. It's been my favorite since Mom died." he added in a hushed voice.

Raven smiled softly. "Thanks, you guys. I hope to see you in the after life." Raven sighed and sang a soft lullaby of sleeping forever. She kept singing, all the while messing with her bells. When she finished she looked at them "I love you guys."

Vasily looked at them, his eyes falling on Raven asking her to join him with his eyes. Apparently, Raven did not notice. Sighing softly he continued dragging himself up the stairs finally reaching a hatch at the top and struggling to unlock it. Raven looked up. "I'll help." Raven said and walked up towards him; she climbed up the stairs and unlocked the hatch.

Dustin finally turned and saw them at the hatch. He went over to them and helped them to open the door. The timer on the bomb was down to only 30 seconds. He stopped and looked at them, "Goodbye, guys. I'll miss you." he said. He was the first to climb up onto the roof and he dropped to his butt, his tail swishing back and forth on the roof. One leg hung off the side of the roof, the other brought up to his chin where he rested his arm on the knee and then his chin on the arm. He stared off into the sunset.

Raven climbed up and laid on her back. "I'll miss you guys too," Raven whispered and looked at the sky, waiting for the timer to stop and end their lives finally. Raven wrapped her arms around him; facing him "Bye guys," Raven whispered holding back tears. Raven looked up at Vasily. "It was nice knowing both of you."

Vasily Romanov sighed limping over to a spot next to Raven, Dustin seemed in his own small world staring at the sky. He smiled at her softly putting his arm around her part to help hold him up, another just to do it. He looked over at where the cover of the missile was starting to slide back exposing the point. He did some quick counting in his head. After it launched they would have a little under a minute before it fell back top earth and detonated. He stood there looking thoughtful tightening his grip on Raven slightly.

"There it goes..." Dustin mumbled to himself. He was almost glad. Almost glad that the world had finally come to its end. All the wrongs in the world were going to be forgotten and righted. Humanity, the disease that had plagued the Earth's problems for so long, was finally going to die with it. With this nuclear warhead, they would die. He stared off into the sky as the sun began to disappear over the horizon. The last time he would ever see this happen.

The nuclear warhead soared into the air. Dustin watched the nuclear warhead fly up into the air and then come crashing back to Earth. He barely moved. The warhead crashed straight towards them and just before hitting them, the nuclear warhead exploded, sending the huge atomic blast skyward and destroying the buildings, roadways, and the environment for several miles. The three of them on the roof were instantly killed by the blast.

All our lives we live without thinking that the world could end at any moment. That death is around the corner waiting to pounce is an instinct, but one we suppress. We learn that the world does not stop for anybody and we learn to survive, even in the end of days. The revelation that the three of these people learned came only too late as the nuclear warhead killed them all.

As expected, on 12/31/2012, the end of humanity was clear. The three of the remaining group of humans, Raven, Vasily Romanov, and Dustin Dorn, committed suicide to protect the world from the rise of humanity's evil prowess and its suicidal course of life. The three of them had withstood 10 days of horrifying death, pain, and the end times as they attempted to survive. They fought their way to the realization that life should not continue for them because it was no longer deserved. As an ironic twist of destiny, the three most able to survive were also the only ones to kill themselves to do what they did best, survive.

This is where the story ends, and this is where the world changes. Who knows what this world will hold next, now that nothing remains alive, nobody will ever know. The story of one group of ragtag people has finally concluded. The end of humanity as one would know it, the end of the world as one would know it, have come and now... are gone.

The End.