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New Life

On February 4th, 38m, as she was still mourning the loss of her husband, Anika gave birth to their daughter and named her Agridulce for the bittersweet memories she represented.

In June of 38m, Anika left her new daughter with her father and joined the Guard, along with her mother. She proved herself determined and intelligent and came out of her brief training as a Lance Corporal. Her engineering talents got her positioned as a mechanic, but she was eager to get on the front lines and draw blood in revenge for Corbin's death. She got her first chance in March of 39m.

She was trying to remove a damaged panel from a jeep when shots began hitting it. She dove for cover and rolled underneath the vehicle, looking back at the door. She saw three pairs of boots shuffle in and more stayed outside. She found a pry bar on the ground and quietly got out from under the jeep keeping the vehicle between her and the intruders.

Peeking through the windows of the jeep, she noticed their weapons and body armor and that they were clearly human. She ducked behind the hood and waited for them to come around. As soon as she saw the end of a gun, she grabbed it, jumping up and driving the pry bar under his chin. A few bursts from his gun alerted the other two before he died. One charged Anika, firing and shouting "Die beast!" Anika used his dead friend as a shield and charged back at him, driving her own claws through his chin and snapping his neck in a single upward swipe. The third stood frozen as Anika leaped over her first victims and charged him, yelling. He dropped his gun and collapsed against a tool chest, sinking to the floor and staring at her in horror.

(I will interject here to note that as the recipient of a demonstration, I can fully understand this soldier's paralyzing terror from seeing a 350 pound bipedal hyena charging straight at him with bared teeth, furious eyes and an ear shattering screech. Even at 82 years old and me knowing she wasn't going to hurt me, she had this cat's tail frizzed. I had to excuse myself and I never want to be on that end of an angry hyena again.)

She stopped herself short when she saw the fear in this "child's" face, but then a stabbing pain in her shoulder and the wall to her left splintering, brought her back to the danger of her situation. She ducked for cover while the terrified human did, as well. Two more soldiers came into the garage firing, then one began searching for her as the other checked on his squad mate. Just as she thought she would be discovered and she would have to kill another, more shots came from the door. After a brief exchange, two more invaders lay dead and a crowd of Guard rushed in. Anika came out of hiding, but was bleeding fast. The last thing she remembered was insisting that the last boy be kept alive.

She awoke in the hospital later to learn that she had caught three bullets and her yell had alerted Guardians two buildings away. They wanted to send her home with her injury to heal slowly, but she insisted on staying and worked hard to regain full use of her arm faster than the doctors expected. She was offered a promotion to Corporal and a transfer to a squad that had recently suffered some losses. The story of her action spread quickly, though it of course suffered some exaggeration.

By the time she arrived for duty, her new squad wanted to hear all about how she took down the ten men that charged into her garage, firing openly and throwing grenades, and came out with only a few scratches. She quickly set them straight, insisting that they understand that these were people, not movie extras, and she was not a superhero. She told them about the terror in the young boy's eyes, that she could see that he didn't want to be fighting. She says it sobered them and she helped relieve them of their video game mentality.

The surviving members of her new squad were Leutenant Helix Johan, a malamute that had been trapped in their upside down jeep; Lance Corporal Mitch Karvey, a mouse that had been thrown and knocked unconscious; Corporal Georine Lisra, a lioness that had been trapped under a bear; and Captain Tybeir Throgn, their bear captain that had been at the front of the blast. The other six that continued to fight were quickly eliminated by the American troops.

Four more morphs joined them before they returned to the fighting: Privates Ceecil Ketter and Agna Nace, a cat and rabbit respectively, both fresh off training; Lance Corporal Johns, a tiger that had lost his tail; Lance Corporal Conner, a vixen still recovering from a fire. They had to wait a couple days while Conner had one last skin treatment. When she finally arrived, everyone of course stared at her injury. She was a beautiful fox, but fire had left furless scars on the left side of her face from below her eye and ear and down her neck and shoulder.

She was beginning to seem very uncomfortable until Anika broke the ice, "Why don't you just tell us how it happened, then everyone can stop staring and wondering."

The vixen gave her a fiery glare.

The hyena kept her cool, "Its already over and done with, might as well share with us, so you don't have to relive it alone. Do you want to hear their story first? Like how Cpl Lisra was a helpless pussy trapped under Cpt Throgn."

The lioness jumped up and objected sternly, "What the hell? Don't throw me down like that. I thought we were good."

"We will be when you stop being a grump and admit that he couldn't control where he landed." Anika turned to face the cat, "We all have to be able to trust you."

Lisra tried to hold her ground, but she new she was wrong, "You can trust me, its the bear that should watch his back."

"He's your commanding officer. We have to be able to trust you to trust him even if that means standing behind him again. Just get over yourself and admit that shit happens and he had no more control over where he landed than you did. Him being in front of you probably saved your life."

She stared at Anika for a moment, then glanced at Conner and exhaled agitatedly, "Yeah I guess I should thank him for that."

Anika put her paw on Lisra's shoulder, "Be glad he's still alive so you can."

The lioness nodded.

Anika put her paw on Conner's good shoulder, "Now, let's all sit down and we can swap stories. If everyone's really good, I'll tell mine again."

Ketter got excited, "Oh yeah, you've got to hear hers, It may not be as wild as the rumors that went around, but she's still awesome."

Anika stopped in front of him and dropped a look that could have crushed him, "Settle down, kid."

The young cat froze in his seat, looking like he wanted to shrink into his own pocket, "Yes, ma'am."

Everyone sat down and Johan told the original squad's story with occasional assistance from the others.

They had been riding to their next location when a single shot hit the lead jeep's windshield. Not wanting the squad trapped in the vehicles, Cpt Throgn ordered everyone out and spread to find cover. It was quiet and no other shots followed, so he stepped out. When nothing happened, he called everyone back. That's when something came falling from a roof. Cpt Throgn saw it first and called "Grenade!" He turned just before the blast threw him onto Lisra, but his head hit the ground and knocked him unconscious, leaving her trapped under his weight and watching, dazed.

A second blast flipped the lead jeep with Johan inside. The frame bent just enough that he couldn't get out, but left him watching everything. Karvey was just getting back in as it flipped, knocking him unconscious on the door frame then flinging him sixty feet into a wall. Cpl Haver was the only one from the lead jeep that wasn't incapacitated by the blasts. He joined the Guardians from the rear vehicle just as the Americans came out firing. They all went down, one by one, while Johan watched. They all probably would have been killed if two more squads hadn't come up the road, forcing the Americans to retreat.

Conner listened quietly. Lisra got up and walked out, towards the room Cpt Throgn was working in.

Ketter looked to Anika, "Tell her yours now."

She scowled at him, "You're not being good."

He shrank again, "Yes, ma'am."

The hyena looked to the vixen, "What do you think?"

"I think they're lucky to be alive. Humans don't leave survivors."

Ketter leaned forward, "Well, how did you survive, then?"

She glared at him, but told her story anyway, "I was just heading out to patrol our perimeter for the evening when I noticed something odd. I crept closer to look around the corner and saw a human right there, searching through his equipment, so I ducked back. He was three feet from me. I couldn't get my gun out or he would hear me, so I slid out my knife and charged him. He had just lit a flare when I came around. I screwed up and didn't grab it. We grappled a bit, then he shoved the flare under my vest."

"Whoa, serious?"

Anika snarled at the cat, "Hush, Ketter." She was starting to like watching him shrink under her.

"Yes, ma'am."

Conner continued, "I couldn't get it out, so I took my vest off, another stupid move. My shirt flared up and scorched my face before I could get out of the vest. The doctors said I should have shook the flare out and kept the vest on to smother it, but I panicked."

"Why didn't he kill you?" the young cat had yet to learn to keep his mouth shut.

The vixen jumped up and snapped at him, "Because I stabbed him in the neck and killed him first!"

Ketter wilted and Karvey smacked his arm.

Conner sat back down and continued again, "When I felt the flare burning me, I screamed. I guess he thought he had beat me because he let go and got this grin on his stupid face. I jabbed my knife into his neck with a twist and left it there as I pulled off my vest. Once I got the fire out, I realized I needed to hide the flare and shoved it under his body, in his vest. He couldn't scream, but he twitched and writhed as it burned him. I watched his face show everything I felt until he finally died." She snarled and stared at the floor as if the human was laying there in front of her.

"Whoa, you're scary."

Johan and Karvey snapped together, "Shut up, Ketter."

Anika put her paw on the vixen's knee, "Are you okay?"

Conner inhaled sharply and looked up at the hyena, "I don't want to see another human that close ever again."

Anika took her paw in hers, "Don't blame all humans. They're not all out to get us. I've known quite a few really good ones. Not even all Americans hate us."

She shook her head slowly, "I don't care. I'll shoot 'em, burn 'em, blow 'em up. They ruined me."

"How bad is it?" Lisra spoke from the doorway.

Conner stood up and turned to her, unbuttoning her shirt. Lisra walked over to the group as the vixen carefully slid her shirt off her shoulder to show her back. Even with the bandage over the worst part, they could see her back was bare of fur from the top of her neck to the base of her tail and a trail of scars ran up and over her left shoulder, "They say most of the fur should grow back, but I'll likely have bald patches, especially where the flare touched me."

Anika smiled at her, "Well, I hope it comes in thick and you can be happy with it, but even if it doesn't, you'll still be beautiful because you're the strong vixen that survived."

"Thank you. I..."

Cpt Throgn's voice entered the room before he did, "Alright, listen up. Our tenth has finally arrived. This is Cpl John Morray. He has some experience with explosives and electronics."

They all turned to see a human male standing beside the bear. He glanced around the room and settled on the bare chest of the vixen in front of him as a smile started to grow on his face.

Conner quickly pulled her shirt on and walked out of the room, holding it closed.

The bear looked around the room, "Are we going to have a problem here?"

Anika took the lead, "No, sir."

"Are we?" he looked to the others.

"No, sir," they answered in unison.

"Good. His last squad couldn't handle him being human, but I said we've got no problem with it. Are you going to make me a liar?"

"No sir!" They all shouted.

"Good, because we're heading north tomorrow. Say hello and get some sleep." He walked back to his own room.

Anika walked over and put her large paw on Morray's shoulder, watching his eyes open wide as she forced a toothy smile at him, "Welcome to the family, brother." Then she walked out.