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Then next morning, the General tried again to see if I was ready to join his side. I told him I would fax him when I was ready. He got up, and walked out. I heard the door to the entrance close.

"Well, lets go to work." I said, as Sam groggily sat up. I put on my boots, and stood by the door. Brenden and Will walked over to the door, and opened it. I stepped out, and walked over to help Sam get up.

"Come on you lug, you need to help me. Besides, Belle might be watching." I said, and gave him a wink. He suddenly hurried up.

We walked back over to where all of the tree stumps where. As we worked, I bounced escape plans off of him. He kept poking holes in them, so I kept trying to modify them. Also, to both of our disappointment, neither of the girls where there.

"You know, you have a very scary mind." He said, as I continued to bounce ideas of escape.

"You wouldn't believe how often I hear that." I said, as I stopped digging to wipe the sweat from my eyes. He just laughed, and we were able to finish a good amount of the stumps before the sun went down.

"We will by the end of the week." He said after I mentioned us finishing, and sat down. The sun was right on the horizon.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said, and pointed to the setting sun. He nodded his head in agreement, as he passed a canteen with water in it to me. I took it, and finished it off.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now, we have to go get you cleaned up. You smell like shit." He said, and shoved me playfully. I decided that now would be a good time to go horseback riding. I quickly launched myself at him, and hit him in the stomach, not too hard. He toppled over, and then tried to get up. While he was on his hands and knees, I quickly jumped on his back, and started whooping and hollering. Both Brenden and Will watched, laughing too hard to come over and help.

Sam quickly saw what was happening, and he bucked forward, sending me flying. I landed on my back. And I watched him leap to land on my chest. I quickly rolled out of his way, and he landed, and grabbed me. He hauled me up, and threw me over his shoulder. I kicked off his chest, and landed back on the ground. He snorted, and charged at me. I tried to run as fast as I could, but he was able to run much faster than I ever could. He grabbed me as I ran, but he lost grip, and I fell to the ground.

Once I had rolled to a stop, I saw him slow, and then turn around to make another run at me. I turned and ran back toward the camp. I saw one of the hole were one of the larger tree stumps had been. I ran toward it, and he started after me, snorting as he ran. He was right behind me when I dived into the hole. He blew by me, and I got up and took off the other direction. He looked surprised at the move, but he quickly regained his momentum as he charged after me again. But this time, I had a plan.

He kept running, and I already saw a hole large enough to hide me again. I made it so it looked like I was headed there. I saw him turn slightly so that he would intercept me before I ever reached the hole. I smiled, because my plan was working.

As he ran for the hole, I myself headed for the dirt mount next to it. It was slightly ramped, about a foot higher, so that I would be able to jump on his back. Now, if my timing was right, I would have the ride of my life. If it was wrong, I would be in a rut. Or, a hole really.

As he approached, I readied myself. He kept going, hell bent on getting me for starting this. He smiled as he approached. I did as well.

He ran right where I wanted him, and I pushed off the mound, and landed squarely on his back. I held on for dear life as he continued to go, now trying to focus on what had just happened.

He quickly caught on of his mistake, and he continued to run at full tilt. He kept changing directions quickly, as I still held on. I was doing great till he stopped.

He slammed on the brakes, and I went flying over his shoulders, and hit the ground, hard. I bounced 2 or 3 times, and then finally came to a stop. My back and ribs hurt, as well as my head did. I was breathing hard, and I was again covered in sweat.

He trotted over to me, prancing around my broken body, all happy with himself. "Serves you right, for thinking you were better than me!" He said, and then put his big ass foot on my chest, and looked down on me. "Do you submit?" He asked, as he grinned evilly down at me.

"Seems like a good idea." I said, as he laughed. "But then again, I have never been one for good ideas." I said. His smile turned to a scowl, and he put more pressure on my chest.

"Alright, alright. You win, this time." I said, and he lifted his foot. He backed up to give me some space, and I sat up. I looked at him, and he grinned. I just shook my head, and got up, slowly. My back and head still throbbed in pain, but overall I wasn't too bad.

"Now, if you are done, can we please go get showers? The girls want to stop by tonight. I guess you impressed them with story time, so now they want to come back to see the caged human perform again." He said, as he walked back over to Brenden and Will.

Once we both got over to them, they both were laughing, and they said it was one of the funniest things they had witnessed. Will kept teasing Sam, and I warned him not to over push his boundary. He ignored me, and kept pressing Sam's buttons.

Sam ignored him, but Will just wouldn't let it go. "You were almost beaten by a human! How embarrassing would that have been? Maybe I should tell that mare what happened." He snickered. I could see that he was about to push Sam too far.

"Will, let off him." I said.

"You don't tell me what to do. And neither does Private Samson. You will respect your superior officer, isn't that right Private?" He said, as if he wanted to push him.

"Of course, sir. Also, I am sure you know about the officers meeting in about 5 minutes. But, I am sure I don't need to remind you about that." Sam said, voice coated in sarcasm and mock submission. Will looked down at his watch, and then took off in the other direction. Brenden was close behind him.

"Well, that was interesting." I said, once they were out of hearing range.

"Oh, all of the time. Will has become more and more like that since he got his new rank. Brenden hasn't changed, but I worry about Will telling the others about our prison break." He said.

"Actually, speaking of prison break, I need a favor, if we want a way out."

"Anything. I want away from all of the idiots that seem to run wild in this place." He said, and right at that moment, two very drunk cats came out of a tent. They were stumbling around, and their words were very slurred. We got out of their way, and continued to walk down the dirt path toward the showers.

"I need a radio. If I can give my team 3 days to set up, then we will be able to escape. But I need the radio for at least 5 minutes, undisturbed. And we need to hide it from Will."

"Alright, I can do that. I will have it to you early in the morning. Be ready to use it immediately." He said, and then we changed subjects.

We got to the shower house, which was actually just a huge army tent that had a hot water boiler outside of it, feeding water in through a series of pipes. We stripped down, and headed inside. There were individual stalls, and we had our choice of what stall. There weren't a lot of animorphs there. Other than us, there were 3 others showering.

I washed my body thoroughly, scrubbing off dirt from my legs and arms. I then rewashed myself, to just get the rest of the dirt off the rest of me. Then, I scrubbed my head. It felt weird washing only a strip of hair, but I found that it made cleaning easier. I also grabbed a mirror and a sharp knife, and shaved both my head to remake my warriors cut, and my chin. On my chin, I almost had a beard! Once I finished, I walked out and grabbed a towel. I dried myself, and then wrapped it around my waist. I also walked over and grabbed a new uniform, as well as a couple pairs of socks and underwear. I thanked him, and walked over to the changing area, and re-dressed. I then handed in my old, and very dirty uniform so that it could be cleaned and de-bugged.

By the time I had finished everything, Sam was still inside washing! I walked back in and threw a sponge at him. He dodged it, and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Come on, the girls are probably waiting for us!" I called, over the sound of the water. He nodded, and finished up. I walked over and tossed him a towel. He just grinned and shook. He got water everywhere, including on me.

"Was that necessary?" I asked, as I wiped my face. He just smiled, and I shook my head and walked out.

About ten minutes later, I was back in the cell, laying on the bed talking to the girls. Everyone was inside of my cell, and the door was left open. Sam had his pistol still on him, but left his primary outside the cell. He was telling the girls his side of the story on how I attacked him.

"You finished?" I asked, once he had stopped talking. He laughed and nodded yes. "Good, now I can tell them what really happened." I said, and propped myself up on one arm to tell the story. The girls laughed, and Sam chuckled as well. We kept talking, and then my dinner came. I shared my meal with them. I even had carrots, which I had Sam literally eating out of my hand. I mentioned this, and Belle and Star broke out in fits of laughter. Sam laughed as well, and I could see his tail was lashing from side to side, so I backed off on teasing him. It was nice having visible signs of when any of them were nervous or irritated. Our joking manner went on for at least a couple of hours.

"Now, I am sorry, but I must bring our conversation to a more serious level for a minute." I said, and everyone looked at me, intently.

"I must inform both of you that from now on, Will is not to be trusted with our plans of leaving. He has become a risk." I said, gravely.

Both looked at each other, and laughed. Sam and me both had very similar looks of confusion.

"What's so funny?" He asked. Once the girls had stopped laughing, they answered.

"We both hate that creep! He was nice at first, but ever since he was promoted, he has become such a jerk. He was even hitting on me!" Star said. I grew serious with anger. I saw that Sam had noticed my anger, and I looked away.

"I will make sure he is not a threat." I said. Both of the girls looked at me. "Also, be prepared to leave as early as Friday, which is three days from now." Both nodded.

"What do we need to bring?" Belle asked.

"Clothes, personal items that you might want, and your weapons." I said. Both nodded. I looked at my watch. It read to be about 11:00p.m.

"Alright, me and Sam have to get some sleep, and I am sure you ladies are tired as well." I said.

"I am not even that tired." Belle said, around a yawn. We all laughed, and I noticed her tail reacted to the embarrassment. Both got up, and headed for the door. As Belle walked out of the door, Star stopped. She turned around, and walked over to me. She kissed me on the cheek, and gave me a hug. I returned the embrace.

"Goodnight." I whispered into her ear. She just smiled, and kissed me on the cheek again.

She then walked out of the door, and followed Belle up to the entrance of the holding cell. She waved goodbye, and I waved back.

"Well, that was cute." Sam said, and pushed me onto my bed. I was too tired to fight back, so I just stayed there. I fell asleep without even taking my boots off.

I was awoken in the middle of the night. I was about to freak out, because I felt a massive hand clamp over my mouth, and I started to struggle, when I felt something put in my hand. It was a radio. I tapped the hand on my mouth twice, to signify that I understand. I felt the hand removed, and then heard the door closed.

I turned the radio on to my channel, and waited to hear anything. Nothing. I was beginning to think that it wouldn't work, when I remembered the time. Everyone but the guard on duty would be asleep.

"Overlord, this is Destiny 1. Do you read me, over?" I asked, trying to be as quiet as I could.

"This is Overlord, I read you Destiny 1. Holy shit, I thought you were dead, over." It was Josh. Never before had I been so happy to hear him.

"Overlord, I need you to listen. I need you to grab the mortar, and get me out of dodge. Is Echo 1 there, over?" I asked. Hopefully, Ahote had been smart and returned to the team.

"Yes sir. Echo 1 is safe and sound. He also has the package you sent, over." He said. Good, I didn't want to loose that.

"Alright. Tell Echo 1 that I am in the town in which we attacked City Hall. Also, I need you and Destiny 2 to get me out of here. The town is guarded by an electric fence, and heavily armed guards. I will need you to bring the trucks. I have some refugees that are going with me. Do you copy, over?" I asked. Hopefully, they would make it in time, before me and Sam stopped working on the tree stumps. We were right on the edge of town, and that was our best chance at getting out of there alive.

"I copy. Need more details. Where is the pickup going to happen, over?" He asked.

"We will be on the northeast side of camp. I am on a work detail there. My guards are the one who want to go with me. Makes things a little easier." I heard Sam chuckled from across the room, and continued, "I do not have any of my weapons. I need this to happen in the exactly three days, or it is a no go, over." I said.

"Copy you, over." He said.

"I will have no further radio contact until pickup time Good luck, but don't worry, you are in Nick's capable hands. I also expect to see the camp in one piece when I get there, over." I said

I just heard chuckling on the line, and then it go quiet. I turned off the radio, and slid it outside the cage doors. I heard Sam pick it up, and I went back over to my cot and fell back asleep.

The next morning, I faked back injuries again to help buy some time for Josh and the others. Actually, I really didn't have to fake that many injuries. Sam really did a number on me from yesterdays "ride". The General took this time for me being a captive audience. Not like any other time I wasn't!

After about ten minutes, he left. I again refused his offer. He looked agitated, but he was still determined to break me. "If this keeps up, Captain, I will be forced to use other measures. You have the next week before I switch to those tactics." He said, and then walked out. I chuckled to myself, because hopefully I wouldn't be here in a week!

As I lay there all day, I though out the plan from my side. There wasn't honestly a lot to plan, because most of it fell on Josh. All I could do was hope, and pray.

The next day, Sam and I worked to pull the few remaining tree stumps out. We worked purposely slow, and left all of the ones closer to the edge of camp alone. We would use those for tomorrow, when we busted out.

Also, later that night I explained to the girls what was going to happen. They had the next day off thankfully, and they would help us by grabbing Will and Brenden when the time came. It allowed me to keep my promise to help them get out, and also kept them out of the loop till it was too late.

As we said goodnight, Star came and sat on my bunk. She looked nervous. "Don't worry. I will be right there beside you the whole way." I said, and I held her hand. She turned to me and smiled. I was beginning to believe I couldn't live without that beautiful smile. I reached my hand up to brush her cheek. She smiled, and play bit my finger. I chuckled, and then wagged my finger right in front of her face. She snapped at it again, but I was able to move it out of the way first. I then kissed her on the cheek, and she again smiled.

"Come on Star, you will see him tomorrow." Belle called, as she kissed Sam goodnight. Star got up, and leaned down and gave me another kiss, and headed off with Belle to get some sleep.

"We are too lucky to have them." I said. Sam laughed, nodding in agreement. I was about to fall asleep, when he asked," What weapon do you want tomorrow?"

"Whatever you can get your hands on. If you can, a German M416. But, I will take just about anything that shoots properly." I said.

He smiled. "I know exactly where to get that weapon. Don't worry, you hold up your part of the bargain, and I can get you that." He said. I just smiled, and rolled over. I was asleep within seconds.

The next morning, I made sure my boots were tied tight, and made sure that I was ready. I also could see Sam going over his weapon and gear. Brenden and Will just stood, waiting for Sam to be ready. Sam stood up, and unlocked the door. I walked out, and we headed for the worksite.

Will's promotion seemed to fuel his arrogance. He walked in front of me, walking in a brisk manner. He marched, as if on a parade ground. I notice many of the other animorphs looked at him with distaste.

When we got to the work site, I saw a pine box already sitting there. I opened my mouth to ask what was in it, but Sam gave me a stern look, and I shut my mouth. My guess was it was his personal gear, and maybe the girls as well.

"Oh Chris? Come here for a second." Will said. He was standing with Brenden on the road. I jogged over to him

"Yes?" I asked.

"First off, its yes sir. Also, in your little group, I want you to know that I require that my rank stays equivalent to it is now. Also, I demand to talk to your leader. Do you understand?" He said.

"Yes sir." I said. He had no clue that I was the leader of my team.

"Good. Now, get back to work." He ordered. I ignored him, and ran back over to Sam.

"What was that about?" He asked, once we had started working. We had brought the pine box out with us. He opened it, and inside were a few shovels. I started to question why the box, but he put a finger to his lips and moved aside a false back. There, on the bottom, lay my M416 and about 6 spare magazines. I just wanted to pick it up and fire it, but I knew that would have blown the whole plan.

"He knows the escape is today. He wanted to make sure that his rank stayed the same as it was now. He said that my leader would have to accept it, because he freed me."

"Do you think your leader will take that?" He asked, as he helped me dig.

"I highly doubt it." I said, and gave him a wink. He smiled, but still looked confused. I just shook my head, and kept on working.

About an hour later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girls walk over, and they stood and chitchatted with Brenden and Will. I nodded to them, and Star smiled back. Sam also waved to Belle, who giggled, and waved back. I could see that Will was unhappy with the attention being taken off of him, and he tried to get Belle's attention again. She unwillingly turned back, and Sam and me went back to work.

At about 2:00p.m, there was a soft thump sound. I stopped working, to try and figure out what it was. I didn't have to wait long to find out what it was.

An explosion hit one of the houses along the dirt road. The front of the house collapsed into the street. The guards at the gate looked up in surprise. Suddenly, a second explosion hit another house, right across from the first one. It blocked the street because of all the ruble.

I turned to Sam, and he smiled. I ran over to the box, and opened it quickly. I grabbed the M416, and all of the spare magazines. I slapped one into the weapon, and chambered a round. I looked for where they would enter. I saw something crash through the bushes right outside of the fence, and then I watched the back end of a Deuce and a half come crashing through the fence. Josh and five of the others hopped out of the back of the truck.

I turned to Sam. "Well, our ride has arrived." I said, and then watched as two of the humvees also came crashing through the fence. Both had the .50cals up top, and they started firing to provide cover fire. Sam just smiled at me, and then we both took off for the truck. I saw that Star and Belle weren't to far behind, and Brenden and Will right after them. I reached to truck first, and I ran around so that I could ride shotgun. Nick was driving.

"Just the man I wanted to see. Before you speak, you are in charge of the group, and I am one of the more low ranking members. Don't question me." I said.

"Don't question me, sir?" He said, and smiled. I leaned over and gave him a hug.

"It is damn good to see you!" I said, and I heard a bang on the glass from behind us in the cab. Nick put the truck in gear, and we hauled ass out of there. One of the humvees flew in front of us, to make sure the way was safe. One of them stayed behind us so they protected our rear.

"You going to do alright if I knock out?" I asked, suddenly feeling very tired.

"No problem." He said, as he just kept following the humvee in front of him. I passed out quickly, but it was not a deep sleep.

Nick shook me about 8 hours later. I groggily opened my eyes, which had crusted shut.

"What's up?" I asked, shaking the sleepiness from my bones.

"Do you mind taking a shift driving? I am about to go out at the wheel." He said.

"Yea, no problem! Just let the humvees know you are going to stop for a second. I also want to check on our passengers in the back." I said, and he nodded.

Once we had pulled over, I got out, and he moved over to the passenger seat. He fell asleep within seconds. I walked to the back of the truck to check on the others.

As I opened the back hatch, and noticed everyone accept Sam was asleep. I waved to him, and he smiled and waved back. Belle was asleep on his chest, and Star was sleeping by herself on one of the benches that ran along both sides of the cargo bay. I got into the back, and took off my jacket. I laid it over her, and then walked out of the truck. I closed the door, waved to the driver of the second humvee. I couldn't see who it was, because of the headlights. I hopped back into the drivers seat, and put the truck in gear.

About six hours later, we pulled onto the dirt road, which would take us the rest of the way to camp. From this point, it would be about 15 more minutes before we reached camp. I shook Nick awake. He stretched, and looked at me.

"What time is it?" He asked. I looked at my watch, and it read to be about 2:00a.m

"Bout 2:00 in the morning. I need you awake to remember that you are the groups official leader, and that I am a low ranking personnel on the team. The others I brought with me do not know that I run this outfit. Also, Will, the Border Collie seems to think that he is superior to Sam, the Stallion." I said.

"Oh, really? And does he deserve this title?" He asked, smiling.

"Would I be putting you in this decision if I though he did? Actually, I want Sam to take his rank." I said.

"Alright. Anything else?" He asked, while looking out the window.

"Star is mine. She is the husky." I said, my voice becoming steel. He turned and looked at me, opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it, and just smiled. "Wise idea." I said, and he chuckled.

We pulled up to camp about 10 minutes later, and everyone hopped out of the trucks and humvees. Nick called us to stand in formation. We all got into lines, and everyone gave me a funny look for joining in with them, but I just put my finger over my lips, and they ignored me.

"Today, we regained one of our own!" He said, and everyone cheered and ran over to hug me. I started to cry, because I was so happy to see them again and be home.

Once everyone had died down, and had gotten back into formation, Nick continued. "Also, we have some new members. This is Brenden, Will, Sam, Belle, and Star." Nick said, as he pointed each of them out by name. I could see that Will was puffing up his chest to make himself look bigger. I just shook my head. He was in for a real surprise when he found out who really led this team.

Once they all introduced themselves, I personally escorted them over to the barracks. Star grabbed my hand, and I smiled. Sam just shook his head, but he was doing the same thing with Belle. Will and Brenden walked behind us. I noticed that Brenden still clung to Will. I needed to cut that tie, or Will would still be power hungry.

I held the door for everyone, and once everyone was inside, I told them they could pick any bunk that was still open. Will for some reason walked right into the middle of the barracks, and flopped down on my bunk.

"Will, that bunk is taken." I said, and waited to see how he would reply.

"Yea, it was. I am a higher rank than almost everyone here, so I get my choice of bunks. Only Nick and Josh are superior to me." He said, and dropped my stuff in the middle of the room. "Perfect." He said, and put his stuff under my bunk.

"No, get up. That is my bunk, and you will find another." I said, anger building up in my chest.

"Oh? And what rank do you hold in this team? Huh? Oh, that's right, you are a nothing." He said, smirking at me. The others had gotten dead quiet.

"Actually, you are wrong." I said, and called Nick and Josh into the barracks.

"Would you please put this private back in his place?" Will called, not bothering to get up. I walked over to Will, and grabbed him by the throat. I hauled him out of my bed, and then walked with him all the way outside with him, while he tried to claw his way out of my grip. The others got out of my way.

Once outside, I threw him on the ground. The others had now walked outside to see what was happening.

Will gasped for breath, and sputtered to Nick, " Reprimand that man! He is being insubordinate to a superior officer!"

"I do not think you understand, Will. It is the other way around. I kept this a secret while I was in that cell, but I not only belong to this group, but I am the bloody LEADER of it!" I shouted at him. He just sat there, in utter shock. He looked to Nick to see if it was true, and Nick just nodded.

"I am sorry sir. I will move my items immediately." He said, and tried to get up.

I kicked him back down, and said, "From this point on, you are being stripped of your rank. I am giving your rank to Samson! You are now NOTHING!" He just stayed there, on the ground quivering. I ignored him, and walked back into the barracks.

The next morning, Nick woke me up.

"Come on, we are on guard duty." He said. I groaned, but got up. I grabbed my M416. It felt very weird having so little weapons on me. I felt much, much lighter!

Once we had gotten to the top, and we had relieved Joey, we both sat down and started watch. I checked the time, and my watch read 7:30a.m.

"So, what has been happening here since I went on vacation?" I asked, and he chuckled.

"Not too much. We built one very important thing though. It is a bomb shelter, underground. God forbid we need it in case of emergency. Justin's idea." I nodded, and he continued, " Also, we created a garage slash auto shop, which is right outside of the protective ring. As it turns out, Sean knows how to work on all kinds of vehicles, so a good thing for us!" I smiled, and reminded myself to go talk to Sean about his new job.

"Anything else? Problems, or any other news?" I asked.

"Oh yea! I almost forgot, there was a family of eagles that moved into the forest. So, don't leave anything shiny out, or it will be taken as a prize." He said, and chuckled.

"Uh, normal, not animorph, right?" I asked, a confused look on my face. He started laughing and said that they were the normal kind. I started laughing with him.

As he continued to laugh, I noticed the barracks door open. I used the binoculars to see who it was. It was Will, and anger grew in my chest. I ignored it, and kept watching to see what he did.

I watched him just walking around camp, doing nothing really. I told Nick to scan the perimeter, to check for anything.

"Nothing as of yet, but I will let you know." He said. I had my radio on me, and I turned it to all channels, to monitor if anything was coming in or out of the camp.

He kept walking around for about 5 minutes, and I saw him head over to the motor pool, and I saw him looking at the ATV's. I saw him try to push one, and slowly, he rolled it out of its hanger. He stopped once it was positioned right at the entrance to camp. He was trying to make a run for it.

"Josh, get up. Grab Brenden, and tell Ryan to get up here with his rifle. We have a situation. Also, get everyone else up, and get them ready to fight. Will and Brenden are trying to make a run for it on one of the ATV's, over." I said.

"Roger that, Brenden is secure. You were right; all of their stuff is packed up and ready to go by the looks of it. They trying to head out of the main entrance?" Josh asked.

"Looks like it. Get Garret out there to rough him up. And then throw both of them in the stockade." I said. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. They were here only a day, and not only did they want to leave, which I had no problem with, but they tried to steal a vehicle.

"Uh, Chris, we have another problem. We have what looks like five foot mobiles approaching to the Northwest. All of them have weapons." Nick said.

"ALL UNITS, WE HAVE COMPANY. NORTHWEST, GO GO!" I yelled into the radio.

I saw everyone run out of the barracks, and rush to their stations. Sam, Belle, and Star were all pulled along with. Well, nothing like total immersion by fire! I also saw Josh and Justin run and take down Will. They quickly led him to the setup holding center, and then rush off to their stations. Now, we waited.

They approached apprehensively, and they stuck together. One of them was carrying an AK-47. All of them humans, and they all seemed to be about 20 years old. None of them had uniforms. The rest held different sort of melee weapons. There were 4 white kids, and 1 African American.

As they approached camp, Nick turned to me and said, "You know, none of this happened while you were gone." He said, and smiled.

"Nick, you would be in some Animorph prison camp by now if I wasn't here." I said, and elbowed him playfully. Ryan also came up in the tower, and we gave him room to setup.

"You know Chris, Nick is right." Ryan said, without looking up from his scope. I smacked him lightly on the back of the head, and they both chuckled. "Oh, and by the way, nice haircut."

"Yea, I did mean to compliment you on that." Nick said, and went to rub my head. I pushed him away from me, and he laughed.

"Alright, focus you two." I said, and picked up my rifle and sighted it in. I noted that I needed to pick up one of the 4x sights for the rifle, so I could improve its accuracy. "Josh, you have the mike. Don't let any of the animorphs be seen, we don't know their intentions, and I don't feel like finding out the hard way." I looked in the binoculars, and I saw him give me a thumbs up. Next to him was Star, and I just watched her, wishing I was able to be next to her to help her. I knew she could handle herself, but still.

"Hey!" Nick said, and jostled my elbow. "Focus!" He said. I blushed, because I had been caught.

Josh told the men to halt. "What are your intentions?" He asked.

"We are part of a large resistance group, hoping to take the nearby town. We were looking for all of the volunteers we could get. I see that you are well armed, and I ask for your help." The one with the Ak said.

"Let me talk to my superior, and I will return. Do not move, or you will never be able to move again." Josh warned, and then headed back to the safety of our camp.

"Chris, what do you want me to do?" He asked.

"I will come down and talk to them personally." I said, as I handed Nick the binoculars.

"Good luck." Ryan said.

"Ryan, with you up here, you better hope that I don't need luck in order to stop them. If you get me killed, I will haunt your sorry ass for the rest of your life." I called over my shoulder, as I headed down. Both of them laughed.

About 5 minutes later, I was walking out to meet them. They had all sat down, and now stood up as I approached. I had picked up a new Kevlar vest and a scope for the rifle.

"Now, what did you gentleman need?" I asked, keeping my finger on the trigger, just in case. I also wished I had grabbed a sidearm.

"We are trying to take the town of Rockport. It has about 2,500 people in it. Almost all of them hate the Animorphs with a passion. So, will you join us?" He asked, looking hopeful.

"No. Now, I must go back to my work. Good day." I said, and turned around and started to walk back to the camp.

"Could you give us anything?" He said, desperate.

I stopped, and walked back over to him. " I will give you one thing. Advice. What you are about to do is very foolish, and many of you will be killed for absolutely nothing." I looked him in the eye, and I could tell he felt to close to his wasteful cause to let it go.

"So you would want the same thing to happen just like that other town, Anderson?" He asked, rage growing in his voice. I recognized that name, but I couldn't place my name on it.

"And what happened?" I asked, curiosity in my voice.

"Over 300 people were slaughtered by the Animorphs. There even was a rumor that they were lead by a human. They killed innocent people, who were just standing there, trying to get out of the way." He said, shaking his head in disgust. The others also shook their heads, or spat out of disgust.

"Well, you are sadly mistaken. First off, they weren't unarmed, and they attacked first. Secondly, they sure as hell weren't innocent." I said, and I watched their faces contort into even more distaste for me.

"How do you know?" Their leader spat at me.

"Because he was there, as was I." I heard from behind me. It was Ahote. I saw the leader start to aim his weapon at Ahote, and I pointed my rifle right at his head.

"If you even think of pointing your weapon at him again, it will be the last fucking thing you do." I growled. He realized that I wasn't bluffing, and he lowered his weapon. "No, drop it, gently. No sudden moves, or you're gonna lose your head." He slowly put the Ak on the ground. I told Josh to move up and secure it.

"Is what he said true?" Asked the black kid. I could also see that Josh paid close attention to my answer.

"Yes, I am the one who led that squad. I was ordered to secure the mayor, and any other VIP's that were there. I did my job, and they rushed us. They even killed one of my team members." I said, and I tried to clear that thought out of my head. He was the second person I had lost.

They all just stared at me, speechless. "So now, I am going to ask you to leave. You will receive no support from us. And if you come back here, remember what I was able to do with little planning. Here, I had quite some time to prepare." I said, and turned and started to walk away. These kids weren't the only problem I had to deal with.

"Wait. One more question before we are forced to leave." I heard the kid call out.

I stopped, and then turned to face him. "What?"

"How did you do it? Kill all of those people?" He asked. Again, everyone waited for me to answer.

"Simple. It only takes about four muscles to pull a trigger." I said, and walked back to the camp. I heard Josh busting a gut laughing. I just smiled, and kept walking.

Once we were all safely inside the perimeter of the camp, I called back to them that he may now pick up his rifle and leave. He snatched up the rifle, and stalked back into the forest. I told Nick to keep an eye out to make sure they actually left.

Once I got back into camp, I walked over to Star.

"Good morning! Sorry to wake you up like this. This normally doesn't happen, and I hope that it wont again." I said. She just smiled, leaned forward and gave me a kiss.

"Relax, nobody was hurt!" She giggled. I smiled unwillingly, and the others laughed at my expression. I just shook my fist at them mockingly, and that made them laugh even harder. I also started to laugh.

Once we had all stopped laughing, I had a few things run through my mind. The first was Will and Brenden. I put that aside, and continued on to a few other smaller things. I wanted to see the bomb shelter, as well as I wanted to assess the camp to see what our next project would be.

Then I thought about the most important thing. I had always cared for my team, and we all had close bonds. What I worried about was that the group was getting too big. There were 9 of the original people left, as well as Ahote. Then there was Sean and Garret, who joined our group a little later. And finally there were our newest additions, Samson, Belle, Will, Brenden, and Star. That was now 17 people or animorphs. And speaking of Will and Brenden...

I walked over to the prisoner pen where they had been placed. Levi sat on guard right outside of the holding cell. He stood up as I walked over, and I motioned for him to open the gate to the pen. He did as he was told, and swung the door open. I waited for them to come out, but both refused to come out.

"Garret, grab Brenden." I said, and the huge bear nodded. He walked on, and grabbed Brenden by the scruff of the neck, and brought him out to me. He led him up to me, and I said, "Go put him with Justin, and have him guard him in the barracks. Then, report back to me. I am going to ask you to help me 'talk' to our little friend here..." I said, and he busted up in a malicious laughter. He walked away to go deliver Brenden, who hung there limply. I looked over to see Will shaking badly. I just smiled savagely.

Once Garret had returned, I walked into the pen, and he followed me. I also called Samson in, and he happily joined me. Ahote also walked in, and he handed me my Tomahawk. He then winked at me, and walked out.

I turned and addressed Will. "So, what ever are we going to do with you? I can't have to constantly worry about you running off." I said, as I swung the tomahawk around.

"Why can't we leave? Are you going to hold us like hostages?" He shouted, getting up. Garret growled, and Sam pawed at the ground. I stopped swinging the tomahawk.

"I have no problem with you leaving. But, you decided to try to steal one of my vehicles, and you were dragging poor Brenden along. You have been ruling over his every decision. Have you ever once asked what HE wants?" I shouted right back. He sat back down, in deep thought. Realization came across his face, and guilt quickly followed it.

"I never thought about asking him." He said in a whisper. I walked over and crouched right beside him.

"Now, I am going to go talk to him, without you there. While I am gone, I want you to think long and hard about what he is going through right now." I got up, and walked out of the pen. Sam and Garret were right behind me, and Levi closed the gate behind us.

"Alright, let's go deal with the other one." I said, and both of them chuckled and headed with me to go deal with Brenden.

Once we walked into the barracks, Brenden's head snapped to the door, and I could see fear in his eyes. I heard Sam snort behind me, and then Garret laugh. I turned to look at them, and gave a confused look.

"I can smell the fear on him from here. We wont even have to do anything, and he will spill his guts to us about anything we want to know." Sam said, and then chuckled. I did as well, and then I continued to walk over to Brenden.

"Alright Justin, we can take it from here. Tell everyone we will have today off." He threw me a salute, and walked out the door to tell the others about the good news.

I tried to look Brenden in the face, but he kept his head pointed to the floor.

"Pick your head up and look him in the eye, you sniveling coward." Garret said. I put my hand up to motion for them to be quiet. Garret started to protest, but I gave him a look of sympathy toward Brenden.

"Hey, can you look at me please?" I asked, in a calm and soft voice. He didn't react at first, and I heard Garret growl. Brenden slowly lifted his head, but still wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" I suggested. He slowly nodded, and I got up. I still had my rifle slung on my back, and both Samson and Garret had theirs. I made sure we were armed pretty heavily, because I wanted to go to my favorite tree.

As we left the perimeter of camp, I noticed that he became much more jumpy, and that I could even smell the fear that rolled off him in waves.

"You okay?" I asked. I understood that he was nervous about what was going to happen to him for trying to run.

"You aren't going to shoot me, right?" He asked, almost frantically. He turned around rapidly to look me in the eyes, and both Sam and Garret reacted simultaneously, grabbing him.

"Let go of him guys, he is not a threat as of yet. And no, Brenden, we are not going to shoot you. I just wanted to talk, and I wanted to go to my favorite place to relax." He visibly sagged with relief, and both Sam and Garret let go of him.

We reached the tree about 6 minutes later. I turned to Brenden. "This is where I first met Garret. Well, actually we kind of ran into each other. I offered him a warm bed, good food, and a simple lifestyle in return for some manual labor, help with protection, and friendship. I don't think that was too much to ask, was it?" I said, and turned to Garret.

"Nah. Well, the food helped..."He said, and all of us laughed.

I turned back to Brenden. "So will you stay with us? I have no problem with you leaving, but I can't have you stealing vehicles from us."

He looked me in the eye, and said, "I want to stay. I never wanted to leave, but Will said that you would use us as slaves. He has been lying to me the entire time. When we stopped you, he told me that he deserved all of the credit, and he took the rank. If it weren't for a few of the other soldiers, I would have never been promoted. Will was actually mad about me being promoted." He said.

"Will seems to be power hungry. I am going to ask him to leave. You again have an open invitation to leave or stay." He nodded his thanks, and we spent another half hour at the tree. Brenden apologized to Sam about being a jerk.

"Nah, you weren't too bad. But thank you for apologizing." Sam said. I mimicked him crying, and he tackled me. I guess I wasn't smart enough to remember the last time I messed with him. Brenden laughed, and as Sam and I were rolling around, I grabbed Brenden's ankle and dragged him into the pile. He clawed at the ground trying to get away. I just laughed, until I saw Garret looming over us. I yelled, but I was quickly smothered by him, and all I heard was him laughing.

By the time we finished our wrestling match, I had a bruised ribcage and a sore back. I was also covered in all sorts of animal hair.

"Are ALL of you guys shedding?" I asked, and they laughed again. I tried to brush off some of the hair, but it wasn't coming off.

When we got back to camp, I sent Brenden off to go complete some small chores around camp as punishment for following Will on his little scheme. He nodded, and went off.

I turned to the other two. "Alright, lets go clean up this mess once and for all." They both nodded their heads in determination, and all three of us walked off to the holding pen.

As we approached, Levi again opened the door, and Will stood up and walked over to the entrance. I pushed him back into the pen, and Sam and Garret followed me in. Sam motioned for Levi to close the door behind us.

Will looked at me confused, and asked, "What's up?"

"Will, I am going to ask you leave camp. It would be better for everyone." I said, in a voice that had no emotion.

"Why? What have I done?" He asked.

"I talked to Brenden alone. He was so worried about pleasing you that you could have told him to shoot himself, and he probably would have done it. But, when he was alone and realized that you wouldn't tell him the answers, he was happy!" I shouted, rage building up inside of my chest.

He started to speak, but I cut him off. "You are a smart kid. Why can't you figure out how much you are crushing him? Somebody else had to point out that you were doing this. Also, he told me about meeting with the General. You didn't even mention him to give him credit. And finally, you tried to use your rank to rule over others." I had finished, and waited for his answer.

He was quietly fuming, and finally spoke, "I am ready to leave this camp as soon as possible."

"Garret, Samson, grab him and haul him out of there." I said, and stalked out of the holding pen. Both of them grabbed Will, who struggled and tried to break free. Both of them just laughed at his effort. Levi open up the door, and we all walked out.

As we walked to the edge of camp, I saw everyone looking at us. They all followed us, curious of what was about to happen. I ignored them, and once we had gotten to the edge, I told Sam and Garret to toss Will outside. They happily agreed, and heaved him out of the camp.

As Will rolled down the dirt embankment, I unslung my rifle. I saw Nick start to walk over to stop me, but I winked at him to show him that I wasn't going to outright shoot him. He backed off, and the others looked at him with confusion plastering their faces.

Once Will had stopped rolling, and had picked himself up, I called own to him, "If you try to re-enter camp, you will be fired upon. Also, if you try to do anything else stupid, you will be fired upon. Do you understand?"

"Fuck you!" I heard. I just chuckled, and chambered a round. I saw him take off, and everyone laughed hysterically.

I called up to Overlord to make sure that he was truly leaving.

"Yea, he is going. But, I think I can see those five from earlier still out there. They seem to be waiting outside of the camp. I guess to keep an eye on us. I will alert you if they are up to no good. Out." I clicked off my radio, and walked back over to the barracks. I was downright tired.

I woke up and looked at my watch. It read to be about 3:00pm, and I decided to get up. I had to make sure that the camp hadn't gone to hell while I was gone.

I walked outside and took a deep breath. I really missed the mountain air while I was gone. I don't think I would ever be able to live in a city anymore because I had been spoiled!

As I walked around, everyone was enjoying the day off. They had set up a game of horseshoes, and Josh was teaching Sean how to play. Some of the others watched, including Sam. Also, we had a volleyball game going. We made the net from an old piece of camo netting.

"Ah, its alive!" I heard Ryan call. I just shook my head, and walked over to Star, who was being taught how to use an ATV by Nick.

"What do you think?" I asked, and she jumped in surprise from my voice. Nick laughed, and I chuckled. She just frowned at me, and swiped at me. I leaped back, just in the nick of time.

"It seems a little confusing." She said, after sticking her tongue out at me.

"Well, did Nick explain the basics?" I asked, and looked over at him. Both of them nodded. "Good, then I will take you out for a ride tomorrow, to give you a little hands on experience. We will test out all of the vehicles, and practice in field vehicle maintenance. Besides, I want to see how well Sean can repair a vehicle in the field." I said. Both of them looked happy at what I proposed, and Nick ran off to tell the others about what we were going to be doing tomorrow.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, once Nick was outside.

"I feel old, to be honest." I said, and she just smiled. My mood brightened with that smile.

She hopped off of the ATV, and walked over to me. She wrapped her arm around my waist, and looked me in the eyes. I smiled down at her, and she stood up on her hind paws to try and reach me. I couldn't help but laugh. She laughed as well, and I reached down and picked her up, throwing her over my shoulder. I quickly ran out of the garage, and took off throughout the camp. At one point I tripped, and we landed in a heap.

She landed about 2 feet away from me, and smiled wickedly back at me. She slowly got up, and grabbed a bucket full of water.

"Don't you even think about it!" I shouted, and hoped up quickly. She just kept slowly walking closer and closer to me, getting ready to throw the bucket of water at me. I took off in a dead sprint, headed for the spring nearby. She ran quickly after me.

As we kept running, I saw out of the corner of my eye, Belle running after both of us. Sam was close behind her. As I continued to run, Ahote, Nick, and Josh also took off after us. At this point I was laughing hysterically, and Star was beginning to catch up!

Once I was about 30 seconds from the spring, Star was right behind me. She lined up to dunk me with water. I quickly stopped, and grabbed her as she ran into me. I then threw her into the spring, which was about 10 feet deep. She let out a startled scream, and I stood there enjoying my victory, when Nick crashed into me, pushing me into the water. I sputtered, and sucked in water. I quickly swam to the surface, and I was just able to take a breath when I saw a huge black shadow loom over me. It was Sam, who was stark naked. Before I had a chance to yell at him, he crashed into the water, sending a tidal wave toward me.

As it hit me, I sputtered again, and before I was able to catch my breath again, the others crashed into the pool. Some were in underwear, others still in combat pants.

Once almost everyone in the camp was in the spring, I was finally able to catch my breath!

I turned to Nick, who was next to me. "What the hell was that for?" I asked, in mock surprise.

"Well, you pushed her in, and it just seemed like fun!" He said, and laughed. I swam toward him, and he kicked out of the way.

I looked around for Star, and I couldn't find her. I started to worry that she had gotten out and was going to be mad at me. Instead, I felt a hand or paw on my ankle, and felt myself being pulled down. I had just enough time to suck in a quick breath.

I looked around the crystal clear spring to see who had pulled me down. It was Star, and as she laughed, bubbles streamed from her mouth. I started laughing too, and then I choked and headed for the surface. Again, I came up sputtering. She came up next to me.

"Was that necessary?" I asked, and couldn't hold back my smile.

"Completely!" She said, and flashed a grin. I dunked her, and then kicked away. She came up, and searched for me. I hid behind Josh, and he just smiled. He swam aside, and Star's eyes locked on to me. I splashed Josh, and started swimming away. He grabbed me, and tried to hold me back. Star came closer and closer, until I finally got away from Josh. She was right on me, when I got an idea. I dived down, and circled under her. I resurfaced, and headed for the edge. She looked around, confused at first. She again spotted me, but by the time she actually began to swim the right way, I had gotten out of the spring.

I tried to shake myself dry, but that didn't work. I smiled, gave Star a wave, and then took off into the forest. She was only about two minutes behind me, so I ran as fast as I could. Once I had gotten to my tree, I took off my shirt and rubbed it up against the tree, and then I hid in nearby bushes. I was hoping that she was able to track me with her sense of smell, and then would be thrown off by the shirt.

She didn't keep me waiting long. She crept through the tree line, about 50 feet from my position. She walked over, looking at the tree, and then smelling it. She walked around it a few times, and then picked up my shirt. I heard her chuckle, and I waited for her to circle around so she would be within grabbing distance. She didn't disappoint.

"I will find you human..." She said, and growled slowly.

"Not before I find you!" I shouted, and grabbed her from behind. She yelped and snapped at me, biting me in the forearm. I immediately let go, clutching my now bleeding arm. She stood back quickly, a look of shock on her face.

"Jesus, if you didn't want to talk to me, all you had to do was say so!" I said, trying to break her of her shock by making her laugh.

"Oh God, are you okay?" She asked, frantically.

"I am fine! But, if you could, can you toss me my shirt? I am going to see if I can stop the bleeding." I asked, hoping she would respond. My arm was bleeding pretty badly, because she had bitten pretty deep. I was probably going to need stitches!

She ran over to grab my shirt, and then helped me wrap it around my arm. She then helped me get back to camp.

"Can you grab my radio, please?" She nodded, and walked off to find it. The bleeding had mostly stopped, and I was lying on a spare cot in the prisoner area. Blood did manage to get onto the cot, but I thought that it would add a good scare touch to anybody who stayed here.

She came back with fresh rags, which had been soaked in hot water, some drinking water for me, and my radio.

"Thank you. You even though of some things I didn't!" I said, still trying to make her laugh or smile.

"That is because I did not get bit by a feral dog." She said darkly, but still smiled in spite of the comment. I wrapped my good arm around her, and pulled her close to my bare chest.

"You are anything but feral, and you are more than just a dog. You deserve your name not because of the mark on your brow, but by the way you shine bright enough for any man or animal to ignore whatever is bothering them, and smile for the hope they see." I said, and then kissed her on the cheek.

"Yes, but what is bothering them does not usually leave blood stains on cots." She said, and smiled. I just laughed, and kissed her on the nose.

I then picked up the radio, and called out to Levi, who was the best on the team as a medical personnel. I told him I fell, and had split my arm open pretty bad, and that it was to be seen immediately.

"Gotcha, I will be there in 30 seconds. Out." He said. And he didn't lie by much.

"Alright, lets see what we got." He said, as he pulled up a stool. I unwrapped my arm, and he just stared at, examining it closely.

"These look like teeth marks, not falling. He said, as he examined closer. Star looked down at the floor, and shuffled her paws around.

"Yea, kinda funny how they resemble each other. Can you do anything about it?" I asked.

He stared at me, and then back down to my arm. "Look, I don't really know how to explain this." He looked around, and then rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Just spit it out." I said, and looked him in the eyes.

"We aren't going to be able to save the arm. I am sorry." He said, and looked down at the dirt floor.

The air in the room suddenly seemed to be gone.

And Finished! Chapter nine completed, ahead of schedule. I will go through my same routine, if there are many spelling mistakes, place contact me, comments make my world go round, hearing from you lads and lassies puts a smile on my face that wraps halfway round my head! Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed it!