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After Dr Teale's defection, facility alpha was rapidly shut down, left empty. Dr Teale know of two other facilities, named beta and gamma, but he did not know their location. In the highly connected place the world had become, that didn't last long. Protest camps appeared outside the formerly secret facilities, another outside the gates of the White House, where they took a leaf out of the playbook from other older protests and kept a morphic drum circle going 24/7.

The mainstream press was finally starting to take an interest. Too much was out in the open for denial to be fully effective now.

I packed a couple of bags and took a road trip. Over the mountains and out onto the plains. As evening fell I found myself parked beside a roadside monument. A tall pillar of granite, carved with names, and a brass plaque explaining that this was the former site of containment facility beta. I looked across the road and my imagination filled in the scene from a century and a half ago. I checked in to a hotel in the nearest town and started writing.

---

2040

The camp was bigger than Anna expected. As her driver pulled around the bend in the road half a mile away, the collection of RV's, tents and haphazard shacks was clearly visible spreading from the road into the flat rangeland that stretched all the way to the horizon. A tall barbed wire fence ran down the other side of the road and several hundred yards back from the fence a cluster of low, anonymous buildings were visible. Directly opposite the camp, a gateway was visible in the fence, protected by a couple of low concrete blockhouses and clustered around it within the wire a number of modular buildings laid out on a precise grid. They seemed to be living facilities for the large number of armed guards that were watching the camp from the gate. The guards didnt seem too happy with a van pulling up with a studio logo all over its side either.

Anna tried to ignore them as she got out of the van and pulled out her backpack.

"Thanks for the ride, Tony. I'll call in when I have enough footage."

"You sure about this?"

"How far has everyone else that tried to get real stories managed to go? If I don't live amongst them, these people will never trust me enough. Stop worrying, Tony. I'm 20, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself." She shut the door and walked up to the camp as the van pulled away. To the right and left were morphics, holding signs protesting at the existence of the facility across the road and exchanging hostile glances with the guards on the other side of the road. Suddenly her way was blocked by a large bear-morphic.

"Can I ask you where you're going?"

"Into the camp."

"Why?"

"I'm a journalist, a documentary maker. Anyone who will freely tell me their story, I want to tell it for them."

"Don't get me wrong, but most of the folks in here won't trust you. I doubt anyone will welcome you here."

"Then I can tell my own story of what I found here, can't I? I'm prepared to deal with not being trusted, Mr...?"

"Call me Aaron. We don't go too much for last names around here. Only the folks you really trust get that."

"OK, I'm Anna."

"Here." The bear passed her a sheet of paper. "Camp rules. We take 'em seriously. Break 'em even once and you get ejected from the camp."

Anna read through the rules as she walked further into the camp. As soon as she saw the rules regarding photography and videos she set her pack down and pulled out her belt rig. She settled it around her waist, put the earpiece in her right ear and snapped the control unit to her left forearm. She selected a single camera in local mode and it obediently rose from the storage compartment on her belt to hover a few inches to the right of her earpiece. Until it ran out of juice or she shut it down it would stay there, recording everything she saw. The rules stated that you could take as many images or videos as you liked, you just had to get the permission of everybody in them before you posted them anywhere. Since Anna planned to walk out here with a mostly finished documentary that she planned on showing to the camp and getting their collective approval before the studio saw it, she was within the rules, just.

First thing she needed was a place to set up her tent. Problem was, every place she asked if it was ok to set up, her prospective neighbors refused. As she wandered through the vast sprawling camp getting polite refusals every time she found a usable space it became obvious that she was going to end up right on the periphery, far enough away from the nearest camp-site to not be considered a "neighbor" under the camp rules. Dropping her pack in frustration, she sat on it and snarled up at the sky.

"Goddammit!"

"Honey, ya shouldn't take the Lord's name in vain." Looking around Anna saw a plump elderly lady in loose-fitting clothing. The long braid that stretched almost to her waist might have been blonde once, but now it was all a pale grey. Her hands and face showed weathering and obvious signs of age but the eyes in that face were kindly.

"How am I ever going to earn anyone's trust by living in the camp as they do if they already don't trust me enough to let me live IN the camp? Somewhere over there in the middle distance isn't going to cut it!"

"At the risk of sounding like a preacher twice in a row, girl, 'Ask and ye shall receive.' Come over here, Honey, tell me about yourself." The large lady patted the space next to her on the log she was using as a seat. "Come on, I don't bite. Nor does anyone else in here unless you enjoy it and want 'em to. I'm Gabrielle."

"Anna."

"I know, Honey. Aaron told me about you and I got curious. You know as well as I do you're going to have to tell your story a generous few times before anyone here spills theirs so why not start with me?" Sitting down, Anna sighed and started speaking.

"I look around this place and I dont see tents and RV's. I see people. People carrying pain with them, pain that others have inflicted on them. I see stories that cry out to be heard, even though each is locked in one person's heart by that pain. It's what I started in this profession to do, to tell those stories for the people who can't tell them themselves. I've been begging my boss for months to come out here, not like every other reporter that hung around on the edges and looked in at these people like some freak-show. To live here, be part of it and tell THAT story as well."

"Why?"

"Because if even half of what some folks say is happening across the road is true, it's wrong and you people are the good guys here."

"Honey, those folks over there aint bad people, they just scared. Makes 'em do bad things without ever seeing how wrong they are going. We just gotta open their eyes some."

"Not sure I can see it that way."

"I got no choice. Maybe I'll tell you why someday."

"No fair! I told you about me."

"Yeah and I'm about to pay you back. Not with my story, yet, but with the chance to get all of them. Stop looking for a place to set up your tent. Accept my invitation to share mine and meet my screwed up damaged neighbors. I've enough space for four in that tent, bought it while Eric was still alive and we had two kids living at home. The two of us should fit without getting on each others nerves."

"Gabrielle, I... "

"Hush it, Honey. Just grab the pack and let me show you where to stash it. It's getting late and supper is a communal thing around our fire."

---

"Geez, Gabby, Who's your latest stray?"

"Steven, I've told you my feelings on blasphemy. Dial it back, please. This is Anna, she wants to live with us and make a documentary. I offered her my spare place because she feels like one of us. She reminds me of me when I was her age. Got a problem with that?"

"Just don't let her shove that... " he pointed at Anna's microcam hovering over her shoulder "in Rayne's face all the time, ok? Any gratuitous tit-shots while she's nursing and I'll smash it myself, ok?"

"Son, you got some anger issues to deal with. Maybe we should..." Anna stepped in front of Gabrielle , cutting her off.

"Steven, please. I will keep one on me most of the time, yes. I'll also have a few in autonomous mode from time to time or when I'm sleeping. That's what I do and it's why I'm here, to tell it like it really is with no screwy edits or weird viewpoints. If you're in the camp when I'm finished, you'll see it. All of you will. If even one of you objects I'll fix it before the studio gets it. This needs to be real, Steven. Real means all the time because I have no idea when I'm going to see or hear THE image or sound that will tell your story the way it truly is."

"I don't have a story, babe. But if Rayne ever tells you hers and you fuck it up I'm hunting you down. Get me?"

"I wont fuck it up, Steven. I promise."

"Steve. Only Gabby calls me Steven. What you bringing to the fire tonight?"

"I got a small cooler full of stuff I'm willing to share, but I'm thinking everything's better with bacon."

"What ya think, Gabby? We need bacon for your risotto recipe."

"Guess I'm cooking. Honey, you dish that bacon and you'll think you died and went to heaven when I'm done."

---

Sat around the fire was a motley crew, six figures and only two of them human. Gabrielle and Anna sat together, finishing off the last of their bowls of risotto. The rest of the crew was a fox, a bunny and a ferret. The last figure was the baby bunny suckling at mom's breast, couldn't have been more than six months old. "OK" Gabrielle broke the silence. "Introduction time. I'm Gabrielle, I'm 68 years old and I'm from Denver, I used to be an elementary school teacher. Anna, you go next and you get to pick the one that follows you."

"I'm Anna, I'm 20 years old, I'm from Boston and a journalist. Since I know his name let's hear Steve next." The wiry fox looked up and nodded.

"As you know, I'm Steve. I'm 19 and for want of a better description you can call me an unemployed farmer." He points across the fire at the ferret. "You're up next, Spence."

"I'm Spencer." He said nothing more and returned to staring into the fire.

"Spencer doesn't talk much." Gabrielle explained, "I know some of the reasons why and they are heavy enough it's understandable that he needs his space."

Anna just nodded and looked over at the rabbit.

"Guess that leaves us, right? I'm Rayne, I'm 16 and this hungry little thing is Amber. I'm from Charlotte, but Amber was born here in the camp."

They sat around the fire making small-talk as the evening darkened. About sunset, Rayne and Steve disappeared into their tent to put Amber to bed for the night. They returned a few minutes later and snuggled in each others arms by the fire, rejoining the conversation.

"Mind if we join you?" The deep voice from the shadows beyond the firelight sounded vaguely familiar to Anna, although she couldn't see the speaker. Gabrielle could, and she smiled.

"Aaron, Daniel. Please do, there's plenty of room. Daniel, you haven't met Anna yet, have you? She just joined us today." The big bear sat next to Gabrielle and hugged her, before sitting up and stretching his paws to the fire. His companion walked around and held out a paw to Anna. He was a fox, taller and considerably more bulky than Steve. He was wearing baggy BDU pants and army boots but since he wore no shirt, Anna was able to see that his extra bulk was all muscle. Anna stood up and reached out to take his paw.

"Hi there."

"Hi back at ya. I'm Daniel. Aaron told me about your project and I'm curious. It's been tried before, you know. The morphic community wasn't too impressed with previous results."

"I know. I'm not morphic or a shifter and I thought they sucked too. You don't tell peoples stories by turning them into a freak show."

"First cultural point of reference for you, by the way, within the community we just accept people in whichever shape they happen to be. You don't volunteer whether you're static or a shifter unless you need to. It's ok to find out somebody elses state in the normal course of things but you don't ever ask."

"Too close in the personal space?"

"Exactly. Take everyone you meet here at face value as people, whatever they look like, and you'll do fine. Do I have it right that your plan is to live here, be one of us for as long as it takes to complete your project?"

"Yeah."

"Including participating in the protest? That is what we're all here for, after all."

"I'd have to think about that. The studio would tell me that was getting too closely involved for proper journalism, but they aren't here. At the same time, that.. " she gestured in the direction of the road and the facility beyond it "is here and shouldn't be."

"No argument from me on that one. If you don't mind, I'll come find you tomorrow. Walk you around the camp some, introduce you to a few people." He smiled and Anna suddenly felt nervous. When she replied, her voice was quiet.

"I'd like that, yes."

"I think I'll enjoy your company as well, Anna. See you in the morning!"

After the fox left, Anna stared into the fire for a few moments, looking up when Aaron chuckled. "I'd say your project just got lucky twice over."

"Why?"

"You couldn't pick two better people to smooth the way for you. Gabby, here, everybody in the camp loves her and trusts her. If she's taken you in that's going to be good for getting you accepted here. Daniel, well, he's different. He's 'old family' and if he wants to tell you what that means someday, he will. The way folks love Gabby, they respect him."

Rayne chimed in from the far side of the fire. "And he's gorgeous too!" Steve nudged her.

"Hey, now! I know you think foxes are cute but you got one already."

"Yeah. I got my hero to keep me safe." He blushed as she leaned over to kiss him and the couple snuggled closer together. "Since I'm spoken for, maybe he can sweep Anna off her feet instead!" Everyone except Spencer and Anna laughed. Spencer remained silent, as he usually did. Anna didn't laugh, she was looking down to hide her blush, because her initial reaction had been "I wouldn't mind that at all."

"It's getting late and I think I need to stretch out these old bones. C'mon, Anna, let's get your bed set up so I can sack out." As they walked over to Gabrielle's tent, Anna looked over her shoulder. Rayne and Steve were gently making out by the fire, Spencer still sat staring into it. Aaron getting to his feet and wandering off into the darkness.

---

Dawn came early to the plains. Anna and Gabrielle roused almost at the same time, Anna digging in her pack for a change of clothes. Gabrielle wrapped a fluffy housecout around herself and looked out the tent flap towards the fireplace.

"Oh dear.. " Anna looked out past her and saw Spencer, still sitting where he had been last night. Staring fixedly into the low embers that were all that was left of the fire. "Anna, Honey? Could you blow some life into that fire and get the coffee pot going for me? I was going to show you the shower arrangements here, but I have to take care of Spencer this morning. I'll ask Rayne to take care of that for you once they get up."

"Is he OK?"

"No, Honey, he's not. You remember what you said about stories that cant be told because the wall of pain keeps them silent? Spencer's story broke him. Broke him so bad and so deep I'm not sure he has a way past it. He's hurting like you wouldn't believe, Anna."

Anna knelt by the fire, feeding kindling to the embers and blowing some heat back into them while the coffee pot sat slightly to one side in a small pile of the hottest embers left from last night. Gabrielle sat next to Spencer, like she'd be hugging him if there wasn't something holding her back, talking too quietly to hear. Almost simultaneously, Spencer rose and walked stiffly into his tent and the faint sounds of a fussy baby came from Steve and Rayne's tent. Amber was awake and that guaranteed her mom soon would be too. The wind gusted and brought the scents of other camp fires, along with the pungency of wild sage. Looking over at the coffee pot, Anna realized it was ready and called to Gabrielle.

"Coffee's up!"

Gabrielle walked over, carrying a pot that she placed on the resurgent fire. "Do you like cinnamon in your oatmeal?"

"Oh yeah, and nutmeg too."

"You're in luck for breakfast this morning then. Cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg. Of the flavors we got, it's Rayne's favorite too. Steve don't like oatmeal too much so he don't care about the flavoring and Spencer usually just has coffee for breakfast when he doesn't skip it altogether."

"There's some bacon left. Add butter and bread I think I can make a guy who doesnt like oatmeal take an interest in breakfast. Got to use up all the bacon in the next couple of days anyway, it wont keep much longer after the ice packs in the cooler give out. Can you lend me a skillet?"

"What you making?"

"My brothers and I used to call it 'camp breakfast' - you fry up the bacon, pull it to the side of the skillet away from the heat to finish cooking slow, then you drop a slice of bread, buttered on both sides, into the bacon fat on the hot side of the skillet. Brown the bread on both sides in the bacon fat and butter then you make a sandwich with a slice of bread, a layer of bacon, the slice of bread you fried and another layer of bacon before you top it off with another slice of bread."

"You got enough bacon left to make a few of those, Honey? Because I'm drooling here and I'm thinking that one of those after the oatmeal would set the day up fine."

"Today and tomorrow, Gabrielle, so long as none of what's left gets claimed to season supper."

"Nah, it's Rayne's turn to cook tonight and she usually cooks vegetarian, but she makes it taste so good the carnivore boys don't mind. Get cooking, girl. There's a big skillet in the tent behind the cooler boxes. Feed 'em like that and they'll love ya forever." Anna laughed as she ran to grab the skillet.

True to Gabrielle's predictions, breakfast was a huge success. Steve ignored the oatmeal and pounced on the bacon and fried bread sandwich like a feral wolf. Rayne stuck to the oatmeal but the sandwich was enough to even get a smile out of Spencer. Amber, of course, had already got her breakfast direct from mom. Leaning back against one of the logs, Steve looked over at Gabrielle.

"Gabby, you can bring in all the strays you want as long as they are carrying plenty of bacon!"

Anna blushed, and looked over at Rayne who was struggling to juggle a second bowl of oatmeal and an active baby. "Rayne? Can I hold her?"

"Sure you can, here.. Hope you don't mind getting your tits mauled. She's all fed but she does like to grab 'em. She pulls hair too." Anna settled Amber in her arms, instinctively rocking slightly to settle the baby.

"She's beautiful, Rayne."

"Yeah, she is. That's the other reason I'm here. For her and for her children."

"Rayne?" Gabrielle interrupted "After we're done with breakfast can you show Anna the showers? I was going to take her myself but I need to stay with Spencer. I'll watch Amber for you and Steve while you're gone."

"Sure!" Rayne giggled. "We should make her look good for her date with Daniel this morning!"

"Rayne!"

"Oh, lighten up, Anna. You get to spend the morning with one of the hottest bachelors in the camp, you may as well enjoy it as well as working." Both girls laughed but Anna felt an uncomfortable tighness in her body as she thought of the fox that had visited their campfire the previous night as a "hot bachelor."

---

The showers were interesting to say the least. A number of canvas walls surrounded what looked like a steampunk artists vision of a distillery, with fires burning beneath it.

"Yeah, we get to take hot showers. The fire heats the bottom tank and also powers the heat engine that pumps hot water up into the high one. After that it's just gravity. Come on in, this is the ladies side."

Stripping off her clothes, Anna glanced over at Rayne.

"Oh my god, Rayne! What happened to you?" Barely healed scars slashed across Rayne's ribs and belly, the livid scars not concealed by fur, one particularly bad one raking across the upper slope of her left breast, barely missing the nipple.

"You wanna hear it, I'll tell you. Maybe make it one of those stories you tell. We'll sit in Gabby's tent tonight and do that if you want."

"No, Rayne. Not if I want. Only if you want."

"Somebody gotta say it, Anna. I got a kid now, need to think about her future and not just mine. For her future, I'll tell you all of it. I don't really have one any more." The bunny started to turn away but Anna, on an impulse, grabbed her and gathered the younger woman into her arms.

"Rayne, you do have a future. You have a man that loves you, you have a child that needs you. You have a future. You have so much!" Rayne sagged in her arms, crying on her shoulder.

"Gabby's tent. Tonight."

"Rayne.. I'll be there. Right after you put Amber to bed for the night, I'll be there."

---

When Rayne and Anna arrived back at the little cluster of tents, Daniel was already there, looking exactly as he had the previous night except that he was wearing a tshirt that might once have displayed a band name or a logo but was now pretty much a uniformly faded black. Anna caught herself admiring him as he stood there quietly chatting to Gabrielle and shook her head. _"Girl, get your mind in the game! You don't want to be crushing all over one of the few people here who can get you 'inside' well enough to do this thing right. That kind of complication would be stupid." _ She hurried into the tent and emerged with her microcam belt rig already activated and recording, ready for the day.

"Good morning, Daniel"

"Good morning, Anna." He smiled. "I'm thinking if we just spend a while walking and talking, and I'll introduce you to anyone we meet who I think might be willing to talk to you in depth later?"

"However you want to do it, Daniel. I'm the stranger here and I'll go along with anything you want."

"Anything?" He grinned at her. "Now that's a promise a pretty lady shouldn't be making on first acquaintance."

Anna blushed. "Oh my God, is he actually flirting with me?" She looked away and then quickly back to him. "You know what I meant. Besides, I'm sure there are prettier women in this camp than me."

"I wouldn't dream of being so rude as to compare." He waved a paw towards the camp in general. "Shall we?"

Walking out into the camp, Daniel started the conversation.

"So, Anna, how much do you actually know about the morphic community?"

"Not much more than is general knowledge, to be honest. Morphic people tend to be a pretty tight community. I know you face discrimination and fear, that it's hard for any morphic to get a decent job, unless it's on a reservation somewhere and there's way more of you than there are jobs abailable there."

"Yeah, most of us would choose to live on a reservation if we could. We've been welcomed there and there's a lot of new businesses and corporate offices established there where morphics are not discriminated against. What we can't do, and won't ever, is smother the traditions of the people who welcomed us. We've already more than doubled the population of every reservation in the United States and Canada and more of us flooding in would be abusing the hospitality we were shown."

"How do you choose who gets in?"

"Born there or got there first, mostly. Some of us have other safe places to go, but not many, so the rest try and make do as best they can. They stay living in morphic majority areas, find work within those communities if they can."

"You're talking about ghettos. You don't say the word, but it's what you're describing."

"We're hardly the first population group to find ourselves limited to economically disadvantaged inner city areas. It passed for all the others and in time it will pass for us."

"This camp is a lot bigger than I expected."

"It just keeps growing. At the start when it was just protesters regularly showing up, they'd send in the riot squad to run us off. We got lucky here, though. The guy who owns the land on the other side of the highway doesn't like morphics much but he likes the federal government even less. We keep to ourselves and don't let the camp spill out onto his land further than a certain distance from the highway edge and we get to be the 'enemy of his enemy' rather than a thorn in his side. Ah, hold on - looks like I need to deal with something."

It rapidly became obvious that Daniel was a person of some importance in the camp. People kept telling him about problems, asking him to mediate disputes. "They treat him like a leader, like a commander or something like that. Wait, Aaron said he was 'old families' whatever that means.. They are treating him like he's some kind of nobleman, for heavens sake!"

"You're rather in demand, Daniel, thank you for taking so much time with my project."

"I'd be doing much the same thing on my own, walking around and talking to people. I said last night that I thought I'd enjoy your company and I was right. Besides, you're getting a pretty good view of the community at work."

"I'm enjoying your company too, Daniel." "Shit, why did I say that? This is not what I'm here for. But it's true." "Everybody seems to defer to you, it's like they see you as some kind of prince or something."

"I'd really rather they didn't, but if they do show me that level of respect it places an obligation on me to listen and act, doesn't it? If they expect me to sort out their problems I have to try."

"But why do they?"

"It's a long story and one I probably don't have time to tell in detail in what's left of the day. I'll give you the full version tomorrow if you want. The short version is that shifters and morphics have been around as long as static humans have, just very few of us, in isolated communities. My parents were among the ones who rebelled and broke that isolation."

"How?"

"That's part of tomorrow's long version."

They'd been walking around the camp most of the day and Anna's feet were tired as they walked back to Gabrielle's camp-site. Rayne was cooking something that smelled wonderful while Gabrielle sat with Amber in her arms. Spencer was sitting in his usual spot, working on something in his sketchbook.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Anna. Have a good evening."

"OK." Without thinking she reached out and hugged him. After a moment's surprise, he hugged back, briefly, before walking off, Anna standing there looking at his departing back. "Oh shit, girl, you ARE falling for him. Aren't you too old to go for the handsome prince cliche?"

---

After supper that evening, Anna quietly walked into the tent, leaving the others around the fire. She unpacked what she'd need, thankful that the technology had improved so much that she didn't need a full crew for a multi-camera shoot any more. Her belt rig alone held four cameras and her laptop could control them with more precision than the remote she carried with her all the time. Setting up as fast as she can, she's only just finished when she hears a soft footstep outside the tent.

"Anna?"

"Come on in, Rayne. just sit down and make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm good. How do you want to do this?"

"It's not up to me, it's up to you. I can stay quiet or ask stuff, just talk to me and forget about the cameras. One question though, do you want me to blur out your face or disguise your voice or anything like that?"

"I'm not sure.. I didn't think about that but I don't think so... "

"Well if you change your mind at any time let me know. It's pretty easy to go back and add that later" The cameras were already live, their footage flowing smoothly onto the laptop along with an independent audio track being recorded by Anna's headset. "You said you had a story to tell, just tell it however you want to...."

Rayne's story:

I didn't have early life as hard as most morphics. Dad was long gone but Mom was making decent money. I guess you know what that means. Along with the ones who hate us there's plenty of folks for whom a morphic is a fetish come to life. With a kid to support, Mom didn't have much choice. She wasn't that well educated herself and there were few enough places that would employ a morphic anyway as anything more than a janitor so Mom worked as an exotic dancer. She was luckier than most and the place she worked didn't expect her to give any "extras" to the clients. She saved almost all she could to send me to a morphic-friendly school. I was happy there, I had friends and teachers who didn't treat me like a freak or a sex object or both. I even had managed to save enough to buy myself an old car.

That sex thing was the reason I was so glad to be away at that school. I'd developed early, I had curves by the time I was nine and by by the time I was thirteen I'd probably got the biggest tits in the school. Rabbit girl with huge boobs, what a cliche. Don't get me wrong, I still got the looks from guys, and some girls too, but they were the same way any teenager looked at a well-endowed girl, not the poisonous ones I got when I went home for a weekend or in school breaks. I had the same plans every teen had, finish school, go to college, find a job and have a normal life - The kind of thing Mom never had, and the reason she was saving every penny she could so that I had a chance at it.

One Friday night, just after my fifteenth birthday, I was walking back to my dorm room from class and a couple of guys just grab me, stick a bag over my head and shove me into a van. There's a lot more guys in there, I can hear at least five talking as they drive off. There's three sitting on me, tieing my wrists and ankles together. I can't see but I get in a few good kicks. Bunny legs are pretty powerful and it really pissed one of them off. Somebody grabbed the bag over my head and slammed it against the floor of the van until I went limp. Then they hogtied me so I couldn't kick any more.

They carried me out of the van into a building, dumped me on the floor and started cutting my clothes off. I tried to fight but then they started cutting me, telling me that the only way I'd live through the night was to "be a good fuckbunny." There were eight of them and I dont know how many hours they had me, over and over again. When they pulled off the bag on my head to get at my mouth, I recognized two of them. They were both seniors at my school.

One of them yelled "Somebody's coming, we have to go!" and as soon as they were all off me I got up and tried to run. The one with the knife slashed at me, got me right across the boob, but then he ran with the rest of them. I just folded up with the pain, waiting for whoever they said was coming to find me, but nobody did. I passed out on the floor. They were planning on killing me all along and they damn near did.

I woke up late on Saturday. My fur was stuck to the floor with dried blood and cum and I ripped a fair bit out getting loose. There were like a dozen missed calls and at least twice that in unread texts from my boyfriend and roommate on my phone. I left it there, I didn't want to talk to anyone. There was an old dust-sheet in the corner of the room, so I wrapped it around myself and walked out. I'd been in the old althletics building at my school, across the field from the new one they were currently using. Kinda ironic actually, because I was a two minute walk through the woods from my dorm room. Three minutes later I was in the thankfully empty kitchen area of the dorm. I stole the first aid kit from the cabinet on the wall and went back to my room for a shower and to try and patch myself up.

After that, I threw a load of my gear in some bags and I ran. That school had been my one safe place, and they'd taken it away, made it not safe any more, worse than almost anywhere else. I just got into my beaten up old car and drove, not going any place but away. Did that for a couple of weeks, sleeping in the car, using up the last of the supplies in the first aid kit I'd stolen from the dorm until I started to heal some. I was just about ready to start heading for home when I started throwing up in the mornings. I couldn't face Mom, not now. Not after she'd done so much to make sure that this wasn't how I'd end up. So I turned the car around and went the other way instead. Living out of my car, spreading my legs in truck stops for some extra money until I got so big that most of 'em didn't want me. It wasn't as if any of 'em could get me more knocked up than I already was, after all.

After my car died, Steve found me walking down the highway with whatever I could carry in one bag and my belly sticking out two feet. He took me back to my car, picked up the rest of my stuff and got me to a doctor in the next town. When he moved on to come here, I stuck with him, the same way he stuck by me. Amber was born a month after we got here and Steve is the only father she'll ever know. He saved us both and I love him with all my heart. From here, wherever he goes, I go.

Outside the tent by the camp fire Steve was fidgeting and eventually he got to his feet and took two steps towards the tent, stopping when Gabrielle held up her hand.

"Steve, that wouldn't be a good move. Let me." The elderly woman hauled herself to her feet and slowly, more quietly than you'd expect given how overweight she was, walked over and looked through the flap of the tent. She turned around and walked back to the camp fire, equally quietly. "She's good, Steve, they are both good. She'll be a little fragile when she comes out so just do what you do best and keep her safe tonight, ok? This was something she needed to do and now she's just recovering from doing it and she'll be out soon."

Steve glowered at her, but he did sit down. Gabrielle took her seat again, thinking about her vision of Anna and Rayne with their arms around each other, quietly crying on each others shoulders.

A few minutes later Rayne came out of the tent and went straight to Steve, settling beside him and snuggling into his arms. She looked up and he could see her face was still streaked and the fur matted by tears, but her eyes were bright as she said "Steve, I love you so much..." He held her tight and kissed her softly as they both looked into the fire. Whatever they saw in the leaping flames they kept to themselves.

A few minutes later, Anna walked out as well. Before she even made it to the fire, Spencer surprised everyone by standing up and going to meet her.

"Anna, I want you to have this." He fumbled with a sketchbook in his hands, ripping out a single page and handing it to Anna.

Anna looked at it and gasped. On that page was an exquisitely beautiful pencil drawing of her, holding Amber in her arms and smiling down at the baby as they sat beside the fire that morning. "Oh, Spencer, it's beautiful... Thank you."

"One day, you'll hold your own child like that. You'll be a beautiful mom, Anna." He walked away and sat down in his usual place by the fire, ignoring everyone around him. Anna carefully packed the sketch in her pack, fetched her laptop and worked on editing what she'd recorded that day.

---

The morning woke Anna from a dream about a fox with golden eyes. She lay there with her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling as the dream faded.She was just a little too self-conscious to give herself any relief with Gabrielle still in the tent so she was hoping that Gabrielle would get up and out of the tent quickly enough that she could plausibly have a "slow morning" and make use of the time but it appeared luck was not with her. She forced the feelings aside and set about beginning her day. She did so with a little more enthusiasm as she reminded herself that she'd be spending most of the day with the fox that had made her sleep so restless.

Breakfast was pretty much a repeat of the previous day, except this time she found herself sitting next to Spencer, who was again lost in his own world, sketching as he absent-mindedly sipped at his coffee. Spencer was a skilled artist and there were drawings of everybody in this little group, along with others she recognized from the camp. Five figures recurred throughout the book, one of them appearing on almost every page A tall well-muscled mink male and a slender ferret female, obviously a couple because they were often drawn together, a human couple and a young man in his late teens. As Anna watched, Spencer flipped the page and began another sketch of this last figure, this one a beautifully-drawn nude. Anna felt like she was intruding so she looked away and concentrated on her breakfast.

True to his word, Daniel returned around mid-morning and once again they were walking and talking through the camp. After a few minutes of talking about Anna's project, however, Daniel looked at her and surprised her with a change of subject.

"You know, if I'm going to tell you the long version of my story this afternoon, you could spend a little of this morning telling me more about yourself."

"I'm boring. Just an ordinary kid from an ordinary town."

"I don't find you boring at all. What made you pick journalism for a career?" Anna blushed a little before answering.

"Well, I didn't, not exactly, it's more like the career picked me. I was originally thinking of going into theater or the movie industry, but I found out I liked telling the true stories better. There's a different feeling when you're working with real people than you get when it's all actors who are wearing whatever mask the director gives them."

"Everyone wears masks, Anna. Even you, or me."

"I know that, but those masks are ours."

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"Two brothers. Mark, the older one, he's in the Air Force. Stewart, the baby of the family, is in college and plans on being an engineer. Mom's a doctor and Dad's a politician."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he's actually the reason I don't work out of my home town. I don't want people thinking I'm succeeding because of "Representative Daddy" rather than doing it on my own."

Daniel theatrically looked around and sniffed the air "Don't think there's any congresscritters around here, so you seem to be accomplishing that on this project." Anna just giggled.

"There's been only once I know about that my work has benefited from my family connection. About a year ago I did an investigative piece on city council corruption. Folks were leaning on me a bit to drop it and not publish, but they backed off when they found out who my father was."

"So you know a bit about why I don't like folks in the community treating me like I'm some kind of royalty, then."

"I guess."

"You see, I told you so. Not boring at all" That garnered another, deeper blush. "Can I treat you to lunch and then I'll tell my story?"

"I'll need to grab my computer, I can do more with the microcams using that than I can with this remote."

"I know, my fathers company designed them. Don't look too surprised. Outside the reservations we may be a disadvantaged community, but we're a very tech-heavy bunch too and there's a lot of tech companies with new offices there. The story I'm going to tell you this afternoon will explain why. Your camp site is on the way to mine, we'll stop by to grab your laptop and then, Anna, I believe you have a lunch date."

"We have a lunch date? Does he mean a 'lunch date' or a 'date' that just happens to be over lunch?" "Daniel, that sounds suspiciously like you're asking me out."

"Actually, I rather think I am but if that makes you uncomfortable we can skip lunch at my place and just grab one of Ted's pies, because that's on the way too."

Anna's mind whirled for a moment before she found her voice and was able to quietly reply "It doesn't make me uncomfortable at all."

Walking into the camp site, Anna rushed into the tent to grab her laptop. As she lifted it she stood there and tried to get her thoughts in order. "I have a date with one of the most gorgeous men I've ever met, and he's morphic. Dad would have a fit and I don't care." Walking out into the sunlight she saw Rayne sitting there feeding Amber and decided a little payback was in order. She looked straight at Rayne as she spoke.

"Daniel, If it really is a date, maybe we should treat it as one." As Rayne's mouth dropped open in surprise she turned to Daniel and took his paw in her hand. Daniel smiled at her and pulled her a little closer, draping his arm around her shoulders as they walked off.

As they left, Gabrielle looked over at Rayne. "Close your mouth, Honey, before you catch a fly. She talks in her sleep so I know who she was dreaming about last night and I've been watching him get steadily more and more into her the last two days. Besides that, girl, wasn't him sweeping her off her feet your idea in the first place?"

"Gabby, I was joking!"

"Yep, and they look like they aint. I got five bucks here says she'll be moving her gear out of my tent in less than a week."

---

Anna looked around the interior of Daniel's RV as he rummaged in the small kitchenette area, grabbing supplies out of the refrigerator.

"Anna, can you pass me a couple of bowls from the cabinet next to you?"

"Sure!" She watched as he quickly grilled a couple of pieces of chicken and while they were cooking shredded some salad greens into the bowls and threw in a handful of croutons. The sliced chicken went in next then he vigorously shook a jar of dressing and poured some into each bowl and grated some cheese on top of each. He was done in ten minutes.

"This would go best with a crisp white wine, but I neglected to bring any with me."

"Seriously Daniel? Chicken ceasar salad as camp food?"

"Well, I made a fresh batch of the dressing and more croutons last night, and thats the only time consuming part. Believe it or not, Anna, my last job was as a chef. Culinary school and all."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I'd kinda like to open my own place one day." He gestured to the table, took her arm and gently guided her into her seat. They chatted about friends and family over lunch, the documentary project forgotten by mutual agreement.

After they'd finished eating a few minutes went by then Anna stood up and said "I suppose I'd better get set up." as Daniel also rose from his seat.

"Anna, that's not how first dates are supposed to end." He slowly pulled her into his arms. "This is." Then he kissed her. Her arms went around him and she held on, making it last. When they came up for air, he looked down into her eyes. "Now you can get set up while I take care of the dishes."

Anna suddenly giggled.

"What's funny?"

"I just realized I didn't turn off the rig. That's the first time I ever recorded a date live, and I am pretty sure thats the only time I've caught a first kiss on video. That's not going in the documentary, but I'm saving it for me!"

Daniel's story:

I told you yesterday that there had been morphics and shifters around as long as static humans, just not many of us. We're the source of all the old werewolf tales although we were never the ravening monsters of those legends. That was the product of the same fear that drives what we're going through now. You've been around the camp long enough that you've likely heard the phrase "old families"- What it means is the isolated family groups of shifters that have been quietly keeping themselves to themselves for centuries, only the shifters ever interacting with the outside world and then only in human shape.

The family had its rules, to keep everyone safe. As part of their coming of age, every child born static morphic was made a shifter, every child born static human was given the option and about half took it. Every shifter was taught the meditation of seeking in that same rite of passage, taught how they could make their lover into a shifter if they were not already. It meant very few children actually were born static into those families.

The crazy thing was, we all knew there were others out there, we just weren't in contact. The internet changed all that. Each group got in touch with others, one way or another. The families realized two things. First, how many of us there were and second, how few. We were isolated, we were paranoid, the elders of each family were terrified that they'd be discovered and wiped out thanks to another families indiscretion. A number of the younger adults in each family, particularly the young couples with children, came up with a radical idea to break the isolation. They started deliberately seeking out places where they'd find other young adults who would be open to the idea of becoming shifters. They picked out furry conventions, fantasy conventions, pagan pride events - things like that. Places where not only could they find folks who would love to become shifters but who wouldn't balk at the means by which it was accomplished. Some of almost all of the old families were in on it, without the sanction of their elders. It was all set up over the net. As a side effect of the kinds of places they targeted, we had a rather unusual high proportion of geeks, nerds and techies in the new shifter population.

The problem they faced was that performing the meditation of seeking is one thing, teaching it is another. They were pretty much carpet-bombing the convention scene, eventually. Sooner or later one thing was bound to happen. Shifter women outside the old families would get knocked up while shifted. They'd bear morphic children and if their partner wasn't also a shifter those children would be born static, with nobody available to perform the meditation of seeking allowing them to hide in plain sight among a human population. Even if their partner was a shifter, the ability doesn't manifest until puberty. The number of shifters in the world hit critical mass pretty quickly and we started seeing morphic children born all over the world. The elders of the old families called these young couples renegades. For almost a decade they refused to teach the meditation of seeking to their children. My grandmother was one of the first to come around, because all of her children were among the renegades.

Eventually a reconciliation was reached, the former renegades had banded together into familial groups distinct from the original old families, which still exist. They called themselves the Clans instead. You've probably heard me described as "old families" but I'm not. I'm Clan. Both of my parents were among the first wave of renegades recruiting new shifters at conventions. The wider morphic community tends to call us all "old families" but neither Clan nor Old Family would fail to make the distinction.

It was the Clans that first became aware of shifters being "disappeared" into facilities like this one. We formed an informal network, our own underground railroad, to help shifters who were inadvertantly outed to disappear and make new identities elsewhere. It was all we could do until the government forcibly recruited Dr Teale. They didn't know he had a half-sister who was a shifter. Suddenly, thanks to Harry Teale's eidetic memory we had all the info we could have asked for. Nobody believed us. We were crackpot conspiracy theorists. In fact the only ones who did take us seriously WERE the conspiracy nuts. You can't keep something this big totally black forever though. Now that we've got protest camps springing up and actually lasting, year in and year out, we're starting to get noticed, people are starting to wonder just how much fire is underneath all the smoke we're raising.

What scares me most is that we're still a relatively tiny movement compared to the force the government could drop on us, and by now we're starting to annoy them. There are parallels in every protest movement through history. I'm scared that our Greensboro or our Kent State is coming, that it will land without warning and more of our people will die.

Shutting off the camera systems, Anna reached out and took Daniel's paw. "I hope it never happens, but if it has to then I hope that there's somebody like me right there with a state of the art microcam rig to show it to the world. You don't win these things when it's only you that's appalled by what's happening. You win it when everyone is."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Anna, but I already like you way too much to be comfortable with you as a war correspondent or in the middle of this if it all does go sideways."

The two had their arms around each other as they walked slowly back to Gabrielle's camp site in the darkening evening. Daniel intended a gentle goodnight kiss but Anna leaned into it and deepened it, the two of them standing with their arms wrapped tightly about each other and oblivious to the looks they were getting.

"Whoah, Anna! if you keep doing that I'm going to forget all that about us not being the menacing creatures out of werewolf legends and just up and carry you off."

She laughed. "Not on a first date. What kind of girl do you think I am anyway?"

"A beautiful and entrancing one. Goodnight, Anna."

"Goodnight Daniel."

Anna took her seat beside the fire and started working on editing her footage fom the day. She didn't realize the conversation had tailed off until Rayne leaned over and nudged her.

"So, Anna.. You and the old families guy..."

"What? Technically he isn't old families. He's Clan. What about me and him?"

"Are you two an item?"

Steve laughed. "I'd say they looked like it, Love! He was giving her the same sappy looks I give you!"

"Steve! We've had one date, ok? Just one! He made me lunch and we talked."

"You talk in your sleep, Anna."

"Gabby!"

"Honey, the man is into you bigtime, or wants to be!" Gabrielle laughed.

"OK, Gabby, I admit it. I rather hope so and I kinda want that too but seriously? Don't jinx me here. We've had one date and I've kissed him a total of three times. Let us take it at our own pace, please."

Rayne chuckled. "Three times, huh? I bet he made your toes curl every time!"

"Rayne!"

"See this cottontail and these ears, girl? Bunny, yeah. Getting away with comments like that comes with the species."

Both girls laughed.

Later that night, only Anna and Gabrielle remained at the fire.

"Gabby, why are you here?"

"You really want to know, Honey?"

"Yeah. You're mom to everyone here, it's like you take are of the whole camp but you're not one of them. I need to know why."

"Then you'd better set up your cameras, Honey, because I'm of a mind to tell you."

Gabrielle's story:

This all comes down to my great grandpa. He was the genuine article, girl. A real sheet-head. Grand Kleegle of the local Klavern.

He used to boast about the shit he'd done back in the day. He was the guy who would throw the dynamite through the church window, or who would whip up the lynch mob. Then he died tormented by nightmares. He saw all their faces in his sleep every night.

What he didn't see was that he was running scared, Honey. He was scared of the change, scared of the people he'd been hating on all those years standing up in front of him and forgiving him. He forgot that every one of those churches he blew up was the house of God as much as the one he was kneeling in every Sunday.

That's the people over the road there. They are freaked out about the people like those over here. They fear them, their enhanced senses, their strength, they are living the old werewolf stories. Thing is, Honey, they got it all wrong.You seen it here. Hell, you got a fox and a bunny shacked up across the way there and the only way he eats her is the way she loves it and wraps her legs around his head to make him do it harder. These people are us, whatever shape they happen to be in.

_Ya see it, Honey? We been hating on and beating on these people so hard for as long as we've existed. It's time for it to stop. These are not bad guys over here in the camp. They aint bad guys in the place across the road either. We need to cure the fear. That is why I am here, Honey, just that. I'm here to cure the fear and to give my great grandpa some peace in his grave. I need to put the fear that he lived to rest. _

"Gabby, how can you do that on your own?"

"I can't, Honey. But here in this camp I have so many around me that help me do it. This is bigger than me, bigger than you, this is what we need to do, where we need to be. I'm content with where the Lord has guided me to be. I need to sleep, Honey. So do you."

---

Two days passed and it almost seemed like Anna was settling into a routine. She'd eat breakfast at Gabrielle's camp, talking to the odd crew that had settled there, spend her days with Daniel, gathering more footage for her project but now remembering to shut off her camera for their "lunch dates" then return to Gabrielles camp for supper and more chats around the camp fire before everyone drifted off to bed.

The thing that amazed her was that Spencer seemed to be opening up to her. She asked Gabrielle about it the second night.

"Gabby, Spencer is talking to me. He's showing me his sketches and asking about my life. I don't want to mess him up worse and you know him better than I do. Can you tell me anything to keep me from doing that?"

"Honey, the fact you asked tells me you aint going to do it. He's more open with you than he is with me at this point. I aint seen more than a glance or two at that sketch-book of his."

"He's really good, Gabby. He could have his own exhibition in any gallery he wanted if he went for it."

"Honey, I hate to say it but I don't think that's in the cards for Spencer. The man feels like he's living on borrowed time and he draws his memories so they'll be there after he's gone. When he can't draw no more, Spencer will leave us."

"What? Gabby? You mean he'll..."

"Aint nobody knows how it will happen, Anna. Spencer will draw until the day he dies, but the day he stops drawing will be that day. One way or another. Remember everything he shows you, it's important."

---

"Spencer, who are they? The ones you draw on every page?"

"Nobody ever asked me that except Gabby"

"Spence, I'm asking you. Are they people you've lost? Can you tell me about them?"

"No. I'm sorry, Anna. I can't. Can I tell you about me? Can you take it?"

Spencer's Story:

I'm a "don't ask, don't tell" case. Back then it was death to be outed as gay while you were serving. Tony was the same. We ended up in the same unit. When the bomb took him from me I nearly died myself. I was a fucking basket case, a gay shifter discharged from the Army and on my way to dieing on the streets. Then I met Bobby. You know how it is, you meet someone and you don't know why but it means everything to you to be with them. I got off the streets, I got myself straight.. I was so happy with him.

I was with him the night it went down. Somebody outed my parents as shifters and they burned the house. The whole fucking town joined the party, they were going to "burn out the beasts", except they didn't burn them out, they burned them in. Mom and Dad both died of smoke inhalation. Bobby tried to keep me safe when he realized what had happened. I hung out in his apartment for two weeks.

His brother came round and found me there, he freaked. HE was the asshole outed my parents. He was the preacher cheering on the mob to burn out the beasts. Except for him it wasn't beasts plural, it was beast singular. He was after me. He beat on me so bad, Anna, he broke my arm, five ribs and was setting me up to snap my neck when Bobby came home. He lit into his brother like Wolverine. Slammed him all across the room. He came right out and said it, said that he loved me and he'd protect me no matter what. His brother went crazy when he realized Bobby was my lover. He grabbed one of the fire irons by the hearth and hit Bobby with it.

I was crying, holding Bobby and watching the life drain out of his eyes. His brother hadn't come down at all, he was yelling at me that I was an unclean sinner and I needed to pack my shit and get out. I told him that it wasn't I who had comitted the sin of Cain, grabbed my bags and left. He was crying over the brother he'd killed the last I saw of him.

I'm dead already, Anna. The universe just hasn't realized it yet. Everyone I've ever loved has been killed because of what I am. I'm just waiting for my time to join them. Until then I just exist, I don't live. I have nothing left to live for.

No, please.. don't touch me. I can't stand to be touched any more.

Gabrielle found Anna in the tent. She sat down beside the younger woman and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Anna, what happened?"

"Spencer told me. All of it. It's not like I haven't heard similar stuff as a journalist.. but Gabby, how can anyone be so lost?"

"Isn't that what you wanted to hear? The stories held in by nothing but pain?"

"Not like that. Not hearing it in that dead voice like it wasn't eating at him as he said every word. I don't know if I can tell this one, Gabby, I really don't."

"Well, Honey, now you're like me. You don't know if you can but you gotta try. If you want to look in the mirror in the morning you aint got much of a choice. You gotta tell this one along with the rest, Honey.. If you don't it will eat you alive the same way it's doing to him."

Anna fled from the tent, looking for Daniel.

---

Daniel roused to a knocking on his door. He wrapped a robe around himself and opened the door. Anna almost fell in, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face against the fur of his shoulder.

"Anna, are you ok?"

"No, Daniel, I'm not. I've heard so many stories, they are so heavy. I don't know if I can carry that weight."

"It's ok, Anna. I've got you. Are you thinking of giving up the project?"

"I can't. Not now. If I'd known then maybe I would have had second thoughts about starting it but now I have to finish it and it has to be the best work I've ever done."

Daniel said nothing. He just stood there, holding her tight as he felt her body start to relax. Her arms tightened around him and her head lifted to look into his eyes. She stretched up and kissed him, standing on the tips of her toes. The movement of her body, pressed against his made him acutely aware of how little he was wearing and he returned her kisses, catching the scent of her hair. Slowly, almost reluctantly, their arms fell away from each other as she stepped back half a pace, neither of them looking away from each other. For a frozen moment that seemed to last forever they stood there until Anna reached down and pulled her hoodie up and over her head in one smooth movement.

"Anna...."

"Hardly fair to be rubbing up against you when you're wearing only a robe and I'm fully clothed. " She reached behind herself and unclasped her bra, letting it fall, before stepping back into his arms. He held her gently, feeling the warm pressure of her breasts on his chest, the robe having fallen partly open.

Anna tugged the belt of his robe loose and slid her arms around his waist underneath it, running fingers through the fur of his back. She kissed him again and slid her hands up to his shoulder blades , pulling gently to press their upper bodies together. The robe slid away from his shoulders and sagged down his arms.

Daniel let his arms fall briefly, allowing the robe to slide off and fall to the floor. His paws lifted again and traced over her jeans-covered hips and back onto bare skin. Her body wriggled against his, hips rocking, as she worked her feet free of her sneakers. Pulling his lips away from her soft skin, he chuckled.

"So we're back into unfair territory, huh? Let me do the rest.... "

Slowly he lowered himself, trailing kisses down her neck and over her shoulders. Anna arched her back at the sensation of his kisses trailing down her breasts and then gasped as his strong tongue curled around first one nipple and then the other, making them stretch and harden as if eager to offer themselves to the caress of his lips. Daniel continued to lower himself to his knees, drawing a faint sound of protest as his kisses left Anna's breasts and moved slowly down her belly.

Popping the button and unzipping her jeans, his paws then stroked her hips as they slowly slid her jeans downward, following them with soft kisses and licks down her thighs as they fell to the floor. As she leaned on his shoulders and stepped out of her jeans, kicking them aside, the tips of his claws stroked up the backs of her legs and hooked into the waistband of her panties. These too were followed on their journey to the floor by kisses, which then trailed back up her body as Daniel stood up.

Daniel's paw went to the hair-tie securing Anna's ponytail. "Now this, I've been wanting to do for a couple of days..." He murmured against her as he gently released her hair.

Anna laughed and gently shook her head, making her almost waist-length hair spread out in a broad auburn fan across her back. "You muss it, you brush it!"

The couple stood like that for a while, touches and caresses wandering over each others bodies as they explored each other, Anna's hair blending into the foxes tawny fur, a contrast to her pale skin. The exploring of each others body steadily became more urgent and their kisses more passionate until Anna was moaning softly into their kisses, rocking her hips against Daniels and feeling him respond.

Daniel lifted her in his arms and she wrapped her legs around him as he carried her to the bed, the shift of weight as he laid her gently down grinding her into him and making him feel the heat of her desire. As her arms came loose from around his shoulders he slid down her body, kneeling between her knees as he lowered his lips to her center. He paused, drinking in the scent of her before extending his tongue for a slow lick across her moist outer lips.

"Ahhh!.. Daniel.. no fair! Come up here, please... "

He turned his body around and lay next to her, but she pushed him gently onto his back and moved to straddle his muzzle before lowering her body down along his. His tongue licked out again, drawing another gasp from Anna as he stretched for a slightly deeper taste of her.

That gasp brought his slightly musky scent strongly to Anna's senses, and she gently cupped him with one hand, licking her lips as her other hand guided his tip towards them. She kissed his tip and licked it drawing a little leakage into her mouth before slowly drawing his length between her lips. She moaned around him as Daniels tongue stroked deeper into her, drawing out more of her juices which his agile tongue then spread over her sensitive button, making her hips buck.

Daniel felt the slight tremor in her thighs and pressed his muzzle to her, reaching as deep inside her as his tongue could stretch. He felt, rather than heard her urgent moan as he pulled his tongue across her inner walls, feeling them tense around him before he withdrew his tongue and set about driving her over the edge, circling his tongue around her button, over and over again.

Anna cried out and arched her back, letting Daniel fall from her mouth as his tongue coaxed an intense orgasm from her body, feeling the warmth of the flood of her juices on her thighs as his tongue lapped at her, extending and intensifying her pleasure. She let out a long sigh and collapsed on his body, shaking uncontrollably as the sensation sang through her. Daniels arms came around her and he held her tight holding her close as she caught her breath. Hungrily, she returned her lips to his length, licking and nuzzling.

She felt herself gently rolled onto her back and stretched her tongue to catch one more taste of him as he lifted his body away from her. As his weight settled between her knees, she parted them wider and reached up to draw him down on top of her. She kissed him, tasting herself on his lips and rocked her hips, coating his length with her eager juices.

Daniel shifted slightly, feeling her warmth coat him and then he lifted his hips as she reached down to gently grasp him and aim his tip at her entrance. She thrust her hips upwards, trying to engulf him but he moved with her, his tip barely parting her lower lips.

"God, Daniel.. Don't tease.. Aaaaaaaaah.. "

Slowly, Daniel eased down until he was hilted inside her. Moving only a little faster, he began with drawing almost completely before settling back in place, feeling her grip him tightly every time he pressed back into her.

Anna was pressing her hips upward to meet him as he thrust into her, feeling him move a little faster when she felt him begin to swell. He shortened his thrusts, but then she wrapped her legs around him, trying to pull him deeper.

"Daniel.. Don't hold anything back... please... it's safe... I want it all..." She tightened the grip of her legs, digging her ankles into his butt and held herself there. His knot popped in and out of her only twice more before locking them together. His hips thrust faster now and soon pressed hard against her one final time and they exploded together, her arms and legs tightening frantically around him as he unloaded himself deep inside her, her own orgasm rippling along his length to coax still more from him.

Shuddering, gasping, they both collapsed. Daniel caught his breath first.

"I love you Anna." Softly he kissed her, gasping a little as another aftershock caused her to ripple along his length once more.

"I love you too, Daniel."

Daniel reached and drew a blanket over them as they lay there, tied together in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

---

With the sheets pulled up to her chest, Anna was sitting between Daniels thighs as he brushed her hair. They weren't speaking, just enjoying the quiet intimacy of Daniel easing the brush through her hair. All too soon the mood was shattered by a knock on the door and Aaron's voice.

"Daniel, I'm sorry man but this can't wait."

Belting his robe shut, Daniel climbed off the bed, pausing only for one quick kiss before heading to the door. He opened it and looked out.

"What's happening, Aaron?"

"Lots of new guys moving in across the road. Not like the usual guards at all, They came in on a whole bunch of buses towing trailers. Couldn't see much but what I did see made me think 'paramilitary' or worse. Jonas thinks it might be time for that plan we were talking about."

"Shit, seriously?"

"Yeah, man. Serious as a fucking heart attack. These guys are the kind would give me the fucking creeps back when I wore a green suit to work. Jonas agrees, they give us both a real bad feeling."

"Ok. You'd better come in. Sorry, Anna."

"I'm decent, but I think you'd better throw me my clothes." Daniel gathered up her clothing as Aaron came in and closed the door.

Aaron turned away to give Anna some privacy as he and Daniel talked. Anna listened to their conversation as she quickly dressed herself.

"What have you set in motion already?"

"Donna, Martin, Blake and Jane are starting to spread the word. They are passing out your alternate account handle, Donna's and mine with instructions to post everything they record to yours and one of ours if it happens."

"I don't feel good about bugging out, Aaron."

"We're not bugging out, we're the ace in the hole. It's going to be up to us to make sure nothing that happens here can be suppressed."

"I know, man, but I don't have to like it." Anna stepped up and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Daniel, my rig can handle six microcams simultaneously, two under direct control and the other four in autonomous mode. Max range is about 5 miles"

"Shit, I must be going soft in the head! Aaron, she's in. When we made this plan we didnt have a pro-quality photojournalist rig on site. Anna, do you have an account handle that you don't normally use, something that doesnt directly link to any sign you're a journalist?"

"It's not totally distinct but I haven't used it in years. It's CelticRed."

"With your hair and eyes, it fits. Aaron, start spreading the word to change the posting strategy. Everything still gets posted twice, but one is to either Anna or I, the other is to either you or Donna."

"Got it. Meet up back here in 10 minutes ready for a little hike. My jeep is stashed about two miles down the road. We can get there before dawn and hopefully without drawing attention to ourselves.

---

Anna ran into the Gabrielle's camp site and dived straight inside the tent, grabbing her backpack and pausing by the fire as she stepped out.

"You guys got the warning yet?"

"Uh, no?"

"The recording plan is active, the folks across the road are getting scary. I'm going to fly every camera I got and go with Daniel. Gabby, I'm guessing you already know the net handles and can make sure everyone else has them?"

"Yeah, Honey. I got 'em. Assuming Aaron remembered to tell me after the last time they changed 'em."

"Add one. CelticRed. Pair that as an alternative to Daniel's like Aaron's is paired with the other one.. Donna?"

"Yeah, that's her. Get goin' girl. Gather up, folks. I got something I need to tell you...."

Anna ran for Daniel's RV. She arrived at the same time as Aaron and a tall cervine girl. Daniel was standing there waiting for them.

"We ready?"

"One minute, Daniel." Setting down her pack, Anna triggered all six of the microcams in her belt rig and watched them fly off then looked down to check the remote strapped to her arm. "OK, I have connectivity with all six, they are all in autonomous/local mode for now. I'll jack in my computer when we get to the vehicle, but they are all already recording sound and video. I'm ready."

"Ok, Aaron, lead on."

"Right. No lights, folks, so take it careful. We got a couple miles to go and we want to be there as quick as we can. Anytime from about 3am to dawn is the most likely time for them to hit the camp if they are going to tonight, with dawn most likely unless they are planning on moving in using NVG's. We want to be where we're going at least an hour before that so we're not pushed for time yet but we may have to hustle some if anything slows us down." The big bear grinned. "Back in the day, I could do this in half an hour or less carrying a basic load and a full pack, even recruits could do it with a light load in about twice that. Don't stress it."

Daniel tapped Anna on the shoulder. "Anna, give me your pack. You're the smallest of us and the only one with bulky gear. Not a good combo."

"OK, Daniel."

"Remember that anything posted from the camp is coming to two of us, so do not under any circumstances leave your partner - each pair should receive a complete record between them. Aaron and Donna, take the lead."

---

"The Jeep is in that small stand of trees. I'm going to go ahead and make sure there aren't any nasty surprises waiting. I'll flash a light at you three times. No green flashes at all mean that it's safe to come in, one means it's not safe and I'm coming back to you, two means you need to bug out, I'll catch up with you if I can. Three lights the same color.. that means they nabbed me and I'm sending it under duress so you better be somewhere else real fast. Guys, start making plans right now for what you're going to do if you see a bugout signal." The bear vanished into the darkness.

About five minutes later, lights flashed from the trees. Red, white, red. Breathing a huge sigh of relief all three scrambled to their feet and ran for the trees. Aaron was standing beside a blue Jeep and they piled in. Daniel grabbed the front seat and the two girls in the back. Anna immediately flipped open her laptop and jacked it into the microcam remote.

"Nothing bad happening right now, so I'll leave them in autonomous mode. I'll switch them to direct download though, even if the cams go down I'll have everything they recorded so far. I still have 85% signal strength, we can go further away until it drops to about 30%. Less than that and we start losing video quality or risk losing some cams altogether."

"Aaron, get as close to the interstate as you can before Anna calls stop and find a place to wait."

"If we can make it all the way to the interstate, we're within half a mile of a rest stop northbound. Nobody is going to notice us there."

"Go for it. Anna, call stop if the signal drops below 40%."

Aaron started the engine and pulled onto the highway. Two miles later as the signs for the interstate intersection appeared, Anna called from the back seat "50% signal. Weshould be good for the rest stop."

As they pulled into the rest stop and shut off the engine, Daniel looked at his watch.

"2:30 am. Aaron, switch places with me and sack out. Whoever isn't the 'duty driver' grabs some shut-eye if they can. Anna, can Donna manage watching the camera feeds?"

"Sure, the cameras are all autonomous right now. Donna, if you see anything start, just hit f2 to select all cameras and then 6 on the number pad."

"OK, what will that do?"

"Right now they are in autonomous/local mode. We usually use it to get background footage and it's a good way to cover an entire area where nothing much is happening. Mode 6 is still autonomous, but it sets the targeting priorities to the one war correspondents use. I've only used it once, and that was to cover a riot. I presume you want me to try and get some sleep too, Daniel?"

"Yep. Half of each team tries to rest while the other half is on duty. One of us is watching the cameras at all times and one other is ready to get us out of here in a hurry."

"Donna, no offense but I'm not going to try and teach you direct camera control, particularly not two at once. If you do need to switch the cameras, wake me up."

"OK"

---

The eastern sky was starting to lighten as Anna felt herself shaken awake.

"Anna, it's started."

On the screen, all six cameras were focused on areas of the camp where ranks of guards were advancing across the picture. The front rank held shields and batons, the second and third ranks were carrying a mixture of rifles and shotguns, although only the second rank held them ready. Behind them, a ragged group of additional guards raised broad barrelled weapons to their shoulders and sent a continuous barrage over the advancing lines. Plumes of white smoke or gas rose from where those rounds landed. Anna grabbed her laptop and quickly selected two cameras for direct control. She wasn't focusing on exactly what was happening in the images, just on sending the cameras where her instincts said they should be.

"Anna, I hate to ask, but can you let us see?"

Anna scooched around, propping the laptop against the middle of the back seat and settling herself down into the footwells, her knees straddling the central tunnel as she continued to work.

"Jesus Christ, Aaron.... "

"Yeah, Donna. Right out of the totalitarian playbook. The guys in front protect the rest and beat the crap out of anyone in reach. Second rank are loaded with baton rounds. First two ranks keep moving forward taking down anyone they can reach and destroying everything they walk over. Third rank secures anyone on the ground that the first two ranks step over. Their rounds are probably live, they are supposed to 'protect' the first two. Those guys in back are saturating the area with CS, smoke or a mixture of the two. From the look of it, I'd say a mix."

Anna sent one of her direct cameras in for close-ups, catching shots of streaming eyes in the people frantically retreating before the attack.

"Oh God.. That's Maddie... If she's running alone, where's Jess?" Anna moved the camera back behind the advancing lines, showing morphics pinned to the ground, their wrists and ankles zip-cuffed as they coughed and wept from the gas, many showing signs of injury from sticks or rubber bullets.

For several minutes Anna worked, capturing everything she could, hoping the four autonomous cameras would fill in any gaps in what she could take with the two she could control directly. Then a couple of high-pitched beeps sounded from the laptop. One camera feed was blank and flashing red.

"They are onto the microcams, Daniel, they just shot one down. They know we're somewhere within a few miles of the camp and if they have the right gear, they'll soon have a direction."

"OK, people. It's time to leave."

"I've set the cameras to wipe and deactivate if they lose signal, and they are all back in autonomous mode. As soon as we're out of range for more than five seconds they'll dump their stored recordings and shut down, but we'll have everything they see until then."

"Good move." grunted Aaron from the front seat as Daniel started the engine and swung the Jeep onto the interstate. "Shut down your end and sing out as soon as they all show down. Then we make a radical change in direction."

"They'll still know they were mine, their serial numbers tie them to the studio and they are signed out to me but they won't be able to get any of the footage."

Two minutes later, interchange signs started to show up. Aaron turned around and looked at Anna.

"How are things going there?"

"I've two cameras left, the signal isn't up to direct control any more but they are still feeding me autonomous footage."

"Dump 'em. This three way interchange is the best chance we have to disappear for the next hundred miles or so. Shut down your end so the link goes down and they've nothing to track."

"Done."

"Daniel, continue straight through the interchange and take the next exit, if we cut across country we can be at one of my groups' safe houses in a couple hours. They'll be expecting us to stay on the interstate - if they got us localized they'll be watching all three possible directions from that interchange. Donna and I will drop you and Anna at the safe house and continue on. Give it a day and then take the vehicle from the garage and get back home where you're safe.

---

Resting in the safe house Daniel and Anna looked around. There was a high bandwidth connection available and Anna immediately jacked in her laptop to start collecting footage posted by people in the camp. The volume of the downloads made her eyes bug out. Daniel looked over her shoulder.

"That lot should finish downloading in about 4 hours. Leave it, I've fixed supper."

Over supper, they made smalltalk. It was almost like they were avoiding any discussion of what happened at the camp. In the end it was Anna that broached the subject.

"Daniel, the stuff from the camp. You know what I'm going to have to do with it."

"You're going to have to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts."

"Yes."

"I'll be with you, all the way."

"I know. It's probably the only way I can do it."

"Tomorrow morning is soon enough, Anna. Come to bed."

"Wait.. Daniel?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"You're Clan.. That means you're a shifter. Can I .. I mean may I.. See you as a human for a moment? Please?"

"Of course." Daniel stood and quickly stripped off his clothes. He blurred before Anna's view and stood there. He had tanned skin, pale brown eyes and an unruly mane of auburn hair almost the same shade as hers. His fox shape had been laden with taut muscle but as a human he was wiry rather than bulky. Anna stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You're just as handsome like this."

"Hey now, without the fur it's hard to hide the blush!"

"Daniel, that thing with the old families and clans.. can you show me what I am?"

"The meditation of seeking? Yes I know how. Are you sure you want to even know, Anna?"

"Yes. Tonight. Before I look at anything on that download."

Daniel shimmered back into his fox shape.

"OK. Here's what you need to do. Strip off your clothes, because if they are too tight for the shape you take, you're going to both ruin them and hurt yourself. Now kneel in front of me like this..."

Anna knelt before him, her knees touching his, and extended her hands to rest underneath his paws, her fingertips gently brushing his wrists as his claws lightly touched hers.

"Ok, Anna. I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on nothing but my voice. Synchronize your breathing with mine, slow and regular. Concentrate on our connection, on our hands touching each other...."

Daniel led her through the process and by the time she opened her eyes she knew what she was. A tall siberian tigress stood and stretched, walking to the mirror and admiring herself.

"Damn, but the girl cleaned up good!"

Daniel laughed. "Anna, you were beautiful before and you still are."

"And this lasts how long?"

"With the magnitude of your shift, ten to twenty minutes at most unless you maintain physical contact with me."

"Or unless I become a shifter myself."

"Well, yeah."

Anna walked over to Daniel and took his paws in hers, drawing him up to his hind-paws and wrapping her arms around him. "And if I remember right, I become a shifter by making love to the fox that I am head over heels in love with before I change back."

"Yes."

"Daniel, now I'm ready to come to bed."

---

It was still dark when Anna woke. She slipped from the bed and pulled her computer from the backpack. She started editing the final scenes of her documentary, using the footage the cameras had saved as they fled. She needed a finale, a way to close out the unfinished film she had put together already. Unfortunately, she found it.

He found her there in the morning, staring blindly through her tears at the screen, and gently pulled her away from the desk, holding her as she sobbed into his fur. Behind them, a video loop played out, over and over, the scenes she had found in the stored video.

Gabrielle stands with her arms folded across her chest, making not the least resistance as she is beaten to the ground, cuffed and dragged away.

The video cuts to a view of Spencer, looking into his phone that's propped on a log by the camp sites woodpile. He smiles into the camera and speaks.

"I hope you get this, Anna. I just wanted to let you know. It's time and it's alright. I'm ready." He picks up a hatchet from the woodpile in each hand, turns and charges away from the camera, running towards the advancing ranks. Before he covers even half the distance, several guards from the third rank rush forward with weapons levelled. Spencer's body folds under the impact of several rounds and he falls, face-down in the grass.

The next cut shows Steve, frantically performing CPR on baby Amber. A guard moves into the shot and Steve is felled by a baton. As Steve is cuffed, a second guard kneels by Amber, feeling for a pulse and then standing and moving on. The shot widens to show Rayne, screaming incoherently as she is dragged away from the body of her child.

*fade to black*

---

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Project completed.

Finished documentary attached. Darryl, if you edit it in the least I shall hunt your ass down and gut you like a fish. You have two months to air it. The day after you do or in two months if you don't, I'll put it on the net myself along with a set of out-takes that will turn your stomach even worse. So if you do edit it, eyewitness studio's credibility will be shot and the studio brass will give you an even worse ass-chewing than they will for putting out the unedited version.

By the way, I quit.

Anna.

---

2197

Anna got a Pulitzer for that documentary. It made her the Nick Ut of the struggle for morphic and shifter's rights. She and Daniel were married the year after it was broadcast and had four children. Anna died at the age of 52, from pancreatic cancer. Daniel followed her wishes and had her ashes cast into the sea, then retreated to his cabin in the mountains and became something of a recluse. The exact date of his death is not recorded but his is the earliest headstone in the small family cemetary where I shall one day lie beside my wife and daughter. The house in which I began writing this family history was built upon the site of his cabin.

Closing down my computer, I checked out of my hotel and drove to the nearest florists where I bought a bunch of flowers before returning to the same monument I'd visited before beginning this portion of the story. I looked down the list of names, making sure to locate two.

"Amber Morris" "Spencer Maitland"

I laid the flowers by the monument and watched the sunset before climbing back into my car and driving home.