FSE

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Here it is folks, 2057 this is the unedited version as RL is getting in the way as it often does. bear with me on bad spelling and such as i write between 11:00 and 3:00 in the morning. thank you.

Legal Jargon, don't use anything without my permission.

BIG thanks to Schplaater for the upcoming edit, and big thanks to Dikran_O for the help in secret hush hush whatnot, there is a shout out to you in here somewhere, i'm wondering if you will find it! Let me know if anybody does.

And now the story.

2057: The Death of Marshall.

On July 12 2012 at 12:12 Central standard time, every inhabitant of planet earth was struck unconscious by an unknown force.

12 seconds later when every one woke up again, half the world's population had ceased to exist, not disappeared, but ceased to be altogether. No records or pictures, only the memories of those who knew them.

In their place were now strange, bipedal animal like creatures dubbed Anthropoids, or just thropes for short. These creatures simply appeared out of nothingness; with jobs, Id's and lives, some even wore wedding rings and had documented proof that they were married to a human, even though they had never met before. They came from a world much like ours and had an understanding of much of our history, as it was theirs as well (save that their George Washington was a very unlucky beaver).

For the next five years there was pandemonium, countries declared martial law, war, and anything else they could think of to quell the unrest at this development. Things came so close to nuclear conflict that world leaders swore they could feel the burn of radiation on their skin. Unfortunately, these five years of relative political inaction, holding off these thropic people from becoming citizens, giving them rights and accepting them into society, gave religious fanatics and supremacist groups enough time to organize them selves. After vicious infighting, four groups eventually emerged to claim control of the world's irrational hatred.

The first was made up of the survivors from a massive exodus from the Southeastern United States. Calling them selves the "Sons of humanity" (the Sons), they were basically a white supremacist, Neo-Nazi group given free reign and a new ethnic group to hate. They had fled the States by the thousands, making their way to central and then later, South America. The wake of destruction and death they left in their wake dwarfed even that of the 2006 hurricane.

They had gone on a killing spree that lasted 2 years and had enslaved the whole of South and Central America; however, Mexico held firm against their onslaught and became known as the Southern border of the free nations.

Asia was almost instantaneously taken over by the Triads, calling on the people's devotion to Taoism and Buddhism alike to band them together and take control of their countries. They accomplished this by killing the new arrivals, the old governments and enslaving both when they had the chance. The nations that remained free of this were Japan, the unified republic of Korea, the kingdom of Vietnam, and Thailand.

Russia threw up it's Iron Curtain once more, no one in, no one out. They accepted the thropes as people on a governmental level and wished to protect the country from the insanity that over took the land. Unlike the last wall, behind this one no one was mistreated and all were well cared for.

The Muslim Faith Alliance (MFA) and the Holy Crusaders of Righteous God (HCRG) contested Eastern Europe, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Both groups laying claim to the Holy Land, and both treating thropes as less then human, killing raping and enslaving.

Rome, as the HCRG's capital once again became a power in the land, taking over several small countries including all of Italy, and then called upon what was left of the United Nations to stand beside god and join with them in their campaign to reclaim the holy land from it's heathen and devil spawned captors.

Some agreed, though most followed Switzerland's example of neutrality, and a few openly opposed them.

What was left of Latin America, the UK, Ireland, the Nordic and Scandinavian states, Spain, Canada and the U.S. came together and formed the Alliance of the Republics (AR).

Roughly a year later, one of the ghettos where thropes were being kept was attacked by a Sons air raid, killing hundreds. At this point congress, as well as other ruling bodies in the AR, recognized furs as sentient citizens, Thus granting them all the benefits and responsibilities thereof.

Released from the ghettos, the thropes integrated swiftly into human society. Prejudices remained however and most people of both species, though they lived alongside and worked with each other, segregated themselves from one another. Hate abounded and times were hard.

But now things have settled down and life is starting to return to normality. For most that is.

Jason Curio waited in line at the airport in Chicago, and waited... and waited. Since the new flight laws had been passed and enacted, inside AR territory all passengers had to personally claim certain belongings at the desk after exiting a flight. Unfortunately his cameras were on the list of items that required checking. He worked for the Chicago tribune as a photographer, and was just returning after an absolutely dismal trip, 300 photographs, all of them of feral seals during mating season.

Jason shuddered at the memory; how he had been chased around the cove by one of the bulls for straying to close.

Finally after a mind numbingly long period of time he was second in line.

In front of him was a pretty wolf thrope, her coloring black and white with peculiar teardrop markings in white around her eyes. Next to her stood a male fox, he stood dressed all in black, which blended well with his equally sable fur.

Both wore long coats to aid their fur in fighting against the frigid Chicago winter.

Now that he looked he changed his mind, she was not a full-blooded thrope, but instead she was a half-breed, the offspring of a human and a thrope. Her muzzle was short to the point of non existence, and her hands barely had any claws at all. Her ears though, were what threw him; they were tall and triangular like any lupine thrope's.

He also realized that she was not simply pretty, she was impossibly gorgeous! So gorgeous in fact that he actively had to keep his jaw from touching the floor. While he fought that losing battle, he enjoyed the view as her heart shaped rear jutted backward while she bent over the counter, her fluffy tail ticking back and forth in annoyance.

"Look, I have with me signed papers and a claim ticket, you can't just tell me you're keeping my property after we got off the plane. Now, if you'll just tell me what exactly the problem is, I'll do my best to resolve it."

"Ma'am, this is the TSA, we don't have to explain our motives, suffice it to say that you exhibited suspicious activity mid-flight and we are holding your claim items until we are satisfied of your non-hostile nature."

"Look mister, I'm a government employee. I'll show you my ID and you can call my supervisor if you want. Just hurry up cause I'm not leaving here without that case."

Jason looked over her shoulder and saw that the attendant was holding a brown leather tube about 8 inches across and at least 2 feet long. It looked rather like one of those old style map cases he had seen in antique shops. But something told him that there was more then a nautical map within that leather, maps were not a checked item as they were hardly liable to be dangerous.

The man behind the counter leaned forward and started to whisper in the half-breed girl's ear. Jason unconsciously moved forward to listen but caught only the latter half of what the clerk was saying.

"-don't care, we get first pick of confiscated items lady, and I like the look of what's in here."

Jason was shocked! Well, not that shocked. The TSA had been fleecing people since before thropes came into the world; it was common knowledge that you inserted cheap decoys into your luggage to fool them. As out in the open as they had been though, he had never seen on of their representatives act this blatantly before.

The stunning Canine lady apparently had similar thoughts for she leaned back and stared at the TSA clerk. An expression of incredulity painted across her features. That expression was replaced by a narrow eyed squint that Jason found a trifle disturbing.

And rightly so, as it turned out, her hand flashed across the counter like a striking viper and latched itself around the young man's neck.

From there she used her other hand to grab his jacket and haul him over the counter, keeping one hand at his throat, and wrapped his right arm behind his back, turning him to face away from her and pressing her palm into the bony surface of the back of his neck.

"You know what you are bub? You're a reject, and I'll be dammed if a reject is going to steal from me."

Jason took several steps back to avoid being caught up in the fracas. He watched as the lupine lady kept pressure on the squirming clerk and reached over the counter to grab the leather cylinder. Once it was in her possession she stepped back and released the foolish young man from her grip. It was about that time that airport security arrived; panting for breath after the running they had done to arrive so soon.

The male fox hailed them and showed them some kind of identification. This piqued Jason's journalistic curiosity as the security staff visibly straightened their backs afterwards. The wolf girl, who could not have been over 27 years of age, went over to talk with the lead officer, about the incident Jason assumed.

He had been so wrapped up in the excitement that he had failed to notice the next clerk window had opened up. Quickly rushing through the claim procedures, he made up his mind to try and talk to the wolf girl and her vulpine compatriot.

After making sure that all his items were in their proper places, Jason turned to find the two strangers gone. Scanning the area quickly he found them at the rental car kiosk. He really had no idea what he was going to say, but his instincts were screaming at him to interact with them before they left.

Jason ran to catch up with them before they left the airport lobby to hop the bus to the rental car lots. Almost as an after thought he looked at his watch. He had to be here at the airport to pick someone up for the tribune, a firefighter hero from West Virginia who had saved some people by jumping out of a burning apartment. 9 stories up. What was his name again? Doc Brayllof, that was it, he had to pick up Doc Brayllof in just over 5 hours or he would lose his job. Thankless though it was, he enjoyed it and intended to keep it for as long as he could. 5 hours was plenty of time to ask this lady a few questions and satisfy his curiosity.

He caught them waiting for the shuttle to the parking lots, the woman was standing, leaning on the post, while the fox seemed to be relaxing on the bench next to her.

As he approached she unscrewed the top of the leather tube that had caused so much trouble. Inside were two tightly wrapped cloth bundles. He wondered if she would unwrap them, and sure enough, she did.

Their contents caused Jason to emit a low gasp, inside were two of the most beautiful knives he had ever seen, and being a collector of such things he had seen quite a few in his time.

The first was easy to identify, it was of seax blade pattern, a single edge with a gently sloping guard in the front to protect the knuckles, a cherry wood hilt with bronze rivets, mounts and pommel cap. The damascened patterned steel of it's foot long blade wove a beautiful pattern that made it look as though the blade was clear glass, filled with the flowing water of a mountain stream.

The other was unusual, if just as beautiful as the first. It's blade was also single edged but it came to a slightly sharper point then the seax. From the tip it flowed outward like it would expand to great thickness, but it did not. Instead it started to thicken only to gently slope back inwards just slightly, before once again thickening at the base. The whole blade had a shallow 'S' shape to its construction. The interesting feature was that the blade did not terminate at the guard; it continued but gently curved out to a sloping 45-degree angle. Forming a solid guard for the hands that was one piece with the blade, increasing its strength and balance. The wood of it's hilt was black walnut, Jason could tell that even from a dozen feet away, black walnut just had that look that you could never mistake for anything else.

Jason was in a mild state of shock, that clerk had been trying to steal THESE?! The man must have been more of an idiot then he looked.

In this day and age, when a good edge had a better chance of stopping an attacker with reactive body armor then an old fashion slug thrower, people prized their knives. They had become somewhat of a staple all across the AR territories. Similar to the "Fedora" hat's of the 1930's. Everyone had a knife, and a lot of people were very possessive of their chosen blades. He wouldn't trade his Bowie for a million dollars; it was that special to him.

As he recovered his wits Jason saw the young lady slip the beautiful, yet functional looking weapons into sheaths that rode beneath her coat, just behind the swell of her modest hips.

He walked up to stand next to her, fiddling around with how he wanted to open this conversation. Fortunately for him his mouth knew what it wanted to say and took no notice of his brain's input.

"Those knives are beautiful, I can see why you were so insistent on getting them back. May I ask where you got them? I wouldn't mind sinking some cash into a blade of that kind of quality."

The women looked at him, she was taller then him so her eyes were slightly down tilted as they came to rest on him.

And what eyes they were, blue did not come close to describing their color. So deep and filled with emotion were those sibilant orbs. The closest he could come to it was that blue you sometimes see when flying at high altitude, when you can look up and see all the way into that infinite void called space. Her eyes were like that color right at the edge of the window through which you can see the stars. A deep soul touching blue, the color of heaven.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but the guy doesn't make these anymore."

"Why not? Surely there's a market for stuff of this quality, if nothing else some of the military brass would want a pretty something to dangle at their hip."

The girl chuckled at that, and so did the fox from his reclining position on the bench.

Her expression turned grim again almost instantly, like some great weight had settled on her back and was refusing to be dislodged.

"The story behind that is a long one in telling."

"Well, then tell me about the ones YOU carry, certainly there is a good story there?"

"I'm afraid that those stories are one and the same, and like I said, it's too long to be told at a bus stop."

"I'm a reporter, it's my job to listen to stories. Are you just visiting or are you staying in town for a while?"

"Not that it's your business, but we're staying in town for a few days, long layover and we don't want to be cramped in the airport the whole time."

"Well then tell me somewhere else, like I said, I'm a reporter and I have instincts about this type of thing, your story is interesting and I'd like to know it if you don't mind telling. Like for starters, how did you get those security bastards to lay off so quickly? I've seen those punks molest politicians without a qualm, and yet you they treat like the king of Spain. Why?"

"We could tell you but then we would have to kill you." Interjected the fox from his spot on the bench. His tone one of complete seriousness.

"Oh well then by all means please leave that portion out of the story. But please tell the story, if you don't I'll likely go home and kill myself from the maddening curiosity of it." He said in a joking manner.

The lady looked into his eyes with those cerulean spheres once again, seeming to spear down to the very root of his being and sift through it. Finding all the little impurities and discrepancies that made up the whole of him. He suppressed a shudder as she gazed at him for what felt like an eternity.

"Why?"

Jason answered without hesitation or embarrassment, even though he felt like a fool for even thinking such a thing.

"Because I have a feeling about you ma'am, whatever it is you tell me, I think it will be something important."

The beautiful young lady chuffed in exasperation, more at her self then the reporter.

"Maybe it's the hormones talking, and maybe it's the fact that today is the anniversary but I think you're right, my good sir. Come along with us and you'll get your story."

A short bus ride to the airport hotel later, and they sat in a comfortable two bed room, the chairs pulled out around the coffee table and Jason's recording device and laptop ready. The fox, who had yet to introduce him self sat on one of the beds, apparently at ease with the whole situation.

Across from Jason sat the young lupine fem, she had made him wait in the hall while she took a shower and he was glad of it. She looked even more beautiful after washing the grime of travel away from her fur. She had introduced herself as Stacy; Jason had given his name by automatic reflex. Her name fit her wonderfully, and it was all he could do to keep from getting a stiffy just from mere proximity to such a gorgeous creature.

"Before we get started I want to make something clear to you, if I tell you to go outside you will do so. No objections. Also, I will be telling this story from the third person."

"Whatever for?"

Her eyes hardened slightly, as if the sound of Jason's voice was harsh to her eyes.

"For the same reason you will wait outside if I tell you to. This story is the most traumatic event in my life, and that is saying something. If I cry you will not be here to see it, because if you are I will have to beat you to a bloody, senseless pulp and dump your remains in the river. Understand?"

Jason got the feeling she was not being forceful just to get her point across, from the look she gave him he thought she might just carry out her threat if it came to that.

"Yes ma'am I understand. Whenever you're ready."

"Well I'll start in the middle, close to where it gets exciting, don't want to bore you with trivialities now do I?"

______________________________________________________________________

Stacy Hated Texas, it was hot, it was humid and it was full of people pretending to care for her.

She had only been here a week, yet her foster parents had already told her she could stay up as late as she wanted, stay out as late as she wanted and had even given her a set of keys to her own car. It was used, and ran on synthetic fuel rather then a battery, but still she refused to drive it to school as she already had enough problems. She could feel the underlying motive for the whole affair as well.

It was one of pity and self-gratification.

"Look at us, we are doing something for the poor little orphan girl, aren't we just soooo caring and considerate?"

Fuckers. Couldn't they just treat her normally? Like a normal high school girl? No, she supposed not.

After all she wasn't a normal high school girl was she?

What made it worse was the fact that she could not distance herself from them. Her true last name had been lost and she was required to take up that of her foster parents until she came of age. Stacy Whinehiemmer, god she sounded like some kind of sausage.

All these thoughts and more swam through her head as she stared at her self in the mirror.

The face that stared back at her was considered by most to be quite beautiful. But of course, she didn't think so. In Stacy's mind she was an abomination, barely tolerated and most of the time ignored, like the quintessential mentally impaired cousin at the family reunion. Not that she had ever been to one of those.

She was a little over 17 years old and, up until just recently, she had been the property of a Sons of Humanity agent operating in Florida and Alabama. He was the only person she could remember for most of her life. She had always thought he had been fairly kind to her, if only to keep up appearances. She had gone to school and been allowed to wear clothes outside the house.

She knew of many in her position that were not even allowed to get off their hands and knees for their entire lives. Such thoughts had always stopped her from running away.

She had no where to run to, and it was likely that another, less kind person would take her from the streets and sell her into prostitution or one of the breeder dens in south America or the middle east.

After all, her own parents had sold her when she was 8. Marshall, her owner, had even shown her the papers of sale. She hadn't seen her parent's names but it had a picture of two people who could very well be her parents.

She did not care, she had been 10 at the time and he had raped her for the first time. He would always do her up the ass, never even touched her vagina. He said that she might have all kinds of diseases and he would not take the risk.

She personally thought he had a thing for butts, but kept that thought to her self.

Stacy still thought that she was pretty well off compared to most in her position. Yes he would push her over for no reason and fuck her, sometimes without even any lube, punishment for some imaginary offense or other.

And sometimes he would shove large things up her ass just to hear her scream. But most in her position did not see a year with their masters.

All this changed 3 months ago when Marshall was arrested as a traitor to his AR citizenship and sent to jail, and ultimately his execution. He was on death row even now, yet she couldn't get him out of her mind.

Shaking her head, she looked at her self in the mirror.

"Get your self together girl, it's your first day at a new school, got to make a good impression right? Yeah, right."

She stood back and examined her self in the mirror.

Standing at 6"2 she would stand out a bit no matter what. It intimidated most people to have a girl tower over them like she did. It was one of the reasons Marshall had been abusive to her, he was fairly short and it made him feel better to beat up on her because of her height.

Stacy was a wolf thrope of unknown breed or region.

She had dark hair that flashed a little blue in the sunshine. Her fur was the same dark color except for white around her mouth and two little teardrops at the corners of her eyes. The white also continued down her chest, down the middle of her breasts and ended just shy of the inside of her knees, the last bit was a white tip at the end of her tail.

The thing that made her unique, and the thing that she hated most about her self, was the fact that she was a half-breed, a child conceived of a human and thropic pairing.

This meant that, where other thropes had muzzles, she had only the beginnings of one, her canine nose was a bit smaller then her full breed counter parts. She was completely covered by her fur at least, and her ears were on top of her head and quite fuzzy.

But it was quite obvious that she was not of full thropic blood.

She was dressed in long black jeans, they had many zippers crisscrossing them, providing access to a multitude of pockets and pouches. They flared out at the shoes as well, though they were not bell bottom's in fact they were closer to Goth pants then anything else, just not as intense. They tightened up at her hips, stopping them from falling off her. She wore her favorite shit today, for luck. It was the only thing she had of her former life, she had tried to throw it away many times, for it was the only memory she had of her father. She could sometimes even get close to remembering his scent if she held the shirt long enough.

She remembered a male figure, standing over her smiling and handing her the shirt, it had been a little big at 8, but she remembered wearing it all the time. Her daddy had given it to her and that meant it was special. She wished that she had the nerve to throw it away sometimes, but could never bring herself to do it. The shirt was black with the classic shield icon stitched out in white. Scrawled across the top were the words.

"ira semper exspecto."

And curving down under the bottom was the phrase.

"við gørð vélar sverð."

Stacy didn't know what the words meant; she could not even guess what the design sketched out inside the shield represented.

It was a metal encased hand, a gauntlet. It was punching straight up and clutched in its fist was some kind of knife pointing towards the top of the shield.

She thought that it might be an old band T-shirt or something. After all, if they were the kind of people who sold their daughter into the hands of someone like Marshall, they very well could have been drugged out losers.

Of course, now that she was older the shirt did not fit as well; in fact it looked like she was wearing a midriff even though the shirt was meant to be full length. So she wore a long sleeved white shirt underneath, making for a nice contrast in colors with her pants.

She had a somewhat slim frame; slightly curvaceous but caused by muscle rather than fat. Her breasts were not large at all. B cups if she was lucky and went to the right store, though the bright side of this was, in the day and age where large chested human women were the height of sexy she would be ignored in the sense of sexual attractiveness.

Sighing once again into her reflection, she grabbed up her fresh schoolbooks, put on her coat and walked out side to the bus stop. She knew that one of her old school friends, a raccoon named Kathy, had been in a similar situation to hers, only she had been in this backwater hic state for the past month and would at least know some things about the school.

The ride to the educational institute was not the worst she had ever been on, but it ranked up there. No one would look at her, but she could tell they were talking about her from the way they tried to lean away from where she was sitting. When the comically yellow vehicle pulled up outside the school, Stacy started to feel nervous. There might be people here like Marshall, people who wanted to hurt her just because they could.

Her rational mind said that that was highly unlikely, and that she was being a ditz for even thinking about it. Yet who amongst us is ever fully in control of our irrational mind?

Stacy was coming up with all sorts of vile horrible people in that building that were just waiting for her to walk in before they started committing the atrocities.

She was almost to the double doors, her mind running in over drive, when someone crashed into the back of her, crimping her tail up and knocking her to the ground.

She was immediately thrown back to the times Marshall had done this so he could rape her. She stayed in her position out of fear; butt in the air and arms out in front of her. The muscles in her anus starting to loosen up by long tried reflex, in anticipation of a penis being forced into her body against her will.

Instead there was some almost unintelligible cursing and then a hand was laid on her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Pardon me miss, I don't reckon I got my head on straight today, here let me give you a hand with those, looks to be a might heavy."

These words were spoken by a voice with a very pronounced drawling accent.

She looked up and into the face of the biggest human she had ever seen. He had to be at least 6"8ft, more likely 6"9ft or 6"10ft, and not only that, he was big every where. His hands were at least three times the size of hers and his forearms were as big around as her thighs. She stood up and he towered over her, not to mention all the others walking around them. He had her backpack in one hand and his in the other; he was standing there with the goofiest looking expression she had ever seen. It was a half smile with one of his eyebrows raised like he was laughing at some private joke.

He was wearing an old Black Sabbath (N.I.B) T-shirt and a pair of jeans that had green and gray stains on the front of the thighs. His eyes were a deep green in color and his mid length dirty blond hair was tied back in a neat tail high at the back of his skull. There were black streaks in his hair and on his face, and she wondered briefly if it was some kind of illness.

All of her observations took place in the course of about 3 seconds, for that was about how long it was before she got really pissed.

"Why don't you watch where the hell your going next time you fucking landmass!"

It took her all of a nano-second to realize that she shouldn't insult people before she knew the local social structure, especially if they were huge teenagers that looked like they could put their head through a wall and not feel it.

To her utter surprise, the huge boy, instead of being insulted, started to laugh.

Great ringing bellows of laughter rolled forth from his stomach, his voice was not so deep as to be annoying but was actually very well modulated for his size.

"HA! That's a new one, excellent! Say, you're the new girl right, the one from back east? Damn me but I think I'm going to like you! You got your schedule yet?"

Stacy shook her head automatically, not knowing quite what to make of a boy who not only shrugged at being insulted, but laughed at it.

"Well fuck, lets get going then! First bell's in like 3 minuets."

He slung their packs over his broad shoulders and stepped through the door, then started jogging down the hall towards the office.

Stacy stood for a second, then took off after him to try and get her books back.

What did he think he was doing with her goddamn books?!

Just when Stacy was about to shout for someone to help, he stopped and turned to face her, holding out her pack, he then walked through a door marked "Office".

Inside it looked perfectly normal, save for the pandemonium the other teenager seemed to cause by his mere presence alone. Several of the clerks assigned to the school to monitor thropic and human interaction at young ages, were huddled against the wall. Not cowering per say but close enough.

The elderly woman behind the desk however, (who looked to be about 90 if she was lucky) was unafraid of this giant of a teenager. She calmly looked up from her books into the smiling face of the boy, seeing the clerks were calming down a bit, she shook her head at him and started speaking.

"Do you have to cause a ruckus every time you walk through those doors? I swear boy ifin you don't stop that your gonna give me a heart attack one of these days."

"Lucy, you're more likely to get your self killed on that Two wheeled death trap of yours then I am to give you a heart attack. Now come on, we don't got a lot of time. This here is the new girl, you got her schedule?"

In response the elderly lady handed over a sheet of paper to Stacy, who had yet to say a word in the entire exchange.

"Thankee much Lucy, catch ya later."

And with that he grabbed Stacy's hand and towed her out the door.

Stacy felt like screaming, who the hell was this guy? He was acting like he knew her and being far too friendly for her traumatized feelings to be comfortable with.

Just as they were rounding the last bend on her map, the last bell rang.

"Shit! What's your first class?"

Instead of telling him to go fuck himself like she should have, she looked down at her schedule.

"English Lit." she replied.

"Good that's my first as well, here we are now."

They came to a closed door and peeked inside. Stacy could see that the class was already well under way and groaned inwardly. If only this jackass and his weird accent hadn't crashed into her then she wouldn't be late to her first class.

As she was reaching for the door handle, the strange boy forgotten, his hand shot out and stopped her.

"Hold on hold on, this is your first day right? You don't want to get a tardy slip on your first day, and this motherfucker would give it to you.

Just let me go in first, walk in right behind me and find a seat. He should be distracted enough by me that you should be fine. Ok? Here we go."

Before she had time to answer he had opened the door and was just being noticed by the teacher.

As the female human was tearing the tall boy a new one, Stacy took his advice and snuck into the classroom finding a lonesome seat at the back.

A few minuets and a janitorial service card later, they were all settled comfortably into their seats. The class passed rather quickly, and the entire time the strange boy never looked to her once.

An hour later they were released to go to their next classes. Stacy tried to get to the hulking teenager but could not reach him before he disappeared down the hallway.

Shaking her head at the strangeness of this place, she went about finding her next class.

The rest of the morning passed without incident, she went to her biological science and Pre-event history classes. The only thing she had to complain about was the way in which the science teacher looked at her like she was meant for a Petri dish. By the time the lunch bell rang she was well satisfied with her day, most of the natives were polite but uninterested in her or her history. This was a welcome surprise indeed, she was not sure what to say when asked about her past Yes, she would think of something but it was still uncomfortable.

By the time the lunch bell was rung Stacy was ready to take a break and talk to her friend Kathy.

As she walked into the lunchroom she had no plans to step into the cafeteria line. But as she walked past it Stacy became aware of the most delicious scent she had ever smelled.

She spotted Katy in the back of the line and sidled up behind her.

"Boo!"

She then had the pleasure of watching her friends ringed tail poof up along with the fur on her arms and face.

Admirably controlling her mirth, the half-breed girl commenced to catch up with her friend. They talked of inconsequential things and platitudes, until, that is, they came to the food display section. Grabbing trays, they were still out of sight of the source of those enticing aromas when Stacy asked what they were.

"Today's Thursday, that means it's brisket day!"

Visions of the pre-packaged shredded meat that could be found in stores back east danced through Stacy's head. She truly hated that kind of food, and was about to step out of the line when Kathy put a paw on her arm.

"I know what your thinking Hun, but things here are so much different then what we're used too, watch this."

Kathy walked up to the counter and began sweet-talking the old Mexican man behind the counter. He looked as though someone had staked him out in the hot sun for about 10 years, his face a road map of wrinkles and creases that, when he smiled showed them selves to be laugh lines. The trick Kathy was trying would never have worked on the lunch staff at home but within 3 minuets Kathy had two meals and three desserts.

"How the hell did you do that?!"

"It's just the way things are here, people like to be nice, and those that don't? Well they kind of get shunned. I've been seeing it a lot over the past month; a lot of kids are being transferred here for the orphan programs they offer. Most of em are jackasses and you can tell because no one talks to em."

Stacy let that one sink in for a while, this place was weird, no doubt about it. About half way through a delicious lunch of brisket and coleslaw, Stacy spotted the boy from her earlier misadventures. He was sitting at a table with 5 others, three humans and two thropes.

They all looked fairly in shape and not out of the ordinary at all, save for the fact they were eating lunch with a mountain. One of the thropes was male and the other was a female. The female thrope was feline of some type, while the other had black fur and was canine in origin. Two of the humans were obviously together, leaning on each other and stealing kisses when food did not occupy the others mouth. The girl had wavy brown hair and the boy had the brightest red hair Stacy had ever seen. The last human was dusky in appearance, probably Native American by his straight black hair.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves, and were laughing quite a bit.

Kathy noticed her interest and named the group of teenagers just as Stacy was about to ask.

"See those guys over there? They're kind of weird, most people don't talk to em much cause they are...well nerdy I guess is the best way to say it. See that big guy over there? His name is Colby Ulvherz, the little red headed guy is Zach Cunningham, and his girlfriend is Elian Miestes. The Fox's name, the one with the white ring on his tail is Marc Tapfer. The Indian dude is Thomas Bluecrow, and the other girl is a Jaguar by the name of Lucy F. Halaverez"

Stacy processed this information for a moment, why had he not told her his name?

Granted it was none of his business but it seemed oddly rude of someone from this sickeningly polite state.

"Why are they nerdy? They all seem normal to me. In fact they seem a little bit like jocks."

"I don't know, I haven't been here long enough to find out why, but that group gets avoided like the plague. I mean, it's like most of the normal cliques just pretend they're not even in existence, let alone in the same room with them.

I heard one of the other girls talking though, whatever the reason they get left alone she was talking about some kind of sports match in march. BUT! I looked on the school sports calendar and there aren't any sports matches in March. So, whatever it is that sets them apart must happen then."

"Whatever you say Kathy, you know what's going on better then I do."

The rest of the lunch hour went normally, no matter where one went, Stacy supposed. There would always be adolescents making tremendous amounts of noise in school.

As things were winding down, Stacy examined her schedule. It told her that she needed to go down the hall to the workshop.

She wished that she did not have to take shop class; she had wanted to take study hall time during this period. But she needed another elective and Home Economy was booked up. The prospect of learning which way was the proper way to hold a hammer for the next year and a half was not exiting but she would deal with it.

As she walked into the room a barrage of noise assaulted her sensitive Lupine ears. Cutting, banging, hacking, and pounding resounded throughout the room. The room was made up of two regular sized classrooms that had had the wall knocked out from between them, creating a double sized room for the Shop equipment. After shaking off her momentary disorientation, Stacy walked in and found her self an empty bench. Setting her pack underneath the worktable, she looked around for the teacher of this raucous class.

She was still looking when a hand landed on her shoulder. Stifling the urge to scream, Stacy whipped around to find a slightly freckled face smiling at her.

"Afternoon, my name's Zach. If I understand right you're the new girl?"

Stacy contemplated ignoring his implied query as to her name; his friend had failed to tell her his name after this morning's antics. However, her naturally polite nature forced her to reply to his unspoken question.

"Yeah, name's Stacy, if you have any new person jokes get em out of your system now cause I don't want to have to deal with them later."

"HA! Colby said you were a kick in the pants. So, you're taking shop class, any idea what you are interested in specifically?"

"What do you mean ‘Specifically'?"

"Well, see shop class is broken down into sections. We have Mechanical stuff, and non-mechanical stuff. Not to mention natural mediums like wood, glass and clay. It's kind of like high school arts and crafts. So are you especially interested in anything in particular?"

"Whatever, this is my first day, I just want to get through it and go home. Where's the teacher by the way?"

"Over there, by the power hammer."

Stacy followed his pointing finger and saw only the mountain of teenager that had been identified as one Colby Ulvherz.

"Where? I don't see him."

"The big guy using the acetylene torch on the piece of scrap metal."

"But that's...oh you have to be shitting me."

"No ma'am, our last teacher got called back to duty down on the boarder. And the school couldn't find another teacher willing to take the job."

"So why is a student teaching the god damn class!?"

"Well, Colby is damn good with his hands, and everybody in New Braunfels Texas knows it. He volunteered to be the instructor and the school agreed. Makes it easier for the school cause they don't have to pay him."

"...Fuck this is going to be hell."

"Whatever makes you say that?" Asked the red haired boy, a slight quizzical look plastered across his features.

"Look, just let me get on with this, and tell your buddies to stop bothering me. I catch enough shit from the thropes already, I don't need you adding to the load."

And with that Stacy walked away, forestalling any reply the lean boy might have had.

Instead of asking the "Instructor" what she should be doing, Stacy went over to the woodworking table.

She looked down at the alien tools with a grimace, this was something she had never been exposed to, and she had no clue as to the use of most of the objects on the table.

Figuring she may as well get started, Stacy picked up a block of balsa wood and a keyhole saw and set to work. She was impressed with how fast she cut through the block and assumed that by the end of the period she would have a small wooden horse to show for her efforts.

Stacy was sadly mistaken. By the end of the period she had ruined four small balsa blocks and her final product looked like the unholy union of a goat and a blender.

Others in the class had taken to staring at her frustrated attempts to curtail her project, some even going so far as to offer advice. But this had only made Stacy angrier, thinking that they were laughing at her behind her back.

As she walked out of the class she dropped her loathsome creation in the trash. She was probably supposed to keep it but she didn't care. The stares of the other teens were all she could think of at that moment.

The rest of her day was little better. She was constantly looking over her shoulder expecting to see people staring at her with ridiculing eyes.

In this assumption she was half right, and she knew it. That was why she had been so apprehensive about school in the first place, while humans may treat her with cool indifference, thropes were openly hostile to her, she represented the breaking of some silent agreement to segregate themselves from humans as much as possible. This included having children with them.

And so, by her very existence she was a pariah to half of her heritage.

The result being that everywhere she went, thropes were cruel to her, or at best passively aggressive.

It was lessened here somewhat, but she had no doubt that eventually they would make their feelings toward her known.

Stacy passed the rest of her day slowly. The rest of her classes were with Kathy but she was not of much help, always chattering about something and not paying attention when Stacy tried to speak.

At the end of the day Stacy was extremely glad that her first day had been a Friday. Now she did not have to worry about any of this shit, at least until Monday.

And so her days passed, school and her home the only places she saw. She refused to go to the store or out to the movies. Indeed, she refused all social interaction preferring to stay at home and listen to music while surfing the web.

This was her pattern and it brought her into the month of February.

She had decided that driving her car home was better then riding the bus that went out to the suburbs where she lived and so had stopped riding it. She was getting into her car after a particularly hellish day at school. The thropes had started putting foul smelling things into her locker, causing her books and positions to reek for most of the day.

As she got into her used Ford Pluto, she turned the engine only for the car to gasp, whine, clunk and die.

"Jesus fuck me sideways!" She screamed, starting to hit the steering wheel.

"Ok, it's ok, lets see. The battery is charged up I went to the charging station yesterday. None of the other gauges are showing anything wrong...damn it! What the hell is wrong with this thing!?"

Just as she was about to call her foster parents there came a ‘tap tap taping' on her window.

This caused her to nearly jump out of her skin. Turning, Stacy saw the smiling redheaded face of Zach Cunningham.

"Afternoon miss, I was just getting into my truck when I heard your car die. You wouldn't happen to need some help would you?"

"Fuck off! I can handle this myself!" she said as she got out of the car and popped the hood.

‘It's not like fixing a car is that hard' she thought to her self as she lifted the hood to try and locate the problem.

What greeted her was a mass of wires, components and large blocks that looked like they contained electrical equipment. At first she thought she would be unable to find the problem but she spotted it quickly. One of the large black cases in the center of the engine compartment was split almost in two. There was a large black streak on the wires in front of the breach and viscous ooze was leaking from it in great quantities.

Stacy knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was no temp fix for this. She would need to take it to a mechanic or dealer to have it fixed and it would probably cost her an arm and her tail to pay off the bill.

God damn it, why did this shit always happen to her? Why couldn't she catch a break once in a while?

Her musings were interrupted by a low whistle from over her left shoulder.

"Whew! Doesn't look good does it? You sure I can't give you a hand with this?

I know a repair shop just outside of town, they do good work and sometimes even give students a discount."

Stacy was about to cuss him off again when she caught her self short. If what he said was true then she couldn't let it pass. Her foster family could not afford to fix a car right now, and if she could fix it without bothering them she would take every chance she could.

"Fine but listen, I need to get home soon so just leave it here for tonight so I can catch the bus. And you better be on the level jerk, otherwise your going to be walking with a permanent limp."

The redheaded boy smiled and slammed the hood of her car. He started to throw his head back in laughter but stopped mid way through when he saw the look anger and impatience in her eyes.

Deciding that he should explain his mirth he launched into speech.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just that I forgot that you aren't from around here is all. Tell you what, the earlier we get it to them the faster you can have it back. How about I give you a lift over to the garage so you can drop off the keys, then I can take you home and they can come get your car. How does that sound?"

Stacy was mulling this over in her head. If she called home and told them she would be out a little late, but letting them know who she was with then this guy couldn't rape her, cut her throat and toss her body without it coming back to haunt him.

For a moment a small piece of her mind scolded her for thinking about this boy that way.

But then memories of Marshall plunging his maleness into her ass and beating her when she got home from school came to her mind. Maybe not all men were like that but she was fairly certain that all human men would do the same things given the chance.

None of them looked at her with anything but lust in their eyes and malice in their hearts.

Shaking the bad memories from her head she agreed (albeit sullenly) to accompany the boy to the garage. And while he called ahead to let them know he was coming she flipped out her cell and left a message on the house phone.

After they had made their respective calls, Zach led Stacy over to his old pickup. Stacy was surprised to see that it was indeed very very old, so old in fact that it still ran entirely on gasoline. Whereas most vehicles nowadays ran on electricity or, in a pinch, kerosene.

"What's up with the old truck? Didn't have enough money to buy something good?"

Asked Stacy as she climbed into the older vehicle, intending to be snide.

Zach Cunningham however, was not fazed, he replied very calmly to her intended sarcasm.

"Naw, I prefer the older models, they're FAR easier to get fixed and they aren't as susceptible to electronics failure. So, whereabouts am I going to drop you off after you take em the keys?"

"Over off of San Cristo is fine, I live on Willow street."

"But willow is a good mile from San Cristo! I can take you up to your road if you want, I even promise not to watch you walk home. That's what your worried about isn't it? That I'm some kind of slasher and you don't want me to know where you live?"

Stacy merely nodded her head abashedly. She was a bit embarrassed that he had guessed her reasoning but would not apologize for it. She didn't know this boy and she had no defense other then her teeth and nails if he wanted to try something.

While his passenger plotted her escape from non-existent danger, Zach drove his old truck out one of the county roads until the signs of civilization started to dim.

Just before they got to the very edge of town he turned into the service station marked by a sign baring a large picture of an anvil. The place of business was divided into two separate buildings, one small one with a welcome sign out front and a large one with four garage bay doors, two of which were open to allow cool air to breeze through the hot work space.

Parking the car he got out and led the still wary figure of Stacy to the smaller of the buildings, which contained the reception counter.

As they approached the counter Stacy that there was a sign posted atop it.

It read that all the workers were next door in the garage.

The repair shop was separated from the reception building by a short covered walkway. At the other end was a door with the words "Enter if ye dare" scrawled across it in what appeared to be old engine oil. Snorting at the book pun Stacy opened the door and, unbeknownst to her. Stepped into a chain of events that would change her life.

The first impression she got was the loud music that was blaring from the speakers mounted along the 20ft vaulted ceiling. She was so surprised by the old style of rock & roll that the name of the song escaped her.

(Black Betty)

All along the walls were large shelves stacked with all sorts of mechanical parts and such. Tools hung from pegs and two big car lifts were situated in front of two of the big garage bay doors. Above the sound of the old music could be heard the whine of an air powered torque wrench loosening bolts. The third bay had a large, narrow pit situated in the middle of it, there was currently a fairly new car parked over the pit and Stacy could see the shoe clad feet of a human sticking out from under the rear of the vehicle.

The redheaded boy she came here with lead her around one of the lifts, which currently held a pick up truck within it's grasp. Then up to the rear of the car where the feet were located. She was struck by how much these legs looked like they had been severed and placed there and was sent into a fit of silent giggles.

As the furred female composed her self, Zach took the opportunity to kick one of the appendages, initiating a flurry of movement and cussing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Don't sneak up on a guy like that! You could get them killed! And another thi-" the tirade stopped abruptly when the deep tan skin of one Thomas Bluecrow appeared from underneath the sedan.

"Oh! Sorry Cap, didn't know it was you. What's the matter, That old smoker giving you problems? You know we can fix her up to run off electric if you want, all you got to do is ask."

"Naw she's runnin fine, thanks for the offer though. I came cause this lady's car died this afternoon in the school parking lot and we were wondering if you could tow it around and have a look at it?"

The native teenager looked over at Stacy's silent form, his dark eyebrows nearly climbed the long trek to his hairline as he whistled softly.

Stacy immediately bristled, she did not have to stay here and be insulted! By god she could call a cab to come get her if that's what it took, but she knew enough about her own looks to know when she was being mocked.

Zach seemed to sense the train of her thoughts and cut of her angry exclamation before it left her shortened muzzle.

"WELL! I should probably tell you the make, model and everything else before you guys go get it huh?"

"Yeah that'll be fine. How old is it? Are we going to have to fabricate anything?"

Stacy's anger dissipated as they started talking about things she knew nothing about. As they rambled on, bending over an auto book. Stacy let her mind wander; the subtle smells that pervaded all places were not present here. There was little or no fear scent, but that might just be the smell of grease and oil covering it up.

Anger was very much present but she could imagine all the times someone had banged a thumb or gotten frustrated at a particularly stubborn bolt would have caused that.

Stacy did not usually pay attention to the smells her sensitive lupine nose picked up; it would have given her one hell of a headache if she did. But here, under all the chemicals, sweat and oil there was a profound happiness present throughout the whole shop. She had been with Marshall to a mechanic's shop once, but it had been nothing like this. That place had been all sterilized cleanliness and automated perfection. The mechanics had operated machines that worked on the vehicles, not crawled under them themselves to get there hands dirty.

She was, despite her self, coming to like this place, even though the hem of her flared pants was picking up oil stains.

While the two boys were discussing her beleaguered vehicle, Stacy went on a self-guided tour of the mechanic shop. Pneumatic tools and pieces of scarp littered some of the tables, assembly areas she guessed. Other workbenches had parts in various stages of completion, some looked as if they could be inserted into a car right then and there, while others were no more then molded bits of metal with screws and bolts littering their immediate area.

There was an area with entire engine blocks held in slings with parts or in some cases, entire sections of the engine removed in order to affect repair.

As she examined the partially disassembled form of a newer electric turbine engine, her sensitive lupine ears twitched to the sound of a ratcheting (whiirrr) sound. Followed by a muffled ringing clang. Stacy swiveled her triangular ears, attempting to locate the strange sound, her earlier disgruntled reluctance replaced by an inquisitive curiosity.

The lupine girl followed this strange sound towards the back of the shop, away from the bickering tones of the two friends as the discussed her car. There was a door at the back and she opened it and left the grease and oil aroma of the shop for the smell of coal, hot metal and burning soap.

‘Burning soap?' she thought to herself. ‘Why would there be burning soap out here?'

Then it occurred to her that there might be a fire. Mind switching to emergency mode, Stacy ran out from under the over hang over the door, Stacy turned around the corner of the building she caught her self short as she found the source of the strange sounds.

Attached to the side of the building was a large out door shop area, many workbenches were littered with strange tools Stacy had never seen before. There were vices, clamps and twisted, curling tools that she could not discern the purpose of. There was a large metal tank off to the side, about 8ft tall with flammable warning stickers all across the side. Next to that was a wooden box about two feet taller then the tank, at 5ft square whatever it held, it held a lot of it.

Though there were no walls, there was a roof over most of the tables and work areas, in addition there was a small, shed like building butted up against the sheet metal of the mechanic's shop. There were tiny windows but Stacy couldn't see through them, they were clouded over with blackish green smoke. Next to the building were several different containers filled with water, some long, shallow, narrow and made of metal. While others looked like nothing more then large wooden barrels cut in half.

On the other side of the small structure were a few similar constructions only they were on fire.

Well, maybe not on fire she corrected herself, though they certainly held fire within their confines, it looked very controlled and purposeful to her eyes.

Long, open trays and 2ft square open toped boxes. Some of them were connected via hoses and pipes to smaller versions of the large tank, while others had different kinds of small, turbine like devices near or attached to them. There was even a stone box that she recognized as a kiln.

The whole scene looked rather like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.

As she stood there taking in the scene, she also heard the noises that had drawn her here in the first place start up again from inside the shed. Walking over to the doorway, Stacy saw the hunched over form of Colby Ulvherz, wearing welders goggles and in the process of lifting a crucible from within the glowing innards of a mound of ignited coal. The coal was set into one of those 2ft open boxes she had seen, there was a hose underneath that led to a circular contraption with a crank handle.

Within the crucible was bright, glowing molten metal, hissing and spitting like an angered Feline thrope, throwing sparks and slag from the sides of its container. The large teen held the burning metal cup with a pair of long tongs, making sure that his movements were slow and steady lest he spill some of the dangerous contents.

He wore a T-shirt despite the cold outside, he even had the sleeves rolled up past his shoulders, in addition to the goggles he had on a thick leather apron with pockets all around the front of the hem, as well as a thick welders glove on his left hand to protect it from any stray metal.

He did not seem to notice her standing in the doorway of his shop, his attention fully focused on the task he was performing. As she watched he brought the crucible over the top of a mold, a funnel had already been inserted in the top of the formed sand and oil mixture.

Pouring the metal into the mold slowly but at a constant pace, it took no more then half a minuet to insure that the form had been filled to it's capacity, there was still a little bit left in the crucible so Colby poured it into the catch bowl, letting it harden so he could store it for later reuse.

Colby raised one bulky forearm to his brow and wiped away some of the sweat that had gathered there, as he did so he pulled the round and heavily tinted eye protection from his face. Once his eyes were exposed to the light without the protective hindrance he saw Stacy standing at the doorway of his shop, her flared pants just brushing the raised threshold of the entry way. Stacy had to hold back a peal of laughter at his reaction, upon seeing her furred form he leapt about a foot in the air and started babbling. She noticed the first thing he did was to pull a cover over another of the fireboxes in the corner. Stacy just had time to glimpse a length of glowing metal within it's depths before the insulating cover was drawn over it.

"Oh hey! Um, yeah uh, hi how's it going? Haven't seen you in a while, are you settling in OK? Not having to much trouble finding your way around are you?"

Stacy had an instant urge to ask him what business of his it was but she stifled it. It appeared that this over grown jerk worked here and if he was to be working on her car she didn't want to piss him off. What was that phrase that he had heard some of the locals say? Oh yeah ‘don't insult the barber while he's still holding the scissors.' Besides, he was actually pretty funny to watch when he was flustered.

"Well, I was doing fine until my car died, what's his face, Zach said that you guys would at least look it over for me at no charge. I don't have a lot of cash but I need to know what's wrong with it before I even think about repairs.'

"Well sure, I don't think that'll be a problem, is it still over at the school lot?"

he asked with obvious relief at having a subject to talk about.

"Yeah it's still at the lot, Zach and that other guy are inside talking about it right now.

So, what is all this? It looks like a mad scientist's lair gone hillbilly."

At this the large young man grew visibly self conscious, his face turning red underneath the streaks of black that Stacy now recognized to be coal smudges.

"Well, some of the parts we need aren't made anymore, so I mix metals and cast what we have to use. Some of the alloys need to be isolated so they can set for a while, that's why we have the shop here."

"Well ok, but how do you know how to do this in the first place?"

again the teenager blushed, as if her very presence was causing him discomfort.

"My pop was a mechanic in the navy, one of his crew mates was a blacksmith and got dad interested in the craft. He's been smithing for on to 35 years now, so I kinda grew up on iron and steel. I got my Journeyman's certificate last year, but if you ask me they don't want anyone under 25 getting a master's license. I don't really mind though, it gives me more time to practice and get better at other things besides making blades."

"Blades?" asked Stacy, tall ears perking forward in curiosity, her tail curling around her leg as she listened to him speak, her annoyance at Colby forgotten in the face of the conversation.

Colby rubbed the back of his neck, he must not be very good at talking to people, Stacy observed to her self. That might explain his strange behavior the day they had first met.

"Yeah blades, I'm a blade smith, I make knives, mostly for people in town, some military folk and one catalogue, I even made a few custom long blades for troopers going to fight on the border. It's time consuming though and I hate to charge em for what the blades are really worth cause they wouldn't be able to pay it. I'd rather be out some cash than see one of those guys go to fight with inferior edges ridding at their sides. So I do mechanic stuff and odd jobs for money. Unless I get an order for something in particular."

Stacy realized that this was why the school had jumped at the chance to have Colby teach the shop class. He was apparently very good at such activities.

"So, think you can fix my car? I kinda need it but I don't have much cash."

"Aw, I wouldn't worry to much, if it's too expensive we could work out a payment plan or something. Heck, if Thomas is agreeable we might actually have a part time job available if your interested. Clerical stuff mostly, we're both damn horrible at it but it needs to be done. You know, filing, sorting and tracking down of documents, that kind of thing."

Stacy looked at the large boy, Colby. She realized she should at least call him by his name, and frowned.

Was it her imagination or had he sounded just a bit eager for her to accept his offer? She was contemplating this when he, assuming her silence was one of rejection, spoke up again.

"Course you don't have to accept it or anything, not like we would force you to do anything you didn't want to. But I'd sure be grateful if you'd help us out, it's down right torture for me or Thomas, and everybody else has refused saying we needed to learn a lesson."

"Oh really?" Stacy found herself saying. "What kind of lesson?"

Colby smiled a little furtively.

"A lesson in filling I guess!"

Stacy nearly snorted at the horrible pun, but she didn't. This Colby person was far to, friendly for her liking. She had never been around someone so sure of himself, yet so awkward at the same time. It was quite interesting to see the range of emotions play across his human features, her tail waving slowly behind her, her ears pricked forward Stacy was not letting her emotional guard down just because some cock threw a few bad puns on the ground for her to giggle over. She always wondered what kind of person she would have turned out to be if Marshall had not bought her, if she had had a proper family instead of a rapist and abuser for her parental figure.

Stacy threw off thoughts of her erstwhile tormentor, this was the here, this was the now. She had a life to attempt to live and she would be damned if mere memories of past torment would drag her back into the little spite filled husk of a person she had been.

"Yeah sure, I'll do your filling. BUT, you won't charge me a cent to fix my car? Got it? I'll clean up your files, you clean up my car. Deal?" she said, raising her right hand out to the young man and staring him in the eyes.

Stare em in the eyes, they hate that if they're lying, they hate you looking at them when they deceive you.

Stacy had learned this with Marshall, when he had told her he would someday let her go her merry way.

Stacy looked into Colby's green eyes and as he spoke and was met with his level gaze.

"It's a deal ma'am, and consider part of it my apology for putting you through the ringer on your first day, I was in a bit of a rush myself and wasn't thinking straight.

Oh! Damn, there I go again, losing my manners; I haven't even introduced my self yet! My name's Colby Ulvherz. It's a pleasure to meet you miss...?

"Stacy, just...Stacy."

She was not going to tell this stranger her history, and Stacy was certainly not going to give ‘Whinehiemer' as her surname. That was just to much for her to be comfortable with.

"Cool, Stacy uh? Well all right then, how about if you start tomorrow after school. Unless you had something else going on that was more important?"

"No, I didn't have anything planned. What time tomorrow?"

"Say 4:30? It doesn't matter really when you come in as long as you can get it clean!"

"Whatever" She said, rolling her eyes at his earnestness,

"See you tomorrow"

With that she turned away and walked back into the shop. From there she had Zach take her home, she walked in, ignoring her stomach's protests for food, and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Stripping of her clothes down to her bra and panties she hopped into her bed and fell asleep without any dinner. And, although she would never admit it, she was actually looking forward to the next day's events.

As it Turned out the next day was hardly any different then any of the ones past. Save for the fact that Stacy took the bus again. This opened her up to abuse from the fully thropic classmates that also took the bus, but she was resigned to this until she got her car back.

After school Zach took her to the garage again, when she entered she found her car already up on one of the racks with parts strewn about it in a wide circle.

"Don't worry about her, we'll have you back on the road in no time flat."

Thomas said with a grease-smudged grin.

Zach informed her that Colby, Thomas and he had to be somewhere, but that Elian, Zach's Girl friend would stay to mind the shop and make sure Stacy was ok.

She felt a twinge of anger, stemming from a thought that they left her with someone to make sure she didn't steal anything. She quashed this though as they had her car. Therefore insuring she was not going to steal anything.

When Stacy was shown the filing room she openly gaped. It looked as if this room hadn't seen the light of day since before the event, papers towered from floor to ceiling in teetering stacks. Filing cabinets were jammed to overflowing and there was a cardboard ziggurat in the middle of the open space.

Elian (whom Stacy was taking a liking to) informed her that this used to be operated by Zach's parents, but that a few years ago they had passed the shop on to him and that since then he had done fine in the work part of the business but had done virtually nothing on the paper work end of things.

"You want some help in here hun? I love those boys to death but when it comes to this kind of thing they don't have a handle on things."

"Thanks Elian, that's great of you to offer, maybe just today? That way I can get on top of things for the rest of the time I'm here."

"No problem Stacy."

They worked until 8:00 that night when Elian called a halt lest they be there till dawn.

Stacy got Elian to give her a ride home and the next day she went at it again.

This repeated for a few more days, each time Colby, Zach Thomas and Marc, were nowhere to be found. But Elian and Lucy would often come by to check on her or keep her company. She saw her car being slowly stripped of all it's inner workings which disturbed her slightly, she knew that they needed to get to where the problem was but seeing her engine in pieces on the floor was still disturbing.

One time, on Thursday, when she was sitting in Spanish class attempting to inform someone "there were no eggs here" Colby walked in 20 minuets late. He looked as though he had fallen out of the ugly tree, hit all the branches on the way down, been run over by the ugly cart and then hit by the ugly stick so hard that it knocked him back up the tree. His face was covered in scratches and gouges and there was a long singe mark over his right eye. He had huge dark circles under his eyes, which were bloodshot and drooping. It looked like he had not showered in a few days and his shirt was on backwards.

He walked up o the teacher and handed her an exemption slip then stumbled back down the rows of desks until he reached his and collapsed into it. Almost the second his rear hit the wood his head was on the table snores emanating from beneath his folded arms. Elian leaned over and jabbed him in the ribs, when this gained no response she hit him over the head with her binder. This got his attention and he stayed awake for the rest of the class.

This was not the only incident that day, as she was sitting down to lunch, by herself as Kathy was out sick, she pondered the facts about Colby's strange appearance. It looked as though he had been in a fight of some kind...with a wolverine but she had not heard of anything like that happening. Today's lunch was Ham and eggs, that was one thing you could say for Texas she supposed, they served good school food. The only bad thing was the banana pudding; she was allergic to bananas so she had to skip dessert. The lunch man had been kind about not putting any of it on her plate and that had raised her spirits somewhat, she had become quite fond of the old Mexican man and his quiet somber calmness. As she pondered this, a male fox thrope walked up behind her, he stood there for a moment waiting to see if Stacy had noticed him. When he was certain she had not he took his bowl of pudding and held it high above her plate and began to slowly drain it's contents onto her food. Stacy just sat there, rising to his bait would just encourage them. It looked as though it was vending machine lunch for her today.

"What's a matter half breed you don't like bananas? Aww, well that's...too...bad?

As the young man had begun to speak Stacy was looking straight ahead lest either she do something rash or anyone saw the unshed tears that had welled in her eyes. Why couldn't people just leave her be?

So it was with her facing forward that she received a shock when her bench bowed dramatically under someone's weight.

She looked to her left and saw Colby sitting next to her, still looking like something the proverbial cat dragged in, only now he looked pissed as well.

"Look at this Ryan, you seemed to have accidentally spilled your pudding on the lady's food, I'm sure you'll be a gentleman and offer her your plate to make up for it right?"

As he said this he reached across Stacy's body and grabbed the fox boy's tray from nerveless fingers and replacing it with the pudding covered plate. He set the new tray in front of Stacy but continued to glare at her would be tormentor.

"Don't you have somewhere to be like, nowish?"

Colby practically growled this last statement, and his normally pleasantly deep voice took on a buzz saw edge that had the fur on the back of Stacy's neck standing at attention. The fox lad beat a very hasty retreat to say the least, his bushy tail so far between his legs it was probably tickling his colon.

Stacy's natural politeness kicked in before she remembered her animosity towards him and she thanked him for his help.

"Aw, don't worry about it, jackasses like that only try to pull shit when they don't think they'll catch any shit for it. You just have to hit em one the nose a few times to make em see that being petty aint worth the blood loss."

He said with a tired smile, his eyes already drooping. He continued smiling as his head touched the table, eyes closing and falling asleep with his lunch still uneaten.

Lucy sat next to her on the other side and started eating, despite her better judgment she asked why he looked so beaten up.

"It's an ROTC thing, he has to stay awake and do normal day stuff in addition to drills for like, 74 hours. Makes me glade I'm in the mechanic corps, those ground pounders are crazy."

She said this while jabbing him with a fork to induce wakefulness.

"What's ‘ROTC'? Stacy asked.

"Well, it's kinda changed since the event. It used to be like a junior officer training program for kids that wanted to get a jump start in the military. Now it's changed into an excuse to teach kids too young to join the army how to fight before basic training, it also let's you start advancing in the branch of the military you've chosen before you join. So like, ranks in ROTC translate to a higher rank and pay grade once you're eligible to join up."

"So it's like, Junior military?"

"Yeah pretty much, there are a lot of splinter groups nowadays with all the newer ways of fighting, like, the SPECT group is all tech warfare stuff, not a gun to be seen in that organization,"

Colby raised his head from the table to interject into the conversation that it was his opinion that those instructors that were to viscous to be in basic training camps were sent to ROTC stations to ply their trade.

"So you guys are in this ROTC? That's why you look like you got into a fight with a lawn mower?"

"No, I look like that right now because we were doing a Thermite drill and Cap fumbled it, damn near burned my head off, if it weren't for the helmets we have to wear my brain would have a lot better ventilation."

"Sorry if it sounds like I'm intruding, but what branch are you going into?"

Asked Stacy, curios despite herself, he really wasn't so bad once he calmed down.

"Well I wanted to join the marines but I can't pass the swim test, so I went into the junior army. Our officer out here is Lt. Col Jonathan Williams and he takes a close look at all of the kids who come in. There are a lot of fast start programs that we can go into after the age of 15 and I joined this happy little group here. our acronym is SABRE which stands for Specialized Anti-projectile Battle Research and Execution.

If you ask me they just made up a name that would fit with their cool acronym. Anyway, about two years ago the Col. Was watching one of our matches and he thought that Marc and me were Ranger martial so we got put into the junior ranger program. That's why we have to stay awake, it's a ranger test."

After that longwinded speech Colby fell onto his food with a vengeance. After that Lucy started to fill in the blanks that Colby left out in his story.

When he spoke of matches he had referred to that which Kathy had alluded to on her first day, why the group was considered strange within the school, different paramilitary and youth military groups had contests to test them selves and try and improve their training methods. SABRE had a tendency to forgo guns and other ranged weapons in favor of close combat, this was fine if they were facing another group like them, such as the Society for Creative Anachronisms. In such cases they have to contests or "Matches", one with normal combat using paint markers and another match using just martial weapons.

Lucy then went on to better define who did what in the squad. Most of them were actually going into different branches of the military. She was joining the navy as a field medic and Zach had a spot as a Lieutenant grade 2 when he reached enlistment age next year. Elian was not in SABRE but she was Zach's girl friend and friends with the others besides. Thomas planned to join the army as a mechanic, while Colby and marc were joining the army together. Apparently marc and Colby were usually joined at the hip, which most people found odd considering their obvious differences, Marc being a black fox that barely reached 5,5 ft tall and Colby with his tanned skin, sun bleached hair and monstrous height. You would never picture them as being close friends but you would be wrong.

As of right then within their chapter of SABRE, Zach was the captain and Colby held the rank of Sgt. Major. The others held ancillary positions depending on what was happening.

Friday for example was their first match of the season, a non-ranged match against the local SCA chapter, there was apparently little love lost between the two groups and it was expected that there would be a few injuries. There were about 6 other members of SABRE within the district but they went to other schools so Stacy had not met them.

Colby raised his head from it's place about 2 inches above his plate, food debris still clung to his 3 day old beard shadow, not the most appealing sight to say the least.

"You should come check out the match Stacy, I don't know if you'd like it but it's violent and you're a teenager so it should appeal to you on some level. We can get you in free cause you're a friend, no worries!"

Just then the end of lunch tone sounded from the speakers, they had to rush and finish their respective meals before they became tardy. Stacy didn't have any more classes with the kids from SABRE that day, but she felt as if she was surrounded by their presence non-the less. No one made fun of her or snickered at her in the hall. Nothing was thrown at her, no one tried to pull her tail and no one made fun of her baggy pants. But most of all the rest of her day was good because now, she had people that didn't want anything from her, save her friendship.

That same day, unbeknownst to Stacy thousands of miles away in Washington a clandestine meeting was being held over a secure web server. As the meeting started attendees joined the virtual chat, they saw the logo that had by then become synonymous with guile in their minds. It was a stylized rendition of an eye, but the pupil had been replaced with an effigy of the globe. Their organization watched over the world.

"Before we bring up other matters of business ladies and gentlemen I'd like to address a recent occurrence that has just come to my attention. It appears that has been imprisoned and is slated for interrogation and execution, something must be done about this soon lest our efforts in this area come too an abrupt and...unsavory end. Suggestions?" The man with the cultured Boston accent asked the assembly at large. "It appears sir, that your information is somewhat out of date, Mr. [CODE NAME ZYPHER] is already dead, he was killed by his cell mates not 2 days ago, apparently even convicted felons still harbor patriotism within their bones. As for his main duty I know not, perhaps Ms. [CODE NAME APHRODITY] has a suggestion for us?" "Yes I believe I do, we already have the perfect instrument to handle this situation, it will take him but a few months to be in a perfect position to strike. I suggest we contact Mr. [CODE NAME ZYPHER]'s brother, Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON]. We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?" "At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability." Very well, contact Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME-ZYPHER] has been imprisoned and is slated for interrogation and execution, something must be done about this soon lest our efforts in this area come too an abrupt and...unsavory end. Suggestions?"

The man with the cultured Boston accent asked the assembly at large.

"It appears sir, that your information is somewhat out of date, Mr. is already dead, he was killed by his cell mates not 2 days ago, apparently even convicted felons still harbor patriotism within their bones. As for his main duty I know not, perhaps Ms. [CODE NAME APHRODITY] has a suggestion for us?" "Yes I believe I do, we already have the perfect instrument to handle this situation, it will take him but a few months to be in a perfect position to strike. I suggest we contact Mr. [CODE NAME ZYPHER]'s brother, Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON]. We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?" "At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability." Very well, contact Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME ZYPHER] is already dead, he was killed by his cell mates not 2 days ago, apparently even convicted felons still harbor patriotism within their bones. As for his main duty I know not, perhaps Ms. has a suggestion for us?" "Yes I believe I do, we already have the perfect instrument to handle this situation, it will take him but a few months to be in a perfect position to strike. I suggest we contact Mr. [CODE NAME ZYPHER]'s brother, Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON]. We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?" "At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability." Very well, contact Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME APHRODITY] has a suggestion for us?"

"Yes I believe I do, we already have the perfect instrument to handle this situation, it will take him but a few months to be in a perfect position to strike. I suggest we contact Mr. 's brother, Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON]. We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?" "At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability." Very well, contact Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME ZYPHER]'s brother, Mr. . We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?" "At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability." Very well, contact Mr. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME TYPHON]. We have already promised him the Continual Pulse emitter, this would be the perfect time for him to have a chance to test it, when can it and therefore he, be ready?"

"At the outside, 5 months...that is within operational acceptability."

Very well, contact Mr. and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol." "it shall be done." They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis. "We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth." Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?" We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man." "..." "How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?" "No more than a year." "very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months." "It shall be done." But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day. She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good. The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer. All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him. The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult. He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on. He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying. "Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants! So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!" Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here. "I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?" "I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!" "Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-" "What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot." During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it. There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult. "Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two. Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete? And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?" Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded. Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side. As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear. "If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this." As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard. As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion. "Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?" "No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed." "Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self." "Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat." He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things. "That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt." "Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home." "...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system." "You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!" "Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!" "Naw just messin with you." One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right. Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics. Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible. So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence. Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well. The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage. The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design. Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness. Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots. Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance. His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that. She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon. As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip. Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out. "Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?" "Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue." Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions. The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district. Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible. As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face. The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass. Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family. All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically. Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face. He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people. After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field. The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge. "I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!" Zach instantly rose to the barb. "Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!" "Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?" Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest. "I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?" "...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?" "I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!" "! But wait i-" That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach. This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag- And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates. There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self. Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating. "Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang." Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby. "Yeah that would be great, thanks." He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time. The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss. The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear. When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard. She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't. "Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction." "Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?" "I've never been camping before." "...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?" "Yeah." "Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em." " I don't have the hiking boots." "Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?" "I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking." She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down. Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine." She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness. What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it. This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death. Maddox De Lafronux[CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME TYPHON] and tell him to start his preparations, start manufacturing information about his area of operations to standardized protocol."

"it shall be done."

They then chanted as one, as if in some kind of sick, twisted symbiosis.

"We protect all, for the glory of ARGUS we watch over the earth."

Now back to the matters at hand, I hear that there is a new anti tobacco activist making...unpleasant enquiries into the source of our tobacco front's supplier?"

We are not worried about him, we are concerned about the secretary of state, he appears to be listening to the man."

"..."

"How soon can we have a replacement brought into a favorable light with the populace?"

"No more than a year."

"very well, I want a new secretary of state within 6 months."

"It shall be done."

But Stacy did not know of such dire machinations, she simply enjoyed her day of grief free school and came home to a quite, hot steamy bubble bath. Stereotype or not, they pictured girls this way in movies for a reason she thought to her self. It felt damn good after a long day.

She would go in to the shop tomorrow and pick up her car, it had been difficult but a few weeks worth of work and she had cleaned up that hideous back room almost entirely. All that was let were a few filling cabinets to go through and then she would be done. Her car was fixed, thropes were leaving her alone at school and her foster parents were letting her go about her life with few interruptions. Life was good.

The next day there was a sense of tension in the air, the SCA team had arrived by bus the night before and were already on the football field preparing for the match. It would take place on the football field for several reasons, chief among them the fact that the football field was equipped with the latest magnetic buffers To help prevent player injury during the more "vigorous" games. similar to the armor that frontlines soldiers wore to deflect common slug based projectiles only far less powerful than the front line models. They were little black boxes that transmitted a signal to the magnets under the turf. They could be attached to pads or uniforms and would signal the magnets to repel the metal inside other players padding. This helped to prevent serious injury and was also perfect for close combat practice like this. The two teams would use real weighted weapons that had been blunted for extra safety. They would were the transmitters on their person and if when a blow was landed that the computer calculated would have been deadly force in a real life scenario, an alarm would blare and the scoreboard would display that person as KIA and add another point to his killer.

All in all it was very cool, at least from Stacy's perspective. She had to admit that she was looking forward to watching the match. Although she told her self that it was only because she wanted to watch Colby get the tar beaten out of him.

The only disturbance before the match was caused by one of the other new students, a brown bear who was on the football team, he came from back east somewhere and acted like he owned the school and all it's inhabitants. Stacy tended to ignore him but when he dominated a hallway she needed to use it was a little difficult.

He was shouting about something, but Stacy couldn't understand what. He stopped about 7ft from her and she could hear him clearly enough to get the gist of what was going on.

He grabbed one of the younger kids, a somewhat geeky boy who had pictures of the latest "Wizards and Wastelands" books on his backpack. The new boy, who's name was Will shoved the younger male up against the wall and shouted again, this time she could make out what he was saying.

"Are you Zach fucking C? No? then where the fuck is he huh? I think your him an yous just don't feel like telling me eh? Well I gots new fo ya redneck, I'm gonna find him an teach him a lesson no matta what he wants!

So where the fuck are you Zach C?! I gots somtin to discuss wit ya!"

Stacy looked back over her shoulder to see Zach standing there with a deep scowl on his face. Apparently he did not approve of what was going on here.

"I'm Zach Cunningham, are you looking for me?"

"I'm lookin fo the raggedy ass fuck who took our practice time slot on the field today, is that you ya dosy motherfuck?!"

"Why yes it is, do you have a time issue? I'm sure we can work it ou-"

"What are you? Some kind of idiot? You don't take the football teams practice slot EVA. There's bad things happen if ya do. And since ya did that I guess ya MUST be an idiot."

During this will's football buddies were slowly inching away from their erstwhile captain, they knew the outcome in advance and had no wish to partake in it.

There was a pause as will, not the brightest bulb in the box, took time to admire his cutting insult.

"Hmm? Oh were you finished insulting me? Then that must mean it's my turn to ask you a question and then answer it. Since I went second I think I'll do two.

Number one, do you know why the school walls are made out of sheetrock and not concrete?

And two, were you breast fed as a child you shit-sniffing son of twice used whore? Or are you just naturally that much of a dumbfuck?"

Will gave a cry of indignation and ran at Zach, Stacy was concerned for the smaller human, he had non of the bear's natural advantages and as much smaller than his attacker. Her concerns however turned out to be unfounded.

Zach waited until Will threw his first running punch, a right hook. He then brought his own right arm up from his side I a twisting motion, wrapping it around Will's and turning it upside down. From there he brought his trailing left foot around in a slide behind him to the right. His left hand shot up and wedged it's self behind the bear's shoulder. The combination of the pulling right arm, the pushing left hand and the body torque of the sliding foot brought the bear male of balance and around behind and to Zach's left, headfirst into the nearest wall. He hot with the force of his own rush and Zach's body weight transferred into torque this turned out to be quite substantial as his head penetrated the sheet rock and lodged on the other side.

As the bear stood bent over at the waist, head stuck in the wall Zach leant over and said into his ear.

"If I ever see you lay hands on another student again I'm keeping this."

As he said it he tweaked the still trapped arm just enough to let the other boy now it was just shy of becoming a health hazard.

As Zach let go of the bear and stood up the schools dedicated hall monitor showed up, no doubt alerted by all the commotion.

"Mr. Cunningham, what's all the ruckus about? You're not causing a disturbance this soon before your match are you?"

"No sir, I was just showing Will here one of the moves that we are likely to encounter today, I'm afraid we got a bit carried away and the poor guy's head wound up in the wall, I think he should be sent to the nurse just to make sure he is unharmed."

"Such thoughtfulness! It's no wonder you are am officer Mr. Cunningham, you always think of others before your self."

"Aww shucks, it's just the way I am sir, I better get going, don't want to be late for the match. Come on Stacy I'll walk you to your seat."

He grabbed her arm as he walked past, perhaps a trifle more brisk than was strictly necessary but he HAD just thrashed another student virtually right in front of a teacher, he had a right to be a bit quick about things.

"That was Smoooooth if I ever saw it boy. Your lucky your not going to jail for that little stunt."

"Naw, my dad's the sheriff even if I went to jail I'd just wind up sleeping at home."

"...You know what? You're starting to affect my blind faith in the system."

"You? Blind faith? HA! That's a laugh. Hurry up, we need to get there a bit early so I can get changed. You'll be sitting up close in the "Friends of combatants section. That way you get to be covered in sweat when one of us runs past you!"

"Be still my beating heart, for such glories as this would tear it twain for lack of rest...wait, you were serious?!"

"Naw just messin with you."

One of these days I'm going to wind up hurting one of these goofy people. Stacy thought to her self as Zach dropped her of at the bleachers so he could head to the locker room to get changed. There was still about 290 minuets until the start of the match but his gear was apparently hard to put on and he needed to have some time to get it down right.

Already parents had started to show up and claim sections of the seating for themselves and their other children. If Stacy didn't know better she would have said this was going to be a soccer match not a Para-military exercise involving life or death tactics.

Elian and Lucy were waiting were Zach said they would be and Stacy sat down next to them. She was still glowing a bit from the idea that these people wanted to be her friend for no other reason then they liked her. she was under no illusions about Kathy, since she had started hanging out with the ROTC crowd her old friend had almost refused to be seen with her, manufacturing excuses and avoiding her as much as possible.

So much the better she thought; these people didn't want anything from her but her presence.

Lucy explained that some of the rules to her as they waited and promised to give her the play-by-play as it happened. When asked why she wasn't there she told Stacy that she was a non-combatant, only trained in the bare minimum of weapon procedures and even then she was almost worse than useless with them. She was meant to stitch people up, not blow them apart. And then match started to get under way, the combatants walking on the field in all their armor was certainly a sight to behold. The SCA team seemed to have a uniform, their armor looked somewhat like what one would expect a medieval knight to wear with the coats on the outside bearing a large gold SCA on the front of their other wise white sleeveless coat. Lucy explained that before the change they were a historic reenactment society and that only recently had they taken up the mantel of Para-military youth group. This led to some of their customs being a bit more...outdated than others. Even though their armor looked old fashioned it was fully functional and it's design still filled it's purpose well.

The leader, Lucy informed her, was wearing something called a "Sallet Helm." One of those knight helmets that had a hinged front piece to make it easier to see when not actually fighting. They all carried "Cruciform Longswords" meaning that instead of a basket or other kind of guard to protect the hand it simply made a cross at the hilt. Some of them had large, kite shaped shield. While others had nothing but a sword and a knife in their belt. They looked very strict and organized all around, just the kind of people that went out of their way to make fun of her over her mixed heritage.

The SABRE team was almost the exact opposite of the SCA team. They walked out onto the field in motley and mix matched armor, some of it obviously scavenged from other suites to form a functioning whole. There was everything from pieces of armor that looked similar to the SCA gear to things that resembled roman era suites in design.

Once again Lucy explained that they did this on purpose, the motley appearance hide the weak points of the individual's armor more effectively than uniform sameness.

Colby was easy to spot as he stood at least a foot over the next tallest person in the group. He wore a vest of what Lucy called "Scale mail." Little pieces of steel shaped like a dragons (or Snake's) scales, designed to overlap each other and give lightweight protection. His right arm was covered in what looked like a shark divers suite, little chain links riveted together to form a sleeve of metal. He wore around his waist something Stacy could have sworn cam right out of a samurai movie, a segmented skirt of lacquered metal that had slits in it for ease of leg movement his shoes were surprisingly common army issue high and tight boots.

Lucy said that they were perfect for good traction under almost any circumstance.

His left arm was what was capturing her attention however. It looked as though he had mutated into some kind of strange metal lobster. From his shoulder to past his hand he was covered in segmented steel plates, every time he moved his arm the would slid past each other to allow his arm passage. The wrist looked like it was articulated as well as the elbow and shoulder. It ended just past his fingertips if his hand was fully opened. The oval like protective plate was thicker than she would have expected and had a spike that jutted down were he to make a fist it would have looked like a knife. Speaking of knives she noticed that he now wore one at the small of his back, it was just a little over a foot long and the hilt looked to be made of cherry wood. Of course she never would have thought that had Lucy not told her it was made of that.

She asked about the knife and was told that Colby wore it on his person all the time, he just kept it under his shirt so as not to upset anybody, a foot plus of sharpened steel tended to disquiet people. It had been bound with a magnetic lock for the match as he would not blunt it's blade, and neither would he be parted from it. His weapon was a rather wicked looking axe that she was told was modeled after those used by the 21st marine force recon.

As she looked closer, she saw that Marc had the same kind of contraption on his right arm. And that he carried a short, stabbing sword at his hip.

Lucy told her that the two worked as a pair on the filed. Colby was a huge target, and he would take advantage of that. For the first few minuets of the fight he would not score very much. Marc would be weaving in and out around him taking down all those who sought to end Colby's time on the field early. After they realized what was happening Colby would start to attack in earnest until he and marc were taken out.

"Why are those two so close? How do they know each other?"

"Well, Marc is actually Colby's foster brother. Remember the Ottawa incident about 10 years ago? Mark used to live in Ottawa with his parents, they put him on one of the last transports out before the missiles hit, he was lucky to make it all. From there he filtered through foster program after foster program, I don't know if you noticed but he's a dour kind of guy, kinda hard to make a connection with a kid that cuts off all the emotion he can. Anyway, eventually he made it here and got fostered out at the Ulvherz's Air park Colby just kept at him I guess, I don't know the particulars but from then on those two were glue."

Stacy pondered this. It was hard for her to imagine goofy Colby as being heart felt and deep enough to reach someone that traumatized. But she decided not to make snap judgments, she hadn't known him that long and it was unfair to make assumptions.

The two teams stood across from each other and saluted, although Stacy sensed a great amount of reluctance from both parties. The national anthem was sung and the captains shook hands. It was to be a 20 minuet match, 1 point for flesh wounds, 2 for slightly disabling wounds, 4 for crippling wounds and 5 points for a kill. The totals would be displayed on the board, they would keep track of team score as well as personal combatant score. If a person was "Killed" than he or she must wait on the sidelines for a full 4 minuets before rejoining the fray. Bonus points would be awarded for the killing of the captain or staying alive for the entire match. 1 on 1 duels were the accepted way to settle a disputed ruling by the referee. There was to be no deliberate harm done to any combatants and all rulings were to be made by an impartial judge from a different district.

Zach looked quite regal in his Greek horse hair plumed helmet and Samurai chest plate. He held what Stacy was informed was a "Poleax" as in real combat he would be issued as a captain a Motorized anti personnel chain Pollarm, he wanted to be as well versed in pole fighting as possible.

As the battle commenced Stacy thought that, had someone told her this is what she would be doing 3 weeks ago she would have laughed in his or her face.

The battle was indeed quite exciting. She found her self up out of her seat cheering more than once. True to Luc's prediction, the first few minuets were dominated by the SCA attempting to Take Colby out early. After several losses to Marc's stabbing sword, plunging spike and metal incased fist they attempted to change tactics, to no avail. As soon as marc's black tail was out of the way Colby leapt into the fray, his axe raping a harvest of points from those not quick enough to duck. He was amazingly fast and nimble for his size, leaping over enemy's attacks and rolling to his feet once more. Twisting and turning and jumping like she had not thought possible for one of his size and mass.

Zach was certainly no slouch either, though he preferred to let his opponents come to him and start their attack than going and looking for fresh foes. His poleax whipped around to deflect more than a few blows aimed in his direction. She had not noticed him before but Thomas was their as well, a strange forward curving blade in his left hand and a "Punching dagger" or "Katar" in his left, he wore buckskin pants with beaded fringe and a chain mail vest with long sleeves. More of a concession she thought, than his choice of clothes. He had a red feather in his hair and she could easily picture him on the plains of expansionist America, savaging a poor settler family.

All in all the SABRE people were outnumbered by the SCA team. But they apparently made up for it in sheer brutality. She saw Colby hook the back part of his axe around some boy's neck and use him as a shield against his own teammates blows. Then when they tried to gather them selves for another attack he picked up the now bruised boy and hurled him onto his friend, knocking them all to the ground. Colby then calmly bopped them all once on the head, his blow repelled by the magnetic field. This caused his score to go up drastically.

Eventually sheer numbers bogged down and "Killed" Colby. He came over and sat on one of the rows of benches, sweating but with a huge grin on his face.

He must really like this she thought to her self as she watched him dump ice water onto his head. Spring it may be, but it was still Texas and still hotter that was kosher for most people.

After the required 4 minuets were up he leapt to his feet and rejoined the fray just in time to save Zach from being attacked from behind. Eventually the mob of people devolved into pockets of conflict scattered about the field.

The battle continued like this for some time, the SCA team was good but the SABRE team had the obvious advantage. When the clock read that there was only :36 left to play she got to see a duel. Colby threw his axe at the SCA teams second in command, a Tiger girl who was content to stay away from most of the fighting. His launched weapon made contact with her chest and was repelled by the magnetic field, her name turning KIA from the obvious force behind the throw. The SCA captain however, did not agree with the ruling and threw up his flag of challenge.

"I dispute that ruling! My second in command could have easily survived such a blow. I say the computer's calibration is not accurate or has been tampered with!"

Zach instantly rose to the barb.

"Are you suggesting sir, that we have cheated? Because if you are more woe be to you sir. SABRE never has and never will cheat in a match or any other contest besides!"

"Nonetheless I call challenge on you, will you accept? Or take the refusal penalty?"

Zach had to ponder his response. As the scores were now if he refused the challenge the SCA team would have a commanding lead. However, he could not face the team captain with his poleax, the other's sword was faster and would easily counter anything he threw at it. Then an idea struck him and he decided to accept, knowing that the SCA captain could not resist what he was about to suggest.

"I accept on the terms of noble combat, you will choose a second and in the event of your inability to compete they shale take your place. I will do the same. Are we agreed?"

"...Yes we are agreed! Let us fight now so you can not injure your self to prevent our match. I choose Robert here as my second. I suppose you will choose that mountain you call a person as yours?"

"I choose Marc as my second, and I also refuse to take part in the duel, you opponent shale be him and since you desire the fight to start now, let it start!"

"! But wait i-"

That was as far as he got before his words were interrupted by a spinning slash of the spike attached to Marc's right arm, the spike hooked his blade and brought it down and he tried to get in close with his stabbing sword, cancel out the other's reach advantage. However, the captain was not stupid and had been trained well enough to know what to do when locked up close with an opponent. Step back out of their reach.

This was Stacy had to admit, all rather exciting. The snap forward cuts of the longer sword were countered by the sweeping parries of the shorter weapon and blocked out right by the great armored right arm. It seemed as if they were creating some kind of complex dance to music only they could hear. But Stacy was over romanticizing it. They were just two sweaty boys with pieces of metal flailing about at each other and she was being silly to imag-

And then it was over, Marc brought his short sword down in a sweeping cut that the captain avoided. His sword over shot and buried it's self in the turf he acted as though it was stuck for only a moment before the other was bringing his own sword down at him, a malicious snarl on his face. Just as it was about to hit him in his bent over back marc rolled forward and hooked the spike on his armor around the other's ankle. This tripped him and caused his sword to go flying from his grasp. Marc turned around and brought the spike down over his metal incased chest, the magnets stopping it but the score board flashing his "Death." That was the end of the match, team SABRE was ahead in points by enough that even if the entire team was killed they would still win. So with that the referee's called the game in favor of Zach and his teammates.

There was much cheering and shouting as parents boo'd with their children or howled their praises as the marched victoriously back to the showers. Stacy thought this was a very strange image, a bunch of kids dressed in armor acting like they had just won state championships. Lucy told her that the SCA team was considered the best team in the western district. They had Mercenary groups looking at them before they even got out of high school and that was no joke in a world almost entirely at war with it's self.

Stacy pondered that as she walked down the ramps toward the parking lot, only to late to realize she was so used to not having her car she had taken the bus today and by now no more buses were running. It was starting to get dark but she was loath to call her foster parents for a ride. As she was debating with her self about what to do she felt a large weight land on her shoulder. She let out a startled "Yip!" and spun around only to smell who it was before she had completed her turn. Colby stood there with his neck length blond hair still wet from the shower. This was, she reflected, the first time she had ever seen him without the black streaks on his face from wiping coal dust off on his head when he wiped away sweat. It made him look...nicer somehow, not as intimidating.

"Hey, I saw you standing here and thought you might need a lift home. How about it, it's a gas use permitted day today that means I'm driving the mustang."

Stacy stopped mid refusal and angry tirade for scaring her. Mustang. That had been the magic word, she was a huge old time car fanatic and the mustang was one of her favorites. She had looked for one for sale but most of them had been wrecked or were in private collections. It took only a moment for her desire to ride in a mustang for the first time to outweigh her dislike of Colby.

"Yeah that would be great, thanks."

He beamed at her acceptance and ran of to pull the car around. He really was a likeable person, she should not be so hard on him all the time.

The Mustang turned out to be a '69 Mach I Shelby Cobra super jet, painted a midnight blue with silver racing stripes up over the top. It rumbled through the asphalt as it approached and she restrained a shudder of dream-come-true bliss.

The ride home was silent, somehow she thought h knew how much she was enjoying the rumble of the car's engine and the feel of power that resonated through it's frame. Sure it couldn't go as fast as the high performance cars of the day, but it could haul 5 of them of the racing track after they broke down and be non the worse for wear.

When they pulled up outside her house her shut off the engine and thanked her for coming to the match. He knew that she didn't care for him much but he and the others thought she was a decent person and he hoped that they could get along better in the future. Stacy had already gotten out and was checking the mail box, the post man was always tardy. She was about to reply that that sounded nice when she saw a letter addressed to her from the Louisiana federal penitentiary commission. She tore it open and read the contents, Colby's worried voice came to her as if from miles away as she read of the death of her erstwhile "Care giver's" demise. She didn't think it would affect her like this but it did, no matter hat horrible things he had done to her, he was the only parental figure she could remember. And his death hit her hard.

She looked up into the worried eyes of Colby, he asked her again if everything was all right and she could only shake her head. She could not spend the weekend here with the foster parents, she just couldn't.

"Are you guys doing anything this weekend? I..I just got some news I'd rather not think about at the moment. I need a distraction."

"Of course, Lucy, Thomas, marc and I were going to go camping up by enchanted rock, you wanna come?"

"I've never been camping before."

"...Shocking, I can't believe it, your foster parents got a tent?"

"Yeah."

"Good, just bring the tent and some extra clothes and hiking boots if you got em."

" I don't have the hiking boots."

"Well, ok um uh...I don't mean to sound like a weirdo or anything but. What kind of feet do you have? That is to say, are your feet more human shaped or more thrope shaped?"

"I can wear human shoes if that's what you're asking."

She said, bristling a little but fighting it back down.

Cool then we have something for you to wear. I'll meet you at the sonic over off of I-35 tomorrow at around 9:30 in the morning ok? From there we'll head out to my place and get you outfitted and meet the others. And hey, whatever is going on don't worry to much about it, everything's going to be fine."

She merely nodded her head, her tall ears still pinned back to her head in numbness.

What they bother didn't know was that at that very same moment, another was reading a letter to a similar effect, only this one had instructions enclosed with it.

This other did not react with sadness or a sense of loss. They reacted with white-hot rage that turned almost instantly into a smoldering icy rage that could wait and wait...and wait to be carried out upon those responsible for his brother's death.

Maddox De Lafronux, formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother. Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity. What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage. When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though. The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles. It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change. Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically. After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years. When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy. Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion. Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much. "So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?" "No" he said, his face beyond crimson. "No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?" "I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?" From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing) They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns. "Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours. Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world. This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it." He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel. Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate. "This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight. This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is." "So in a full match what do you do?" Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out. If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be. Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!" Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up. Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed. "This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?" Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters. "Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck." As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy. "This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first." "Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?" "...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in." "Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?" Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door. "Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!" Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back! A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun! Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained. The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again. Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent. The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent. "Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?" He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy. "M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur. "Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold." Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all." She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought. Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap. "From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first." Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves. The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying, Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure. She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code. The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall. Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow. The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it. "Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?" "Of course I accept, don't be an idiot." The duel commenced and ended almost instantly. The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing. As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down. He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with. "FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs. They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right. "No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?" He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages. "Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father. "WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?" "I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?" Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade. "That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes." "But why...would fffey wambt to...?" Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher. "He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!" people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem. It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made. Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system. One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her. "Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!" At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills. Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again. Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough. She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him! And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough. The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath. After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby. Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago. "Look" he began. "Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?" "Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you." "No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it." "Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!" "What?! Stacy how could you think that!" "I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones." He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed. "I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!" "...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present." He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table. "Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it." "Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better." With that she opened the package he handed to her. She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen. "The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self." "Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars." "Because I'm in love with you." "Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not." "Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything. I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-" "OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-" "SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!" That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying. "I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you." So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door. "Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. " And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts. Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague. Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not) One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest. "Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?" Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense! But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing. Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point? Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up. One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek. She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin. It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit! They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal. After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home. Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved. Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her. "Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special. I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?" It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple. "Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way." "Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?" Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self. Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly. "Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing." He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long? Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least. "Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along? But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet. She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail. He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement. "Am I doing well?" he asked. Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue. And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach. His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight. She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue. In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain. Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances. Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call. "What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans. "Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home." "Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?" "Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom." After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep. This was a night of many firsts as it turned out. In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day. The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been. Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss. "What?" she asked. "Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together." Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied. "You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?" "Deal." Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby. She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them. But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail. "Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?" "I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician." Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?" "I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?" "Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!" "So?" "So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!" "...oh." She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said. "Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!" Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life! After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school. After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off. "Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom. "Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?" "Not a problem sweetheart." As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped. Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead. "Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted. And they did, only to find that all of them were dead. "Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot. Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston. "This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach. "Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around." As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process. "Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!" Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood. Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood. Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love. Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager. Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes. Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory. Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz. After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!" She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured. Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back. "Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets." The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face. The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid. Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible. "We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend." "Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh." Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit. He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others. He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity. "You know something funny about killing a person?" "BAM! Shplaat" "It's a lot easier the second time." With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier. "Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents." Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides. The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best. "Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour." "And what about the power failure? Was that you?" "No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?" "... why would we take you to prison?" "What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-" "Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_" "BAM!" There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self. Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before. "...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?" Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet. "What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place. Marc spoke up first. "What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet." Lucy spoke then. "But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them." Stacy was hit with inspiration. "No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that." Zach responded. "Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?" Colby spoke for the first time. We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything." "Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons." Marc replied. "...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base." Interjected Thomas. "But where are we gonna go?" Lucy thought for a moment then declared. "I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on." "Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us." Zach was obviously still in command mode. Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up. "Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town." They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead. "Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!" Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible. They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying. They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear. After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go. Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout. Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy. "We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?" "It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run." "Thomas, can you do that in under a day?" "Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough." "Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?" "Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em." Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place." "Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy." Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self. He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss. "You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect." He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing. "Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!" Three Hours Later. "...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?" "...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon." As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped. Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below. They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force. But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble. "...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets? "...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three." As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy. The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain. "One. Two. Three." And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line. After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers. About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds. Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number. Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards. After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated. This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion. This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill. They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country. Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day. The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home. They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time. As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car. Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally! "Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!" Came Thomas's muffled shout. "Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas." Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud. "No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is." "Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all." "Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?" "Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor." "Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers." Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway. "They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready." Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion. The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine. "Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out." They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas. "Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons. The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place. "I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire. "Just go!" Zach shouted back. Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand. Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival. Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty. "Click click click" FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well. He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles. Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers. He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills. The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt. The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot. Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land, Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well. Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive. Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh. Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade. The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious. Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head. Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles. The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor. "Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!" He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house. "Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!" And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back. Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes. He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain. Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration. This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body. Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife. He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him. Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched. How strange, he thought. How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow? It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column. Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon. He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head. As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself. "Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out." He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly. The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium. The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something. What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect. As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it. These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back. Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation. The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly. Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it. "Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!" Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention. Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open. Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips. "You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun "No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy." Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door. Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it. Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them. So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward. Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby. After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be. As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood. Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose. "Oh no..." Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could! But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig. Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road. "I can get you three minuets, go." This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message. "You take care of her." Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting. He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat. Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed. Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service. Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance. His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe. He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening. Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath. Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell. He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought. An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence. Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken. Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests. The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called: "Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-" The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car. Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself. Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass. A male voice called from within the house: "Honey? Is everything alright out there?" She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy. "Get out here NOW!" There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics. A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics. Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe. While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her. He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it) "Oh baby doll." He said. "I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying. Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby. "No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it." She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day. "Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne. "I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!" Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames. Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage, "Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave. I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget." "What lesson is that...dad?" He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him. "Everything burns." Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it. "Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me." "Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story." End. [CODE NAME TYPHON], formally of Louisiana, and Lt. Colnol in the Sons of Humanity's Northern front would have revenge for the death of his brother.

Stacy couldn't help thinking that she was getting her self into more than she could handle. She had never been camping, or indeed, on any kind of out door activity ever in her life. EVER. Well, she couldn't back out now, she was already pulling onto the ranch road at Colby's house. Marc had come t get her, and as a result he had said the first words she had ever heard him speak. It turned out that he had a beautiful voice with just a tinge of a Canadian accent. He had told her tat Colby was preparing the camping stuff back at his house. They had decided that instead of hiking and rough camping like they had planned they would just stay in the park area so that she could enjoy her first experience with such activity.

What Colby had referred to as his house turned out to be something closer to a farm or ranch. The main house was large but it also had many many out buildings. One of which she noticed was out fitted like his shop behind the garage.

When they got out of the car she heard loud cursing coming from one of the smaller sheds. Marc led the way and they heard another loud crash followed by two voices swearing. Colby and an older man came out of the building covered in dust and dirt arguing about something unintelligible. They stopped short when they saw Marc and Stacy standing there though.

The older man was introduced as Colby's father and Marc's foster father he went by Carl Ulvherz and had one of the largest mustaches Stacy had ever seen. It started on his upper lip, migrated to the sides of his cheeks and then made a 90-degree turn downward, from there it just kept going and going and going until it ended somewhere just below his pectoral muscles.

It was all Stacy could do to keep from staring at it as she was introduced. Carl's wife was in town so she would not be meeting her today, something the women was apparently sad about but could not change.

Colby insisted he show her around the house area and passed the task of finding her enough camping gear to get by on to Marc, who accepted stoically. Truthfully Stacy believed marc to be incapable of doing anything UN-stoically.

After a tour of the outside (Which was exceedingly boring) Colby showed her the house. It was nice, a little on the old fashioned side for her but it had that indescribable homey feeling that you can only get once a house has been a home for a number of years.

When they got to his room Colby wanted to go inside and "Tidy up a bit" which she knew to be code for "Hide all the stuff I don't want you to see and shove everything else under the bed." This was true and in retrospect Colby would express profound gratefulness that Stacy hadn't looked at the back of his door, which bore a large poster of a Black wolfess in a string bikini that had more than a passing resemblance to Stacy.

Most of it was what one would expect from a teenage male's room. Posters of cars, dirty cloths and the like. But it also had weapons and pieces of armor stacked on special racks and piled in corners. And on a stand just to the right of his bed sat an accordion.

Stacy had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Most teenagers played the guitar or the drums or in the marching band, but the accordion? That was too much.

"So you play the accordion huh? Want to play a little something before we leave?"

"No" he said, his face beyond crimson.

"No not really, I'll play for you when we get back how does that sound?"

"I'll hold you to that Colby Ulvherz, I want to see if your musically inclined ya know?"

From his room Colby took her to what he called the "Treasure room" (his face still red from her teasing)

They entered and Stacy saw that it was basically large out door gun locker. The walls lined with racks for rifles and drawer upon drawer of hand guns, she was amazed that one family could own this many guns.

"Not all of em are ours, we rent out space for people who are concerned about having guns in their house with children around. Only the stuff on the back wall is ours.

Here I wanted to show you the guns Marc and I use for full SABRE matches. We load them with low velocity paint markers but we use the real weapons, as do the other teams. The consensus is that it helps prepare us for when we will be using an actual rifle in the real world.

This one here is mine, it's a PGM Hecate II, it's about 70 years old but it still packs one heck of a wallop. It's an long to mid range sniper rifle that was originally designed to fire .50 BGM anti-material rounds. But I had it re-chambered to fire the smaller .338 Lapua magnum round, the round is faster and more accurate than a regular .50 even if it is a little smaller it has a tungsten carbide core which makes up for it in my opinion. Anything above a class 2 armor and this will penetrate it."

He might as well have been speaking Greek for all that Stacy understood him. All she saw was a large rifle with a little attachment on the end of the barrel.

Next to it was a rifle that was significantly smaller and more compact looking. It's scope was also measurably bigger than the one on the Hecate.

"This is a Mcmillian TAC-50, this one is rated for extreme to mid range. It's a .50 caliber weapon but it fires special long-match grade ammunition. The rounds have the same rifling but the bullet it's self is substantially longer, allowing it more spin and stability in flight.

This one is Marc's it's a bolt action s he can't fire s many rounds as fast as I can with the Hecate but his is lighter and more maneuverable than mine is."

"So in a full match what do you do?"

Well in a full match it's a little different that what you saw yesterday. We don't do it on a football field that's for sure! There's a nice man who lives up near Waco who owns a rather large piece of cedar scrub forest. He lets the district hold full matches there. What Marc and my self do really depends on if the whole place is being used or if it's just urban stuff in the fake city that's there. If it's close in stuff then we provide cover while the rest of the guys move forward and clear buildings. If it's out in the open than we're kind of autonomous. We move where we have good lines of sight and take people out as we see them. Of course with the low velocity paint rounds we don't have nearly the range we would with live ammo but we still have an edge on the others. Marc is really the sniper; I'm his support and spotter. I find him targets and keep him clear while he does his thing. That guy can make shots that would make he hair stand up all over your body. Anyway, yeah if someone gets close to us than I take them out.

If it's an objective match, like we need to infiltrate something or track somebody than Marc and I are scouts, I may not look it but I can be stealthy when I want to be.

Course, I've got nothing on marc, that kids a fucking ghost. Oh, pardon my language!"

Stacy just smiled, he was rather funny to listen to, he lust kept talking until he realized that he was rambling and then shut up.

Colby gestured to a tarp covered something on one of the long tables in the middle of the shed.

"This here though, is my pride and joy, I'll never get to use it except maybe the night before I ship out for basic but it sure was fun to work on. Did you see all the planes and shit as you drove in?"

Stacy nodded, she had seen a section of the ranch devoted to the organized death of planes and helicopters.

"Well, dad has a contract with the military, they store old planes that won't fly anymore here and scavenge them for parts for similar models that are still in service. This baby came in on the AC-131 out there. It had taken an air burst to the side and an ass load of shrapnel had lodged in this thing, it took me 4 months just to be able to unbolt it from the deck."

As he said that Colby withdrew the tarp with a flourish, revealing what looked like a gatling gun to Stacy.

"This is the M-61 A2 Vulcan, it's a little under 5 feet long and 3 feet wide back here at the base. It has six barrels and is capable of firing up to 10,000 rounds a minuet! It was originally designed to fire 20mm cannon shells but the A2 was designed to be detachable-man portable, so the turned it into a .50 weapon. Of course in order to make it man portable AND friable they had to reduce the recoil, so they came up with the "3/4 barrel break" design. The firing action, instead of being closed of is open in the rear about ¾ of the way. This drastically reduced firepower but also made the recoil more than manageable. It's firing mechanism was electronic but that was shot to hell when I got it loose, so I replaced it with an older model Gas rotation and firing system. I've turned in on and it rotates great, nice and smooth. I've never had a chance to fire it though, It can fire the .338 Lapua magnum so and I have thousands of that round so I've always been tempted to just go somewhere and try it out. With the gas for the rotation start up and the weight of the gun it self, it also has 4 1,000 round ammo boxes hooked together on a feed system. So if I filled those up I'd have about half a minuet of continues fire before it ran dry...or the barrels melted, which ever came first."

"Why would you even have something like this? Isn't it illegal?"

"...Zombies, just in case! Naw just kidding, I have it because I think it's cool. And it's only illegal if it's ready to fire, other wise it's just a showpiece. I removed the firing pins so it can start up but won't fire unless you put the back in."

"Dude, haven't I told you not to show a girl your gun the first time you bring her over to the house?"

Inquired Marc's silky voice from outside the door.

"Aww shut your face, she's a friend and I just thought she might think they were cool. Besides, she was ogling your gun more than mine!"

Stacy found two things to be true about that statement, the first was that she did find them to be cool. And the second was that these goofy guys were her friends. Stacy smirked, that meant she could rib them right back!

A long bout of sexual puns later and they were packed up into Lucy's pickup and ready to go. Stacy was very excited about her first camp out, it was going to be so much fun!

Stacy looked back on her thoughts earlier that day and scoffed. She was now sitting in her foster parents tent at 10:00 at night listening to the sound of a huge thunderstorm beating it's rain against the aging sides of the shelter. It had been fun up until around dinner time. The place was beautiful, the large granite dome was visible for miles around, it's pinkish hue offsetting the vibrant greens of a cedar forest in spring time. Lunch had been sandwiches and then they had set up camp. Afterwards a hike had been undertaken to the top of the dome, some 400 feet above her present location. She had been proud of her self to make it all the way to the top without losing her breath, and the view turned out to be spectacular. The back side of the dome was a sheer cliff that was perfect for junior rock climbers to practice on. Watching as other high school students from the area scaled the face of the dome was indeed an enjoyable experience. Stacy had understood why this place was called "Enchanted rock" it was surely an enchanted place. They had camped just up an embankment from the river that meandered by the giant rock outcropping. "Just to be safe" as Lucy had put it. Each teenager had brought their own tent and Lucy had felt a bit left out to notice that the others tents were all the same model and color. While hers was sadly out of date and obviously ill maintained.

The rain had started just after they were finishing their steaks. Stacy was a fan of steak, being a carnivorous thrope it was hard not to be. but she had never had steaks grilled over an open fire before. It made her mouth water and tail thump just to think about it again.

Her pleasant remembering were interrupted by a loud tearing noise, followed by a deluge of water hitting her in the back. Her tent had ripped open! She was now exposed to all the fury of a Texas thunderstorm. She had been living here long enough to know that, by the time they had reached her old state they had dumped most of their anger on the state of Texas. She scrambled quickly to her feet and put the sodden sleeping bag over her head to try and prevent her self from becoming any more soaked. It was hard to see n the night with the rain pouring down over her but she made her way to what she thought was Lucy's tent. Yelling over the sound of the storm and scratching at the tent door until a light was turned on within the one person pup-tent.

The zipper was pulled down and out pooped not Lucy's spotted feline head but the dirty blond covered head of Colby. No way was she going to ask him to share a tent with her. mumbling something that sounded like an apology she turned around and was about to try and find the other female's tent when her wrist was grabbed and she was jerked into the tent.

"Whoa! What's the matter, why are you out in this mess little one?"

He said it with concern in his voice and that was the only thing that kept her natural reflexes from skinning him alive. Although, after what she had seen on Friday she didn't think it would be that easy.

"M...mm...my ttt...tent r-ripped open." She said with a stammer, her lips shaking from the cold water soaking into her fur.

"Well hell, that's certainly not good now is it? Here, you can have my tent, I'll go sleep in the truck ok? Make sure to get out of those wet clothes and try to get as warm as possible. Otherwise you might catch a cold."

Before she could refuse he had jumped out of the tent and gone in the direction of Lucy's truck. Only after she had removed the drenched clothes and was curled up in his sleeping bag, still warm from his body's heat. Only then did she realize that he had been wearing nothing but boxer shorts when he left the tent. Apprehensive, she sniffed the sleeping bag for any scents that would indicate...abnormal activity. Finding nothing she decided he merely slept in his boxers, and was not doing something gross in his sleeping bag. That meant that he had seen her distress and had acted instantly to make sure she would be ok.

"I guess he's not such a bad guy after all."

She said to no one in particular. Her head hitting the pillow almost immediately after her spoken thought.

Jason Curio's hands were cramping. But still he kept on typing what the women, who he now knew to be Stacy, spoke. They had been at it for a little over an hour, and all he had heard so far was normal teenage angst type situations. Except for that one reference she had made to ARGUS, that had caught his attention like a mousetrap.

"From here Jason we're going to skip a head a bit, I'm sure you don't want to hear months worth of normal teenage life do you? I'm also sure that you have by now figured out that I will be speaking about the San Antonio incident, which took place several years ago. Well we will come to that eventually but you asked about these knives and I am going to tell you about them first."

Months passed, summer came and went and Stacy formed a tight bond of friendship with the small group, they did normal things together and not so normal things, such as hand to hand protection training for the girls, there had been a series of rapes down in San Antonio and they boys wanted to make sure they could defend them selves.

The end of the Season was approaching for the Para-military training groups, and the last match of the normal season was to again be against the SCA. Stacy had become very close to Colby, he treated her like a little sister, always watching out for her and protecting her when she needed it. In fact he could be a little over protective at times and that could get annoying,

Thinking about it, she would not go s far s to say he treated her like a sister, more like she was his only friend and he wished to keep her safe. This was not true of course, he had several good friends, but these he had known for longer and was sure of their capability of taking care of them selves. With Stacy he was not so sure.

She showed up at the football stadium ready to cheer team SABRE on to victory, and cheer she did. Especially when Marc threw down his sword and decked the referee for telling him his armored arm was not up to code.

The match went similarly to the first one, both teams perhaps trying a bit harder to win, as the victor of this match would go on to compete in the National championships in the fall.

Stacy leaped from her seat as Colby hooked one of the SCA knights around the neck and brought his knee up into the man's face. The captain screamed out that that was a penalty, no unarmed blows were allowed. Colby replied that his knee guards were in fact weapons and indicated as such that the man's face had not a mark on it because the magnet field had repelled his blow.

The captain's face took on an eerie smile, almost as if he was savoring some decedent food before swallowing it.

"Then I call challenge against you Ulvherz! Do you accept or decline?"

"Of course I accept, don't be an idiot."

The duel commenced and ended almost instantly.

The SCA captain lunged before Colby had even finished speaking, hoping to take him off guard. Colby was expecting it though and parried the blow to the side with his armored left hand. Hooking the spike around the blade to prevent it from coming loose, he then brought the metal capped butt of the axe handle down hard on the captains helmeted head. Of course the magnets stopped it from connecting to hard but he still put a fair amount of force into it and ended up tapping the helmet enough to set it ringing.

As the captain lay regaining his wits, Colby walked back towards the SABRE team side of the field to roars of applause. But then the tragedy occurred. The captain had not lost his wits, he had been faking disorientation to make Colby let his guard down.

He leapt to his feet with a sharpened dagger in his hand, but this dagger did not gleam in the late August sunlight. It was a dull color that they would later learn meant it was fashioned from ceramic components entirely. This negated the fields magnetic damping, as was his plan to begin with.

"FOR THE LEGION!" he screamed as he plunged the dagger down towards Colby's back. Unawares he might have been but Colby avoided the majority of the stroke, catching it in the right arm instead of square in the back. Instantly numerous police officers had SABRE team members were on the field, taking the now silent boy away in handcuffs.

They withdrew the dagger from Colby's arm and asked him if he were all right.

"No I'm not all right I just got stabbed in the arm! What the hell was this all about anyway?"

He asked as the on-sight paramedic wrapped his arm in bandages.

"Don't know for sure, but I think the Sons just tried to kill you boy." Said Zach's father.

"WHAT?! Why would they want to kill me?"

"I don't know, but see here on the side of the blade he just tried to stick you with?"

Colby's gathered friends examined the blade in question, it had the letters SPQR stamped into it running up the length of the blade.

"That's the mark of the Legion, a mercenary group based out of Sweden. They take contracts from anybody but recently they have been working almost exclusively with the sons of humanity. They tend to recruit right out of the High school and college military programs and only those who have at least a disliking for thropes."

"But why...would fffey wambt to...?"

Colby started to say, before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed on the bleacher.

"He's been poisoned! Stand back everybody stand BACK! We have to get him to the hospital right now!!!"

people scattered in all the directions, Marc, Lucy, Thomas, Elian, Zach and Stacy all hopped into vehicles and followed the ambulance to the hospital. They were not allowed to see him while he was being treated but Marc and Stacy's canine ears picked up parts of the conversation going on behind the door. Apparently Colby's large body had slowed the path of the poison, other wise he would have already been dead from it's fast acting effects. He was throwing up all the contents of his stomach and having violent fever dreams in which he lashed out at nothing while the doctors remained at a safe distance. They had taken his armor off at the field thank god or there would really be a problem.

It struck them around 2 o'clock the next morning how odd they must look, three boys in combat armor and three girls in street cloths. What a picture they must have made.

Colby lapsed in and out of consciousness the rest of that week, his parents stayed at the hospital with him to be there when he woke up for real. The doctors said that he would make a full recovery but that he still ran a very high fever as a way to burn any poisonous leftovers out of his system.

One afternoon Stacy was visiting him, staying in the room while his parents went to get some dinner. She was sitting next to his bed when suddenly his eyes shot open. They were blood shot and puffy and she was about to call the nurse when he looked over at her.

"Ahh, this must be another dream then. You're in all my best dreams. Did you know that? Did you know that I dream about you every night?...No? I didn't think so, why would I ever tell you that. You're my friend, you and Marc, you guys are my best friends. Why would I tell you that I think you hotter that the sun? hehehe "hotter than the sun" that's pretty corny isn't it? Ah well, can't say it isn't true. I think you the most sexy thing to walk the planet. But I wouldn't tell you that you know? Just like I wouldn't tell you about my dreams. It isn't nice to tell your friends you want to jump their bones...Look Stacy! The potted plant is back with more candy! He's the nicest perennial I've ever met!"

At this Colby pointed to one of the doctors who wore his hair in dreadlocks. The man smiled and went to Colby's bed side with a plastic container of pills.

Stacy sat there in shock, she neither moved nor spoke until his parents returned at which time she left the hospital and didn't visit again.

Eventually Colby recovered, it took him a few weeks but then he was as right as rain. Stacy however didn't visit him. Nor did she accept any invitations to a any event he was going to be at. Her contact with him dropped to zero. He messaged her and called her but she didn't respond. She successfully avoided him for another 2 whole weeks until her birthday, unbeknownst to her, her foster parents had set up a surprise Party for her, not actually ON her birthday, but close enough.

She walked in the door one night greeted with a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" her heart almost ripped from her chest she was so startled, but after she calmed down she was overcome with a sense of gladness. There were at least 14 people here, and all of them she knew and cared for...and then there was Colby. She had not told her foster parents about her break with the tall boy, so they had invited him to the party without knowing. This annoyed her because COLBY knew that she didn't want to talk to him, yet he still came anyway. Well she would enjoy her party despite him!

And enjoy it she did. there were party games, copious amounts of food and soda (and beer) to be enjoyed by all the guests, a huge cake and of course presents. This was her first real experience with a birthday party. Back with Marshall he would forgo any sexual depravations for her birthday, and she had considered that gift enough.

The party wound down fast when it did. the clock struck 2:00 and most people stated going home, several of them walking as her foster father refused to give them their keys after smelling their breath.

After waving good bye to a stumbling Zach and Elian, Stacy turned to see the room empty save for Colby.

Her foster father was dealing with the trash outside and her foster mother had gone to bed long ago.

"Look" he began.

"Look I now your mad at me, but I don't know why! Will you just tell me so I can get it fixed?"

"Oh that was a poor choice of words, and you know why I'm mad at you, I don't have to tell you."

"No, I think you do have to ell me, if for no other reason then it will make you feel better to have out with it."

"Fine, you want to know? I'll tell you! I'm mad because you lied, you said I was your friend, that you didn't care that I was a half breed or anything. That you liked me for who I was and thought we could be friends. When all you wanted was to get inside my pants!"

"What?! Stacy how could you think that!"

"I didn't have to! You told me your self while you were in the hospital. You said that you "Dreamed" about me. That you wanted to "Jump my bones."

He stood there for a moment, dumbstruck and that was all the answer she needed.

"I knew you were a jack ass! I knew it! Get out of my house, you're disgusting!"

"...fine, I'll leave, but first i'm going to give you your birthday present."

He said as he lifted a long narrow box from the table.

"Open it and let me say something and I promise to never talk to you again should you wish it."

"Make it fast, the sooner I see the back of you the better."

With that she opened the package he handed to her.

She looked down with a glare on her face, that glare was transformed into a look of awed wonder almost instantly. Inside was probably the most beautiful knife she had ever seen. Slimmer than Colby's seax, it thinned just a touch in the middle before swooping out to a graceful curving finger guard. The finger guard was one piece with the blade, the were a dusky steel color and the smallest she had ever seen on a hand crafted weapon. She had spent enough time with the SABRE people to understand that this weapon was perfectly balanced for both throwing and fighting from the hand. The surface of the blade its self was a beautiful swirling kaleidoscope of color, the blues and reds of different trace amounts in the metal apparent from the pattern welding of the blade. It was a full tang blade and the wood bore a dark rosy flush that captivated her. the gentle S shape of the blade and it's obvious razor sharpness all combined to make the most beautiful tool of death she had ever seen.

"The wood is black walnut, almost extinct and very hard to find, but it complimented the blade so well I couldn't help my self."

"Why are you giving this to me? You could sell this for thousands of dollars."

"Because I'm in love with you."

"Pshh, don't act stupid, we both know you're not."

"Please don't interrupt, I am in love with you, I have been ever since that first day when I almost ran you over getting of the bus. That's why I act so strange around you sometimes. I am so damn shy that I was never going to tell you. But I told Zach and the gang and they took it upon themselves to get to know you better to find out if you were...well...a bitch. Then they started to like you and we all just kind of...absorbed you into the group. You became my friend, outside of Marc you became my best friend and I saw that that was a new thing for you and I didn't want to jeopardize that. So I didn't say anything.

I do love you and you can believe me or not but at least I've said-"

"OH shut UP with that Holier than thou shit! "I love you!" what a load of crap! What? Do you love my tits or my ass? I'm curios to know what it is about me that you love! We both know that I'm ugly, I'm a mix, how can I appeal to any body! Not one, not the other. So yeah, you love me? Tell me what you love! It's my as isn't it? It's always my ass, well you can just go fu-"

"SHUT UP!, you want to know what I find sexy about you, cause I love all of you not just a part of you. But the thing I find most sexy about you is your ears!"

That brought Stacy up short, said appendages swiveling forward to better hear what he was saying.

"I think your ears are the most sexy thing I've ever seen, the way they move, like they have a mind of their own. They convey your emotion better than anything else, they let me know if you're sad or angry or happy. Add to that, they're so damn soft looking, every time I see you I just want to hug you and touch them, to run my hands over you and make sure you're all right. You have no idea how hard it was to not do that. Every day I saw you I wanted to do that yet I didn't, I didn't because you're my friend first. But if you don't want to see me anymore, fine, that's up to you."

So saying he picked up his keys and walked to the door.

"Keep the present, it's for your birthday, remember that first time you saw the shop at the garage? That thing I had on the back fire that I didn't want you to see? That's what it was. I had already started making it for you. And something else, my last name, Ulvherz? It means, "Wolf heart" and damn is it true, cause you are my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. "

And then he walked out the door leaving her standing there with naught but a knife and her thoughts.

Several days went passed; the others avoided both Colby and Stacy like the plague.

Although she would not talk to him, it was observed that she wore Colby's knife whenever regulations permitted (and sometimes even when they did not)

One day Colby was sitting in the public library, relaxing in one of the overstuffed chairs reading Plato's "The Republic," when all of the sudden a weight landed in his lap. Lifting the book quickly to see what it was, he was greeted by the sight of Stacy sitting in his lap with her feet dangling over the armrest.

"Call me sweet cakes once, just once! And I'll fucking castrate you got it?"

Colby was dumbstruck, and really wouldn't you have been? Here was his dream girl, who had said she hated his living entrails, sitting in his lap and making no sense!

But then it began to dawn on him, she was sitting in his lap. That was a good thing right? Yes his brain told him, that was a good thing.

Slowly he smiled, ad Stacy smiled. And then they were kissing each other. Lips closed but what else can be expected of them at this point?

Several weeks passed, and the new couple was nigh inseparable, they went every where together and lavished affection on each other. Not to the point of bad taste, simply a touch of the hand here, and a shoulder squeeze there. To all it seemed as if they were meant to be. she was tall enough that he did not have to bend over to far to kiss her, and she was still small enough that he could pick her up.

One day while talking to Lucy while sitting on Colby's lap, Stacy deliberately flicked one of her tall lupine ears so that it's velvety softness brushed against his cheek.

She nearly giggled her self onto the floor when she felt his whole body shudder from the feeling of her fur brushing against his skin.

It progressed like this for a little while, until one night she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. He was good to her, nice kind and considerate. He had never even asked to feel her up or anything! She may have some repressed sexual issues but she was still alive Damnit!

They were sitting in her house, her parents away on a dinner date. Supposedly they were to be studying but that was a farce. Colby thought that she wanted to have a romantic dinner with him. Well that was partly true, but not her ultimate goal.

After they ate dinner, (a nice ravioli casserole) Stacy suggested they go to her room and watch a movie before he went home.

Colby, ever the innocent in such matters, agreed. He entered the room second and as he was walking in she closed the door behind him. He was turning around to ask what movie they should watch when she jumped him. They landed on the floor with her on top, lips sealed together. They had long since passed closed lip kissing and were fully engaged in a battle of tongues. Her hands flew to his clothes, feeling the bulge already forming on his pants, she whined a little. Memories of Marshall's abuses attempting to ruin her moment with the man she loved.

Colby took her by the shoulders and pushed her off of him a little, gaining enough room to talk to her.

"Wait...Just wait for a second. I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world but I want this to be something special, I want our first actual time together to be special. And tonight it wouldn't be. it would just be us, fulfilling our teenage hormones, and it would be amazing but, it wouldn't be special.

I want it to be special; I need it to be special for you and for me. Does that make sense?"

It did, but it also made her hornier to hear him talk like that, caring for her and him and them as a couple.

"Yeah it makes sense, but if you don't want to do it tonight then you had better go, I'm so worked up right now I might just jump you any way."

"Sweetheart, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out, I just said I didn't want to have sex yet. Here, turn over onto your back and I promise I'll help ok?"

Stacy nodded eagerly, she had not been looking forward to a night spent attempting to gain a release by her self.

Dear-heart, I've never done anything like this before, so...um...I guess could you tell me what feels good and what doesn't?" he asked a little abashedly.

"Of course, just start, ad I'll tell you how you're doing."

He nodded and bent down to start at her pants button. It seemed to her that it took an inordinate amount of time to get it undone but then she was starting to think a little less rationally

Colby undid her pants and slid them slowly down her furred thighs, the sound was music to his ears. After he got them off her feet, he slid his hands slowly up under her T-shirt, putting them palm to palm with his pinky touching her chest, he slid them up past her small breasts and through the collar of her shirt. Stacy just closed her eyes and groaned, why was he taking so long?

Colby removed her shirt and sat back on his knees to look at her for a moment. She was...indescribable. Her black fur the perfect compliment to her eyes, the white stripe running down the middle of her chest, bisecting her nipples and spilling out over the insides of her thighs was pure poetry of design. To think that one so beautiful as this would have chosen him! It was amazing to say the least.

"Why are you just staring?" she said, worry obvious in her voice, what if he didn't like her? What if he really did think she was ugly and had just been stringing her along?

But then his hands fell to her panties and she gasped at the feel of his colder fingers near her feminine warmth. He hooked his thumbs through the undergarments and slid those down as well, his hands stopping at her feet and tickling them slightly. She howled with laughter, her feet had always been a sensitive area that she had hoped that he wouldn't find just yet. Colby saw that she was already quite aroused, he mound flushed and moist with anticipation. He decided to take advantage of his superior height and bent over at the waist. Keeping his hands on her feet and burying his face in the fur just blow her navel. He inhaled the scent of her fur as he began to lightly tickle her feet.

She tried to squirm but he just held on with hands used to holding tongs and steel, her squirming was to no avail.

He slowly used his tongue to part her fur in a line down to her folds, he then stopped and looked up at her as she had ceased all movement.

"Am I doing well?" he asked.

Stacy gave in to her more thropic side and just growled at him to continue.

And so he did, his lips planting kisses all around her entrance, up her thighs and her lower stomach.

His hands continued to tickle her and when he suddenly planted a kiss, unknowingly on her clitoris she gasped out and curled her toes in delight.

She had heard that most men could not be bothered to find that little bundle of delight, and the fact that her man could was a source of great happiness to her. One on which she would reflect after he finished those lovely things he was doing with his tongue.

In and out in and out he thrust his tongue into her, it was relatively short and ha did not thrust in very far, just enough to part her outer folds, her had felt on his first exploration that she was still a virgin and he didn't want to ruin her pleasure by accidentally breaking her hymen and causing her pain.

Even with his shallow strokes she was worked up even before he had gotten to her house, it took only a few minuets of his treatment for her to reach orgasm. And quite forcefully at that. He had not been expecting it and when Stacy came a torrent of fluids escaped her and drenched his face. It was not altogether bad tasting but he would prefer not to breath it if possible. He avoided choking although he doubted she would have heard, she lay there with her sex clenching on a non-existent cock, her tongue hanging out and her eyes glazed in enjoyment. Colby wiped the remainder of her orgasm from his face and plucked a few stray furrs from his tongue. He could see having a relationship with Stacy was going to incur some strange circumstances.

Eventually she looked up at him from her place on the floor, her eyes already glazing over with sleep's haunting call.

"What about you? If you don't do something you're going to have the worst case of blue balls ever." she said, pointing to his obvious erection contained within his jeans.

"Don't worry about me, I'll take care of my self when I get home."

"Please don't leave! Just...just stay here and sleep next to me ok?"

"Of course sweetie, not a problem, but first I need to hit the bathroom."

After Colby had taken care of business he returned to find Stacy asleep on the floor, shaking his head he picked her up and set her on the bed. Taking of his shirt he climbed in next to her and fell asleep.

This was a night of many firsts as it turned out.

In the gulf of Mexico, 6 Stealth cruisers marked with the golden sun of the Sons of humanity prowled their way toward Galveston. Aboard one of them Maddox contemplated the coming day.

The next day Colby and Stacy woke late from a deep and enjoyable sleep. Of course the running around attempting to find enough clean cloths to wear that day was not quite as enjoyable as the previous night had been.

Colby scrunched up his nose when she went to give him a kiss.

"What?" she asked.

"Morning breath and wolf breath do NOT go well together."

Stacy whacked him on the arm and replied.

"You're not exactly the paragon of olfactory joy you know, waking up next to sweaty human is not one of my favorite pastimes. So if I don't complain about your B.O you don't complain about it when I breath on you deal?"

"Deal."

Stacy finally decided that she would wear her luck shirt today, it had after all been this shirt she was wearing when she first met Colby.

She pulled it and a pair of slightly less dirty pants on and was turning around when Colby stopped her. at first she thought he just wanted to look at her boobs again, which truthfully she would not have minded. He had paid them little attention last night due to her great need, but the breast was a highly sensitive part of a female lupine thrope, and it would be nice if next time he paid a little more attention to them.

But no he was looking at her strange shirt, his eyes wide and scanning every detail.

"Sweet heart, where did you get this shirt?"

"I don't know really, I think it came from my real father before Marshall took me, I've gotten to the place where I don't believe he bought me from my parents, that snake would lie to his mortician."

Suddenly a large grin bloomed on Colby's face, his eyes crinkling with happiness.

"Oh honey! I wish you had worn this sooner! What did you think this shirt was from?"

"I don't know, maybe a rock and roll show?"

"Nope! That my sweet sweet girlfriend, is the official shirt of the 21st Marine Force Recon. See that motto around the top and bottom? It's Latin and Norwegian, it means "Wrath always vigilant at the tip of a sword." They don't sell them to the public. I know I've tried to get one. Each shirt can only be sold to a member of the unit or the surviving family. And each shirt is numbered and kept track of!"

"So?"

"So! This means that all we have to do is call the registry and ask them who bought this shirt, it could be your father or his relatives! We could use it to find your family!"

"...oh."

She stood there, dumb struck by the importance of what he had just said.

"Come one! I have to go get the rifles from my house for the match this weekend but then we can go to the school and use the Internet there to speak to the registry!"

Finally a smile started to form on her lips. She might just find out something about her family! This might turn out to be the best day of her life!

After picking up his and Marc's rifles from his house, along with a 20 rounds of ammunition each, (there was to be a sharp shooting part of the match this weekend) they went to school.

After depositing the rifles in the gun locker in the ROTC building, they met up with the others on their way to lunch. The ROTC board would transport the rifles and other weapons to the match site later on in the day, the combatants had to find their own means of transportation. Colby's father and mother had agreed to be chaperones and would b picking them up shortly after lunch. The Lunch hour was filled with attempts to reach the Marine registry, but to no avail. In fact just as they were leaving the hall the lights went off.

"Cheap school board and their refusal of a repair bond! How can I teach children not to kill each other with pencils if I can't see!" they heard shouted from one classroom.

"Aww shit, that reminds me, I forgot to put my knife in the weapons locker! That means they won't let me wear it on the field, Stacy? Would you mind holding when we get there?"

"Not a problem sweetheart."

As they walked down the hall with the others, they noticed that the lights were out all the way down the hall. Not something that should have happened if a breaker flipped.

Thomas got out his cell phone to call the school board to see what was going on, but too was dead.

"Hey every body get out your cell phones!" he shouted.

And they did, only to find that all of them were dead.

"Huh, that's strange" said Colby as he passed a long window facing out on the parking lot.

Stacy saw his parents were already in the lot, his father with his head under the hood of their van and his mother pointing up into the sky at something. Perhaps it was a hot air balloon? There was a festival of some kind going on a little further south of them, nearer to Huston.

"This is odd, does anybody know of an electronic weapons test going on today?" asked Zach.

"Aww Zach, you worry to much! Come on, I want to get to the car first so you and I can sit in the back and fool around."

As she said this she started walking towards the exit, passing the picture window in the process.

"Besides, it's probably nothing to wor-!"

Those were the last words she said, her sentence cut off in an explosion of gun fire, glass and blood.

Slips stitched their way through the window to her right, two of them catching her in the throat and tearing in to shreds. Elian instantly fell over and began choking on her own blood.

Colby and Marc reacted instantly, Thomas only a hair behind them. The two friends crouched low and backed next to the wall while facing one each of the large windows. Thomas leaped into the other two girls, knocking them over and bringing them out of the immediate line of fire. Zach merely dropped to his knees and held his love's head in his arms while she gurgled her last. Her pretty eyes glazing over with the laxness of the grave. He just sat there, not doing anything, just sitting with the corpse that had less than a minuet before been his true love.

Meanwhile, the other window burst open as two lightly armored figures leapt through it. A third dropping through the already damaged window next to Zach, his light assault rifle already trained on the numb teenager.

Colby was on the first two in an instant, his knife in his right hand his left searching for throats and eyes.

Marc subdued his opponent by grabbing his head from behind and slamming it into the wall, the man wore a light helmet but it did not protect him from the ringing this caused. He was then quickly disarmed. He Knelt on one of the other men, the man's arm was twisted at an odd angle and he was face down sucking concrete. The second was obviously dead, Colby's knife protruded from his right eye socket like a morbid flag saluting this minor victory.

Thomas checked the windows and declared them all clear. They all got to their feet and Colby retrieved his knife, wiping the rapidly congealing eyeball, blood and brain from it's blade. Stacy had learned that this knife was special to him and his entire family. It had been passed down no one knew how many generations but it was confirmed to have been present during the revolutionary war, with a Mr. Frank T. Ulvherz.

After he had seen to his blade Colby started to shake, first his hands then his whole body. He turned around rapidly and vomited his lunch and breakfast all over the hallway.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god I just killed someone I just killed someone! I wasn't trying to, I only wanted him to surrender, I didn't want to stab him! Stacy I'm sorry I didn't mean to kill him!"

She didn't really know why he was apologizing to her but she did know that he needed to go through it. He had told her about a similar experience the first time he had gone hunting. It was just part of the process she figured.

Zach stood up, he had close Elian's eyes and his face had taken on a new light. It was obvious that his laughter had just been killed. Oh he might laugh and joke again, but his eyes would always be dead. That little spark that makes us whole had just been killed and was never coming back.

"Sergeant Ulvherz police these prisoners, corporals Bluecrow and Tapfer, take their weapons and make sure we aren't bothered for the next few minuets."

The sound of his voice in full captain mode Jolted the others out of their shock. Colby came up with one side arm and radios for all of them including the dead man. He stepped on all the radios but one and handed that one over to Zach. He then stood in front of the two remaining prisoners with the side arm pointed at them and a grim look on his face.

The other one that he had taken down wore the chevrons of a sergeant and had a large mustache. The other was barely older that they were and obviously frightened. The sergeant however was more cocky than afraid.

Zach stood over the two sons soldiers, they had been forced to their knees and had their hands tied behind their backs. Lucy and Stacy were telling everyone in the nearby classrooms that the Sons were invading and to try and reach shelter as fast as possible.

"We'll start with you sergeant, why were you sent here and what has caused the electronics failure? Answer quickly or I will have my sergeant kill you...like you killed my girlfriend."

"Shoo, this snotty nose? He jus' up chucked he lunch fo killin a man, ain't no way he gonna keel meh."

Colby meanwhile had been looking out the window; it had occurred to him that his parents were out side just before the violence started. He saw their corpses draped across the hood of the van, penetration hole and blood spatter showed that they had been shot from above and an angle. That and the lightweight gear these troopers were carrying said that they were an airborne unit.

He had to glance over his parent's bodies. If he looked at them he would stay rooted to the spot and be of no use to the others.

He looked at the older man with the mustache, who smiled at him with perfect white teeth. That was odd, he thought, he had heard that dental care down south was a rarity.

"You know something funny about killing a person?"

"BAM! Shplaat"

"It's a lot easier the second time."

With smoke still rising from the barrel, Colby turned it on the younger soldier.

"Now, answer the man's question or I'm taking you apart piece by piece. And just in case you think I won't do it? Those people you shot out side? They were my parents."

Stacy gasped, she hadn't looked outside yet to see that they were dead. The older couple had been nice people, and good parents to Colby and Marc besides.

The soldier looked from one grim ace to another, in under five minuets he and his comrades has taken three loved ones away from three people. His odds were slim at best.

"Ok ok! We three are an advance detachment. The main force is landing in San Antonio with Colonel Maddox, we're here as scouts for the detachment he's sending up this way, some 150 men all together. I don't know why, this town wasn't supposed to be hit for another 3 days but he wanted it taken today. Something ‘about Getting that girl like she got mah brother' I don't know what it meant honest. What I Do know is the rest of our detachment should be here in under an hour."

"And what about the power failure? Was that you?"

"No, that was the Colonel, some fancy thing command sent for the mission. I- I don't know how it works but, it's some kind of smart EMP. It generates a huge dome like, 300 miles across, I know the damn thing weighed so much it took up a cruiser all to it's self. And it IS smart, like it recognizes signals that want talk to it and zaps em, and if it sees something that can't or won't talk to it, it zaps that too. But our gear has some kind of code that prevents it from zapping it. Look man I don't know anything else ok? Can you just take me to prison or something now?"

"... why would we take you to prison?"

"What do you mean? I'm a prisoner of war, you have to take me to prison or let me go, there are acts in plac-"

"Those acts do not apply to us, we're not uniformed officers, and besides, you forfeited that right when you killed Elian, she was a minor still, that means you're a child killer. And our government hangs child killers. But since we don't seem to have a rope, we'll just shoot you instead, Colby?"

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M A PRISONER OF WAR, I GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU CAN'T KILL ME! OH GOD OH GOD, oh god oh god oh god mommy, I don't want to die, I don't want to_"

"BAM!"

There was silence after the young soldier was dead, Stacy tried to be sickened with what her boyfriend had just done, but couldn't find it in her self.

Colby spoke then, as he was lifting a crucifix from the chest of the dead soldier and examining it. He spoke in a solemn voice she had never heard him use before.

"...And my brothers, with god on our side we shall win this day, and any other. For an army that bears the scared cross of the lord cannot be defeated. This cross means god is for us my brothers, and if god is for us? Who could be for them?"

Seeming to snap him self out of his fugue, Colby stood up and dropped the cross at the young man's feet.

"What do you think guys?" asked Zach, his air of command still in place.

Marc spoke up first.

"What we need to do is get away from that dome of interference as fast as possible, if it disrupts electronics there's a good chance the military doesn't even know about this invasion yet."

Lucy spoke then.

"But how, we can't drive, all the cars here run with computers, we can't drive any of them."

Stacy was hit with inspiration.

"No, but Colby's mustang is just mechanical! No computer what so ever. We could take that."

Zach responded.

"Yeah but it's at his house, how are we supposed to get there with 150 sons special forces bearing down on us?"

Colby spoke for the first time.

We need weapons, these sub repeaters are gonna be shit with that many people and no cover, they probably have petro-chem throwers and heavy zippers too. No way three sub repeaters and a hand gun are gonna do anything."

"Yeah but from what he said the entire outfit is airborne, that means light armor even if the do have heavy weapons."

Marc replied.

"...The weapons locker! You guys already had your rifles in there right? Then lets go get em and you two play ‘Ghost with teeth' on em while the girls, Zach and I get to the base."

Interjected Thomas.

"But where are we gonna go?"

Lucy thought for a moment then declared.

"I know! We can go to my auntie's, she lives up in Graham. She was in the marines and can tell people what's going on."

"Sounds like a plan folks Colby, you Marc and Stacy go get those rifles, the plan depends on them, leave the subs and the hand gun here with us."

Zach was obviously still in command mode.

Stacy had been quiet for a few moments, but as the others exchanged weapons she spoke up.

"Guys, we may have to be moving faster than we thought. He said their Colonel was someone named ‘Maddox' right? Well, the guy who kidnapped me had a brother, he didn't talk about him much, but his name was Maddox, and the only reason I got out of their was because he was a Sons agent and got found out. I think this guy knows I'm here and wants to take some kind of revenge on me. That's why he accelerated his plan for taking the town."

They just looked at her for a second, comprehension dawning and light flickering overhead.

"Shit! Let's get a move on people, we don't have time to just sit around!"

Stacy mark and Colby went running down the hallway, shouting that the Sons were invading and that everyone needed to try and make their way north as fast as possible.

They reached the weapons locker and Marc started trying to undo the lock. Colby had already grabbed the door near the hinges and started pulling. The door ripped free and they were instantly inside grabbing their armaments. The 20 rounds of ammunition were fitted into 10 round cloth pouches for carrying.

They both sat on the floor and stripped their rifles, disassembling them and checking each part before putting it all back together. Watching them it was a little hard to believe that they were still high school students. Colby had the idea to take their close-combat armor out as well, it was not much against an armor piercing slip but it was still something. They took their arm incasing metal sleeves and their sword and axe respectively, along with Thomas's Katar and Kukri and Zach's Spear.

After a quick trip to the machine shop to sharpen them they were ready to go.

Once they were both satisfied with the operational status of all their weapons, both boys loaded up their rifles. One round in Marc's bolt action and four in Colby's semi automatic. After that was done they ran back to the front door hallway where the others were waiting. What they found when they got there made Marc spit in disgust. When they had left it had just been Lucy, Thomas and Zach, now they were surrounded by at least 20 other thropes and humans, waiting for them to return it seemed for when they rounded the corner they raised their voices in a shout.

Zach approached Colby Marc and Stacy.

"We can't just leave them, most of them would be killed, you have that old duce-and-a half at your place right Colby? Does it run? Can we take it with the Mustang?"

"It needs a carburetor and there is a hole in the radiator but other than that yeah, I think it'll run."

"Thomas, can you do that in under a day?"

"Yeah Cap, long as I got the parts I'm good to do it in under say, 6 hours. Those ld engines are a bitch to open up and a carburetor is gonna be a bit tough."

"Ok then, let's hit the road folks. Colby, you and Marc have everything you need?"

"Yeah, we're going to grab our ghillie suites out of...the van, then will head of to the line of hills just west of I-35, we'll have a good defilade form there, they won't know what hit em."

Alright, can you take a couple of bikes with you? That's how we're getting out to your place."

"Don't worry Cap, we'll make it back to ya in around 9 hours, that should give you time to fix up the Deuc and get the civvies under way, we'll run slow and go action and than get out in the stang, easy."

Colby said, his voice once again a strange calm version of it's usual deep bouncy self.

He passed out the others close range weapons as he talked, when he was finished Thomas, Lucy and Zach all gave he and Marc a hug. Stacy gave Marc a hug as well, but she gave Colby a deep kiss.

"You better come back, understand? You get your ass back. You owe me a special night and I aim to collect."

He broke into a real smile this time, although still tinged with the shock of a friend and parents sudden passing.

"Yes ma'am! Ok guys hit the road!"

Three Hours Later.

"...I've got motion in the south bound lane, you see it?"

"...Yeah, I see him now, sneaky bastard, he's staying close to the median, I don't think he knows we're here though. Advance scout looking for anybody left with their cars. The main group should be rounding the bend soon."

As Colby spoke the head of the Sons Column came into view from underneath the overpass, they were on foot, it seemed that their friendly chip didn't work as well as they had hoped.

Colby and Marc had been here for the last hour or so, it had taken them that long to find a suitable hill, it ha been worth it. If ever there was a scout's ideal hill it was this. A sharp slope behind them so they could escape the line of fire if needs be, many shrubs and the like on the crest to obscure their outline. That along with their ghillie suits made them better than invisible to the tramping sons army below.

They were about ¾ of a mile away from the highway, well within range on a windless day like today. They would wait to see if the detachment had any heavy weapons with it, if it did then those would be Marc's targets with his .50 BMG rounds, if not he would use those anti-material rounds on the leaders of the sons force.

But sure enough here came a group of men straining with a cart mounted heavy zipper emplacement. Usually they were motorized but that had gone out the window inside this EMP bubble.

"...Heavy gun rolling up, hard targets acquired, that looks like the end of the train, engage targets?

"...Aye, send em to hell. On three snipers fire. One. Two. Three."

As Colby counted three both of the big guns went of, their reports almost simultaneous, this helped to hid their location and number from the enemy.

The loading breech on the heavy zipper acquired a new basketball sized hole milliseconds before the man on the other side of the loading breech was separated from his leg. The man who seemed to be overseeing the men hauling the large gun didn't even see this happen, his chest was blown open before the sight registered in his brain.

"One. Two. Three."

And two other men who seemed to be leading fell, massive holes in their bodies. The two foster brothers got one more shot off before all Sons men had taken cover. They then started to slowly, ever so slowly inch their way north along the ridge line.

After about 45 minuets an officer poked his head up from behind a concrete embankment. After it was not shot off the real officer retrieve his helmet and ordered his men to inspect the damage. As well as send Platoon into the hills to try and find the snipers.

About 10 minuets later the two men who were working on replacing the Zippers ammo-loading breech were blasted off their sweaty perch by Heavy tungsten core rounds.

Every body ducked back down, only this time they also fired wildly up into the hills. A few minuets later the men that had been sent to try and find their harassers returned reporting that the wild fire had killed one of their number.

Furious the officer ordered them to leave the damn gun and continue onwards.

After an hour of unmolested advancement the men were assuming that the snipers had either been passed or had retreated.

This was a bad conclusion to make. Not two minuets after they had started up after a short rest, one of the Column commanders was shot through the head, at the same time farther down the line, one of the men bearing the highly volatile petro-chem flame thrower fluid was jarred by something hitting his tank. An instant later he was engulfed in a purple fireball of propellant, the incendiary in Marc's round had ignited the fuel within his tank, causing a massive explosion.

This same routine was repeated for the next 4 hours. The line of soldiers advanced perhaps ¼ of a mile in total, that was all the time they had left, and between them they still had 10 rounds of ammo, 5 of each type. Deciding it was time to head back to his place, Colby kept his rifle trained on their newest hiding spot and slowly crawled back over the lip of the ridge, once he was out of sight he tapped Marc's foot and the Fox started his own slow retreat over the hill.

They still had about 2 hours to go to get to his house, it would not take as long because they would travel cross country.

Colby looked at his watch through his ghillie suit. It read only 2 o'clock. To think that his morning he was planning on helping his girlfriend find her parents. And now he was helping her to survive the to see the next day.

The run back was long and silent, each brother contemplating his own thoughts, the muffled Chunk of their padded arm steel the only noise they made as the jogged towards their home.

They arrived at the ranch house around 4 in the afternoon, they had seen the dust to their south which meant the Sons were on the move again, hopefully more slowly this time.

As they walked up to the drive way they found the old duce up on blocks with a cursing Thomas underneath it. They also found an angry Stacy standing over a group of bruised Thropes. They had attempted to take the Mustang while the others were trying to fix the old halftrack, Stacy had caught them and beaten them with a pipe she had found laying near the muscle car.

Colby nearly glowed with pride, his girlfriend kicked ass, literally!

"Folks, it's going to be another 30 minuets, this thing just don't want to fix up!"

Came Thomas's muffled shout.

"Make that 15 Thomas and I won't get you a fruit cake for Christmas."

Said Marc, his eyes scanning the approaching dust cloud.

"No shit? Done and done my friend, 15 minuets it is."

"Cap, there are still an ass load of em, to much even for us with home ground advantage. There has to be around 100 now, we took out their heavy Zipper but they started hiding the light ones from us before we could take all of those out, I counted at least 3 more flame throwers but we got 2 of those, that took out the surrounding guys as well so yeah, I'd say around 100 all in all."

"Shit, we need more time is what we need... Colby, you Marc and I are going to go and start something with em, just some hit and run stuff, get us our 15 minuets. Colby, you got anything in your shed that'll do damage to light armor?"

"Nothing besides a shit load of .50 BMG and Lapua magnum, I might have some slips somewhere that would fit those repeaters but I doubt it. Everything else is just sport or home defense stuff, none of it's designed to be used against graded armor."

"Well load up on ammo and let's go pick off as many as we can, we'll send up a flare when we're heading back guys, it's likely that we're going to be followed closely by some ardent admirers."

Stacy was worried, they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from down the road for the past 20 minuets, but suddenly they had just stopped. They had not seen a flare and it was thought that they were either dead or captured. Thomas was just finishing the halftrack when the boys came running back into the driveway.

"They're right behind us boys and girls, everyone into the halftrack and get going, make it out of the bubble and let people know what's going on. Lucy get the Mustang going Marc Thomas Colby, Hold em off until we're ready."

Stacy watched as Colby slung a captured sub repeater over his shoulder and took a position on top of one of the now useless trucks. Marc got behind the out building closest to the road and Thomas grabbed a repeater and took a position near the back of the house. As they moved into position the Halftrack made its squeaking way out of the drive way and headed west. It would turn north soon and be out of the bubble and able to contact the military about this invasion.

The boys had taken up positions to form a triangle, that way if the sons tried to flank they could respond to the threat. Lucy was bust throwing everything out of Colby's car, he kept the back seat fairly junked up and it was taking a little time. Zach meanwhile was pulling an old dirt bike out of the garage, he kick started it and it roared to life, after which he shut of the engine.

"Just in case someone gets left behind they have a way out."

They heard a shot from Marc's direction, then a burst from Thomas.

"Here they come folks, we need to clear a path to get out of here!" shouted Thomas as he threw a captured Fragmentation grenade at the now visibly advancing Sons.

The beastly report of Colby's Hecate was heard and then he shouted Zach over to take his place.

"I know how we can clear a path! Give me two minuets!" he shouted over the roar of gunfire.

"Just go!" Zach shouted back.

Stacy and Lucy were crouching near the Mustang, sub repeaters in their hands and taking shots when the opportunity presented it's self. Colby ran past them, shedding his ghillie suit and throwing away his sub repeater. He had handed his Hecate over to Zach who had ripped the scope off of it and shoved it into a pocket, he was now using it as though the heavy long rang rifle were an M1 Garand.

Colby went tearing into his shed and began looking threw drawers until he found what he was looking for, a small metal box like contraption that was the key to their survival.

Running over to the table with the M61 A2 on it, he began to disassemble the rotary parts. After installing the little metal box he grabbed a filled Co2 tank and jammed it into the breech it was designed to fit into. Only then did he notice with a groan that the ammo boxes were empty.

"Click click click"

FUCK! Thomas was out of ammo. Piece of crap Sons repeater! He threw it to the ground and dove for better cover behind the concrete wall of the cattle well.

He looked up just in time to see the area he had recently inhabited be turned into a swirling storm of earth and projectiles.

Judging from the heavy thumps some of those bastards were using light zippers.

He checked his kit and the stolen weapons he had taken from the corpses of his first kills.

The sub repeater he had taken from the scout was shot all to hell and the string of fragmentation grenades had come loose at some point and was no longer attached to his belt.

The only things that were still with him were his Katar, Kukri and the collection of scalps he had taken for his ancestors, and his stolen sidearm. Dropping the clip, he checked to make sure that it was full then slammed it back home and charged the receiver. Off to the east he heard the monstrous report of the Hecate, which meant that there was one less enemy to worry about to the rear. Smiling ruefully to him self, he took a quick peek out from behind his cover. Sure enough there were at least four of them training their assault repeaters on his hiding spot.

Ducking back behind cover he brought out his last grenade. They had him pinned, no way around it, but he would be a disgrace if he did not die fighting. Besides, if he was lucky he might make it through with the trick he had up his sleeve. But before he would try it he needed to pray to the ancestors and to the old ones, the spirits of the land,

Bowing his head he asked his guiding spirit to grant him one thing only. The courage and the strength to live the next few minuets well.

Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and flipped the pin on his only explosive.

Gripping the horizontal hilt of his Katar, he leaped from cover and rolled the grenade to just in front of the leading soldier. Sprinting as fast as he could, he was just barely in front of the stream of slips and rocket assisted bullets that were sent winging towards his flesh.

Just when the Sons grunts were getting his range, there were thrown up into the air by the violent explosion of the grenade.

The detonation killed all but two instantly, and those two were bleeding and unconscious.

Pleased with him self, he stood up to run back to the base to get another weapon when he felt the passage of a slip by his left ear. Ducking and rolling by instinct, he was just barely missed by the spray of gunfire that was intended for his head.

Springing up he found about a dozen men and thropes facing him. some with nothing but Sons issue machetes. However, others had repeaters and semi auto rifles.

The closest one seemed to be a line officer by the strip of red on the white and gold insignia over the shoulder of his light weight graded armor.

"Traitor to humanity! Surrender and I will see to it you are not harmed; all we want is the girl. Refuse and I will personally stuff your intestines down your mutant throat!"

He pretended to think about this offer for a moment. When in truth he was assessing his chances against them. none of them were as alert as they could be. A forced march he reckoned, that and the harassing Colby and Marc had given them was enough t fry any man's nerves. Not to mention the ever increasing sounds of carnage coming from just a few hundred yards towards the ranch house.

"Tell you what white boy, if you can catch me I'll give up!"

And with that he quickly drew his side arm from where he had holstered it earlier. rolling and firing at the same time, he put two rounds into the officer's chest and a few into legs and feet. Instead of going for cover this time however, he fired all his remaining rounds, threw away the spent weapon and drew his long Kukri blade, and with his right hand he drew out the Katar from the sheath at the small of his back.

Rushing into the milling throng of bodies he started shouting the ululating battle cry his people were known for. Spinning and ducking and weaving, his hands turned red with the blood of his foes.

He jumped and twisted and landed with his knees on the shoulders of a young man. but he did not perceive the man's age, he was awash in the battle lust of his ancestors, that which had made his people feared for hundreds of years. Stabbing his Katar into the face that snarled up at him, he pierced the eye socket and drove through into the brain.

Jumping up and crying out again he was once more transformed into a dervish of flashing steel and crimson droplets. it was the most freeing experience he had ever felt. now he knew what his friend had been talking about. Battle was his home. Blood his wine, the elixir of honeyed emotions that was focused into a diamond sharp pillar of concentration.

This was so amazing, this sense of things This was what Colby and Marc talked about after a close â€"combat match, he had always thought they were exaggerating the feeling they got from even mock battles. But now he saw how amazing could really be. He did not see time as slower, he merely moved faster through it, denying that ever-present constrictor all purchase on his mind and body.

Suddenly a sharp pain broke through his concentration. He was brought to his knees and just as suddenly as it had come the pain vanished. He was kneeling in the center of a concentric ring of bodies. All bore the identifiable wounds caused by his unique punching dagger and long knife.

He tried to stand but found that his legs no longer worked, he told them to move his body and they did not answer his demands. It was not that they refused, they simply did not hear him.

Looking down he saw a flower blossoming on his chest. It was bright crimson in color and seemed to be growing even as he watched.

How strange, he thought.

How strange that a flower would grow on me. I wonder where it is supposed to grow?

It was then that he realized that the flower was his own blood, spreading out from the wound that had severed his spinal column.

Looking up he found the face of an older man staring down at him from just a few feet away. Surely this was the man that had brought these murdering bastards down upon them. But no, it was not he, this was merely the line officer whom Colby and Marc and been harassing all afternoon.

He tried to raise his knives but his hands would not respond to him either. the man raised his fist, and in it's clutches he held a magnetic pistol. The man raised it and held it not a foot away from his head.

As it was aimed at his face, he looked right down it's barrel, and could not help but think in his blood-deprived mind that, this barrel looked like the very maw of coyote himself.

"Stupid little child, you is nothing but a wall, and aint no wall can keep me out."

He seemed to enter a slowed bubble of time then, he saw the charger flare, and watched as the electrical discharge followed the slip as it left the barrel. Watched, as his death seemed to inch towards him. Slowly, oh so slowly.

The round entered his head, piercing skin, muscle and bone. It then sliced through his brain matter until it hit the back oh his skull and detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel throughout his cranium.

The man started to walk away as the body crumpled to the ground, slightly troubled by the look on the dead boy's face. it was not one of rear on non understanding. The fool boy had died with a smile on his face, like he was happy about something.

What the man did not know was that the boy had heard something, something that the man's aged hearing did not detect.

As the gun had been fired, the last thing he had head was a distinctive " Click-WhirrrrrrRRRRRRRR-ing sound. And, what might have been even more comforting, the familiar roaring sound that had accompanied it.

These two things had assured the young man as he was sent to meet his ancestors that, he would have vengeance on the coward that had shot him in the back.

Colby left the Shed with the loaded M61 just in time to see Thomas be shot in the head. He was to far away to do anything but the sight of yet another person who was close to him dead at the hands of the Sons enraged him, he roared with all the power of his nearly 7ft tall body, his deep voice resonating around the walls of the out buildings. Colby thumbed the activation switch on the M61, the gas hissed into the chamber and the barrels began to rotate, it got up to firing speed quickly and from there the left over gas from the rounds would power the rotation.

The first bullet missed the Line officer, as did the second and the third and the fourth. But bullets 5-70 found their mark. The older man, who had been a resident of Alabama at one time, was turned into a fine pink mist almost instantly.

Colby swept the Gun across the field where they wanted to exit, clearing it of the Sons forces in an instant. The weapon was heavy, and even with the ¾ barrel system it's recoil was immense he didn't know how long he would be able to keep firing it.

"Lucy! Get the fucking car clear!"

Lucy leapt up, throwing the last of the Junk out of his car and declaring it clear. Among the things she had tossed out was an old cassette deck player, the lot from hitting the ground had caused it to start playing its song, but no one paid it any attention.

Most of the Sons were under cover by now, fearing a reprisal from the M61 for showing them selves in the open.

Colby, Marc, Zach, Lucy and Stacy all ran to the car, Zach leapt into the drivers seat while Lucy Got into the front next to him. Stacy climbed into the back as Colby and Marc sprayed a group of adventurous Sons with fire, the M61 turning the concrete wall of their cover into dust and bone chips.

"You guys go ahead! We have to keep em off you until you get far enough away, then we'll both hop on the bike an follow you out!" shouted Colby over the spinning roar of the Minigun

"No! you're coming with us! I won't leave you here!" Stacy shouted back, attempting to climb back out of the back seat.

"Don't worry, I'll be back for you. I promise, until then I love you Stacy."

Colby said as he blocked her exit with his body, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips, he than slammed the door.

Zach locked it right afterwards, despite Stacy's threats off bodily harm should he not undo it.

Colby looked him in the eye and nodded his head, as did Marc. Zach knew that they had to clear a path for them to escape, but that the odds of them in turn escaping were slim to none, these to men, not even old enough yet to join the army were making the ultimate sacrifice for their friends and remaining loved ones. Zach wanted to stay with them, but he knew that the girls would need protection and he had to go with them.

So this is how the lone survivor felt at Thermopylae, like a coward.

Colby slapped the roof of the car and Zach Floored the accelerator, peeling out under a protective rain of bullets from Marc and Colby.

After they were out of danger Colby ducked behind cover with Marc, watching as they drove west down the road. Taking the opportunity to shake his arms a little, the M61 was heavier then he thought it was going to be.

As he was losing the distinct picture of Stacy's face from the rear windshield, he heard a whining snap and doubled over in shock and pain, his hands flying to his throat. They came away covered in blood.

Marc was just dispatching the man who had snuck around the side of their cover and looked back to see Colby on his knees with bloody mucus dripping from his nose.

"Oh no..."

Colby looked up, there was an exit wound in the front of his neck, it was not spurting blood so the artery was intact, and he was still breathing so his trachea was fine as well. He could make it, he could!

But then Marc really looked at the wound, spurting no, but it was pouring blood, to much to be a mere flesh wound. The artery must have been nicked, that meant that without medical attention he was dead inside 5 minuets bleed out like a stuck pig.

Colby looked into Marc's eyes and pointed to his throat, then he held up three fingers and pointed to the road.

"I can get you three minuets, go."

This is what Colby told him without words. Colby grabbed him by the shoulders and glared into his eyes. Only a near lifetime of knowing him allowed him to decipher that message.

"You take care of her."

Marc nodded and hugged his foster brother; he then got to his feet and started shooting.

He walked as he shot and Colby kept most of them down with his higher rate of fire, he now had to fire in bursts as the barrels were starting to overheat.

Marc kick started the bike and gunned the accelerator. Tearing out of his old home without a backward glance, he did not however, escape without a tear being shed.

Colby fired and fired and fired, he fired and killed. This morning he had never taken another human or thropic life, and this afternoon he had already taken more then most people did in a 4-year tour of service.

Colby was dead, he knew it, and it pissed him off. He wanted to celebrate the holidays with Stacy; he wanted to take her out to fancy places to eat. He wanted to join the army with his foster brother. There were so many things that he wanted to do and now he would never get the chance.

His sight was starting to restrict, that meant that the blood loss was getting severe.

He wondered briefly what he must look like to these people, blood pouring down his front and angry death held waiting in his hands. It must be quite frightening.

Colby wasn't paying attention; a flamer snuck up on his left side and hosed it with Chemical fire. Most of it washed over his armor, but the intense heat made it glow cherry red and burn through the padding underneath in a heartbeat and start melting the skin and flesh beneath.

Colby screamed, or at least, he thought he screamed, it was getting hard to tell.

He was lying on his back, the M61 gone from his grasp; his left side still an unbearable mass of screaming nerves. He stared up at the sky with his fading eyesight, the clouds were truly beautiful today. In the backround he heard that old tape player, it was still undamaged after all this. He recognized the song it was playing as the "Fields of Athenry" by the Dropkick Murphy's. Not a bad song to die to he thought.

An old face appeared in his line of vision, it was lined and creased with years of scowling, and it asked him a question he could not hear. And then motioned somebody else over to him. They held something to his chest and he heard a Click and then silence, wonderful wonderful silence.

Stacy was anxious, she wanted to know how far behind them the boys were, but there was no way of knowing, they might have taken a different route. Her own car ride had been a trip from hell, droves of people lined the highway begging them for assistance, but they had to keep driving, if they stopped they would get bogged down and over taken.

Three hours had passed since the escape from Colby's house, and they were just then pulling up into Lucy's aunt's house, a nice place in the old suburbs with a porch swing and brick steps. there appeared to be a party going on outside, 5 or 6 middle aged ladies all sat around one much younger and obviously pregnant women who seemed to be enjoying the attention as they pulled up a white wollfess walked out of the front door carrying a tray of iced tea, presumably for her party guests.

The middle aged women was quite attractive and when she saw Lucy get out of the car she waved and called:

"Lucy Freidman Halaverez! You never come by any more, I was afraid you had forgotten about your old and feeble aunt, and you brought friends too! Wonderful I'll-"

The women stopped mid sentence when Stacy climbed out of the car.

Great, another one who hates half-breeds she thought to herself.

Not only did she stop mid sentence, she also dropped the tray, glassware shattered over the sidewalk and tea spilled onto the grass.

A male voice called from within the house:

"Honey? Is everything alright out there?"

She responded without taking her eyes off Stacy.

"Get out here NOW!"

There came the sound of rapid footsteps, and as they got closer, Stacy's lupine ears detected the faint mechanical whine of robotic prosthetics.

A middle age man came out of the front door, he wore shorts and flip-flop sandals, he had a white T-shirt on under a rather gaudy Hawaiian button down shirt. It was obvious with the attire he was wearing that much of his right side had been replaced with high grade prosthetics.

Although he looked no older that his mid 40's his hair was a spectacular color of silver, and as Stacy came to his eyes in her examination, she froze. His eyes were like pieces of shaved glacier. Stacy felt as though she should be afraid of those eyes, in fact she felt as though she should be afraid of this man in general. But she was not. In fact quite the opposite, he made her feel safe.

While she had been examining him, he had been examining her, now he slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of her.

He looked at her eyes, he then looked at her shirt. And as he was looking at her shirt the breeze shifted and she scented him. It was he, her father, the smell from the shirt and here he was, in the flesh. (or most of it)

"Oh baby doll." He said.

"I'm so sorry, you have my eyes baby doll, I'm so sorry." And then he was hugging her and she was hugging him and her mother was hugging both of them and everyone was crying.

Her Joyful reunion was interrupted by the sound of a gasoline motor, looking up she saw Marc pulling into the drive way on the Bike. But she didn't see Colby.

"No, no no no no no NO!" where is he! What have you done with him? What happened!?! He's not dead he's not! Don't say it! Don't say it."

She dissolved into tears at that point, not able to handle the emotional strain of the day.

"Fuller, we need to find out what's been happening." Said her mother, Esne.

"I agree hun, you there, fox boy, stand and report!"

Zach stepped in for most of the story, explaining about the attack on the school, and going back to explain their relationship with his daughter. He got right up to when they had left in the Mustang and the Marc took over in his calm smooth voice, telling of Colby's fatal wounding and his wishes. Telling of how he had stopped down the road in time to see Colby engulfed in flames.

Lt. Colonel Fuller Freidman listened to the whole thing. And when the story was done he bent down over his daughter and told her to look up at him for a moment. She did and found those glacial eyes full of rage,

"Little one the people who did this are the same ones who took you away from me, they held you hostage against my good behavior, but now that I have you back I intended to misbehave.

I'm going to find those what took you from us, and took your man from you. And I'm going to teach them the first lesson all those who achieve great power forget."

"What lesson is that...dad?"

He looked at her once more and this time she saw the madness the lurked within him.

"Everything burns."

Jason flexed his hands as Stacy stopped talking. He sat back and looked at what he had written, even he wasn't sure he believed it.

"Well that was an amazing story ma'am, I'm glad you shared it with me, in fact I'm honored that you shared it with me."

"Oh it's not over yet, I just need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back and then we can finish the story."

End.